#i liked nini but her leaving making way for kourtney and other characters was the best decision ever

[blues-valentine]

But HSMTMTS removing Kourtney from the “female protagonist best friend” label to give her solos, a great plot and screen time was the the best choice ever made. The show improved a lot on Season 3 because of it and how they switched the dynamics to make it equal for the ladies and you cannot change my mind on that.

[curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn]

I'm really tired of these takes that Gina is just Nini's replacement and that Sofia is only getting the spotlight bc Olivia left. These are, to put it bluntly, the most low-effort, brain-dead opinions a person can have. They usually go along with the opinion that S1 is the best season and the show went downhill when Olivia left.... it really makes me question the love they have for S1 (is it really that S1 is the best, or do you just have a bias towards certain actors who you can't separate from the character?)

The reality is that Sofia was given more material starting in S2 (while Nini was still a main and before DL) because she proved herself to be the strongest actor (by far) in S1. Gina served as more of a lead for the ensemble that season than Nini, who mostly just interacted with Ricky and Kourtney. Gina was already leading the story by the time Olivia chose to leave, so I honestly thought the transition to Sofia being 2nd billed felt extremely natural... not like she was suddenly being shoved in the spotlight in Olivia's absence.

I have literally NO IDEA what the rationale is behind the argument that Gina is just being given Nini's lines or is being written to resemble Nini in S3 and S4. Would Nini manipulate Quinn to change the production schedule for a movie just to be part of her high school musical (like Gina did)? Nini literally had no interest in joining BATB after coming back from YAC. It was Ricky who wanted her in the show, and Nini just wanted to do her own thing.

And the complaint that Gina's unrecognizable from who she started as? Ummmmm, yeah, bc as Gina says in the finale, she didn't even know who she was back then and was afraid to be her true self. Her edges were softened when she let herself love and be loved, and as she connected with more people at East (all starting with Ricky), she let her vulnerability and softness shine through. This ALSO doesn't mean she lost her ambition or edge by the end... quite the opposite. In S2, she felt like she couldn't be ambitious to fit in with others, so she hid that part of herself. She found in S3 that she doesn't need to dim her light to let others shine, and we saw in S3 and 4 her show and use her ambition and (true) confidence in healthy and responsible ways.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Alrighty so the final episode!

PLEASE say Maddox and Jet will be back next season. I need them to be. These siblings made the season tbh.

KOURTNEY!! Made me cry once again. The way everyone turned on their flashlights and she continued to sing 🥹🥹🥹 MY BABY

I could not care less about Rina or Portwell. I like all characters individually. I feel bad for EJ and I hope he gets to confront his dad. I am proud of how far Ricky has come. And I am happy Gina is starting to figure out what she wants. But I don’t care who dates who.

Fuck Channing 🖕🏼

Nini’s departure! Also the fact that she leaves opening night cards!!! I really hope she actually does do that in S4 too even if she’s not around

Why are they all so shocked over the trailer? They knew they were just acting bitchy and that they would make it more dramatic than it was.

DID WE EVER FIND OUT WHAT THEIR CAMP NICKNAMES WERE

So now we’re here with… my sweet and wonderful Ashlyn. The character that I think the fandom, to be honest, has been a little harsh on this season. Y’all started calling her annoying, ”out of character”, ”she’s gonna cheat on Red with Maddox/Val 🙄”. No?? What happened to you all being so happy and supportive for Ashlyn in S2 only to immediately bash on her?

I like Redlyn just fine. They’re very cute. ”I’m Ashlyn’s boyfriend and I’m bi” was the funniest thing I have ever heard, though I am slightly unsure why Red was even in the documentary lmao (and I don’t know if he was supposed to say something else and he said wrong/they cut what he actually said lol, but nonetheless it was very funny). I am completely fine with them being endgame - but I hope you all don’t forget that Ashlyn did have a self discovery this season.

Yes, Redlyn are cute, Redlyn are bicons, yes I agree. But what bothers me a little bit is the fact that many people have basically barely mentioned Ashlyn when talking about this season, except when they talk about Redlyn in the last episode. Where were you to say anything in ep6 with the firework hug? Where were you in ep7? 90% of what you seemed to talk about was Rina or Portwell. It leaves me a little itch when people just apparently don’t have anything to say except when she reunites with her boyfriend, and that’s when they even mention her. Even if I find Redlyn cute, this wasn’t a Redlyn season, it was an Ashlyn self discovery season.

Yes, you can talk about what you want. Maybe I am a hypocrite since I barely talk about Rina or Portwell. But this is actual WLW representation and it’s a little sad with specifically WLW representation, cause people are always so much more celebratory with MLM representation - like with Carlos and Seb, people immediately are like ”😍🥳🕺🏼❤️” but when it comes to WLW representation, it almost always feels like people are more like ”🤷🏼‍♀️”. This is why so many WLW shows gets cancelled, cause there’s not as much viewers, cause with queer rep people rather prefer two boys rather than two girls.

I often recommend the show ”Tudo Igual SQN” (All the same or not) on D+ for people who has watched HSMTMTS, especially people who likes Ashlyn and Maddox. There’s two characters named Pri and Trix who are very similar to them. But I feel like, if all of the HSMTMTS fandom would watch that show they would probably focus on the ”str8” ships a lot more than Pri and Trix. Probably focus a lot more on Trix and her boyfriend.

Did I want Ashlyn and Val to be together? No, Val is a lot older and in a whole other place in life. Did I want Ashlyn and Maddox to be together? I’ll… get back on that.

Maddox is another character people just don’t mention in this season, and often when they do it was either to go ”she’s annoying 🙄” or comment on her just saying something. Not a lot of people seem to comment on her storyline or the fact that she has a crush on Ashlyn.

What I want for Maddox is that she comes back in season 4 and talks to Ash. We see the documentary trailer and it seems like they will make it seem like Maddox is in love with her - which probably will cause some drama. I bet there’s gonna be drama for all of them over it.

Ashlyn seemed like she had some doubts with Red in the last ep, but she didn’t want to make him feel bad. We’ll see how it goes with that. The documentary will stear up some drama. If Redlyn stays together and is endgame, I’ll be happy for them. If they break up and Ashlyn ends up with Maddox I’ll also be happy (though, I also hope they can do it justice - I do want everyone to be happy). And if Ashlyn, Red and Maddox all end up single I’ll also be happy for them.

I also think Kourtney deserves her own little part here, because y’all were sleeping on her too this season. She plays ELSA and needs to be treated like the queen she is! Her anxiety storyline was so good. Her scenes were the only times in the entire series when I cried. When she climbed the wall. When Channing turned off the lights and she stood on stage, TEARS came for me when she started singing again and everyone cheered for her. I am so proud of Kourtney. She is so good. The only one who has gotten me to cry TWO TIMES in a show I barely felt a bit sad with last season.

Conclusion: For me, and me personally so this ofc does not apply to all of you, the characters who made the season the most for me was Ashlyn, Kourtney and Maddox. Everyone else was fine, but those three ladies really made it for me ❤️💜💙

[cantshinebrighterthanyou]

Parallels and Contradictions: Gina Porter (S1E1 / S3 Trailer)

"My first time really going up for the lead." That line stood out to me immediately. Because the first time we meet her character back in S1, it's established that she's been the lead in every other musical she's been in.

Right?

Well, no. Not exactly.

It's established that she's never been an understudy. The implications of those scenes side by side are fascinating to me. We know that Gina would have liked to play the lead in S1 (re: Wonderstudies) and S2 ("playing a part I didn't want"), so the key word is "really going up for", which she also emphasizes. The way I see it, there are really only three possible (interesting) interpretations:

1 - Gina has played leads at other schools before, she just never had to try out.

Or at least, she never had to try very hard. Cause she's just that good of a performer. This could be either literal (unlikely), or Gina might have thought that there was never any competition at her old schools (similar to the way Lily thinks during S2 auditions.)

While that would be in character for the persona that early-S1 Gina portrays herself as, the way S3-Gina emphasizes that this is the first time "really going up for the lead"... if it was about not having had competition before East High, that would be uncharacteristically mean for the version of her that we've gotten to know since Homecoming. So in my mind, this is probably the least likely interpretation.

2 - This is the first time her heart is in it.

We know from Season 1, that Gina has been raised in a way that puts her under a lot of pressure to be perfect. Even after she lets down her guard around the Wildcats, her difficulties adapting to being co-coreographer and one of three people in her, Ashlyn and Kourtney's audition show that this mindset is something she still struggles/struggled with.

Maybe, after all that character development across two seasons, she's finally ready to audition for a lead - not because she feels that's what she's supposed to want, because for the first time it's what she does want.

