S02.E02: You Can't Handle the Truth or Dare

[Cranberry]

Karma and Amy must deal with the tension between them during a girls' weekend.

[ybrik]

So I enjoyed the episode for the most part.

 

I haven't had as negative reaction as some have but man was Liam being a whiny bitch this episode. He is seriously starting to remind me of Smallville's Lana Lang with the whole secrets and lies crap. Dude Shane didn't want to tell you someone else's secret get over it.

 

Speaking of Shane nice moves. Glad he didn't need rescuing from Liam. Surprised how he and Pablo ended.

 

That was quite an awkward sleep over. Always good to have Lizbeth. Liked Lauren and Amy's scene in the end. However, Amy really needs to work on her reactions because she is giving away her secrets way too easy by how she reacts.

[maraleia]

Loved this episode and I'm glad that I didn't spend time being upset that Amy slept with Liam. It seems like Carter knows what he is doing. The storyline I'm most impressed with is Lauren's intersex story. They obviously have done lots of research on the issue and it shows.

My favorite thing was when Lauren blurted out that she is intersex to her two minions after her so called bonding session with Amy. It's a nice contrast to how Amy is dealing with the fallout from sleeping with Liam.

Also, Theo is a nice addition to the cast.

[madhacker]

Shane just keeps getting more and more awesome. I'd go with him to a Frozen singalong (Michael happens to be a very talented musician and singer, why they didn't cast him on Glee is beyond me). Is it just me or was he a very sexy Kristoff? They'd better show a Halloween episode now that they've hyped how epic Shane takes it. It was also really cool to see Shane stand up for himself in the bar (I'd love to see the outtakes from that scene, Michael had to screwed up the pool cue take a least a few times)

 

Was it just me or the absence of the parents make the episode a little better?

Edited October 1, 2014 by madhacker

[CaliforniaLove]

I knew they wouldn't kiss...with tongue. I'll let it go. Let it go. ..

[JaM]

Part i probably liked the most, was Lauren drinking that drink, saying "Now, it's my turn"...  looks both Amy and Karma had, feeling they came with unbeatable challenge just to see their nemesis overcome it to challenge them.. priceless

[gesundheit]

My DVR cut off the end of the episode. Last thing I saw was Lauren saying she can't get pregnant. Was there much more?

 

I see zero romantic chemistry between Karma and Amy, honestly, so the "will they kiss??!!" thing was kind of boring. I just want them to get on with it and find Amy another gal soon. There's enough Karma/Amy drama with the whole Liam secret.

 

Poor Pablo. But he deserved it. Shut up about the wolf and show a little empathy!

[LoneHaranguer]

 

looks both Amy and Karma had, feeling they came with unbeatable challenge just to see their nemesis overcome it to challenge them.. priceless

No way did Lauren's glass have all those things. Two cups of mayo by itself is quite a bit. They were clearly trying to gross Lauren out so that she couldn't do it.

[JaM]

No way did Lauren's glass have all those things. Two cups of mayo by itself is quite a bit. They were clearly trying to gross Lauren out so that she couldn't do it.

 

That's besides the point - major fun for me was seeing the shock and awe in Amy/Karma face seeing their dare didn't worked on her.. overall, Lauren made that episode yesterday..

[CaliforniaLove]

Back rubs Karma? Really? Followed by cutesie tickling on the bed? Why not ask if showering together is also off the table?

Lauren is the winner of this episode, followed closely by Lisbeth's morning hair.

[Cranberry]

I liked this episode. I was disappointed with Amy and Karma for holding Lauren's secret above her head, though. They were out of line to mention it during Truth or Dare. On the one hand, I liked that they did that, because it showed that these girls are just normal teenagers who do cruel things sometimes, but on the other hand, Amy especially should know better than to threaten to spill someone's big secret.

[dohe]

There comes a point when someone, anyone, should step in to save a showrunner from destroying their own show beyond any return.  What a dreadful episode with the program's nadir* coming from the queerbaiting meta moment when the show ridicules and taunts those Karma/Amy shippers.   Two girls with Karmy shirts ask Amy and Karma to kiss - a scene advertised heavily in promos if not as heavily as Matty redux's pout - and then the show says screw those fans.  As it is, I don't ship Karma and Amy and I didn't want to see a kiss.  But I suppose a significant portion of the audience did and to toy with them while continuing with it's over the top Liam worship seems doubly insulting.  So while it is impossible for me to have any investment in Karma and Crazy Eyes Amy, who seems to have been retconned back to mid-1st season sexual confusion, let alone their queerbaiting storyline, I can't help be dismayed by the ignorance on display.  

