The “AWKWARD.” fall season premiere aired on MTV this past Tuesday, Sept. 23. After last season’s finale left a million questions, fans were anxiously waiting to see what Jenna (Ashley Rickards), Matty (Beau Mirchoff), and Eva (Elizabeth Whitson) were going to do next.
The episode starts off during finals week. The pressure of getting into college is affecting everyone, but the stresses of Jenna’s past relationships are upsetting her even more. With Luke (Evan Williams) and Matty both on her mind, she decides to give her relationship with Luke one last shot and go visit him at college. When she gets there, he’s with another girl, and later tells her that he does not want to be in a relationship.
Now with Luke out of the picture, all Jenna is thinking about is Matty, Eva and their baby. The premiere showed Jenna continuously harassing Matty about how to live his life, which gave clues that this season will focus on their relationship just like all the others. Jenna and Matty forever!
While I am one of the biggest supporters of the Jenna and Matty relationship, it seems like we’ve been through this a million times. She loves him, he loves her, he changes his mind, then loves her again. Why can’t they just be together?
When Matty and Eva went to go pick out engagement rings, I was one of the many viewers who was cringing in their seats. Getting married just because she said a month ago she was pregnant? The best part of the whole episode came in this scene, when Matty finally called out Eva (or should we say Amber?) about lying. He gave her the proposition to either transfer out of the school, or he would ruin her reputation.
Later in the episode, things got awkward when perfect Christian girl Alyssa hooked up with her adopted brother, Tyler. This just seems wrong. She is hiding it from everyone, and she begins to create a distraction by saying she is back in love with Jake. Poor Jake; he has no clue that he is just a distraction, and he seems to genuinely like Alyssa again after having dated her back in Season One.
The end of the first episode gives viewers a little bit of hope when Matty shows up at Jenna’s bedroom balcony to announce that he broke up with Eva. With Eva faking her pregnancy, it seemed like Matty had finally been coming to his senses that Jenna always knows best. Though this appealed to fans, it showed that last season’s plot was just a big waste of a storyline.
With the new season just underway, things can only get more awkward from here. Coming attractions show Jenna and Matty hooking up, but then fighting again. A new boy seems to be coming in the picture for Jenna, while a new girl may be in Matty’s future.
A big plot this season involves Sadie (Molly Tarlov) and her co-worker from the food truck that she has been working on since her parents went broke. He seems to be bringing her back down to Earth when her ego gets out of hand.
College is another big theme this fall. With each character hoping to get into the schools they applied to, nothing goes better with senior year than a side of stress. We see in the coming attractions that Jenna did not get into one of her schools; could this mean Jenna will never get away from the drama that home brings her?
Matty has the chance this season to find out who his birth parents are. When we see him telling Jenna this news, one can only hope that they are going to be there for each other throughout the season. Whenever something goes wrong, it is always better to have someone you care about by your side.
This season also brings a new book that rates all the girls from Palos Hills High School. Jenna appears to be unhappy with her rating, while Matty seems to be the one who rated her! This will certainly be an interesting twist in the season. Matty was always so secretive about his and Jenna’s relationship that there would be no surprise if he gave her a bad rating – the big surprise will be how she deals with it.
Judging by the first episode, this season will have a lot going on. Hopefully Eva is out of the picture for good, and we will see a new side of both Jenna and Matty. From relationships to college to the rating book, senior year for these characters does not seem like it will be an easy ride.
“AWKWARD.” airs Tuesday nights on MTV at 10:00 pm.
IMAGE TAKEN from mtv.com