3 - Gina was lying in Season 1.

When the audience meets her, she is portrayed as both fiercly talented and really condescending to Nini, who has mostly been cast in ensemble so far. Gina says "I've never been an understudy" and the implied reading is "I've been the lead every time I've tried." Except that's now been contradicted. So has she either been an understudy or has she never been a lead or an understudy?

Over the course of Season 1 we learn that being the new transfer student all the time has left Gina feeling like she has to put up a facade in every new place. Appear confident to the point of coming across as a bit intimidating and unapproachable. She's essentially accepted being labelled 'mean girl' as the price she pays for the respect and admiration she needs to make her mark - to make sure she's remembered for something once she inevitably leaves. Even if what she'll be remembered for is a persona that crushed dance solos and the short-term goals of people like Nini. Having the reputation of someone who plays leads all the time would certainly fit and help with the persona she's putting forward in the first few episodes of the show.

Now that she has close friends she can be vulnerable around, if she was lying/lying by omission, has it just not come up again? Is she still struggeling to break free from her perfectionism and has kept that secret until now? Is that an arc we're going to see?

(It could also just be bad inconsistent writing. But that's the least interesting theory, so I'm not gonna bother with it when I could be having fun with headcanons instead lmao)

Maybe it's one of the first times she thinks she has competition. Maybe it's the first time she thinks she has a chance. Maybe it's the first time she's doing it just for herself. Maybe it's something else entirely.

Whatever is going on with that line, I'm so damn fascinated by it.

[organic-guacamole]

uh yeah so I wasn't planning on watching the episode until the weekend but my sister woke up super early and started like dancing or swinging from the ceiling fan or something and it woke me up so now I will bring back the guac episode text blocks :')

Hsmtmts: Season 3: Episode 1 Reaction

"And love is an open door. Did I just make that up? It's pretty good."

First new line of the show and I'm smiling like an idiot. So turns out I'm not actually over this show🥸

DAD JOKES ARE LIFE. I will be taking notes as EJ continues to speak.

big red's got work? all the time? why? can't he take two weeks off to enjoy the summer with friends? he's like 16? huh??

and Sebbie's gotta milk so this is how we explain their absence 🧍🏽‍♀️

oh so Ricky is with Lily after all? icky licky.

Carlos switching his glasses for sunglasses made me laugh a bit too much. maybe I should pull my sister down from the ceiling and go back to sleep...

wait wait wait

I'm not American and I haven't paid much attention to the details yet but like, Utah and California are close, but close enough that these kids' parents let them drive by themselves across states? ISNT CARLOS LIKE CANONICALLY 16? is this normal? I'm sorry

EJ being the son of Cash Caswell 4 and a half minutes into the season. why do rich people need more than 1 home? also yes Gina. she knew about the 2nd home so I'm assuming she's at least seen it (unless EJ just casually mentions his other houses but to me he seems like the kinda guy to forget he has more houses than the average person and just never talk about it) so yeah slay girlie pop marry rich! life is about the material things! go queen!

"you come to camp shallow lake and you leave and someone else" oh no. foreshadowing.

yeah I miss seb too.

the whole phone confiscation thing is awful to me. not because I'm addicted or anything, just that, that's my property and they're storing it in a bucket with other people's nasty phones in a dark room somewhere and idk what's happening to it? no thanks I'll leave it home.

oh I completely forgot the intro song thing *insert harsh whistle*

RICHIE EWE WEQEQ WS

this is funny though. don't mind my disgusted expression as I watch this scene, I'm rather enjoying seeing Ricky turn into a text to speech reader.

the more Lily talks the more I fear for Ricky's life.

Caribbean cruise? uhhh I live in the Caribbean 😥😥😥 imagine just chilling and you see miss Jenn running around buying souvenirs.

also. MR BOWEN? GIRL BENJAMIN MAZZARA IS RIGHT THERE. HE CONFESSED TO YOU AT THE END OF LAST SEASON. THIS WOMAN-

so it's confirmed that this is the same camp that Nini and EJ met at😃

I love Ashlyn. no context needed.

Why is she still with Howie again?

the non-wildcats in the corner. Are they credited as non-wildcats on IMDb?

as Ms Jenn is talking about sparks, remember when she and Mr Mazzara started a fire at the school and just...ran away? why don't we talk about this?

I wrote an alternate 2x12 fanfic where Ricky knows about the harness already so I genuinely thought they all knew already... anyways, yay Tim for bringing back this plotpoint!

Carlos being horrified by these random dudes throwing things is exactly what I expected from this season. that and Ricky coming to his senses but we can't always get what we want.

Jet is hot but we knew this already. anyways gimme the enemies to lovers with Ricky please, with a bunch of angst with happy ending, all that jazz. gimme the flavour🤌🏽🤌🏽

the way lily's body language is... reminds me of an episode of 911 where this girl murdered her boyfriend on valentine's day because he wanted to leave the date... she literally looked so much like how Lily looks rn... RUN RICHARD

isn't she like 14? like canon... I have a lot of questions for her parents mainly.

so he really just has big red's car this whole time? he's having his mv moment so I'll overlook it. we all need our main character moment at some point. but actually. it's a literal music video in the middle of the episode.

wait have we seen Kourtney and Carlos interactions yet? please someone tell me if we have or have not because this is my favourite. also let's discuss Kourtney's rainbow belt 😁

what kind of life changing 2 week camp is this? why are they all acting like all new people will be brainwashed and their lives will flip upside down by the time it's over

emo boy Jet meets emo boy Ricky they un-emotify together or something idk

"if you fall in no one will hear your screams" "don't go too far into the woods or you'll be gone for good" still not convinced this isn't a murder mystery season.

...

you telling me

Disney plus exists

in the universe of a show

on Disney plus

...

anyways so is this how EJ becomes director-

damn so he's really second choice for this too👩🏽‍🦯

RICKy? how does this even happen? don't they have to pay for this camp? how did he get so far in and portwell are the first people he sees? I'm so confused 😭

[royalequeenofships]

HSMTMTS Season 3 Predictions and Character Analysis

Ricky & Nini:

Ricky and Nini have a complicated relationship. I feel like they have the whole dynamic of “right person, wrong timing” vibe. They have chemistry and a bond with each other. However, for them to grow as a couple, they really need to have character development first. Nini really needs to figure herself out and who she truly wants to be and figure out her dreams and how she wants to pursue them. We had the whole YAC arc in season 2, where she goes there because she thought it was something that she wanted, but she realized that YAC was not truly what she wanted and isn’t what makes her happy. So, she’s slowly trying to figure herself out with independence and not relying on anyone except herself. In Season 1, most of her moments were with Ricky, with only the YAC arc really showcasing her independence, but her reliance on others in season 1 and parts of season 2. For example, Kourtney was the one who submitted her application to YAC, and partially her reasons for coming back to East High were also her relationship with her friends and Miss Jenn. Also, the fact that Carlos posted her song online, and she asked Ashlyn for help to write “Ain’t see nothing.” However, in episode 11 and 12, really starts showcasing her independence and stop relying on others for her journey. She BECOMES the one other people rely on, she hypes everyone up for their performances and is really figuring herself out and blossoming like the Rose. It is a great metaphor for Nini’s journey, and the fact that she herself calls Jamie’s brother instead of other people doing it for her, really makes it more special. Gina could’ve easily called her brother and be like “Oh yeah I have this friend who’s a great songwriter, yadda yadda.” But she does it herself, which is really great. Now with Ricky. Many people would agree with the fact that he truly does need therapy. He needs to learn how to handle change, and dare I say, realizing that other people are more important in his life. Personally, I felt like Ricky was very selfish this season. Last season, he was being selfish as he broke up with Nini because he couldn’t say I love you, and once school started again, he wanted Nini back so badly, but he proved himself worthy at the final episode when he stops being Troy to give Nini a chance to perform for YAC. However, this season once he and Nini are back together again, he was being selfish and thinking of himself again. When Nini goes to YAC, all he could really think about was how HER leaving was affecting him and his relationship with her.

