Welcome to the 20th recap of the second season of Faking It, a daytime drama about riding lawnmower enthusiasts from the network that brought you Kevin Seal, Sportin’ Fool.
We open in Amy’s room, where she’s agonizing over what Karma was thinking when she seductively kissed Amy in her backyard pool with all her clothes on. Unfortunately, Amy doesn’t have certified Yoda Shane McCutcheon around to help her process and must settle for Shane Harvey, who points out that it could mean Karma’s got deep repressed feelings for Amy… but on the other hand, “she was a drunk girl at a party, and kissing you for attention is kind of what she’s known for.”
Look, this hot chocolate is pretty good, but I’ve had better.
Amy says it was different this time ’cause nobody was watching. You know, that age-old philosophical query: If a straight girl kisses another girl and nobody is paying attention enough to notice it, does it make a sound?
Whatever, it’s time to wake up Karma with a pillow-wap to the face and get the scoop straight from the source!
Well, I kinda remember singing something…
Do you remember WHAT you were singing?
Oh no did I do “Let It Go” again
Karma, you did Maroon 5.
More specifically: “Moves Like Jagger.”
Welp: Karma remembers showing her nipples, letting the soccer team do shots on her stomach and dancing on a table… but after that it’s a blank space, baby.
Chez Fawcett Living Room: Amy’s scrubbing the carpet Cinderella-style while Lauren barks that their parental units will be back very soon. Amy blames the party on Lauren’s irrepressible urge to have intercourse with a tool but before they can squabble any further, Farrah and Bruce show up! Apparently Farrah hasn’t noticed the missing gnomes yet.
Guess who brought back a three-pound cinnamon roll from San Antonio???!
They’ve got big news for the girls: they’re getting divorced! This is the same thing my parents did to me y’all, it’s a very sneaky move! Lauren, despite just hearing she can return to Dallas and spend her life wiling away the hours at Sue Ellen’s, is speechless. Amy, meanwhile, is in a hot panic: how can they send Lauren back now when she’s got a life here?? HOW? Farrah tells Lauren she can stay in Austin as long as her little heart desires. Lauren’s silent face is the story of a girl who would like to go maybe at least two days without another major shock to her system? Even one day would be neat, just one day between surprises. Maybe an entire episode where nothing upsetting happens? Oh and Farrah calls Lauren “the daughter I never had.” Ouch.
Jeez Mom, A+ Cobalt is only $2.50 a month, why can’t Lauren and I each have our own A+ account? I keep commenting about Abby Wambach while unknowingly still signed in to Lauren’s account and then she gets mad at me and it’s this whole thing
Liam’s found a new place to crash: in the open arms and welcoming bosom of Intern Zita, who’s surprised to hear that Liam’s more upset that Shane called him a “Booker” than he is about Amy and Karma’s Water Tongue Polo.
Maybe we should get a kitten
“A Booker is a rich self-involved asshole who uses money to get what they want,” explains Liam, who is luckily only half-Booker ’cause his unknown Dad isn’t a Booker. Intern Zita is pretty sure that Liam’s real Dad is out there saving the forests and donating to Autostraddle, though.
Lauren’s unhappy that Amy wants Lauren to stay in Austin with her cheating step-mother, Tommy the Tool, her Ex the Narc and the lazy liberals of Blue Oasis Cesspool of Dishonesty High. Lauren preferred Dallas, where nobody knew she was Intersex, to Austin, where everybody does know and is okay with it, except Tommy, because Tommy is a tool.
Are you serious? We had Jamba Juice for breakfast yesterday!
Felix shows up to school with bumps and scratches on his noggin and Amy’s concerned about this turn of facial events — he tells her that he crashed the car and will be heading to rehab. Turns out that Felix is an alcoholic (Amy: “But you’re only 16!” Felix: “What can I say, I’m an overachiever.”), his Mom was too, and last night was his Dad’s worst nightmare.
You have one mission and one mission only, and that is to get inside Alex Parish’s head
Amy apologizes ’cause it was her party that got him into this mess. He apologizes for spilling his guts, saying that, “in my experience drunk people say and do the things they wish they could do when they’re sober.” Like… he meant it when he told Amy he really liked her. Amy says “I really like you, too.” But it wasn’t enough, ultimately. Reagan was able to distract Amy from Karma for a few months but Felix couldn’t do it for even a few minutes. They chastely hug goodbye, and Felix and his storyline disappear into the sunset.
Listen, at first I was just following you because it was my secret FBI mission, but now I’ve really fallen for you
Yup, that’s the ending of the Felix and Amy storyline! Felix is leaving the show. This whole exploration of whether or not Amy is a lesbian or bisexual or somewhere in between or nowhere near figuring it out, and the show’s set-up of Felix as part of that journey, has ended with a massive creative cop-out.
