"Faking It" is, of course, MTV's new scripted teen comedy series, following the unwanted departure of "The Hard Times of RJ Berger" and on the heels of the wildly popular "Awkward." (the best scripted comedy series MTV has put out in the last four years and which I sadly suspect may be on its way off the air and into television oblivion once this new season is up).
Like everything else MTV, "Faking It" is comic, edgy trashiness of the first degree; in the 21st century, comic and edgy trashiness of the first degree is an absolute must for modern television programming, especially when it comes to MTV. And yet, like "Awkward." and "Hard Times," there's something oddly compelling about it, even moving.
Because it's only the first episode, a brief synopsis should be sufficient: life-long best friends - the social-climbing, un-ironically named Karma Ashcroft (Katie Stevens) and her gal-pal, the cynical, straight-laced Amy Raudenfeld (Rita Volk) - are a pair of desperate wannabes looking to fit into their liberal-minded, open and socially accepting Austin, Texas, high school, where even they appear to be outsiders desperately looking to join in on the club.
Before you know it, a series of misunderstandings and innuendos unexpectedly propels both girls into the celebrity limelight, where they are mistakenly "outed" as, and thus decide to pretend to be, lesbians, much to the satisfaction of the openly gay king bee Shane Harvey (Michael Willett), and the detriment of their mutual nemesis and resident mean girl/wannabe queen bee Lauren Cooper (Bailey Buntain), who is also Amy's new step-sister.
My impression from this first episode is that "Faking It" looks quite promising. "Faking It" looks to be an inspired take on the lengths we'll go to "fake it" in order to just fit in, bullying, intolerance, and 21st-century political-correctness. This goes to show that like "Awkward." and "The Hard Times of RJ Berger," and just because it's MTV, it may not be as dumb as it appears to be at first.
To their credit, and to our amazement, "Faking It" looks to do the impossible, and that is to be a scripted MTV teen comedy series that actually says something about our 21st-century perceptions of tolerance and acceptance (that it's even saying something at all is a magical feat in and of itself).
Things are looking good, so far...
8/10
