It was a short week but a satisfying week as Season 2 of Talia in the Kitchen came to a close. Storylines were resolved, traitors revealed and new battles set up for Season 3.

This week, we escaped to Spice Island as both Jayden and Talia made their way to the Florida Keys to refill their spice supplies in advance of the upcoming Spice Battle.  The week started with Jayden and Mike trying to send Talia and the gang off to the Panhandle to look for the spices, which are apparently only available one day per year (when the spice plants bloom).  Rocky and Julie had bugged the Grub Brothers Food Truck, but unbeknownst to them, Jayden and Mike discovered the bug, and, as such, kept feeding them misinformation.  A map conveniently discovered by Dolores suggested that the blooming spices were actually in the Florida Keys.  So the Scooby Gang takes off in Dolores’ car.

There’s mischief afoot as Frenchie has brokered a deal with the Grubs to take over Lola’s should close.  Frenchie on a hiking trip is a hoot – he had with him a hypoallergenic pillow, a TV/DVD player (they still make those) and all sorts of non camping gear.  Val quickly uncovers his ruse and she ends up leashed to him (a nice throwback to Frenchie leashing Julia in the opening episode).

Tyson and Talia take quite a plunge into the lagoon and finally share their first kiss (ironic it was in water since every time they tried to kiss, Dolores dumped water on Tyson).  There’s some very good outdoor filming and shots here.  Jayden soon joins them in the water and informs them that they need to swim through an underwater cave to get to the blooming spices.  We learn that SpiceMasters can hold their breath for quite a while.

They soon arrive at the blooming spices – there’s some mumbo jumbo about some greenish looking poison gas that zaps both Talia and Jayden.  What we don’t get to see is Talia actually procuring the spices which makes this part rather anticlimatic.  It was nice, though, to see Talia debate getting the spices as opposed to helping Jayden, which will assumably will continue to generate friction between Tyson, Talia and Jayden. Dolores and Debbie arrive on the scene as well (the Dolores/Debbie in the scooter scene is a riot). And before you know it, we are back at Lola’s and Fuccinelli’s.  Talia leaves some spices on the Grub’s truck doorstop.  Little does she know the SpiceMaster battle is on.

Surprisingly, Tyson disowns Frenchie in one of the final scenes for his duplicity in helping Talia find the spices.  We always knew Tyson was a standup guy.

Some pet peeves:

1. One of the scenes with Dolores’ car driving through the “Keys” was repeated twice.
2. When Dolores’ car is shown, assumably with Frenchie, Val, Tyson and Talia, you can clearly see only a driver in the car.
3. Watch carefully when Tyson, Jayden and Talia are swimming towards the underwater cave. Tyson starts to count from 1 (holding up one finger), then says 3 (holding up three fingers) and counts back to one.

Some props:

1. Rudy’s fire for Talia still burns brightly.  Its been rekindled if anything.
2. Rudy as the tough guy makes an appearance at the end.  And we get a revisit to the Tyson/Rudy rivalry: “No hug necessary.”
3. Excellent outdoor shots in the Keys.
4. And we believe our characters motivations.  They have been a constant throughline throughout both seasons.  The decision as to whether or not to help Jayden reflected Talia’s core desire to help people.
5. It was good to see how Debbie evolved over the course of the season to a determined, and talented, baker.
6. Frenchie is still “evil” to the core – he’s lost Tyson and I don’t doubt Debbie will be too far behind.
7. Line of the week: “I’m healed!  I’m healed!” [Frenchie]
8. Line of the week #2: “Stop playing dumb.” [Tyson]
9. Line of the week #3: “I hope she beats you and you just go away.” [Tyson]

As with the final episode of Season 1, Dolores utters the line “The hug of the group.”  This line speaks volume for the show.  Its a good group – and I, for one, can’t wait to see what is cooking in Season 3.

 

Announcing the 2015 TeenCom Awards!

Now that the end of the year is here, its time to present the first ever TeenCom Awards, recognizing the best and brightest  in teen and tween sitcoms (with a few dramas mixed in as well).

Best Show

Girl Meets World is smartly written, well-acted and devoid of the usual trappings like canned laugh tracks and unrealistic situations.  Michael Jacobs et al present the world of middle school (and next season, high school) warts an all.  They’ve also done a fantastic job weaving in characters from Boy Meets World and these characters are often used as springboards for current storylines. (Hello, Angela!)  The show can veer into the after school special world at times but excellent family viewing all around.

