Welcome to the eighth recap of the second season of Faking It, a patriotic musical revue from the same network that brought you Doggy Fizzle Televizzle. This recap would’ve been up earlier, but Comcast decided it would be better for my mental health to take a billion years to upload each photo to this post. It was sort of like I was writing a recap on the wall of my cave in prehistoric times! Shit got real.
We open on — surprise! — the resplendent outdoor grounds of Texas Superstar Hester Blue Oasis Hummus High School, where Karma is sulking until Amy appears like an angel from the sky to inform Karma that she’s not mad at her! This is a relief to Karma, who reveals to Amy that her boyf is also mad at her.
Karma: He feels second place to well.. you.
Amy: Because he is.
So you’re getting heavy vaginal discharge and also experiencing redness and burning? Hmmm…
Karma’s gotta find a way to show Liam how important he is to her. Unfortunately, she’s not going to make a butter sculpture of Liam and showcase it at the Ohio State Fair, as I would’ve recommended, but rather plans to come out to her parents as straight. But they just got new rainbow tattoos!
Oh my goddess you’re right, I must have forgotten to remove my old tampon when I put in my new tampon
Karma admits she relished her brief moment in the sun as “favorite child,” and also that all she’s come up with for her coming out speech is a big fat lie about being knocked unconscious and turning straight. If only.
Amy: Maybe if they’re high when you tell them? Have you thought about telling the truth.
Karma: You know that’s not how my brain works, but it would make Liam really happy. He’s never told a lie in his life.
Right except for when I asked him if his brain was made out of butterscotch pudding and he was like, “no, I’m totally tapioca all the way.” GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT
Back at Chez Fawcett, Lauren’s trying on dresses for the Miss Teen Cactus Flower pageant, which sounds like a cultish virgin sacrifice ceremony. Dad thinks she looks like “an albino hooker” in the teal and would look better in pink.
I don’t know, I was thinking a little more “prom 1989” and a little less “prom 1991”
Meanwhile, Amy’s being surly while doing homework, but she transitions into full-on simmering rage when Farrah gushes over how nice it is to finally have a daughter who wants to be in pageants — especially one who “could actually win.”
What do you mean you’re not coming on our family outing to the Andrea Gibson reading?
She’s just not my style, too many feelings!
Well look at YOU thinking you can be a lesbian but not be into Andrea Gibson.
I will write bloody all over your face, woman
Cut to Amy being sad to Reagan, who can’t comprehend Amy’s damage because it’s about a pageant, and she thinks pageants are stupid, so who cares. But it’s not about that, really, it’s just the Maid of Honor thing all over again: Amy’s pissed that her Mom doesn’t think SHE could be the prettiest princess.
Are you sure? I swear I feel a pubic hair between my two front teeth!
Reagan thinks Amy should enter the pageant and then win and then take down the whole pageant industry by calling them out for sexism, because nobody has EVER called out the pageant industry for sexism and it always works. But Amy’s more concerned about The Mom than The Man.
Back at the Super Straight Gym For Straight Fighter Boys, Shane and Duke are getting it on when Duke’s dad busts in and says Duke’s gotta keep it in his pants to focus on THE BIG FIGHT.
Okay, so if I get the Olivia low-rise jegging and you get the Morgan skinny boot in River Blue, do you wanna just split the cost of the drop-shoulder dream tee in Hibiscus?
So, Duke’s Dad knows that Duke is gay! That’s something! He even calls Shane “that Shane you keep talking about”… and then reminds Duke that Shane’s gotta sign that Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Okay when I said I wanted our relationship to have more of an Anastasia Steele/Christian Grey dynamic, I was not referring to wanting more paperwork
Cut to Toddlers and Tiaraville, where Farrah and Lauren and Bruce are surprised to see Amy stroll in with her Number Two, Reagan, and declare that she’s entering a beauty pageant.
Everybody pretend like I just said something funny
Farrah’s not sure who this hot tamale is on Amy’s arm because apparently Reagan only enters through the backdoor if you know what I mean. Amy introduces Reagan as her “coach,” which prompts Farrah to die inside a little and become a tiny nervous bird.
Farrah: Why are you doing this?
Amy: For World Peace?
Farrah: Right. Not to embarrass me by flaunting your purple-haired friend in everybody’s face? You know I have a reputation to uphold.
Amy: Don’t worry mother, I’m not here to embarrass you, I’m here to win.
…and I’m here for the open bar.
