Hey guys! Senior year has arrived, and the first week of school was surprisingly busy, which sucks. But I'm back again with a new show (duh) for you all to watch and keep up with. Let's get into it!
You all know I tend to watch shows on the same
But Andi Mack is different. First and foremost, it stars a biracial Asian family, which means everything to me. I wish I had had that sort of representation while I was growing up, and am grateful that young Asian girls now can have their role model. With additional amazing, lovable supporting characters and storylines packed with suspense, friendship and drama, I was hooked.
13 year old Andi is the titular protagonist of the show, and must navigate through the craziness that is her life. Right off the bat in the season premiere, said craziness appears in the return of Andi's older "sister" Bex, and the revelation that Bex isn't her sister at all, but in fact, her mom. It's clear that's why Bex and her mother, Celia (who played the role of Andi's mother as well) have strained relations, and reveals the pressure on Bex to get her life together. At one point, it even gets so bad that Bex and Andi move into their own apartment in an attempt to prove Bex's aptitude at motherhood, but ultimately results in the two moving back home in less than a week.
Despite their ups and downs, however, the Mack family will always have each other, and add yet another member to their growing household with the surprise return of Bowie, Bex's ex and Andi's...dad? Although Bowie's attempts at fatherhood sometimes fall flat, he genuinely wants to get to know Andi and be a part of her (and Bex's) life. Bex and Bowie clearly still have some lingering feelings for each other, but Bowie's unpredictability as a lead singer of a band may cause some conflict. I absolutely adore these family dynamics, and love how nobody is stereotyped. I'm so glad Andi is shown to live in such a supporting household, where all her interests get encouraged.
Aside from her family, Andi has her friends to help her get through life. (They are all my children, by the way.) There's Buffy, an unapologetically confident black athlete, and Cyrus, a
Buffy is outspoken and passionate about standing up for a cause. For example, she helps lead a school-wide protest when the dress code regulation become unreasonably strict, and when she gets in trouble for having her hair in big curls, wears it like that anyway. I actually wanted the hair issue to transition into antiblack racism and double standards people with afros face, but Disney Channel can only do so much, I guess. Buffy is also great at giving advice and sensing when people are about to make a bad decision, but somehow, this doesn't apply to herself. Her constant desire to be the best occasionally becomes her downfall, such as when she destroys her track competitor Marty's sneakers, wrongly suspecting him for taking her own shoes. I guess those two have a little something going on, and while I'm not particularly invested, I wouldn't mind if they got together.
Cyrus, on the other hand, is shy and uncertain about his personal image. He's supportive of Andi and Buffy, and shows it in many sweet ways. The best part of his storyline, however, is the question of his sexuality, which leads into my discussion about Jonah!!!
As captain of the ultimate frisbee team, Jonah Beck is the coolest kid in school, and Andi's crushing hard. He first comes into her life when Bex sets up an ultimate frisbee lesson for Andi, which, it turns out, she's actually good at. Andi and Jonah develop a true friendship, but Andi puts her feelings on hold because not only does Jonah have a girlfriend, Amber, but Amber is in *gasp* high school! This one year age difference automatically making Amber cooler makes me laugh, because as someone who's in the home stretch of high school, everyone looks back at their 13-14 year old selves in regret anyway. Anyways, it eventually comes to head, when Andi realizes she deserves better than to be Jonah's second choice. Jonah ends up breaking up with Amber, and it's pretty clear that he has feelings for Andi.
Though it's never explicitly stated, Cyrus has a crush on Jonah too. I mean, c'mon, as a fellow LGBT, the kid radiates gay vibes. Jonah's impression of Cyrus means the world to him, so when an accidental autocorrect leads to Jonah calling Cyrus girly, Cyrus is desperate to change up his image. Jonah actually thinks Cyrus is really cool, but it's just too bad that Cyrus must now come to terms with his own crush having a crush on his best friend.
So in all honesty, I'm conflicted. On the one hand, Andi and Jonah have really good chemistry (Peyton and Asher are honest-to-god BFFLs in real life, which is adorable), and I would love to see an Asian female character get the guy. I struggled with self-esteem issues in middle school when none of my crushes liked me back, and it would validate my 13-year-old self to see Andi and Jonah get together. On the other hand, I am dying for a proper coming out storyline, and would love to see Disney channel feature a same-sex pairing. I think both ships are amazing, and would be content with either one of them being endgame. The angst in between, however, will only lead to heartbreak and me crying over a Disney Channel show for the first time in a decade. RIP me in advance.
Season 2 premieres next month, and I dare you all to watch it! I'm so excited to see my favorites return with their well-written storylines and pure friendship/familial dynamics. If it's as excellent as its freshman season, Disney Channel will have (re)gained a fan.
See you next time!
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