Reagan hasn’t wasted any time living up to lesbian stereotypes — she’s already got a new girlfriend Heather McGayname and they’ve already moved in together (full disclosure my girlfriend had been together for less than two months when we moved in together, I’m not judging) — which means Amy’s gonna have to save her monologue about how she’s really missed Reagan for a more appropriate venue. She stumbles through a new monologue about how she DEFINITELY didn’t come here to get back together! LOL! Obviously not! She just has to return Reagan’s hairband because it’s not like hairbands come in five-packs at the Dollar — “It’s Karma, isn’t it?” Regan interrupts her.
So what you’re saying is that I just sat on a red velvet cupcake
Reagan tells Amy it’s okay, this is what ex-girlfriends are for, in this particular universe. So Amy spills — that she’s having feelings, that the only time she was happy was when she was with Reagan, that Karma is ruining her life. Reagan says Amy’s gotta stop using other people to get over Karma and instead take some time and space from her altogether. Speaking of — how about that tour Reagan needed somebody to film? Is that still happening? Because apparently Farrah is not a strict overprotective mother like my own who would’ve been like, “no band tour for you, you’re going to Camp Ranana!”
Meanwhile, all hell has broken lose at the School Board meeting. The Theater Club has gone full-gold-plated-Anonymous, Penelope’s popping balloons that represent various institutional oppressions, and Shane and Liam are fighting about whether or not blackmail would’ve worked better than a not-so-peaceful protest. Karma yells at both of them that they’ve gotta work together lest we all get separated from our best friends and Liam’s like OH IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT AMY ISNT IT! Just in case you forgot to hate Liam for a second, there you go!
I can’t think of a better opportunity to play my acoustic cover of “Another Brick In The Wall” and frankly I’m shocked that you disagree.
AND THEN. It looks like the defense has an unexpected witness who would like to call herself to the stand:
Get out of my way, losers
Lauren’s got something to say:
Lauren: “When I first came to Hector, I thought what the fuck is wrong with this place? Drama Club is cooler than football, the most popular guy in school is an obnoxious gay guy and his best friend is a straight manwhore and it’s not even a little weird. Two girls pretended to be lesbians. Why? Because at Hester, being different makes you cool. I had a hard time with that. The one thing that makes me different is the one thing I have always tried to hide. I’m intersex. I never said that out loud until I came here. Turner wants Hester to be more like other schools and I can’t believe I’m saying this — but I think other schools should be more like Hester. Because this is a school that accepts you even if you don’t accept yourself.”
I hope somebody is saving this for YouTube so they can recruit more queer women to Hester to scissor Amy. But also, good for Lauren! Four for you, Lauren.
Shane Harvey and Liam Booker are in a secret homosexual relationship
And they shouldn’t have to hide who they really are anymore. It’s just not right.
Thanks kiddo
Anyhow, HESTER IS SAVED! Everything is okay! That was quick! Liam tells Shane he’s sorry for calling him a bad person, he’s not a bad person. Shane actually kinda is a bad person but whatever!
Guess who’s on Musshroooommms!??!?!?!
They elope to the quad for Penelope’s celebratory drum circle.
Chez Fawcett. Looks like Amy’s a much faster packer than me, ’cause she’s fleeing Austin and didn’t even bother to tell Karma a damn thing about it!
But she still has my hairband!
Karma seals a bike from a baby and rides it all the way to the Pussy Explosion Tour Bus, where Amy’s in the passenger seat with her camera, fantasizing about In-and-Out.
Oh wow, Karma’s shoulder looks really good in this picture
Hey! Stop looking at those sexy pictures of me and transfer them to your phone and text them to me like you promised!
It’s on my to-do list today I promise!
Karma assumes Amy’s fleeing ’cause she’s nervous about a summer alone with Farrah, or that she got back together with Reagan but didn’t want to tell Karma ’cause she knows it’s a bad idea — but nope, Amy tells her, Reagan is spoken for, she’s dating Heather. Not Heather Hogan, a different Heather. Still, Amy’s flabbergasted that Karma, her alleged best friend, is so clueless about why Amy’s gotta skip town. YOU KISSED HER, YOU BIG BUFFOON! Karma’s sorry for that but —
Karma: “This is our chance to get back on track!”
Amy: “I don’t want to get back on track! I can’t keep getting back on track. The track is just a loop that runs straight through my heart, over and over and over again.”
It’s pretty much like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in that way, if you think about it. Karma’s mad that Amy skipped the board meeting and is now skipping town and why is Karma the only one “fighting for us”?
