Wildcats, welcome to another High School Musical The Musical The Series review. Before we break down the episode I wanted to take a second and let you know that audio reviews of HSMTMTS are now available on Spotify! If you click the play button the episode that’s embedded into this review you can listen as I go a little bit more in-depth on this week’s episode of HSMTMTS (be sure to click the follow button on Spotify). As we continue with these reviews, I want to say thank you for all the feedback on Reddit and via DMs; this week we will also have episode moments embedded into this review. As promised during last week’s review, we will take a dive into Ms. Jen’s romantic life and talk about her rivalry with Zach. Let’s dive into each of the major stories of this week’s episode. 

Ms. Jen/Ricky

Over the last few weeks Ms. Jen has been flirting with Mr. Mazzarra, but this week she has her first official date with Ricky’s dad Mike. Mike and Ms. Jen met during season one when Ms. Jen was out at a girl’s night, and Mike was trying to get back out there after his divorce was finalized. Mike and Ms. Jen’s first date ends up being a cute little picnic in her office after she spent a Saturday teaching the drama club some improv exercises. Ms. Jen looks like she might have found her Troy Bolton but Ricky plays a spoiler to that (we will talk about that here in a minute). 

While Ms. Jen might be slightly distracted by her love life her nemesis Zach (drama teacher at North High) has released a video on the school’s Instagram announcing that North High will be performing Beauty and the Beast and that former East High student Lily is playing Belle. In a move to help inspire her students, Ms. Jen calls all the students in on a weekend and has them work on improv. In one of the exercises, she asks each student a few questions but asks them to reply in character; during the exercise, Ricky shows an attitude with Ms. Jen and makes a comment about her dating his dad. 

Ricky has been dealing with a lot over the last few weeks; Nini is finally back at East High but things between the two of them have been about as awkward as it with the actors in real life (Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo dated while shooting season one). Last season Ricky really struggled with the sudden divorce of his parents and this season watching his dad get back into the dating world has been a struggle for him. Ricky and Ms. Jen have a really great heart-to-heart moment at the end of the episode when Ms. Jen tells Ricky that she spoke with his dad and they will not be seeing each other again. During the improv game that they played in rehearsal, Ms. Jen had asked Ricky “if you could ask one question to your future self what would it be?” At the end of this episode, Ricky finally replied and said, “I would ask the Beast if he and Belle were still together.” Ricky and Nini have been completely off this season and this week might be one of the final episodes we see these two together. 

Gina

Gina has been on a roller coaster of emotions this season; last week Gina ended the episode by calling her mom and telling her that she was ready to leave East High. To kick this week’s episode off, Gina talks to the camera in a “floating head” about how her Mom told her to wait for a sign from the universe to stay or leave East High. This week, Gina confides in Ashlyn that last year during the fall musical she told Ricky she really liked him (right after Ricky and Nini just got back together). Ashlyn tries to comfort Gina but Gina continues to close herself off. Later at rehearsal, Ashlyn asks Ms. Jen if she can sing an original song to help share her emotions; Ashlyn performs an incredible new original called “Home.” Take a look:

I continue to love the depth that Sofia Wylie is bringing to Gina. The more I watch this show, the more I think it’s actually Ricky and Gina’s love story being told rather than Ricky and Nini’s. The next few episodes will be very interesting that’s for sure! 

Nini / Kourtney

At the beginning of this episode, Ms. Jen tasked Ricky and Nini with writing an original song for the Beast and the Rose. Nini decides to write the song solo as Ricky has rehearsals all day. All throughout the day, Nini ignores calls and texts from Ricky as she tries to come up with the next great original song; she finally ends up at Big Red’s Pizza Parlor to people watch and focus on writing. At the pizza parlor, Nini keeps getting distracted watching her best friend Kourtney hit on her co-worker. In these moments of watching her best friend stumble around trying to ask out the guy she likes Nini finally finds the inspiration to write her song “The Rose Song.” Let’s take a look: 

As I have mentioned a few times already in this review, we know that Nini and Ricky are headed for a breakup and the question has to be asked; what will happen to Nini after the breakup? I really hope Nini becomes this character who stands for finding yourself, believing in yourself, and not finding self-identity in whatever relationship she’s in. Olivia Rodrigo is an absolutely incredible actress, and I can’t wait to see what she does with this character. 

What did you think of this episode of HSMTMTS? Comment below and we will feature it next week in our review!

Source: Disney Music VEVO