This season is proving to be a beast. With North High now putting on their own production of Beauty & The Beast, the Wildcats are all on edge. Gina is preparing to leave, EJ is crushing hard and Nini is back at East High. How will this affect the show? We are going to break it all down. This is your spoiler warning if you still haven’t seen the show.

Yes, And

The episode opens with a promotional video from North High. Dressed in Belle’s iconic gold gown, Lily and French exchange student Antoine are pushing to get people to come to their show. The East High Drama Club are all freaking out. Miss Jenn walks in and decides to put everyone except Nini into a “weekend acting intensive”. A distracted Gina is is too focused on her phone and Miss Jenn grabs her attention. In her confessional, Gina admits her mother told her to stay in Salt Lake for a while.

In order to challenge North High, Miss Jenn has created a role for Nini. She will be playing the iconic rose and has to write a song with Ricky for the show. Nini gets to skip the workshop in order to focus on writing the song. Miss Jenn instructs Carlos to have something ready for their Instagram page. Ricky wishes Nini luck and shares he is nervous about Miss Jenn dating his father.

At Salt Lake Slices, Nini is trying to focus on the song. Big Red informs her if she doesn’t order something she’ll have to leave. At a table across the way, Kourtney and Howie are flirting with each other and Nini spots this. Back at East High, the workshop is underway. Ricky wants to pair up with Gina but she chooses to pair up with EJ instead. A distracted Ricky is told to put his phone away and participate in the workshop.

Back at the pizza place, Nini interrogates Kourtney about her crush on Howie. Nini gets another text from Ricky and she still hasn’t written anything down. She encourages Kourtney to pursue Howie. Back at East High, improv is underway. Gina and Ashlyn are up first, in her confessional Ashlyn admits she is on edge after North High’s video. Ashlyn is giving it everything and Gina is holding back. A frustrated Ashlyn thinks they should take a break, this leads to a rift between the girls and Gina storms out.

Later that night, Mr Bowen brings Chinese food to Miss Jenn’s office and their date begins. He asks her a number of questions and then they kiss. The next day, Miss Jenn takes those questions to class in order to get the cast in tune with their characters. EJ a.k.a Gaston is up first and he gives a great first answer. Miss Jenn then asks the question, “What would you asks your future self?”. Ricky pipes in with a comment about how Gaston is dead and EJ gives an insightful answer.

EJ sits down and Ricky a.k.a The Beast is up next. Ricky is not co-operating and snaps at Miss Jenn, muttering “okay mom” under his breath. In the dressing room, Gina tells Ashlyn she’s leaving. In a flashback, we see the moment after Nini and Ricky kiss at the end of Season One. Gina walks into the room and tells Ricky if she wasn’t moving away she wouldn’t have given up on him. The pair hug and we cut back to Present Day. Ashlyn advises Gina talk to Ricky but she isn’t going to. Ashlyn wants Gina to stay but she has made up her mind. Everyone heads back to the drama room except for Ricky.

Ricky is on the phone with Nini. She’s back at the pizza place trying to write. Ricky offers up some sarcastic lyrics and the pair end the call. At a table across the way Lily and Antoine are spying on Nini. The pair bicker and then leave. Nini is experiencing some serious writer’s block when Kourtney and Howie walk in. The two girls giggle and Kourtney admits she wants to ask Howie out. Nini spills her drink in order to bring Howie and Kourtney together.

Back at East High, Miss Jenn invites Ashlyn a.k.a Belle to answer the five questions. Ashlyn suggest she sing a song instead and breaks out into a beautiful rendition of Home. This strikes a chord with Gina and the pair hug. Back at Salt Lake Slices, Kourtney is working up the courage to ask Howie out. As he is about to leave, she admits she has feelings for him. He describes his feelings for Kourtney as a “Gryffindor who has found his Ravenclaw“. Nini smiles in the corner as the two admit they like each other.

The next day, Ricky knocks on Miss Jenn’s door. She invites him into her office, he apologizes and she tells him she won’t be seeing his father anymore. Ricky admits he hasn’t spoken to his mother in a while and the bell rings. Before he leaves he finally answers one of Miss Jenn’s character questions. In the auditorium, Nini is leaving a voicemail for Kourtney and she tells her she has finished the song. Nini plays the piano and sings the incredible original song The Rose Song. After Nini stops singing she tells Kourtney not to tell Ricky about the song and hangs up. At the back of the auditorium however, we see a phone and it is revealed Carlos recorded the entire song.

High School Ricky Sucks

This episode was a beauty but also a beast at the same time. Someone who I have no time for anymore is Ricky. This episode brought him down so much as a character. It is okay to feel uneasy in Ricky’s situation. To any teenager their father dating their teacher is the worst thing imaginable. Ricky had no need to snap at Miss Jenn the way he did and she did not deserve that abuse. Miss Jenn dating Ricky’s dad is weird, even to the audience and I am so glad we will not be seeing them Breaking Free anytime soon.

We get a big reveal in this episode. At the end of Season One, Gina secretly revealed she would never give up on Ricky. Sofia Wylie gives her everything in the scene and it payed off. Another reason to hate Ricky is that he knew that Gina liked him and still acted like nothing was up. Not only that, he also pesters Nini when she needs to focus on writing her song for the show. I said it once and I will say it again, Ricky and Nini are heading for Splitsville. That leaves an opportunity for Rina to become a thing but he doesn’t deserve either of them.

Someone who felt a little on edge because of North High and the dreaded Lily was our dear Ashlyn. She begins to feel like maybe she doesn’t deserve this part. After singing the incredible song Home, she has proved that she is the one and only Belle. Lily can try but she will never come close to even touching Ashlyn’s talent. Julia Lester is a true icon of this series and I am so glad she had her big moment. Her performance as Belle is going to be nothing short of iconic.

Cute couple alert! Kourtney and Howie finally admit their feelings for each other with the help of Harry Potter. I am so excited to see their relationship blossom. I would love to see them have a Lady & The Tramp moment in Salt Lake Slices, it may not happen but one can dream.

The best song in this episode is The Rose Song. Nini sings this at the end of the episode and we are of course reminded of the pure talent that is Olivia Rodrigo. Not only is she an incredible singer, Miss Rodrigo also wrote this original song for the episode and I just can’t stop listening to it. It is of course revealed at the end of the song, that Carlos was recording this on his phone, even though Nini hadn’t played it for Ricky yet. North High should be trembling and so should Ricky.

Overall this episode was an absolute smash and I am always excited for the next instalment in this beautiful story.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is now available to stream on Disney+. New episodes every Friday.