#after season 1 especially ashlyn's relationship with ej

[thefabelmans2022]

it's crazy how t*m f*derle wrote exactly one (1) consistent well-rounded three dimensional character and it was seemingly by accident?

[itsasweater]

HSMTMTS thoughts before season 4 pt. 2

So this is my second part after my re-watch of season 1 through 3 before the final season airs. After giving my thoughts on the seasons in general I thought I would talk about the ships on the show since a lot of new content dropped. The discourse has been interesting to say the least lol

Warning!!! I am going to be brutally honest about the ships on the show because I don't mind discussion, discourse or pushback. I'm not going to put any anti tags because I think the fandom could use some brutal honesty right now, especially with the severe lack of media literacy when it comes to this show and it's ships.

Rini (Ricky and Nini or is it Nina lol):

So I would categorize them as a typical Disney ship, pretty cookie cutter and unoriginal. It's the typical relationship that was formed because of childhood and growing up together. This type of pairing has been done before and will certainly be done again. So for a new show it is understandable to promote this relationship to bring in the audience.

During season 1, the show placed a lot of easter eggs that would forecast the downfall of this relationship, re-watching season 1 definitely helped me catch more of them. As curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn pointed out, throughout season 1 Ricky is looking for comfort and emotional support from Nini but he doesn't get that from her because she doesn't understand what he is going through when it comes to his home life with his parents. Obviously Ricky spends the first half of season 1 trying to get Nini back with her not giving him the time of day, until the homecoming episode changes everything for him because of a certain new girl (Gina). He kind of forgets about Nini while building this new relationship, a relationship that both Nini and EJ notice. The show eventually has Ricky and Nini come back to each other towards the end of the season 1. The thing that stands out to me the most is that in order for them to be put back together, they literally had to remove Gina from an episode for it to happen. Shows tend to do this a lot, when they want a certain pairing together they remove another character so that the pairing can stand alone without any competition in the scenes. But to me this is something that always makes me go hmmmmm you had to remove a character and stop total interaction in order for this pairing to get back together. Ricky and Nini have the moment in the finale where he confesses to her bringing up all these moments from childhood and bam end of season. I think a major reason why that confession scene did nothing for me is that he mentions all these moments that he has had with her from their childhood and we the audience didn't see any of it so it kind of falls flat. How am I supposed to be invested in that speech when I didn't see those moments. I also think putting them back together just regressed their characters. I always have a hard time watching that scene because the acting was just off, I think it was mentioned that they let Josh improvise it and maybe they shouldn't have.

Season 2 starts with Rini back together and in the very first episode Ricky looks directly at the camera and says that him and Nini are never breaking up ever again lol. I don't know if needing media literacy is necessary for that line because the show is spelling it out for the audience foreshadowing that they are going to be over again. That line was not a mistake, it was telling the audience to be prepared. Nini starts the season by not being truthful to Ricky about leaving and going to YAC until she just blurts it out with everyone around. The communication with these two has just always been non existent. Nini doesn't even know that Ricky moved, she goes to his old house yet Gina knows his new address, that's another thing that made me go hmmmm and wonder. Nini starts feeling held back by Ricky and that he doesn't like/love her for the right reasons, which makes her write the Rose song that is clearly about Ricky even though she denies it when he asks her. Ricky gets all excited when Nini comes back and thinks she came back for him but in a brutal way tells him that she didn't. She was already off the bus when he called. Where having media literacy comes into play is understanding that with everything else in Ricky's life changing which is something that he hates, his relationship with Nini and Nini herself represents something the same. He clings on to Nini because he wants at least something to be the same and not change like everything else in his life, which is unfair too Nini. Midway through the season they break up with Ricky initiating it with him saying he doesn't like who he is/becoming while with Nini. The breakup scene was honestly done really well. Obviously the relationship was needed in the end so that the characters could grow and understand what they actually want.

It surprises me how many people in the fandom still cling to this relationship because they were truly miserable with each other during season 2. If you truly cared about the characters you would not want them back together, they clearly outgrew each other and just didn't work anymore. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised though that people still cling to them because of the weird Jolivia stuff that I still see. Liking Rini and wanting them back just seems to be a cover for Jolivia's, like seriously people.

Lastly, people in the fandom like to say that if Olivia didn't leave the show or that if the drama didn't happen Rini would have been endgame yet season 2 was already written before all of that. Like I said at the start, the easter eggs were already planted in season 1 for the downfall of the relationship. I certainly think Rini was definitely endgame if the show was a limited series having only 1 season because of how season 1 ended with them together, they couldn't end it on a cliffhanger with no resolution. They did not know if they were going to be picked up for another season, once they did, they were able to go in the direction they wanted too.

I was planning on going over all of the ships in one post but by the time I finished my thoughts on Rini it was already too long lol so I might just do a post everyday leading up to the new season on the other ships.

Thanks for reading if you did! If you just read the title, thank you!

[pluviophile-bookworm]

HSMTMTS season 4 reflections: I have been changed for good

It's been an incredibly wild ride and I was overflowing with emotions even before watching the final season, but now... the emotions are even stronger. I've let them settle down a bit and I think I'm ready now to share a list of my favourite and least favourite things about this season (both lists in a completely random order, though more or less chronological, if anything).

My favourite things:

‘It’s a good thing the cameras won’t be in our faces back at school. Right?’ This has the exact same energy as ‘Nothing will shake these ivy walls’ in School of Rock, and I love it for that. I'm all about the dramatic irony.

Alyson Reed as Ms Darbus looks just like a much older version of Ashlyn as her in season 1. What I’m saying is, the casting choice of Ash as Ms Darbus was on point.

I learnt the hard way back in season 2 not to get too invested in any core four relationships, but Ricky and Gina… they’re kinda it. I mean, just look at them, they’re so cute. Also, I've come to realise that, as an aroace autistic person who loves shipping, I mostly tend to ship canon couples only, except for when I don't perceive them as having chemistry. Conversely, I will sometimes ship non-canon couples if I perceive them as having chemistry. This will be important a bit later.

Rina's duet with the montage of season 1 references. That was so beautiful. And don't get me started on their Can I Have This Dance... Miss Jenn was trying to get through the table read quickly through all the chaos and wanted to skip over the songs, but Gina was just like 'no, I'm not doing that'. And we love her for it.

Ricky’s ‘You can tell it’s a joke because I laughed’… so me-core. Love it.

I found the bit about Troy and Gabriella being in couple's therapy so funny... I wonder, is that anything like Therapy from Tick Tick Boom?

Now or Never, the audition version (and the show version, too, but especially this one). That was the definition of Slay.

As a newly dog-favourable person, I would agree with Ricky — puppies are everyone’s kryptonite. In one way or another… I mean, can you believe that up until this last April, I would just literally go out of my way to avoid crossing paths with any dog of any kind, and then I put it into my head that I wanted that to stop, and now I’m this close to actually becoming a dog person? All this to say… I really appreciate those puppies. Everything really is better with puppies.

Ricky's background character in the film was giving Thayne Jasperson in Stick to the Status Quo. I enjoyed that.

Ashlyn's iconic 'I'm dying, I'm deceased, yes' is back again, and once again it comes in connection to Ms Darbus. We love to see the parallels.

Nightmares Come to Life is such a good song, though. Hallowe’en-y, creative, but also reflective of the characters’ very real fears and anxieties. Might be my favourite. Or it might not -- remains to be seen.

Why are all of Ashlyn’s songs the best in the show? Idk, but I might be warming up to Madlyn after this. Call It What You Want is quite something and their chemistry is off the charts.

Redlyn have always been so in sync, they even broke up with so much love and respect and amicability... I've heard the phrase 'We can still be friends' so many times, but they're one of the few ex-couples where I actually fully believe it.

EJ and Ricky’s duet is everything, and they’re finally, finally letting Matt sing… took them long enough.

Big Red in the last couple of episodes -- I literally teared up instantly even upon his first appearance, and with the exception of the extremely stupid and unnecessary cheating storyline, I just enjoyed seeing him one last time and especially getting to say a proper, less embittered goodbye at the end.

Carlos' recap in 4x6 goes hard. Pun absolutely intended. As were all of his go puns in it.

4x6 is the most Glee this show has ever been, even if we take season 1 into account. This is basically the '2009' episode of HSMTMTS, and my favourite of this season until the final one.

Seblos being back and making me believe in love again. I think the world healed a little after that duet. Though I've got to wonder... if it was meant for Ryan and his partner in the film... what is the script making those two go through to warrant such a song? I'm just curious, is all.

Dreams Don't Die, and Emmy's energy throughout the entirety of this season. It's been a sight to behold for certain.

Miss Jenn sending out Ricky's college application behind his back (Troy and Ms Darbus much?) and Mr Mazzara, Benny if you will, vouching for him. The world has truly turned upside down.

EJ and Big Red and Seb showing up for opening night (and Ricky carrying on Nini's opening night cards tradition), the way the gods intended. Big Red expecting to be 'screaming, crying, throwing up' (huh, a bit like on BATB opening night in season 2, innit?), and EJ just vibing to the entire first act, while Seb sings along like his life depends on it.

Carlos and Kourtney being magnificently fabulous as Ryan and Sharpay. Also, Seb just walking out there amid the number and planting one on Carlos with no warning. I sort of got Nick Nelson on sports day in season 1 of Heartstopper vibes from this. 'This means we're a thing'... we love it.

EJ’s scene with Miss Jenn… when did he become so wise? I was going to ask that about his scene with Ricky in 4x5, but this, this is something else. This is an adult conversation he’s having. It was even officially labelled as such. I just… I love this boy, this young man, I really wish him all the best. I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me this during season 1, but I shall miss Elton John Caswell.

