'Faking It' Review/Recap: “The Morning Aftermath”

Alexis Rodriguez ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Last season on Faking It, Amy (Rita Volk) professed her love for Karma (Katie Stevens), only to be completely rejected. When Shane (Michael Willett) informed Liam (Gregg Sulkin) that Karma had faked being a lesbian, he immediately broke it off with her, hurt that she had been lying to him all this time. Lauren (Bailey De Young) dealt with some drama of her own when her boyfriend Tommy (Erick Lopez) dumped her after she told him about her pills. Finally, a very drunk Amy and Liam had sex to forget about their troubles.
After achieving great success from the first season, the much anticipated second season of Faking It premiered last Tuesday night. Fans finally got to see what went down the morning after Amy lost her virginity to Liam and where Karma now stands in her friendship with Amy (after she learned that Amy is in love with her). The writers of Faking It have an undeniable passion for the show and its characters, and they definitely do not let their fans down with this season premiere. Major plot points were revealed seamlessly throughout the episode, and it’s clear that season two of Faking It is heading in an exciting direction.

The season premiere starts off with a startled Amy waking up to Liam in her bed. He immediately tries to make an escape, only to be seen by Amy’s mother (whose first thought is how happy she is to see a boy sneak out of Amy’s room). This sequence of events was executed perfectly, from the moment Amy wakes up to the moment her mother rejoices on her way out of the house. Amy’s mother is about as conservative as it gets and doesn’t even call Liam out on climbing down naked from Amy’s room; she’s just ecstatic that Amy isn’t a lesbian.
While Amy’s mother may be clueless as to what her daughter is experiencing, fans who have been with Amy throughout this journey so far understand that her sexual encounter with Liam occurred in a moment of intense sadness and confusion and does not mean that Amy is suddenly not into girls anymore. As a comedy, Faking It definitely treats Amy’s night with Liam as a comedic opportunity with the way the characters react to it the next morning, but both the writers and fans know this night comes with serious consequences for Amy and Karma’s friendship. While Karma betrayed Amy by playing around with her feelings and sleeping with Liam, Amy has now betrayed Karma in a huge way, and at the moment it’s unclear how much damage this will cause to their friendship.

After her night with Liam, Amy goes to buy Plan B as soon as she gets the chance, only to run into Karma. Karma doesn’t seem to suspect a thing and accepts Amy’s excuse that the medicine is for her mom. Throughout the episode, instead of trying to avoid Amy after her love confession, Karma tries desperately to win her friend back — and even serenades her on her front lawn. There is a moment at the end of the episode where they even decide to officially make up. But it is too soon; they haven’t taken enough time to process what it means that Amy has romantic feelings for Karma. It is highly doubtful that Amy and Karma will end their friendship because of Amy’s betrayal, but it may lead to their most serious fight yet.
But the biggest shocker of the episode is the reveal of Lauren’s secret. Afraid that Tommy will spill her secret, Lauren enlists Shane’s help in blackmailing him, since Shane is eager to please in order to be with Pablo. Shane helps move Tommy to Lauren’s house, dresses him in S&M gear, ties him to a chair, and starts to take pictures of him. In the middle of the photo shoot, Tommy spills that he would never share Lauren’s secret because he doesn’t want people to know that he dated a dude. Now everyone in the room, including Amy, Karma, and Liam, know Lauren’s secret: she was born intersex, and her pills are for hormone replacement.

Now Lauren has to deal with everyone else’s understanding of what it means to be intersex, along with becoming more comfortable with it herself. She knows that she is a woman, but people around her may now think otherwise. This was definitely a big shocker to fans of the show, who commend the show for bringing attention to this important topic.
Faking It has already made major strides in its honest depictions of sexual orientation and hardships that can come along with it and continues to grow as a show by making a main character intersex. Season two is off to a phenomenal start, and the rest of the season is undoubtedly promising.