But is she here to make friends? I’d like to know if she’s here to make friends!
Starsweep to Karma’s Family Home, where Liam’s not sure why Karma’s so nervous about coming out, considering that her family’s super-nurturing, loves kale, and doesn’t want to install computer chips in the hearts and souls of innocent tablet-wielding schoolchildren. Speak of the angels, Molly and Lucas show up and are delighted to see Liam! They love Liam because of that time he dressed up as a plant.
Please, just read at least the first Harry Potter book, okay? For me?
But before Karma can tell them why he’s here, guess who else is here?
IT’S KARMA’S BROTHER ZEN BACK FROM SAVING CHILDREN IN AFRICA!
Dad’s sticking two wet fingers in my ear please help
Zen: Is that my little sis? Hester High’s first lesbian homecoming queen? I am so proud.
Liam knows, immediately, that this is gonna be yet another roadblock to Karma telling the truth. I’m getting second-hand reverse anxiety thinking of how frustrating it is to be somebody’s secret and how your heart dies every time a new obstacle to honesty strolls through the door, giving the secret-keeper yet another excuse to delay your happiness. FOILED AGAIN!
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I find it 100% unnecessary to actually watch these episodes because these recaps are so great. <3 you Mom.
I will never have to waste time watching television again because Riese watches it for us twice with added commentary and I honestly prefer it
I feel like these last episodes have given me so much anxiety because they both seemed like the episode that Reagan gives up in frustration and dumps Amy…and then I can’t talk about how hot she is during commercial breaks anymore.
Theory: Karma just realized she has feelings for Amy, and in the preview where it looks like she’s going to punch Amy she actually kisses her. I’m not rooting for these crazy kids (anymore!), but I do think this mess is going to be what gets between Amy and Reagan (again..) because MTV can’t just let us (or Karmiam or Amygan) live and be happy!
I hate to be the kill joy Reagan, but I don’t think most people actually admit their “phase” until they’re through enjoying it. Just saying…
I’m loving Shane and Duke. I wonder how far they’ll let Duke push Shane before Shane is done with him or if this episode was it?
Lauren is slowly growing on me as not the worse person of all time.
Karma, is well Karma. Of course, she’ll have no room for forgiveness for anyone, despite being the most selfish person on the show.
And yet somehow, Karma continues to fascinate, while we root for everyone else.
Parents are humans . They are flawed, imperfect, and insecure about themselves and their offspring. This episode examines how the insecurities and priorities of their parents affect the teenagers of Faking It.
Lauren, tonight’s MVP, gets the most character development as she realizes that her insecurities about her femininity are passed down from her father who has been signing her up for beauty pageants since he found out she was intersex at age five. Lauren confronts her father and has a beautiful meltdown at the microphone as she takes the pageant industry to task for for being an organization dedicated to judging girls based on how they look in swimsuits and high heels. She is done being a “prancing show pony”, and angrily tosses her falsies at the judges. Lauren, my love for you is an eternal flame, even if your reply to foreign policy questions is “Drones, drones, the answer is always drones, I’m not a fucking idiot!”. Lauren decides to take another step to self acceptance, as she packs her pageant gear away starts to tell Theo she is intersex. We don’t get to see his response, but I can only hope it is positive.
Lauren is my favorite current depiction of a “bitch” on television. In high school television shows/movies there are generally two types of “bitchy” female characters. The hyper intelligent, snarky loser who reveals her secret soft side to her newly discovered boyfriend, e.g. Kate from 10 Things I hate About You, and the popular mean girl who lives only to rule the school’s social scene and bully the poor every woman main character who is secretly in love with her boyfriend, e.g. the villain of every teenage movie, ever. Lauren is both and neither of those things. She is very intelligent, her desire for conquest is not limited to a mere high school cafeteria but is instead aimed at the United States government, getting a boyfriend has only given her a constant, appreciative audience for her barbs, and she prefers to expend her energy on looking like a flawless leader of the Young Republican’s club rather than waste it on something as trivial as empathy or seeming like a nice person. I think the thing I appreciate most about Lauren, is that she’s real. I know girls like Lauren, some of my best friends are girls like Lauren. Girls who are too busy running student counsel, pulling straight A’s, and dating whomever they desire to have any sympathy toward their acquaintance’s general incompetence. After all, you don’t pull a flawless American Carnival together in two days unless you are ready to steamroll a few people. I think it’s fascinating that Lauren’s insecurities about being intersex resulted in her developing a hyper feminine appearance, but didn’t make her develop a more stereotypically feminine personality, instead she’s a confident, aggressive, articulate sixteen year old who hides any self doubt under perfectly applied concealer and a driving need to win.