For example, he would ask Gina for help on HIS own relationship, and sending Nini the message of how much he missed her and wishes she would be there because HE misses her so much. And thinking that Nini came home for him and him only. Plus, he thinks that the rose song that she wrote was SPECIFICALLY related to him, and then the whole situation with Miss Jenn and his dad, in which he was only thinking about himself and his feelings, with no regards to theirs. However, in episode 10, he finally stops being selfish and really opened his eyes to his surroundings, as he helped Carlos with his song for Seb. I hope this development continues, and once he realizes that he needs to stop being selfish, and is able to handle change and mature as a person, then maybe the Rini ship can happen once again. Another thing I’ve noticed about their “angst” in season 2 was the long-distance relationship, especially in episode 3. Although, Ricky and Nini were in the same city, throughout the episode, it still felt like they were going long-distance, which was probably foreshadowing their breakup. They only communicated through their phones that episode, and even at the end, their songs for each other wasn’t sang in person, but through the phone. As for predictions on the Rini relationship, I think that if Tim only plans on 3 seasons, then Rini will probably get back together at the end of Season 3, but if he has 4 seasons planned (which I am hoping for), then Rini will probably get back together then. Now we also have to take into consideration the career of Olivia Rodrigo. We do not know if she wants to continue with HSM, and even she herself is not sure. What I think will happen is, if Olivia decides she wants to take her music career to the next level, I think a really easy way to write her out without breaking the contract, would be to have her travel to L.A. to work on her music for the summer, so that there will be reason as to why she is absent for most of the season. This will probably take 1 episode to do and Olivia can spend the rest of her time focusing on her music. However, if Olivia decides she still wants to work full time in this season, then she might stay in Salt Lake and do the musical and write some songs for Jamie, etc but personally I think Olivia would want to focus on her music more than the show, as she posts about it more on social media than the show, and even with interviews. Nini might return for the final episode when summer ends and the new school year starts, so Olivia might just be in like 2 episodes. That’s my take on Rini for now, we get back to Ricky later.

E.J. & Gina:

Portwell is literally my favourite ship of the series, and it is just amazing. I personally would not like to see any angst in their relationship next season, but honestly it is probably going to happen and here’s why. Their relationship was built really steadily and took a long time to flourish. With other couples, like Seblos, Redlyn and Kowie, they got together awfully fast, taking 2-3 episodes to truly get together. So, the angst that those couples go through gets resolved rather quickly. Seblos with their relationship gets solved within 1-2 episodes, for the whole “does he like me because im the only gay one” storyline. Redlyn has the whole “Antoine” situation (which I will get back to later) and the “Red’s future” which again, took 1 episode to resolve. And Kourtney and Howie took 1-2 episodes to resolve the whole “Howie is from North high” and “Why Howie seems weird”. The reason is because those couples got together really quickly, and therefore their angst can be easily resolved through that, and wouldn’t really take time to fix. As you can see, Rini took a while to really get together. They were childhood friends off screen and we get to see their past relationship through flashbacks in season 1, but technically they took around 10 episodes to fully get back together. They have their cute., fluffy episodes for the first 4-5 episodes of season 2, but then their angst slowly starts to build at episode 5-6. It drags on until episode 8 where they fully break up, and counting episode 9 with their take on how they’re handling the breakup, so that’s around 5 episodes worth of angst for the couple that took 10 episodes to get together. So, with Portwell, they’ve technically been building them up at the end of season 1, but we’ll truly count the buildup starting from the Quincenero episode, which is episode 5, and they had 7 episodes worth of relationship buildup. So, I think, for the first 4 episodes, we’ll see some fluff and cute moments between the two when summer starts (and hopefully some kisses cuz like please I need to see at least one), but the angst will probably start in the middle of the season. It might take like around 4-5 episodes to fix, but I truly believe that they will not break up, and it will get resolved either near the final episode or the final episode of the season. Now for the REASON of their angst. I truly think the only “angst” worthy storyline is about EJ going off the college. As I can’t think of anything else that can topple their relationship. Firstly, EJ knows about the chocolates, which makes me think that he probably knows about Gina’s past crush on Ricky. Secondly, they resolved the whole “Big Brother” situation, and EJ knows that Gina doesn’t see her in that way. And the character development of E.J. and Gina. Back in season 1, they were arrogant and straight up ambitious people, who really don’t care about how others feel, but they truly changed as people in season 1 and 2, and had their character development moments. The contrast with them and Rini is that Season 1 focused on rini’s relationship development and season 2 and maybe 3 will really focused on their CHARACTER development. For Portwell, I think that would be flipped as they already had their Character development in season 1 and 2, so we probably will see their RELATIONSHIP development in season 3. So, since they already had their character development, I think it would be pointless to have unnecessary drama about their personalities or jealousy or whatnot, since they truly developed as people. So, the only thing I can possibly think of for their angst is EJ college arc. I know that they will probably fix it, but still I’m dreading to see it as I don’t want Portwell angst anymore. ☹ (ALSO PLEASE GIVE ME A PORTWELL DUET!! I NEED IT! Also, an EJ solo)

Ricky & Gina:

Personally, I do not ship Rina. I don’t think they would make a good couple; however, I think they would be really good friends. Someone they could confide in about their issues like Gina said “Sometimes I tell you things I don’t tell anyone else” and Ricky being like “I think we do that for each other.” We didn’t really get to see Ricky and Gina resolve their issues in season 2, partly because of Ricky’s character development. I am hoping to see in season 3, Ricky working on himself and fixing up his friendship with Gina. I think something that might happen is when Gina is going through her angst with EJ, and Ricky going through his own angst with Lily, they might be able to give each other advice and on how to handle it. However, PLEASE for the love of God, do not drag the whole love triangle back, because we do not need it. Gina has truly gotten over Ricky, and Ricky never seeing Gina as someone for his romantic relationship anyways, and he really needs to work on himself more, they should not be together as a couple. However, I do hope that they amend their friendship and is able to confide in each other once more, which I think will be cool and really help with Ricky’s character development.

Ricky & Lily:

Now this one. We know they will not be endgame, and I am 90% sure of the fact that Lily does not have romantic feelings for Ricky. Sure, she might find him attractive (and I mean who can blame her, Joshua Bassett is gorgeous), but she definitely does not like him in that way. We can see it when she “confesses” to him, she said to him “I like your brown hair and brown eyes” which are all physical descriptions of him, nothing about his personality which makes sense because she barely knows him, so how could she develop feelings for someone she doesn’t know. She has also stolen the harness, so we know that there would be no way that she likes him, and at the end of season 2, we don’t even get to see her feeling guilty about doing it, because she likes him. So that definitely setting in stone on how she’s only using him and manipulating him. Now for Ricky, yes you might be thinking “oh he’s calling her, why?” But Ricky does not know what we know. He was not there when Lily was talking to Gina about their roles as Belle, he was not there when Lily was laughing at Big Red, he was not there when she had a conversation with Miss Jenn, and he was not there when she planned with Antoine and when she stole the harness. In Ricky’s eyes, the reason that she was so mean to them is because of the Menkies, and their schools were enemies and rivals for it. He doesn’t know about Lily’s evil and ambitious side, and he believes that the Menkies might have made her that way. For example, he knows that the Menkies has turned Miss Jenn into someone different and a little bit mean, so he assumed the same for Lily, and when she asked for a second chance, Ricky gave it to her as he didn’t know. I feel like for the first couple of episodes, it will show Lily and Ricky “bonding” or getting to know each other, but Lily lying about the whole situation and really planning something behind his back, but we don’t know what yet. Maybe Ricky will be like “Huh, she’s a cool person, I’m starting to like her.” But then figuring out her plan, and finding out that she stole the harness. He then will be very upset and kind of heartbroken as he gave her a chance and she was only manipulating him the whole time. Maybe then, his character development will continue to grow and he will realize that he does not need to be in a relationship right now, and that he needs to work on himself and mature as a person. And I think him and Lily’s “relationship” will be a strong pushing point that he needs.

Seb & Carlos:

Now Seblos is one of my favourite ships in the show, and I love them to bits and pieces. However, as regarding their relationship, I feel like they have already resolved all their angst in season 2, it will be hard to make up angst for them in season 3, if they ever have one. I would like to say this though, I knew there was going to be angst for them in season 2, but the way they built it up, I thought the angst would be about how Carlos’ family is really rich, and Seb can’t compare because he lives on a farm, and it might make him self-conscious. Cause that’s where it seemed to be leading in the first few episodes of Season 2 (the sled, cashmere etc.). However, they brought a completely different angst to them which I thought was pretty surprising. Personally, I think they should’ve done the “class/money” difference in season 2, and then maybe the whole “why are you with me” angst for season 3, but maybe they MIGHT switch it around for season 3, and have the whole “class/money” difference then. Although, that’s probably the only “issue” I see for them ever, cause they’re a power couple and like what other angst could there be? Maybe they’ll introduce a new love interest but I highly doubt it because they already resolved the “I choose you always” in season 2. So, hoping there’s no Seblos angst, but if they do decide to throw in one, that might be the one they’ll do.

