To love them both

Teen romance has never been short on cliches, but lately, my TV screen has me saying, “Oh brother…” 

Literally.

Anyone keeping up with Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” or binging Netflix’s “My Life with the Walter Boys” is seeing it too; this season, two brothers falling for the same girl is all the rage.

And frankly? It’s enraging. 

Wars are breaking out on social media as fans pick their sides. My For You page has become a battlefield of rallying cries: “Team Conrad!” “Team Jeremiah!” “Team Alex!” “Team Cole!” 

It’s easy to get swept up in the drama and dive into the thrilling debates love triangles are designed to create, thinking only about who the heroine should choose in the end. But here’s what’s often forgotten: her romantic choice isn’t the only relationship on the line.

Imagine loving someone completely and believing they love you in return, only to discover they’ve fallen for someone else. 

Now, imagine that “someone else” is your sibling: the accomplice to your heartbreak. 

Talk about a dagger to the heart. 

I’d like to believe this doesn’t happen nearly as often in real life as on our screens, because on TV, it’s becoming almost routine. While “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “My Life with the Walter Boys” may be trending now, this twisted triangle is anything but new. These shows simply follow in the footsteps of teen dramas past.

Perhaps the most infamous offender is the long-running hit series “The Vampire Diaries” (2009-2017), in which Stefan and Damon Salvatore manage to fall for the same girl not once but twice. 

The Salvatore brothers spend most of the show’s eight seasons fighting over Elena Gilbert, but first, they both loved her doppelganger, Katherine Pierce. An iconic villain, she famously said, “It’s okay to love them both. I did.” 

But is it really? Sure, Katherine was iconic, but she wasn’t exactly a beacon of morality. And although she reveled in loving Damon and Stefan at once, she wound up with neither. 

I guess sometimes you really can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

Even in the best-case scenario, if the girl manages to actually make a decision and fully commit to one brother without destroying their bond… then what? She’s stuck with a lifetime of awkward family get-togethers and the constant risk of having to pass the mashed potatoes to her ex at Christmas.

Is that image alone not enough to convince us to keep romance out of the family tree?

Despite all this, reason tends to fly out the window in regard to good TV. Humanity loves nothing more than to be entertained. So even as I roll my eyes at the trope, I find myself double-tapping posts about Conrad, Cole and Stefan while scrolling right past Jeremiah, Alex and Damon. 

Love triangles aren’t going anywhere, and honestly, I don’t want them to, but maybe it’s time we gave brothers a break.

Somebody remind these boys: bro code exists. Especially when it’s your literal bro. No crush is worth a family feud.