Awkward. - Recap: What Are We Gonna Do About Jenny?
Awkward. aired Episodes 15 and 16 of Season 3 tonight in an hour-long special episode featuring an A.S.S.! That’s an After School Special, if you were wondering.
To begin the recap, Mr. Hart (Anthony Michael Hall) returned this week with a whopper of a new assignment for Jenna, Sadie, Collin, and the rest of his creative writing class. Each student was required to submit a writing piece in consideration for the school newspaper. Though, considering how tough Mr. Hart has proven to be as a teacher and judge of quality work, this would certainly prove to be a difficult task for everyone involved. Val, meanwhile, was looking to add to her list of extra odd jobs around school, further adding to the superfluous shield she’d so diligently begun to acquire as a means of solidifying her position as the invaluable guidance counselor. Basically, Val figured if she could win a contest offering her the chance to play school nurse for a while, she’d be that much more protected. Did anyone else feel some sparks between Mr. Hart and Val while she explained that she needed the help of his class to film her A.S.S.? More on this later!
MTV "Awkward."
Episode 15, in truth, was better experienced than explained in words. Sadie, initially bummed that she’d be required to participate in Val’s ridiculous home video, took advantage of the fact that Jenna Hamilton was nowhere in sight. Jenna, in fact, had conjured up a crazy excuse for Val, a lie that her mother, Lacey (Nikki DeLoach) had sprained her back. Val, a close gal-pal of Lacey’s, was instructed not to call her friend for fear of embarrassing her. I mean, you know Val... Her mind went straight to the sack and the “stingray” that is Jenna’s father, Kevin (Mika Faiola). In truth, Jenna had begun to suffer from a severe Collin addiction. Of course, this crippling addiction also came coupled with a whole bunch of recreational drug use, much to her friends’ dismay.
While Awkward. continued to make us incredibly frustrated with Jenna and her new attitude, our minds were simultaneously put at ease by Sadie Saxton as “Jenny,” a tragically boring nobody who somehow defies the odds and transforms into a tragically boring somebody, only to turn to skankdom and drugs for kicks. By the way, Jenny has no style and wears her hair in a stupid side braid. Are you getting this yet? Have you had the picture of What Are We Gonna Do About Jenna Jenny? painted in your mind? Tamara, Ming, and Jake were each enticed to join the ranks of Sadie’s anti-Jenna project, a film that’s plot quite obviously sailed straight over Val’s head, if only to attempt to convince their friend that she’d gone off the rails in quite an explosive way.
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As I stated prior, I can show you better than I can tell you:MTV "Awkward."
Jenna, who was pressured by her very upset mother to join the A.S.S. project following the realization that she’d been the butt of another one of her daughter's lies, arrived on set much to Val’s excitement. Of course, the sight of Sadie blogging in Jenna's classic Season 1 sweatshirt and signature braided hairdo was enough to tip Hamilton off to the whole truth. She’d participate, all right, but only if it meant flipping the script on her former besties and her perpetual torturer, Sadie. Jenna improvised some lines, defending “Jenny” in her right to make her own awful decisions, only to subsequently storm off of the set. The entire ordeal flew straight over Val’s head, needless to say, yet this arc of the episode then closed with Jenna’s self-proclaimed “girl” editing the footage, only to then realize that she’d made a terrible mistake in choosing to move ahead with Sadie’s idea for her A.S.S. plot, What Are We Gonna Do About Jenny Jenna?. Val ventured over to Jenna’s house to apologize, only to have the door abruptly slammed in her face. Val, the school guidance counselor, was no true friend to Jenna Hamilton. Absolutely pissed, Jenna took to her Mac to pen the perfect essay for Mr. Hart’s project, an exposé on Val’s insistence to have an inappropriate friendship with a student.
The next day, Jenna would take her work to Mr. Hart, who was surprisingly shocked at Jenna’s “cruel” piece on a woman he’d found to be pretty charming. Again, this reviewer felt the potential for chemistry between Val and Hart! Jenna attempted to convince him to publish the piece regardless of its impact, yet he’d convince her to take some time to reconsider, handing her his favorite book as a writer in hopes of inspiring her to change her opinion. By the way, Jenna was sporting some faux hipster glasses during the latter half of Awkward.’s hour-long event tonight, though she’d ditch them as soon as she’d overhear Ming and Tamara talking trash about her new pretentious ‘tude. That’s the thing about the new Jenna. She’s determined to be a rebel, yet she cares more than ever about what everyone else thinks. Take Val, for example, who barely received any eye contact from her former bff after she’d written the scathing article, unbeknownst to Val entirely.
