Pretty Little Liars, Ravenswood, The Originals, and AWKWARD: Primetime Roundup

Tuesdays this year are INSANE! When did they decide to put all these shows on at the same time on the same day? It isn’t Sunday or Thursday! What in the world??? Anyways here my roundup from last night!

Awkward: Jenna Sucks. End of story. She is the worst. Why even watch now that the lead character is unwatchable?

I can’t tell you how many times I read those thoughts on twitter last night. And yes I completely understand those reactions. Jenna is very unlikable at the moment. But I have a question to ask everyone-was she ever likeable? She is a teenage who has no self-confidence and doesn’t love herself. She has always had issues and to me, Awkward has always been about that struggle to find herself.

Surprise! really emphasizes Jenna’s struggle as a teenager. Let’s be honest, teenagers suck. Is there a single teenager on TV that anyone has ever liked? Matty and Jake come pretty close but we can’t all say that we LOVE Tamara or Ming. They both have their flaws as well. And don’t get me started on other cable teenagers like Dana from Homeland or Paige on The Americans. Teenagers are horrible human being and that is ok. We weren’t perfect at 16 or 17 so why should we expect Jenna to be? Because it’s not watchable if she’s not? That is a terrible reason. Teenagers make horrible decisions just like Jenna does when she continues to cheat on Matty with Colin. We aren’t supposed to agree with all their decisions and that’s what Awkward is trying to point out here. Jenna needs to find herself and I have a feeling that by the end of this season, she’ll eventually be on the right track…even if she has lost Matty. But he’ll be back. They’re meant to be.

The Originals: I think I might like this show more than The Vampire Diaries at the moment; especially now that Elijah is back! I love how dedicated he is to his family and how even after every pushback; Klaus still takes his words to heart. I can’t wait for our Original Trio to be back together.

I LOVED Haley in this episode. I am so glad that Klaus wants to protect her and their baby and he’s making sure Rebekah helps out. I hope that Haley and Rebekah become besties. Bekah needs a good girlfriend. And it doesn’t hurt that the actresses are already besties!

Now let’s talk about Cami and Klaus. I have never been so for and against something in my entire life. KLAUS BELONGS WITH CAROLINE NOT CAMI! But Cami and Klaus have such amazing chemistry and Cami is so kickass. I love how they are using these characters to debate the ethicalness of mind-compulsion. Did their last scene together remind you of that scene in Elena’s bedroom where he told her he loved her and they compelled her to forget? It totally reminded me. Cami and Klaus’ scene might just give that scene a run for its money. It was damn near perfect. I can’t wait to see where this relationship leads. Even if I still am a hardcore Klaroline shipper.

Pretty Little Liars: It was the annual Halloween Special last night and well…it kind of stunk. They spent way too much time setting up Ravenswood and not enough time answering questions. The most interesting part of the episode came at the end when it was revealed that Ali is indeed alive. Who didn’t see that coming? Anyways, it defiantly is still a huge game-changer and it makes me wonder who it is that is after her after all this year. I don’t think that it is Ezra. Ezra may be working for Boardshorts but I don’t think he is Boardshorts. Ali would have found a way to warn Aria a long time ago if he was. I just hope they don’t use the same storyline with Ezra that they did with Toby. Anyways, I guess we’ll see what happens in January! Now on to Ravenswood!

Ravenswood: I liked the set up. They provided an interesting reason for why Caleb needed to stay in Ravenswood, because of that creepy headstone with his name and picture on it from the 1800s. Same with Miranda, who is just adorable; I have always loved Nicole Gale Anderson. I am so glad she now has her own show.  The only problem is the other characters. I like Remy; she is sort of like a combination between Emily and Spencer and that’s pretty cool. But the twins whose names I’ve already forgotten? Yeah, they are going to need some work.

I did like the end, though. Has a series premiere ever killed off all their lead characters in the first episode before? I mean obviously they’re all going to stick around- dead or alive- but it was still a pretty neat twist. I’ll defiantly be back to check out the rest of the season.

Awkward. Review: Three’s a Crowd

I have a lot of “favorite” episodes of Awkward. (No Doubt, Fateful, Jenna Lives, ect…) It’s hard not to. This is a show that I will rewatch all the time. In fact I am pretty sure I caught every marathon MTV aired over the show’s 9 month hiatus. But this week’s episode, Three’s a Crowd, may have been my favorite episode of the series, so far.

I’ve been noticing it since the season premiere but it was most apparent last night; Awkward has managed to perfectly blend comedy and drama into a 22 minute episode better than most other sitcoms on TV.

