Amy and Karma have an epic fight. Liam gets promising news about his future. Lauren discovers her relationship isn't what it seems. Shane crosses a line to get what he wants.
The fallout from Amy and Liam sleeping together was meant to be the biggest obstacle the core friendships of Faking It would have to deal with since the beginning of this season. Amy and Liam had to deal with the secret and accept keeping it from Karma in the first few episodes. They did and were then allowed to find happiness. Amy is proud to be a lesbian and to be dating Reagan while Liam is happy to have gotten back together with Karma. Yes, the core triangle of the show has had their ups and downs since but they could always rely on their friendships to get through it. And then, the truth came out. Karma has been hurt unlike anything she has ever experienced in her life. It would be easy to blame all of it on Liam. Amy couldn't bare doing that to him. So that meant Karma was faced with a choice in the midseason finale - break off her relationships with both Liam and Amy or forgive them both and begin the journey of recovery.The emotional weight of this episode is on Karma. For their entire lives, she and Amy have called each other "their soulmates." They've planned on living in houses next to each other and being a part of each other's lives for as long as they live. That's a true friendship. The show is right to point out though that these two people are still evolving and defining themselves. It's easy to say that their friendship will last forever. They are just in high school and barely know what hardship and struggle is out in the real world. This is the biggest obstacle either one of them have faced in their lives. They need each other in their lives. They really don't know who they are as people without the other one being right by their side. This betrayal is painful and Karma could easily cast both Amy and Liam aside. Then, Karma would truly be alone. That's a fact of life too. There are issues that have to be faced by one's self.
However, Liam and Amy would do almost anything to protect their friendships with Karma. Amy is willing to punch Theo - who is revealed to be an undercover cop - in the face in order to land in the same holding cell as Karma. That's devotion and love. Amy needs Karma to listen to her. She needs Karma to know how much this has weighed on her since the night that it took place. They have spent years together and those feelings of love have caused her to act in ways that she is not proud of. The basics of the story are that Amy slept with Karma's boyfriend. Everyone upon first hearing it - from Amy and Karma's moms to the fellow women in lockup - takes Karma's side immediately. And yet, they aren't the ones who are suppose to hear this apology and make a decision. That responsibility is squarely on Karma. Should she throw away years of friendship just because of this one massive mistake? Isn't their friendship worth more than that? Ultimately, Karma does decide that it is but that doesn't mean she's willing to embrace their friendship as strongly as she did before. Amy needs to build up that trust again.
Liam needs to regain Karma's trust too but strangely she's willing to forgive him a bit more easily because he helps get her family and Amy out of prison. He does so at his own expense. He had lined up a great freelance learning opportunity but traded it in to have Karma back in his life. He's the outsider in his family but Karma means more to him than his passion for art. It's a choice that will have ramifications in the second half of the season. But then, there's the final minutes of the episode in which Karma wakes up from a dream of Liam and Amy having sex after Amy wakes up from a dream of having sex with Reagan. It's overly complicated but it's also very much teasing that Karma might possibly have feelings for Amy as well. Once she completely forgives the two, that could be a very interesting direction to take the character.
Some more thoughts:
- "Busted" was written by Carter Covington & Carrie Rosen and directed by Jamie Travis.
- I recognized Ali (Shane's campaign manager who switches over to Lauren's side in the end) from The Glee Project almost immediately - which is odd considering I barely watched that show and probably wouldn't recognize anyone else from it.
- Duke came out publicly and declared his love for Shane. However, I'm not sure he'll continue to feel that way once he realizes that Shane is the one that got that rumor started in the first place.
- The cop twist really wasn't all that interesting for Theo. I'm sure it's now to imagine him and Lauren as forbidden lovers. However, I'm much more interested in her running for class president than her pining after an older guy.
- It just figures that the special part of Karma's parent's special brownies is marijuana. They really do seem like the people who don't see it as a drug.
- Hester High is a very special high school that celebrates being different and accepting identities. And yet, it feels extremely rewarding to hear the guy interviewing the artists for the internship that all of their art is very amateur.
