High School Musical: The Musical: The Series 3x08 FULL REACTION

I’m actually excited. I’m about to start the show literally right now. Binging all weekend.

Nathan

Please, I can't stop commenting... like I just relived the finale again. It'll be a shame if Maddox is in s4 and this meta ass show misses the opportunity to work Ricky & Gina's camp nickname and reveal it as "RINA" into the show.

Reese

ouuuuuu, it was baddddd towards the end. the darkest of times. i don't hate it as much as others though, lol. still, 12 episodes did feel like salt on the wound.

Reese

s2 was such a dark time to be a rina omg😭😭😭

Lisa Briley

I feel your pain and joyyyyyyy, omfg!!!!!!! I almost gave up on the show after episode 4 of all episodes. Stuck it out to EPISODE 5 and was a little relieved by the coat check scene and then the car... and then through EVERYTHING that ensued and here we are. No like I am still in disbelief, goofiest grin on my face at the mere mention of RINA. It's actually crazyyyyyyy to me LOL.

Reese

As someone who has had friends who's parents were like EJ's, thinking that the arts is just a hobby and they needed to find a real future, I always felt bad for EJ. He just wanted to show his dad he can be successful in his own way. Re-watching the show with you made me realize I don't care about Rini, Rina, or Portwell. I just wanted Nini to find her voice and she did, I wanted Gina to find herself which she did, I wanted EJ to stand up to his dad and he did (although that one didn't work out well at all), and I just wanted Ricky to be less annoying and season 3 was his least annoying season so there we go. Season 3 is probably my favorite season not because of the ships, but because it felt like a real revamp of the show. Awesome songs, great characters, and pure chaos. I hope Season 4 keeps that feeling up.

Caitlyn Skiff

you won’t regret starting it rina is an amazing ship and the show is so good in general too !!

Barb

imagine waiting for that kiss since 2019 and finally getting it at the end of 2022😭😭😭 it was so bad for me

Lisa Briley

cant wait for your riverdale reaction!!!!!!!

Olivia

Jet and Kourtney were actually teased since 3x05 but you missed all their little moments 😅

Talia

YEESS!! WE WON !

Okay. I have to start watching the show now. I love a good ship and I keep seeing this Rina ship everywhere and my curiosity is killing me. Lol

Nathan

One of the best parts about RINA is that the creator of the shoe confirmed they have been the plan on the show ever since season 1 episode 5! When the creator saw the chemistry between them they literally rewrote the show!!! I love them so much There's so much to look forward to for Season 4: RINA (Ricky & Gina) JETNEY (Jet & Kourtney) MADLYN (Maddox & Ashlyn) AND MORE

JT

the show does come out weekly! i assume it’ll be the same for s4. it’s probably going to come out around august. the musical they’re doing is high school musical 3!!!! some of the cast from hsm is coming back and the storyline for s4 is basically a high school musical reunion movie is going to be filmed at the school and the group are going to be playing extras while also focusing on their own musical which is hsm 3. they’re also going to deal with being famous. going to be very meta 😭😭 i think it’s so beautiful that gina said she can’t be a maybe and then tells ricky that he’s a yes. he’s doubted by so many people in his life but never by gina. she’s always been there to support him and same with him to her. i love the rina confession so much for many reasons but mostly because it’s a direct parallel to the flashback scene! gina says what she says in that flashback scene about walking out with her head held high but she adds that she’s not going to look back and i LOVE that! the first time she confessed it was a goodbye and now it’s a “this is your final chance” moment. she doesn’t do anything right the first time like she said in the flashback and this was her getting it right this time. and it’s the reason i love her being the one to confess so much. like she said “unless you stop me” this was her giving him one last chance or she was going to move on from him. and ricky was not going to let her slip through his fingers again. i also think it makes sense because of course ricky is not going to be the one to confess because he wants it to be on gina’s terms and wants to make sure this is what she wants too. i definitely would have loved to hear ricky’s thoughts and a confession of sorts from him but with s4/established rina coming and now that he’s with gina and knows she wants to be with him? like he said don’t get him started!!!! i think (hope) we’ll see a confession of sorts from him in s4. i also think the confession makes so much sense because i feel like gina’s love language is acts of service and ricky’s is words of affirmation. i’ve always seen the ricky thinking about nini scenes in this episode as him just getting finale closure. especially the lottery ticket scene. i loved him looking at gina too when he gets it and gina telling him to open it; no jealousy and no feeling threatened just simply her being the one to tell him to open it. their chapter is finally closed and they’ll always be friends who love each other and her giving him the lotto ticket was also her helping him say goodbye to his childhood because that’s largely what she represented to him. it’s funny that rini shippers tried to say something about him going “nini’s here?” like she’s his childhood friend and he hasn’t seen her in awhile of course he’s going to feel something but it doesn’t mean it’s romantic and it doesn’t take away his feelings for gina no matter how much they try to say it does. and right after that scene we go into kristoff lullaby where he literally knows nini is there yet he’s still singing the song to and for gina. that scene means so much too because we all thought he’d definitively sing the song towards her at some point but we thought he was going to sing the “you’re what i know about love” part but the fact he sang the “you’ve gone and changed it kid” part ???? SO MUCH BETTER!!!! because she has changed his idea of love for the better and she’s helped him accept change which is so important for his character arc!!!! ahh i loved it. and you can tell that gina is re realizing her feelings all over again all day and especially in that moment and you can tell by the look on ej’s face that he knows what’s going on. speaking of ej this episode really proved even more all of this need to make the musical perfect was mainly for his dad. especially with him saying at the end of the episode to do things for yourself and not for your parents at the premiere. i think the phone call scene was well done and i hope they expand more on his relationship with his dad in s4 especially bc i feel like they just dropped it in s2 to focus on portwell. ej’s at his most interesting when his storyline is about his dad and him. regarding ej tho i must say i didn’t like the brother line towards ricky. it wasn’t earned at all they’re barely friends 😭😭 i guess the writers didn’t want there to be any bad blood but calling him brother was too much 😭😭 it reminded of the gina and nini scene at the end of s2. i absolutely LOVED kourtney’s role as elsa tying into her anxiety storyline. SO well done and the symbolism of her performing let it go? amazing. and dara who plays kourtney is AMAZING she bodied the role of elsa and that song. talking about therapy as a normal thing in a kids show is so important as well. there were some small hints that jet likes kourt in eps 5 and 6 but nothing big. personally i’m rooting for them bc i don’t really ship kourtney and howie and i don't care about him much while i love jet. agree with you about gina’s character arc. in s1 she was being someone she wasn’t and in s2 she was trying so hard to not come off as “gina 1.0” that she left the spotlight and didn’t put herself out there. and now this season she’s fully HERSELF not gina 1.0 or gina 2.0 just gina like her song balance said.