Everything about this episode felt perfectly in sync-from her complicated relationships with Jake and Matty, to the drama with her parents, and the amazing cynical commentary on anti-bullying awareness everything about this episode was just about damn near perfect. Hell I even related to Val’s storyline for once, how weird is that?

Let’s start with Jenna and her boys. It was expected, once Matty dropped the L-bomb, that he would come an annoyance in her relationship with Jake. How could she, or he, move on if he was always around? Jenna deals with Matty in any and every way she can. First she lets him barge his way into her and Jake’s spare time then she decides to fight back by throwing her relationship with Jake in his face, and then she finally confronts him, where he denies everything. I have to say I’m liking what the writers are doing with Matty’s character more and more every week. While Jake’s character has basically stayed the same, in that he is still the most level headed character on the show, Matty’s complexity keeps growing and it only makes me love him more. It’s clear as day that he loves Jenna and that he wants her back and I think he realizes that while it may take a while to get her, he’ll eventually get her. He just has to be patient. I can’t believe how fast I turned into a Team Matty fan. I love Jake, I really do but man, Matty is winning my heart over more and more.

To make things more complicated, Jenna’s home life has turned upside down. She is still angry with her mother and now, so is Kevin. He has completely lost faith in his wife and decides to stay away from the house. There is a heartbreaking scene in which Jenna literally pulls her father’s suitcase back to his room when he tells her that he is going to stay at his mother’s house for a couple of days. My heart broke for both Lacey and Jenna. Lacey knew she needed to be honest with Kevin and Jenna just wanted her mother to know how much she hurt her. But I don’t think either of them truly realized the consequences from the fallout of the letter.

This is defiantly Nikki Deloach’s best episode for her character Lacey. Jenna’s mom is not a bad mother. She is a complicated mother. This was pointed out over and over again last season. We were constantly made aware of Lacey’s struggle between staying young and hip and being a mother and wife. And sometimes she blurred those boundaries in extremely selfish and cartoonish ways. She had Jenna at a very young age and unlike Lorelei Gilmore, she wasn’t raising Jenna on her own. I’m not saying that Kevin sticking by her side was a bad thing but it defiantly allowed for her to stay a little more spoiled than most mothers who have kids when they are teenagers. Lacey was blessed to have the father of her child, stay by her side. So she is used to getting what she wants. Now she’s screwed up; she’s screwed up BIG TIME and she has to deal with the consequences. But I think she’s handling these issues the best she can and what’s most important is that she recognizes that if she’s going to fix things, the first thing she needs to fix is her relationship with her daughter.

Lacey and Jenna have one of the best, most complicated, mother-daughter relationships on television and it is all thanks to Ashley Rickards, Nikki Deloach and Awkward creator, Laura Iungerich. Iungerich has written an incredible storyline for Jenna and Lacey this season and I, for one, can’t wait to see where their relationship goes.

The bullying commentary this week was also pretty great. I love how Awkward spins the common school event storyline. This week is the newly common, anti-bulling awareness parades. This gives the show a reason to call Sadie out on her bullying, Tamara practically tells her that they wouldn’t have needed the awareness week had it not been for Sadie, whose clothes were plastered with scarlet B’s! I love when Awkward does this. It gives them the chance to separate themselves from other teen comedies.

Is it next Thursday yet?

Other Thoughts:

~Tamara-YOU NEED TO MOVE ON FROM RICKEY SCHWARZ!!! He’s NOT worth it. Even Matty and Jake don’t get why is so appealing! CUT HIM LOOSE!! J

~ I actually liked that they didn’t focus on Jenna’s blog this week. They focused more on all the characters instead of just Jenna. I like when the show does that. More please!!

~Kevin getting in the hot tub with Jenna, Jake, and Matty? AW-K-WARD!!!

~Kevin and Lacey are the HOTTEST parents on TV at the moment.

~ “A hot tub equaled one thing: desperation. My mom was desperate for my father’s attention, and her secret weapon always involved less clothing and more skin”

~ “I was cramped, hungry, and hot in the wrong way.

~ “you have nice abs! I GET IT!” you know who else has nice abs? Jenna’s dad!

 

Awkward Season Premiere Review: Resolutions

IT’S FINALLY BACK!!!

I have missed Awkward. If you happened to glance at my twitter feed these past couple of weeks you will have seen that I was pretty much counting down the weeks/days/hours/and minutes to the second season premiere.

In the nine months that Awkward has been off the air I have rewatched the first season about 4 or 5 times (thank you MTV for your constant marathons during the painfully long hiatus.) I have only grown to love this series more and more and last night’s premiere was no different. I still can’t decide between Matty or Jake but I think I finally have an idea of who Jenna is ultimately going end up with.

