The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 is doing Jeremiah painfully dirty. The Jeremiah that season 1 had shown us, this is no longer him. Nor is it even the complicated, flawed-but-still-ever-so-slightly-dated Jeremiah from Season 2.

In Season 3, he has been recognizably altered into some mixture of moody, insecure, and, frankly, borderline unbearable. And what's worst about it is that it seems intentional-that the writers purposely decided to sacrifice the character of Jeremiah just to put Conrad on a pedestal.

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Jeremiah in Season 1: The Sunshine Boy

Remember Season 1? Jeremiah was the sunshine in the room. He was fun and flirty and warm enough to counterbalance Conrad's brooding nature.

He was the one who would make Belly laugh, the one who did not hide his feelings, and the one who felt safe and exciting at the same time. While he had his reckless moments and one or two fitful ones of drama, that was all part of charm. You felt him as just the boy you wanted to root for because of that golden retriever energy: "Okay, he may not be perfect, but he cares."

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Jeremiah In Season 2: Messy But Real

Season 2 gave us a somewhat different Jeremiah - more vulnerable, more complicated. There were genuine reasons for him to act out: grief, betrayal, heartbreak. He was no longer the fun-loving brother, which made him more interesting.

He made mistakes, sure, but they were mistakes that made sense. Underneath all of his insecurity and anger, there was pain, there was love, maybe there was wanting to be chosen above all. He was not a perfect hero in Season 2, but he was very real: you could see the heart of the boy from Season 1 beneath the weight of loss and fear.

Jeremiah in Season 3: A Downgrade

That was when Season 3 happened: suddenly, Jeremiah wasn't sunshine and laughter anymore; in fact, he had become the caricature of bad behavior. Ready to throw away $750 on a cake like the money grows on trees and behaving like a full-on manchild every time Conrad so much as breathed was funny-cringe material. No more witty lines and tantrums; he was a shadow of what he once was and more of a side character than one-third of the love triangle. Honestly, if you had Season 1 Jeremiah standing next to Season 3 Jeremiah, you would see they're not the same.

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The Cheating And Insecurity Spiral

Let's not sweep Jeremiah's cheating against Belly under the carpet. The show never quite sees it as something that should hold him accountable but instead uses it to further tarnish his image. Couple that with Jeremiah's constant spiraling over Conrad, and suddenly Jeremiah has become less of a romantic hero and more like a jealous little brother. Every insecure outburst makes Conrad look just that much steadier, calmer, and mature.

By making Jeremiah transparent in his pettiness and instability, who is placed in a better light by comparison? Conrad. The writers very much know what they're doing.

A Glow-Up For Conrad By Comparison

While Jeremiah shrieks and stumbles in rage, Conrad gains momentum and moves on from the darkness. He is given soft lighting, emotional monologues, and those pockets of soul-stirring depth that send stirrings through the audience. The more Jeremiah acts like a grown-up child, the more Conrad is positioned as Belly's only reasonable choice.

That's the problem- the love triangle isn't a triangle anymore. It's just Belly selecting between the deep, romantic lead and... a clown with a $750 cake.

For a love triangle to work, both sides need to feel equal and valid in the proceedings. This isn’t that anymore for Belly because the writers have chosen Conrad, and are now just going through the motions to dishonor Jeremiah.

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What Makes This So Infuriating

The main reason why this is so frustrating is that Jeremiah was a strong character before. Jeremiah Fisher deserved to be written with depth and not destroyed for cheap drama. He’s never been perfect, but he’s been kind.

He has been loyal. He has been that boy who loves the heck out of Belly when Conrad made her doubt herself every five minutes. And that boy did not deserve to be erased in season three. He gave us an alternative to the brooding Conrad trope. Now all of that is gone and he’s just extinguished, and that doesn’t feel like organic growth-it feels like manipulation. The writers are definitely trying to get us on Conrad’s side, and the easiest way to do that is just to strip Jeremiah of everything that made him lovable.

So yes, not only is season 3 mishandling Jeremiah, it is also sabotaging him. And if this is what the "triangle'' looks like, fans have every reason to be angry. Because the Jeremiah we’re watching now?

He’s not the boy we fell for. He’s a shell of what he used to be.