Taylor Loved Belly Loudly, but Did She Actually Give Her Good Advice?
Taylor Jewel is excellent in a friendship emergency.
She will arrive at Cousins, help save a beach house, plan an entire wedding and defend Belly before Belly has finished explaining what happened. If loyalty were a competitive sport, Taylor would already have the matching outfit and a routine prepared.
Across three seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Taylor grows from the friend who kisses Belly’s brother behind her back into the person Belly trusts with her grief, her wedding and the feelings she cannot admit anywhere else. Taylor loves Belly loudly. She shows up.
But showing up and giving good advice are two different skills.
Taylor’s support for Jeremiah originally made sense. In the first season, she watched Belly spend years waiting for Conrad, only to become anxious whenever he showed interest and confused whenever he pulled away. Jeremiah was warmer, clearer and willing to tell Belly how he felt. Taylor was not choosing between two fictional heartthrobs from her sofa. She was watching her best friend get hurt by one boy while another appeared ready to love her properly.
By the end of Season 2, Taylor had become the unofficial captain of Team Jellyfish. Even her first date with Steven turned into an argument about which Fisher brother Belly should choose. Taylor defended Jeremiah while Steven defended Conrad, because apparently nobody in Cousins can finish a meal without discussing Belly’s love life.
And Jeremiah really was what Belly needed at that moment. Lola Tung said after the Season 2 finale that Belly chose the person who was present, fought for their relationship and offered the emotional support she wanted. Belly made that decision herself. Taylor did not drag her into Jeremiah’s car and press play on Beyoncé’s “XO.”
The problem came later, when Taylor continued treating Jeremiah as the correct answer even after Belly’s feelings stopped matching the answer sheet.
By Season 3, Taylor is helping Belly plan a wedding that has warning signs arriving faster than the flowers. Jeremiah slept with Lacie during their breakup. Belly accepted his proposal soon afterward. Laurel refused to support the marriage, and Belly was living at Cousins with Conrad while pretending his presence meant nothing.
Taylor stayed focused on helping Belly make the wedding happen. She searched for dresses, helped with the bachelorette party and even tried to convince Laurel to attend the bridal shower. Her loyalty gave Belly somewhere safe to land when almost everyone else was questioning her.
It also meant Belly rarely had to sit with those questions for very long.
The clearest example arrives during the bachelorette party. Belly discovers that Conrad, rather than Taylor or Jeremiah, convinced Laurel to attend the shower. The gesture unsettles her enough that she later admits she has not felt completely sane since spending Christmas alone with Conrad.
Taylor does catch the contradiction. According to Harper’s Bazaar’s episode recap, she asks why Belly hid that Christmas if nothing happened.
That is exactly the question Belly needs. Taylor simply does not take it far enough.
Belly is three days away from marrying Jeremiah. She is crying in a bar bathroom about another man, has concealed an emotionally important meeting with him and cannot explain why. At that point, the useful best-friend response is bigger than calming her down. The wedding itself needs to become part of the conversation.
This does not make Taylor a bad friend. Belly has spent years giving Taylor edited versions of the story. Taylor knows about prom, Conrad’s silence and the pain Belly experienced. She does not always know about the private Christmases, interrupted kisses and feelings Belly refuses to name until they are already causing damage.
Taylor is protecting Belly using the information Belly has given her. Unfortunately, Belly’s information comes with several missing chapters.
There may also be a personal reason Taylor prefers Jeremiah. Rain Spencer described Taylor as someone who takes care of everyone because she is afraid they will leave. In Marie Claire, Spencer explained that Taylor can abandon her own needs while trying to prevent abandonment by other people.
Jeremiah looks like the safer choice through that lens. He is expressive, affectionate and eager to create permanence. Conrad’s instinct is to retreat when he is overwhelmed. For a person who fears being left, Jeremiah’s visible devotion may feel more trustworthy than Conrad’s quieter love.
Taylor is also more similar to Belly than she realizes. She tells Belly to choose the boy who communicates clearly, while spending years in an on-and-off relationship with Steven. During the bachelorette weekend, she even helps Steven pursue Denise while hiding her own feelings. Taylor criticizes Conrad for stepping aside and deciding what is best for Belly, then performs a smaller version of the same move in her own relationship.
That contradiction makes her interesting. Taylor is not a relationship expert standing outside Belly’s mess. She is another young woman inside her own mess, trying to give advice before she has solved the same problem for herself.
Spencer told The Cut that her rule for friendship is to listen without judgment, create a safe place and tell the truth. Taylor masters the first two. The third takes longer.
Jenny Han has said Taylor’s family story was included to explain why she protects Belly so fiercely and how deeply she loves people. That love is real. Belly chooses Taylor’s room after Conrad confesses his feelings on the beach because she knows Taylor will make space for her before demanding an explanation.
The upcoming movie may give their friendship one final chance to grow. Lola Tung previously told People that the story still has unfinished business involving Jeremiah, Steven and Taylor. With filming now complete, we do not know how much of that will involve Belly and Taylor, but their friendship has its own loose end.
Taylor always knew how to help Belly continue with a decision. Sometimes the best friend has to put down the wedding checklist and admit that the bride does not sound ready to get married.