When we last saw Jenna Hamilton she had just made out with Jake, told Matty he was too late, and found out that it was her mother who wrote her the “care-frontation” letter. Jenna’s world completely changed. When the second season picks up we see Jenna still trying to process her discovery. She does what almost any person would do in that weird situation, she avoids dealing with it, mainly be distracting herself with Jake but then Jake wants to make their relationship official and Jenna realizes that she’s not sure if she’s ready. One thing I love about Awkward is how deep it goes into Jenna’s head with her blog. She is not over Matty and she can’t help but wonder if her own mother doesn’t accept her, how could Jake accept her? How could she accept herself?

Jenna continues to avoid the problem by going with Jake and her friends, Tamara and Ming, to Matty’s New Year’s Eve party. This is the first time Jenna has seen Matty since the dance and she wants closer. Matty doesn’t, he tells her point-blank that he wants her back in a swoon worthy speech that had me, yet again, swinging towards Team Matty. But Jenna, still dealing with her own issues, can’t bring herself to give him that chance and instead chooses Jake, again. But this time she’s a bit more honest with him, telling him that she was in love with the guy from before. While she is still being a little dishonest, at least she is growing a little with Jake.

Now as some of you may know, I was very Team Jake last season. He is the better guy. He’s confidant, sure of what he wants, and cares about Jenna A LOT. While Matty was off caring too much about what other people thought, Jake was showing Jenna that he didn’t care, all he wanted was to be with her. But Awkward isn’t about Jake; it’s about Jenna. This is Jenna’s story and I am beginning to think that this is the story about her and Matty. Matty is her first love and she is his. This is their love story. Jake is the right guy for Jenna right now. Matty is the right guy for Jenna in the long end and I bet this season is how they find their way back to each other.

But before any of that can happen Jenna has to deal with a bigger issue: her mother. After avoiding the issue for most of the episode, she finally confronts her mother at the very end and the look on Lacey’s face is utterly heartbreaking. She knows she messed up and now her daughter knows. I really enjoyed Jenna’s relationship with her mother last season, especially in the season finale. I utterly LOVED Lacey’s apology to Jenna, even though at the time Jenna had no idea what she was talking about. So I felt Jenna’s pain when she made that heartbreaking discovery. Now I think Jenna and Lacey’s relationship is going to grow even more. Their relationship has hit rock bottom, they have nowhere else to go but up and I think they are both going to be better for it.

The season premiere was a perfect start to the season. We get to see continuation from last season in regards to everyone’s story and we also get to see the set up of a few new stories (who is Jenna’s commenter? I think we are in for a pretty great season this year and I am very excited about this! Is it Thursday yet?

Other thoughts

~Sadie was yet again, the VIP of the episode. I like getting to see her being vulnerable and I loved when she confessed her feelings to Matty. Awkward could have easily made Sadie into a stereotypical mean-girl but instead they gave her an awesome catchphrase, your welcome, and gave her amazing depth. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for this season. Also, kudos to Molly Tarlov for being such a great actress.

~Oh Lissa, still as stupid and sweet as ever. I don’t think she’s at the Brittany S. Pierce level yet but she’s getting close. “Jesus take the wheel because I’m too drunk to drive!”

Lissa: By the way, you look skinny.
Sadie: That is something a friend would say, bitch!

~Tamara and Rickey Schwarz. Oh boy T, I think you can still do better. But  at least Rickey is sorta trying…I think…

~MING! I loved getting a glimpse at her father, who apparently watches porn!

~So in regards to Jenna’s commenter. I think it’s Matty. It’s just a hunch! But he said some things that made me wonder. He was pretty damn confidant that Jenna hadn’t forgotten about him and we all know that he is pretty good at hiding things. Plus it’s a way for him to stay connected to her. I dunno. It’s just a hunch. What does everyone else think?

Awkward Season Finale Review: I am Jenna Hamilton/Fateful

For the past two months we have watched the transformation of Jenna Hamilton unfold before us. We’ve seen the accident that set this transformation in motion; we’ve seen her struggle with two boys vying for her attention and love; we’ve seen her fight and make up; and last night we saw her world come crumbling down around her as she discovered that it was her mother, Lacey, who wrote that hurtful confrontation letter.

Did anyone else feel like they were on an emotional roller-coaster during last night’s finale? I sure did. I didn’t know what to think and I am still struggling to decide if I am happy with the choice Jenna made regarding Matty and Jake.

