Synopsis:
Witnessing their daughters reach a new low, Kathy and Yuki rally around them. At school, Maya and Anna receive an opportunity at redemption but it will come with a range of influences.
People always say that having kids is hard work, and it has its moments when they’re impossible to deal with. There’s the terrible twos, and for girls, it’s when they reach their teen years. This is the time when girls are discovering themselves and finding out who they want to be, and this is what we witness in this episode. Maya and Anna are trying to become independent and move away from what their mother’s want them to be. This also causes stress, when the girls become friends with someone that isn’t on their wavelength.
This episode hit home for me in several ways, because I too was once a teenage girl, and I had moments where I disagreed with my mom a lot. On the flip side, I didn’t disrespect her as much as Anna and Maya do to their mom’s throughout this episode. Now I know the torture that poor mothers have to face when their daughters grow up. One thing I never did, was take a bath with my mom as a teenager. We open the episode, with Maya taking a bath with her mom, and that was all kinds of wrong. Yes, you can do that when you’re a lot younger, but not when you’ve hit puberty. I really want to know why the real Maya and Anna decided to put this into the show as if it’s a normal thing to do, but I won’t dwell on it any longer. Both girls are extremely down about how their lives are progressing, and their mother’s are quite concerned.
At school, we get a little glimpse at what’s happening with Sam, and we find out that being popular isn’t all gumdrops and roses. Sam’s seeing how immature his new friends are being, and he decides to sit with his old friends. Unfortunately, it isn’t all gumdrops and roses on that side either. He wasn’t welcomed with open arms, because he ignored his true friends and now he’s dealing with the repercussions. At another table, Maya and Anna are filling out a superlatives list that was handed to them, and in the process, they meet a girl named Maura. It feels like a weight has been lifted, and they instantly love her. They go to her house after school and are in awe of her life. She is a little more well-to-do than Maya and Anna, but they quickly see that she acts a lot differently than they do. Her mom tries to offer the girls food, and even though Maura seemed like a nice girl, she quickly changes and calls her mom a c*unt. That shocked me. What also killed me, was that her mom didn’t really get mad at her for it. You just know that Maura’s going to be a terrible person when she gets older.
The next day at school, we see that Maura is not only disrespectful; she’s also extremely manipulative. She pretty much threatens some of the popular girls to choose her, Maya and Anna as best friends for the superlatives list. She’s like a psycho villain. She lures people in, threatens them, and then gives them candy as a reward. Later that day, when Anna’s mom picks up Maya and Anna after school, Maura decides that she wants to come along, which is rude, because she wasn’t invited, and while Anna and her mom are arguing about if Maura can come along, Anna calls her mom a c*nt! Of course, this doesn’t fly with Anna’s mom, and she thinks her daughter has lost her mind. I’m feeling so bad for Anna’s mom at this point because she’s going through a divorce with her husband, Anna has already called her a “Monica Lewinsky,” and now she’s calling her the worst word in the book. I would have grounded Anna so fast, her head would have spun. I think the worse I ever was with my mom, was getting mad at her and telling her to shut up.
Next, we see that Maya, Anna, and their moms have all gone out shopping for clothes, and while Maya and Anna are acting like typical teenagers, and are now into finding high-end brand clothing, their mother’s are staring at them with concern and confusion. They’re wondering, “what has happened to our daughter’s?” It’s called puberty, and you’re going to be dealing with this for a little while. I’m pretty sure girls stop rebelling and mature fully during or after college. But while the girls are trying on clothes, they start arguing with their mom’s yet again. Maya is yelling at her mom because she won’t buy her a Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt, and sadly I’ve been down that road. I’ve wanted something so bad, and my mom won’t buy it for me. It is that separation that is going on between mother and daughter because mothers love picking things out for their daughters that they think are cute and look good on them, but it may not be something that looks appealing to the daughter anymore. Their taste in fashion has changed, and trends at school have taken over their minds. In the dressing room with Anna and her mom, the same thing is happening, but Anna is still being super disrespectful to her mom. All the hatred from the current divorce is bubbling over, and she says that she’d rather be like her dad, than her mom. At one point, when they’re all looking at Maya try on a dress, everything goes south, when Maya says that her mom is ugly. Maya’s mom’s comeback is that Maya is a spoiled bitch, and Anna’s mom replies that Anna is being the same way. That sets everything in motion, and everyone starts yelling. Maya’s mom starts beating Maya’s butt and Anna calls her mom a c*unt again.
The next day at school, the announcements are made about who won the superlatives list, and Maya, Anna, and Maura win for being best friends. They go to Maya’s house after school, to look for clothes to wear for the school photo that they’re going to be in and devilish Maura is back at it again. She starts making fun of Maya’s clothes, and at one point, makes fun of Maya’s mom’s accent. At this point, I’m pretty sure Maya is done with this tri-force friendship, and I’m hoping she knocks some sense into Anna.
