I’ve been debating with myself this week about whether or not to wait a couple weeks until the season finale of Awkward before working through a review on paper. As it is, I spent this weekend catching up on the first 10 (of 12) episodes, and here’s the thing: I can’t get it out of my head!
Even though I enjoyed the first season and wrote favourably about it, I was still surprised by how good this show is!
(Let me just pause to say, my reviews tend to be discussions of a show’s merits or problems. I’m not big on ratings or stars, and I figure if I speak positively, you must realize I’m recommending a show to all interested parties. Which I am.)
Last time, I commented on how Awkward is a sort of pastiche of teen TV clichés, with a Gilmore Girls-esque teen mom parent, a love triangle involving two best friends reminiscent of Dawson’s Creek, a My So-Called Life-like inner monologue narration attributed to a diary (or in this case a blog), a Freaks and Geeks-style overly-friendly, silly guidance counselor, a mean girl cheerleader à la Popular…
But despite the countless allusions and borrowed tropes, Awkward remains completely unique, totally current, and extremely compelling. While I’m still working through my thoughts on this year’s story (which of course is yet to be resolved), here’s a gut reaction: this is a funny, engrossing, and pretty fantastic show that benefits from its similarities to past teen culture by playing on viewer expectations and creating a light-hearted meta-pop culture commentary.
Picking up a mere two weeks after the season 1 finale, season 2 dives back into Jenna’s life, complete with social exclusion, competing romantic prospects, immature mom, and shenanigans galore. Deftly dealing with themes of friendship and popularity, Awkward also works in commentary on privacy and celebrity in the context of a social networked high school experience.
Addressing the nagging sense (that I imagine I wasn’t the only one to feel) that Jenna’s blog seemed strangely devoid of readers throughout the first season, this year brings out the meta-textuality of a pop culture phenomenon occurring within a pop culture phenomenon.
As the author of a newly popular blog, Jenna experiences the strange yet recognizable treatment of a local, cultural celebrity. As she puts the stories of her life out there as an object of cultural consumption, it becomes a matter of public discussion and fandom.
While fans have always chosen sides and weighed in on a heroine’s choice of romantic partner, on Awkward, the debate and the fandom enter the fiction, and total strangers begin taking sides in the quest for Jenna’s affection. The moment that truly struck me as a sign that this show was well worth it, was the distracted way two fans speak both to and about Jenna in her presence, as a person and simply as a character in their favourite fiction-of-the-week.
How this public forum will factor in to the resolution of the love-triangle is yet to be revealed, as is the question of how the infamy of our once “Invisible Girl” will affect the direction of the series. But I can’t wait to see what happens next!