 

Lauren was enjoyable to a point but the only moment that did anything for me was Shane hanging up on the annoying Pablo. 

 

*Which is saying a lot for this show. 

[Cranberry]

I think it would have been worse and more queerbait-y if they had kissed, so I was almost relieved that Karma pulled away.

 

I can give Karma a pass on most of what she's doing because once she realized that Amy was actually into her, she stopped intentionally doing anything to lead Amy on. She's still doing dumb things like pulling her top off or starting tickle fights, but I think she's just clueless, not malicious. I don't see her as one of those straight girls who knows her friend is gay and purposefully leads her on because she likes the attention.

[CaliforniaLove]

I don't see Karma as being malicious either, she just lacks common sense. At this point I don't care about A "Karmy" end game, but for cripe's sake, I just wanna see Amy get some legit lady action already!

[ybrik]

I wasn't too disturbed about the truth or dare because I don't think that Amy and Karma would have revealed the secret. I think they were just trying to get Lauren to quit. First they tried the drink, then saving and then the questions all hoping Lauren would quit. However, Lauren kept turning things back on them till Amy finally quit.

 

I did find interesting that Karma when pressed seems to feel that because she is 'in love' with Liam means that she can't have those feelings for Amy. Back when Amy first confessed she asked why Karma was certain she didn't feel the same she said because she slept with Liam. Then this ep the who Edward/Jacob debate Karma basically implied the same thing.

 

Not sure what to think of the new guy. Seems pretty cool. I did like that there wasn't really any kind of tension between him and Shane.

[Izeinwinter]

Karma's boundaries are so bad. This may be down to the fact that she hasn't had any other major female friendships, so the fact that her intimacy levels with Amy are set to "We've been married for years" seems perfectly normal to her. I mean, that conversation leading up to the tickle fight.. Really Karma? And the actual tickling was really just foreplay.

This is a major reason I would like to see Amy get an actual girlfriend - because there is some comedy gold to be mined here. Not just jealousy, actually, it's probably better if there isn't any, but just hanging a gigantic lamp shade on the fact that she's been Amy's girlfriend for years in every sense except sex. 

Edited October 2, 2014 by Izeinwinter

[Guest Accused Dingo]

Karma's boundaries are so bad. This may be down to the fact that she hasn't had any other major female friendships, so the fact that her intimacy levels with Amy are set to "We've been married for years" seems perfectly normal to her. I mean, that conversation leading up to the tickle fight.. Really Karma? And the actual tickling was really just foreplay. This is a major reason I would like to see Amy get an actual girlfriend - because there is some comedy gold to be mined here

 

 

Not just comedy...drama too.   Karma has her "husband" and her "wife".  It would be an interesting story for her to lose both of them for a time.  Plus it would be nice to see Amy happy for awhile.   You know with someone fawning over her and having her have no idea what to do with that.  

 

Oh and Karma and Amy have been friends forever.  I think the stuff like the tickle fights and the dressing in front of each other they have been doing for years.  Its an interesting conundrum;  do you stop all these things you used to do with your best friend now that you know your friend is into you or do you continue like nothing has changed?  I think Amy and Karma are at an awkward phase in their relationship.  I am one of the people who hopes Karma is 100% straight because it is an interesting storyline.  What do you do when you fall in love with your best friend?    And what do you do when your best friend falls in love with you....and you don't feel the same?  Two equally interesting story lines.  

Edited October 6, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[dohe]

It indeed would be awesome if Karma is 100% straight.  Straight people are a bigtime rarity on tv.  Straight girls falling for the school hunk are also a rarity on TV.  Add a token lesbian character, who sleeps with a guy, and the word that comes to mind is groundbreaking. 

[Cranberry]

I think that Karma being straight would be much more true to life, though. It might help the kids watching this who are going through the same situation as Amy. Falling for your best friend is an incredibly common occurrence for "baby dykes," and I'm sure that some of the viewers would find comfort in knowing that they're not alone. Plus, I am interested in seeing what will happen when Amy finds a girlfriend and Karma realizes that she's no longer the most important girl in Amy's life.

 

I also don't believe that Amy is a "token lesbian." The entire first season was built around her, and she's still the character we've seen the most in the first two episodes of season two. The "this season on Faking It" promo was also Amy-heavy.

