Catching Up With The Campers: HSMTMTS 3.02-3.04 Review

If you were expecting me to write individual posts for the past three episodes, you're going to have to let it go. Going forward I will continue to do it that way, but I'm playing catch-up right now. All in all, three solid episodes. Let's get into it:

3.02 "Into the Unknown"

Audition traditions continued when EJ tried to do a calming circle and began singing as well as someone walking into auditions late while not being prepared for said audition. I hope these traditions stick around as the series (hopefully) continues.

One of EJ's camp friends, Val, was introduced in this episode. I'm not sure how I feel about the character, but ever since I (finally) watched Z-O-M-B-I-E-S and Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, I have loved Meg Donnelly as an actress and I was happy to hear she was cast as a series regular for this season.

We also meet Nini's biological father, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. I'll be honest, I was not expecting him to play that role. Their scenes were intentionally awkward, but also a little uncomfortable to watch because of how awkward they were. And then he inspires her to write a song as Olivia Rodrigo's send-off for the show.

3.03 "The Woman in the Woods"

After having Christmas and Valentine's Day themed episodes, we finally got a good spooky-season episode. Kourtney and Carlos had a fun dynamic as they panicked in their tent. Kourtney also called out some horror movie cliches right before Ricky scares her.

When Ricky finds a mysterious shrine in the woods (mysterious other than the Twizzlers in a bowl on the table), he is able to connect with Jet who has been having a hard time at camp. We learn later in the episode that Jet is Maddox's brother! I honestly was shocked. I had expected Jet to somehow be Corbin Bleu's fictional brother which would then make his name Jet Bleu... a cheesy airplane pun made sense to me, but I'm excited to explore this family's backstory.

I also thought Ashlyn's astrology story was really fun, but kind of unrealistic. She's 16ish years old and didn't know she was born in the morning instead of the evening? But I also love watching characters discover themselves and it led to my favorite song so far!

3.04 "No Drama"

A "Fabulous" redo (it was featured in the season 2 premiere medley) kicks off the episode as the cast of Frozen: The Musical waits for Corbin Bleu to arrive. Then Gina and EJ performed "Love Is An Open Door" in costumes inspired by the Frozen movie characters of Hans and Anna. They were so cute together!

Kourtney's story is also so good. She misses her mom and feels the anxiety of being disconnected and loneliness. It was so nice of Val to agree to switch the movie night to a film that would make Kourtney feel more at home.

And during the movie night, we got some good love-triangle shots, with Ricky in the background still eating Twizzlers.

ORIGINAL SONG RANKING:

1. "Rising" - Julia Lester had one of my favorite songs in season 1, "Wondering", so it's not surprise to me that her big solo song this season is at the top of my ranking so far. It wasn't super cheesy, had only minor references to the plot of the show and it just gave me the feels.

2. "You Never Know" - I felt like it was just a less aggressive Olivia Rodrigo original and some of the references to the plot were just too much for me. But it was still a really good song, so it's pretty high up on this list.

3. "Finally Free" - Joshua Bassett

4. "Balance" - It's an okay song. Sofia Wylie is incredibly talented and it's a bit of a bop, despite the simple lyrics. What mostly threw me off is that it was so disconnected from the episode. All of a sudden, a dream sequence. It's not a camp song though!

5. "Ballad of Susan Fine" - This one on the other hand IS a camp song. It's slightly less cheesy than "Shallow Lake" and combined with Matt Cornett singing, that is why it ranks right above that song. They're not bad songs, just not ones I will regularly listen to out of context of the rest of the soundtrack.

6. "Shallow Lake" - Saylor Bell Curda