AWKWARD Recap: Three’s A Crowd

Hey, AWKWARD. fans! While the last episode dealt with secrets, this episode, “Three’s a Crowd” touched on another hot topic– bullying. But in true AWKWARD style, it was more snark and less after-school-special. Plus, Sadie was back, and her antics made me realize how much she was missed in episode two. I’m sure she’d say “You’re welcome”.

While Val, in her new Vice Principal role, tries to get the school on board with a mandatory anti-bullying campaign (including pinning Scarlet Bs on anyone caught bullying…or, you know…yelling, glaring or showing any anger whatsoever. Oh, Val…) and 5K run, Jenna is dealing with what she considers to be a more subtle form of bullying. Matty keeps tagging along on all of her dates with Jake, and even worse, he’s taken to possible sabotage—touching Jenna when possible, taking his shirt off when he can, etc.

When she confesses this all to Tamara, who is dealing with Ricky cheating on her again, Tamara tells her that Matty probably just feels like the BBF—the back burner friend. Jenna concedes it might be possible. “My boyfriend’s boy friend was my secret ex” and she compares Matty to a third wheel. But obviously, she still cares about him, and so does Jake, which makes it tougher.

Tamara gives her some classic advice. “Nobody likes a cling-on. Including my Panini”. When an admirer is checking her out in her dance team uni, she says “I have camel-toe. Soak it in.” Haha! Of course Sadie is there to take it further with “Looks like your unitard is doing the job.” Oh, Sadie…don’t ever change.
Tamara tells Jenna not to rub her relationship with Jake in Matty’s face. “No one likes a Ricky”. Jenna denies being a Ricky, but when Matty doesn’t stop his actions, Jenna decides to up the PDA ante with Jake. He calls her on it and says it’s because he knows she doesn’t like Matty. Jake tells her that if she would only get to know Matty like he knows him, Jenna would love him. Jenna is quite aware of Matty’s qualities and worries to herself that if Jake finds out how much Jenna and Matty know one another, Jake won’t like her anymore.

At home, Kevin is always working late, and while Lacey tries to make excuses, Jenna knows her parents are fighting about the carefrontation letter. In a classic Lacey move, she buys a hot-tub, presumably to use it to seduce Kevin. I like that the show is also giving Lacey some character development. She can be really immature, and she needs to know that she can’t just get by on sex and fun. Jenna is more mature than her own mother and she feels betrayed by Kevin when he later announces he is going to stay with his parents for a few days.

Lacey tells him he’s putting Jenna in the middle, but he declares she is the one who did it by writing the letter. Lacey insists she just made a mistake and that taking risks is one thing he likes about her. “It’s not about a butterfly tattoo—you could have ruined our daughter’s life,” he tells her. Jenna declares that her life isn’t ruined, but it will be if Kevin leaves her with “a bully”. Lacey is visibly upset by Jenna’s words, but Jenna walks away from the conversation.
Jenna asks Matty to lay off and stop sabotaging. He tells her that Jake is the one always asking him to hang out. They debate over who is the ‘cling-on’ in the three-way relationship, and when Matty pulls the friendship card, Jenna realizes he might be right. She talks to Jake and agrees to hang out with him another night so he can just hang out with Matty himself that night. Jake leaves, and Jenna apologizes to Matty for freaking out. Matty tells her to forget it, but when Jenna walks away, we see him watching her. Sadie accuses him of sabotaging Jake/Jenna, and at first he denies it. But when she says she knows all of the signs, Matty just smiles and starts running. Hmmm…interesting. If Matty is still interested in Jenna, that is fine by me (Team Matty 4 Life!), and I actually like that he’s not laying all of his cards on the table so to speak. But I also want him to be serious about his friendship with Jake.

As Jenna walks the track, Lacey joins her, saying it’s for a good cause and no one likes a bully—another good example of some character work. She tells Jenna that Kevin is gone. Jenna assumes it’s not just for a few days, and Lacey confirms it. They both are tearful, and Jenna takes Lacey’s hand, which was a really nice gesture. And when Tamara chases Ricky across the track, they both laugh.

It was nice to have an episode end with a Jenna/Lacey moment instead of the romantic triangle.

Enough from me—how did you like this episode? Are you a Jenna fan? Just because she’s the main character/protagonist doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything she does. Do you think she is making the right choice with Jake? Is she worth Matty and Jake fighting over her (in theory)? Were there other moments you loved/hated? Discuss!