Carlos’ (Frankie A. Rodriguez) birthday is officially here! In “Quinceañero,” Carlos gets a night he’ll never forget when his boyfriend Seb (Joe Serafini) and his new BFF Gina (Sofia Wylie) throw him a surprise birthday bash. But the night brings way more surprises, some that will clearly shake up the stage as we know it. There are spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution!
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Episode 5 kicks off with the drama kids are all gathered in Seb’s family’s barn when Seb unveils the big plan. Gina is set on making it a huge night fit for someone like Carlos, but more on that later. Everyone’s obviously excited, seeing as Carlos is pretty great friends with them all. One thing that really sticks out here is how Nini (Olivia Rodrigo) is back with the crew, and she seems pretty happy to just be there.
Ricky (Joshua Bassett), on the other hand, is set on getting Nini back in the school play, even when she said she wants to focus on solo music and doesn’t really think it’s fair for her to ask for a spot considering auditions are over. But when he asks Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) anyway, despite Nini’s pleading, it seems like it’ll be impossible to get Nini back in the play. Yikes. At least the couple seems happy for right now.
Miss Jenn is also dealing with her own struggles, considering two men who clearly have some kind of feelings for her are attending Carlos’ birthday. Ricky’s dad (Alex Quijano) is still really interested in Miss Jenn, dressing to impress and hoping for a dance at the Quinceañero. But Mr. Mazzara (Mark St. Cyr) doesn’t seem to be giving up so easily. Honestly, it was uncertain whether Mr. Mazzara really had romantic feelings for Miss Jenn, but after this episode, it seems pretty undeniable.
Meanwhile, Carlos is upset because he thinks no one knows about his birthday and thinks that he’ll have no plans. He’s in for a huge shock when Seb brings him to the farm and everyone’s there and the barn is decorated in over-the-top, sparkling decor; it’s a party made just for Carlos.
There are a lot of really touching moments in this episode, and it’s hard to not get emotional right along with the crew. Everyone reveals how they admire Carlos for being loud and proud. Seb performs a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb,” after admitting that a dance video Carlos posted a long time ago inspired Seb to be himself when he was hiding out in his room during his younger years. They share a lot of sweet moments and it’s refreshing to see Disney including a gay couple at the forefront of the show.
Gina also performs a huge, fun dance number recreating Carlos’ old dance video, where she sings about how she and Carlos are both dancers at heart. She also shares a speech about being alone for a lot of her life and how dancing was an escape for her, and how she understands it’s the same for Carlos. This actually gives us a great look into who Gina is and will make you empathize with her, which is honestly what was needed at this point. In the first season, Gina seemed like the antagonist, and it’s good to hear her story and understand her better.
She’s also dealing with her still-existent feelings for Ricky, and it’s surprising when she actually confronts him about it. He asks her for advice with Nini, and she basically tells him to go ask anyone else next time. This is definitely a fair ask, but hopefully, they allow Gina to branch out from Ricky soon.
Well, if there’s time for that, of course. We find out throughout the episode that there might be more to the story … namely the fact that Gina might be leaving East High again. At the end of the episode, she calls her mom and says that she’s ready to come home. This is heartbreaking, but it’s possible that the move never happens. Fingers crossed. Especially because this is kind of terrible timing since EJ (Matt Cornett) – who’s now in the AV club, called it–seems to be nursing a crush on Gina now.
But this isn’t the only surprise that comes to us. Miss Jenn’s ex and North High drama teacher Zack Roy (Derek Hough) makes a reappearance to taunt Miss Jenn and reveal that his school is going to trash The Little Mermaid play idea and go for Beauty and the Beast instead, just like East High. He’s accompanied by the sort-of-scary new student Lily (Olivia Rose Keegan) who ditched East High and is working with their rival. Miss Jenn wonders how they’ll compete with North High, but it’s clear she has a plan up her sleeve. One that might involve Nini taking the stage again?
Next week, who knows what’ll happen. We’ll likely find out Miss Jenn’s plan, and hopefully more about what’s brewing between Kourtney (Dara Renee) and Howie (Roman Banks), but who knows about Gina? Will she tell her fellow Wildcats or wait it out? And what’s actually going to happen to Nini now that she’s back in Utah?
It seems like after the more light-hearted celebration this week, we’ll get a whole lot of drama in the next episode. Oh well, at least we got a fun little intermission. And truthfully if you take away anything from this episode, it’s not all of the tension brewing beneath the surface. It’s that there is strength and bravery in being yourself.
