High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “Spring Break”
“Tear the treehouse down, give up the fantasy.”
Season two, episode nine of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, “Spring Break,” was directed by Brent Geisler and written by Natalia Castells-Esquivel.
Can you say COVID protocols? “Spring Break,” from the jump, feels like a product of the time in which a lot of season two of HSM: TM: TS was filmed. The episode opens with the entire drama team at East High (sans Ricky) on a Zoom chat with Ms. Jenn, as she informs us that while they may be on spring break and they don’t have to work, she’d really like them to keep the show in mind so that North High doesn’t take advantage of a whole week off for the competition.
The rest of the episode progresses from there with the cast fractured across disparate settings and bouts of emotional tumult. Gina is stuck at the airport after her flight back to her mother in Louisiana was canceled. E.J. and Ashlyn are housesitting for their family (and E.J. found a box of old toys). Nina is grappling with writer’s block for original songs on an Instagram page that now has fifteen thousand followers (and she eventually enlists Ashlyn to collab). Carlos is on vacation. Seb is waiting for his cow, Milky White, to give birth. Kourtney and Big Red are at work (and the former is talking to Howie again). Ricky is in Chicago, visiting his mother (Beth Lacke). And Ms. Jenn periodically keeps the kids in the loop on the slanderous attack ads coming from North High.
There’s benefits and drawbacks to this approach, which will hopefully be only a one-time thing. I’m not even entirely sure why it happened, as it seemed like COVID protocols had already been in place for the show (fewer background actors, isolated locations). Maybe there was a problem with this week of shooting and for safety’s sake, it became “spring break.” I won’t presume anything, though.
Artistically, though, I was definitely not fully on board with the approach; the splintering felt weird in a season that has already kept some characters apart from one another for too long anyway. I hope it’s not a hint of what the show will morph into, should it receive a season three renewal that would send some characters off to college (an experiment that has perhaps never worked for a show?). Not to mention, I just really don’t care when a show or movie uses Zoom formats for scenes. Maybe it was a necessity behind the scenes here, but I truly never need to see people talking in individual boxes ever again. (Mythic Quest exempted, though HSM: TM: TS’ remote performance of “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’” does evoke the Rube-Goldberg machine from that first quarantine Apple episode.)
The optimist in me sees this as a potentially interesting one-off episode, though. It resolves pretty much every emotional thread of the first two acts of the season — providing a graciously non-rushed denouement to that chapter — and finally sets the stage (pun intended) for the third act. With every character separated (aside from a few voicemails, the two Zoom calls, and E.J. interacting with both Gina and Ashlyn face to face), it also allows them to shine individually, whether that’s through a comedic beat, a musical moment, or a devoted emotional arc. That feels unique for an ensemble series and I can’t really think of a comparison, aside from the Parks and Recreation finale, perhaps. So while the Zoom calls (which alluded to — but did not explicitly reference — COVID) were a bit grating, the episode still mostly worked for me. Plus, a lot of time was spent at an airport, always a great setting.
These split storylines allow us to spend time with the characters in a “calm before the storm” sort of moment, allowing whatever comes next in the season to mean more because we spent time with the characters not solely doing musically miraculous or romantically charged things. We were able to instead spend time with them working through the myriad remaining hold-ups they’ve had after a tumultuous season thus far. And while Ms. Jenn furthered the overarching plot, Seb and Carlos’ relationship spats still seem largely silly to me, and Kourtney, Ashlyn, and Big Red are just happy to be there, there was still plenty of emotional growth for the main quartet of characters to achieve.
For Nina, she discovers what she’s capable of when she does not have her typical muse to fall back on for songwriting. She does express a few spurts of sadness over the ending of her relationship, in the wake of last week’s episode, but she’s mostly frustrated that her creativity is drier than a Mitch Hedberg joke. Granted, her breakthrough came in the form of a collaboration and she still hasn’t written a song solo, but the fact that she took the step shows that she actually cares about the following curated on her Instagram profile.
Regarding the aforementioned airport, Gina re-ups with her Andi Mack co-star, Asher Angel (portraying a kid named Jack). They have a meet-cute in the airport after Gina asks for a sign over whether or not there is romantic interest between her and E.J. (everyone at home has known the answer for a year and a half). Jack appears in the form of a tall, charming, preppy boy, instantly evoking the aesthetic/image of E.J. The two share cute, rom-com-esque moments in the airport, but it ultimately serves the purpose of demonstrating to Gina that she is not only worthy of love, but she’s ready for it, too. When E.J. arrives at the airport to pick her up, it’s like Jack becomes a ghost of a distant past. The sign she needs is in the smile of the guy who has helped her navigate more air travel than her own journeywoman mother.
And in probably the show’s best bit of emotional closure, Ricky is paired up with his mother once again, after not having seen her since she showed up to East High’s High School Musical performance with her new boyfriend. The show very deftly recognized that Nina had much more closure last week than Ricky did and this installment began with him theorizing to his mother that the relationship could still potentially be salvaged. It’s not easy for him to let go, we learn, as he still brings up the idea that his mother could move back to Utah and try the marriage again. Eventually, through some reluctant (yet cathartic) conversations, Ricky learns that the best thing to do for someone he loves is to just let her go, even if it hurts and even if there’s one-sided doubt. The moment works doubly, as Ricky is able to work towards getting through the break-up and allocate forgiveness for his own mother. Conversations like those probably helped stave off true relationship trauma for Ricky, after being surrounded by only losses of love for the past couple months.
This emotional journey culminates in Ricky emulating Nina by writing his feelings into music. I still refuse to speculate on any real-world implications/parallels of these plot threads, but the performance by Joshua Bassett at the piano is some of the best work he’s done on the show so far. It’s moving and heartfelt and truly cathartic for the audience, too. With Lacke emoting expertly just outside the door, too, the scene was among the season’s best so far. I really admired its construction and execution. Credit to all involved with this one!
Of course, there is always the requisite silliness on HSM: TM: TS. “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’” is a highly complicated endeavor that required the writing of a song, the complete choreography and communication of it, and all that flashy video editing. Yet, it’s said that it was completed in one hour. At one point, Gina Jims the camera (I’m still not entirely sure what kind of mockumentary this is, lol). Ricky has a snack of plantains and cream cheese. And the above quote seems to evoke The Last Jedi, as it suggests burning down the precious iconography from our childhood trilogy (North High’s slander video also includes images of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens) to move on into a place of emotional honesty. All of this is patently absurd and occasionally heady for what amounts to a fun musical romp every week on Disney Plooos. But it’s so evident how much the people involved care about creating the best show they can. So those elements will always endear the show to me the most.
Read previous recaps:
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “New Year’s Eve”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “Typecasting”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “Valentine’s Day”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “The Storm”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “The Quinceañero”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “Yes, And”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “The Field Trip”
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Recap: “Most Likely To”
