Desi Lydic, Nikki Deloach, Barret Swatek
Awkward., Season 4, Episode 6: “Crowning Moments”
Written by Liz Sczudlo
Directed by Ryan Shiraki
Airs Tuesdays at 10pm EST on MTV
At the beginning of senior year, it was clear that Tamara had a plan for how things would go, a plan that unexpectedly hit a snag when Jake broke up with her. It’s been increasingly clear that the breakup rattled Tamara, who has subsequently attempted to re-engage Jake via catfishing. This week’s episode sees the former’s deception come to light, in an enjoyable outing that pushes a number of characters forward.
Having Tamara’s catfishing get exposed is a fascinating aspect of this week’s episode. Tamara’s near-obsessive desire to win Jake back has clearly had an effect on her other professional duties over the past few episodes and it’s the possibility of reconciling with Jake that has kept her going. However, with the latter firmly shutting the door on the likelihood of getting back together, how Tamara responds will say a lot about where her priorities lie. With her college interview going poorly last week, it’s clear that Tamara will have to recover quickly if she wants to still mark off most of her desired achievements this year. At the same time, her dedicated catfishing of Jake proves she will have a hard time letting go of him, and whether she refocuses herself on redeeming her senior year or reconciling with Jake will have a huge impact on her future trajectory.
Matty’s knowledge of his adoption being made public is also an intriguing turn for the character. As last week’s episode showed, the change in Matty’s behaviour is something many people have noticed, but everyone has attributed it to something false. His public meltdown, however, strips away any ambiguity about the cause of his problems, and how others react to this news will be very telling. It’s clear that this is a major issue, but it’s also one that few people have experience with. This is likely to lead to people either leaving Matty alone to figure things out for himself, or offering him solace however they can. If people choose the former route, it may only serve to exacerbate his feelings of alienation and loneliness, and whether or not he accepts help will say a lot about how Matty is coping with this revelation.
Overall, this is an entertaining episode. Watching Jenna run the PHHS pageant serves to effectively drive home how her desire to get to college has spiked in the wake of her overnight visit, and it will be interesting to see if her desire wanes if and when she hits a rocky patch with Luke. The relationship between Jenna and Luke also appears to have a notably stronger foundation than many of Jenna’s past relationships, most notably her tryst with Collin. Watching Lissa and the school continue to treat Tyler as under-privileged and uneducated remains an amusing satire of how the school population sees Africans, and it’ll be fun to see how long Tyler can continue to take advantage of the situation. How Lissa’s insecurity over playing second fiddle to Tyler manifests itself, as well as how Matty and Tamara deal with their individual setbacks, will be worth tuning in for as the season continues.
– Deepayan Sengupta