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Awkward. S02E11: "Once Upon a Blog"

We've always known that Awkward. was a much smarter show than it appears to be on the surface, but that's been especially apparent in recent episodes. The series has become ridiculously self-aware, starting with the chants of "Team Matty!" or "Team Jake!" in the comments of Jenna's blog in last week's episode and continuing last night, a fun reflection of the fervent fandom this plucky show has generated.

Self-awareness in television is almost guaranteed to be fun, but it's not always smart. Don't get me wrong, there's been no effort on Awkward.'s part to mask that it knows it's a television show, especially in last night's "Once Upon a Blog," but self-awareness on TV needs to be used with one question in mind: "How does it serve the story?" Several of my favorite shows use self-awareness frequently to good effect, but more often than not they're just a service to the fans. Supernatural winks at the audience so often that its eyes are shut more than they're open, and Community (hence the homage in this article's title) has broken the fourth wall so much that it's already halfway through the fifth. Self-awareness works very well for both of those series, but I'm not sure it's ever worked as well as it did in last night's episode of Awkward., easily one of the best of the series thus far.

"Once Upon a Blog" was an orgy of "What if?" scenarios played out by Jenna. Not only was it a celebration of the show for fans, but it really nailed what the show is all about. After Breaking Bad, Awkward. is probably the most skilled show on TV with regard to making a central character's decisions and the repercussions of those decisions matter more than anything else. And in "Once Upon a Blog," we got to see Jenna's decisions played in a different way. No, they weren't "real" in the show's sense, as they were just words on a blog, spiced up for our entertainment, but they provided an adequate answer to the questions of "Why did Jenna do this?" or "Why didn't Jenna do this?" that have nagged us over the course of the series. Awkward. will be always be about Jenna Hamilton, her decisions, and sharing that experience with her, and "Once Upon a Blog" helped us recognize—through the use of exaggerated, disastrous fantasies—that maybe Jenna has been making the right decisions all along.

Or it's all bullshit, and that makes another point. The past is the past, and it cannot be undone. Jenna has to live with her decisions instead of dwelling on them. And part of living with those decisions is moving on, which is exactly what we think she did in the final moments when she made a choice between Matty or Jake (OMG). This is teenage life. Mistakes will be made, and mistakes will be lived with. It's a work in progress.

– One might question of the placement of this episode in the season as the penultimate episode, but I think it's perfect. We're waiting for her to pick Matty or Jake, and in order to do that, she needed to get her head into a space where she can make the right decision. Looking back on things really helped her get there.

– Ummm, can we put Matty and Jake holding hands and coming out as gay as one of the top TV moments of the year? Team Jatty!

– So many hilarious things happened in this episode, I don't know where to start. Hairy Jake in the Twilight spoof? Matty's "sure whatever" shrug when Jake asked if Matty would wait in the car while he banged Jenna? "Dodged a bullet!"? Team Lame?

– Ashley Rickards is great, but she failed one acting test: nailing Kristen Stewart's lone expression. In her defense, it's damn near impossible to get K-Stew's stoned/bored/fake-smiling look down pat.

– Showrunner and creator Lauren Iungerich told The Hollywood Reporter that this episode was a nod to Dan Harmon and the writers of Community.

1. What was the biggest moment for you in "Once Upon a Blog"?
... a) Ming and Matty making out
... b) The Twilight spoof
... c) Jenna's awesome new boobs
... d) All of it

2. Who do you think Jenna called at the end?
... a) Matty
... b) Jake
... c) Jonah the guy with the Jew 'fro
... d) Other [please say who]

3. Which fantasy did you like the best?
... a) Jenna and Matty as a couple
... b) Jenna and Jake as a couple
... c) Jenna as a camp-skipper and an invisible girl
... d) Twilight!

4. Blogging: cool or not cool?
... a) It's a good outlet for the youth of today to express their feelings.
... b) NERD ALERT!
... c) It's harmless, it's the modern-day diary
... d) Lame, it's all about Tumblr/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram

The correct (a.k.a. my) answers: D, A (I hope), A, B

We didn't really learn who Jenna is now leaning toward, because this episode was much more about self reflection. So I'm cheating.

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What to watch on Thursday, August 30...

Oh Thursday, where haven't you been all my life? It's like every week I turn around you're just there. So reliable, I tells ya! And now let's see what you've got to offer the world in respect to TV goodness:

9pm, Lifetime
Project Runway
In tonight's "Oh My Lord and Taylor" Bonnie Brooks will guest judge while designers scramble to complete in a challenge that could land them a deal that would showcase their designs as part of a 10-piece capsule collection. It's gettin' real, yo!