Best New Show

Time traveling teens seems like it would be a tough topic to tackle in a Disney Channel comedy, but the show runners have created a thoughtful balance of “We’re going to change the future” with “Let’s understand how we got here.”  Landry and Bender are believable best friends, but I’d argue the better relationship is between Kamp’s Barry and Garcia’s Reynaldo.  The twins provide comic relief (and are often annoying) and Shelby’s parents are a stitch.  It should be interesting to see where the show goes with the Future Lab storyline.

Best Veteran Show

I’ll always have a soft spot for the Thundermans.  Now finishing its third season, Spingarn and company have crafted a tale of two teenagers balancing the expectations of being a superhero with the desire for normalcy.  Griffo and Kosarin are believable (and funny) in their roles.  There’s some odd plotting going on at times and sometimes there’s a lack of consistency in story arcs (Max and Phoebe have this rotating selection of friends that can be annoying; sometimes it’s Evan, Sarah and Tyler; other times it’s Cherry, Whitney, Oyster).  Please bring Ryan Newman back for Season 4.  Griffo and her play well off each other (besides the fact they are real-life boyfriend/girlfriend); her character mellows Max in a necessary way.

Best Telenovela

Nick has scored much success with these 4 week shows: Every Witch Way, WITS Academy, and Make It Pop, but Talia stands above the rest.  Will Talia win awards for writing and acting?  Probably not.  But the show is a fun ride.  Take out the spice stories and you have a believable show with believable teen storylines: competition, first loves, friends v boyfriend/girlfriend. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, does physical comedy really well and is filled with snark and sarcasm.  Maria Quezada’s Talia is winsome and determined; Miguel Luciano’s Frenchie is a riot.  Props to the show for a production staff and writing staff that is predominantly Latino/a.

Best Actor

When Corey Fogelmanis debuted on GMW as Farkle, he was one step away from annoying.  “Farkle Time” should have been a time out.  But then as the show matured, so did Fogelmanis and so did his performances.  There are times he makes you laugh, times he makes you want to cry and times you want to strangle him.  The episode where he is preliminarily diagnosed with autism is stellar and so is his performance.  In Girl Meets Yearbook, he’s Donnie Barnes regular guy and, his scene at Topanga’s where he states: “My name is Farkle Minkus. I’m growing up. And I don’t know what’s going to happen next. But you guys are my best friends, so deal with it.” should resonate with every teen and every parent out there.  But perhaps Fogelmanis’s best scene is with Peyton Meyer in the courtyard right after.  Incredible.

Best Actress

I was tempted to go with Rowan Blanchard of GMW, but for me Sabrina Carpenter’s Maya is on par with Blanchard and just a hair better.  She’s the “Shawn Hunter” of GMW, but so much more.  She states the things her peers are afraid to say and her attraction to Lucas is both sweet and understandable.  Maya challenges Riley on her beliefs and makes her a better person.  Her delivery is spot on and she has talent in bunches.

Best Scene

If the goal of a TV show is to shine a mirror on ourselves, allowing us to understand who we are, then the final two scenes of Girl Meets World’s Girl Meets Yearbook would do.  Smartly acted, well-written with standout performances, our quartet uncovers who they are.

From the GMW Wikia: “Riley and Maya say they know who they are and Farkle knows who he is. Farkle tells them he’s not coming back. People change and he thinks it could be a good thing. He doesn’t want to be called Donnie Barnes; he is Farkle Minkus, but he’s also growing up.

Lucas goes outside to talk to the new Farkle. Lucas thinks everybody should have a best friend like Farkle, but they don’t and he doesn’t want to lose his. Farkle wonders where being a nerdy, little scientist genius is a bad thing. Farkle promises to stay the scientist that he is so long as he can do tests: he needs to be allowed to grow.”  If you don’t tear up by the end of the show, well, there is something wrong with you.

Best Sidekick

When Ricky Garcia’s Reynaldo/Naldo first appeared on Best Friends Whenever, I thought, “No character could be this dumb.”  But over time, Naldo turned out to be the more street savvy, wiser half of Barry/Naldo relationship.  His Space Cowboy routine was a riot.  You realize how smart he is when he tells Barry that the plant gift actually made him feel like he was being used, not being thanked.

