High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: Season 3/ Episode 5 “The Real Campers of Shallow Lake” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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In order to save their documentary, Carlos has everyone play reality show archetypes, leading to everyone’s acting exposing their truth.

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Recap

With Corbin Bleu and Channing threatening to go to another camp with their documentary, Carlos and EJ lead the way for everyone to take on a persona to help save the show. Kourtney is pushed to be the judgey one, Ricky the jilted ex, Maddox the crier, Ashlyn the one with a dark past, and Gina, the person with a catchphrase. EJ is the one there for the wrong reasons, Jet the bad boy, Carlos the instigator, and Val the shoulder to cry on psychologist. With everyone having their role, Carlos set four additional goals. Someone has to cry, someone has to be slapped, a drink must be thrown, and someone has to be caught on a hot mic.

With goals and roles in play, rehearsals begin, and outside of Maddox and Jet, everyone else plays up their roles and gets comfortable. However, then the truth starts to veer its head as Ricky, the jilted ex, starts to show he has feelings for Gina, and with Gina pushed to make EJ jealous, that isn’t an issue because of him and Val sharing secrets makes getting petty no problem. Mind you, EJ doesn’t know why since he thinks his secret is safe, but Gina makes it clear eventually what she knows, and he has a tough time reconciling with her.

As for Ricky? All this playing pretend makes him open up to Carlos that this isn’t fake feelings for him – and Channing catches that on camera. But that’s not all the drama. Maddox and Jet reveal they are siblings, and Maddox goes off on Jet, including spilling he outed her and got expelled. Alongside that, Carlos revealed he thought Maddox and Jet were an item, and Maddox reveals she thought Ashlyn had feelings for Val.

The whole combination is messy, and while Channing loves it, it makes newcomers, Alex and Emmy, very uncomfortable. Especially Alex, since she came to theater camp to break out of her shell, and all this drama makes her think it is safer back where she was. But Kourtney, whose anxiety is clocked by Carlos, tries to play down the drama because the end result is usually worth it.

Things To Note

• Unexpected Content Advisory: Cursing (Carlos is bleeped when he talks about someone b*** slapping someone)

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Does EJ have a past with Val, or maybe she had feelings for him at one time?
2. Why did Jet get expelled?
3. Who was EJ calling to get to camp? Nini perhaps?

What Could Happen Next

1. Ashlyn questioning if she comes off gay or bi
2. Jet and Maddox reconciling
3. Carlos telling Kourtney that Ricky still has feelings for Gina
4. A Big Red and Nini sighting

Collected Quote(s)

It’s not even a fight. It’s a one-sided confusion.
— Gina

Review

Highlights

Maddox and Jet’s Complicated Sibling Relationship

I’m not going to lie. I tearfully watched Jet sing and reminisce about his relationship with Maddox. Their sibling relationship is complicated in ways that may not be fully explored this season, but it has something there with the level of emotion that makes you think the two actors were well paired. Maddox, who is an introvert who struggles with forming relationships, clearly felt that Jet was her person at one time until he started to get pushed to perform and left her behind.

Then, on the flip side, it seems Jet liked to perform, but after a certain point, he became jaded and realized his best friend started to hate him, and he had no way of getting her back. If not, due to being miserable and with misery liking company, he may be outed her so they both could be in pain.

It is hard to say which version is the truth, but it does seem there are layers to this relationship deeper than any family tie we’ve seen thus far on “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”

Gina’s Struggles With First Love

It’s a bewildering time for Gina. She is in her first relationship, getting her first chance to be the lead, but also being pushed to experience the worst emotions that come from both. With EJ, she is getting into her first fights and moments of questioning her relationship and wondering if she may have chosen the right boy. Also, with being pushed to tap into her old self, you can see her teeter-totter between Gina 2.0 and the one who was often isolated and out for herself. Which, as of now, she has some command over, but can she keep it up?

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