Big Red & Ashlyn:

Again, Redlyn is one of my favourite ships and they’re just so amazing. However, their storyline is hopefully again, all fluff for season 3, but one thing I realised that they didn’t really resolve in season 2 was the whole “Antoine” storyline. After episode 7, they never really talked about it again and introduced the new angst next episode with the whole “Career” thing. I feel like Antoine will be a more recurring character in season 3, as he only got like what? 10 minutes worth of screentime this season? (Maybe even less) and especially at the end as he joined Natalie in the final scene. So maybe there will be more of him in the next season, and slowly moving in on Ashlyn and making Big Red feeling like he’s not good enough, and then maybe Redlyn will FINALLY get their “I love you” confession then, because WE NEED IT! I’m manifesting for Redlyn “I love you” next season, and I think the whole situation with Antoine would be a nice way for Ashlyn to TRULY confirm to Big Red how much she loves him and how grateful she is for him, and vice versa. (Also manifesting for more EJ and Big Red friendship moments, like maybe Big Red goes for EJ for advice for his relationship with Ashlyn, and maybe EJ confiding in Big Red for Gina as well)

Kourtney & Howie:

As for Kourtney and Howie, they’re probably still going to work at the pizza shop together and continue to bond. A plot point that I think will be very interesting is maybe Kourtney trying to convince Howie to move to East High, but Howie kind of not wanting to, because he spent like 3 years there and it’s kind of his home. That might be a nice storyline to do, or it can be the opposite, where Howie is trying to transfer to North High, but Kourtney being worried like “Is he going to North High for me? I don’t want that, what if he hates it here”, but Howie confirming that he’s going to North High because the environment for him is better there and less competitive and toxic than North High. That might be a storyline that can happen for these two. I would also like for them to have a duet as well; I think Dara’s strong voice goes well with Roman’s soft voice and it would mesh well together.

Miss Jenn & Mr. Mazarra:

Now this one is a toughie, but I have some theories. Now we know that Ricky has given Miss Jenn permission to date his dad, which is another great character development for him, as he’s handling change and seeing other people’s happiness. However, as soon as he gave her permission, Mr. Mazarra confesses his feelings for Miss Jenn, which seemingly makes her happy, as we did get to see a little smile on her face when he did. Throughout Season 2, Benjamin was really the one comforting her, and giving her courage for the Menkies. We see it through episode 8, when he helped Miss Jenn film the commercial and how he put so much effort into making her coffee and setting up a table, just so she could relax. Same goes for episode 10, when she confides in him, and he acting like a therapist to her and accepting her anxious feelings, and helping her feel calmer and better. They are both opening up to each other. And I believe Miss Jenn truly appreciates him as a colleague and a friend. Now another moment is when Ricky’s dad comes to the show with flowers, and she was talking with Mr. Mazarra at the moment. When he called out her name, she smiles awkwardly and immediate turns to Mr. Mazarra saying something along the lines up “Why we always running into him?” and very awkwardly makes his way to him and you could tell she was slightly uncomfortable, with her awkward smiles and everything. This really contrasts from episode 3, where she herself walks up to Ricky’s dad and starts up a conversation, and how now, it is the other way around. Now, the whole problem of Mr. Mazarra leaving for Caltech. He confesses his romantic feelings to Miss Jenn, and really emphasizes on how she’s the only one who is stopping him from running off the California, which I believe that she is a big part of why, but also not fully. We really get to see Mr. Mazarra bonding with a lot of the students this season as well, E.J., Ricky, etc. I feel like he truly cares for his students, and in season 3, maybe he is thinking about if he really wants to stay in Utah for his students and of course, his budding relationship with Miss Jenn. Now, there was a scene in episode 4, where he was confiding to EJ about his rejection from Caltech. And he admits to EJ how he doesn’t think about Caltech very much anymore. He’s made his peace with it. This kind of mirrors EJ’s situation about Duke. EJ didn’t get into Duke from his own accord, but rather his dad got him in. Same can be said for Mr. Mazarra, EJ’s dad made the call for him for Caltech, and he didn’t really get in from his own as well, as he said previously, He was rejected many, many times. So maybe next season will really show him and his decision of staying at East High back in the fall, or leaving for Caltech. Now moving back to Miss Jenn. Next season, I feel like will focus on her and the students more, as this season, she was a really crappy teacher, and kept pushing them due to stress and wanting them to beat her ex at the Menkies. This season, I believe that she will return to the teacher that she was in season 1, and really focusing and hyping up the kids’ talents. I would love to see that Miss Jenn come back, and really help her students. Of course, the whole love triangle debacle will probably be fixed, I can maybe see Miss Jenn going out on a date with Ricky’s dad but thinking of Mr. Mazarra the whole time, and Ricky’s dad is a good man, so he might notice something is different about her, and tells her to go for it, her relationship with Mr. Mazarra before he moves or something. Also, since in season 2, we got to see Mr. Mazarra comfort Miss Jenn a lot, maybe this season will have Miss Jenn comforting Mr. Mazarra about Caltech, and if he truly wants to leave his students. Another thing I’d like to maybe see is Mr. Mazarra singing a song for Miss Jenn. We know that Mark St. Cyr has a good voice, as we saw from the Christmas special. So, him singing to Miss Jenn even though he doesn’t like musicals that much and all that, would show a lot of character development from Season 1.

Overall Plot:

Now, I have a few theories about summer. I’ve seen a lot of people saying they will go to a camp like “Camp Rock” which I think will be very likely to happen, and they put up a musical. What I can also see happening, is like High School Musical 2, where they go to a resort for work, and then putting up a musical there for the audience as well. Or they could just stay in Utah, and just relax for the summer, and not have any musical but just a lot of original songs about their summer in general and the stuff they’re going through. If they do a musical, I don’t think that they’ll do a musical from a movie or theatre, but rather write their own musical. I think it would be a really interesting concept, it can show us more imaginative and creative concept for a musical and have more original songs for the season. I would truly love to see that.

So that’s all for the character analysis and predictions I have for Season 3, sorry if it’s long lol

[fallindomino]

how i would have changed s2 of hsmtmts

obvious disclaimer but im not a screenwriter or anyth so im not claiming what i want is best, this is just for fun lololol

okay so first of all nini would still have dropped out of yac but she wouldn’t have gone back to east, she would have transferred to north bc she was too ashamed to tell anyone she left at first and maybe she still wants to explore who she is away from ricky and the others

nini could join north’s batb and this way maybe we could have some playful rivalry with lily and nini and more scenes with antoine shdhdjdj also it could have been a great opportunity to flesh out lily’s character so those scenes where she reaches out to ricky and her confession at the end of the season actually make sense lol

speaking of ricky ,,, i think he should have left the play at some point hear me out. he only joined in the first place because of nini and barely wanted to do it at all once he realized he wasn’t gonna be able to perform with her. he could have joined crew and been a manager with natalie or smth considering he rlly does see the theater gang as a second family. also this would leave so much room for ej and ricky development and bants since ej joined the av club and began to pursue film. they could have some convos where idk ricky asks ej how he figured out what he wanted to do after duke didn’t work out and ricky could actually develop some interests that arent the play or nini ,,, maybe fucking art club i mean he did p good on that centerpiece for carlos’ quinceañera.

with ricky not being the beast anymore i think seb should take his place that would be soooo good. and since seb isn’t chip anymore carlos won’t make those snide comments about chip being a small unimportant role and we can just cut that whole fight bc it was dumb and bad. we could still have seb being insecure that carlos is only dating him bc there aren’t really any other gay guys at school. in a heartbeat is great and i did like ricky being supportive in the background it was kinda funny too idk dhdjdjfj

ooh i almost forgot abt rini ahshdj okay so i still think they should break up. but in my version there’s no ricky pulling an ej 1.0 and deleting comments off of nini’s insta, cause with ricky in art club and nini at north trying to figure out what she wants i think one of them would realize that they’re going in different directions and only got back tgt because they made each other feel safe cause what they had was familiar. this could be triggered by ricky mentioning smth abt nini at yac and then nini breaks down and tells him that she dropped out and is at north and doesn’t know where she’s going. and then they can both realize they aren’t good for each other rn and have a less tragic mutual break up.

honestly i really liked the scene of nini taking charge after miss jenn freaked out cause with the character detail of nini giving every person in the cast of productions she’s in a thank you note she just seems really like someone who is suited to lifting others up. this could still be explored at north, maybe she could help lily through her issues that were briefly implied in ep 11 and nini realizes she wants to be a drama teacher and encourage kids to go off book and put themselves into their acting, something she couldn’t have at yac.