Karma, whose dreams do include ruling the school cafeteria, finally tells her parents that she is straight. I’m slightly confused as to why Karma, who openly admits that telling the truth “Isn’t how my brain works” doesn’t just tell her parents she is bisexual and dating a man now. Mostly I’m sad that the count of time’s I’ve heard the word bisexual on television this year is still on one hand, despite the fact that multiple shows I watch have characters who are attracted to both men and women. Karma’s parents realize their aggressive pro acceptance attitude has caused their children to feel like they need to be special little snowflakes to make their parents proud of them. We also learn that much of Karma’s insecurities and constant need for validation and love comes from the fact that her adopted older brother always outshone her, and continues to do so, even in confessions, as he admits that he faked being the peace corps and is actually in middle management in Dallas. Karma’s best work this episode comes when Liam tells her that he slept with someone else, and she realizes it was Amy. Her “Get. Out.” sent chills down my spine. Karma is the character that is the least secure in herself. She has an idea of the person that she wants to be and strives to be the popular, cute girl, sometimes at the cost of her personality. Karma is Lauren’s antithesis, always wanting to be liked and accepted, which makes her moments when her cutesy demeanor is stripped away and she shows raw anger that much more powerful. Oftentimes, the people who don’t get angry easily, are the one’s least able to forgive once that far line is finally crossed.
Amy’s relationship with both her mother and Reagan deepen this episode, as her mother opens up about how much she wants to connect with Amy, but struggles with finding anything they both care about. She also takes a major leap towards being comfortable with Amy’s sexuality as she tells Amy to bring her new girlfriend over for dinner, despite Amy introducing Reagan as her pageant couch. Amy, for her part, decides to not make a statement about the inherent evils of beauty pageants as planned, but merely says, “I can see both sides,” when asked how she would respond to beauty pageant detractors. Amy, throughout the series, has struggled with the fact she isn’t girly enough for her mother. She lives in the uncomfortable, but common place, where she has no value for the things her mother loves, yes desperately wants her mother to be proud of her. She enters the pageant to prove to her mother that she is capable of being a beauty queen, even if she chooses not to be one, after her mother states that with Lauren she has daughter who can finally win. By the end of the episode, it becomes a little clearer that Farrah says these things because she is insecure in the fact she has nothing in common with her daughter, and the fact that Amy always mocks the things that Farrah feels define her, after all, pageant competitions paid for her education.
Reagan is insecure about the fact that Amy hasn’t explicitly said that she is a lesbian, and is worried that Amy will leave her for a man, and call her “ a phase” as a former girlfriend did. Amy assures her that this isn’t a phase and she is genuinely into her, romantically and sexually. They then decide to take their relationship to the next level. I’m curious to see if the fact that Amy is attracted to men becomes a sticking point between her and Reagan, because it appears Amy has not mentioned that little factoid. This is also the second time this episode where people discuss being attracted to both genders without using the word bisexual.
We also meet Duke’s father who is perfectly aware of Duke’s homosexuality, but is only concerned that any and all of his boyfriends sign the non-disclosure agreement. Duke also gets his first sponsor, the in-universe version of Chick-fil-A, who contribute significant amounts of money to hinder gay rights and are famous for firing gay employees. Shane attempts to get Duke to stop, arguing that while Duke doesn’t have to be a role model, he shouldn’t be the face for a company that actively works against them. Duke’s father points out that they need the sponsorship money. Duke does the photoshoot, and Shane storms away.
This episode, while less laugh out loud funny, continues the high quality of last week. For better or for worse, who we are is shaped by our parents, whether by becoming their carbon copies, their exact opposites, or something in between, how we act, how we think, how we value ourselves is often a direct result of how we are raised. The relationship between a child and his/her parents is often the most important relationship people have. This episode delves into how these teenage characters balance making their parents proud of them and being themselves, something many people struggle with well into adulthood. Lauren, Karma, Amy, and Duke are all faced with a choice between being honest or making their parent(s) happy. However, Faking It puts no moral about which is the better choice. Amy chooses to not lambast the pageant, and instead let’s her mother have her moment of pride. Karma tells the truth and her family grows closer. Lauren does a mike drop speech at the pageant and which makes her comfortable with herself. Duke, the show definitely implies he is in the wrong, but Shane is more concerned that Duke and his father are supporting a company that “grills their chicken over hellfire” than he is about Duke staying comfortably half in the closet.
