‘Faking It’ season 3, episode 1 review: Amy, Karma, and the non-apology tour
Amy really wants both Karma and anyone else who will listen on “Faking It” to realize one thing: She’s not sorry for what she did over the summer … at all.
We do think that it was a smart move for the MTV series to shake things up by giving these characters a summer apart. The truth is, there was little more story to tell with people as previously constituted. For example, Amy was going to continue to pine over her best friend, who seemed unwilling to consider the fact that she may have feelings for her … even if there were a couple of signs. They weren’t going to get anywhere by enjoying a summer together, one that probably would have led to disaster since Amy would have only fallen more in love with her.
We’re going to argue that the problem that Karma has with Amy in Tuesday’s season 3 premiere is not just the fact that she left to tour around the country; it’s that she did so without even really considering her feelings in the process. Her execution was terrible, and she could’ve at least done something to make it clearer that this was something she needed beforehand and something that was a little more planned-out. She was not sympathetic to Karma, and in turn, Karma was not sympathetic to her in this episode. She wanted them to spend the summer together acting as though it was old times, and we think that her lifeguard party and almost-tattoo came about as a result of her rebelling against the notion of what Amy thought of her. The same may go for her Hawaiian surfer-dude boyfriend that she acquired while she was away.
In terms of action, there really was not too much in the first episode other than seeing the divide between Amy and Karma, watching Lauren acquire a new best friend, and seeing Liam also struggle in his own way with the notion of Shane and Karma being friends, and his desire to want to “see her happy” (which probably does just mean unconsciously with him). By the way, we really liked Liam in this episode more so than we have at any point in the series; it’s been hard for him since he’s been someone standing in the way of many Karmy ‘shippers and their dream, but we think once you get past that there is something endearing about watching him not get what he wants.
Most importantly, there were some funny moments in here in the midst of all of the changes, the chaos, and Liam walking across hot coals to prove himself. While not one of the series’ best episodes, it was a solid beginning to what will hopefully be a strong season. Episode Grade: B.