Awkward. - Recap: Jake Gets Baked

“That Girl Strikes Again” took us way back to the early days of Awkward, to a time when Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards) was but a footnote in the story of Palos Hills, before her she became “the girl who tried to kill herself.” Episode six of Season 3 saw Halloween hitting the halls of Jenna’s high school, prompting the school tramps to draft up a "Hot and Not" list on the one day a year Mean Girls taught us it’s okay to be a slut. Jenna Hamilton wore a hoodie.

MTV "Awkward"

The episode opened with Jenna’s glaringly obvious lack of a costume. Luckily, Matty (Beau Mirchoff) was in tow to share his. A little smudge of his nose zinc and a lending of his whistle, and Matty had transformed his girlfriend into a cold weather lifeguard, while he happily flaunted his abs as a plain old normal one. Val (Desi Lydic) was on hand to offer Jenna some of her own particular brand of sage advice once our heroine began doubting her originality and specialness. Was Matty out of her league? Val, in typical fashion, only managed to make matters slightly worse, dressing up as an “average student” to detract bullies from egging her, the guidance counselor and vice principal. Unfortunately, she borrowed her costume straight from Jenna’s laundry. Does the entire town find Jenna Hamilton boring?

Tamara (Jillian Rose-Reed), fortunately, was on hand to offer some solid advice to her bff. The fact that Sabri (What a gag-worthy name) and her minions had topped their “Hot” list with Matty and their “Not” list with Jenna meant nothing. She certainly hasn’t kept Jenna on board as her best friend because she’s boring, and Jake (Brett Davern) concurred.

Tamara’s key to maintaining a healthy relationship aka S.H.A.R.E.:

S: sexual chemistry

H: heart

A: aroma

R: remote control

E: excitement

Jenna would have to find a way to keep Matty entertained and enthralled, was all. Matt seemed entirely unfazed by the goings-on of the mean girls. As we’ve seen plenty of during Season 3, much of Jenna’s issues stem from her getting inside her own head and screwing around with what’s perfectly fine in her life. Still, she was determined to avoid Sabri’s Halloween party at all costs, much to Matty’s dismay. Even Sadie (Molly Tarlov) was set to tag along.

MTV "Awkward"

That is, until new boy Collin (Nolan Funk) revealed his own Halloween party plans. His girlfriend, Angelique, a rival of Sadie’s from his old private school, was having her own shindig, and Jenna was thrilled to have an escape route; party crashing. This dropped an agenda into Sadie’s lap, as she’d been dead set on avenging a misjudged horseshow from her childhood. Collin’s girlfriend had been misplaced in her age group, at least in Sadie’s mind the girl was too damn old, and we all know that what Sadie believes is the cold truth in her world. She had her eyes set on that golden horseshoe trophy.

Jenna insisted that the group ditch their costumes before heading to crash Collin’s party. The girl was on a mission to look effortlessly cool. Sadie, of course, is never one to care too much about what other people think, at least regarding how cool she is. *knock knock*, and they were in. Unfortunately, the house was loaded with everything from pirates to a giant raven, who was happy to question Jenna as she passed through the front door. Jenna, not one to bite her tongue, was quick to quip about what she really thought about the host’s boyfriend, Collin. Jenna, of course, had thought of Collin as absolutely obnoxious in his pompous pretentiousness. The raven pulled off its mask to reveal the dude inside… Collin himself, and we all saw it coming a mile away. #Awkward. Jenna would apologize countless times, but it didn’t seem all that necessary. Collin was cool about it, even happily offering Jenna and Matty a drink while they examined some framed photography. Matty complimented the artwork while Collin explained the artist’s vision, prompting Jenna to jump to conclusions and add Collin to the list of people who thought Matty was too good for her.

MTV "Awkward"

Sadie explored the upstairs of the mansion, desperate to find her "stolen" golden horseshoe. As she sifted through shelves and drawers, she found herself face-to-face with another loner skulking in the shadows. “Dexter,” as Sadie referred to him, was actually named Austin, and he sat huffing something from a mask, appropriately freaking Saxton out. Still, his strange but warm reception of Sadie was better than that of Collin’s girlfriend, Angelique, who initiated a bitch-off between herself and our favorite queen bee. Back-handed compliments are the fuel of high school mean girl duels, and the Angelique's rubbing in of her win years prior just fanned Sadie's flames.

Meanwhile, Jake and Tamara “snuck” in through the backdoor, to no one’s concern. Jake immediately grabbed a pumpkin cookie, just before a girl with a plethora of piercings could slip and latch her face onto Tamara’s sweater. Desperate to preserve the top that cost her three whole gift cards, Tamara sent Jake to get help, but he wandered back shortly after seeming… off.

I had a cookie, but I didn’t know it was from space!

Jake was high as a kite, and Tamara was on her own with a newfound companion, Lisa, whether she liked it or not.

Matty, ever the social butterfly, was down for a game of “Confessions,” which was just that, a drinking game where people participating reveal a true or false secret.  Once the spotlight had shifted to Hamilton, she found herself fidgeting uncomfortably, desperate for something to say that was more interesting than the fact that she had an infinite hoodie collection. In the end, she decided to take a leap and tell the story of how she became “the girl who tried to kill herself.” Funny enough, the crowd ate it up! What had made her a freak at her own school was deemed cool and interesting by Collin’s friends. Matty, on the other hand, was upset with her reveal, and stormed off. Soon after, Jenna would attempt to convince Matty to join her and her new friends for a dance, but we all know Matty isn’t a dancer. Sadie was happy to wallow in his misery right along with him, remarking that the party totally blew. That is, until she found her trophy encased in the glass table right in front of. Luckily for her, Tamara yanked herself free from Lisa just in time to knock a loopy Jake straight through it, giving a whole new meeting to the phrase “party crashing.”

The party had come to an abrupt end, at least for Jenna’s crew. Still, she wasn’t about to leave without helping her new friend, Angelique, clean up the shattered glass. It was then that Hamilton got her moment, in that the beautiful girl politely noted that Jenna seemed out of Matty’s league, noting that she imagined she was pretty bored with him.

Sadie managed to swipe her horseshoe before heading out to the car, but Angelique's brother, Austin aka “Boo Radley,” put the breaks on her scheme. That is, unless Sadie would offer her phone number in return. She attempted the good old-fashioned fake-out exchanging of digits, but he managed to call her out on it before she could get away scot-free. Was he happy? The Ritalin helps!

https://twitter.com/mollytarlov/status/334496300940795905

Jenna and Matty had a moment alone in the car to close the episode. Jenna couldn’t obsess any longer. She had to know what Matty saw truly in her. He revealed that he saw the best person he knows, and a beauty on top of that. Jenna, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that she might be just as superficial as her detractors, realizing that she might sometimes take Matty’s good heart for granted in favor of his good looks. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought of them, because they love each other.

What did you think of Awkward. Season 3 Episode 6, “That Girl Strikes Again”? Do you think Jenna is on a crash course for Collin or are she and Matty solid? Are you excited for a new romantic interest for Sadie? Should Jake get baked more often?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Awkward. Season 3 Episode 6, “That Girl Strikes Again”! Hit the comments or tweet me your reactions to the episode @JoeTranch!

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