Well, the time has finally come. We, as viewers, were finally treated to Joshua Bassett singing “Scream” from HSM3. The set was pretty cool, too, adding in the spinning hallway eff—
Oh, the series finale is the more important topic at hand. Gotcha. After four seasons and countless musical interludes, it’s time to say goodbye to East High yet again. I’m just as emotional as I was in 2008 watching HSM3 on the big screen. The end of an era. Before I write out a complete eulogy, let’s dive into the final episode.
Ricky starts Act 2 by immediately giving Gina his support for her journey to New Zealand. He knows trying to keep people close to him for selfish reasons never works out, so he puts his entire heart into letting her go. However, Gina wishes he put up more of a fight. The back and forth of teen love…it never ends!
With Mr. Mazzara having to manually work the sound system for Act 2, EJ goes in for Coach Bolton as a live put-in. He finally gets one last show at East High and even under the old age make-up, you can tell he’s grateful beyond belief.
The Maddox/Ashlyn debacle comes to a beautiful head when Jet forces Maddox to read the card from the gifted balloons. They weren’t intended for Maddox at all, but rather Ashlyn. Madison can tell she’s fallen for Ashlyn and wants to help start the pair off on the right foot. Ashlyn then delivers her Camp Shallow Lake gift to Maddox: a tree trunk with their names carved on the side. Their feelings are mutual and, thank the lord, they are kissing and officially a thing. We love hallway kissing!
Ricky is overwhelmed by Gina leaving, obviously, which leads to the HSM3 production mirroring real life. “Walk Away” and “Scream” are not only given the airtime they desperately deserve, but they also are dripping with relevance for Gina and Ricky. (Let me reiterate…”Scream” slaps.)
The show ends and the cast is savoring their final moments together as one big family. As they head back to the rehearsal room for some time to reflect, Ricky kickstarts the emotional speech train. He’s crying over his love for everyone and his appreciation for the drama club. It’s beautiful and meaningful. Gina then enters, looking like a million bucks before the press conference, and opens up her heart to everyone. It doesn’t feel scripted in the slightest. The feelings are genuine, the emotions are valid, and the love she has for her East High classmates and teachers are immense.
As the love fest comes to a close, Gina heads to the press conference without Ricky being able to say “I love you.” Ricky knows he needs to buck up, so he grabs his guitar and books it to the auditorium, with his classmates by his side. He delivers a beautiful song of love that had me in shambles. (I’m barely writing jokes in this recap, I’m just a bucket of tears, mkay?!) Gina and Ricky are in love, period.
Gina, prior to his song, announces to the press that Quinn has agreed to move production to Salt Lake City to ensure she can still experience East High with her friends. She lies and it is glorious. Quinn said “make big moves,” but I’m not positive she meant this big. Luckily, she’s turning into a softy and is happy to see Gina even more ready for this venture into stardom. Ricky and Gina now are bonded and in love. PERIODT!
However, a limo is waiting to take Gina to the airport. Why waste a perfectly good (and free) limo? The group decides to take the free ride and go where every musical theater class goes after a show opening…Denny’s. I’m not sure a more perfect end exists. I can just imagine them loudly singing “We’re All in This Together” as they eat pancakes.
Extra Credit:
- Miss Jenn decides that her true role is teacher and passes on Wicked. I wish we all had a Miss Jenn in our lives. I don’t know a better television teacher. Kate Reinders, you are perfection!
- Mack quits Romeo & Juliet before production starts to, I guess, confirm to Ricky that Gina is his? All I know is I’d like a Disney+ Romeo and Juliet adaptation now starring Sofia Wylie and Joshua Bassett.
- “Scream” slaps. Have I mentioned that?
- The post-credit scene has the entire cast singing “For Good” from Wicked and, folks, Tim Federle may deserve the electric chair for ruining me in such a profound way.
- I have loved spending the past four years recapping HSMTMTS. No matter where life takes us, remember…what team? WILDCATS.