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It\u2019s decided: This is the summer we all turned thirsty for a very questionable love triangle. That\u2019s right, we\u2019re talking about The Summer I Turned Pretty \u2014 the Gen-Z soap opera that has everyone from grown-ass women (*raises hands*) to Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai<\/a> in a choke hold. Super Bowl-level watch parties have taken over homes (this woman\u2019s dedication to the TSITP theme is\u2026something<\/a>), bars, and NYC\u2019s Bryant Park<\/a>. College-level dissertations on The Microscopic Engagement Ring Seen Round the World<\/a> have flooded feeds. Fans have tracked down \u2014 and ostensibly bought \u2014 Belly\u2019s exact wedding dress<\/a>. Even NFL players have pledged allegiance<\/a> to Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah (Travis Kelce, we find your answer highly suspicious<\/a>).<\/p>\n All of which brings us to the obvious question. No, not why anyone over the age of 7 would voluntarily go by the name Belly. But, as one TikTok cruelly highlighted<\/a>, why those of us north of the target demo are practically living for the next episode of a YA drama. Not to get too deep, but a few theories. Sure, who wouldn\u2019t want to cosplay as a 20-something without any commitments or bills, you know, given…everything? Or it could be that TSITP is both aspirational (after all, Conrad and Jeremiah are two of Cousins Beach\u2019s most eligible bachelors) and absurd (we\u2019ll forever feel secondhand embarrassment over these scenes<\/a>). But our money is on the fact that showrunner and author Jenny Han is spiritually an elder millennial, so TSITP has more in common with Dawson\u2019s Creek and One Tree Hill than the mindfu*k that is Euphoria. There\u2019s a soundtrack that our middle-school selves would\u2019ve burned onto a CD, a vision board-worthy setting (the filming location is surprisingly familiar<\/a>), a scene as formative<\/a> as that Blair Waldorf striptease<\/a>, and two very divisive love interests \u2014 fitting for the the generation that made male heartthrobs our entire personality (Team Seth, assemble). Though, for the record, we\u2019re Team Date Someone Outside the Family.<\/p>\n