Best Facial Expressions and Background Shots

The worst thing any actor could do is stand there and have no reaction.  But Liam Obergfoll’s Tyson on Talia in the Kitchen is a master of facial expressions and background reaction shots.  He clearly has fun in the role, doesn’t mind getting hit in the face with Brie or flour, and reacts so well to the action going on around him.  Watch him lick his lips when Frenchie pours a milkshake,  roll his eyes when Rudy gets in a dig at him, or raise his eyebrows when someone says something stupid. His flour dance was a stitch as was his attempt to make a cheesesteak.  My two pet peeves: Tyson was originally described as a “straight A student” but he clearly lacks common sense and brains. Secondly, you need a new “shocked reaction” look than the open mouth (which can stay open for a really long time). He needs his own show (I’d gladly have him in mine!)

Sorry to See You Go

Sadly, I Didn’t Do It ended quickly after two seasons.  The premise was interesting at the start:  Here’s something that happened to our fearless fivesome, let’s go back in time and figured out how it happened.  And then the wheels came off the bus.  Garrett was sent off to work with Betty at Jumble Juice and rarely interacted with his four friends and the original premise was lost.  The show featured witty writing and amusing scenarios but in the end, turned into an average teen sitcom.   Whoever cancelled the show should admit, “I Didn’t Do It.”

Best Disney Channel Original Movie
  

A tie between Descendants and Teen Beach 2.  TB2 was a tongue-in-cheek, although definitely not unexpected followup to Teen Beach Movie.  Even though the twist at the end precluded the first movie from ever happening, the 50s folks traveling to today made for some amusing scenes.  The music was good and helped move the story along; the acting was what you would expect and I’m sure at the end, there was a wink to Teen Beach 3.

Descendants is a great “what if” movie, where the minions of villians are given the opportunity to live in Auradon.  Its another Kenny Ortega classic – good music, good dancing and a watchable slate of teen actors and actresses (who knew BooBoo Stewart could sing).  It’s a fun ride for sure.

 

 

This week on Espanola Way, Chef Lorena Garcia turned out to be the mystery investor in Lola’s (I called it!) and storylines accelerated to Talia’s season finale next week.

But first, Tyson, oh Tyson.  You are usually Mr Straight as an Arrow but your detour into the world of scheming was an abysmal failure (except watching you try to cut the steak with a pizza cutter was a hoot).  Never, never made a deal with the enemy – and with the other guy on Espanola Way that your love interest might also be interested in to save said love interest.  Classic soap mistake. Never call your love interest stubborn.  And never serve her a dish that your rival excels at, dude.  Wake up and smell the cheesesteak!  Props for a sweet apology on Friday’s episode.  But you can’t be so dumb as to not know what jealousy is (after all, when you first met Jayden, you said you weren’t jealous).  You needed more than Brie in the face – you needed a smack upside the head.

Chris got a mention!

Eliza and Allie – thank you for reading!

Now that we know Jayden is a spicemaster and that a spice battle is looming, we got some interesting new relationships and interactions.  Dolores went to Frenchie to get the spice battle book translated; Dolores threw down the gauntlet for the spice battle with the Brothers Grub.   Debbie got hired at Lola’s as head sous chef (and was promoted to sous chef at Fucinelli’s on the same day!)  There’s been some softening of the animosity between the Fucci’s and the Parra’s.

This week, we also learned why Vinnie was stealing food.  His father had been laid off and putting food on the table was a challenge.  This led to Talia hiring Vinnie’s mom as a sous chef (apparently, Talia has no sense of budget)and her quest to use the spices for good.  I liked this turn of events and turn in the storylines.  Should there be a season #3, this would be a good storyline arc to continue.

Chef Garcia as the mystery investor was interesting (where was the line that Garcia was so impressed with Talia at the Golden Ladle, that was the reason she invested).  Spicing her was just silly and then she was quickly dispatched after they made up.  And Tyson, you need a better reaction to things than having your mouth agape for a minute at a time.

The search for more spices continues next week.

Now some pet peeves for the week.

1. Could anyone not see the spicemaster battle book ending up in the pot of sauce?  And didnt Dolores have Frenchie translate part of it .  Too many “coincidences” happen to drive story.
2. Calle Tres has not been seen since the first episode.
3. Continuity continues to be an issue in some scenes.  For example, an establishing shot suggested it was nighttime.  But when Talia and Julie entered the apartment, it was clearly daytime outside.  In other scenes, characters facial expressions change between shots.
4. More on continuity.  How long do these kids get for a lunch break and do they get to come home from school for lunch?  When Tyson invites Talia over for lunch, neither are in their uniforms.  However, when Val, Julie and Rocky show up at Lola’s, they have their school uniforms on.  Maybe it was half day or early dismissal.
5. The Beach Day was a nice idea – but really, having it in the Fucci’s kitchen.  May I remind you that you are in Miami BEACH, so having a BEACH day at the actual BEACH would have made more sense.
6. The school scenes seem out of place.  All of a sudden Talia’s dropped Food Services 101 and Tyson’s added the class.  West Miami Beach School must have a liberal course add/drop policy.  All of those scenes could have taken place at Calle Tres.  Food Services teacher seems to have disappeared.  I would, though, would have loved to see Tyson try to knit.
7. Dolores seems to now speak in the blank of the blank mode.  The hug of the group.
8. Wasn’t it established in Season #1 that the spices don’t work on Talia?

