User Reviews

Like many other viewers, I was very disappointed with this finale. It was so short, there was no closure, soooo many threads left open, they are gonna have to do some serious damage control in season 3 cause this was not a finale. I get the not kissing part because of the age gap between the actors, we all know an age gap between actors can ruin a movie (I'm looking at you another Cinderella story). I also get the "ooh competition doesn't matter hihi, friendship!" thing but literally not a single viewer wanted that. Like for real. Tell us if they got nominated. There were just sooo many storylines that were played up in previous episodes and they literally went nowhere. Nothing makes sense anymore.

Walking into this show the first season as a fan of the original hsm movies I was skeptical....mainly because in the age of reboots...reboots tend to be mediocre. This wasn't mediocre though! This show was actually pretty good and had interesting characters and plotlines. Until season 2.....While I fully understand that COVID made things hard to film...you can't really excuse writing...I think that there's this opinion that show-runners have of fans that when they criticize their work it's because they don't like where their story ended up...this is sometimes true...but a lot of times fans criticize showrunners because the way the story ends up doesn't make sense at all and doesn't cohesively come together. This happened in season 2 of hsmtmts I'm sad to say....these characters can still be interesting going into season 3 but it would take sitting down and really thinking about the story as a whole to achieve something great for these characters.

Plot Inconsistencies: -Ashlyns insecurities about body image and herself in roles -Ej going to college.....is this going to be touched upon in season 3.... I hope it's a focal point for his character next season.....he's literally leaving in about 3-4 months....and if he's not why is he staying -Ricky seems to grow this season particularly coming to terms with his parents divorce...but even at the end of the season he's still low key clinging on to his relationship with Nini even though she's done with it because she's outgrown it. Ricky seems to not have outgrown it and maybe this is why he calls Lily at the end..but it comes out of nowhere and makes Ricky look kind of dumb because Lily is most definitely plotting something.... Gina- Gina as a whole doesn't bother me at all this season...most likely because Sofia Wylie is a great actress who will have a great career ahead of her...but I missed the Gina from season 1 who was more ambitious...in season 2 she didn't need to completely be a character kind of like Nini in the first season who is completely just a hero without any flaws really.... She still could've been the Gina who gets what she wants and is always trying to be the best...but at the same time understood that she didn't need to step on others to get there....she's a morally grey character who's 3 Dimensional but Season 2 seems to forget this about her -Nini actually grew on me this season....and i'd argue she had the most character development this season...really came into her own this season and has stop seeing herself through the eyes of boys she's interested in.

-The side characters seemed to be ok this season...the North High kids were actually enjoyable and could've been written better...let's hope they are in season 3 RELATIONSHIPS I'm well aware that this show has a fandom following kind of like a Team Edward Team Jacob thing when it comes to these characters but these relationships were handled poorly....granted I think that these can be amended if written correctly in season 3 -Ricky and Nini seemed to actually be the best relationship written this season, you fully understand why they break up and why they need to grow on their own even if Ricky is still slightly hanging on -Ej and Gina do i think fans are being over dramatic about the age gap between the characters in the show? Yes I do. Do I also think that these same fans make valid points about Ej and Gina being in different points in their life?? Yes I do. They seem to just kind of have been shoved together because Gina still has unresolved issues for Ricky...EJ doesn't seem to have any reason to really date Gina honestly...it was kind of disappointing because EJs whole story line seemed to be that he can also stand on his own like Nini and go into college even if it wasn't necessarily Duke...but I think this development of his character was greatly diminished once he got with gina it completely undermined his character....but maybe this can change season 3 Ricky and Gina-.....where do I begin with this...while I completely understand why these two didn't get together at the end of the season...it was still executed not well...Gina was really struggling throughout the season with these feelings she had for Ricky and seems to eventually overcome it...but only when it seems like she projected those feelings on to Ej Ricky is the most confusing out of this Ricky and Gina puzzle....all of season 2 Ricky seems to be unaware of the fact Gina has feelings for him...or is aware and just doesn't want to face it.... I truly wonder when Gina confessed to him opening night that she had feelings for him during season 1...what he truly thought about this....this season he almost his tone deaf when it comes to Gina....at the Quince when he went up to Gina and asked her for an opinion on his relationship with Nini at the time.... I think the audience collectively cringed...Ricky was borderline a jerk at times when it came to Gina giving her glances at the wrong times and not even going up to her and asking what's wrong and or what was going on. This made me question how aware Ricky is of anything having to do with Gina?? He can't be this unaware.

I think the Ricky and Gina story can be greatly improved in season 3 if written better.

I have hopes for season 3 but I think if not improved a lot...this show will lose its audience sadly...which is so awful because of how much potential this story can have to be great.

I really liked this episode 8.6, but couldn't believe we never saw the kiss. Considering how much lipservice was made about Gina naver being kissed I would have thought we would see it when it finally happened.

So many rushed and unsolved storylines... ricky and gina?? Ashlyns insecurity??? Ejs troubles with college?? The writing was so bad! Do better tim or i'm out!

This season was the messiest student film project I have ever seen. It was just random clips pieced together with no real meaning or thought. No plot that was brought up was resolved by the end and we got zero closure between any of the characters or plots. For example the driving plot of the season was the menkie awards and everything this season was leading up to it and they decided they didn't have enough time to do anything with that plot anymore so they just cut it. Like they did with most of them. I think they think they're being mysterious by creating so many plots and leaving them unresolved but every episode I felt unsatisfied knowing it would never be brought up again. They don't show enough ever to leave me interested at all. It doesn't seem like they filmed alternative endings to see what would best fit in the end, it seemed like they had no clue what they were doing and they just scraped random stuff they filmed together and hoped there was a show there.