'Antoine' not really being French was absolutely something I'd called all the way back in 2x7, but back then I certainly couldn't have called him being interested in Big Red, and not in a million years Big Red being interested in 'Napoleon over here', as he once referred to him. Then again, back before I watched this season, I'd never considered the thought of Redlyn not being endgame, so there's that. But I'm now 1000% here for it. As I mentioned a bit earlier, I ship canon couples if I see chemistry between them. (Also, it took me longer than it should have, but... Andy? Like Andrew? They literally didn't bother giving the character a name.)

The last ten or so minutes of it all, with Denny's and Born to be Brave and For Good at the end... now that was a sendoff such as this show deserved.

My least favourite things (some of them I find mildly irritating, others I'm actually enraged by; I hope it comes across which are which):

In the entire first half of the season, feeling like I couldn't even say 'Seblos' anymore bc they felt, for the first time since forever, like such separate entities which didn't seem like they'd be one again. That was painful for a while.

The 'Seb and Big Red cheating on Carlos and Ashlyn together' plotline... like, not only is this sticking an arguably biphobic stereotype on my favourite character, but it also feels extremely out of character for both of them. Another bit which just hurt to watch and to think about.

This is a bit of a gripe with HSM3 itself, but also with the fact that this version did nothing to change that up -- the two genders according to A Night to Remember: excited for prom and dreading prom. Interesting how I've always identified with the latter and to this day regret going to my prom... oh well. This is one of those mildly irritating ones.

The way Emmy pronounced Jean Valjean... I mean, nobody’s perfect. Even Mike Faist says ‘mischievious’. But this was a bit much for me. Still, it was sobering in this emotionally charged moment. I sort of needed something like this to take me out of things for a bit.

So yeah, it's clear to see that I liked more about this season than I disliked. At the end of the day, I walked into this season expecting to feel a bit 'meh' about it and walked out all like 'how can I sleep at night, pretend that I'm fine leaving it all behind'... That's been HSMTMTS, and it's been quite a wild ride. Because I knew you, I have been changed for good, indeed.

[atomicpoetrymusic-blog]

Just wanted to say my piece about hsmtmts s3 as a whole, and why it means so much to me. This is a full on ramble (what can I say, I shouldn't have gotten started), so don't feel obligated to read.

This show has been so important to me recently, as I have been going through a lot in my personal, professional and general life. 'Finally Free' and 'Here I Come' in particular mean the world to me, I honestly cry when I listen to them.

Secondly, I just absolutely adore Rina. There is something so special about this relationship, and though I have a couple issues with that final scene, I have to say the build up over the seasons was beautiful (and super frustrating, but in a good way). Josh and Sofia have such great chemistry, and the characters are so wonderfully written, it's insane. As a writer, I want to have this level of skill. I feel like I can't fit all my thoughts on Ricky and Gina into an overview of what I enjoyed, so I'll move on.

I really liked the new characters, especially Jet and Maddox, and was so happy with the brief appearances from the other cast members (especially Seb and Big Red). Although I never particularly liked or connected with Nini (nothing to do with Olivia, Nini just wasn't my cup of tea), her goodbye scenes were really well done and made me emotional.

I really like that Redlyn both came out, but were still happy in their own relationship. They clearly love each other, and are comfortable enough with each other to be open and honest, which is honestly so nice to see. Whether they further explore that or not, it was a sweet way to end the season for them. I also just love the fact that we see Ashlyn go on this whole journey of discovering her sexuality, and then Big Red just swoops in after not being seen for ages, casually announces "I'm bi" on an international stage, and then just dips. Honestly, so in character for both of them, I love it.

I myself have struggled with anxiety for pretty much my whole life, so Kourtney's arc has also meant a lot to me. I genuinely sobbed when I watched 'Let It Go' (the song, not the episode). It also goes to show that even if you put up a brave exterior, or are interested in performing, you can still have these nerves (as a shy, introverted theatre kid when I was younger, I can relate), and also that they can persevere, even if you have made steps to reduce the fear.

Carlos's body image issues are also something I can relate to, and I liked how they handled it, though I think it should be touched on more next season, if only briefly. It felt a little pushed under the carpet in favour of moving the plot along - due to episode lengths, budgets and behind the scenes stuff, I completely understand why, it just felt a little underdeveloped.

Because I am a diehard Rina shipper (and have been since season 1), EJ's plot this season has been harder for me to digest, but I think the writers handled it fairly well. We have seen in previous seasons how he feels undervalued by his dad (Cash Caswell is a terrible father, and I will stand by this), and EJ's struggle to achieve perfection is really quite difficult to see, as he just keeps being let down by his dad over and over again.

Ultimately, I think he needs to develop himself without a romantic relationship to fall back on. EJ needs to learn who he wants to be in his current stage in life, and focus on himself. I do agree that he hasn't had the recognition he deserves for directing and featuring in the show, but he also didn't take into account what others (especially his girlfriend) were feeling about how he was treating them, and he, like Gina did before him, needs to find balance between achieving his goals and maintaining healthy relationships. Another reason why Portwell just aren't suited to each other right now.

Jet and Maddox's sibling relationship was also pretty well done, and I love that by the documentary promo release, they are basically the epitome of sibling culture - teasing, but ultimately caring. As a little sister myself, it felt natural and sweet, and Maddox teasing Jet about his crush on Kourtney is absolutely something I would do to my brother. Saylor and Adrian definitely both exude big sis/little bro vibes when they're together, and were well cast, specifically as siblings.

I also liked the Ricky aspect of the Jet/Maddox dynamic, and what it meant to his character as a whole. Ricky, being the sweet sunshine child he truly is, tries to get to know Jet, despite knowing nothing about him, in an attempt to 'wear his dark soul down'. He really believes that he can get through to Jet, even though most of the others are wary.

This is a pattern with Ricky, it seems, as he has also attempted to break down the barriers with Lily, and actually succeeds at getting through to Gina. Though his relationships with each of these characters are different (and have different meanings not just to the audience, but to Ricky as well), it shows, rather than tells, that Ricky is the kind of person who sees the good in people and actively tries to encourage that goodness. This is character writing at it's finest, and the writing team should be proud.

I saw somewhere that Ricky's interfering in the sibling rivalry was because he, as a child of divorce, had the idea that getting 2 people in a room will magically get them back together and everything would be ok. As a child of divorce myself, this take hit me hard, but I can't say I disagree. It is quite interesting how this sort of behaviour and thinking can develop over the passage of time, and I think it was well-executed.

Gina, as well, has had really good character writing. Despite it being her 'Summer of Firsts', she shows how mature she can be, not just in her breakup scene with EJ (which was very well done), but also in taking Emmy and Alex under her wing. Despite the slight missteps in her approach to begin with, she ultimately helped Emmy out of her shell, and supported her through her nerves. Gina really did manage to find balance between wanting a leading role, while also being there for others, and it was done in a way that felt natural.

This is nowhere near everything I have felt and observed about this show, but I'm happy for now.

In conclusion, I love this silly little Disney show more than I probably should, and I can't wait for season 4.

[27emailsicantsend]

ok so i've read like every interview, and there's been a few positives and a very minimal amount of things that made me worry. the first being, even though tim has admitted that rina has been planned since season 1, i'm still not sure if i can trust him that rina will be the ship he finally respects enough to keep together. even redlyn, which was probably the longest running ship on the show, is falling apart, and they're throwing in random obstacles for seblos. what will set rina apart and free them from tim's predictable plot turns? him also calling the finale a "small" win instilled fear in me because after 30 episodes of not being canon, if he does something in season 4 that will drive us away, i'm not sure i'll be able to watch the show again. do you have any thoughts or am i just reading too much into things?

I totally understand the fear, anon! It can be hard to know what could happen to them, especially after the s1 and s2 curses of r*ni and p*w. But here’s the difference: rina is the couple that keeps beating the odds. They’re the “second chance” couple. We’ve seen them not work with the people who are supposedly their other “best options” (outside of each other). We were supposed to see all of the alternative endings that rina could pursue instead of each other (nini, ej, jack, and lily- two new people and two people they know and could work with well- that also represents parts of their personality they already know [nini was home to ricky and ej was chaos and the unexpected plots for gina]), to know why they work better together. So in my opinion, this was another genius from Tim. I think him putting the kiss at the end of s3, gives the viewers the chance to see that rina will defy the odds that have been set up. That everything that was the plan “was never the plan” and that they ��keep surprising us”; that they’re each other’s second chance. We got a s3 kiss specifically so we could compare it to the other two couples and say, “rina worked out at the end of the season when the other ones didn’t, why is that?” (The answer is soulematism, btw).

I think we’ve seen just about every up and down rina could go through as singles to keep them from being together. I think their new challenges aren’t going to come in the forms of love triangles because we’ve already seen that on both sides. We know how those plots end. I think their challenges will probably come more from, can they keep up as a couple just like they did as friends? Can they put each other first as romantic partners? Do they support each other in every decision like they did before?

I know redlyn is getting some spotlight on issues but those are VERY different. We’re seeing red and Ashlyn come to terms in their sexuality. Last season, it was them being complete opposites in what they found “fulfilling” in life (ash was lots of clubs and pursuing tons of interests and red was being in his small town with the people he loves- both different, both valid). I think their relationship struggles are going to look different because they’re dealing with different things than rina. We’re not exploring Rina’s differences or sexualities, but moreso who they are as new and improved people within the context of a relationship.

I think Tim saying “small win”, wasn’t to minimize the win or make us think we’re getting nothing else. I think it was to say it was small in comparison to what we can expect next season.