Other things continue to impress.

1. A small point, but the show does a great job with outdoor shots.  Traffic moves in the background, people walk back and forth along Espanola Way and you can even see traffic move outside Dolores’ apartment window.
2. The actors live their characters pretty well.
3. While the spices set up a nice battle between good and evil, you could remove them from show and the storylines would still make sense.

Line of the week: “Who’s been using the beet cutting board to cut cauliflower?”

Line of the week, runner-up: “I feel the need to scheme.”

Line of the week, runner up: “I wanted to make it more … brie-ish.”

Weird scene of the week: The YOLO Dance.  Apparently, losing your inhibitions applies to only Rudy and about two other people.

Sweetest scene of the week: Tyson and Debbie talking by the lake.

Funniest scene of the week: Tyson trying to make a cheesesteak.

Next week, its the final three episodes.  The previews state “Val suspects there’s a traitor in their ranks.”  My prediction: either Rudy or Tyson.

Cyd travels back to Christmas the year before to try and figure out the perfect gift for Shelby. Meanwhile, Barry and Naldo’s Winter Wonderland experiment sparks an elf war, with Bret and Chet leading the charge. (Imdb.com)

Christmas episodes are usually a challenge since the story has to make sense for the characters and for the holidays.  Thankfully, BFW’s Christmas episode wasn’t a spoof on Its A Wonderful Life.  Instead we are treated to some backstory about how Shelby always manages to find the perfect Christmas gift for Cyd as well as the Bret/Chet elf war.

I liked this episode primarily because it didn’t seek to rewrite history but to understand history. Cyd has always felt somewhat inferior to Shelby and Shelby’s Christmas gifts are no different.  So Cyd keeps returning to the past to see “the wrongly delivered box” that inspired Shelby’s gift.  Oddly enough, we never see the gift, just Cyd finally opening a box with a glowing yellow light.  Each time Cyd jumps back, she gets closer and closer to finding out whats in the box.  Cyd actually jumps without Shelby knowing (this is called jacked jumping) and its played out against a “story” about Cyd’s parents leaving her behind in Portland as they travel to NYC.  Cyd gives Shelby a hand-crafted memory book of their times together.  Its such a Shelby type gift.  Shelby’s gift to Cyd – a big bathtub of chocolate!  Weird, I know.  But not out of character.

Our B story is a “social experiment to manipulate the innocent during Christmas time” by testing the limits of Christmas cheer.  Barry starts an elf war between Chet and Brett that is just downright freaky.  The end of battle scene is a hoot, though.  Elves lying everywhere; I especially like the one elf who is pulling Christmas tree garland out of him to represent flowing blood.  Barry realized, with Naldo’s help naturally, that you can socially experiment with Christmas.

Question: Why is Barry’s RV in Shelby’s backyard? If you look at the exterior Shelby house shot, there appears to be no other homes around.

Props for the Christmas dance!

To my dear friends on Espanola Way.  You know I like you and I like your storylines but I was worried you were starting to venture off from Espanola Way to Clueless territory.

First, my dear Abuela.  I know your ability to fracture English is amusing but I think you know the difference between “peddling” and “meddling.”  Please have a lawyer read over all of your contracts in the future.  This is a pretty weak plot point.

Second, Tyson, stop eating Jayden’s food!  Don’t you remember Talia’s cupcake?  You and your friends are all smart (after all, you got to the West Miami Beach School) and you’ve all been affected by the spices.  You should know the signs!  And shame on you, Talia, for so quickly dismissing that Tyson could have been spiced.

We also some movement in the Talia/Jayden/Tyson triangle.  Who knew you could spice specific people?  I’m a little disappointed in Talia though.  She sure kicked Tyson to the curb pretty quickly.  Apparently Tyson and Talia will make it to official soap coupledom (the preview refers to them as Tylia).  I actually prefer the Talia/Rudy/Tyson triangle. Fortunately, by the end of the week, Talia puts two and two and two together and figures out that Jayden is a SpiceMaster as well.  

