Jessica Lu, Ashley Rickards, Jillian Rose Reed
Awkward., Season 3, Episode 3: “A Little Less Conversation”
Written by Erin Ehrlich
Directed by Erin Ehrlich
Airs Tuesdays at 10 PM on MTV
While Jenna’s pregnancy scare last week turned out to be a false alarm, she still expressed concern over telling Matty, a concern exacerbated by Lacey’s advice to grin and bear it. Despite this, however, Ricky’s wake, in addition to revealing what people really thought of him, also revealed Jenna’s possible pregnancy to Matty, with the news destabilising him. This week’s episode focuses on the fallout from this revelation, delivering a touching episode that opens up a secondary character further as well.
The insecurity in Matty and Jenna’s relationship is very deftly handled this episode. Given the past history between Jenna and Matty, as well as the ongoing relationship between Jenna and Jake, which has its own history, the deep-rooted issues both of them have with regards to how they perceive each other’s feelings makes perfect sense, and the episode manages to elevate itself by treating the issues on both sides as legitimate concerns. Many shows and movies, when working with this stage of a relationship, end up demonizing one half of the couple while validating the issues of the other, and for this show to be able to walk the line and present an honest portrayal of relationship issues speaks volumes about its quality.
Molly Tarlov, Desi Lydic
Sadie’s increasingly despondent condition is also a fascinating aspect of this episode. The hidden humanity of Sadie is an aspect the show has touched on before, but her circumstances in the past three episodes promises the most in-depth exploration of Sadie to date. How the show goes about doing this is worth watching, as Sadie has alienated many individuals over her time in high school, with her remaining friend, Matty, now openly in a relationship with the person she dislikes most. Jenna’s presence in Matty’s life is likely to affect how much Sadie opens up to him; however, if she doesn’t open up to Matty, she might not be able to open up to anyone, which will inevitably take its toll on her. How Sadie deals with this issue, as well as how Jenna and Matty deal with her deteriorating condition, is worth keeping an eye on.
Overall, this was another great episode. Ming’s fight with the Asian mafia, while being funny, is also intriguing in its own right. The easy comfort that Jake and Jenna share as longtime friends is very well illustrated in the episode, and it’s good to see Tamara taking a more proactive role this season. Valerie also seems poised to step in to try and help Sadie, and how her efforts are received should be interesting to watch. How the relationship among Matty, Jenna, Jake, and Tamara progresses through the season, as well as how Sadie and Ming develop in their individual lives as well as in relation to Jenna and Tamara is worth tuning in for next week.
– Deepayan Sengupta