i've wanted to give a proper hsmtmts review for so long and i finally got to sit down and do it and it literally took me two hours i am so serious. i am straight up not attempting to order this this is a clusterfuck of thoughts but you will just read it and enjoy it thank you! the mockumentary style is probably one of the best things about this season. it utilizes it in a way that the other seasons simply doesn't, and i am actually much fonder of the way that this season uses it. i think having it more prevalent throughout the show is fun and allows a lot more thoughts to be explored, and it being less used in later seasons is honestly a detriment. the way this season uses it is very efficient at communicating what a character is thinking WHILE ALSO leaving a lot of subtext within the confessionals. for example, in episode 109, ricky bowen reacts to gina coming back. "maybe i'm back to who i always was?" is a multilayered line WHILE being in ricky's head (technically?). the characters. ricky bowen and gina porter. ricky and gina especially are THE characters of the show for me, they make it what it is. my holy trinity this season was ricky, gina and carlos. but i want to focus mostly on ricky. ricky bowen is the main character of the show. a lot of people argue s1 & s2's main character is nini, and then the show shifts to an ensemble cast with josh and sofia as leads. however, i personally believe ricky has always been the main character. the show simply hinges on his existence. ricky bowen catalyzes almost every arc in this show. if it wasn't for ricky trying out for auditions, ej wouldn't have had his honest redemption moments. gina wouldn't have let her walls down and she'd still be intimidating girl, and nini would not want to be out of slc, or as independent. ricky is also the only character who has a real arc? i guess gina does too but not nearly as effective as ricky. ricky's arc is spelled out so perfectly from the moment you start this show, his being scared of change is literally spelled out in the first episode and then becomes even more apparent. ricky is the only character besides nini who's family dynamic we see, and we spend a lot more time with his than nini's. ricky also gets to tackle arguably the heaviest arc of the season, his parents getting divorced. as someone who is also scared of change and this is one of my biggest fears, it hits HARD. i know that a lot of people with divorced parents love this arc and i know that it was handled well. i just think that ricky bowen is one of the best characters to ever exist i love that man. at the same time, the characters in this season are kinda underdeveloped outside of the core 4, and even ejnini are not as well handled as i'd want them to be. i think ej is fine in this season and nothing more, he's kinda funny i guess. nini is just plain insufferable and i hate how back and forth her arc is. she wants a relationship but doesn't want a relationship. she can't make up her mind it's insufferable and i hate how nini only begins to show interest in ricky again once she sees him with gina. i can go off about nini in her own paragraph but my main problem with the characters in season 1 is that every single other character only exists to serve the narratives of the core 4. kourtney only exists to be ninis best friend, big red only exists to be rickys best friend, carlos exists to be their choreographer, ashlyn exists for nini and ej, etc. the characters outside of the core 4 don't get to grow until season 2, which does suck, considering the biggest theme of this show is found family. the cast is supposed to be this big family, and i feel like the biggest reason it works this season is simply because of how close the cast was. the chemistry they all have with each other is undeniable (not you rini sit down). and it works really really well, especially in group scenes. i wish the show was longer so we had more time to develop the cast but it is what it is. RICKY AND GINA !!!! now it is incredibly blatant that i am a rina and ricky and gina will always be my favorites. but it is genuinely insane how this ship was basically entirely formed because of how well joshua bassett and sofia wylie work off each other. and let me tell you, if you're reading this and somehow haven't seen the show, trust me. they have the best chemistry EVER. genuinely my favorite acting pair of all time. i think both are incredible actors, but they 100% are best as a pair. they work off each other so well and make each other's performances so much better. i also just think the way they are written is INSANE. this show did not start off with the intent of making ricky and gina endgame (i am really not sure who timberle planned on making rickys endgame at that point), but it is so much better off for it. ricky and gina are foils to each other. i'm not sure if it was always planned to be like that because i know tim has said that the direction of the show changed after 