Does Karma truly have no idea how gay she sounds. Just saying.
That was OUR Sparia fanfic site, Amy. OURS.
But I told you I was drifting towards Ellison
Why am I the only one fighting for Sparia
“This is fighting for us,” Amy insists.
“No, it’s running away!” Karma yells back like a person who didn’t just find out that her track runs right through the heart of her best friend in the whole wide world. “We’ve never spent this much time apart. What if we can’t come back from this? What if this is the beginning of the end? We promised each other! Roommates in college, and houses next door to each other. Best friends forever. Don’t you want that anymore?”
“Yeah, I do, of course I do,” says Amy, because she is off her rocker. “But if I don’t go, we’ll never be able to have that.”
“Yes, yes we will!” Karma insists. “This is us! We can make it through anything.”
“Then we can get through a summer apart,” Amy points out.
Speaking of that summer apart, a hot lesbian with an asymmetrical haircut and a badass leather jacket says they’ve really gotta hit the road.
Dude, I’ve seen this lesbian-falls-for-her-straight-best-friend thing play out like a million times and it never goes well so maybe just get in the van
In other words:
GET IN THE VAN!
“Amy, please,” says Karma. “What do I have to do to get you to stay?”
Well: “You can tell me that that kiss meant something.”
There’s not even a pause here — not even a moment of consideration — just a defeated, weeping shrug and an “I can’t.”
Amy looks up to stop herself from crying, too, tells Karma to have a good summer, and gets in the van.
Typical reaction to seeing a Pussy Explosion van drive by and knowing that you are heterosexual
When I first saw this scene I didn’t think it would end like this — I didn’t think Karma would say “I can’t” like that.
Karma’s feelings for Amy aren’t necessarily unusual for a platonic teenage friendship between women, even straight ones. These friendships are often at the center of movies about girls, especially dark tragic movies and dark comedies, because these intense friendships can be such wild, complicated, illogical things. They can be so passionate that it’s not unusual for them to even occasionally turn sexual, regardless of the girls’ orientation, and I don’t have any doubts these two could easily get into that murky territory, too. Karma and Amy could be friends with benefits, easily. But there’s a big leap between sexual chemistry and love and what it takes to build a romantic relationship, and Karma doesn’t think she can make that leap.
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. It’s like she has no consciousness in this conversation, just raw emotion, which suggests she could be revealing things about her feelings without knowing that she is.
There’s also a part of me that believes her because, well, she told the truth, knowing that she’d lose Amy if she did. For maybe the first time this season she’s being completely honest — both of them are, for once, they are finally just saying exactly what they mean. She’s not putting “avoiding consequences” above “telling the truth” like she usually does. These are two women who lie to make arguments easier, who lie to get what they want, who lead people on like the Pied fucking Piper.
So maybe I wasn’t surprised that Karma doesn’t have romantic feelings for Amy. I was surprised that she didn’t lie and say that she did in order to make Amy stay. The truth felt so true that she had no choice but to tell it. Which somehow makes it sting twice as hard, you know?
There’s still so much room for this to go either way.
When I first saw this scene I cried, just like the finale made me cry last year, too. It’s hard not to feel like you are Amy when you watch this, even if you’ve never really been Amy, even if you’ve just known an Amy? And if you’re queer, you’ve known an Amy.
Same
Zita’s Castle of Magic and Wonder. She’s hired her family’s private PI to track down Liam’s birth certificate and discover the name of his father — C. Wilder. Maybe he’s related to Van Wilder! The winsome twosome are gonna go track this fellow down and hopefully he won’t suck.
Open it very slowly, there might be a wee bit of poison inside
Shane Harvey and Karma Ashcroft’s blow-out have decided to spend their summer helping others in revealing outfits by auditioning to be lifeguards? I wasn’t aware lifeguarding involved auditions, but really, who knows anything in this town.
Ugh! Why are you BOYS always putting GUM IN MY HAIR?!
And our dear beloved Amy rides off into The Summer of Pussy Explosion.
That is the FOURTH In-and-Out we’ve passed and she still hasn’t stopped…
Well my friends, that wraps up this season of Faking It, which has been full of ups and downs and twists and turns, many of them quite disappointing. They’re currently looking for transgender actors for their next season, which’s great — trans actors playing trans characters! yay! — but I hope they do better with lesbian and biesxual representation next season, too. TIL THEN MY FRIENDS…
Pages: 1 2See entire article on one page
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…