Jenna’s mom staged an intervention for her daughter after doing a bit of random googling online. Ally (Barret Swatek) and Sadie then joined Lacey and Val for the confrontation. Jenna, needless to say, didn’t take the attack on her character well at all, calling out the lot of them for their hypocrisy before heading to her bedroom in a huff. Throughout the hour of episodes 15 and 16, Jenna turned to Collin, and to his plethora of pills for popping, as coping mechanism for the turmoil in her social life, albeit self-perpetuated turmoil. Eventually, she’d had enough of Val’s tampering in her relationships. This is, of course, why she'd inevitably decide to move ahead with publishing her piece.
MTV "Awkward."
Later that evening, Jake headed over to Tamara’s for help with his upcoming reelection campaign. Remember (I didn’t!), Jake is the class president, and he’s held that title for quite some time. If there’s anything Rosati knows how to do, it’s how to win a school election effortlessly. Who wouldn't want to vote for Jake Rosati? Tamara, on the other hand, begged to differ, criticizing Jake’s feeble attempts at scribbling out basic posters for their lack of rhyming slogans and glitterlessness (glitter-less-ness… Not a word). Jake, aggravated by Tamara’s insistence that she knows best about anything and everything, was tired of being the only one forced to work, change, and grow in their relationship. Tamara, surrounded by countless poster prototypes she’d created, begged to differ, officially throwing her hat in the ring for the position of president! Tamara 4 President?!
MTV "Awkward."
Jenna managed to rip quite a few of her former friends new ones this week, eventually ending her hate spree with her own mother. Refusing to stay grounded, Jenna insisted on hitting the town with Collin. Her mother, adamantly opposed, received quite the tongue lashing from Jenna, who made Lacey out to be quite the lifetime loser. Devastated, Lacey informed her daughter that if she’d so choose to leave to see Collin, she wouldn’t be welcome to return home. Jenna, in all her desperation to defy orders, subsequently stormed out.
Boy, Awkward. sure flushed Collin down the toilet in a flash, huh? The second half of Season 3 has done him no favors whatsoever in an effort to heighten a sense of the destruction of Jenna. Remember when these two had an awesome mental connection? Well, drugs will do that to you, kids! At a pop-up club, Jenna met up with Collin and… Angelique. Angelique, whom Collin had invited without informing Jenna prior, is, of course, Collin’s ex-girlfriend. Still, Jenna played it cool as much as she could. Angelique has always been a Jenna fan, and tonight was truly no different. At least, I think? Collin pulled out the ecstasy pills, finally pushing Jenna to the brink. Lying, and running off to the ladies room, Jenna was subsequently caught off-guard by her boyfriend’s ex, who appeared with two shots of alcohol to keep Jenna busy while she waited in line. Jenna, embarrassed that she freaked, seemed to have a supporter in Angelique… who then admitted to feeling awful about slipping the ecstasy into Jenna’s shot glass. Before we knew it, the block of Episodes 15 and 16 began to wind to a close, and Jenna was sandwiched on a leather couch between her boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend. Ecstasy, a drug that heightens arousal in a euphoric way, proved to initiate a threesome sort of a situation, much to Jenna’s discomfort. Jenna, hopping up and attempting to wrangle Collin in to leave, was utterly disappointed to witness things unravel as her drugged-up beau casually continued hooking up with his ex after bidding her farewell.
MTV "Awkward."
MTV "Awkward."
Desperate and drunk with no one to call, Jenna somewhat led us to believe that she would turn to Val in her desperation. In the end, though, it was Matty (Beau Mirchoff) who’d come to her rescue, picking her up from the club and driving her back to her place. There, Jenna’s hero then offered her a hug before leaving her outside of her house. I’ll be honest, Awkward. has done a sufficiently decent job of making us hate Jenna over the course of the second half of Season 3, yet there was something about that moment in the car when Jenna picked up Matty’s new girl’s earring, only to have him subsequently hold her hand for just a moment before pulling the piece of jewelry from it, that made me feel a bit hopeful for how things will now turn out.
What did you think of Awkward. Season 3 Episodes 15 and 16, “A Very Special Episode of Awkward” and “Less Than Hero”? Do you think Jenna is set up for a path of redemption now? Did Awkward. destroy Collin in the blink of an eye? Tamara 4 President? Are you rooting for Jenna and Matty to rekindle things?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Awkward. Season 3 Episodes 15 and 16, “A Very Special Episode of Awkward” and “Less Than Hero”!