UH-OH, we have a big problem. East High’s principal states up top that if less than eight students are at the upcoming rehearsal, the production of High School Musical 3 is canceled. Curse you, public school budget cuts! But this isn’t even a big deal, right? I mean, our beloved group of Wildcats are responsible enough to show up for the magic of live theater and Miss Jenn, right? RIGHT?!
Kourtney has a “get out of jail free” card since her mom has taken her on a college tour out-of-state. Instead of hitting up one of the elusive Ivys, she takes Kourt to her alma mater. While Kourtney has never considered an HBCU, her mom wants to show her there’s a world of opportunity within higher education. A productive visit leads to her excited about the possibilities, questioning her entire high school trajectory, and wailing her face off with one of the school’s musical groups. If Jennifer Hudson was present, she would’ve thrown a shoe. All this to say that Kourtney is not at rehearsal.
Ricky only has half an excuse, as his absence early in the day is due to the favor Miss Jenn called in at the end of last episode. Ricky arrives at EJ's (!) dorm with enough baggage to start a GSN reboot. He’s overwhelmed by the “Gina” of it all and, unfortunately, has fallen back into his ways of running away. EJ reveals the complete life change he’s had since graduating from East High. His dad has left him pretty high and dry, but he feels rejuvenated from his new life experiences. (I still would like to question his choice of ping pong club, but I also might just be a bully.)
In the quintessential HSMTMTS style, EJ & Ricky both sing a song together (even though only one of them knows it IRL) and I get instantly emotional. This season is chock full of some all-timers and my playlist has grown with every passing episode. Ricky didn’t just come to vibe, however. He came for advice. He expresses how he’s tired of losing people. Everyone comes into his life, is “OK for ten seconds,” then everything falls apart. EJ delivers some hard truths about Ricky’s tendency to run away affecting himself most of all. You can’t try and make relationships better if you don’t put in the work. He hugs EJ and races to try and fix the most important relationship in his life. Thus, Ricky is not at rehearsal.
Meanwhile, Gina is trying to keep a healthy friendship with Mack during filming. She is keeping him at an arm's length and not allowing this “fake relationship” to take hold. Luckily, Mack seems to comply. Gina is even more worried about Dani taking over as Gabriella, so she convinces Quinn to push through and film 21 pages of the script in one day. It’s a daunting task, but Gina and Mack are up for it. Since Gina is supes profesh, the filming goes off without a hitch. Before Gina can run to rehearsal, Gina’s mother surprises her at school, congratulating her on the day’s work. In between the compliments, she invites Mack over for dinner as she senses sparks between the two.
Gina decides to join for dinner, where her mom confronts her about the possible relationship. She’s disgusted that her mom even suggests the idea, but is also fed up that she clearly doesn’t know a lot about anything. She decides to come clean and tell her mom that she has been dating Ricky. At that very moment, Ricky arrives to try and fix the relationship, but sees Mack in the window and backs away. Luckily, Gina sees him and runs after, announces the news and kisses him in the rain. I squealed like a pig. It was embarrassing. Someone was in my cabin fixing a cabinet and I sounded like a farm animal. Regardless, Gina is not at rehearsal.
With those big reveals, we also get the return of Big Red, the reveal that he cheated on Ashlyn with Seb (!), the duel coming-out of Ashlyn and Big Red, their wholesome break-up, Ashlyn calling Maddox to find out that she’s back with Madison, and Carlos finding out Big Red kissed Seb. It’s a bad time in musical land. All of this to say: Carlos and Ashlyn are not at rehearsal.
When the principal comes in to check on the state of affairs, he doesn’t mince his words. The emptiness of the rehearsal room leads him to call HSM3 canceled. Miss Jenn’s disappointment will be tattooed on my heart for years to come.
Extra Credit:
- Miss Jenn doing the episode recaps is my culture.
- I know it was meant in a snarky way, but Quinn’s quote of “No is a complete sentence” hit me hard, y’all.
- The fake HSM4 scenes are so painfully bad that I’m not quite sure how the actors got through filming them. Clearly they are meant to be, but I’m not sure I would have had the self-restraint.
- I don’t know who on the HSMTMTS writing team wrote that joke about The Revenant, but I want to thank them for their service. Braver than the US Marines, I say.
- Ricky crying? Don’t you ever do that again to me, Tim Federle. Do you understand?!