Alright I am not gonna lie, and I know I am probably one of very few who feel this way, but I am so here for Lily x Ricky. Like come on they would be so freaking cute together, like there seriously could be something there (no pun intended). Very excited to see where the next season goes, I'll admit I was a Rina shipper and I still am but Portwell seriously grew on me so much this season that I am happy with the outcome. As for The episode as a whole, my only complaint is that it was so incredibly short. However that amazing song made up for the fact that it was so short.

In conclusion Season 2 was amazing and I can't wait for season 3!!!

Everyone just had different expectations. It doesn't mean it was bad? This finale episode really showed the characters and their paths, finding who they want to be. The whole season is everyone finding who they want to be and the finale showed a lot. The second chance song one of the best songs from the show!

Everyone was probably disappointed they didn't go to the Menkies, because the whole season was about going there.

Okay number one this whole portwell thing is disturbing ej is an adult trying to date a child they couldn't even film their kiss because sofia is a minor lily is annoying wasted screen time and the only reason half of the cast is portwell is because that's the only way they get screen cast do better tim you filmed all these endings show us them. Also miss jen needs to get replaced.

No rina closure, nothing about ej going to college, nothing interesting, lily is annoying, what's up with all the weird age gaps, if you had to cut a kiss because of a weird age gap between actors just cut the ship overall, ej and Gina have no romantic chemistry, only good part was the bts, disappointed.

Unlike some episodes in the show, the drama in this episode felt a bit more real. It was a short episode but episode 11 and 12 basically could have been one episode since it was like a 2 part finale. I absolutely love the Gina/EJ romance. I didn't really like EJ in season 1 but he slowly became one of my favorite characters. I think EJ and Gina bring out the best in eachother. Nini and Ricky still are the "main" will-they/won't-they couple even though they weren't in this season as much. I'm glad they didn't get back together yet because it would have been too soon. I want answers just like everybody else, but I'm glad they have plenty of storylines for season 3. I just hope we don't have to wait too long.

What should have been the BIG CLIMACTIC FINALE where we would find out how they'd solve the entire problem with the rig being stolen and how we could've gotten a proper ending to see if they had a chance of winning, turned out to be just straight up nothing.

This finale also doesn't feel the same as the first season finale. Why? Because they took away ALL elements of tension and stakes. In the previous season you could still feel there was some stakes there (though not gonna lie it wasn't much either), this is just nothing.

The previous episode was also a dud, but there we got to see lots of the act (but NOT the act from North High, like WHY?!). Here the setup from the previous episode is simply brushed over like it wasn't anything too important and suddenly the show is over. You can't do this to a series like this. SHOW WHAT THEY DO, don't tell.

And to top it off with the fact that the entire cast suddenly decides to drop out of the competition... Why even join the competition in the first place? Better question, why even do this story in the first place? Why even do this season?

This season is a mess. This season was meant to cover the entirety of the second semester, while in all honestly, it felt like 3 weeks. There was no real feel of time progressing, it was all just "OOP, now we're here and all this happened". This season was meant to be a competitive semester, and we didn't even get that resolved. This season was meant to see character growth, instead we got the same characters making the same mistakes and learning from them again.

Chances of renewal of this series are there, but I certainly hope they don't renew if they don't get a better writing crew that actually has a plan and knows what they're doing. This series feels like it's rushed and this 15(!)-minute season finale SHOWS that they either didn't have the budget for what they wanted to do OR didn't know how to handle the endgame of this season.

Maybe the episode title is a little wink to viewers, where the showrunners are begging people to give them a 'second chance' after this mess? Who knows.

Giving this episode a 3/10 already feels like I'm giving it too much credit, that's how poorly done 'Second Chances' feels to the audience. 2A started out strong, in my humble opinion, but then 2B felt like I was having a fever dream while I was watching. The relationships developed - sorry, "developed" - throughout the season fall so incredibly flat that I truly cannot comprehend what was going on in the writers' room. Gina and EJ's last scene felt like a joke at best and a parody of a romcom scene at worst (was that circus music playing in the background? I swear I was expecting a clown to jump out of a bush or something). Nini was meh as always, and let's not even talk about the god-awful confession from Lily to Ricky. The season has 12 episodes in total and I have spent all 12 of them wondering why we should care about this Gina 2.0 (who doesn't have the charm, the style nor the personality Gina Porter has).

But now, let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? What is going on with Ricky and Gina? Their relationship - whether you view it as romantic or platonic - was a central point in 2A, they had so many scenes pointing toward SOMETHING, and yet here we are, after the season finale, with more questions than answers. After episode 6 they don't even look at each other, even though the show made it a point that things were even more complicated between them with the flashback to S1's opening night. The writers need to make a choice, they either develop those two or give them closure and drop them altogether.

All in all, this season suffered from a disease called "the writers can't stop introducing storylines and then proceeding to drop them", and that is reflected in this very questionable, confusing, shallow finale.

To be perfectly honest, I hope all the negative reviews for this episode amount for something. I think the people who are in charge of this show need to sit down and talk some things through, because this ain't it. I really, really hope S3 is nothing like this. Several moments in this season and in season one have proven that HSMTMTS can be good, so now it's time for the show to redeem this mess.

Poorly written. It was so fast paced. The episode was so short and the last 10 minutes was just bloopers? Hopefully season 3 will be written much better.