Belly isn’t a good daughter either. She blames the divorce totally on Laurel, blatantly says things like Laurel doesn’t know anything about style, ignores Laurel’s grief, and outright tells her she wishes Susannah had been her mother instead of Laurel. Im sorry but she kinda had the slap coming. And that’s coming from, someone who has an abusive parent.

So being a teen excuses Belly, but grieving the person she was closest to, doesn’t excuse Laurel?

I think it's because she holds Belly to a higher expectation, which is wild because we've seen what that has done to Conrad, out of all of the parents Laurel is definitely the better one but doesn't make her the best, however you've got to remember she's human as well and that she's not going to be perfect. Laurel should have never slapped Belly and the people who praise her for doing so in the fandom are evil.

I think it’s an unfortunate mix of the worst time of laurels life and Belly being a teenager and fighting back against the perceived control she feels especially from her Mum. It’s a perfect storm, Laurel trying to keep control and keep the show on the road just riles up Belly at the worst possible moments but she’s still trying; she’s not doing any of it intentionally they’re just disconnected in a similar way belly and Conrad become. Laurel is hiding her emotions to protect and Belly is craving to see someone feeling their emotions the same way she is.

With the slap - yeah it’s really harsh. But Belly said an INCREDIBLY harsh thing to provoke and she intended to cause that significant pain to her mum. The fact Laurel immediately feels awful and apologised also speaks to her not being a terrible mother but dealing with tough situations poorly. Obviously you shouldn’t hit your kids but these kinds of things do happen in real life occasionally - not everyone is perfect all the time, it’s how you cope with your worst moments after the fact that says the most though.

Exactly. Every scene with belly and laurel laurel just HAS to make some sort of condescending remark to belly

Raised by POC mother and still find Laurel insufferable

I don’t think anyone is praising Laurel for being parent of the year. I also think that grief is complicated and messy and just because you’re a parent doesn’t mean you know how to get it right. Overall, I think it’s hard to blame one person when everyone is experiencing intense grief, I don’t think anyone is getting much grace. Belly has said some hurtful things to her mom too (she’s a teenager I know) but I bet that still hurts when in laurels eyes she was doing the right thing by being by Susannah’s side

THANK YOU! I don’t understand how people don’t realize that she’s been an awful parent the whole school year. Belly was always making sure she was taken care of, had food, etc. in the beginning few episodes because she knew her mom was mentally checked out. I’m sure Laurel is dealing with grief, but you still have to show up for your two kids/check in to see how they’re doing. They’re also dealing with the loss as well.

I couldn’t agree more!!!!

belly did not introduce herself to love too early, susannah did. belly never got a chance to see the boys as anything other than love interests because susannah was constantly telling her from birth basically that she’d end up with one of them. if only susannah had a daughter of her own.

Such great perspective! And so true! They should have found their own way, Belly is so impressionable from a very young age, her love life her life choice etc., and she put Conrad on a pedestal and then of course when he showed a bit instability or struggle, the bubble she and Susannah created broke that's why she had trouble trusting him sometimes and "didn't know". But I think it's true that love is real, it's just not evolving at the right track..

Thank you for this thread. Her personality is focused too much on the boys and romantic love. I mean while growing up and in school, I've seen girls who were boy crazy but that's just weird. Her other personality is volleyball - which doesn't get explored enough. We have French but then it is also such a back of the mind thing for her. It's weird to see that from her since Steven is such driven person and I think being his younger sister would've made her a bit more ambitious. Also Laurel also comes across as a very practical women. Idk but it was all Susannah's feeding into her that she is made for one of the boys and then taking it too seriously (she was a kid and she idolised Susannah )

Omg thank you for bringing this up. I think this is actually an underrated and unexamined part of the story. Belly’s childhood obsession over Conrad is honestly one of the biggest reasons her and Conrad couldn’t find their footing. The unrealistic pedestal she put him on was part of their downfall and also part of why Conrad couldn’t fully trust it either. Can you imagine being an 18 year old boy and you’re starting to have feelings for a family friend but before you can even explore it, you realize it comes with soooooo much expectation. From the parents and from this girl who’s had a crush on you since she was 10. That’s a lot of intensity to start a real relationship with.

Also for belly, she couldn’t ever trust that he could ever love her as much as she loved him. It made her feel foolish and naive. So in a lot of ways, the preteen crush and idolatry of Conrad has actually provided their relationship with more challenges than anything. It fed into Conrad’s hero complex and made belly constantly feel insecure. They love each other so much but neither of them could trust it fully and here we are seeing the fallout of that.

I am like convinced at this point that Laurel was in love with Susannah and that is why she is such as bitter and cold woman.