My reading of Amy has been that Amy is a Kinsey 5 but is (consciously or not) using Felix or the possibility of Men In General to distract herself from her unrequited feelings for Karma, but many others have read the show differently, sensing Amy is definitely bisexual and feels a genuine connection to Felix and Men In General. Others feel that it’s impossible for Amy — or any viewers — to know where she’s at just yet. All of these readings are valid and there’s evidence on all sides, of course. I’ve been surprised by how viscously fans of the show have been attacking each other based on what they perceive to be the absolute truth about the sexual orientation of these characters, though. The writing on the show is inconsistent, yet we continue shooting the messengers. Womp WOMP.
[ETA: Apparently Felix will be returning for Season Three, which means I have to admit to y’all that even though from a creative perspective, him leaving is a cop-out, the possibility of this storyline continuing into Season Three makes me want to drown myself in a pool of Crystal Clear Pepsi.]
Lockerville. Karma runs to catch up with The Booker to apologize for snapping at him while she was ham-boned at the big fiesta. Liam says that wasn’t her only mistake last night, like what about that kiss? She’s blubbering around to apologize to him for kissing him when Liam interrupts her — it’s not me you kissed, Karma Chameleon, it’s Amy.
Yeah, I know I’m holding my yearbook upside-down. Maybe I don’t like to do everything the “traditional” way, Karma. Maybe I like to “think outside the box.”
Karma leaves her chat with Liam a disheviled damsel just as Principal Turner pops up on the iPad to inform his students that he’s been unable to save them from themselves and will be recommending the School Board shut Hester High down, which’d require relocating all their stoned performance artists to other schools. I’m in favor of this if it means Amy might end up at a school with lesbians and bisexual women in it.
Four hours to update this machine to El Capitan? Who has that kind of time?
The children are aghast, but not Lauren. “Not my school, not my problem,” she declares to her minions before abandoning them with their unsigned yearbooks.
(starts singing Leanne Rimes “How Can I Live Without You”)
Elsewhere on this anarchy of a campus, Amy runs to Karma to complain about the shutdown but Karma wants to apologize for The Kiss. You know — The Kiss!
Wait wrong “The Kiss.” This “The Kiss”:
WAIT WRONG “THE KISS,” THIS ONE:
Don’t worry, Karma’s got it all figured out:
Karma: “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re totally right.”
Amy: “I am?”
Karma: “I am the worst best friend ever. I am so so sorry. You were there for me when I was spinning out and I go and I do the worst thing I could possibly do. I wish I could take it back! I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Amy: [lying] “That’s what I figured.”
Karma: “But listen, I promise I’m gonna make it up to you!”
Unfortunately, Karma’s idea of making it up to Amy does not involve oral sex, getting matching Gal Pal t-shirts, hate-watching Lost & Delirious while sharing a tub of Whirled Peace or shacking up at A-Camp.
This is how lesbians have sex
Karma’s make-up plan is “The Summer of Karma and Amy,” three months with no Liam and no Reagan to distract either of them from their thriving best friendship with overriding sexual tension! They’ll get right back on track, promises Karma! I mean, first they’ve gotta figure out how to keep Hester open because, as Karma points out while driving a stake through Amy’s heart, “We’re spending the rest of our lives together and that includes school days, right?” Amy nods and looks unhappy.
A committee of club chairpeople have assembled to discuss The Shutdown of Blue Oasis Holy Mother Ellen DePortia High School For Youths Who Wear Scarves In Texas.
I now call this meeting of the McKinley High Celibacy Club to order
Liam: What’s your plan? Get dirt on the swing vote and threaten to out her?
Shane: Well, yeah. What’s yours? Sleep with her sister?
Liam suggests a peaceful protest. They take a vote and Tommy’s the only one on Shane’s side (“I’ve been blackmailed by Shane before. It works.”). Obviously nobody here is caught up on Scandal or Empire. Now they’ve just gotta decide whether they should yarn-bomb, do an immersive theater piece, or make really clever signs.
None of this concerns Lauren, of course, ’cause she’s too busy packing up for Dallas and catching up on the hot goss with her besties Launa and Leslie.
I assume you’ve heard about Hugo and Kim, of course
But, as so often happens to newly progressive human beings who dare to call home —
Leslie: “Oh and ew, remember Mr. Flint? He’s now — wait for it — Mrs. Flint.”
Launa: “A transistor? I think it’s trans… former?”
Lauren: [frustrated] “TransGENDER.”
