AWKWARD. Season 2 Premiere Recap: ‘Resolutions’

Hey AWKWARD. fans! After an awesome first season, the MTV hit is back. I’ll be recapping each season 2 episode here at GMMR, so I hope you’ll join in the discussions. Let’s get started!

The season 2 premiere, aptly titled “Resolutions,” started off pretty close to where season one ended. If you’ll recall, Jenna accepted Jake’s invitation to the winter formal, leaving Matty to feel like he made a mistake in letting her go. She also realized that the harsh carefrontation letter she’d received at the beginning of the school year was written by her mother, Lacey.

So while it’s the season for giving, Jenna starts this episode trying to figure out whether or not she wants to confront her mom about the letter. Meanwhile, Jake is anxious to DTR (Define The Relationship, for those who didn’t catch season 1). His Christmas gift to her is the chance to accept their new relationship status online and make them officially together. What do you think about that “gift”? It doesn’t seem like that great of a gift to me, but…Jake is sweet, so I’ll go with it.

Speaking of gifts, Lacey gives Jenna a lovely necklace for Christmas while Jenna’s dad Kevin gives her a big box of condoms. Good times! Jenna is slightly amused, but still mostly trying to figure out what to do about Lacey and the letter.

The episode quickly skips to New Year’s Eve. Jenna still hasn’t confronted her mother and she hasn’t said anything about it to her friends — she doesn’t want her friends to hate her mom before she figures out whether or not she hates her mom for what she did. She’s also freaked out because someone commented (anonymously) on her blog for the first time.

The NYE part is at Matty’s and Jenna comes with Jake. Immediately, the tension is there for everyone but Jake who still has no idea that Jenna and Matty were ever together. Jenna overhears Matty asking Jake about his relationship with her, and it’s clear Matty is fishing for information. I suppose this is as good a time as any to say that by the end of season one, I was #TeamMatty. As this episode progressed, I was torn. On one hand, I like the way Matty is pursuing Jenna, but I do like Jake as a person, and I kind of thought Matty was using him a little bit to get information. My point is this — I like all three characters a lot, but somehow strangely enough, I’m rooting more for Jake and Matty’s friendship to come out of this intact. So yeah…when Matty straight up told Jenna “I want another chance,” I loved it. But when he was so sure that Jake would “understand once we explain it,” I did not love it. I want to see more Jake and Matty scenes — maybe they had some pre-established bro code that said they wouldn’t date either ones ex-gfs? Hmmm…possible!

Either way, the episode comes to a head when Jenna makes a choice again to kiss Jake at midnight. He’s obviously happy (but still oblivious to the fact that she’s chosen him over Matty) while Matty is silently getting drunk alone. I LOOOOOOVED this scene for so many reasons. For all of his sensitivity, Matty is sort of… entitled, I guess, when it comes to relationships. I like that he’s coming around to the reality that he doesn’t get whatever he wants so easily, that he has to work for it sometimes. I love that he IS trying to work for Jenna’s affections. But it was clear here that he wanted Sadie to make him feel better — almost that he deserved it. So I adored that Sadie was like “no way, dude.” For all of Sadie’s terribleness (and she is so terrible sometimes), I know exactly how she feels, and probably a lot of us do. It sucks to try to cheer someone up if we like them. It feels like the worst torture to hear them talk about wanting someone else. What did you think about Matty kissing her? I’m not sure how I feel about it. I did laugh when he passed out as they were making out though, haha! Sadie was plenty annoyed. I think she got more action from licking that Dorito! Speaking of Sadie, she had the best line of the night: “You’re willing to be friends with Hamil-toe and not me?” Classic.

The premiere ep came to an end with Jake back at Jenna’s house. He spots the box of condoms and declares he’s going to have a good year. When Jenna laughs and tells him that her dad also gave condoms to her last boyfriend, Jake is shocked. Jenna offers up the fact that at least she was in love with her last boyfriend, but Jake doesn’t find any comfort in that. (As a member of #TeamMatty, I have to say that I did! Sorry Jake!) Jenna asks him if he wants out, and Jake says no. She accepts his online request to make their relationship official.

This new confidence and happiness leads Jenna to hand her mother a letter on Lacey’s stationery, and we see that Lacey realizes Jenna knows she sent the carefrontation letter.

There’s a lot more to discuss, like Lissa’s resolution and Val’s sob story of rejection, and the comments are open. Do you think Jenna made the right choice with Jake? Has Lissa really changed, or will she go back to being in Sadie’s mean club? Did you like the way Matty tried to make amends? And what about Sadie & Matty’s hookup? What will happen between Jenna and Lacey now that Lacey knows that Jenna knows about the letter?