This week on TVOlogy, Summer TV Preview Week gives you an exclusive look at five of our favorite returning series. Here, Terron R. Moore figures out the mysterious charm of MTV's biggest scripted hit Awkward. with help from show stars Brett Davern and Beau Mirchoff.
Summer TV Preview Week
True Blood (Monday) | Suits (Tuesday) | Futurama (Wednesday)
Awkward. (Thursday) | Degrassi (Friday)
There's nothing impressive about a high-school drama. There have been, quite literally, hundreds of warped-for-screen takes on life in hallowed halls, tons of glorified underdogs and brazen bullies. Nothing about these ideas, or fusing them together with pop-culture center MTV, is special. And in this respect, there should be nothing significant about Awkward., yet another coming-of-age tale for an ostracized young girl coming into her womanhood while the jocks and cheerleaders reassert the truth of her self-afflicted growing pains.
Yes, this is all reinforced by a mystery "Carefrontation" note, signed by "a friend" with suggestions on how to improve her social status, but as a central plot to a teen show, it's only minutely interesting when you compare it to its competition: dangerous texters on Pretty Little Liars, pregnancy woes on The Secret Life of The American Teenager, drug-induced drama on Degrassi, and even its fellow network hit, the dangerous Teen Wolf. So how do you explain the success—and by success, we mean MTV's most buzzed about hit since Jersey Shore, the network's highest-rated scripted show, a program even The New York Times calls "sophisticated," The LA Times considers "well-done," The Washington Post hails as "swift" and "funny"—of a show like Awkward.? It is, after all, cozied between such young and sexy summer fare. How does a plain show about a plain girl capture so many eyes and hearts when nothing about it is out of the ordinary?
The thing about Awkward. is its complete un-frilling, un-dramatized look at what it means to be young and in search of love: no one's pregnant, no one's being stalked, no one's turning into an animal… and yet that's where its charm lies. Jenna Hamilton (portrayed fantastically by Ashley Rickards) is wonderfully average, only pained by the fact that she's head-over-heels in like with two guys: the pensive stud Matty McKibben (Beau Mirchoff) and the endearingly charming Jake Rosati (Brett Davern). And they both find themselves in like with her, too: the conundrum is in Matty's fear of those social circles, and if the quietly lovely Jenna is worth stepping outside of them.
The removal of such sensationalized drama only leaves room for scripts packed with comedic punch, a fantastically invented dictionary of phrases like "brillz" (brilliant) and "DTR" (defining the relationship) that make Awkward. colorfully zany yet still palpable, and Awkward.'s complete nonchalance towards the apparently crucial dark tones that must accompany young series has done something refreshing, something no show has managed this successfully in some time: make TV high school seem like a real place. The line between cool and uncool isn't so drastically drawn: even the downtrodden underdogs (including Jenna's best partner in crime, played by Jillian Rose Reed) are swapping spit with hotties, the winners have unshakeable crushes on the losers, the mean girl (standout actress Molly Tarlov) is unintentionally hilarious and intentionally flawed. The wonder of Awkward. is the implausibility of how it manages to be extraordinary in each of its ordinary feats.
So what's to come in Season 2? Jenna choosing (SPOILER ALERT) Jake in the show's season finale doesn't mean that the Matty vs. Jake battle is over. "[The premiere] takes place two weeks after," says Matty's Beau Mirchoff, "so now, Matty has to deal with Jenna choosing Jake. But since Jake is really the one person that Matty can confide in, and now he can’t,he doesn’t know how to handle that. He doesn’t have anyone to talk to. Matty is popular, but he really doesn’t have a lot of close friends, people that he can really open up to. So the first few episodes [are] Matty trying to figure out what to do. He wants to get Jenna back. He’s still in love with her, like, genuinely in love."
The issue with this is—and we've seen the first two episodes of the season—Matty makes a terrible decision to start off the year that's bound to have an effect on his relationships. And that's not just with Jenna, but other characters as well. Meanwhile, Brett Davern insists that Jake will put up a strong case for himself as the chosen one. "Jenna and Jake are very much together," Brett tells us of the season's beginning. "They’re strong, and he knows how to be a good boyfriend. The conflict within the relationship becomes when he finds out about Matty. Jenna has a ton of anxiety about that- and he's going to find out."
In a letter to the media, show creator Lauren Iungerich explains the thought process behind the upcoming year, explaining that the while the first season observed the question "Who am I?," the second year looks to explore "Who should I be with?". Last year, Jenna Hamilton was an awkward girl, and not a proactive one at that. This year, look for our favorite underdog to start making her own calls, taking her own risks, and taking her life—and her boy choices—into her own hands.
Awkward. premieres Thursday, June 28th at 10:30pm on MTV.
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