Overall, though, this was a funky weird week on Espanola Way.

• The mystery investor dictated some big changes at Lola’s.  Highlighter yellow uniforms, an inventory system, thin peppers.  Sounds like a savvy investor who knows how to run a restaurant.  My bet is that it is Chef Lorena Garcia.
• Debbie as a singer was just, well, odd.  I laughed at the name the Treble Cremes, but Debbie came across as one of those American Idol contestants who gets laughed at by the judges.  Debbie is clearly a talented baker, so why not have her open her own bakery – or partner with Lola’s.  I get that Debbie was attempting to find her talents, but that screeching.  YIkes!
• I like the dynamic between Julie and Rocky.  They are a cute little couple.  I’m still not sure what they were doing with all that junk lined up in the lobby … but the key chain was a key clue for connecting Jayden with the spices.
• I also like the Dolores/Talia/Julie dynamic.  They make a nice familia.
• Frenchie has softened (thankfully).  The Frenchie/Debbie/Tyson dynamic makes for a nice family as well.

Question: What happened to Chris?

The other main focus was the buildup to the YOLO Dance (does Val really need to be on every committee?)  Inspector Rudy and Superman Rudy are a riot.  Love how he keeps trying to be the tough guy – and Val and Talia see right through it.

Line of the week: “I’m going to write a strongly-worded letter to your mother!” [Tyson]

Almost the line of the week: “Did you call me a chucklehead?  What’s a chucklehead?” [Tyson]

Comedic scene of the week: (As much as this a capella thing bugs me) The rehearsal of the Treble Cremes (which now has five members apparently).

Comedic scene of the week #2: Val, Rudy, Tyson and Talia fighting in the hallway.  That chicken impression was downright scary.

Saddest scene of the week: Tyson waiting to give Talia a corsage (and assumably asking her to the dance) and getting dissed by Jayden.

Thing to do for additional fun while watching: Watch the extras walk around the school during the school scenes.  Some pass by twice; some just disappear.

Now that the 2nd week is done, storylines are coming into focus a little bit more.  Things have been moving long crisply; I still appreciate the outdoor shots. I applaud the showrunners for a well written, well shot telenovela aimed at teens.

 

 

We got a sneak peek of TiTK right before Thanksgiving and this week, storylines speed up and new alliances are formed.

Why do I like TiTK?  Even with the magic spices, the show has believable storylines, a good balance of antagonists and protagonists, as well as some witty writing and a tongue in cheek approach.  TiTK doesn’t take itself too seriously.  The teen actors have matured a lot since the first episode.  Will TiTK win any Emmys?  Probably not.  Will it earn good ratings for Nick?  Probably so.

This week flew by.  At the beginning of the week, the gang from Espanola Way was dealing with the impact of Hurricane Ophelia.  Some nice special effects here (I personally chuckled when Dolores got hit by the flying trashcan!).  We saw the introduction of two new characters – Jayden and Michael – who run a food truck and apparently are from a SpiceMaster family (they suggest that the Parras have not been active SpiceMasters for a while).  Naturally Jayden saves Talia from the hurricane and they get some bonding time under the stairs.  Rudy and Tyson compete to see who will save Talia first. The clean-up from Ophelia takes about an episode.

Meanwhile, evil Will is plotting to take over both Lola’s and Fuccinelli’s.  He uses the spices to enter Frenchie’s mind and plant the suggestion that Frenchie would sign over his share of Fuccinelli’s to him.  Will then tries the same trick with Dolores to no avail.  Its amusing to watch Tyson and Debbie try to prevent Frenchie from signing the restaurant over to Will (winning line: “I can’t be the jock and the brain.  The universe would … blow up.”) But how many times is someone going to get locked into the walk-in freezer?   It takes a team approach to get Talia’s spices back, to cook them in some food and then have Will eat them.  In about two seconds, Will is all righteous and honest, rips up the papers and decides to go dig latrines somewhere.  This resolution happens way too fast.

The build-up to this new “friendship” between Talia and the Fuccinelli’s occurs in the aftermath of Dolores’ accident.  Frenchie agrees to take Talia and Julia to the hospital (his motor scooter is a hoot; Val’s line: “You think you know someone and then you find out they drive a scooter.”)  Aunt Tilly makes a return visit and dispatched rather quickly.  It’s almost like the writers decided to ditch the storylines set up at the end of last season and move onto some new ones.