Leslie: Whatever it is, it’s gross. We’re trying to get him-her fired
Lauren: “I don’t really think it’s gro–“
But before Lauren can finish her sentence, Launa interrupts with big news: Misty was dance captain but now she’s preggo and that means Lauren can come back and be dance captain for a bunch of transphobic assholes! Maybe she can teach them how to high kick themselves in the face.
School Board Meeting. Hester High has turned up loaded with regalia and performances and original yarn art to persuade the suits to keep their school cool for the endless summer. Even Karma shows up, which pleases Liam. She tells Liam that keeping Blue Oasis Hummus High open is more important than all their differences.
JUST TELL ME WHEN COACH AND I WILL START POPPING THOSE BALLOONS LIKE IT’S GROWN-UPS DAY AT THE CARNIVAL
Unforuntaely, shortly after Liam takes the stand to testify that Blue Oasis Cornhole Pie High In The Sky is the only school that would’ve let him have sex with an alleged lesbian in a tent and call it “art” and therefore should be open forever, the suits remind them that they’ve only got five minutes to make their case. Karma furiously texts Amy — where is she? She’s going to miss Taming Of The Shrew Who Wants To Shut Down This School!
Oh, NBD. She’s just at Reagan’s.
Oh sorry, I thought you were the pizza guy
Or should I say… Reagan and Heather’s?
Oh hey how much do we owe you for the pizza?
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Thank you for another season of perfect, perfect recaps, Riese. I am only still watching this show because of your words (because this show breaks my heart because of exactly what you said about how we’re kind of all Amy), and I feel so thankful for how you make me laugh and think thinky thoughts I never would have conjured on my own, week after week. Especially I am thankful for the laughs.
Also, I just gotta say: GODDAMMIT, KARMA.
It’s not that I expected everything to be fine and dandy and for Amy and Karma to ride off on a horse into the sunset together… but I did not expect THAT. That “I can’t” was fucking heartbreaking.
Where does the show go from here? If it were real life, Amy would take her space, their friendship would slowly deteriorate to occasional hangouts, then phone calls, then emails, and they’d lose touch a couple yeas after graduation. But this is a TV show. Something new and exciting has to happen. So what comes next? It seems like anything that happens will be a retread. It feels like we’ve been here a million times before. If for no other reason, I thought they’d let Amy and Karma finally be together at the end of this season because it would finally be something NEW for the show. But alas.
Yeah I feel like once a friendship flies too close to the sun like that it’s generally doomed. :(
First of all: great recap as usual. I don’t comment very much but I read them / look forward to them every week and this one is no exception!
Second: yup that “I can’t” was really, truly heartbreaking. That said, I watched a very brief little interview with the actress who plays Karma about that moment and where Amy/Karma goes from there, and she said something that piqued my interest… She said that it was interesting that she did not say “it didn’t mean anything” but rather that she simply can’t say (admit?) it does mean something. A slight distinction but an important one, I think. I am of the opinion that Karma does have feelings for Amy but it’s so buried and repressed and she’s so scared by the possibility of it that she really can’t even contemplate that kiss meaning something, you know? I’ve definitely been there myself… Anywho, I guess we’ll all have to wait and see.
You bet I noticed that too. Hopefully being away from Amy for a whole summer will help Karma get her ass out of her head and realize she actually DOES have feelings for her.
Regarding Karma, though I do love your recaps. First I do realize how ridiculous it is that most season finales seems to be Karma rejecting, I wish we would move on from this. I think saying I can’t instead of saying it didn’t mean anything is actually saying a lot. I think I’m in the minority/ or majority depending on where you are, Karma absolutely has feelings for Amy. Only thing is Karma is so wrapped up in the best friends thing and not loosing each other she can’t imagine stepping over the line, and then ruining the friendship forever.
All the post interviews have confirmed so much, Karma hasn’t yet thought of the possibilities of liking Amy even though her actions speak otherwise, I’m hoping Shane could help her out there like he did in season 1 with Amy because Karma is in deep denial but I do respect her for not telling Amy what she wants to hear just to keep her. I just wish the should would have her admit her feelings onscreen already, its been too long
Thank you for these recaps, I love your meta!
They’re going to continue Felix/Amy storyline in the next season:
TVLINE:Please tell me we’ll get more of him next season.