Let’s start there shall we; with the choice Jenna finally made between the two boys we’ve both grown to adore since day one. The hour long finale focused on one major school event, the Sophomore Formal. As we saw last week, Matty had finally begun to let Jenna in. He took on, what I thought to be, the best first date ever and then continued to hang out with Jenna and her friends. It was by far one of the sweetest things Matty had done for Jenna and it had me pretty much jumping ship from Team Jake to Team Matty. However things came crumbling down rather quickly this week.

Here is where I start to struggle with my emotions. Yes, Matty was beating around the bush too much in regards to asking Jenna to formal and that she had already been waiting a long time for him to get his act together but still, he was going to ask in what looked to be a very cute way; with a giant fortune cookie. But Jenna was threw with waiting and she decided to make a choice for herself this time by telling Jake that she would love to go to formal with him. Jake has constantly been there for her throughout this whole season and he has never once let her down. Some people say he’s too sweet and too nice for her to be with but I’ve never thought that. We always choose the bad boy and they always let us down and it’s not till later that we finally realize that the nice boy is probably the guy we should have always been with. Jenna finally sees that this week and chooses Jake in the end.

But let’s be honest; it’s not over between Matty and Jenna…not over whatsoever. In fact, I’d say their story has only just begun.  First off, Jake still doesn’t know that Matty and Jenna had a thing. That still has to be revealed next season and I defiantly picture some Dawson and Pacey like fights between these two besties. Also, Jenna and Jake saying that it was easy to be with each other totally worry’s me.  I feel like Jenna has toned down on taking the hard route and gone for the easy route to protect her heart. Jake and Jenna shouldn’t want to be with each other because it’s easy, that is just going to lead to heartbreak. But maybe I’m wrong, maybe Jenna really did make the right choice and we all know that I have totally been Team Jake since the beginning; I just wish that I didn’t feel so emotionally confused about Jenna’s choice.

However, these boys are now the least of Jenna’s problems. After a wonderful night at the Formal, Jake takes Jenna home. Jenna realizes her parents aren’t home and accidently sets off the house alarm. When she goes to look for the alarm code, she discovers a box of paper, the same paper that was used to write the hurtful confrontation letter. Jenna finally realizes that it was her mother who wrote her the letter.

I wasn’t surprised by this at all. The series had spent a lot of time this season really defining Lacey and Jenna’s mother-daughter relationship; and after that beautiful and touching scene between them earlier in the episode, in which Lacey told Jenna: “Jenna, you are the best part of me, because you are not me. You’re better,” I knew that Lacey was the culprit and now so does Jenna.

I thought that this was a great revel because while it wraps up the, who wrote the letter, mystery; it also opens up a seed of storylines for next season. Will Jenna confront her mother? Will she tell her father? It’s obvious now that this revelation is going to completely change her relationship with both parents and could, and probably will, change the relationship between Kevin and Lacey. Is she going to tell her friends and Jake about her discovery? How is this going to affect her overall grown confidence? As I said, it really does open up a seed of possibilities that I can’t wait to see be explored.

I can’t believe this season is already over. I miss the show already!! Awkward really took me by surprise this summer and it quickly became one of my all-time favorite shows. The cast is fun, the story is relatable, the characters are awesome, and most of all, the show has a ton of heart. I can’t wait to see what next season brings and hopefully we won’t have to wait long! I don’t think I could survive a whole year without Awkward.

Other Thoughts:

~Love that Sadie finally what she deserved. First Lissa told her off and then Val finally stood up to her! That was great!

~I love that Kevin understands that he can’t tell his teenage daughter not to have sex. He’s such a great dad!

~Ming got to go to the formal!! Even though it was with a girl!

~Tamara still continues to be one of the funniest characters on this show! I hope they give her more storylines next season!

~Sadie and Tamara’s scene in the bathroom was priceless! “What’s wrong with hugs?”

~ “Welcome to karma-geddon bitch!”

~ “What kind of monster would do something so Resident Evil?” “Sadie”

Awkward Review: No Doubt

So Tamara didn’t write the letter, Matty became more and more adorable, and Jake FINALLY dumped Lissa. No Doubt in my mind that this was a pretty good episode of Awkward. See what I did there? Yeah…that was pretty cheesy, I won’t do that again.

Anyways…

There are some people out there who kind of find it a little odd that Tamara and Jenna became friends again so quickly after the hurtful things they did to one another. I’d just like to say to those people that it’s clear they don’t understand the working of a girl’s mind. Tamara and Jenna have been friends forever and that carries a lot of emotional weight. It’s hard to just say no to that kind of relationship, even after hurtful things have been said and done. So is not outside the realm of possibility that Tamara said that she wrote the letter out of anger and frustration and that Jenna forgave her. In fact, it’s more likely than Tamara actually writing the letter herself. I had a hard time believing that she wrote the letter anyways and for a red herring, I thought it was pretty clever one.