105, but i am sure that they definitely lean into it more after 105 (and it rings true before and after 105). ricky and gina both want nothing more than consistency and love. ricky is so tired of things changing, and gina just wants to be rooted in one place for once in her life. gina wants a home and ricky wants a family. and eventually, they grow to find these things in each other. it is also almost explicitly said that ricky and gina change each other for the better in episode 9. ricky was growing and changing as a person while he was "with" gina, compared to nini who keeps him stagnant. this love triangle is genuinely one of the best i've ever seen because it isn't really a love triangle, the show almost spells it out for you that rini is the wrong option, because ricky and nini are "safe" but that isn't what ricky needs. ricky wants nini because everything in his life feels like he's losing control and his past is slipping away. but ricky bowen is at his absolute happiest in episodes six and seven. the episodes where him and gina have whatever is going on with them at this point. gina brings out a side of ricky not even he's seen yet, and he does the same for her. ricky bowen broke down every single wall gina has ever put up. gina didn't do dates before ricky but she fell for him so hard she was willing to say i love you in like 2 weeks like jeez woman calm down. however, when ricky wasn't around gina anymore in 108, and was stuck with nini, he falls right back into the safety net. and we see that even in the rini love confession, where ricky says absolutely NOTHING about the rini we see in season 1. every single thing he has to say is about the past nini. when the show starts, nini is not the same person that she was when ricky dated her, and ricky is only in love with that version of her. the acting in this show is really really good. one of the best parts of this show is that they cast actual teenagers and not 40 year olds and you see it, because you not only see them literally grow up in your face (just teared up) but you also see the actors get better as time goes on. the weakest link of this cast is by far olivia rodrigo when it comes to being an actress. vocally? she eats up half the cast. but when it comes to acting she is just not that good. there are a lot of times when her line delivery comes off weird, she is overacting the dramatic scenes etc. however she really isn't THAT bad until season 2 because in s2 she just doesn't give a shit, in s1 she's at least trying. the rest of the cast is just really good, the best performances are EASILY joshua bassett and sofia wylie though. sofia wylie is 15 years of age in this season and this woman outshines basically everyone. and joshua taylor bassett. i feel like not enough people are able to appreciate how well josh does ricky especially because in these first two seasons especially, ricky is holding himself together a lot and is trying to put on a front on how he's feeling, and i think josh just does a really good job at portraying that he's really not okay but he needs to be. i said this already, but josh is EASILY at his best when he's in a scene with sofia. he's even talked about this himself, sofia just seems to motivate him and make him a better actor and the show and ship benefit so much from that. i also really appreciate how dedicated this season in particular is to the musical aspect. as the show progresses the stakes get higher and higher and we kind of lose a bit of the stupid charm that is a show where we get gay theatre kids acting as if their lives depend on a high school musical. they are literally zero stakes to the series other than character dynamics and the school musical at the end in this season. its just so fun i love shows like this this is also why i love glee. there's just a charm to it that the ridiclous high stakes of the upcoming seasons do not retain. i also really enjoy how there's multiple aspects of theatre shown besides acting. big red, carlos and kourtney are (kind of) main characters yet not actors. the show also changes tonally every season, and this season's tone is akin to say the office with cringe humor. and it works really well with these characters because they are embarrassing, cringe theatre kids. idk i think this is the funniest season along with season 4. THEY SAY BREAK A LEG AND I'M LIKE WHAT DID MY LEG EVER DO TO YOU? SHARPAY COMMA HEADS TO CLASS. THIS IS MY FAULT MY BAD IF I SAID A BILLION SORRYS like im sorry i genuinely break into laughter so many times watching this season. the photoshoot sequence in 106 (and honestly all of 106) has me laughing every single time it's just so damn funny. all in all this season was a pretty perfect start to the show i really really really love it. it is my second favorite season ! and it is probably my favorite first season of a tv show ever. it contains my favorite pilot episode, and my favorite episode of tv ever (106). just so unbelivably fun