okay now ej ,,, so like i said in ricky’s section, more bants between them cause i feel like friendships kinda fell by the wayside due to all the relationships so more friendship !!!! also the scene where ej tells his dad he’s not going to duke shouldn’t have been an ending scene, it should have been fleshed out with his dad pushing back saying how he pulled all these strings to get him in and ej saying he doesn’t wanna go if his own hard work couldn’t get him there. and also more scenes of ej doing av club things !!! and realizing he rlly likes film and wants to do it OMG IT WOULD BE SO COOL IF HE BROKE THE FOURTH WALL AND ASKED THE DOCUMENTARY CREW ABT THE FILM INDUSTRY god i would love that. the only scene we rlly got of ej doing film things was at the quinceañera which made me kinda sad. uhhh also i just wanted to specifically mention how ej got mr mazzara that job at cal tech bc it really showed how he wanted to be there for people not just for gina, who he had a crush on, but for mr mazzara who supported him outside of romance, so i wanna keep that for sure.

gina !!! okay so i mostly liked her arc in this season, the only changes i would make would be to flesh it out a teeny bit (god this hypothetical s2 would have to be like 22 eps at least shdjdjdjfj) anyways besides ashlyn singing home to get gina to stay i think there should be a scene where they actually talk in her room abt how gina feels safer when shes on the run (second chance reference ilysm) hhhh and also a scene of her and carlos actually working out compromises for their choreo cause i liked that bit of development too and fleshing that out would make gina an even better foil for lily, who felt a need to hog the spotlight like gina used to. with gina’s own arc fleshed out her character would feel more whole independently from romance and portwell would be even more rewarding than it is in the current s2. the only thing i would really change abt portwell is that they would kiss !!! in the finale but thats bc im biased.

ashlyn should have gotten a more fleshed out storyline about being insecure about not being a good enough belle or the typical belle. there were some throwaway lines when north did their typical dramatics but the only two real scenes that showed it were when ash talked to big red about it and when she was telling nini she wanted to do a run in “home” bc lily did it. ashlyn should get more screen time where she has to grapple with the reasons she doesn’t feel good enough and big red can still support her but also gina too bc i would like more roommate besties interaction.

kourtney could still date howie, that harry potter shit was cute but there needs to be smth else for kourtney’s arc. idk she’s still into fashion so maybe she could be out here trying to create her own line or smth? this doesn’t have to be resolved in s2 like making a wholeass line takes time and she could work on it into a potential s3. kourtney just didnt get much outside of howie and the stuff at the beginning of the season where she said nini inspired her to be independent and that's why she got a job was just dropped?? so i think that fashion could fill that for her if she’s still dating howie cause like having her whole arc just be the pizza place kinda overlaps w big red’s mini arc abt how he wasn’t settling for hospitality, its what he wants to do with his life.

ik what ur thinking. anna, even if you added more episodes, where would u find the room to add all these plotlines?? well first we cut (most of) the seblos fight, so thats some time saved. honestly most of the time that we r going to gain is going to be from cutting ms jenn’s time. things like ms jenn’s and nini’s car ride would get cut, but mostly all of ms jenn’s romances would get cut down. considering she’s the teacher and isn’t actually a character with an arc how does she have THREE love interests this season?? like all of the weird tension between her and zack can be cut, like just some short scenes of them being competitive can stay. all of the stuff with ricky’s dad can go bye bye we don’t need it. i did like her w mr mazzara so most of that can stay i just didn’t like how he said he would give up cal tech for her, ew no that would be gone.

the MENKIES !!!! this is the last thing im gonna address cause in a perfect world every character would get a long fleshed out arc but then the season would be waaay too long and also im mostly trying to work within material the show gave so this is mostly made up of “realistic” deviations from what actually happened. lol idk what that even means it just makes sense to me. but anyways!! uhhh bro idk i thought them dropping the menkies was funny but it also made the finale really BAD lmao. in this finale, seb is the beast, east still had to deal w the fact that they’re underfunded compared to north but no one is injured, lily is less of a poorly written character and maybe ppl are even rooting for her, and wow i just realized i never actually said what role i think nini should have in north’s show. OOH she could be student director instead of lily cause lily both being in the play while also directing was weird considering omg i just checked and according to her wiki page shes a FRESHMAN?? and they let her be student director? lol hell nah. okay so with all that in mind ,,, the menkies should have been the season cliffhanger instead of portwell. east and north should both be nominated, both schools perform at the menkies, and then the award winner is about to be announced and THATS when it cuts to natalie and the end of the season.

one, this actually gives more tension for a summer s3 as we would be waiting to see the consequences of whichever school won. also i bet people would be wondering if nini’s gonna be transferring back to east or staying at north. people would also prob wonder if ej would be getting the scholarship if east won and what that would mean for his interest in film.

lmao that got longggg and idk if anyone’s even gonna read this but it was fun to do :D

[quillbriar]

the different HSMTMTS characters baking together:

Rini

Ricky is good boyfriend, he gets the measuring cup filled with the right amount of sugar and flour

He pours in the flour and sugar, and cracks the eggs into the bowl

Nini mixes up the batter and pours the cupcake mix into the muffin tin

She spends so long decorating the cupcakes when they come out so they look perfect, but Ricky likes to have fun while baking and decorating his cupcakes, so he doesn’t care about being perfect but they always come out looking so good

He’ll be very humble about it

Seblos

living on a farm, Seb’s mom liked to bake a lot using the fresh eggs and milk, so he knows how to bake and he likes to make his mother’s and his grandma’s recipes

One time Seb asks Carlos if he wants to bake something together

It doesn’t go well

Seb and Carlos can’t bake together, they don’t fight, but it does leave for a very frustrated Carlos and an exhausted Seb

Carlos thinks he can bake (he can’t)

So he’ll try to tell Seb, who actually knows what he’s doing, the right way to bake

Carlos is very strict about sticking to the recipe exactly “or it’s not going to come out edible, Sebastian”

But Seb knows these recipes and watched his mother and grandmother mess around when making them, so he isn’t too worried about it

They don’t bake together anymore, but Carlos will happily eat anything Seb makes, though if he tries to give suggestions: “It seems a little sweet, did you put the correct amount of sugar that the recipe called for?” “You know, if you don’t like them, I can take back the container…?” “No! They’re delicious and you should make more.”

Redlyn

Actual baking gods

So in-sync with each other

They make the most complicated desserts, they have a shared pinterest board with desserts they want to try to make

On birthdays, Ashlyn likes to make that person’s favorite cake for the theatre club to share

Big Red doesn’t want to make big scenes, especially because Ashlyn was already making cakes, but he’ll make the birthday person their favorite treat and give it to them privately

But once they get together? The glory of getting a Redlyn cake on your birthday?

They bake together for more than just birthdays: parties at Ashlyn’s house, holidays to give cookies to Miss Jenn, for fun when they want to have a chill date night in

Portwell

Gina could make a whole apple pie from scratch but she wouldn’t trust EJ with anything

So she bakes and he watches her

In the words of my friend @vesnovels: “EJ is allowed to stand there looking pretty”

Ej is not allowed to read the recipe out loud either

Gina’s worried that he’ll say tablespoons instead of teaspoons

Ej takes pictures at the end (it’s hard to take good pictures of baked goods!) which Gina is grateful for

@vesnovels also added Gina starts a baking youtube channel and EJ films for her, which is correct, that is what happens

He keeps asking to be on the show, but she says that would be too chaotic

The ONE time he’s on the show, they bake the Pillsbury cookies, the ones where all you do is put them on the sheet and bake

But, Gina is justified in being wary, because Ej spills the milk as he’s pouring it into glasses to have with the cookies

She keeps it in the video to have as proof for why they can’t bake together

Kourtney

Kourtney doesn’t attempt to bake

She instead makes playlists for everyone to listen to while they bake

She makes a soft pop playlist for Nini (and Ricky), a jazz/Broadway classics playlist for Redlyn, a Disney playlist for Seb

She also makes Ashlyn and Seb aprons to wear while they bake, but asks for her favorite treats from them in return

Seb’s apron is very fabulous and has a glittery pink S on it, with the pattern of the fabric as measures of sheet music

Ashlyn’s apron also has sheet music on it, but a different design, and it has a purple A on it

Seb and Ashlyn bake together, and they wear their “matching” aprons and send selfies to Kourtney, who hypes them up

[youranxiousnerd]

Showtime Thoughts

bc i am in love with julia lester

spoilers below

First off, why is this episode so short?

ngl i forgot mazzara was a regular

ricky ded besties

awww nina and the letters 

she looks very good in her dress

ashlyn and ricky look so good

“We’re screwed!”

ash and ricky are too funny like where were they this season?

chaotic and pretty best friends

sidenote, why did they go see north high’s production? 

oh my god ricky and nina are talking

SEBLOS IN THE BACKGROUND

i am taking what i can get

RICKYS FACE WITH THE CARD!!!!!!!!

my favorite part of the episode

his makeup looks very good

he looks very good

as @organic-guacamole said, he is very pretty

its been like three minutes and it already is so chaotic

yessss kourtney’s mom!!!

so howie and kourt are fine? gah since when?

