Things change, whether you want them to or not. So maybe I'll change, too.
—Belly
For many years Isabel "Belly" Conklin vacationed every summer along with her family at the home of their close friends the Fisher family. However, on this latest trip, it's clear things are different. Belly notices that boys (including Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher) have started to look at her in different ways, which she's pleased by seeing.
She soon becomes part of a love triangle with both brothers. Their mother, her mother and her brother are also dealing with many dramas of their own. As they begin navigate growing toward adulthood, it turns out that a more serious issue is going to affect them all.
The series' first season, produced by Prime Video, came out on June 17th, 2022 with seven episodes. Ahead of its premiere the series was renewed for another season, to consist of eight episodes. The first three episodes of Season 2 were released on July 14th, 2023. The main cast are Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung), Laurel Park (Jackie Chung), Susannah Fisher (Rachel Blanchard), Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney), Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno), Steven Conklin (Sean Kaufman), Cleveland Castillo (Alfredo Narciso), Shayla (Minnie Mills), John Conklin (Colin Ferguson), and Adam Fisher (Tom Everett Scott). In the second season, Taylor Jewel (Rain Spencer), Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) and Skye (Elsie Fisher) are added to the main cast.
Adapted from the books of the same name, the author Jenny Han also created it.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Diversity: While the characters in the books are white, straight and cisgender, and the story mostly focuses on Belly's relationship with the Fisher brothers, the series adds a number of changes. Belly, her brother and mother are Korean American; Steven and Laurel, respectively, have their own storylines; Taylor appears in the present and her friendship with Belly is of import; Belly has female friends in the debs; original characters are added, mostly characters of colour; Jeremiah and Cleveland are both bisexual; and in Season 2, Jeremiah and Conrad's cousin, Skye, is non-binary.
- Adaptation Name Change: Laurel's last name is Dunne in the books. Due to the Conklin family's Race Lift, it is changed to Park.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Jeremiah is bi in the series. In the books, he's straight.
- Adaptational Sympathy: In the books, both Jeremiah and Conrad know that Susannah is sick again, while in the show only Conrad knows. They have the same dispositions in the books that they do in Season 1. Generally, Conrad is made more sympathetic in the show, than he originally was in the books.
- Affectionate Nickname:
- Belly is nicknamed this by her family and friends, with her full name being Isabel. Her mom also calls her Bean. Susannah and Jeremiah occasionally call her Bells.
- Laurel always calls her best friend Susannah by Susannah's maiden name, Beck.
- Taylor sometimes calls Belly, Cinderbelly.
- Conrad gets nicknamed Connie sometimes by his loved ones.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Belly is annoyed when her mom does things like relate cute things she'd done as a kid with a boy she likes nearby.
- Auto Erotica: Laurel has sex in her car with Cleveland.
- Best Friend
- Laurel and Susannah have been best friends for years. Every summer, they vacation together at Susanna's house with their kids (their husbands too generally, though not always).
- Belly is best friends with another girl named Taylor.
- Betty and Veronica:
- Belly is the Archie, torn between Jeremiah's Betty and Conrad's Veronica. Cam Cameron is also a Third-Option Love Interest, and the Betty to the brothers' Veronicas.
- Steven is the Archie, with Taylor's Betty and Shayla's Veronica.
- Conrad is also an Archie to Belly's Betty and Nicole's Veronica.
- Big Brother Instinct: Steven acts protective with Belly, his little sister, when young man Jumper hits on her, warning him off as she's still fifteen.
- Character Narrator:
- Belly narrates her thoughts and feelings, at times corresponding to her experiences in real-time, on occasion throughout the series. She also provides exposition.
- In 2x05, Jeremiah takes over as narrator, providing glimpses into his thoughts and feelings, and what compels his decisions. This includes the flashbacks.
- Coming of Age Story: The story is about Belly, who's fifteen, taking steps closer to adulthood such as kissing or dating boys while growing up.
- Erotic Dream: Belly has one about her being in bed with first Conrad and then Jeremiah (but not more than kissing them).