I get the hesitation and I think Tim has really proved himself over the last few seasons where his writing is going. All of his interviews point directly at rina. I think their biggest issue might be ricky graduating, but we really don’t need to worry about that until s5 (🤞🏻 which I’m hoping for). The only reason you would need to worry about them not being endgame is if they weren’t the main couple. But they’ve been so strongly developed and set up to be the main couple of the show (the troyella, if you will) that it would be counterintuitive and frankly, just bad writing for Tim to split up rina forever and ever. It would completely undermine all of their growth and arcs, as well as the proof we’ve seen over and over that they work better together. They are very yin/yang because they really do make up for what the other lacks. They are two halves of a whole.

I have a feeling we’re going to be ok :)

[witchybibliophile]

HEYYYY HSMTMTS PEEPS LMK THOUGHTS ABT S3 FINALE 🤯 alsoo spoiler alert for this entire post - AND pls feel free to dm abt this

cause honestly I’m so disappointed with it aaaaaaahhhh the way they focused more on grand musical numbers than the individual character arcs hurt me for realll. Except for Kourtney’s, Emmy’s, Corbin’s and Nini’s arcs which were honestly pretty near immaculate and I’m so here for them ❤️

But yeah especially Ashlyn, EJ, Gina and Ricky deserved better 🥹

EJ first - Soo EJ’s coming to terms scene with his dad hanging up on him seemed like a small thing to sway him and I’d have loved to see more an aha moment for him after that, like a solo song for instance? Overall I do like the idea of his arc being focused on finally fully letting go of the pressure from his dad and living life authentically for himself, but it wasn’t handled in the best way and I sincerely hope they give us more on this next season.

Gina - I guess this goes quite well after EJ lol, anyways I’m a kinda sad that EJ couldn’t go on his self-discovery journey TOGETHER with Gina and that they’d be that supportive couple more that got through hardships together. There was potential that they’d reconcile this episode for instance after EJ’s dad hung up on him. He could’ve got this epiphany that damn he will fight for who he loves and tell Gina he’s ready to commit to their relationship.

Okay sorry that EJ got into Gina’s arc but honestly I just think this was a missed opportunity with them. Overall Gina was amazing this season standing up for herself as well as being so supportive of EJ in their relationship. The basketball confidence song and playing the leading lady role while also remaining so true and supportive of her friends (esp “sister” Kourtney) were definitely highlights of her arc for me this season.

The moments with Ricky could be interpreted as loaded with romantic tension and him admitting he had feelings for her earlier on kinda foreshadowed where they’d end up. I do like the idea of these two as a couple but honestly giving Gina A MONTH to admit her feelings for him just feels a bit dragged out and inauthentic. Them getting gradually closer and closer as friends only to finally admit their feelings for eachother is what I think I was missing here and what made that final kiss feel a bit hollow to me.

Ricky - I’m happy Ricky decided to dump Lily immediately starting the season and seeing him head back to his true friends did feel right. I love how he supports Jet with his relationship issues with his sister so much ❤️ that was probably one of my fave things abt him this season.

The way he’s always a reliable friend to Gina (I guess conversely to EJ who’s so busy with the whole director thing) is also sweet and I guess this does give the vibes of friends getting closer to lovers as they already established a close friendship bordering on romance back in S1. But it just feels a bit off as Gina is now with EJ, and giving us thoughts of Ricky and Gina’s romance throughout the show makes me think that they really didn’t give Portwell much of a chance 🥲 I guess this reflection paragraph actually made me feel more okay with the end’s confession and kiss, but then the 1 month time skip feels a bit unnecessary as Ricky and Gina have already come so far together.

Ashlyn - Her queer awakening in ep7 was EVERYTHING and I just felt so sorry for her that she ended up hiding that part from Big Red in this episode. Idk what to feel about them now, because there were scenes showing them seemingly happy together like nothing had changed and then scenes where Ashlyn was clearly uncomfortable. I do hope that she gets the queer storyline she deserves and that it really gets some focus on it next season. The whole Big Red being bi bomb at the end also felt like it stole a bit of her moment, by throwing yet another change at her. Honestly I don’t think she needs a serious romantic relationship right now, she should be free to explore her queerness on her own.

[rlnacore]

I've seen a lot of people (especially more recently) trying to give a whole variety of reasons why it's impossible that Ricky delivered the chocolates, and why it was most likely EJ- and most of them make 0 sense. So I'm going to debunk some of them :)

1. EJ would've had Gina's mom's number meaning contacting her wouldn't have been a problem, but Ricky wouldn't have it.

- Out of all the arguments I've seen against Ricky delivering the chocolates and it being EJ instead, this one probably makes the most sense. With EJ buying Gina that plane ticket in season one, they definitely would have exchanged numbers to arrange travel arrangements for Gina. So I don't disregard that all, he definitely does have the number. But for some reason, a lot of people find it unfathomable that during the almost 2 months between Homecoming and Thanksgiving that Gina and Ricky were hanging out together (canon), that he wouldn't have somehow gotten a hold of her mom's number. In case it's been forgotten she did show up to his house in 1x07 unplanned, meaning she'd been there before. It could be as simple as her phone died once when they were together and she used his phone to text her mom, or even that her mom- knowing Gina finds it hard making friends- just wanted to know who her daughter was spending all her time with and wanted to exchange information (probably with Mike to). So yeah I think this is a fair(ish) argument but super easy to explain away.

2. Ricky was at home when Gina got the chocolates.

- This one is not even a fact, its just guessing his whereabouts at the time of the delivery. If anything, the window of time between Gina leaving Ricky's house and him sending his voicemail to Nini, backs up the theory that Ricky was the one who delivered the chocolates. We know that Gina went to see Ricky at some point between 3 and 4pm, and she received the chocolates around 9:30pm and texted Ricky back just before midnight, which was also the time he send his voicemail to Nini. His whereabouts between those times is a complete mystery to us the audience, we have no clue what he was up to. But to me at least, that window is more than enough time to: text Gina's mom about what's going on with her, formulate some sort of plan to deliver them and then have her mom text her soon after and get home just before midnight in time to play his song for Nini. Because otherwise that would mean that he just decided to wait over 6 hours at home doing nothing, not going to see Nini or anything and then play the song right when Valentines Day was basically over. So yes I think it's possible that he skated over to Ashlyn's, dropped off the chocolates, skated away and hid or whatever, sent his own text to her, then sent a text to her mom that she'd received the chocolates and she should send her own text (which she maybe didn't see til later).

3. EJ is known for sweet gestures, and Ricky has never given or shown Gina any sort of sweet gesture.

- Up until Valentines Day, the only "sweet gesture" that EJ had given Gina was the plane ticket back on opening night. So by 2x03 he wasn't particularly known as the sweet gesture guy because it was only a one off occurrence- at least until 2b. On the other hand to say that Ricky has never given Gina any sort of sweet gesture is false. Especially considering that the gesture she was referring to when she said she speaks from experience was when Ricky serenaded her in 1x06. I've seen some people say that the she was talking about the plane ticket which narratively doesn't make sense. The whole point of her saying she speaks from experience was to remind us of Gina and Ricky's relationship before she moved and he got back with Nini and show us how much has changed as a result of those events (also to reinforce that Ricky is an oblivious teenage boy).

Here's some reasons I personally think it wasn't EJ

- Ashlyn's house is like a second home to EJ, so he would've just walked into the house to drop them off.

- There's no way in hell EJ would've walked to Ashlyns, he definitely would've taken a car meaning we would've heard a car driving off by the time Gina got outside (I think Ricky used his skateboard

- Ricky is the only person who would've thought to be so anonymous about the chocolates, considering he's the only one she told how important a vday gift from her mom was to her.

In conclusion, speaking from a storytelling perspective, there's not really any logical reason for EJ to have delivered the chocolates or for it to have been made such a big deal of even up to 2x12 if it was him. Their storylines didn't cross over at all until 2x05 and before that point they had 0 interactions. A reveal that it was EJ would be meaningless because there was no storyline between them at the time of the incident.

[organic-guacamole]

I've got a lot of thoughts on this finale.

starting with the length.

27 minutes? really?

I'm not asking for a 2 hour episode but cmon, at least give us something closer to 40 minutes.

next, the characters

the characters just didn't feel like themselves, especially portwell.

all season long we saw how much potential they had, how well communicated they were, how good they were at being a proper, healthy couple, and now they just can't talk to each other?

it doesn't feel like them.

portwell had arguably the best set up of all the other ships, they showed us how good they had the potential to be only to throw in a cheap plot to wrap it up? I would understand that they want some angst to make the ending all the more satisfying, but this was pathetic.

there I said it.

of all the ways to add drama in a ship, don't use the one that completely contradicts their entire development.

paired with the length of the episode, it seemed even more poorly written.

here I made a lovely, handy dandy homemade graph to represent how I see portwell's storyline:

as i said before, we saw the build up being nearly perfect. they peaked during episodes 9-11 because they just had the chemistry, the communication, and the most potential to be the endgame couple.

they just got eachother.

then we get Jamie popping in for 10 seconds and erasing a lot of that, only for mediator Ashlyn to jump in and solve their problems.

then there's the "kiss".

I know that Sofia is underage and that even if she/her legal guardians consent to the kiss, the writers can still decide not to show it, but still. In my opinion, if you're not going to show the kiss, then don't bother.

there are other ways to establish a relationship that would work better in this situation. Of course if they get together they'll have to kiss sometime, but one way they could postpone it is by having Gina be a bit more reluctant to give away her first kiss like that. it could also show how accomodating EJ is.

