Why Faking It Is A Watchable Teen Drama

I talked about this show before and while I saw bits and bobs of the first season, last night for UK viewers, the second season of MTV's Faking It started up and it was a fun reminder of why the show has a lot to offer.

Enemies Unite As Allies: In the opening episode for the second season they certain did. It seems that Lauren had an irritating boyfriend who was about to expose her secret, so Shane decided to help her out by kidnapping the guy, having him bound and gagged in Amy's garage and making it look like he was into BDSM. Not that it really worked anyways as Amy, Karma and Liam all learned that she was intersex anyways but it did seem like her and Shane reached an understanding of sorts in relation to their usual frenemy dynamic. I do think this show's depiction of Lauren's struggles are to be commended and it's nice that the awful boyfriend got his own just desserts as well.

But Friends Are Still Awesome: They are though, aren't they? I like the dynamic with straight Liam and gay best friend Shane and I also like that over the course of the show's first season (and despite the terrible premise initially used to promote the series), the show has actually shown that Amy is in love with her best friend, Karma and while the latter doesn't share the same feelings, I do like that Karma was keen to actually be there for her friend though. The whole Amy sleeping with Liam plot is one of those things the show could've avoided doing to be honest but hopefully it's something that's resolved early (especially as it seems Lauren is now aware of it) and the season itself actually sees Amy getting a girlfriend as well as more screen time for the irrepressible Shane as well for good measure. Oh and the more partial/actual nudity the writers want to do with Liam, the merrier too.

Faking It might not be the sort of show you find yourself desperately wanting to binge or setting the SkyPlanner for but for a teen show, it's actually fairly solid stuff and definitely better than MTV's usual outputs.

Season 2 of Faking It continues to air for UK viewers, Wednesdays at 9pm on MTV.

First Look: MTV's Faking It

I have to admit when I read about MTV's new teen drama, Faking It earlier this year, I wasn't best pleased with the general premise. In fact, I actually found it pretty offensive and thought the music channel was hitting a new low.

With the show about to start on the UK viewing next week on MTV (which makes you wonder why the UK version of that station can't air Teen Wolf), the series, created by Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov focuses on two girls - Amy Raudenfeld (Rita Volk) and Karma Ashcroft (Katie Stevens) who decide that in order to gain some notice at their local high school they'll pretend to be a lesbian couple, which certain has the desired result - except for the fact that out of the two of them, it seems that Amy isn't faking it after all, which at least makes sure that the premise of this show isn't as bad as it seems. Not to mention that rival popular girl Lauren (Bailey De Young) isn't particularly convinced by the girls relationship either and seems determined to out their fake romance. De Young's character also represents one of MTV's first intersex characters as well.

Another major focus in the series is the dynamic between best friends - straight Liam Booker (Gregg Sulkin) and gay Shane Harvey (Michael Willett), both of whom seem to have quite the tactile and affection friendship as well as playing instrumental roles in both Amy and Karma's ongoing arcs. Liam himself gets romantically involved in Karma throughout the eight episode first season while Shane, the guy responsible for outing Amy and Karma's 'relationship' ends up becoming a support system for the former when he isn't getting a love interest of his own with celibate character, Pablo (Anthony Palacios) for the show's upcoming second season.

I know I haven't actually watched anything yet aside from the ads but it looks like I really (and possibly severely) misjudged this show. The more I've read up about it, the better it actually sounds.

Seasons 1 & 2 Trailers/Recaps/Links: http://www.mtv.com/shows/faking_it/

Faking It's first season airs Wednesdays 9pm on MTV (UK version) from September 24th but it's second season will air Tuesdays at 10.30pm on MTV (US version) from September 23rd.