In High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Episode 8, ‘Most Likely To,’ the Wildcats take a step back from the play and focus on themselves, which means more time for drama. The relationships are severely tested to their limits, and some even hit their breaking point. There will be spoilers ahead so proceed with caution.
When the episode starts off, it seems harmless enough. It’s career week, and the students are in play practice. E.J. (Matt Cornett) and Big Red (Larry Saperstein) perform an exciting and entertaining version of Beauty and the Beast’s “Gaston,” and everyone’s cheering them on. Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) is the first to say that they were all perfect, but then Mr. Mazzara (Mark St. Cyr) comes bearing some bad news: the play’s practice is suspended for a week, by order of the Menkies. This is all because of East High’s “trespassing” in last week’s episode when the students snuck into North High in search of the Beast mask. Luckily, since Zack Roy at North High actually did steal it, North High’s production was also suspended for a week.
This is where one might assume the students and Miss Jenn would secretly try to practice for the play, but because this is HSMTMTS, instead they’re just gonna cause a lot of relationship problems and randomly burst out into song later so that the episode keeps its typical musical elements.
Before getting into all of the relationship problems, let’s start with the ones that actually work. Miss Jenn is definitely one of the most popular people in Salt Lake City, as episode after episode a new character shares a moment with her. In this episode, Mr. Mazzara offers to help her film a commercial audition. She just can’t seem to get it right, but with his help, she’s able to pull it off, and he can’t stop complimenting her. Miss Jenn seems to pick up on it, but who’s to say for sure yet? The only thing we know for certain is that Mr. Mazzara is definitely falling for Miss Jenn, which is something we all saw coming from season one.
E.J. and Gina (Sofia Wylie) make up the other pairing that works right now. It’s probably best to start with E.J. since he was struggling with his future in this episode. We found out a while ago that he didn’t get into Duke, but in this episode we discover that thanks to his rich dad making a few calls, he’s now officially in. While this is exciting for E.J., he’s really conflicted since he didn’t earn his spot. It’s really refreshing to see E.J. actually have a storyline and a bigger role in the show.
After we find out about this, E.J. goes to talk to Ashlyn about it, and instead finds Gina at her house. The two have a really deep heart-to-heart talk about how E.J.’s thankful for his privilege but feels dejected since he didn’t get into Duke himself. He also shares how, when he looks at his life, he sees all of the cruel mistakes he’s made. Gina says that when she looks at him, she sees someone completely different, who’s trying to do the right thing no matter what. Gina is honestly the perfect person for E.J. to talk to, considering how she acted in season one, and how she, too, is trying to be a better person who does the right thing. And then, E.J. calls her extremely brave. This conversation really connects the two of them and the bond between them is undeniable. Both of them complement each other well and are able to see eye-to-eye while still growing on their own, and this really separates them from many of the other couples on the show.
An example of a couple that just can’t seem to stay on the same page is Big Red and Ashlyn (Julia Lester). Sadly this pairing is getting less and less tolerable as the weeks go by and this is no exception. Of course, after Antoine admitted he likes Ashlyn last week, Big Red has been jealous and their relationship has been rocky. After Big Red takes his career test, finding which job suits him best, he gets “hospitality and service industry,” and shares these results with Ashlyn.
Only, she just says that the test means nothing, that it’s probably way off, and that he has bigger, better dreams that he shouldn’t give up because of it. Big Red, who wasn’t upset at the results, seems to be uncomfortable, and it only gets worse when Ashlyn makes him a mood board of his “future.” And this gets ten times more awkward when she includes things he’d never do on the mood board like winning a marathon and owning a Michelin star restaurant in – wait for it – Paris, which just makes Big Red think that Ashlyn’s dream for him is to be Antoine.
It’s sad to see that Ashlyn has an idea of what Big Red should be like and that he just doesn’t fit the image in her mind. Especially when he says that he won’t be enough for her when his dream is to simply take over the family pizza shop, while hers is to be a big star.
Kourtney (Dara Renee) and Howie (Roman Banks) are also on the outs, but for a different reason. The trust between them was lost when Howie was revealed to be North High’s Beast, hiding that fact, and all of his talents, from Kourtney. He says it was because he wanted to get to know her without the East High-North High rivalry getting in the way, but she’s upset because he didn’t trust her enough to share this with her and because he could be hiding a lot more from her.
Ricky (Joshua Bassett) and Nini (Olivia Rodrigo) make up the third couple who are really going through it this week. They have been for a while, but it all blows up in this episode. Nini’s Instagram video is doing really well and Ricky isn’t really as happy about that as he should be. Then, Ricky deletes an important comment on her Instagram scouting Nini, and obviously can’t take it back, so he hides it from her. Then, the two of them argue in the middle of Big Red’s pizza shop about everything going on between them, from “The Rose Song,” to the fact that Ricky keeps trying to tie Nini down, to the reason Nini came home from YAC, which she confesses was not at all about Ricky. While Ricky just wants to hang onto their relationship and is trying to make things work, he’s also definitely suffocating Nini and holding her back as he makes everything that happens to her about him and their relationship.
It doesn’t come as a surprise when, at the end of the episode, the two meet up again and break up. The scene is sweet at first as they talk in their old special spot in Nini’s treehouse. But the conversation is long overdue, and they both realize that Ricky is just constantly chasing after Nini, trying to save something that’s falling apart, when she doesn’t want that for herself, or for him. They part ways and it’s really sad but also necessary for now, and hopefully they’ll give them both space to grow on their own.
Back to Kourtney and Howie, while Howie is trying to apologize again, he randomly bursts out into song. It’s really out of nowhere, but we can let it slide because it’s a nice song and there’s a montage showing what everyone’s doing to finish up the episode. What’s notable here is E.J. talking to his dad about not going to Duke, but it would have been better to fully see this conversation, rather than just show clips of it set to music. Similarly, Ashlyn goes to Big Red’s wearing a shirt from his pizza shop, and they share a hug, but it would have been nice to see them talk out their issues. We also see Ricky going to Big Red for comfort after his breakup with Nini. And Kourtney, who is in awe of Howie’s song, but still unlikely to forgive him.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Episode 8, ‘Most Likely To’ was really a mess of relationship drama, but there are also a lot of moments that feel like a long time coming, like Ricky and Nini taking a break from one another or Gina and E.J. ‘s heart-to-heart. It’s a bit frustrating that they do not give their LGBTQ+ characters the same attention, however. They just sprinkle in a few cute moments here and there every few episodes. Here’s to hoping that improves, and that the students can also make the play work despite the strained relationships right now. As for what’ll happen to Ricky and Nini from here on out, it’s anybody’s guess, but it’ll be interesting to find out.
