Awkward - Season 2 Episode 4 - Full Video and Recap - Are You There God? It's Me, Jenna

I am always nervous when any television programs attempts to center a plotline around religion. Either their biases are so blatant that it can be supremely awkward to watch, or they attempt to balance so many various views that it comes across as patronizing. Spirituality is such an expansive and difficult topic, I just do not think it can be sufficiently dealt with in single, one-off episode. For the large part, however, I think Awkward was surprisingly successful at looking at multiple viewpoints about basic Christianity, while not coming across as pandering or preaching.

It was nice to see the crazies on both sides represented, those both spiritual and not, as well as a decent amount of people somewhere in the middle simply looking for answers the best way they know how. I thought Lissa and Clark’s take on religion was refreshing, and something I could definitely see people their age believing. I especially loved the way the topic was used to give Lissa more depth and not make her seem like such a one-note character. Her speech to Jenna in the cabin was simply but heartfelt, and rang very true and realistic to me. Kudos need to be given to the show for the show for not backing down from the “gay issue” with Clark as well. I am glad they did not harp all over it (ahem: Glee), but it was something that needed to be addressed and commented on.

I also really enjoyed that Jenna considered religion as a way to absolve herself of her guilt from her parents. Speaking as a child of split parents, it is extremely natural for children to question what roles they had in their parents separating. I also think it is common for kids to look for answers through various sources, and that those who were not brought up in inherently religious homes would start by looking there.

Did the topic wrap itself up a little too neatly with a nice bow in the end? Probably. This is television, however, and certain suspension of belief is needed in the first place. I think it is just harder when a show covers such a serious a contentious topic, and you naturally expect the answers to not be so simple they can come in a half hour. Still, I respect what Awkward did here tonight, and think this was a standout episode.

Quick hits:

Okay, I know I discussed last week that the adults of this show might be a problem, but I loved Val and Jenna’s mom together. What can I say? They simply just worked for me. Probably, this has to do something where there craziness cancelled each other out. More likely, it was that they are so ridiculous in general, I was not judging them against real people.

I loved that the Jenna-Matty-Jake triangle took a backseat this week. I get that it is the theme of this season, but until one of them does something to change the dynamic of that relationship, it will just come across as the writer’s spinning their wheels. Looks like next week we have some movement there, with Matty moving on but Jenna not being able to let him go. Who did not see that coming? Oh teenagers, you are so predictable.

Tamara was on fire tonight when it comes to comedy. That is two really great episodes in a row for her. I loved her semi-embrace of Kevin and his stalking, because it felt like something T would totally do. She would be weirded out by the attention, but attempt to capitalize on it at the same time.

Sadie came roaring back this week, which is always lovely. To steal a line from Political Animals, “She is a bitch with a capital C.” She is just such an expert at the one-liners, nobody seems to give her any competition at all. I am glad, however, that she was so obsessed with getting Lissa back as a friend. It might have been for purely selfish reasons, but it was nice to see she did not want to be alone. Underneath all of that bitchy exterior, beats the heart of a typically scared girl. Deep, deep underneath.

A very solid episode this week, and one that keeps growing on me the more times that passes. It was a little bit of a sleeper, but I liked that quality. Til next week!