TV Romance

A Full Breakdown of the ‘Ginny & Georgia’ and ’TSITP’ Fan Debate Over Marcus & Conrad

Morgan Pryor •June 9, 2025, 1:33 pm
Christopher Briney in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Season 2 (left) and Felix Mallard as Marcus in 'Ginny & Georgia' Season 3 (right).
Prime Video/Netflix

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Ginny & Georgia Season 3.]

At a glance, Ginny & Georgia and The Summer I Turned Pretty don’t have much in common. Sure, they’re both coming-of-age dramas, but the former has romance in its subplots, with a murder trial taking center stage this season. The Summer I Turned Pretty’s storyline, on the other hand, is driven entirely by romance.

But after Netflix dropped the third season of Ginny & Georgia last week, fans were quick to point out that there actually is a parallel between them: The respective love interests of each series, Marcus (Felix Mallard) and Conrad (Christopher Briney), are two sides of the same coin.

In Season 3, Ginny & Georgia continues to explore Marcus’ depression. He broke up with Ginny (Antonia Gentry) in the prior season and began to focus on battling his own demons. They still love each other, but Marcus feels like he can’t be there for Ginny in the way that a boyfriend should (plus, of course, Georgia (Brianne Howey) warned him that he wasn’t the guy for her daughter).

The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn’t lay out Conrad’s mental health struggles in quite such explicit terms, but the similarities are clearly there. In the wake of his mother’s death, we see Conrad struggle with his grief in Season 2, culminating in a panic attack on the beach. He also withdraws into himself, shutting out Belly (Lola Tung) emotionally and calling it quits with her at prom.

One fan called Conrad “the long lost brother” of Marcus in a viral X post, and we can totally see it. Many agreed that the two characters are variants of each other. Like Conrad, Marcus lost someone close to him in the form of his childhood friend. They’re both deeply in love, but they can’t fully commit themselves to it and want to spare their significant others from their pain.

As many users chimed in in agreement, there, of course, are just as many that called out the differences between the two, sparking a debate amongst viewers of both series about who is the better love interest. Primarily because Marcus shows up for Ginny throughout Season 3 during her mom’s murder trial, despite not officially being together, he’s become the fan-favorite, as opposed to Conrad, who handles his relationship with Belly differently in Season 2, retreating entirely.

“Marcus is who you guys THINK Conrad is,” another user explained.

Others used the debate as an opportunity to call out viewers that love Marcus, but dislike Conrad’s character. “I love Marcus and his portrayal of depression is sooo important but please help me understand how Conrad does the same thing and people call him toxic,” a user wrote.

In Season 3, while Marcus does communicate his issues more clearly to Ginny, he also has plenty of more destructive moments as he develops an alcohol addiction. For one, he puts his sister Max (Sara Waisglass), who tries to help him open up to his parents, through the wringer.

Where do you stand on Marcus versus Conrad? Let us know in the comments below!

Ginny & Georgia, Season 3, Streaming now, Netflix

The Summer I Turned Pretty, Season 3 Premiere, Wednesday, July 16, Prime Video