Barb

omg that confession scene almost ended me the first time i watched it. rina are genuinely just perfect and so romantic. like you can tell how much it meant to ricky to have someone speak about him in such high regard and to outwardly choose him and them for him to finally take action and not be so scared anymore. ricky and gina compliment each other as characters in every way and truly make each other better and it was so rewarding for them to finally kiss and be together in that scene.

kadee

QUESTION: Does anyone here think Nini will make a cameo in s4? I didn't see a lot of people on any sm platform discussing her talking about 'coming back to visit' (whatever she said to miss jenn in that scene). Idk if that was a throwaway meant for sentimental value to fans of the character... but it stuck with me since the finale aired for some reason.

Reese

AHHHHH

Reese

you asked for some behind the scenes content and other things like that in your other reactions i’m gonna link some for you below !! i’d be up for a livestream like you suggested idk how many hsmtmts fans you have on there that have a membership tho s1 and 3 bloopers and s3 behind the scenes stuff!! https://youtu.be/XJ6Mb7Mn0m8 https://youtu.be/UDBXvMED_f8 https://youtu.be/FUaXLmyV1ww their d23 performance which i really recommend https://youtu.be/T6Uze6WDF3U this isn't a video but it’s the first draft of the rina confession which was going to originally be ricky confessing and in the confession he admitted to getting gina the chocolates. the creator kind of hinted this will be revealed in s4 maybe https://www.instagram.com/p/CitaRA5OcYK/?igshid=YjNmNGQ3MDY= some s3 interviews that i thought were fun if you want to watch. most of my links are s3 stuff bc i wasn’t really into looking at behind the scenes stuff before s3 😭😭 https://youtu.be/1fTBYd4vY30 https://youtu.be/GebAqUbS7F8 https://youtu.be/fVTQ3xsGF7I https://youtu.be/L6xYW6SFhKA joshua who plays ricky performed finally free and kristoff’s lullaby live and i think he sounds great if you want to see that https://youtu.be/OhMyHnfx9qE https://youtu.be/4G5MxaUvv-E this is something from before s2 came out where they released these “facetime calls” where the actors of course were playing their characters and kind of were discussing the events of s1. there’s an interesting ricky and gina hint in one of them and they’re only around a minute long here’s the playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Fd9sawh4O3rGht175hobRBLeoKZmWjJ also i think this is really interesting it’s a character introduction video where during s1 they were all talking about each other ricky and gina have pretty interesting things to say about each other considering they had never met at this point yet https://youtu.be/vQnxkybx63o

Barb

i don't even watch this show but i've been watching these reactions cause i'm kind of a rina from a distance lmao but i knew i knew the little girl playing "young gina/anna" when she started singing but wasn't sure from where but she's the girl who sang Mariah Carey and got noticed by her!?

Dana (Dah-Nah)

Thanks for reacting to this show anti mack is a great replacement for it! Can't wait for season 4!

Amber

Yas Rina kiss and bi red also again i love how all the actors who play lgbtq+ on the show is queer irl ashlyn,seb,carlos,maddox, red minus ricky tho he not queer on the show (for now :P)

nice