Awkward Epi 7 Recap

Every spring at the high school down the street from my house they hold a mock DWI crash reenactment just before prom, with wrecked cars, police, flares, and ambulance. The whole bit. They send out notices to all the surrounding neighborhoods so nobody freaks out while they pretend to scrap some drama students off the pavement. Apparently it’s the new thing in DWI prevention at high schools these days. (In my day--which was a Wednesday, by the way-- they showed us some flick from the 1970s with a title like Blood Runs Red on the Highway. Dundundun.) Anyway this whole dramatic production is also the backdrop for this week’s awesome episode of Awkward.

Over My Dead Body - Summary and Review in 500 681 words or less (must write tighter!! sigh.)

The Least You Need To Know: Jenna is still determined to play hard to get with a guy (Matty) that’s hard to get.

The Set-Up: Auditorium. Crazycakes counselor, Valerie, is bringing the annual Drunk Driving Awareness production into the 21st Century with CRASH’d - Counselor’s Raising Awareness for Students Who (the W is silent) Drink. Tamara is jonesing for Ricky Schwartz while Jenna is pretending not to be jonesing for Matty who’s having a hard time not showing he’s jonesing for her. K, got it? Val casts Jake (Matty’s BFF and wanna-be luvah of Jenna) as Dead Johnny, and the role of Dead Stacy goes to Jenna. But since she’s the girl everyone already thinks tried to off herself it’s awkward.

Sagging Middle: On her way to Val’s office to give Dead Stacy to uber-drama best girl Tamara, Jenna is waylaid by Jake who still wants the sitch on her post-kiss feelings. Bullet point: just friends. For Jenna at least. Val pleads with Jenna to help her with CRASH’d and save her ass with the principal, but Jenna uses her parent’s sensitivity to her recent faux suicide as an excuse. All good, except Val makes house calls apparently. And seems playing Dead Stacy runs in the family: Lacey (Jenna’s mom) played the role in ’95, so she’s psyched. Jenna appeals to her Dad, saying people won’t stop talking about her being the girl who tried to kill herself if she plays the part of a girl who dies. Dad (who’s totally cute, by the by) counsels her then to change the conversation.

Despondent over another public humiliation to come, Jenna gets a booty text from Matty. He’s surprised when she shows cause he thought she wasn’t talking to him, and while shoving her tongue into his mouth isn’t technically talking, I guess, it’s clear she’s done playing hard to get. Spit swapping ensues until the other McKibben (hinted at in Epi 5) stumbles up the drive clearly UI. When he begins pawing Jenna, Matty forces him inside and tells her to go. She's pissed. (Honestly, other than the kissing, I didn’t like Jenna in this whole scene. A) She could play a little harder to get, and B) when it’s clear that Matty’s got family issues her whole concern is that he didn’t introduce her to his drunk brother??)

Next day at school, Val is dressed as the grim reaper “killing off” students every statistical 15 mins and Jenna has a plan to use Dead Stacy to “change the conversation”. But Jake, in Val’s office, still wants to talk about their kiss (Really? Cause 16 y.o. guys want to talk about their feelings all the time? When?) To make things more awkward, Val has them hold hands, waffle-style, so they seem like a real couple. Lissa (Jake's gf) freaks. Matty tries to apologize for last night, but Jenna gives him the ultimatum: figure out what you want or lose me forever.

Final Act: Tamara and Ricky S. are the drunk killer couple in the play. Matty is obviously not ok with his bestie and his undercover luvah together even as soon-to-be-dead Johnny and Stacy. Jake confesses his like like of Jenna. Tamara pretends to save Dead Stacy with a homoerotic liplock to much applause and male appreciation. Conversation Changed? Check. And a public hug from Matty. Best. DWI Awareness Day. Ever.

Best quote: “I’d love a Zima.”

Best Jenna/Matty Moment: The hug at the end. Awwww.