Shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty and My Life With the Walter Boys have pushed a very particular romance trope back to the fore: the love triangle between brothers. The obsession says something about us.
For anyone raised on My So-Called Life and Dawson’s Creek, the essay’s author notes, a certain idea of love got internalised early — that it wasn’t real unless it survived some serious obstacle, ideally a triangle.
As a teenager, every connection can feel fateful even when it’s really just proximity. The trope taps that feeling: high stakes, divided loyalties, and the fantasy that being chosen means being chosen over someone.
Its current revival suggests the appeal hasn’t faded — a reminder that we still like our on-screen romance with a little manufactured opposition.
