Huge: Birthdays, Booze and Boys

Three things that don’t always mix. Monday night’s episode of Huge entered new territory by showing the teens drinking (without any deadly side affects!), addressing issues gay teens might have, and even sneaking in a little adultery.

The main story centered around the camp twins, Chloe and Alistair. It was their birthday but remember, Chloe didn’t want anyone knowing she’s related to poor Alistair. She soaked in all the birthday glory while letting her brother’s day go unrecognized. Luckily Trent, who’s becoming more and more of a stand-out character, made sure people knew it was Alistair’s birthday. That was nice, but it was even nicer when he finally got Chloe to tell him that Alistair’s her twin brother. The drama came during Chloe’s birthday party, when a group of campers gathered in the woods by invitation only to drink and play games like Never Have I Ever and Truth or Dare. Chloe dared Piznarski to kiss another guy, but while she was away from the party the dare morphed into Piznarski kissing Alistair. (Does anyone else really hate that one girl who totally egged the guys on?) Trent tried to stop them, but it was too late. Piznarski painfully tricked Alistair into thinking he liked him, and only told Alistair it was a joke after the kiss had happened and Alistair had gently confided that he likes someone else. The worst part was that later Alistair told Ian it had been his first kiss.

I have to say, I’m impressed with the way ABC Family has treated Alistair’s character. While there are a lot more gay characters on TV than there used to be, I didn’t think ABC Family was there yet. What I like is that being gay is not all there is to Alistair’s character – he’s struggling to fit in in multiple ways. I want to see his friendship with Becca continue, since they seem to like the same things. I also want to see what happens between him and Trent – so far Trent has been very open-minded, but will he feel uncomfortable if he figures out that Alistair has a crush on him?

The other storylines dealt with self-destruction. Amber drank too much, Dr. Rand went back to her married lover despite her new, positive romance, and George resisted hooking up with Amber. I want to know how old George is. Amber’s 16 (…going on seventeen…) and George must be at least 21, since he and the other counselors were having a few beers last episode. It’s a big and somewhat inappropriate age gap, but I still find myself rooting for them.

Have you been watching Huge this summer? There are only two more episodes left – next week the parents visit, which will be interesting. Comment and tell me what you think of the show!