Sorry but I can’t stand Laurel and I don’t care to know anymore about her failed marriage. She made some good points but at the same time she is projecting her feelings and experiences onto Belly. They are two different people in two different relationships. She got married because she was pregnant. Belly is marrying Jeremiah because she loves him, they’ve been together for over four years and want to take their relationship to the next step. Do I think they could wait a little longer and Belly go to Paris first and they both finish school? Yes of course but they don’t want to wait and they are both adults, it’s not like they are still in high school making this decision.

If I thought Laurels reaction to this whole thing was just them being too young it would be more understandable to me. However, in the fight between her and Belly she made a point to say that how could Belly possibly know who she wants to spend the rest of her life with. That spoke volumes to me that she doesn’t feel she should be marrying Jeremiah and that it would be a mistake. She says all this while my guy is sitting downstairs and can hear everything she is saying. He didn’t deserve that. She doesn’t take Belly’s feeling seriously or trust her to know what she wants. She has been there for the past four fucking years seeing Jeremiah love and be there for her daughter and in her eyes he is still not good enough. Even John said “they are good together” he can see it why can’t she.

This season is pmo so much and I’m tired of everyone shitting on Jeremiah. He loves his girl so much and he is trying. He’s not perfect but I honestly believe that he would give her the world if he could. I’m just watching for Jelly at this point. When she most likely find her way back to Conrad I hope Jeremiah gets far away from that family. Laurel wouldn’t be acting this way at all if she was marrying Conrad, that’s just my opinion. how will that make Jeremiah feel to see everyone accept it especially Laurel when they were so against Belly and him.

Laurel doesn’t deserve John. He seems like such a nice guy and she treats him like shit. I wonder how she treated him during the marriage. Not interested at all in seeing them rekindle things, he deserves better than her. I would be more interested in knowing what his backstory is. And I like how he doesn’t necessarily agree with Belly getting married but nothing is going to stop him from being there for his daughter on one of the most important days of her life. Glad Belly had one parent in her corner. Laurel is willing to risk the relationship with her daughter cause she is stubborn.

I know? These are privileged kids who’ve been together 4 years and known each other their whole lives? Laurels acting like Jere is Satan and Belly will die if she marries him it’s ridiculous. You’re supposed to support your kids not emotionally abuse them until they do what you want. She’s a full adult!!

I know! Does Laurel think divorces are life ruining? Pretty sure they aren’t!

I can't tell if they're just trying to gaslight us into forgetting that leaflet or if Laurel is trying to gaslight herself, John and everyone else because she wasn't happy with her marraige and has to blame it on "something" other than her being emotionally repressed with her husband.

Laurel tried with Belly. I feel like this is a forgetful memory of how Belly oftentimes blew off what Laurel said.

Yeah after Conrad was literally sleeping over at their house and they all did thanksgiving together to be dating Jeremiah after that? Belly’s parents should have freaked out the way they did for the wedding at that point. They shouldn’t have allowed it/supported it. 

Considering how stubborn they all are, I just don't think it would work. Plus nobody really knew all the details except for Taylor. Adam had no idea, Laurel didn't realize how serious it was. I feel like only Susannah could've prevented this mess. She was very aware of the situation.

I hate that we never got to see laurels reaction to her dating Jeremiah 1 month after Conrad and their mother literally just died. Insane behaviour.

Adam also should have said something to Jere about dating his brothers ex but you know he's useless so nobody expects that from him, its always on laurel.

Steven was GOAT to call belly out on this! He called her out very early

Laurel knows he cheated?

It's so messed up but who would stop it?? That's literally the problem. I wish someone from the trio had a backbone, most of all BELLY.

In the book, there is mention of Belly, Laurel and Beck looking at a purple dress. She wanted it, and Laurel said no. On the last day of summer, Laurel got it for her and put it in her room. Belly thought it was from Susannah, but it was revealed that Susannah forgot about that dress, and it was Laurel who got her the dress.

Belly and Steven don’t deserve Laurel😭 I still think about that one episode where they throw a party before the house was supposed to be sold and it got trashed and she slaps Belly for being irresponsible. Like why would you throw a party after your mom’s bestfriend just died… in a house that’s not yours??? Irresponsible and entitled as fuck, yet Laurel helped them up clean their mess. Laurel also let them get away with smoking and drinking (which an Asian mom would never let happen btw) and they’re still disrespectful to her.

Couldn't agree more!! Like she's not flashy or overly emotional. She's always looking out for Belly in a real way. She's not blindly supporting whatever belly wants, but actually thinking about what's best for her long-term. That scene where she tells Jeremiah that they're not ready for marriage was lowkey legendary!!

agree, laurel is honestly one of the most logical characters in the show now. Everyone is either cheating on eachother or fucking around.

