Huge: Even the girl from fake Twilight looked like a bitch

One of my favorite things about Huge (in its first season on ABC Family) is how it unabashedly rips off real life pop culture tidbits. It’s very tongue-in-cheek and very funny. Calling the tabloid one camper was reading “Them” instead of “Us”. Fake LiveStrong bracelets with vague meanings about working hard to achieve a rock solid body. And the ongoing discussion about “Phantasma”, a fictional ghost-version of Twilight.

Monday night’s episode of Huge, “Movie Night” really highlighted the witty writing, subtle character development and unique messages that I originally liked about the show.

One of the most interesting aspects of this episode was how it dealt with teenage sex.

Yeah. On ABC Family. So a lot of the teenage sex was implied, but I was still impressed.

Without being completely obvious (so I still think the show can be appropriate for younger kids) the episode looked at teen sex from a couple of different angles. The character of Chloe is the perfect example of what poor self esteem can do to a girl. She’s so eager to please a guy that she’s completely out of touch with what she herself wants. She actually uttered the heart-wrenching words “I want what you want”. The catchphrase of an insecure girl basking in some unexpected attention. Chloe also panicked over rumors going around about a girl who’d been caught in a sleeping bag with a guy the previous year…who only she knew was actually her. I want to get to know Chloe’s character better. Her weird, secret relationship with her brother Alistair puzzles me and I think there could be more to her character than I originally thought.

But we also saw things from the perspectives of camp counselors Poppy and George. Poppy felt protective over her young, female campers and struggled to understand how they could be so caught up in passion over one person. She told George she identified as asexual, which I thought was a fascinating character development. I hope they revisit it. George, on the other hand, was struggling with his romantic feelings toward a camper, Amber. Oh come on, you know you want them to be together! I also liked watching how uncomfortable George was with the vague restrictions on intimate contact between campers. The speech he gave to his campers about not pressuring girls was hilariously awkward, though well-intentioned.

We also saw Will patch things up with Ian – she realized he hadn’t read her journal because he didn’t know she likes him – and we finally heard Nikki Blonsky sing. Not the way she sang in Hairspray, but singing nonetheless. I knew they wouldn’t just sit on that voice. But since she’s trying to write music with Ian, an aspiring singer-songwriter, it doesn’t seem overly gimmicky. The character I empathized with the most was poor Becca. The actress who portrays Becca is doing a fantastic job of portraying emotion without saying much. You can tell she’s torn up with guilt over having read Will’s journal just by the look in her eyes.

The only part of Huge that I’m not sold on is the storylines revolving around camp director Dr. Rand. Why is she SO stiff and weird? And immature? I get that she should have some issues to make the show interesting and provide a foil to the campers, but she’s beginning to display some serious signs of a social disorder. Despite this, I thought “Movie Night” was a great episode for Huge – a show you and your families (or if you’re single and nerdy like me, just you) should be watching.