10pm, TBS
Sullivan & Son
In "How Carol Got Her Groove Back" a certain somebody (coughCarol) finds out she's starting menopause and gets, like, suuper depressed. What a fun surprise! To make matters awkward, Ahmed will do his best to life her spirits, but every attempt will backfire.

10pm, FX
Wilfred
In "Questions" Ryan will make an effort to figure out where Wilfred really came from. How? By digging deep within his own conscience. Is it wrong to assume Wilfred was formed out of a plume of marijuana smoke?

10:30pm, MTV
Awkward.
In tonight's "Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me" (could they have chosen a more narcissistic title? It's so Jenna!). Jenna publishes a blog that gets releaseed into the blogosphere and spreads through the school like wildfire—but the backlash of outspoken opinions about her life choices may be too much for her to handle. This is why we don't publish our secrets on the web, Jenna.

10:30pm, FX
Louie
In "Late Show, Part 1," which is the first of not two but three parts, Louie does his best to catch a break. And by break, I mean he does his best to be more famous than he already is. When will it be enough, Louie? WHEN WILL IT BE ENOUGH?

PLUS ALL NEW EPISODES OF...
Republican National Convention, 7 p.m., PBS, CNN, or MSNBC
The American Bible Challenge, 8 p.m., Game Show Network
Wipeout, 8 p.m., ABC
Auction Kings, 9 p.m., Discovery
Beat the Chefs, 9 p.m., Game Show Network
Behind Mansion Walls, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery
Big Brother, 9 p.m., CBS
Braxton Family Values, 9 p.m., WE TV
Crime Inc., 9 p.m., CNBC
Four Weddings, 9 p.m., TLC
Project Runway, 9 p.m., Lifetime
Rookie Blue, 9 p.m., ABC
Saving Hope, 9 p.m., NBC
The Next, 9 p.m., The CW
Extreme Chef, 10 p.m., Food
High School Moms, 10 p.m., Discovery Fit & Health
How Do They Do It?, 10 p.m., Science
Snooki & JWoww, 10 p.m., MTV
Sullivan & Son, 10 p.m., TBS
The First 48, 10 p.m., A&E;
The Real L Word, 10 p.m., Showtime
Very Bad Men, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery
Wilfred, 10 p.m., FX
House Hunters International, 10:30 p.m., HGTV
Awkward, 10:30 p.m., MTV
Louie, 10:30 p.m., FX

LATE-NITE PICKS:
Bruce Willis on Late Show With David Letterman, 11:35 p.m., CBS
Dolph Lundgren and journalist Savannah Guthrie on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, 11:35 p.m., NBC
Spike Lee and Mike Birbiglia on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, 12:37 a.m., CBS

What are you watching tonight?

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Awkward. S02E09: "Homewrecker Hamilton"

(Note: this is kind of a joint review between the last two episodes, focusing on last night's episode "Homewrecker Hamilton")

All season long we've been waiting for Jenna's life to get Hiroshima'd by secrets getting out of their cage, and three episodes ago it did when Sadie, in a bitch move even for the queen B herself, told Jake that Matty humped Jenna. Took a slice of the Hamilton pie, I believe were her words. Awkward. always knew this would happen and spent hours in the writers' room pre-Season 2 figuring out how to handle it. Do you make it part of the season finale? Do you drag it out as long as possible? Do you drop it right away?

Instead, they wisely held it for the tail end of the middle of the season to turn the midseason sag into chiseled abs as we head into the final episodes. Jake finally finding out about Matty has been deftly stretched out for three episodes, because let's face it, there's plenty to milk from it. If "Another One Bites the Dust" was the release of the secret and "Time After Time" was the reaction from the secret, then last night's "Homewrecker Hamilton" was the fallout from the secret and the Return of the Jedi in the three-episode trilogy. But as everyone knows, Empire Strikes Back is the best of THAT series, and "Time After Time" was probably the best episode of the season so far.

There were amazing moments in last night's episode, namely the fisticuffs between Matty and Jake (more on that later) and Jenna's shocking actions at the end (more on that later, too), but two things slightly bothered me about "Homewrecker Hamilton" as I watched it, just like those stupid frickin' Ewoks.

Why did it take so long for Jenna to realize it was her past with Matty that made Jake break up with her? I would think that would be on the forefront of her mind ALL THE TIME. Like, she would wake up in the morning and have a panic attack that Jake would find out, then brush her teeth and cry in the mirror because maybe Jake found out about Matty and her right there and then. Then a terror-stricken breakfast of eggs and toast and fear about Jake finding out about her secret. Point is, teenagers are as good at keeping secrets as gypsies, so I'm not sure why she was so confident she was in the clear.

