“GROWN-ISH” SEASON 3 EPISODE 4 RECAP : EVERYONE IS STRESSED
This episode was kind of dull and everybody seemed stressed.
Apparently, all you need to do is ask and you shall receive. After the crazy way Luca was speaking to Zoey in episode 3, I asked, pleaded really for their separation and the gods of TV received it and answered my wishes. Zuca is over. At last, “Grown-ish” is doing something right.
Of course, this episode was kind of dull and everybody seemed stressed. We saw Zoey (Yara Shahidi) second guess her decision to be with Luca (Luka Sabbat) after their backslide until she found out about Jillian (Ryan Destiny) and we also saw Luca being his regular immature self. He resolved to avoid communicating with Zoey to save face. Also Ana (Francia Raisa) was trying to get her dream internship (and man) but Aaron’s (Trevor Jackson) storyline was the most interesting. Aaron was shocked by the harsh reality of adulthood when he tried to begin the process of graduating from Cal-U but ended up hitting a wall.
The writers of “Grown-ish” did well by their demographic by bringing attention to the student loan debt crisis in the U.S when they showed that upon graduating Aaron will be owing over $100, 000. His reaction to the revelation is pretty much how most young adults are feeling about just surviving these days. Given how social media often pressures people to feel the need to be successful early, while the cost of living keeps rising, a lot of people are stressed about making ends meet.
Unknowingly, Vivek (Jordan Buhat) didn’t do Aaron any favours in trying to temper his anxiety about his financial insecurity by passively flaunting his money. But Aaron isn’t alone in his feelings. Just recently, an old prank video about some friends trying to prove how they believed a beautiful young woman was a gold digger, went viral after it resurfaced and it left many reeling about their positions in life and discussing how unaccomplished they were. It’s why many young entrepreneurs are often starting side hustles, and more and more people are creating personal brands, YouTube channels or online businesses. Remember the hustle hard trend? It’s already hard to even find a good paying job that allows you to save, invest, and pay for expenses but on top of that, Aaron is going to be starting out life at a huge disadvantage because of his school debt.
The show isn’t usually relatable to what college life is like for most North Americans. Zoey’s family is wealthy and up until the moment when her dad temporarily cut her off, she didn’t understand what it was like to have financial issues. So, personalities like Sky (Halle Bailey), Jazz (Chloe Bailey), and Aaron are great to shake us back to reality. In particular, in this episode of “Grown-ish”, Zoey was wasting her girl’s time yet again by going on and on about her meaningless relationship with Luca when they were supposed to be helping Ana but Sky slapped the reality back into her. She reminded Zoey how much she didn’t care but also managed to help her with her issues. As first I thought Sky was a nuisance but now I know she says what everybody else is thinking.
But if we are going to give any attention to the phenomenon that was Zuca in this episode, we need to examine how a text message was used as a tool to assert power. If Luca is as in love with Zoey as he says he is, wouldn’t it have been smart to swallow his ego and just talk out his feelings instead of trying to get the advantage in the relationship? I don’t believe that he actually cares about Zoey nearly as much as he thinks he does because if he did, his love for her would have trumped his need for power.
Zoey doesn’t have a good understanding of how she feels about Luca so she probably didn’t care too much about him either. In fact, because of how often she flip flops between serious relationships with different guys when she feels even the slightest bit of an inclination towards them, I would have to say that it’s important for her to stay single for a while to understand what she wants. She should actually be casually dating multiple people to learn about the characteristics she prefers in a partner and build boundaries. Everybody should do this because it protects you and your prospect from hurting or wasting each others time.
In the next episode of “Grown-ish” I expect that we’ll see Zoey kiss Aaron while trying to console him about his money troubles and possibly the start of Zaron? What are we calling their coupling? Also, we’ll likely see an angry Luca after he finds out about Zaron, a jealous Jillian, and as a result, a self-righteous Zoey who wants to makes friends with Jillian to make up for the problem of Luca. It will be a lot. But what I really want to see is a more realistic story development about college life with characters who aren’t financially set like Zoey. So let’s focus on Doug (Diggy Simmons) and his rags to riches story, Sky and Jazz finding their way and hopefully a single Zoey (at least for a few episodes), because she’s really not ready for a serious relationship yet.