I really loved that Matty asked Jenna out on a date and took her to meet some of his family. It was extremely sweet and touching and I think Jenna needed that date to ease her fears that Matty was the one who wrote the letter. To me, Matty writing the letter is as much of a far stretch as Tamara writing the letter. I really don’t think Matty is that logical. Matty is winning me over more and more with his adorableness.

I loved how the writers this week contrasted Jenna, Tamara, and Ming from Lissa and Sadie. Matty and Jake have been friends with Sadie and Lissa for a while it seems. So they are very used to Sadie and Lissa terribleness. However while Jake was realizing it firsthand how terrible Sadie and Lissa were; Matty was experiencing a different kind of fun with Jenna, Tamara, and Ming and I think you tell that he was having a great time. Matty could have easily bolted after seeing Tamara and Ming at Jenna’s house when they returned from their date but he didn’t, he stayed and for that, he got brownie points in my book.

Then there was that scene with Jake and Jenna and my heart got all confused again, much like Jenna’s. Awkward had spent the past two episodes convincing me that Matty was a worthy choice for our leading lady; making me swoon whenever he got a chance and then out of nowhere they throw Jake back into the mix. It was about time that Jake broke up with Lissa. I am glad he finally saw through Lissa and Sadie’s games and ruthlessness and finally kicked them to the curb….literally. Thanks, Awkward for making this choice so damn hard.

I can’t believe there is only one hour long episode of Awkward left. What am I going to do without this show?? MTV start filming season two fast so we can get this show back on the air quickly!!!

Other Thoughts:

~I loved that Lacey showed Matty Jenna’s baby album. Such a Lacey thing to do.

~ “Maybe he is Anne Franking me.”

~“What the hell is a sex touch?”

~ I may hate Sadie as a person but Molly Tarlov is just a wonder to watch. She has really put a new spin on mean girl.

~“Riseda? Where the F is Riseda?”

~“How do you get your hair to do that?”

 

 

 

Awkward Review: My Super Bittersweet Sixteen

The infamous sweet sixteenth birthday; romanticized in movies like Sixteen Candles and exploited to the fullest by the same network that has given us this gem that is Awkward; it is both a blessing and a curse to teenage girls. This basically means that the sixteenth birthday plot should make for a good episode of a teen comedy. This week on Awkward, it is Jenna’s 16^th birthday and up until the end of the episode, it was about to be her worst birthday ever.

Last week we were all shocked and stunned by the revelation that Tamara was the one who one who wrote Jenna the letter. This week we see that Jenna has sorta forgotten that little tidbit because she still believes that what she did to Tamara (kissing Ricky Shwarz) was way worse. I wish I could have told her that it wasn’t. What Tamara did was way worse and I kinda wish that they had explored that a little more but oh well, it was Jenna’s 16^th birthday; they had other things to explore.

Jenna’s 16^th birthday started out horribly. First, she failed her driver’s test and then her father made her go to school because he couldn’t hang out with her for the day thanks to meetings. Then she gets to school and Tamara still isn’t talking to her, Ming is out sick, and Matty is still hurt by the stuff she said to him at her party. Val then embarrasses Jenna in front of the whole school by singing a birthday rap to her a lunch. Jenna then gets her period. This is not her day whatsoever.

Then Jenna goes to the football game, where Jake asks her to sit with him. I love Jake but I am starting to realize that he may be no better than Matty. I mean, he knows his feelings for Jenna and yet he still hasn’t dumped his girlfriend. It’s not fair that he is playing subtle misleading mind games with both girls, even if Lissa is a complete ditz. Matty doesn’t seem too happy with Jake and Jenna’s friendship either and neither does Sadie who out of anger and jealously spills her iced coffee all over Jenna’s shirt. That kind of confused me a little because doesn’t Jenna still have that info about Sadie’s journal? So why is Sadie still pulling shit like that towards Jenna? Jenna has some power over her and Sadie should know better; it’s going to come back to bite her in the ass.

Then there was the last 5 minutes of the episode that totally had me considering switching to Team Matty. After he took her home and she asked if they could still be friends, Matty seemed a little stuck. You could see from his reaction in the car that he didn’t want to be just friends with Jenna. He even told her that the reason her words hurt him so much was because he didn’t want her to think that low of him. It was totally sweet and honest and defiantly made me respect him some more. Than he showed up to her room late at night and told her that he was ready to commit to her because he too wanted something more. It was such a sweet Sixteen Candles type moment. How could you not start to switch to Team Matty after that scene? Totally adorable.