CARTER COVINGTON: Felix’s story with Amy will continue in Season 3, so rest assured.
http://tvline.com/2015/11/02/faking-it-finale-amy-leaves-karma-season-3-spoilers/
Meanwhile, not even a hint of anything remotely lesbionic:
““I think obviously there’s going to be some resentment on Karma’s side. Probably, if I were Amy and putting myself in her position, I would probably have a resentment, too. I think eventually they can come back from this. It’s probably going to be very bumpy. They’re not just going to come back from the summer and __________be best friends again_________. I think that’s what season three will finally explore.””
http://hollywoodlife.com/2015/11/03/faking-it-season-3-spoilers-karma-amy-relationship/
You should read the whole article you posted. ;)
TVLINE | Do you honestly envision a day where Karma could reciprocate Amy’s feelings, or will it be more about Amy finding a middle ground?
I’ve always believed that Karma is not as introspective as Amy, and she hasn’t looked at her strong affection and love for Amy in any other light than a friendship. I really want to get to a point where she does look at that — and then we can figure out what that means for her. I have in my head an idea of how I’d like for all of that to unfold, so I’m just hoping we have the episodes to do it.
“Once Karma starts thinking about why she kissed Amy, she might start to see their relationship differently. Covington revealed that he wants the character to finally start questioning if she and Amy could ever be more than friends, *****but they might not get there in “Faking It” Season 3*****.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/faking-it-season-3-spoilers-can-karma-amys-friendship-survive-ep-teases-drama-after-2167088
It’s another level of queerbaiting. Support us through all that offensive BS and then maybe – I repeat, MAYBE – Karma in season 10 will start QUESTIONING if her feelings go beyond friendship. And of course, the answer very well could be no, they don’t.
Is that TVLine interviewer serious? How popular is the Felix character that people desperately want to see him again next season?
for real… and why is it that every girl amy wants to date is turned off by the fact that she’s into karma… yet felix is annoyed by it, has been physically left for karma like 15 times already… but it doesn’t stop him from pursuing Amy and hoping that it could still work out for them?
it’s not fair for the show to cut off possibilities with Jasmine because of Karma — even though Jasmine has never even met Karma or seen Amy with her — but not cut off the possibilities with Felix. That’s a really shitty double-standard.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME I DO NOT WANT MORE FELIX WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK
– So I guess according to the logic of this show (or its characters) you can only be a true Booker through inbreeding…
– Is there any way to make Liam an interesting or appealing character? Is there??
– I like the idea of a young character being alcoholic (TV usually gives us the idea that you can’t be an alcoholic when you’re young, and all teenagers just drink too much and do destructive stuff because that’s what they’re supposed to do.
Only grown-ups have Real drinking problems). But it still doesn’t make Felix interesting enough for a return in the next season…
– Lauren. <3
– Oh Amy. Ouch. And I actually feel sorry for Karma too.
– Karma should have a thing with a girl over the summer. It's the perfect opportunity! Try if this bisexuality thing is maybe a thing, without risking hurting your best friend. Realize you're bi. Confess love to best friend.
Everyone's happy forever.
“Karma should have a thing with a girl over the summer. It’s the perfect opportunity! Try if this bisexuality thing is maybe a thing, without risking hurting your best friend. Realize you’re bi. Confess love to best friend.”
That is a good idea and also totally realistic! I could write the fight scene in my sleep of when Amy returns and finds out Karma was willing to go for it with another girl even though she wouldn’t take that leap with Amy. Then Amy will be mad at Karma all year long for having sex with a girl who isn’t Amy.
If Amy doesn’t hook up with any girls while on the road with a queer band called Pussy Explosion, though, then I can never watch this show again because that is just too big of a suspension of disbelief for me to stomach.
I’ll be shitty if they allude to Amy hooking up with other girls over summer only to not show any girl/girl action in the story once the show comes back.
Yes, I was thinking about that too! (First as an “oh no Amy will be sad”, but then I thought it sounds like something interesting to explore).
And it would change their never-ending spiral of passionate platonic friendship, unrequited love and repressed bi-curiosity. Whilst supplying material for “Hey, they both hooked up with hot girls during the summer” jokes (because yes, Amy HAS TO).
Call me overly positive or maybe it’s my inner Amy talking but I interpreted the “I can’t” as someone said above, as in “I can’t say right now/admit it meant something” rather than it didn’t. Because she did sound hella gay.
But again I put a bomb on the middle my last looping track not so long ago so maybe I’m projecting.
I love the unabashed absurdity of this show’s story lines. The Principal gives up, tells the school board to shut the school down, and since every other high school in the area is under-enrolled and this building would make a great strip mall anyway, it will take a hero to save Hester.
These recaps and the photo captions will be thoroughly missed. WTF am I supposed to read on Tuesdays now, Riese?
Maybe Amy will meet another homogay lady on the road and bring her back to double Hester’s queer female population/have someone to date who isn’t just going to destroy her heart every 3rd episode.
