For the last four weeks, I’ve been waiting for Secret Life to deliver a water-cooler-worthy episode, something that validates my guilty-pleasure viewing of a teen-targeted show (even though I’m a little older than the desired demographic group). And based on your week-to-week comments, I don’t think I’ve been alone in my desire to see ABC Family’s summer hit kick things up a notch. Well, at last, last night’s episode left me audibly gasping — on three separate occasions, no less.
Amy’s not-so-secret is pretty much out at this point: Mean girls are gabbing behind her back, parents are using the news to sugarcoat their own kids’ slip-ups, and even the school counselor has figured out what’s growing under Amy’s flowing tops. We’re just waiting for Mama Ringwald to catch on (next week, my friends!).
After watching Amy gobble down a pile of chicken wings, boyfriend/wounded puppy Ben got down on bended knee and proposed to his pregnant sweetheart. (A word of warning to impressionable young girls in the audience, such Prince Charmings are an extreme rarity in the under-18 set.) Problem is, while Ben is determined to do right by Amy, that’s not necessarily the same thing as doing what’s right for her. And that’s just one of the tough questions hidden under all that ooey gooey ABC Family cheese: What is right for Amy? Should she have an abortion? Should she tell Ricky? Should she tell her mother? Should she pretend Ben’s the baby daddy and get hitched? Should she have the baby but give it up for adoption Juno-style?
More truths got spilled by high-school frenemies last night, too. When that namelessbrunette told Grace that there was a blowjay or two involved in Jackand Adrian’s little tryst, the blonde good-girl took it to the hallway (arethese kids ever in class?) to confront her ex, and that’s when she found out he only began dating her in an effort to secure her family’s patronage anddonations to his stepdad’s church. The icy-cold truth made it all the more satisfying, however, when the self-righteous cheerleaderfinally stood up for herself and cut off communication with her doofus ex.
Oh! And in other news, what’s this about Amy and Ashley’s dad leaving Molly Ringwald Mrs. Juergens for Adrian’s mom? Whaaaa? Ididn’t see that coming until Adrian’s muy caliente madre startedtalking about her new boyfriend, and how he’d be staying with her until hegot back on his feet. Now that’s a scandal worthy of a Tivo season pass!
So how did you like this week’s new developments? Many of you hadmixed feelings on the show’s legitimacy — was last night any more or less like thehigh school you remember? Andwhen will we get the flashback to Amy and Ricky’s night together already?
Comments (1-30) of 43 Add your comment
I’m soooo happy that this show is even more exciting then before!!! Last night, I was bouncing all over the place in excitement. I bet Amy won’t marry Ben, but she still won’t get an abortion.
Amy’s dad and Adrian’s mom seem like an unlikely couple. Adrian’s mom is never in town so when did they find time to hook up?
Last night’s ep was way better than last week. I watch the show with my daughter and told her there are no real boys like Ben. Ricky and Football boy those guys are sad to say the norm.
I am way outside the demo for this sho as i am a parent of a 18 mnt old. but this show is real to me. the emotions are real. the spats are real ( according to my high school aged nices and nephs) and what adults somtimes deal with in marriage is real. I really do love this show.
I really like this show, I just think Ben has to stop saying he loves Amy every five seconds. It’s annoying. And a marriage proposal? At 15?! Absurd. While I do like the show, I don’t really think it’s completely realistic. Plus if everyone else in the world has noticed that Amy is pregnant, why haven’t her parents?
Does anyone know when they show the repeats? I have not caught any of the episodes since the premier and I’d love to catch up! Thanks!!
I really enjoy watching the show and think it could go somewhere. but the marriage proposal through me for a loop. I didn’t think Ben would ever take it that far even if he’s Ben. Also having that at the very beginning of the episode with no prior warning was hideously bad script writing. I think the show has some very real characters, and the moments are real too they just, as in any TV show, happen far to frequently to the same people.
you can find episodes online -
abcfamily.go.com
i absolutely love this show.im not a teenager either…. far from it actually!lol but this show has all the right elements to be a hit!last nite’s epi was one the best so far!i didnt expect some of the things that surfaced!u got a hit on ur hands ABC!keep it up!:)
Katie, set your DVR on 8/5 for a “Secret Life” marathon, starting at 2:00 CST.
I really love the show!!! I think it’s great for teenagers to see the complexities of their potentially careless decisions. It is fabulous to portray Amy’s pregnancy from all view points and not to paint it as some fairy tale hollywood baby bump. I didn’t like how Ben proposed to her, although I’m not surprised based on his character…however, that is not real life. I feel like most guys would run screaming if their girlfriend had a secret like that. He’s a freshmen and not the father. I thought his “act of love” (how long have they been dating to be that in love???) was a little far fetched.
Also, if you miss episodes you can find them in full on youtube. I used youtube to catch up on a couple episodes I missed before last night’s doosey!
I caught last weeks episode (just got cable hooked up again after a year without it!) and enjoyed it so I am DVRing it and the marathon next week so I can catch up on the whole series. I love Lifetime, 90210, and the sort so this show is right up my alley!
While I agree that no boys are that nice at 15 and are pregnant, especially with someone else’s child, when one is truly head over heals for that very first person, you do things that are not normal. I think this show is very realistic. It may not realistic to many because you have not experienced, but when I was in high school my 16 year old boyfriend and I were inseparable and he proposed as well. We were together for 4 years and went our separate ways. We still keep in touch, though our lives are totally different.