I like to think that Gina is very meticulous when making decisions so she'll probably want to be very sure of the relationship before giving him her first kiss. perhaps she'd stick to cheek kisses until she's ready, and then she kisses him and he's surprised.

that would've been, in my opinion, a sufficient way to hold off the kiss while still wrapping up portwell until season 3 when Sofia would be 18 (assuming they get picked up for S3 this summer then start filming fall-winter. Sofia will be 18 in January).

as my friend @rtcosley (idk why it's not letting me tag them, so their page is linked) said,

"They created like 10 plots

And instead of wrapping it up

They added 4 more"

there's just so much more they could've done...it's the season finale for crying out loud.

I get that seblos already had (what I assume is) their storyline for the season, the fight and resolution. Ignoring the fact that that only lasted for 2 episodes and didn't have anything to do with what we were expecting, (i.e.the financial differences between their families, as mentioned in episode 1, the fact that everyone treats seb like he's stupid, this being carlos' first show and the drama that the stress of that caused, etc.), seblos had to purpose this episode than to stand next to eachother and be gay.

I get that they're not part of the core four or anything, but the poster for season 2 has all of them, as opposed to season 1 just being the core four.

They deserved better, just like redlyn and kowie.

redlyn's arc was pretty early in the season compared to the other ships. they had Ashlyn confessing her insecurities in episode 3, antoine stirring the pot of confusion and causing a bit of distance between them briefly, and then big red confessing his goals and plans for the future in episode 8 and for the rest of it, we just see them getting closer and more comfortable with each other and caring about each other more and more.

they had a good arc together.

but that's just it. I wanted to see them have their own arcs. but then again, this show can't seem to balance multiple storylines. I think it is possible, but not when they keep adding new characters that don't contribute anything much to the story(more on that later).

kowie's storyline is... confusing.

I really like their dynamic, how carefree and happy Kourtney gets around him, how she's remaining true to herself and managing a million and one things, plus a relationship in her own without losing herself to it all.

but the main issue I have is that the entire development was never shown.

we went from strangers, to coworkers, to friends that flirt, to lovers that text constantly and went on numerous dates (and Howie met her mother at some point). but all of that, was off screen.

it's like the writers made every episode with them in it kind of thrown in at a new stage of relationship progression and said "here, accept this, no questions asked because we don't have answers"

I just wish we could've seen more of howie trying to get in her good side again after episode 7 because it seems like that's when a lot of it happened.

I appreciate the Rini scene in this episode, seems to be the very end of them, for good this time.

i'm happy about that.

Ricky especially deserves to be free for a while to focus on his development, and Nini has the chance now to really shine through her talents and make a name for herself.

The Rini storyline is the only one I'm fully satisfied with.

now, that being said;

what the heck are they trying to pull with Lily and Ricky rn???

just like that.

after lily being the villain this whole season, they're just gonna not redeem her and then have her confess her feelings to Ricky, a guy she barely knows and only talked to to harass and intimidate, and for him to reject her publicly then call her afterwards?

please I hope it's just to say "you dropped something, here it is and never contact me again, thanks." /hj

speaking of the villains, this season was promoted as the season of rivalry between North and East High right? so why did that plot idea only progress in about 3 out if 12 episodes?

we got Zackey Roy in there for a few episodes then he disappeared, Lily just caused Gina to stay true to her friends in episode 2 and 7 and then basically did nothing else?

this is what I mean by the new characters providing nothing to the show.

the writers can't manage having so many characters and plots at once so they start so many promising arcs, only to kick them aside later on.

we already know that the first half of the season felt like filler episodes, so I think they could've cut those down to leave room for the more important plots to take root, rather than have them pop up and get rushed at the end of the season.

all that, and they just add 4 more plots at the end of the season.

this post sounds very negative looking back...but if I'm being honest with myself, I'm just very very disappointed.

I love this show so much and I really expected better for the season finale, especially if they don't know if it's getting renewed or not.

given the IMDB ratings of this episode so far, I don't have very high expectations for the renewal, but I'm still hopeful because this show is a great thing, one of the best things that happened to me over the course of this quarantine. I've become so attached to this show, the cast and the friends I made through it, that I don't know what I would do if it just ends like this. writing these reviews and posts about this season has been so fun for me to do and thinking that this may be the very last one is a painful thought.

I'm sorry if you were expecting this post to be as light-hearted as my other posts about the episodes, I just had a lot to say about this episode in particular.

all my episode posts are tagged with "#guac's episode text blocks :)" in case you wanna read through and reminisce the simpler times🥲

[ginasrickyfav]

THINK PIECE: RINA LOVE STORY OF HSMTMTS 🥰

Let’s start from the beginning, Rina has always been set up... it’s always been there in the script, the show, etc. Tim might have not thought it would be big but he definitely planned it. Gina being intrigued by Ricky, Ricky not being scared of Gina. They naturally get each other. Their connection is deep and organic doesn’t feel forced unlike some of the other pairings.

Now onto the beauty and the beast theory... I believe the story of Belle and the Beast are being played by Gina and Ricky.

It’s quite obvious why Ricky got the Beast, bc tbh his audition was rocky— he had to get the beast because theorically he is the Beast. He doesn’t like change and has attachment/abondment issue but we will get into that later.

Now Belle is Gina even though she doesn’t play Belle in the play she is still the Belle- the girl everyone wants to be, be with, the one who has one of the biggest storyline this season except for Nini/Nina. Gina is very important this season, she wants to leave Salt Lake City because she feels there is nothing there for her... she misses her mom, she doesn’t have Ricky in her corner, none of her friends are seeing that she is sad— no one is asking her how she feels and is doing. Belle misses her dad and wants to leave the castle. It hurts Gina to see Ricky and Nini happy together because she could have had that if she knew she wasn’t leaving. That’s the main reason she wants to leave. Gina’s input on a lot of things matters... mostly to Ricky that’s why he went to her multiple times this season about Nini. Belle is the one who helps the Beast through change, which Ricky needs to do. Gina does help him through that as we seen in Season 1.

Now Ej is playing Gaston, I personally don’t know much about Gaston except he is in love with Belle and wants her to love him back. The thing is Ej and Gina are getting closer in 2B... In multiple scenes it is shown that Ej is showing feelings for Gina (weird but anyways). It’s becoming very one-sided as of right now, we haven’t seen future episodes so I can’t really speak on Gina’s feelings because we haven’t seen her side. She only has stated they were friends and co-anchors which is normal- she wanted to get back to normal after the fake dating act... she wants the best for him, she wants someone to talk to and not feel lonely. Same as Ej, they are both lonely and seek the attention and “friendship” they both want. I feel like portwell is a stepping stone for Rina, they will realize they aren’t it for each other they don’t “get each other” the way Ricky and Gina do. Plus Ej is confusing this friendship for feelings because they are getting closer but he doesn’t realize that he needs to focus on himself and preparing for college instead of looking for a girlfriend in the last 2 months of high school. Like what does he even want to do? Does he want to go to college? He didn’t get into Duke but what does he now want? he said his life had been planned out for him— now it went left so now he should be figuring out what to do now.

As of now we have just seen Gina tell Ashlyn about her telling Ricky “I wouldn’t quit on us if I wasn’t leaving” and how they never talked about it since then. Which makes everything make sense (kinda) Gina ignoring Ricky, Ricky being like why isn’t she speaking to me, the awkwardness, the romantic subtext, the freaking flashback- which was filmed in 2019??! and was kept a secret helloooo?!! She asked Ricky to find someone else to confide in about Nini, now they are speaking. But the thing is they have to speak, especially about “opening night”. If they don’t that will be left unresolved and that whole thing is from 1B and 2A combined.

Now Nini/Nina who is now free from a relationship and has rebranded herself as Nina. She is thee Rose, the Rose that has been confined in a glass- the Beast’s Rose. Who literally plays the Beast’s Rose in the play. Nini’s whole arc is about finding herself outside of boys— finding who she is as a person without being defined by someone else. This has been happening since season 1 but her character along with Ricky had regressed backwards when they got back together at the end of season 1. She was done with boys then see Ricky move on with Gina and now she wants him back. But now she is realizing she won’t be confined to the Beast’s POV (Ricky’s POV).

The symbolism is crazy on this show I swear. The dog tag and guitar pick also show symbolism of the Rose being confined in glass. The dog tag coming off two seconds into the breakup is showing how Ricky is realizing he has to let her go and start accepting his change and his relationships changing. Nina still has hers on maybe because she has fully grasped that they are over and that she had to let go— even if she has already mentally did it. She emotionally hasn’t. Her head mind she wants to be her own person but she still loves Ricky deeply. Yes, she is doing great and moving on to bigger and better things... but we have to see her physically take off the guitar pick like we seen from Ricky.

Also the lighting this season has been very dark, compared to last season. The theme is darkness because the Beast was keeping himself in his castle in darkness— Ricky nothing wanting anything to change. The Rose still being confined. Gaston still wanting Belle. Belle being sad and wanting to go back to her dad. As soon as the character arcs start developing more - Ricky accepting change and his parents divorce (every relationship isn’t meant to last forever), Nina accepting that she can break out of her shell and do something that truly makes her happy (her songwriting and music), Ej accepting that his love(feelings) for Belle(Gina) are taken for kindness same with Gina most likely and that he will be fine without a girlfriend and should focus on the future that he has and that he should do something for him and not his dad (maybe NYU or community college), Gina accepting and understanding that she wants to stay at East High and that she has friends that truly care about her and want her there, and speaks her truth with Ricky (they finally have that conversation about opening night). The lightning will lightning back up around episode 11 or 12 when most of these story arc wrap up.

The main storyline is Rina when that second chance happens and they have the big conversation about opening night and last semester, the story will lighten back up, Ricky is now accepting change and Gina is now accepting that she is wanted and that staying will be the best choice because this will be a stable “home” for her. - how ashlyn sung home to gina hehe.