Why are there only 3 episodes left? I don’t want this show to go away for months!!! I want it to always be on!! It’s so good! MTV PLEASE BRING THIS SHOW BACK EARLY FOR SEASON 2!!!! It’s so obvious that people love this show, as its ratings rose this week and it was on at 11:30pm!! That is incredible! I am so happy that this show has become a huge hit because it totally deserves it!

Other Thoughts:

~Loved that they used Sixteen Candles as a basis for this week’s episode. I hope they have a breakfast club like one soon!!

~Loved Val’s impression of Long Duk Dong. CLASSIC!!

~Kyle (aka Jenna’s Stalker) is back!!! I hope we see more of him! love him!

~I can’t believe that Lacey put a mirror above Jenna’s bed. She is only 16 for gods sake! Lacey stop acting like a kid!!!

Awkward Review: The Adventures Of Aunt Ally And The Lil’ Bitch

We’ve all had one of those nights. You know the one where you drink too much and the next morning you wake up not remembering anything from the night before. Then as you deal will your killer hangover, parts of the previous night begin sinking back in to your memory and all of a sudden you cringe in embarrassment and horror. We have all had those types of nights and, almost always, they will involve a boy (or girl)…or two.

This week, Awkward toned down the super funny and upped the drama, though the scenes that led to the drama were still utterly hilarious.

Due to the fact that Jenna’s father is out of town on business, Lacey decides that this is the perfect time to invite her BFF Ally over for the weekend. Ally is your stereotypical out of control best friend who Jenna can’t stand and to be quite honest I probably wouldn’t either. This is a woman, who is well into her thirty’s who brags about how many guys she’s banged, what new drugs she’s taken, and convinces Lacey that it would be the best idea in the world to throw a kegger at Jenna’s house. She is what Lacey might have been if Lacey hadn’t gotten knocked up; which makes her the perfect foil to our lovable yet misguided Lacey.

This kegger that Lacey and Ally hold in Jenna’s honor results in Jenna having a hangover like experience. She wakes up the next morning hungover and with no recollection of the events that had happened the previous nights. We later learn that she told off Matty, calling him out on his BS about not wanting to be seen with her in public and telling him that she knows it’s because he thinks he’s too good for her as she then proceeded to make out with him.  This scene was utter perfection because let’s face it girls, we’ve all had moments like this. However, I have to say, I am kinda glad that she called Matty out on his shit, even if it did piss him off. He isn’t treating her all that well and he needs to know it.

Which brings me Jake and his adorableness. I have to agree with Jenna, he really is a puppy and I love how she told him that it was a compliment because everyone loves puppies. Granted no one wants to date puppies but still it was sweet. I really hope that Jenna begins to see that Jake really is the better choice for her. I mean here is a guy who was still there for her after she puked on him and told him off for constantly bringing up their kiss even though he still has girlfriend. I have a feeling though that his relationship with Lissa isn’t going to last that much longer. If you had asked me last week who Jenna was going to choose, I’d have said Matty but I am beginning to think more and more that she is actually going to choose Jake. He is just continuing to be the better choice week after week, even if he hasn’t broken up with his girlfriend yet.

Now we must get to the biggest twist of the night, and the season for that matter; the reveal that it was Tamara who sent Jenna the letter. I really didn’t see that one coming. I honestly thought she would have been one of the last ones to write her that letter but after hearing her confess it last night, I am actually not so shocked anymore. It kind of makes sense that she wrote it. I think secretly, deep down, Tamara knows that she would never be as popular as she wanted to be and seeing her best friend, who is very beautiful, hide under the mask of invisibility wasn’t what she wanted. So she sent Jenna a wakeup call.  Was it right? No. Was it selfish? Hell yes. But was it partly done to with good intentions? I believe so. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Right now both of these ladies are extremely hurt by actions the other has caused them. It sure will make for some interesting drama for the last four episodes of the season.

Other Thoughts:

~I loved Lacey and Jenna’s bonding moment when Lacey went to drive Jenna to Tamara’s house. I really think we are going to see these two bond more as Jenna begins to tread through these new experiences of popularity.

~I kind of wish Sadie and Lissa had shown up at the party just so they could make mean comments about how out of control it was.

~ “I’m sorry I drugged you… and that I peed in your closet.”

~ “Is it possible my mother let a guy sleep in my bed? Dumb question: Of course it was.”

Awkward Review: Over My Dead Body

Awkward is like the gift that keeps on giving. I am totally charmed by its sweet yet raunchy storytelling and the fact that we are in back half of season one makes me quite sad.