“look for the shortest fork” mood

I CANNOT TAKE EJ SERIOUSLY HE LOOKS LIKE AN ANGRY BIRD

big bird ej comin at you

oh

PORTWELL DATE

wait isnt this ejs last show? is he going to miss his last afterparty for a date?

true love bitches

GINA MY LOVE

“Is he with us?”

NORTH HIGH SET OUR BEST BOI ANTOINE ON FIRE APS GET READY

seb being a supportive boyfriend is everything i needed

jenny is frazzled

i love how all the techie turned actors are nervous at some point during the episode

REDLYN CONTENT

awww thats so cute love the callback!!!

ooo howie is here

love how the writers leave a cliffhanger and then close the book before it turns to tragedy with one line

mazzara and ej, thats it

jenn what

why is mike there?

that was so unnecessary like aren’t mike and jenn over?

LILY

“did we forget to build a moat around the school” 

let ricky be single challenge

she just said “lol” i cant

props to ricky for keeping calm during the show after he saw mike and jenn

ah so lily is a child of divorce?

“lily scram”

RICKY AFTER THE CURTAIN OPENS WHY IS THIS FUNNY

STOP MAZZARA IS THE VOICE OVER

HE SOUNDS REALLY GOOD

how did ricky do that so fast-

put on gloves over the cast, makeup, and a mask?

i dont work with costumes 

AMERICA EXPLAIN

The one scene we get from the show...

Yay Steph!!!!

“Big Red has not thrown up in twenty minutes” ashlyn’s little smile

“she heard wrong”

someone please explain how spotlighting the judge is a good idea it makes it seem like things went wrong

“Carlos is a seasoned professional” honey carlos is on the verge of a mental breakdown

“He says help

Communication

Seb translating for Carlos is beautiful dramatic, yes, but im right. 

im so proud of them. they go from not talking for a week to seb being able to tell how carlos is feeling based off a stoic expression.

SOULMATE SHIT

IM SORRY NO BOP TO THE TOP CALLBACK

LIKE NONE

WHO WANTS TO RIOT WITH ME?!?!

wait so carlos goes from on the verge of a mental breakdown to full on performing and speaking?!?!?!? Speaking well too, not stumbling.

he looks so comfortable on stage when not even ten minutes ago he looked like he was going to vomit?

h e l p

ashlyn’s little laugh!

NINI IS A FORK IM LAUGHING THIS IS GREAT

big red lookin’ at his girl

ricky what are you doing?

ASHLYN AND GINA

I QUIT THEY’RE ADORABLE

GET IT KOURTNEY

howie’s little mouth drop

i cant with sebs costume i should not be laughing how is he able to do a kick line

ASHLYN MY LOVE

be our guest was enjoyable. it had a lot of moving parts. frankie and dara sounded really good. it’ll probably grow on me the more i listen to it.

is it just me or did be our guest lack some energy?

NATIALIE IS SO AGGRESSIVE

awww gina bb

portwell!!

“my mom sent me jordan fisher”

big red and ricky!!!

...what is big red doing? has he been faking sick?

“PLEASE EVERYONE REMAIN IN THE SAME ROLE YOU STARTED IN” 

BEST LINE OF THE SEASON OMFG 

alright what the hell is up with howie?!?

kourtney is so excited and then downer howie comes to ruin it

nina just write “thanks for being the best bro and glad youre not dead”

btw kourtney and gina look really good in their costumes

ASHLYN!!!!

SHES SO PRETTY THANK YOU

redlyn!!

gina and jamie!!! 

he looks so proud

glad gina gets to see her family!

cute scene, jordan is a nice addition!

RICKY AND THE BOWL

julia lester is killing it with the vocals

big red is so in love

seb bouncing in the costume 

“she’s never looked at me that way before” evil smirk

PORTWELL GLANCES

my heart fricking stopped when carlos went on stage 

being early on your cue/missing is awful would highly not recommend

a bop to the top callback after this would have been perfect

those harmonies!!

THEYRE SO IN LOVE

ummm phone call?

CHIPS BIG SCENE

...why wasn’t seb cogsworth? 

alright that was really good. everyone (even the backup) sounded really good. portwell rights! ashlyn rights! kowie rights! acting rights! 

so mazzara and jamie?

Ashlyn is the perfect Belle fight me

“Eat it Zackey Roy!” how about “yay kiddos, nice job!”

ej’s little dance

“bc you’re ginas brother” 

he is enamored by her it is adorable

EJ CASWELL RIGHTS

“hey, jordan fisher, would you like to f up one of three stableish ships in hsmtmts?” “sure, im in!”

ej!!!

aww hopefully he doesnt take the conversation too heart. they both like each other so much.

Portwell is so enjoyable to watch.

return of the bro

ej go get your girl dont worry about her brother please

SOMEONE TOUCHED THE PROPS

all hands on deck

“Can you just jump off something high”

I seem to remember Ricky falling from something high last episode, is that correct? 

She tells this to one of her most UNSTABLE kids

Oh shit

Miss. Jenn

Wtf

like what the actually hell

look at the kids faces they’re heartbroken

Miss. Jenn why. You’re stressed about the show, but you’re not performing it. They are. They have to worry about lines and cues and pitches, not you. Miss. Jenn has literally gone at the kids this season. Opening night speech too Ash and Ricky, shutting Seb down, that comment. She has become obsessed with the Menkies and North High. It has gotten really bad. These kids have put everything into this show, even their relationships (both platonic and romantic) and that is how you repay them? 

I didn’t think they would address this, I lost hope after last week but I am so glad they’re going too.

Someone send Seb after Miss. Jenn please, let him rip into her, he would do very well.

Miss. Jenn is supposed to be the role model and she just told a kid to jump off something high.

nina has been a godsend this episode, props to her!

haven’t been the biggest nini fan this season (off and on for me), but she was very behaved this episode. 

if there is anything the east high kids are good at, it’s bullshitting their way out.

“aim for my face” character growth

I KNEW IT

LILY WHY HOW WHEN WHY 

WTF THEY END THERE I CANNOT WITH CLIFF HANGERS

I liked the episode. Didn’t love it, but liked it. I really wish we got to see more acting, like we didn’t even see Big Red and E.J go on stage. Not even the iconic yellow dress. Some of the drama is so unnecessary, like why Mike and Jenn? What is with the Kourtney and Howie drama the writers insist on having, can’t they just be happy?

Besides the whole harness incident (burn that harness and mask it is causing so many problems) the production went very well, too well. This is East High we’re talking about.

Promo thoughts because what

oo they’re sneaking, maybe Big Red’s thingy

YES ASHLYN GETTING THE LOVE SHE DESERVES

oo Kowie confession?

portwell please be okay

what is up with carlos’ hair?

so seb, miss. jenn, and carlos scene? this has the potential to be very beautiful.

“It’s not over” not this again... 

i’m thinking carlos and seb are going to talk to miss jenn.

Sidenote, if we do not get a good seblos scene I will riot.

Hopefully Miss. Jenn apologizes with a billion sorrys

rini you just broke up please dont get back together 

im scared

if it is a scene where they close the book i will be very happy

Are we getting a flash forward scene? I’m pretty sure Miss. Jenn said Menkies aren’t till two plus weeks after the show.

We know based off the promo pics Ej and Gina are at the cast party, what went wrong?

Wait do we not get to see the finale of the show?

We better see the goddamn transformation

how does lily home and core four song fit in? im more curious about the lily one.

In conclusion, I am not ready for this to be over and the transformation needs to be sent to hell.

[countessofravenclaw]

Olivia Rodrigo and Agustin Bernasconi; How to depart a character from a Disney show (and how not to do it)

I have been thinking about this a while. Both Soy Luna and HSMTMTS both have a character that departs the show in S3 of the said show because their actors made it big in the music industry.