[turtlegirlave]

So this has a ton of opinions which I usually stray away from but i really let all my opinions out here. Also there is definitely fact mistakes, probably name mistakes and some incorrect singing terms in here, I wrote this at 2 A.M. with a limited knowledge of theater I’m just trying to get a point across.

Why s2 of hsm the series should have been newsies instead of beauty and the beast:

They say straight up in the show “we need a real Alan Menkhen musical” and they pick beauty and the beast instead of newsies, a literal Broadway stage production???

At first I assumed it was because the cast was primarily male, but that isn’t even a reasonable argument. 1)as shown by s1 when a boy played sharpay, gender doesn’t matter when being considered for a role. 2), a cast with multiple male leads would give the gay men in the show a chance to shine, instead of shoving them to background roles like Chip. Not to mention Carlos is a dancer, and newsies is a musical driven by choreography. 3), since nini moved there are only like 2 lead females anyway, which works for the 2 female roles in newsies.

Casting Wise, the play works SO MUCH better!

Ricky: jack kelley is a much better role for him than the beast for many reasons. First, their personalities are very similar with the mischievous main teen vibe, so the role would be like Troy where Ricky can slip into it easier. Second, it fits him better vocally. It is very clear from listening to Joshua basset sing that he has a relatively high vocal range, and singing low notes or in a deep voice doesn’t come as naturally to him. Jeremy Jordan has a similar vocal range, where he stays in higher octaves and more rarely uses a deep, monotone voice (at least never to the beast’s extent). Ricky would sound perfect singing in Jack’s vocal range. The beast, however, sings almost exclusively in an extremely deep, monotone voice that Joshua cannot easily perform.

Ashlyn: not only does she look quite similar to Katherine, but they have similar personalities as well. Also, katherine’s high and bubbly singing voice would sound lovely with Ash’s, which is also high and bubbly but often softer. This would allow her to push herself to sing louder and more confidently. And she still gets to play a smart bookworm lead female role.

Kourtney: she was born to play miss medda larken. Mrs. Potts’ debut song “beauty and the beast” is a soft romance ballad, which does not match kourt’s stadium reach, strong, powerful voice. “That’s rich” not only shows off her vocals better, but matches her personality and voice much better with the grit and power behind it. Also, Mrs Potts as a character is the soft, motherly type. Miss medda is a rambunctious, empowered, “I got men if I want em but I don’t need em” kinda woman. Which role better fits the girl power, loud, activist, personal cheer squad type person that Kourtney is?

Carlos and Sebastian: not only would this stop shoving the gays and only interesting men other than Ricky to background roles (sorry big red), but it would show off their talents. Seb would make a wonderful crutchy, with his innocent nature and likeness to the character. It would also give him a chance to flex his vocals and sing a duet with Ricky in Santa Fe, further developing the friendships in the show. Carlos could play really any of the main boys, I mostly think he would kill in this due to his dance and choreography skills, which newsies really emphasizes.

Big red: PLEASE this boy would be perfect as Ben Cook’s role (can’t remember the newsie’s name). They’re both the kinda dumb but endearing friend type, and he leads “king of New York”, a song with a killer tap dancing break, which is the whole reason big red wanted to try out! His chemistry with Ricky as crutchy would make that a fine role for him too, but since Sebastian has stronger vocals I think it’s better for him to take a more prominent role while big red relies on his dancing skills over singing.

Gina: though there’s no more lead girl roles, I think she would kill it as mr. Pulitzer. They could add some spice to the character through her insane dance skills, and she would play a great “cunning yet intelligent buisinesswoman” type. This dude also gets 2 or 3 songs, and honestly I don’t remember who she plays in Beauty and the beast so idk.

EJ: I admit Gaston is a perfect role for him and I can’t fit him into newsies well. He would play a good spot conlin, though it is a significantly smaller role. No one really cares about ej though so small loss.

Plot valuability:

doing newsies makes literally way more sense. Firstly, they are kinda planning entering this show last-minute compared to the competition, so to pick a show already written and choreographed for stage production would really save time. (Even though it would still need work to be condensed for a high school production). Second, miss Jen is so determined to stand out from the crowd and win the contest so she picks... beauty and the beast? One of the most popular Disney movies (and honestly with one of Alan’s weaker soundtracks compared to tangled, Aladdin, and the little mermaid imo). Having them do newsies, especially when switching up gender roles like casting Gina as Pulitzer, would actually make them stand apart from the dozens of schools performing Disney movies. It would also give a significantly more impressive vocal and dance performance, since the songs were written for Broadway singers rather than actors. The set is also more cheap and condensed, while still looking professional, which would help with their “we’re too poor and late to afford a straight-up aquarium so let’s do the most with what we’ve got.” Putting the characters in these roles would also not alter their development or main story plots much, besides strengthening certain friendships and pushing aside less popular characters (ej). It would also give more rep for the gays as well as switching up gender roles. Imagine, the gay guys get actual things to do in the show and aren’t defined by the sole plot of “my boyfriend rich” relationship drama! (I love these two but I am a tired ace). Also jerjor performs in both this and tangled the series, so it’s a double whammy for Alan menkhen representation.

Marketability: I know the musical has to be widely known and appealing to viewers. People watched s1 because they love hsm. People also love beauty and the beast, so viewership may raise with fans of the movie. Newsies doesn’t die here, though. It is a very widely popular play among theatre people, and existed first as a movie musical so it isn’t exclusive to theater kids. Also, fans of Newsies are generally between their tweens and early twenties, the exact age demographic for the show. Beauty and the beast is a classic and more widely known, but also doesn’t draw in large numbers of the exact age group you want. Also, the fact that newsies is a little less mainstream only helps the plot point of them choosing it to still have something well known while also standing out from the competition. Doing beauty and the beast is not only an awful choice for casting that limits the actors vocals or is completely out of their range, but it also makes them blend in with the crowd.

Final notes: beauty and the beast was IMO the worst choice for the play this season. Movies like Aladdin and tangled both have very energetic and loud soundtracks that allow these characters to belt their hearts out. Beauty and the beast has a very folksy, quiet, ballad type of track that limits the actors. The only actor that I think sings ballads better than big booming tracks is Nini, who isn’t even in the play this year. Ricky also sings great ballads, which is why ballads that are still slow but also emotional and powerful like “Santa fe” or “something to believe in” (which would sound AMAZING in his and Ashlyn’s voices) fit much better than the deep voice of the beast that he can not comfortably sing in. Also, the beast has very few songs whereas newsies would allow him to belt his heart out in nearly every song with that lovely voice he has. The age range of the newsies cast (that characters are supposed to be 17) fits better with these very teen actors than a movie about old fashioned French young adults. Really newsies was the best musical choice for this season, but I also believe beauty and the beast was the last one they should have chosen.

(After reading comments I rescind my statement that beauty and the beast was the worst choice, but it’s still second to newsies imo)

Feel free to debate me in the comments or point out my mistakes, I’m very open to other points of view

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x01 Review

New Year’s Eve was a great way to return to HSMTMTS especially after such a long gap. Let’s dig in!

Vladimir Lenin once said that, ‘’ there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". It’s been almost a year and half since S1 ended but this past week has seen revelation after revelation as the fandom has resurrected itself and promotion for S2 kicked into high gear: Joshua Bassett came out, Frankie and Joe confirmed that they are a real life couple, Larry seemingly confirmed that S2 will only have 11 eps rather than the 12 initially ordered, and perhaps most importantly Olivia revealed that she and the main cast are under contract for 4 seasons and made clear that she’s leaving the show as soon as her contract is up.

I really enjoyed this premiere, it felt like picking up right back where we left off. I’m guessing that S2 was originally supposed to premiere around Christmas or New Year’s but the holiday decorations and real Utah snow add a charming aesthetic to the ep. Tim Federle deserves credit for giving HSMTMTS more of an ensemble feel which is no easy feat with a cast as large as this show has. It likely won’t last due to covid restrictions  but at least for tonight we got to see all the characters hanging out together acting like a real group of friends.

The dialogue tonight really reminded me of Glee and I think I mean that as a compliment. Miss Jenn in particular seems to be doing her best April Rhodes impression minus the alcoholism. 

The rini scenes tonight were lovely. Perfect gift was a great song and I loved the rini duet during the music in me as the world faded around them leaving just the two of them. The Harry Styles reference is funny in light of Josh’s coming out interview. Of course, it’s hard now to separate Nini and Ricky and Olivia and Josh. Their chemistry shines through as 2x01, 2x02, and possibly parts of 2x03 were filmed pre Jolivia breakup which seems to have happened around summer 2020. Whether they can keep that same chemistry later on in S2, not to mention future seasons, remains to be seen.

A major theme tonight was communication and clearly Rini need to work on theirs. Poor Ricky had to learn that Nini’s moving to Denver the night before she leaves town which has to remind of him of his mom effectively abandoning him. Ricky saying that he’s never gonna breakup with Nini ever again sure sounds like foreshadowing for a disaster though the odds that this time Nini initiates the breakup are pretty good. 

I’m glad that the show is continuing to delve in the Bowen’s divorce story with their house being sold and Ricky and his dad having to move into an apartment. Divorce is expensive and the division of assets typically leave people less well off. Mike Bowen needs to work on his communication skills but he’s rocking that beard; it takes him from depressed divorced dad to depressed divorced daddy.

Seblos was cute and in a nice change of pace Disney doesn’t seem to be cynically teasing them then cutting their scenes. It was refreshing to see them just being a couple and to hear Carlos casually refer to himself as gay. In that regard tonight’s ep didn’t seem like it was a Disney show at all and it’s major progress that there are now two main gay characters on HSMTMTS. We learn that Carlos is rich which seems likely to be a source of conflict with Seb who comes from a large farming family.