I was busy last week and totally missed getting to write a review, which I feel really bad about. However, I am back this week to talk about the awesomeness that was this week’s episode!

This week’s story of the week revolved around Drink Driving Awareness.  Every year at Jenna’s school, the school devotes an entire day to the consequences of drinking and driving. This year the guidance counselor, Val , puts on a new play titled CRASH’D, or (Counselors Raising Awareness For Students Who — the W is silent — Drink). We already knew that Val was obnoxious but this week she took it to a whole new level ridiculousness. Did anyone else have to Google what Zima was? Or shake their head in embarrassment over her gift of diet wine? Girl is utterly loony!

Anyways, while Val got more screen time than normal this week, there was actual story being told about the highs and lows of unwanted attention. Poor Jenna, after already being called that girl who tried to kill herself, Val thinks it would be a great idea to make her star of the CRASH’D play. Her character is called Dead Stacey. This is the absolute last thing Jenna wants right now considering people were still gossiping about her faux suicide attempt (“I’ve already had one lethal misunderstanding this year, I don’t need another.”) Matters only became worse when Jake was cast as her boyfriend, Dead Johnny, and she learned that her Mother was Dead Stacey 1995. There really wasn’t any way she could escape this attention.

So what does Jenna’s dad tell her? “This is your opportunity to change the conversation.” So after being, yet again, turned away by Matty and his mind games (we meet his brother this week who is played by Zachery Able, aka Carter from Make it or Break it), she decides to change the conversation. She goes to Val and tells her that she is changing the script to the play and adding some new touches to it.

Jenna ends up changing the story of Dead Stacey by modernizing it and by adding two new characters to the play, Nick and Natalie, whom are played Tamara and Rickey Schwarz (who we finallllly meet!) Her changes defiantly allowed her to change the conversation. At the end of the play, Natalie brings Stacey back to life with a 10 second kiss that makes the crowd go wild; hey “Even homoerotic tension couldn’t bring Stacey back to life.”

I gotta say Jenna sure did make the play more interesting with that little addition and she certainly got the right type of attention she had been wanting. Matty even came up to her at the end and gave her a huge hug in front of everyone.

Overall it was yet another steller episode of this completely raunchy and charming series.

Other Thoughts:

~I am totally obsessed with Jenna’s parents. I love how adorably ridiculous they are. It’s so nice to see that they are young parents who were able to stay together after getting pregnant at such a young age. They still seem just as in love as they probably were in high school. They are seriously starting to rank up in my top 10 favorite TV parents.

~I am glad that Matty is slowly starting to change a little bit. We can’t totally fault him for being a little misguided; it’s quite obvious that he doesn’t have a great role model at home. It’s no wonder he is so confused.

~HOWEVER, I am still all about Jake, who yet again, was totally adorably sweet towards Jenna. I’d feel bad for his girlfriend but she’s kinda stupid.

~I love Ming’s hats and her pop culture references. She is starting to become the new Lane Kim of TV.

~“She played Tammy in Grease last year. There is no Tammy. They just made up a character so she could die in the first five minutes.”

~I hope we get to see more of Principal Cox.

~Cliche means stupid right?

Awkward. Review: Jenna Lives

In a much more laid back episode, Awkward showed us the highs and lows of jumping to conclusions and that pesky little trait called jealousy. It was also a great episode for the wonderfully charming Ashley Rickards; she was just fantastic this week.

As we all saw last week, Matty told Jenna that he liked her but he wasn’t ready to be in a relationship with her. It was heartbreaking and to make it worse, Jenna sees a beautiful girl walk out of Matty’s car the very next school day. He has his arm around her and they flirt with each other and Jenna can only assume the worse; which is that Matty already has a girlfriend. So it is completely natural for Jenna to become obsessed about the situation. To make matters worse Jenna finds out that she kind of has a stalker named Kyle who keeps advertising her faux-suicide attempt in the form of shirt that says Jenna Lives. Naturally Jenna assumes that this is the reason why Matty doesn’t want to be with her; because the entire schools still thinks that she tried to kill herself. So not only does Jenna spend the episode trying to figure out what the deal is between hot girl Olivia and Matty but she also flips out hard core on Kyle, embarrassing herself yet again in front of the entire school. Jenna basically assumes right about Kyle (he was so totally stalking her) and wrong about Matty and Olivia. It turns out that Olivia was/is dating Matty’s older brother (find out who’s playing him, here) and that she and Jenna have a lot more in common than Jenna thought. Olivia is seen as this confident and beautiful older woman. whom Jenna calls Jenna +, yet when they have their heart to heart while ditching detention, Olivia reveals that she too is facing a similar situation to what Matty is doing to Jenna. That McKibben family, I tell yea, they don’t seem to be great boyfriend material do they? I really love how Awkwardis showing how complicated love and relationships can be in the beginning. Jenna has no idea really where Matty’s at in regards to his feelings for her. All she knows is that he doesn’t want to be in a relationship with her. Here’s something I am going to let guys know: Girls just want honesty. If you don’t want to be with them TELL THEM so they can move on with their lives. This is exactly what Matty needs to do; basically so that Jenna can move on with Jake, who totally confessed his feelings for her this week!

