Written by Laura Dengrove
I wouldn’t say the new season of MTV’s hit show Awkward is awkward, just dull.
The new season jumpstarts with a bit of a slow beginning, giving into the usual antics typical to a teen high school comedy show, ie: lots of sex, mean girls, and masturbation jokes.
Awkward tells the story of young teenager Jenna (Ashley Rickards), who is contemplating all the earth shattering problems that await her in high school. Yes, that means applying to college and how to get her cute boyfriend back. Absolutely earth shattering problems. To make matters worse for poor Jenna, she started out her high school career by having rumors about her trying to kill herself and having the boy who took her virginity completely ignore her. High school is a rough place for Jenna, but luckily she immortalizes everything about it (while most try to forget about it) in her blog. With her sharp wit and guy problems, Jenna takes all the punches life has to offer, giving her blog and the audience a taste of what it is like to be awkward in high school.
The show’s new season (so far) isn’t necessarily bad, just stale. Nothing new has grasped the show since its second season, which was by far the best. It seems to be falling into a teen comedy rut, with guy troubles and sex jokes being more important than actually showing some truth to real high schoolers and the life they lead. The first season of the show dealt with more realistic problems that made the show an instant hit, like losing your virginity, trying to fit in as a freshman, and dealing with mean girls. The second season of the show became more of an inside joke; yet being fabulously funny at the same time, making it the best season. The third season fell on deaf ears, being a little too annoying, just like most teenagers. This season starts with a more typical feel to it, irresponsible adults, sex jokes, and more complaining about how tough life is for a teen. Spoiler alert, it isn’t tough at all.
The show still has its few rare gems in it that remind us what type of show Awkward use to be. The character Tamara, played by the hilarious Jillian Rose Reed, still gives the show its fast paste jokes and pop culture references that the show is famously known for. Quick little nod to Molly Tarlov, whose mean girl Sadie still adds a little spice to the watered down show.
The overly familiar story lines, however, adds to the potential downfall of the show. It feels like the show has a been there, done that attitude, therefore just flat out reuses some plots. Such as the new girl plotline. New girl comes to town, she seems really cool and all the guys want her, etc. Nothing new, asking the question … do the writers really have anything new for this show?
Even some plotlines that were created last year, and characters, have seemed to disappear completely. Fan favorite Ming has disappeared and new characters from last season Bailey and Collin just were completely dropped and only mentioned, if at all, briefly.
Plus the jokes are becoming bad, a person can only handle so many masturbation jokes. We get it, when a person is caught in the act it is mortifying; lets not spend half the episode discussing it.
All in all, the season isn’t bad, just really average. For a show claiming to be awkward amongst all the teen shows out there, it sure does fit in with the norm.
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