Lorie, thanks for the marathon info my daughter wants to see what she’s missed due to work – I’ve watched all the episodes and last night’s was finally worthy – tho if my kids were acting that suspiciously for the last few weeks I certainly would have been questioning them and trying to have a heart-to-heart. Ben’s a sweetie – and one in a million – and we know Amy’s not having an abortion (this is Disney/ABC Family, for goodness’ sake!) but just once I’d like to see the topic addressed seriously rather than quickly refused or pushed aside.
I’m 20 so I was in high school not long ago and I think the gossiping and sexual behavior of young students is a realistic problem of high school. I don’t think a high school boy is going to propose to a pregnant girl, when he isn’t the father. Few would even consider paying for a child that was thiers. I do not like that the few christians portrayed here are portrayed in either as “perfect” competive parents or the naive Cheerleader Grace. It would be nice also to have a realistic grounded christian(not all christians pretend to perfection). And dosen’t it disturb you that Grace’s Doctor father told his wife about a patient by name (isn’t their some illegality in that Mr Perfect). I will continue to watch this show because I do like some of the actors and the show does get across some good messages and its addictive. We’ll see if it gets better. Amy’s character is well done in that some young girls would act that way but there are sadly many who could care less.
I am a senior citizen retired woman who has seen every episode and loved all of them. So this show is not just for the younger generation. A well written, well cast, and well acted drama is good whatever the ages of the featured stars.
i love this show! i’m totally hooked now. and every time i hear that song in the promos “courage is…” by a band called the strange familiar, it makes me cry ;( but i love it!
i think amy should dump ben and go out with ricky because he is the father of the baby!!!!!!
ben is so annoying. u wish he loves her after going out like once
i dont think aimy should dump ben for rikky because ben is a commited guy and rikky is a hore!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and julia screw you
I laugh so hard every time Ben says he loves Amy! I haven’t seen a guy so desperate in such a long time. She barely says it which makes me feel a little sorry for him. Speaking about feeling sorry for someone, Jack was such a d1ck to Grace but he tries to bring Jesus to Adrian. And who does Jack think he is for telling Adrian to not hang out with Amy because she’s pregnant? I am looking forward to Ricky hooking up with Grace although that seems to be derailed now that he has concerns about him and Amy. Plus, it seems like most of the adults in the show have relationship issues especially Amy’s dad. He’s been divorced and now he’s having an affair. How do these parents expect their kids to build healthy relationships? Even with all these flaws I still really like the show…
Me and my friends get together every Tuesday and make fun of this show. It’s just so wonderfully bad. Next time you watch it, count how many times anyone says the word sex. In the first episode alone it was said 40 times. And the total count so far for the series…108.
How can some of you be so rude i efffing love this show..im 17 and this has been the show i stop everything for right in the middle of it its thee best evrr i love it i cant wait till she tells her mom though ohh the waiting……
I hate how @ the end of the show there’s a commercial to go to the show’s website and take a quiz, “Are you a Ricky, and Amy, a Jack, or a Ben?” UMMMMMM, I hope to God that I’m not like any of them!!!!
However, I effing love Amy’s hair. It’s amazing!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH Lorie!!! Have a great rest of the week everyone!
Every week I watch this show and every week I am mad at myself that I wasted my precious tv/tivo time. This episode, however gave me hope that “Secret Life” can live up to its potential. When Ricky was gaming Grace about how he needed to hear her testimony because if being a Christian is what made her so good he wanted in, I laughed OUT LOUD!! Oh, the things young women believe . . . I will feel much better next week, though when Mom/Molly finds out the truth about the pregnancy. That whole scenario makes me uncomfortable.
Well, it’s still shrill and preachy, awkward and forced, but I do think this was the best episode yet — the most realistic (except for Grace’s confrontation of Jack).
Surprisingly, I’m finding the sister scenes the best and find myself looking forward to them, although I wonder why Ashley hasn’t asked questions like, who is the father (does she think it’s Ben?), what were you thinking, and what’s it like.
Also, what happened to the mom/Ashley ‘especially now’ moment? Mom seemed to get a clue…and they went nowhere with it. (How can this woman notice Amy’s feet are swelling, but not notice, as everyone else has, that she’s put on weight and got breasts? If she made a ’she’s got her boobies’ comment that would be such a bonus.) I’m not sure how everyone can ‘tell’; based on the moonlight scene, she looks pretty trim to me.
Lastly, ‘but you’re my whore’?! And what kind of man, no matter how stupid, swears it’s a break not a divorce, and then goes and stays at his girlfriend’s?
Shailene Woodley is a very talented actress; most of the dialogue in this show is canned and wooden (hello, it’s Brenda Hampton of 7th Heaven fame…remember the painfulness of that show?) but she manages to bring a sensitivity to it with her character. I also love that most of the characters are truly the age they play on the show (Except for Adrian’s Mom, I mean, come on). The subplots are far-fetched and often annoying, and the stereotyping is downright hilarious at times; I’d rather they concentrated more on Amy and her situation and family. Plus sometimes the twangy guitar and piano music and the cinematography reminds me so much of 7th Heaven I start having unpleasant flashbacks. Shailene Woodley carries the show and that’s why we tune in to watch (and put up with all that other drivel). I just hope they pick up the speed a bit!