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!