Everyone wants to reopen Lola’s but the money isn’t there.  Dolores and Talia meet with a dentist investor; that’s an abysmal failure.  Rudy and Val (et al) decide to sell pastries (they make $100!) to help the effort as well.  They need more than $100 folks.  Watch Tyson try to hammer a nail and utter the line of the week: “Where’d the nail go?”  And watch Liam Obergfoll’s facial expressions.  They are classic.

Rudy (Joshua Hoffman) scores some major points as the longing best friend to Talia.  His attempts at being a macho man, while easily being worn out, are a riot.  Val’s just the kooky weird friend (someone should count how many courses this girl has taken at the community center.  This week we learn she took a wooden boat building course).  Frenchie has become less of a buffoon and more over the mature overlord of the Fuccinelli’s family.  Debbie is no longer the precious china doll, but seems more willing and confident to defend herself.

There’s also a flirty scene between Talia and Jayden as they both work in the food truck.  This was a missed opportunity.  Tyson should have at least spied them in the truck but not said anything.  We did have a scene where Tyson and Jayden meet (Tyson: “That guy needs a haircut.”)  But we need a little bit more to make this emerging triangle work.

Debbie also finds out that Frenchie helped her win the Golden Ladle by cheating and her confidence as a chef is shot.  Frenchie gives her a chance to star in the kitchen which is a huge failure as well (Tyson: “You created a new dish, Debbie.  Whole Lemon Pasta!”)  Debbie also has her eye on Jayden so we are slowly building an interesting Debbie/Talia/Jayden/Tyson quadrangle.

The previews for next week suggest the triangle/quadrangle continues to grow (we now get these, “Actors sitting around talking about next week previews” which are inherently better than the Nick voiceover lady still calling TiTK a “brand new series.”) as well as a new investor in Lola’s (which, apparently, bound to cause some trouble).

Apparently Chris is gone, but at least Alma got a mention.

The pace has picked up for sure and the writers have gotten more snarky in their dialogue (which I’m a big fan of).  Maria Quezada is quite good as Talia and the supporting cast acts like regular teenagers.  As long as that keeps happening, I still be seeing what Talia’s cooking in the kitchen.

Farkle tells Riley that she has until midnight on New Year’s Eve to tell everyone how she really feels about Lucas. (imdb.com)

I’m still amazed how good GMW is.  I’m still amazed by how talented this troop of young actors is.

In the Texas three-parter, it was like all the cards were thrown up in the air and all of our couples were reshuffled.  The show continues to explore the feelings between Charlie, Maya, Riley and Lucas.  While the show can sometimes veer into schmaltz territory and also veer into the land of convenience (how convenient was it that Harper is teaching Sense and Sensibility at the same time all of this drama is going on just before Christmas vacation?), we’ll take the ride because we understand the conflict that the characters are feeling and facing (sometimes head-on, sometimes not).

Here, Farkle reminds Riley about her pledge to tell Lucas and Maya about her true feelings for Lucas.  Riley suggests that she is stepping aside to not hurt Maya’s feelings in the same way that Maya has done for her.  Farkle reminds her that the Horn of Gabriel will blow at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

In Harper’s class, the crew explores the meaning of sense and sensibility.  Sense means good judgment while sensitivity reflects sensitivity.  As Farkle suggests, the most important word in the title is And.  You need both sense and sensibility in life.

We finally make it to New Year’s Eve.  Cory and Topanga, in reflecting on the upcoming year, state “bring it on!”  Charlie wants to play the couples game and, surprise, surprise, all of the questions challenge the relationships between our key players.  Close to midnight, everyone ends up on the roof.  Charlie pours his heart out to Riley, but RIley says there needs to be something more.  Maya ends up next to Lucas and asks him “Have I ever said anything nice to you?”   When Maya suggests that being next to Lucas is exactly where she wants to be, Lucas replies “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”  I’m impressed with how Peyton Meyer has grown as an actor and how talented Sabrina Carpenter is.

But the Horn of Gabriel must blow – and Farkle drops the midnight bomb that RIley still has feelings for Lucas.  The assembled group quickly leaves (Auggie says this is the first time he’s made it to midnight but then falls asleep with five seconds left; Charlie carries him out) leaving RIley, Maya and Lucas to ponder the future.

It will make for compelling viewing when the show returns in January.  It’s great that the show has been renewed for a third season and that the group will be graduating to high school.  Two years in middle school is enough and I’m ready to see how they address the challenges of a more adult environment.  This cast has more than proven they can handle it.