u/Salt-Year-9058

Okay,

I have to get this off my chest and apologies if someone has already posted this but I can't get over the subtleties in the conversation between Belly and Conrad after the unicorn flashback scene in 3x07.

So first off, Belly's face when she says, "Why?". At first I didn't understand the tone and I was a bit pissed off that she comes off as a bit standoffish but after a couple of rewatches, I realized that it comes across as part of a defense mechanism because Belly has gaslit herself into thinking that Conrad is a shit-stirrer especially because of the almost kiss in s1 and then the motel scene in s2.

But then seeing Conrad's confusion and his reasons, the first being "because it was important to you", there's a beat where Belly looks taken aback. And you realize just how warped her idea of love has become from her relationship with Jere where she doesn't take into account this aspect of love which is very agape, where we as the audience know that as much as Conrad is hurt and sad with the fact that he has to let Belly go, he is willing to make sure she's happy at the cost of his own.

And then the sledgehammer, "it's your wedding, you should have everything you've ever pictured". This is the first pebble of doubt that leads to the avalanche at the end of 3x08- because from 3x05 itself, with the wedding relocated to the club to then 3x06 with the first apartment hunting scene, everything has ironically gone downhill for Belly and Jere, where the fights are more, the doubt creeps in faster. Belly has been forcing herself into this alternate perspective but the evidence she uses for her reasons are all collapsing like a house of cards- her efficiency in remembering correctly, her state of mind that she still feels something for Conrad, the best parts of her relationship with Jere (the ESP thing failing or even the fact that their lovemaking was essentially a pity fuck), the fact that Jere is the more reliable partner.

IDK I love that it's this unintentional seed that has Belly attempt to push down the truth by taking a gummy but then it becomes the "worst" mistake ever because she finally breaks down from all the pressure, pain, paranoia and delusions with a single "I only ever pictured Conrad."

What do you guys think? What other subtleties did you like about this scene?

P.S. Jere's look back in this scene made me think irrationally that dipping and kissing Belly was a ploy to make Conrad jealous (an aspect of his shitty making Conrad realize he's lost agenda which essentially made him the idiot in the long haul), something also from the book during the rehearsal dinner that Book Belly clocked.

I keep thinking about the conversation in s1 between Conrad and Jere about "winning" and Conrad emphasizing- "It's not about winning for me. It's about doing things the right way".

As much as I hated Jere being the biggest asshole in the episode, his behavior is an extension of his mindset where he's projecting his own instincts onto Conrad. And it starts from the moment when he expresses surprise that Conrad has planned a bachelor party and isn't moping about him and Belly, or exhibiting moments of jealousy or guilt even in the face of him being territorial.

It then becomes deeply ironic that he fails to show up in the way that Belly wants him to (the ESP, meet up at the end of the night, knocking back like when they were kids), and in a way (yes, Conrad did something catastrophic with admitting his feelings on the beach), starting the chain reaction by being cavalier about the fact that he hooked up with someone and reveling in the fact that it ended up being inconsequential because Belly forgave him and was marrying him despite it.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it's pure karma watching things unfold for Jere because his mindset of winning will eventually cost him his relationship with Belly and even push towards some much needed truths that he's deluded himself from.

What do you guys think?