Belly complaining about laurel and telling conrad she wished susannah was her mother has always made me so mad - appreciate the lady who looks out for your best interest and challenges you, not the delusional woman who tells you what you want to hear and placated you with romantic delusions.

I think on some level it’s frustrating because belly doesn’t recognize that Laurel, her mom, loves her so much. But also, she loves Susannah because her mom did, and she I think forgets that she’s her mother’s daughter and is just like her.

Yes, Susannah never had a daughter so she saw Belly as the daughter she never had and really played up the whole thing of Belly being the only girl, and the youngest, so she was the baby and the princess. And because they were mainly around one another during summer, Susannah had to get all of her “surrogate daughter” spoiling done in that time. So when Susannah passed, all of that was amplified. To the point that everyone else still acts like Belly is the baby princess who needs to be coddled and handled with kid gloves, even when she’s in college. Susannah told her over and over, like a fairytale, that Belly was destined for one of her boys. And Belly believed in “the wonder” of that, and held onto it, even more so once Susannah passed. And it all spiraled out of control.

Susannah continually calling Belly "our girl" to Laurel always rubs me the wrong way, I think because she always does it when Laurel disagrees with her (like the whole Deb Ball thing and the bedroom) and it's like she's insisting she knows better than Belly's own mum (even though Laurel showed she knows her kid best).

Also another detail is that Belly thought Susanna bought her the dress and ran to hug her and there was a flash of a look of pain on Laurel's face until Susanna said that Laurel was the one who picked up the dress.

I wonder if the show is ever going to address and untangle how ultimately unhealthy a lot of the Cousins’ dynamics are. 

Also to the point of your post it does make me hate that the show HAS to end with her picking a brother. I think a lot of the characters would be better off if they realized there is more to the world than your childhood friends and high school ex’s. They even seem to be pushing Laurel and John back together as if sticking with the familiar is the only path forward. 

“With much less support than the boys had” …let’s not lie. Two loving parents, a wonderful brother, a loyal best friend.

I’m sorry Belly doesn’t get an equal claim on the loss of Susannah, compared to Susannah’s own children.

Sorry but belly was so insane for the way she began her relationship w jere. Like i still cant fathom it. So she initially ditches him the moment conrad is honest w her. I wont blame her for that bc jere was aware of her and conrads feelings for eachother and tbf w sussanahs cancer revelation it was all a bit messy. Although it was kinda distasteful bc it was giving she’ll just take what she can get.

Anyways then less than two months after her breakup w conrad and less than a month since the funeral she begins aggressively pursuing jere. Its wrong for so many reasons. I cbf to even begin listing them bc its been discussed alot but yeah. Imo shes very self involved and i feel like her level of grief for sussanah is not the same as the boys. Its different when its your mom. They barely had eachother and a shit dad.

I also dont wanna dislike belly but i feel like the hate train towards her is gonna get bigger this season. Bc her choosing to jump into marriage w jere is so insane and a bad decision for so many reasons. And if the leaks are true in terms of how the wedding ends shes gonna be hated all over again. And validly bc jumping into marriage like that is an immature decision.

Everyone is to blame for the love triangle, some more than others (cough cough Jeremiah). However, I disagree with your point regarding her grief. The way you phrase it makes it sounds like Belly is Susannahs child. She had a lot of grief and losing Susannah was horrible. But you can't compare that with the boys losing their actual mother

I've been seeing this so much more lately and it frustrates me! Like let people make mistakes! It is okay and it isn't real life. But also people make mistakes in real life too, that doesn't mean shaming them and acting superior to their decisions will make someone else act better. While Belly isn't exactly a complex character - she does have layers to her that we haven't seen fully yet.

She will have growth which will be the Paris storyline BUT I think the issue is she regressed from S2 to what she is now. For me it shows her codependent relationship with Jere and that it’s low key toxic

Why is this getting upvotes? I feel like I'm calling this out almost daily across multiple platforms. The internet these days thinks uncommon or socially unacceptable thoughts/behavior are an indicator of mental illness, and that's just not true.

Sure it's just a show but posts like these spreading this ideology is harmful bc it perpetuates false labeling/diagnoses. She’s a messy and immature person, not "manic and unstable with psychological issues"

guys… idk how to tell u this… but she isnt a real person… shes a character on a show…

For god’s sake she’s just young and immature she is definitely not manic. Yall are weird as hell.

what’s wrong with ppl ..she definitely needs therapy but where tf do u get manic from

What a ridiculous statement. A 21 year old making mistake, immature and being impulsive doesn't make her unstable.is conrad unstable then too with his impulsive actions?