Second, why on Earth did she think it's okay that she made out with Matty right after Jake broke up with her, and why was that the basis of her argument? Semantics, girl, just semantics. If you want to get technical, no it wasn't cheating, it was just a really, really shitty thing to do to Jake. Like one of the worst things to do and about as disrespectful to Jake as taking a shit in his pillow. And that goes for Matty, too. And no, sleeping with Matty before dating Jake isn't cheating either, but keeping that bit of information from him isn't trust-building for a fledgling relationship. Cheating or not, you screwed Jake over, Jenna, and you knew that information would eventually find its way out.

I understand that typical high-school students are as knowledgeable as out-of-date textbooks at a public school, but I expected Jenna to be smarter than this. Maybe it's just her being a rookie to love and the whole relationship thing, but she could have handled it a lot better. Matty, too. And after screwing her boyfriend over and after screwing his best friend over, Jenna and Matty spent more time in public together than before. Not smart.

But that doesn't make for good television, and the ends justify the means. And if I may rationalize here a bit for the sake of defending smart, teen-based televised entertainment, this is the kind of stuff that happens when things like this happen. Teenagers, especially high-schoolers, spent 90-percent of their lives screwing someone over because teenagers are selfish wastes of space caught between pre-adulthood and post-childhood that don't know better. Yes, that was me too on one end of a weird love triangle back in high school. And that's the tricky line Awkward. has to walk, depicting high-school behavior as is, which is essentially an increasingly growing pile of bad decisions.

But then Jenna made a bold, smart decision, really impressing me. Jenna threw her once private blog out there to the public for all to see, the social media equivalent of Xeroxing your diary and handing copies out at Homecoming, and aired out everyone's dirty laundry. Jenna's, Matty's, Jake's, even her mom's. And while I don't think that was her intention (she only wanted Jake to see her timeline, I think?), it's like pushing your self-destruct button hoping the scraps can be used to build something better or scorching the Earth to give new saplings a chance. The Band-Aid has been ripped off and a lot of skin came off with it, but at least we can finally see what was under there and no one can hide behind lies, secrets, and shame. It seems like social suicide, but it's going to prove to be the move that sets her free.

What I love about this move is that it splits the entire threesome up. Jake is mad at Jenna and Matty. Matty is now mad at Jenna, and given his fight with Jake, probably not to keen on Jake, either. And there's Jenna in the middle, both of her options for happiness completely irate with her. This could have easily been written as a way for Jenna to fall back into Matty's arms, but instead, Jenna inched back towards redemption and we get to watch her try and repair all the relationships she had a part in destroying. That's much more interesting than seeing her crawl back to Matty with her tail between her legs.

– Again, sorry for the inconsistent coverage of Awkward., but I swear I have a good reason! I'll only say that involves something similar that happened in the previous two episodes.

– I still love Valerie, but Awkward. needs to know when to tone her down. Her talk about men fighting over a woman being her fantasy with Jake and Matty in the office after their fight was inappropriate even by her standards. She needs to be pulled back down to Earth a little bit.

– Why does it seem so perfect that Matty can take three punches from Jake, but Jake gets dropped from one from Matty?

– Ming's sidestory with Becca was good, but ill-timed given how deep the shit was with Jenna, Matty, and Jake. Anytime Ming's stuff came up, I was dying to get back to Jenna and company. Still, Ming is awesome, and the smile dance she does with Becca is great.

1. What was the biggest moment for you in "Homewrecker Hamilton"?
... a) Jenna taking her blog public
... b) Jake and Matty's fight
... c) Jenna getting the text pic from Jake
... d) "I f***ed your girlfriend!"

2. Who do you think the anonymous commenter is?
... a) Kevin, Jenna's dad
... b) Clark, the gay kid
... c) Matty, being super sneaky
... d) Other [please say who]

3. What did you think of Sadie telling Matty he was the villain?
... a) Wrong, bitch! YOU are the villain, Sadie! (You're welcome)
... b) She's got a point. This is all Matty's fault.
... c) She's got a partial point. It's really Jenna and Matty's fault, together.
... d) These kids are all screwed up! It's everyone's fault!

4. Have you changed allegiances at all re: Matty and Jake?
... a) I used to be Team Matty, but now I'm kind of Team Jake because he got screwed.
... b) I used to be Team Jake, but now I'm Team Matty because Jake is a puss.
... c) Still Team Matty! Always will be.
... d) Still Team Jake! Always will be.

The correct (a.k.a. my) answers: D, D because I have no idea, C, A

Well, I'm not sure how much this thing applies anymore given that everyone is blown up. But Jenna's brush-off of Matty after Matty and Jake's talk with Val indicates that she might be blaming Matty for her problems and still wants back with Jake.

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