“Maybe Amy will meet another homogay lady on the road and bring her back to double Hester’s queer female population”
CARTER COVINGTON: Felix’s story with Amy will continue in Season 3, so rest assured.
yup, saw your post above. chose to assume that “Felix’s story with Amy will continue” meant him pining for her while she ignores him for a woman she loves, just like old times.
Okay, I have a question (that I may have said before). Amy, Karma, and Lauren are sophomores. Shane and Liam are seniors. If the school year just ended, then how are Shane and Liam going to be involved next school year?
I feel like they un-seniored those two in the past handful of episodes, but I could be wrong.
Well, Sasha was 24, and she said that Liam was six years younger than her, so that makes him 18. That was in the last few episodes.
The day of the final episode the cast and writers did a twitcam. And they said that all of them were sophomores. And in season 3 they will be Juniors. But that can’t be right. Because in the episode “Prom Scare” Sasha tells Liam right before licking his ear (ew) That Liam was 17. So??? I don’t know what to believe.
This was so good. I was loling at the captions and then having a lot of feelings… I agree with you v strongly that we’ve all been/known Amy and that this is why it’s such a heart-breaking turn of events. Truthfully I think it’d be too depressing/reminiscent of my school days for me to watch without recaps so thanks a million as per <3
This show makes me nostalgic for the kinds of friendships that were so intense the idea of a summer apart felt world-shattering (even when there wasn’t romantic tension).
I’d really like to see Amy come back from her Pussy Explosion summer, call Jasmin and just be like “I’m ready.” She could have a girlfriend with boundaries and queer friends and a project unrelated to Karma.
Karma will come out as like the most casual bisexual ever but still not admit any feelings for Amy. Amy will silently seethe but try really hard find her chill in order to keep her cool new queer posse.
They’ll both miss their friendship like crazy but be too cool/hurt/scared to admit it.
The season finale (of course) will be Karma telling Amy that she wants to kiss her for real and Amy will be like WTF Karma and then Karma will kiss Amy and they’ll look at one another and that’s the end of the whole show forever. Does Karma actually have romantic feelings for Amy or is she just super insecure and desperate for attention? Will Amy pick Karma over her new cool queer life? The world may never know.
You know, if you had told me at the beginning of season 1 that Lauren would be my favorite character, that I’d sympathize with her the most, respect her the most, and identify with her the most… I’d have called you a liar.
I cried when she realized she didn’t want to go back to dallas.
These recaps are wonderful and I love them and that I don’t actually have to watch the show.
Bless.
I really enjoyed this episode. It was a neat tie-up (yes, Felix’s exit was a creative cop-out, but so was his character and his entire story so whatever) and set the ducks nicely up in a very tidy row for next season – independent character devleopment! Something for them to talk about! Introspection! – so I’m feeling very positive.
Also, DAMN this recap is delightful. My favorite one of the season, thank you Riese for your magical recaps this (and every) season.
Additionally ‘the possibility of this storyline continuing into Season Three makes me want to drown myself in a pool of Crystal Clear Pepsi.’ SECONDED!
The sounds I squealed when Stef’s perfect photo appeared were a higher pitch than I ever imagined my vocal cords could make.
I think I watch this show wrong, because I’m not rooting for Amy/Karma at all. They seem too sisterly to me. But I’m definitely rooting for Amy to live out the band name during the summer! And for her to fall hardcore in love with some other age-appropriate female human who loves her right back.
This show pulled yet another one of my pet peeves — perpetuating the myth that when drunk, folks do what they WANT to but are afraid to. I’m such a schoolmarm, I know, but I worry about the impressionable demographic for this show hearing such things and believing them. Such assumptions can really mess up lives.
I cried too. Poor Amy. Poor Karma.
“There’s a part of me that doesn’t believe her, though. Not because it’s unusual for a best friend to say “we’re going to be together forever,” but it is unusual for a best friend to say that knowing how easily those words could mislead and wound.”
Meh, I disagree. You say Shane is mean, but Karma has proved over and over again that world revolves around her. She is completely selfish and self serving to the point of being cruel.
The only reason I believe she has feelings for Amy is because they are the main characters and they don’t allow Amy to move past her. It’s like they’re are setting them up to be end game. It’s not because it’s so unbelievable that her character could be so awful and insensitive to her friend. Even Lauren is a better friend and Lauren doesn’t even have friends, she has minions.
SUE ELLEN’S! Sorry, got nostalgic there for a moment. Cheers for the recap, brilliant as usual!
What if Karma turns out at the very end not to be a real person? What if she’s just a projection into the world of the consequences of the other characters’ delusions? Like, you know, karma…