Featured TV on DVD Review: Awkward.: Season Three

September 15, 2014

Awkward.: Season Three - Buy from Amazon: DVD

Season four of Awkward. began in April, so I don't know why Season Three is coming out this week. I'm just glad they are releasing a full-season set after releasing season three in two volumes. If you are a fan of the first two seasons, is season three worth picking up? Or is the show's quality starting to wane?

The Show

The summer between season two and season three had a lot of shake-ups. Firstly, we need a relationship roll-call. Jenna Hamilton is with Matty McKibben after breaking up with Jake. Jake and Tamara are dating, so there's no love triangle to deal with, at least not at the beginning of the season. That's not to say things are going great for Jenna, as she and Tamara haven't spoken all summer so she thinks she's drifted apart from her best friend. Also, she thinks she might be pregnant and doesn't know how to tell Matty. Speaking of pregnant, there are rumors that Sadie is preganant and it is Ricky's kid. But that's not the case. Her father had to flea the country because of financial reasons and her mother is in rehab for "exhaustion", so she's technically broke. Without money to pay for popularity, she might lose her place as the Queen Bee. There's also a storyline with Ming, who is dating a random Asian dude, so she can keep her relationship with Fred Wu secret, lest she feel the wrath of Becca, the leader of the Asian Mafia.

That's the state of affairs at the beginning of the season, but by the midpoint there are some changes. Firstly, there's a new love triangle as Jenna begins to have feelings for Collin, a new classmate. Her relationship with Collin takes up the vast majority of the second half of the season. It also delves deep into spoiler territory.

I think the third season of Awkward. is as good as the first two seasons were, for the most part. One of the recurring characters from the first two seasons, Ricky, the horn dog, dies. He dies of a peanut allergy and this continues to have an effect on the show for several episodes. Unfortunately, for the most part, I didn't care. It did give Sadie a nice moment when we learn Lissa likely accidentally killed Ricky, because she had Thai food before kissing him. Sadie tells her it is medically impossible that could happen, but Sadie admits to someone else that Lissa very likely did kill Ricky, but she didn't want Lissa to feel the guilt. This makes Sadie a lot more than just the villain. She's still mean, but she's a fully-realized character with depth. Additionally, while I really liked Ming's storyline in the show, especially her confrontations with Becca, she is woefully underutilized. I'm not surprised the actress is moving on. And like last time, the acting by Ashley Rickards and the rest is excellent. The writing is still strong, even if it marches into Soap Opera territory on occasion. (There's been too many episodes with a love triangle to deal with, for instance.)

The Extras

I believe this four-disc set is just the two previous two-disc sets in one box. There are no new extras, but the extras here are quite substantial and include 15 minutes of webisodes, two TV specials, cast interviews, a featurette on the fashion, a featurette on the photo shoot, a featurette on when the cast realized they wanted to be actors, and a featurette on the music. That's 85 minutes of extras, just for the first half of the season. The second half of the season has four Bonus Scenes, which includes the full videos for things that I can't discuss because they are spoilers. There's also in character audition tapes for these videos. Up next is half-an-hour of cast interviews. That's not as much as the first half, but still solid.

On a side note, there are no subtitles, which is annoying, and the bleeping is left in.

The Verdict

Awkward. remains the best TV show on MTV right now. There are some signs that season four won't be as good, but for now, the Season Three DVD is absolutely worth picking up.


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