Bet on It was really fun and I liked that Ricky apparently couldn’t stop singing it. The medley of HSM 2 songs was fun but I’ll be real with you wildcats, I never thought HSM 2 or 3 were nearly as good as the first movie so I’m not sad that they’re doing something else this year.

Wild that Big Red’s mom also calls him Big Red. Salt Lake Slices seems poised to be a big part of S2 both as hangout spot and work location for some of the characters. Redlyn are sweet together but sometimes Big Red comes off as a closeted gay guy which isn’t ideal for a het pairing that is supposedly a big part of S2.

Nice to see Gina so excited to have sleepovers with Ashlyn. We know from 2x03 that Gina contends with being single on Valentine’s day and from her glances at Ricky tonight she’s clearly not over him. Tim’s playing with fire and I can only hope he knows what he’s doing. I liked the little detail of Kourtney having AOC on her vision board, it feels true to the character (hopefully AOC gets elected president one day if the USA doesn’t collapse into a fascist dictatorship or civil war before then). EJ’s beard has got to go but I like that he seems committed to being a better version of himself; very doubtful his plan to go straight to Duke like his forefathers doesn’t change by the end of the season. 

Derek Hough did a good job of playing Zach as a subtly condescending man who managed to swiftly undermine Miss Jenn’s confidence, we’ll see what he and North High bring to the table.

Looking Ahead:

Next week are auditions for Beauty and the Beast, we know Ashlyn gets the role of Belle and EJ has conveniently removed himself from the running for Beast which presumably clears the path for Ricky to take the lead. There’s been some controversy over the casting choices and I’ll save my comments about it for the 2x02 review.

We get to see Lily who looks like a meaner version of season 1 Gina, we’ll see how much depth she actually ends up getting. Howie is introduced in 2x03 and Antoine likely shows up later on. Jack likely shows up towards the end of the season.

Howie seems to have a connection with Kourtney though the character synopsis does say he gets close to a wildcat or two which certainly leaves room to slide him into Gina’s plot. We know Antoine is into Ashlyn so that’s another love triangle to look forward to. Jack was described as having wanderlust and most of the cast seems not to have filmed with him so I think it’s likely that he plays a role in convincing EJ to take a gap year rather than head straight to Duke. 

A translation leak on TikTok reveals that in 2x03 Gina is sad that she’s only gotten a Valentine’s Day gift from her mom. A brief clip from the promo shows up her on her porch at night holding a heart shaped box of chocolates. If that’s supposed to be from a secret or semi-secret admirer than it has to be from either EJ, Ricky, or Howie. If it’s a platonic gift then it could be from anyone, we’ll see what Tim has up his sleeves.

Nini moving back to SLC is a question of when not if. It’s going to be very difficult to bring her back in a way that’s justified and also doesn’t leave the time she spends in Denver looking like a total waste. Frankly, I’d rather the show just bite the bullet and bring her back with as little fuss as possible.

We’re possibly around a quarter way through HSMTMTS given that the mains have 4 season contracts and presuming that the show is not cancelled earlier. At the very least the show will be radically different after S4 if they try to continue it as Olivia has made very clear that she’s going to leave asap to pursue her burgeoning music career full time (notably she’s only done the bare minimum of promo for S2). 

Looming over the remaining seasons of HSMTMTS is what the professional relationship between Olivia and Josh looks like especially since in many ways the show is built around Ricky and Nini. Off screen relationships have often caused on screen problems and dating a co-worker is rarely a good idea since even clean breakups leave lingering resentments. Obviously the Jolivia breakup was not clean, Driver’s License, Deja Vu, and Good 4 U (which is a certified bop) were clearly written from a place of hurt and in some ways were written to hurt. It’s no surprise that Joshua has dropped his duet with Sabrina Carpenter from his EP; someone on his team at least is trying to stop the damage to his reputation. There’s a decent chance that Olivia’s songs becoming such hits has irreparably damaged Joshua Bassett’s reputation among the same pool of largely young women that he’s targeting his music towards thereby cutting off his music career at the knees. If nothing else this behind the scenes drama should keep things entertaining for a while.

Until next week Wildcats 

[zaine-m]

Nina Salazar-Roberts is an Bad Character

“[Nini] is just amazing, she’s meant for greatness” but is she? All of the characters in HSMTMTS fawn over Nini, but should the viewers like her as much as they are told they should? Nina Salazar-Roberts is the main character in seasons 1 and 2 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. But she is not a good main character because she is supposed to be the underdog but is not, gets away with her mistakes, and is a bad friend in comparison to the other drama kids.

HSMTMTS tries to do the typical underdog story in the beginning of season 1 and succeeds… with Ricky and EJ. But they fail when it comes to Nini and Gina because her insecurities come from something unrealistic, the rest of her life is amazing, and Gina overcomes much more than her. The reason Nini is supposed to be insecure is not something that should make someone especially insecure. Her insecurities are supposed to stem from getting an ensemble role the first time she auditioned for a musical. She was in grade 10 at the time with 2 grades ahead of her that would be more talented because of their age and it was her first time auditioning. When you look at the big picture it is completely normal that she got an ensemble role. Not to mention the fact that she could have not gotten a role in the musical at all. Her insecurities could stem from elsewhere but when you look at the rest of her life, it is amazing. When we are shown her grandmother she encourages Nini to follow her dreams in the only scene she is in. And her 2 mothers are so kind that when Nini’s ex-boyfriend, Ricky is having family troubles he goes to their house to sleep over. Her best friend, Kourtney spends most of her time supporting her and her boyfriend, EJ is a popular jock who sees her as a star and would do anything for her. Lastly, the old drama teacher gave her an ensemble role in beauty and the beast without Nini auditioning. This all adds up to Nini having amazing support systems and no reason to be insecure more than the average teenager. This would not be that much of an issue if Gina had not overcome so many obstacles that Nini did not have to face. Gina is a transfer student who has a single mother that works for FEMA causing her to not have any long lasting friendships. And when she mentions her mother in the first few episodes her mother sounds like she puts too much pressure on the girl. She would have to overcome her mother not being able to pay for good lessons and constantly feeling out of place and lonely. She would also have to deal with the amount of pressure her mother puts on her. Despite the fact that she is supposed to be the underdog Nini comes off as privileged because the root of her insecurities is unrealistic, she has an amazing support system, and Gina has many more struggles than her.

Having main characters be flawed is very important to a series but Nini gets away with all her mistakes. Nini is not punished for hurting others, does not take responsibility for her mistakes and gets things she does not earn. When Nini jumps to conclusions and overreacts she is not punished and is immediately forgiven. In the beginning of season 1 after Nini’s phone goes missing she thinks that Gina took it. Without any evidence or talking to Gina or an adult she takes her shoes and water bottle, Kourtney also steals Gina’s scarves, jewelry, laptop, and more. When Nini finally returns them to her Gina tells her that she never had her phone and Nini still does not apologize. Later in the series when it is brought up again it is revealed that she was forgiven for returning them. Stealing is serious and she should have been taught a lesson in that episode about overreacting, but she was forgiven just because she returned the things. When Nini treats people badly in relationships she blames them for how they react. When she was dating Ricky she made it as hard for him to adjust to her changes as possible. Then got upset when he could not handle it and broke up with him. Then she pins all the blame on him and says that he is not being supportive of her changing. This is very clearly both of their faults and she could have learnt to be a better girlfriend and friend but instead Ricky never even gets mad at her about this behavior. Nini also always gets what she wants even if she did not earn it. During the opening night of their musical when the dean of an acting school is in the audience Nini makes many mistakes and goes off script to sing with the boy she likes. Then the dean says that she has a voice to share and offers her a spot in the school. Nini also got a part in the fall musical made for her even though she did not audition. She could have had to practice to become a better actress or auditioned late but instead she just always gets what she wants. Overall Nini never has to learn from her mistakes because she gets away with hurting others, her mistakes are blamed on others, and gets things even if she did not work for them.

When you look at everything Nini does for the other drama kids she is a comparatively bad friend. Nini will center herself when talking to her friends, not do any favours for her friends, not thank her friends for what they do for her, and only see things from her point of view. Nini does not care as much about her friends' issues as hers. When EJ tries to talk to her about not getting into Duke she changes the topic to her not liking the Youth Actors Conservatory. When Kourtney tried to talk to her about someone who was shutting down her ideas, Nini instead assumed she was talking about Gina, who Nini was mad at. Nini did not think about what these people were dealing with and instead made the conversation about her. Nini does not do as much for her friends as the other characters do. All of the other Drama kids have done favours for each other such as Ashlyn letting Gina stay at her house and Seb and Gina planning a Quinceañero for Carlos with Nini being on the receiving end for many of these. But the most Nini has ever done for someone else is try to give them confidence, something that the other drama kids do on a daily basis. This makes her friendships seem like they only go one way and like she is taking advantage of them. After her friends do big favours for her she never tells them that she is thankful or even that she appreciated them trying to help her like that. Kourtney got the Dean of the Youth Actors Conservatory to come to the opening night of their musical so she could be offered a spot and Ricky convinced Miss Jenn to give her a part in the musical. Also, Carlos posted her song on Instagram so it could blow up and Gina gave Nini a music producer’s phone number so she could make music professionally. But we never see Nini thank any of them despite enjoying how they all helped her. It seems like this is supposed to make her seem less insecure, like she knows that she is worth it. But, it just makes her seem like a bad friend who just expects people to do big things like this for her. Nini also does not try to think about other people’s perspective. She breaks up with EJ because she felt that he thought she needed to be saved. She also got upset with Ricky for not handling her changing well when he was already having issues with his home life changing and she was dumping it all on him at once. She never tried to understand that EJ just likes doing favours for people he loves or that there was just too much change for Ricky to handle in his life. Nini is a bad friend because she does not care about issues other than her own, never does anything big for her friends, does not thank them, and is not empathetic.