In my opinion Nini's (or should I say Nina's...oh goodness this is kind of ironic. if you know you know) departure was done pretty well. I am not sure if they knew about Olivia's success while S2 was being written/filmed, but that doesn't really matter. Ricky and Nini's break was organic and came with a good build-up. How Nini ends up in end of S2 leaves her future open. She could have been set up for the departure from the show after that (like she will) or she could have stayed in the show too. In S3 they are giving her some closure and in the finale, she said her final goodbye. They didn't just drop everything about her to make her leave and gave her actually a good reason that worked it her character and didn't contradict the previous plots. And I felt like her goodbye with is Jenn and Kourtney was so well done

On the contrary, we have Gastón from Soy Luna. In the end of S2 he goes to Oxford university leaving all his friends, best friend, and girlfriend with who he had an extremely devoted relationship, behind. If you look at his reasons for going to Oxford and the whole mess that lead up to that, it really didn't even make sense for him to go. He didn't go to Oxford so they could write him off the show, since Agus allegedly expressed his desire to leave the show right before they were about to start shooting S3. In the start of S3 he had video chats with his best friend and girlfriend and the plot kind of seems to warp in a way that he might be coming back. He shows up in the flesh in ep. 10, but in ep. 11 all a sudden, with absolutely no build-up he tells his girlfriend Nina (I said this was gonna be ironic) that they can't keep going with the long-distance relationship, even when it was a heavily discussed choice from S2. All the arguments for their break have not existed until that one moment and go against lot of what we know of Gastón and Nina as people, but they still break up. Only thing that makes sesn is the fact that Gastón cares about Nina's happiness more than his own but that does not work since Nina ends up suffering much more as a result. After this Gastón is never seen again. He doesn't say goodbye to his best friend and no one brings him up ever again, outside of Nina and that only happens so someone can tell her to move on and forget him. No one even tell Gastón when his best friend, Matteo ends up in the hospital.

In conclusion, before Nini left I felt like was already kind of naturally distanced from the rest of the wildcats and LA and her music was a natural progression for her when on the other hand Gastón dropped everything he cared about for a school he was totally fine not going to. He was just dropped from the show half hazardly and with thons of bad writing and lot of heart break

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x08 Review

Most Likely To was the best ep of S2 so far and ended one ship while launching another. Let’s dig in!

Gaston was super fun, a very nice showcase for both Larry and Matt. This is the kind of energy that early S2 was lacking. Also feels like the first ep where East High might actually have a shot at beating North High. Covid restrictions played a role but we really needed to see more rehearsal scenes and scenes of the wildcats just being theatre kids. This also may be one of the last times we see EJ perform as a student in the musical so I’m glad we got this.  

EJ has been criminally underused for most of S2, he’s marketed as part of the big 4 along with Nini, Ricky, and Gina and Matt Cornett’s name is listed 3rd in the credits but in the early eps of S2 you’d think he was guest star. Lately he’s started to become more important and tonight was an excellent showcase of why he’s such an interesting character. I’m not gonna check but this feels like it’s the most EJ screen time in a single ep that we’ve gotten all season long. 

Of course, the main reason for EJ’s increased screen time is because of Portwell. I’ve been neutral on them but tonight they really won me over’ their scenes were so sweet that they warmed even my cold black heart. Matt and Sofia are good friends irl and that shines through in their easy rapport and great chemistry. Gina snorting at EJ’s joke was cute and I loved the shot of Gina accidentally walking into the shot for EJ’s confessional. As an aside, they’ve been doing some fun stuff with the confessionals lately which helps add a bit of the metaness that helped make S1 so great.

The real big Portwell scene tonight was EJ and Gina talking on the couch at Ashlyn’s. Lot’s to love there. Gina’s speech to EJ about what she sees when she thinks of him was sweet and her saying that EJ tried to do the right thing and often failed but kept trying echoes what she said of herself during her confession to Ricky. Also when EJ asked Gina if she understood the feeling of having her life mapped out she replied, ‘’not really’’ which is almost certainly the inspiration for Gina asking a question to EJ and him responding ‘’not really’’ in their pre S2 face time call on the hsmtmts instagram. 

EJ is still wracked with guilt for the guy he used to be but Gina reminds him that he’s grown and is a good guy which leads to her slip up about her seeing him that way vs the rest of the gang hinting that she’s beginning to catch feelings for EJ. Which leads to EJ complimenting her and them having a moment that could well have led to a kiss if Ashlyn hadn’t come home. And they cap it off with Gina falling asleep and EJ covering her with his Duke sweater. 

It’s been nice not seeing Gina upset over Ricky these past two eps and it’s a damning indictment of the poor writing and pacing of S2 that her story in the first 6 eps can be summed up as Gina being upset over something Ricky said or did. Not only has Portwell allowed EJ to rise in prominence but also it’s allowed Gina to escape the rut her character was stuck in pining for Ricky. 

I hope after S2 is over that we get an interview where Tim explains how the Portwell plot came to be. The S1 finale set up some possible interest between them as did the pre S2 face time call but nothing came of it during the first 4 eps, they stood next to each other a lot but barely interacted otherwise. Notably in 2x01, which Tim himself wrote, EJ tries to grow a beard and tells Ashlyn that he says her as so young which is extremely jarring now that we know that EJ is crushing on Gina who is Ashlyn’s age. 

Was Tim not set on doing Portwell until he realized he needed to give Gina something else to do other than hopelessly pine for Ricky? Narratively, it made sense after Rini got together in S1 to put the other two Big 4 characters together in S2 but did Tim not want it to seem so obvious to the audience so he deliberately kept Portwell apart until 2x05 where EJ’s feelings make for a nice plot twist? Was he just reluctant to plug EJ back into the love square due to how much more complicated it would make things but later felt he had no other options? Or was it just plain old bad pacing and writing?

Of course, I wish that there wasn’t such a large age gap between Sofia and Matt but there are no Gina ships that avoid that problem, there’s also an age gap between Sofia and Joshua, just as there was between Olivia and Joshua and Matt in S1. Depending on when they film S3 there’s a good chance that most of it will be finished before Sofia even turns 18 which is deeply unfortunate. There’s a broader issue of teen girls being cast in mostly age appropriate roles while their male love interests are older adults and in particular it often affects female characters of colour. Netflix has a really bad track record with those kind of age gaps but Disney has problems too as we’ve seen on HSMTMTS and on GMW where by the end of S3 they had 18 year old Peyton Meyer as the boyfriend of 14 year old Rowan Blanchard’s character (not to mention canon Joshaya which didn’t have such a bad age gap between the actors but was problematic regarding the ages of the characters themselves).

A knock I’ve seen on Portwell is that EJ is just gonna leave for university next year but that was never gonna happen, Matt’s under the same 4 season contract as all the other mains and he’ll be sticking around in some capacity much like Sharpay ended up doing in the movies. It is true that EJ will probably have to move on at the end of S4 while Gina still has her senior year left but that will also happen with her and Ricky since he’ll be graduating at the end of S4. It was a big mistake to make EJ a senior but it also may end up being a big mistake to make Gina a sophomore. It would have been too messy to retcon EJ to be a junior but Tim probably should have taken the chance to retcon Gina into being a junior in S2.

That Rini breakup was so sad (missed opportunity for gotta go my own way). They managed to get in a Troyella reference with the treehouse. This was inevitable they just have not been communicating well though now that we know that Ricky thought Nini left YAC for him some of his desperation to spend as much time together as possible makes more sense. I think Rini is endgame if the series has 4 seasons but it wouldn't shock me if we never seem them dating again and they only get back together in the series finale. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Nini never dates anyone else for the remainder of the series or at least not seriously. 

We’re not even halfway through the series so it’s way too early to permanently slam the door on Rini though this time apart will probably help Joshua and Olivia move on from their own bitter break up before it bleeds too much into their performances. I do wonder if Tim really has a clue what he's gonna do with them for the remaining 24-28 eps of the series, assuming S3 and S4 have 10-12 eps each. 

Roman Banks killed If I Can’t Love Her and the montage of all the couples or ex couples was great.

It was nice to finally meets some parents other than the Bowen’s and Salazar-Roberts’. Kourtney’s mom was played by Dara’s actual mother and their dynamic was great as expected. It seems from their conversation that Kourtney's father is dead which I don’t believe has been mentioned before. Cash Caswell.... well it gets what the character is about across. He really looks and sounds like a rich Utah republican, I bet he knows Mitt Romney personally. I liked EJ going to tell his father that he’s not going to Duke and recognizing that he wants to build his own life on his own merits. 

We saw a bit of that S1 Miss Jenn energy tonight which was fun though I didn't like how curt she was with Seb nor did I like how rude Carlos was to Seb although we know that blows up in 2x10. 

Jazzara rising! I really liked how Jazzara and Portwell are sort of mirroring each other and since Mazzara knows about EJ’s feelings for Gina it wouldn’t shock me if helping EJ out is part of him showing a softer side in 2x12.

Of course Ashlyn is VP of the Nostradamus society. It's clear her family has some kooky new age beliefs (her parents are probably members of some naturopathic medicine group on Facebook that doubles as a gateway into Qanon)

It was nice to see Big Red being such a good friend to Ricky and the return of Ricky’s infamous pillow hugs. Lmao at Ashlyn just chilling while Big Red is comforting Ricky

Also Miss Jenn saying sexy and Big Red referring to pillow talk, the writers are adding a bit of spice when cooking up these scripts.