Episode Grade: A-
I love reading your Faking It reviews on AV Club, glad to see this pop up here too!
Oh my gosh, thanks! This is my first time commenting for Autostraddle after lurking for a few months, since it’s nice to see a familiar web face!
I detest the fact I can only give this beautiful comment only one thumbs up. For it deserves all of the thumbs.
It took this beautiful comment for me to see that everyone’s story related to parental expectations. Wow.
I’m still trying to work out how that statistic you dropped in an earlier recap, about most queer women on TV being bisexual, works when ALL THESE TV SHOWS ARE ALLERGIC TO THE WORD ‘BISEXUAL’.
In their defense, the ex Regan is talking about didn’t identify herself as bisexual; it’s not unusual for teen girls to have experimental sexual relationships with other girls and then decide it was a phase. Many queer girls, bisexuals included, get their hearts broken that way.
I find it fascinating that the Ashcroft’s parenting has resulted in two children who think it doesn’t matter if they’re good people as long as they look like good people.
I knooow! I think there’s definitely something very interesting and deep that we could analyze about the Ashcroft’s parenting.
@Sophie
“I’m still trying to work out how that statistic you dropped in an earlier recap, about most queer women on TV being bisexual, works when ALL THESE TV SHOWS ARE ALLERGIC TO THE WORD ‘BISEXUAL’.”
First of all, that GLAAD report only cared about how the characters have been named as. And even that showed that bisexual female characters who have been called as such are only slightly smaller in numbers than lesbian identified characters.
Second of all, they counted as lesbians characters that underwent “lesbian having sex with a man and enjoying it” treatment. And it happened a lot in TV shows last year.
Okay ew, that makes sense. Thanks for the info.
I absolutely loved Lauren in this episode! That speech in the Q&A was A+++! And I thought she was going to come out to Theo already, I actually said out loud “come on just say it!” and was disappointed that the scene had to cut.
And I really like Amy + Reagan together. And Reagan’s hair. Yeah I like Reagan.
Personally, I think that Karma is just being selfish (especially last episode) and in this episode I felt like she’s doing things to get her parents’ attention. I don’t think she has other feelings for Amy. Sadly, but the Karmy ship isn’t sailing in my ocean.
Awesome recap as always! :)
Best episode in a while for sure. The show would be so much better without Karma and Liam.
“I think Reagan’s ex is Jessie J”.
LOLed.
I only regret that I cannot make a “lauren throwing her boobs” emoji
for…reasons
That was one of my favorite parts of this episode!
also, I showed audrey the andrea gibson caption series and she fell over, so good job everyone
I don’t even watch this show, I just read the recaps. And I assume they are better then actually watching the show.
Me too! These recaps make me laugh so hard.
I would say youtube the Reagan & Amy scenes as well as reading the recaps. The photos do not do those scenes justice.
That Andrea Gibson caption series was tone perfect, I actually read it in their voices.
Is this my fault?
oh dear.
I’m just sorry they skipped those first awkward and cute get-to-know-you-dates that Reagan and Amy must’ve had. It’s part of the best parts of it all!
I mean, this episode ended with them ready to do the nasty! It must’ve been a cute trippy walk towards there :)
Lauren just becomes my favorite character each and every episode and I didn’t like how they just cut the seen where she was about to tell Theo her big secret.
i just really want to know what is going to happen neeeeeeext. also i actually really like liam and amy’s weirdo friendship.
Ditto. I kind of think Liam and Reagan would good friends too. They seem like bro material.
I’m a lesbian with a lot of dude friends and I’d really like to see that relationship explored more on TV, especially when the “lesbian” doesn’t have be secretly sexually attracted to her friend or uber butch for it to happen. That ship has sailed for Amy, but it could happen for Reagan.
Can we take a moment to acknowledge the fact that Karma’s brother is named Zen? Thank you.
I’m oddly excited for the next episode? I am all about strong emotions that are atypical for the character expressing them. For all that Karma is, she’s really not an angry person.
(At least in my opinion she isn’t. Though I really should watch the show instead of just reading these recaps. *sheepish grin*)
I’m not a fan of Reagan. She could be a great character but I’m just not into the actress, she feels kind of flat and boring to me a la Kennedy from BTVS.
Just me?
#familyadjacent