In conclusion, Nini fails as an underdog, is never punished, and is a bad friend which is why she is unlikeable. Nini seems to not understand how privileged she is because she is supposed to be an underdog but is not. Because of how good her friends are to her, her treating them so badly makes her seem so much worse. And her never being punished for everything she does wrong also adds to her seeming very privileged. When you look at the issues with her character the overarching theme is that you would love to be in her position. Like many main characters you are supposed to see yourself as her and when you do not her character breaks apart revealing all the issues. So I will leave you with the question, what effect does indulging ourselves in the fantasy of being praised for beating people who are struggling more than you, never being punished, and people loving you even when you treat them badly have on us as a society?

[rickyandgina]

Season 2 Predictions

Section 1 characters- Nini: YAC. I'm almost 100% sure that she goes, it would be such a shame if she didn't take this amazing opportunity and allow herself to experience something on her own. But if she doesn't then what? Well as we know there is going to be rival school in the next season. North high. Maybe she goes here? In the limited amount of promo photos released from season 2, she's absent. Aside from what seems to be the first episode. My theory is that she may not get as big of a role in play and go somewhere else where she feels more appreciated . IDK but I'm guessing there is going to be a major arc for Nini venturing off to find herself outside of East high and her relationship with Ricky. Whether that be Youth Actors Conservatory or NHS. We wanna see growth girl!

Ricky: Ricky, I'm more unsure about. I think he's complacent in his relationship with Nini and is comfortable with having his security blanket back. Obviously the news from Nini is going to shake him and mirror his breakdown after his parents and them separating. Do they separate though? I don't think so... It would such a fan disservice to spend all season building them up only to break them down again an episode later. What I do think is that his main strory-line is going to be learning to cope with people not always going to be around and how to make relationships work that aren't always 100 percent perfect. Also I think that we will see him really getting into theatre for himself and taking it more seriously the second time around.  Without Nini there I don't think he will try out for the main role- I'm guessing Gaston as there's promo photos of him acting out a scene that just seems so like that character. Also there's the question of Gina and his relationship with her being unresolved,,, but I'll talk more about that later.

EJ: Oh, I am so excited to see his character next season. He arguably got the best development last season and we can already see this change. With Ricky maybe out of the picture? I think we'll see him try out for the main role and get it. The beast just fits his storyline so perfectly and I think it would be such a shame for them not to go that route. It's also his last semester at the school and nice way to wrap up his storyline and send him off. Or they could go the route of Gaston for him, but ehhh Idk. It just seems like reverting. BUT there's also episode 2 (type casting) so we will see. Overall I think we will see him be the person he was becoming in the last few episodes. More kind, caring, and not so into himself (maybe a little tho). His relationship with Gina is obviously is going to develop- hopefully friendship- and I think that it is going to be nice seeing these two characters who were so vain and focused on winning last season be able to lean into one another. Let's look forward to likeable EJ.

Gina: My girl. My bean. My ride or die. I am so excited to see her next season, it's a little unhealthy lol. Okay, so for her I am also uncertain where they are going to take her character. She obvi stays from the promos. But what does that mean? Clearly she was struggling with her decision so I think that will be her main story line for episode 1- in the end her choosing to stay. I think this will be mirrored with Nini choosing to leave, then from there just straight up DRAMA. From the promo photos we see her, Kourtney, Ashlyn all in the auditorium trying out. From the looks of it, it seems like they are all trying out for the same part. Belle??? If she gets the part... I don't think so. It just doesn't seem like her time yet. So where does this leave us? Maybe she also goes to North High where she can shine brighter and bigger... maybe she stays. I could see it both ways, Gina is not used to being somewhere for long and it is so in character for her to go off to find something new and better for herself. This could lead us to her having to face off against her friends and roommate, struggling in doing so. Or they could have her stay, not get the main role and snag a smaller part. Having her stay would allow them to develop her relationship with Ricky. Especially with Nini gone. Idk either way I'm excited to see her and all her new friendships with the crew.

Carlos: I think once again we will see him as Ms.Jenn's right hand man. Running the play and being his beautiful controlling self. Maybe he gets a smaller role in play as well. These are only the minor parts of his story. What's the big stuff? SEB! I really think they are going to develop this relationship more, hopefully we will get to see them together and happy. Not just happy though, what's a good romance without hardship? Being queer and in high school is not easy for a lot of teens, though while in their bubble of theatre kids they are all accepting and happy, maybe they will show the other side of this, of people who aren't so willing to see things differently. Out of the two I think Carlos would be the one to struggle with this. Clearly Seb is not afraid to be who he is and own it. So maybe we will get to see them struggle through this together, and obviously come out on top in the end.

Seb: I'm hoping he will get a bigger role in the play, what role though? Idk its hard to say. But as we know he's becoming a series regular so we will get to know more about him. Maybe about his home life and the relationship he has with his family. We know that his family works on a farm and he's expected to do that too. So maybe we will see him stand up to his parents and take control of his life.  Overall I'm just hoping and thinking that they will develop his character more and allow us to see a different side of him outside of the theatre and in a more realized setting.

Kourtney: She is so going to shine this season! Main role? You bet ya.. I think she's getting the part of Belle. Or at least fights for it. From the way the last season ended and them alluding to having more in store for her, and the announcement of the second season, all dressed in yellow. It just makes sense. This girl is so talented and ready to take center stage. I'm also thinking they're going to introduce a romance for her... hopefully. It would so fun to see her get her love story. I'm thinking one of the new characters that is going to be introduced as there really aren't any prospects in the cast already. We'd love to see it! On the other side, maybe she doesn't and goes to North High? IDK Tim said that people go over there, so we will see.

Ashlyn: Another one of my favs, can't wait to see her and Gina's relationship. She is obvs going to be like a big sister to Gina, guiding her and helping her through her second semester. Again, I see bigger things for her in this upcoming series. Big Red, need I say more? So clearly they are going to showcase this couple and develop them more as the season goes on. Big part of her story line this season. Moving onto the play, again, in the sneak peeks we see her with Gina and Kourtney trying out. I think she is going to take a leap and tryout for Belle and fail. Maybe this takes a shot to her confidence and we get to see her struggling with not being chosen. Having to take a back seat again, IDK. I could see it happening. Anyways, I think the points of her plotline are mainly going to be about her relationship with Big Red and her stepping up and into the spotlight.

Big Red: The Lefou to Ricky's Gaston? Probably. I think this season he will get a role in the play, it's only fair. Larry is sooo talented they have to let him tap dance his heart out and kill his role in the production. Again we will see him be support a system for Ricky and him dealing with Nini and all of their drama, but he's going to have his own going on too. I think that we will see A LOT of miscommunication between Ashlyn and Big red. They just aren't that great at communication. Clearly. This could be a big source of drama for him and his story line and allow us to see more of him and the writers to develop his character outside of the nerd archtype. I really hope.

[rinisbowen]

What friendships do you expect to be explored in s3 of hsmtmts?

hi! thanks so much for the ask! this is hard because it's like- what i would personally want to see more of vs. what i think is likely... this is me trying to balance that haha. and also i think part of this hinges on casting choices made for frozen at the camp...

also i’m not including the like- romantic relationships, regardless of whether i expect them to be romantic at all this season, and regardless of how much of the relationship is based in friendship, because that would make this post a good bit longer than it already is.

PROJECTED:

nini and ashlyn:

if nini's at camp (and maybe even if she isn't) i'd expect to probably see more of her and ashlyn talking. they had a good number of scenes in season 1, and a few in season 2, and while part of the instigating factor of their positive relationship in season 1 is nini dating ej, ashlyn's cousin, my point stands. beyond ricky, ashlyn's the other like- songwriter in the group, and so nini in her focusing on her music, may likely spend time with ashlyn or talk to ashlyn a bit more.

nini and kourtney:

i think nini's biggest friendship will always be her and kourtney, so i'd be remiss not to mention them, but at the same time, i do also enjoy the fact kourtney's horizons are expanding beyond being nini's best friend. i think we'll definitely have kourtney out there supporting nini and nini supporting kourtney for her audition, like she did in early season 2 with her little team kourtney shirt. (that was really sweet ngl, big fan of that, especially after whatever that was in 1.09 when kourtney like- asked nini if it was okay for her to go on stage and perform for gina... that was weird...)

ricky and big red:

another best friend pair that we already know about, ricky and big red. imo there's no way he's not in the season in some kind of capacity, so if big red's not at camp, i'd anticipate us getting maybe a few facetimes with ricky and big red. (same for big red and ashlyn but that's a romantic relationship not a friendship, so that's another post). ricky and big red are best bros, there's no way we don't see them interact at least a few time. ricky supports big red a lot and big red does the same for ricky. depending on how they execute the lily storyline, i think big red may have a harder time supporting him in that particular endeavour, but they're still best friends, so i'd expect them to continue being supportive friends.

ricky and carlos:

ricky and carlos are probably going to have some more on screen friendship moments. this is ESPECIALLY if both big red and seb aren't at camp. they've gotten closer in 2.10 and well- i think i'd be a bit surprised if they did nothing with it. ricky's one of the main characters on this show, and his best friend is probably going to exist primarily through facetime, so he's going to need someone to confide in and it can't be nini this season. carlos will probably be glad to have a "bro" too, like it's clearly new for him, but i think this is a friendship we might get more of this season. whether it's background moments or real solid interactions, i think there will be something.

gina and carlos:

gina and carlos is one friendship i have to bring up, because these two are simply cut from the same cloth and i think that's great. they bond over dance, as well as over their more intense personalities. honestly i think they'll continue to butt heads a bit, but with val as the actual choreographer for frozen, there's less fuel for that. this friendship is important for both of them, because they see one another in a way that most people don't quite get.