Who else was happy to see Jake kiss Jenna? This guy is proving to me more and more that he is a way better fit for her than clueless Matty McKibben. Yes Jake still has a girlfriend and probably shouldn’t have kissed Jenna while he is still with Lissa however I am going to cut him a little slack here. These characters are in high school and when you are 15/16 your hormones are all over the place and when you find out that this girl, who you like and totally understands you, might also have the same feelings for you, you’re going to take advantage on that situation. The key is see how Jake follows up in regards to the kiss. Is he going to break up with Lissa? We know that next week he tells Matty, how is Matty going to respond? Seeing as this is MTV, my guess is the show is going to milk this triangle for all it’s worth till the end of the season. I just hope Jenna sees that until Matty man’s up and fights for her; Jake is the way better choice.

Other Thoughts:

~Loved Ming’s purple streak in her hair, and her hats. I love Jenna’s best friends. They are both crazy awesome!

~Did anyone miss Sadie this week? I kind of did, I would have loved to at least seen Sadie say one of her mean girl lines to Jenna after Jenna went psycho on Kyle for wearing/selling the Jenna Lives shirt.

~Jenna’s parents remain one of the biggest highlights of this show. Love that Lacey’s stance on being bold is free boobin and that Kevin’s only form of punishment is taking away desert, which Lacey sees as the opposite because it will on help Jenna become more skinner and that is NOT a punishment! Hilarious!!

~Jenna’s final thought at the end, “I realize, it wasn’t my stigma or another girl keeping me from Matty, it was how I say myself” was a very great way to end the episode. It’s so true. Sometimes there really isn’t any outside factors preventing you from being with the person you want to be with, sometimes it yourself.

Awkward Review: The Scarlet Eye

We are now four episodes in on MTV’s new delightfully raunchy comedy, Awkward and it still shows no signs of going bad.

This week we got to finally see more of Jenna’s other best friend, Ming and Jenna’s parents, Kevin and Lacey. Ming gave me total Lane Kim vibes this week, especially with her relationship with her tiger mom mother. It’s great to see that Jenna has to different types of best friends; one who is a little out there and one who has some actual common sense and can pull Jenna back down to earth when Jenna needs it.

Kevin and Lacey are probably two of the most hysterical parents on TV. I absolutely love that MTV decided to have them be those parents who had their kid when they were just 18 yet managed to find a way to make it work and stay together. You just hardly hear about that anymore. Kevin seems like a great dad and a great husband, even if he does get super paranoid when he’s stoned. Every time we’ve seen Jenna’s dad I’ve liked him more and more. I hope that we get to see more of him as the season progresses, he provides a great contrast to Jenna’s crazy mom, who I am loving more and more each episode.

The guidance counselor still continues to be the most ridiculous guidance counselor ever. I mean seriously, who let this woman become an educator? Her mind is way too far deep in the gutter and while it’s utterly hilarious to watch her try and figure out the new teenage lingo like d.t.r. she still shouldn’t be offering counseling to these students. The woman is crazy.

And then we have Matty, who may be seriously adorable and cute when he’s looking at Jenna but still needs to get his head out of his ass and man up. If he loves that Jenna doesn’t about what people think about her than he shouldn’t either. He’s a coward and I feel so bad that Jenna can’t see it. I can’t blame her too much though because I was a teenage girl once myself and when you have a crush and that crush likes you, nothing else matters; even if that crush is a douche. I hope she can finally see that Jake is way cuter and way sweeter and is totally crushing on her as well. I think its becoming more and more obvious that he is the better choice.

Overall another great episode of Awkward! I can’t wait for next week where it looks like Jenna might finally get to see Jake in a new light!

Other thoughts:

~Did anyone else want to see Sadie melt when Tamara hosed her down??

~ I missed Lissa this week. I hope she’s back next week!

~Ming: Do all boners look like weapons?

~ Lacey: We could take a nap…
Kevin: Okay!
Lacey: NO! We are not old!