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.