gina and ashlyn:

gina is literally about to date ashlyn's cousin, and they've been living together for a semester. while gina's living situation for a potential season 4 is in flux, what isn't is the fact that these two have been getting closer. i don't know how frozen casting is going to shake out, but regardless, i'd expect to see some very nice supportive friendship going on here. especially now that gina's begun opening up to people more, ashlyn included, i think we'll get some good interactions. (if maybe less than last season due to the fact they may not be sharing space this time). the sisterhood theming of frozen might very well be used for them, regardless of casting, given ashlyn’s comment in 2.10 about gina being like her sister. 

ricky and ashlyn: 

this is a big maybe, but i mean they’re both heavily connected to big red who won’t be at camp most likely, so that on top of the friendship or like- camaraderie they seemed from the last few episodes to have formed being the leads together, i think they might use this more this season. it’s hard because ashlyn is so heavily tied to nini in a friendship sense. ashlyn adores nini even before nini dates her cousin, ej, and well- i think ashlyn’s first loyalty will probably go to nini. but it doesn’t have to be a sides thing, so i’m choosing to believe we’ll hopefully get a bit more of this friendship! 

ej and ashlyn: 

there will never be a season i don’t ask for the caswell cousins interacting. their interactions were VERY background this season, but their dynamic is very important for ej, even if not so much for ashlyn because the point for her is being her own person. i’m more hoping for than expecting this, but i think it’s not out of the question, especially with ej and gina getting together, and ashlyn being so close to both. that can go a few ways, but yeahhhh.

ej and nini:

this one’s more wishful thinking than anything else, but they could really use nini’s second attempt at pursuing her future to work off of ej’s considerations of his own. also they literally started dating at this summer camp the year prior, i want to see how far they’ve come as individuals and having one nice friendship moment would be nice. something better than that quick little thing in the hallway where he confesses that he didn’t get into duke. their arcs fit together better now, so i want them to use it! we know they’re civil, let them talk now, it could be great to watch them help each other in some small way with their new life changes. ej is the one who put nini in the position to get gabriella, though it was her own performance that did it of course. i only would consider this having a chance to happen if nini’s actively at camp, but for me, their individual character arcs could benefit from a conversation between them.

--

CASTING:

whoever gets elsa and anna i think will get a good deal closer this season, regardless of who it is in the roles. it'll be interesting... i'm genuinely so curious to see how casting for the main characters is going to shake out, because there's a bunch of ways they can play this. a lot of the time they try to use the songs to play into the narrative, though of course this can be accomplished in different ways. sisterhood is a very big part of frozen, and if these two characters don’t become close by the end of the season, regardless of who they are (and yes i do mean even if lily ends up being elsa), i’ll be shocked. they can also use the themes external to casting, so at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter a ton who gets the parts, but it’s unlikely they would just not take advantage of this.

if there’s a sven, and frankly i don’t see it as out of the question given the size of the main cast of frozen compared to our cast, i’d expect to see some kristoff and sven bonding moments. we got kourtney and seb bonding as chip and mrs. potts last season, i’d anticipate this being similar. as in it’s more background, but happening. 

lowkey depending on who plays the roles, i think we’ll probably get some hans and anna and/or kristoff and anna bonding at least in a friendship sense. i don’t know how much they’re going to do the like- rehearsal scenes this season, but i love them. the theatre kid aspect is one of my favorite parts of the show, and i want more. it’s such a good way to showcase these friendship dynamics too. i wouldn’t call this a friendship dynamic, just like- an example of how rehearsal helps bring out character stuff, but do we remember nini’s whole dramatic singing with ej in season 1 at rehearsal bc she’s mad at him? that kind of thing. was it unprofessional? yeah, but it’s fun because these are dumb theatre kids. 

--

SPECULATION:

ej and val. i'm putting this in this friendship post despite knowing very little about val in general, because frankly she's here for ej's arc in one way or another. i don't know exactly what the plan is to any real extent, but my guess is that they're childhood camp friends. i'd expect to see this friendship explored.

if nini's actively working with jamie, and they're able to get jordan fisher for another episode, i'd expect that to be used as a conduit for gina to explore the bond she has missed out on with her brother. that may lead to more of nini talking to gina and their friendship that frankly for me is based in proximity. they usually give these two a nice scene once per season towards the very end, i don't expect that to change unless nini's screentime is reduced a great deal, and likely even then. it's under speculation because of the fact it involves jamie, but i'd expect a good scene between these two regardless of him.

jet and maddox. i don’t know what this looks like, but i’m excited nonetheless. i just wanted to include them. 

[rtcosley]

ep12

disappointment

honestly all I’m feeling after this episode is disappointment and I can see that other people feel it too - even Portwell shippers?

Look, I really hate putting other ships down, because they usually deserve a chance, but I can’t do it with Portwell (nor EJ x Mazzara O-o)

Adding the whole family thing as Portwell drama isn’t doing it for me; Ashlyn sees Gina as her sister and EJ is her cousin, Jamie got big brother vibes from him. Yet, they get over this problem because they are so in love. Was that seriously the best option? Making the ship super weird?

Also, why are they making Gina and EJ so cringe this season? Especially EJ, but let’s start with Gina.

Gina - a lot of people were hating on her “pining over Ricky” arc in 2a. I understood that, she was hurting and she needed to move on first. What I don’t get is why 1) the chocolates were a big thing - they got mentioned like 4-5 times this season? 2) the flashback got brought up yet they have never gotten the chance to talk about it? (Ricky and Gina) 3) why would they focus on her broken heart for six whole episode if they aren’t going to pursue Rina? Was that supposed to show us how wrong those two for each other? Or is this another weird way of making the ship more likeable? (Because it is not working)

Also, why is Gina talking about her first kiss with a complete stranger? And why would she say it like that in the finale? “Can I kiss you? Will you be my first kiss?” proceeds to run/walk a marathon - Is someone going to interrupt them? Why else would you make a 10 second walking scene? Wouldn’t it be easier to just make her run up to him and kiss him like every other show does? O.o

EJ - such a good arc took such a bad turn - a relatable senior who was figuring out what to do next in life is suddenly focused on a girl, forgetting scholarships, universities, his future because of a girl that’s 2-3 years younger than him? He called her classmates kids - specifically Carlos, who I think is older than her?

And when did he get so weird and coy? In s1 he had his cool senior buddies, which are nowhere to be found (yes of course, covid is a thing, but they don’t even get mentioned and he spends all of his time with the Wildcats), then he proceeds to flex about how he’s not used to spending V-day alone, he’s a jock and he is shy when talking to Gina? Besides, as many have mentioned: Portwell was excellent at communicating, where has that gone to? Why have Ashlyn intervene?

Now, onto the Ricky x Lily ship. Is that really happening? Lily got no redemption arc, are you going to drag Ricky through the mud by putting him into a toxic, fake relationship or is this just to throw us off? And if it’s supposed to be serious, why have you created another Gina except this one is staying true to her evil roots? Why not just aim for Rina?

I won’t comment on the lack of Seblos and Redlyn because they had their moments, which is nice considering they aren’t the core four and the fact that this episode had 27 minutes out of which only about 20 were the actual episode? Why did we get a kind of pointless Rini scene? Was that supposed to bring Rini closer again? Why.

And please, do not focus on Mazzara if we get a third season. I love everyone in the cast, but it’s crowded enough as it is, don’t give him a brand new shiny plot if you can’t even handle the plots of the main four characters. An adult love triangle (or square??) is also pointless. It was cute in s1, quite annoying in s2.

If season 3 is happening, please be so kind and finish what you’ve started. There are so many open ends, so many questions unanswered - and I don’t mean cliffhangers, I mean plots and drama that you’ve started and never finished. Things that should not be dragged into the next season.

[between-two-fandoms]

Yes I agree, 6 was the first one of the season that I can actually say was a good episode! Idk why they wasted half the season to get there, but it had some good moments! I also agree with you that Ricky needs help and that I don't see him & Nini lasting very long... but I'm also mad at the adults in Ricky's life (besides miss jenn ofc). Hate what the writers are putting Gina through... and EJ also just... deserves better lol. I also don't ship Portwell romantically, but I like them as friends.

Yay!

I'm happy you liked my s2 hopes!

I honestly felt like the writers are trying to make all the characters have romantic relationships in canon when they just don't need to be there. I also think they probably had a lot more planned for YAC but a ton of the scenes or storyline got cut for whatever reason. Covid/shutdowns could have played a part with the weird vibes from the first half of the season. A lot of this season gives off the vibe that they had too many ideas and instead of choosing one or two they're doing all of them and it's just a mess.

I honestly think 1-5 were like, footnote/scrapbooked together scenes mashed together in a panic cause they didnt have enough North High written for the whole season. Which makes me sad because North High would've pulled me right in if they used them more at the start. They're supposed to be the main antagonists this season but East High Drama Club doesn't seem to give a fuck about their own musical outside Gina and Carlos (and maybe EJ but he's a little off).

I'm expecting the rest of s2 to be an absolute dumpster fire dont get me wrong, but I have hope they're going to start picking things up. Honestly if episode 6 wasn't as good as it was (it literally felt like something right out of Glee) I was planning to stop watching the season for the time being.

And yes! Portwell makes a great friendship BROTEP. They're the wonderstudies power duo. EJ and Gina need friends, not a significant other. (Especially, especially after that Ricky flashback. I don't think Gina's about to date anyone anytime soon). I love the fact that the Caswell Cousins have just adopted Gina. She needs a family and EJ and Ashlyn were like yes hello you are one of us now. I love their little found family so much.

Thanks for the asks! I love talking hsmtmts!

~ Ren