Looking Ahead: 

Looks like Gina may be wearing EJ's duke sweater next ep according to some posts I saw. Jack presumably is there to somehow help Gina decide what she wants with Ricky and EJ though him having wanderlust might also feed into Gina’s thoughts on settling down in SLC or moving with her mom around the country.

Let's see what mom of the year, Lynne Bowen, has up her sleeves. Ricky’s bedroom at her place in Chicago looks much nicer than the apartment Mike Bowen has so perhaps she makes a lot more money than he does. 

Not looking forward to the Zoom portions of the ep but I guess it was inevitable. 

There’s only two paths for Gina’s story to go in the remainder of this season; either she decides to move on from Ricky and give EJ a chance or she decides that Ricky is worth trying again and squelches her budding feelings for EJ. The former looks much more likely after tonight’s ep but either way it needs to be handled with care. Inevitably Gina and Ricky need to talk about what happened between them but if Tim really wants Ricky to continue being a viable love interest or even a good friend to Gina then he needs to really have Ricky apologize and show a thoughtful, kinder side of him that’s largely been missing this season. 

What I think Tim is doing is setting up Portwell getting together in 2x12 but Ricky pining over Gina until Portwell break up late S3 and Rina get together in the S3 finale before they break up later in S4 and Ricky gets back with Nini near the end of the series. If I had Tim’s ear I would tell him that he should pick which ship he wants to do, Rina or Portwell, but don’t do both. He wants canon Rina? Great then end Portwell before it starts and have Rina happen in S3 and introduce other obstacles to them getting together rather than having to damage EJ’s character and make him lose another girl he likes to Ricky. He wants canon Portwell? Great then have Gina and Ricky’s conversation be closure for the both of them and have Gina and EJ get together and break them up without Ricky being a cause of it or waiting in the wings to get with Gina soon afterwards. Doing both will be a disaster and I truly hope that Tim Federle carefully thinks over his mistakes in S2 and really plans out the remaining 2 seasons of the series while there’s still time to prevent things from going really off the rails like GMW and AM did thanks to the bad decisions of Michael Jacobs and Terri Minsky. 

Until next week wildcats. 

[nini-ricky]

first off i’d just like to say, i can’t fucking believe season 2 is finally here. after what was it 16? 17? months without this show, we finally get to see what’s coming next. admittedly, it is a little strange considering i’m so used to the characters that we as fandom have concocted over these last couple months. but i’m incredibly excited to see what this season has in store for us. 

since last season some of you liked whenever i posted my thoughts on the episode, i figured i would do it for season 2 as well! plus, i think this is super fun and i like to see your thoughts as well hehe anyways, here are my thoughts on season 2 episode 1 !!!!!

- even though we’ve already seen something in the air i was still so excited to watch it all over again!!!!! each character truly shined in this scene, and i absolutely loved it!

- rini is really that gross/cutesy couple that no one wants to hang around with and that warms my heart and their little montage during the perfect gift i’m CRYING they are all happy and in love and together and i love it

- ricky is truly what so many au’s i’ve read have portrayed him out to be (and i’m not mad about it) but for the love of god, nini needs to communicate with him we’ve done this no communication business before and we already know how that turned out

- i am so excited to see kourtney’s journey this season, of course as well as all the other characters we didn’t quite get a chance to explore last season

- gina and ash as roomies makes my heart swell they both look so happy and gina finally getting a chance to build proper friendships and relationships it’s all i want for her

- i can’t believe ricky’s moving, like i know it’s practical with just mike and him but still, it kinda pokes at your heart

- i will take this to my grave but i think nini would be the best gift wrapper of all time, but yk whatever (also the HSM stickers on the skateboard made me cry PLEASE)

- “you’re my home” it speaks louder when you know the news of what ricky has just learned, and we all know that it goes both ways with them

- “why are you hiding from a handsome man who isn’t wearing a wedding ring” IM CRYING THATS SO FUNNY also loved the introduction of Zack, i’m excited his character and his storyline this season

- the bet on it season i could not for the life of me take seriously !! but props to Big Red for being the supportive best friend (i love him)

- also Red ofc the kiss counts - i am alsoe looking forward to Big Red blooming this season, i want to see him shine and gain confidence in himself and i’m hoping it’s not just for his relationship with Ashlyn but for himself as a person

- ricky was so fucking funny this episode and i’m looking forward to more comedy from him and all the other characters of course

- EJ’s already showcasing how much his life is about to change and i just i sympathize with him in that aspect. its difficult to think that in just a few short months you’ll be leaving it all behind and you really want to embrace every last second of it. EJ’s storyline, with college and finding out who he is, is definitely one i’m REALLY looking forward to seeing

- as it’s obviously evident by blog i am rini shipper, however, that doesn’t mean that i hate on the other ships that get in the way of mine. so, when i saw gina’s reaction when ricky and nini came in together, my heart broke for her. i’m sure many of us have on gina’s end and it’s not fun. and i just hope that she gets to find love this season both in friendship and possibly a relationship

- the hsm2 medley was so cute i loved it !!

- the way nini kinda just dropped the bomb about denver in front of everybody i was shook and not at the same time. i completely saw it coming, but was still quite unprepared! looking forward to the reactions towards it next episode!

WOW that was long lmao i’m so sorry friends hahhaha

but, let me know your thoughts too about this episode or any theories you have going into this season. whether it’d be about who’s playing who or the storyline in general. drop an ask in my inbox and i’ll be sure to answer them hehe

[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?

[kylawatches]

so… this is purely based off of spoilers and my own thoughts i’m not going to be able to watch the new episode until after work rip but…

as of right now i’m feeling fairly confident that they are prepping to write olivia off the show… idk how on earth miss girl (this is not meant in a rude way i just refer to people this way okay cool clarification over) got out of her 4 season contract… but i feel like she must have because it would explain a lot. plus getting out of that contract is FULLY in liv’s best interest rn. she needs to capitalize on her success.

this is a little disappointing because it wrecks some of my theories i’ve been working on for potential future seasons, but i mean we saw this coming.

her having someone gotten out of the contract would entirely help us explain the fact that she has done approximately zero promo on her socials… like she /filmed/ promo like for the rose song and all that along with the season that has been used on the disney accounts, but she didn’t do any interviews or any events or anything hsmtmts related promo-wise. like even though her music is her focus right now (understandably so given she’s blown up) it’s still WEIRD that a disney lead has posted approximately zero things about her show. but if she’s no longer under contract or is about to be no longer under contract it would make a lot more sense.

in addition, while i think it’s a little dumb, this plot arc of i’m nina and i just do music now and no ricky of course the song’s not about you even though it definitely was… (otherwise why would she write something that a) doesn’t fit batb and b) tell kourtney that ricky cannot know about it) fully serves getting olivia off the show even if it doesn’t fully serve the show the way they could’ve written nini’s personal growth arc in my personal opinion.

like ricky has messed up this season, don’t get me wrong (though a lot of it stems from his parents that’s an explanation not an excuse), but him wanting to have a conversation with nini about the rose song and her like no shut up richard it’s not about you… is not something that’s him doing something wrong. it’s on her for being dishonest about it. she knows it’s about him. she’s just dismissing him in a time where he needs to be able to talk about his feelings. because frankly, yes he was being clingy, and she does feel trapped by it (aka the rose song), but if he was able to talk to her about why… he’d probably be able to cool it.

if ricky can’t open up to nini they shouldn’t be together. both because of his emotional repression and her closing doors on him… communication is a two way street. it’s not all on her but it’s also not all on him. like i am getting frustrated by them which sucks because they could’ve been so so good together and they were for a hot second... but them writing liv off the show definitely explains the nina the music person and ricky being stifling when he’s otherwise previously been supportive arc.

this plot arc is fully served by them writing olivia off so she can focus on other things. do i think this was a weak concept they decided to run with? yes. nina the songwriter whose song blows up to parallel olivia rodrigo feels like a very unoriginal storyline to me, but it gets her out of the theatre bubble… which is what she needs to get off the show. nini would have to either leave or at the very least leave the theatre kids and this makes more sense than her moms suddenly packing her up and moving away for no reason.

could they have just kept her at yac… sure. but they didn’t. plus nini’s character doesn’t fit at the repressive academy anyway… and i do have a feeling that her leaving at least leaving so soon def has to do with the actress who played emily (may she rest in peace). but regardless, there were other ways they could’ve played this, but it’s where they’re going… at least from my perspective… and i think it’s going to at least hopefully lead to a solid ending for a character that i’ve had a lot of mixed emotions over these last two seasons.

[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🥲

[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.