 

I don't think that this show is perfect, and I'm still disappointed by how season one ended, but the positives still outweigh the negatives, for me.

[dohe]

Cranberry, there are tons of shows filled with straight female characters.  If this show was serious at all about lesbian representation it would have focused first and foremost on Amy and a girlfriend.  But nope.  It has been how pathetic Crazy Eyed Amy is and how amazing and wondrous Karma and Matty redux are together.  At the rate they are going Amy will be robbing homeless people and Matty redux will be saving an orphanage in a few episodes. 

 

There have been more than enough movies and shows with the pathetic lesbian whose love goes unrequited just as there have more than enough Liam/Karma type romances.  This is just the same junk yet again with a heavy dollop of queer baiting. 

 

However considering one show just killed off a lesbian character to help create storylines for the straight characters and another show seems to have some weird assault makes a lesbian hunger for man storyline, Faking It could be worse as hard as it is to believe. 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2014 by dohe

[Cranberry]

I believe that the show will focus on Amy and a girlfriend once they finish the story of Amy's coming out. That's not always a fast process. I also disagree that Amy looks "pathetic" -- I don't see that at all. The last episode ended with Amy and Karma having a pretty mature conversation where they set some ground rules. Nor do I agree that the show is queer-baiting -- by all accounts, Amy is going to be legitimately dating girls this season. I'm actually interested to see her with girls who are out and open about who they are and who aren't confused about their feelings for Amy. I'm also sure that many of the "Karmy" fans could switch over to rooting for a new girl if she's written well and she and Rita Volk have chemistry. I've seen fans switch their "OTP" loyalties many times before, from Dawson/Joey and Joey/Pacey way back on Dawson's Creek to Emily/Maya, Emily/Paige, Emily/Alison on Pretty Little Liars right now.

[Lady Calypso]

I actually disagree, dohe. I think that this show is all about Amy and her journey of finding herself. I do think it could be more interesting if Karma is straight, or at the very least if Karma and Amy don't end up getting together at the end. I do think Karma is either super naive, or a real jerk and tease to Amy. This show is one of the rare ones that actually explore sexuality in depth. Amy's going through a process that is usually skipped over. Amy's confusing sexuality is something that never happens with main characters. It's always with the recurring or supporting characters falling in love with a female main character, so we never really get the side of the woman, or man, who falls in love with the main character. That's what I like about this show. Amy's the centre of it. Karma has a big role, yes, but if you look close enough, she doesn't have as big of a role as Amy does. I don't see any queer baiting whatsoever. 

 

And I see the show trying to represent Amy's confusion with Karma's supposed self assured behaviour about her own feelings. They keep saying that Karma and Liam are in love, but we consistently see Karma choosing Amy when it comes down to it. Yes, she has chosen Liam quite a few times as well, but the show makes a point of showing how Amy feels about it so we feel sorry for her, and it works. This show, at the end of the day, is about Amy and, to a slightly lesser yet less obvious extent, Karma. Amy hasn't had a girlfriend yet because up to this point, it's been all about Karma and Amy discovering her feelings for her. Yes, the sleeping with Liam plotline is stupid and I hate it with a thousand suns. However, Amy is not straight, she even said it herself last episode, and this season will hopefully be about her discovering herself, finding a girlfriend of her own and realizing that she isn't straight and she can have feelings for someone other than Karma. 

 

Honestly, I don't like Karma much, because of what she caused last season and her not so great attempts to make it up to Amy this season thus far. I do think that whether Karma is straight or she's also in denial about her sexuality, it is a journey that's going to make her look like a douche for a while because of her actions. Just like Liam is a douche for falling in love with a supposed lesbian and being stupid enough to not realize that what he did last season was wrong. I don't hate Liam as much as everyone else because everyone has flaws and he's no worse than Karma.

 

In regards to this episode, I like Theo. I liked almost everyone in the episode. Liam was being a douche, of course, but like Amy, he's dealing with this big secret that he doesn't want to tell but he also doesn't like lying. I like how Lauren was honest with her friends and I hope Lauren can eventually convince Amy to be honest with Karma as well.

[aradia22]

This was a very solid episode. I was thinking about not watching this show anymore but this won me over. If they can maintain this level of mildly amusing, well structured storytelling, I'll stay with it. I've got to quit some of these MTV shows. I've wasted too much time on bad episodes of Awkward, Faking It, and Finding Carter just so I'll be caught up.