- First Kiss: Belly has hers with Cam at the beach party. She dishes to her best friend Taylor about this, delighted that it finally happened.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Conrad's pejorative view of Jeremiah, because Jere likes to have fun and socialise. This shows how Conrad doesn't really know Jeremiah, and that he doesn't think highly of him. In Season 2, Julia's fraught relationship with Susannah juxtaposes this.
- Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: Belly, Taylor, Nicole and Gini are skinny dipping. When the latter two leave, Nicole and Gini steal their clothes due to Nicole's jealousy over a text Belly is sent from Conrad.
- Interclass Friendship: Laurel and Beck, and, by extension, the middle class Conklins and the rich Fishers. Susannah owns a huge beach house with a private beach, while Steven works all summer to save for college tuition.
- Jail Bait Taboo: Steven warns off Jumper, a young man who starts hitting on Belly, by informing him that she's fifteen, thus underage. Jumper retreats at once.
- Lipstick Lesbian: One of the debutante girls has come with her girlfriend as her escort. Both of them wear fancy dresses with their hair styled, just as the straight girls do. However, at the actual debutante ball, one is in a gown while the other has on a tux, so whether this is either one's preferred clothing style isn't clear.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Steven has sex with Shayla on the beach (though offscreen).
- My Sister Is Off-Limits:
- Belly is displeased after learning her best friend Taylor has been hooking up with her brother, though it's partly because he's dating another girl at the same time.
- Steven, conversely, tells Jeremiah Belly is off limits to Conrad (by extension, him as well). He accepts it reluctantly once he's discovered their relationship however.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Belly is almost always called this, not her full name of Isabel.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Belly reacts to Conrad's joking mention of her parents having sex by saying it's foul and expressing half-joking disgust. She's amused on realizing that her mom had sex in the next episode though. When told of exactly what happened later by her mom however she covers her ears and says she's not listening.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: Susannah and Laurel have to ban their kids, all teenagers, from using their phones at the dinner table.
- Pool Scene: Belly, Taylor, Steven and Jeremiah have fun while they play around in the pool, with them all naturally seen wearing swimsuits that are pretty revealing. Jeremiah works as a lifeguard at a pool, so he's in such scenes the most, with his brothers and friends coming often.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Taylor only appears in flashbacks in the books. In the series she appears in the present and has a much bigger role, including a life-long crush on Belly's older brother, Steven.
- Queer Establishing Moment:
- Cleveland is mentioned to have written an article on his relationship with a man in the past. Susannah calls him gay, while Laurel replies that he's bisexual. The latter turns out to be true, since she and Cleveland have sex later, then start a relationship.
- Jeremiah reveals that he's bisexual while listing both boys and girls whom he'd kissed to Belly. He later also makes out with a boy around his age, Luke. Soon after he confesses to finding Belly attractive, after which they have a Sibling Triangle along with his brother Conrad.
- Race Lift:
- Belly, Steven and Laurel are white in the books, but Asian American in the series. Laurel's last name is changed to Park to reflect this. In the books, her last name is Dunne.
- Nicole is black in the series, but was white in the books.
- Secretly Dying: Susannah turns out to have cancer, and her treatments aren't working. We learn she'd had cancer before, and keeps it from her loved ones for a long time. All of them are very upset to learn of it later. She wanted to enjoy one more summer before her death with them without having it hang over their heads, as she's chosen not to try experimental treatments as doing that was too hard the first time on her, so Susannah just wanted to be herself in her last days. Her sons begging gets her to change her mind however and try the experimental ones.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: When she's all dolled up for attending the debutante ball, Jeremiah's stunned by how good Belly looks.
- She Is All Grown Up: The title is derived from the fact that Belly grew significantly over the past year and has become beautiful. It sparks new interest from boys due to this, which she's pleased by.
- The Show of the Books: It's the TV series adapted from the books of the same name. The author created it herself.
- Sibling Triangle: Belly has feelings for brothers Jeremiah and Conrad. They both have feelings for her in turn. She goes back and forth between their affections repeatedly.
- Skinny Dipping:
- Laurel swims naked with Cleveland in a lake after he gets her to.
- Belly, Taylor, Nicole and Gini later swim naked in the lake together too.
- The Teetotaler: Cam doesn't drink at all, which sets him apart from his fellow teenagers. He doesn't mind being unlike them at all in this. Cam doesn't push it for anyone else either.
