Faking It recap: Stripped
Welcome back to Hester High, everybody.
After what felt like an eternal hiatus, Karma, Amy, and the rest of the gang are finally back for season 2B. Plenty of secrets came out in the first half of the season (Karma found out Amy and Liam slept together, Theo was revealed to be an undercover cop, Duke declared his love for Shane on television), now everyone is facing the aftermath—and things could get ugly.
We pick up with Karma and Liam on very good terms, having a little quality time in Liam’s car before school. “I love you,” Liam says. Errr—not so fast. This is strictly a friends with benefits situation, Karma reminds him. But all is forgiven between them, and what better way to prove that than the two of them picking Amy up on their way to school?
The three endure the most awkward car ride (couldn’t Amy have taken the bus?), as Karma continues to push the “I’m over it!” spiel. She’s matured, having lost her virginity to Liam—she doesn’t even need her beloved friendship necklace anymore either.
Duke and Shane arrive at school, openly holding hands. Things appear to be going smoothly for the two of them, but, Duke still isn’t really ready to throw in the towel on finding out who outed him to TMZ. Duke can tell Shane is hiding something, but he thinks it’s just the election loss to Lauren that’s got him down. Luckily for Shane, there isn’t much time to chat as the two are met with a wall of security (metal detectors, dogs, officers—the works). Move over Penelope, there’s a new sheriff in town.
In the cafeteria, classmate Wendy suggests to Lauren—who is still recovering from her horrible breakup with Theo—that voters expected Lauren to step up post-election and maybe she should use the fact that she’s intersex or the whole Theo betrayal to become a more inspirational leader. But, Lauren is having none of it as Wendy makes it clear she needs to take a stand against the new head honcho in order to get the students back on her side. Shane makes the mistake of sitting at Lauren’s reserved table, and the two exchange a few sassy quips (“Bitter really suits you!”) and withering stares before Shane makes a quick exit.
Elsewhere, Amy tracks down Liam to confirm that was definitely the weirdest drive to school ever. Before they can dive into the nitty gritty of their bizarre morning (a.k.a. how not “over it” Karma seemed), Penelope announces an assembly in the quad.
Penelope—putting on a brave face for the students and her three cats—introduces the crowd to Principal Turner. Following the last half of the season’s drug busts, Principal Turner says the school will be cracking down in a major way. This can’t be good for Karma as her parents are responsible for the school’s new direction, which she expresses to Amy. Amy suggests the two eat away all of the negative feelings, but Karma mysteriously dodges that idea.
Shane is ready to lead a revolt against this new regime, but Lauren takes the opportunity to cozy up to Principal Turner—the man who just might be able to turn Hester High into the conventional school Lauren has always dreamed of ruling. She lets him know it’s better to get on the students’ good side before they stage a protest. If she learned to “manipulate these idiots,” he could, too.
NEXT: Liam meets a new friend
Meanwhile, Liam shows up to Skwerkel—a gig that his bestie Shane still doesn’t know about—for his internship, and meets fellow hot intern, Zita. Is this her dream job? No. But, she did crash her daddy’s Tesla and it was either this or boarding school in Tampa.
Cut to Karma’s house as she is packing up boxes, and Amy arrives to deliver Karma’s copy of Fifty Shades of Grey (you never know when you’re going to need it, right?). But why is Karma packing up all of her things? “You love things!” She’s spring-cleaning, obviously. In walks new kid Felix, who Karma introduces as her GBF, a.k.a. Gay Best Friend. Before Amy can question the pairing further, Karma rushes her out of the door, leaving Felix to question Karma as to why she just lied to Amy.
At school the next day, Lauren releases a new ad for the program she concocted with Principal Turner. Students only have to do the following in order to get “Verified”:
Sign the code of conduct
Get their fingerprints taken
Submit to random drug testing
But the program comes with appealing perks, and the students come out in droves. Shane is pissed. Before he can go off on the student body for giving in, Amy stops to ask him about GBF Felix. Shane assures Amy that Felix is definitely not gay—so what’s he up to? Amy makes the leap that he must be just trying to get in Karma’s pants.
Shane grabs his soapbox and marches to the front of the line of students signing up for the verified program. He’s ready to take an “epic” stand against these new rules… and there will be nudity.
At the protest, Theo shows up incognito to tell Lauren he had to lie about his feelings for her because his boss was listening in. And while Shane is grandstanding against the new order, Lauren grabs the megaphone to make a speech about betrayal and that the rules are only in place to protect them—directing every word at Theo. But Shane isn’t one to be outdone and he strips down in front of the entire school with absolutely no back up.
At Skwerkel, Liam and Zita get to know each other better as he divulges the whole Karma-Amy drama. Zita encourages him to let it go; she says there’s no hope for a future with Karma since he slept with her BFF. And while it’s closing time at Skwerkel, the wheels only keep turning for Liam as he’s left to ponder his feelings for Karma.
Back on campus, Amy pulls Felix aside to have a little chat. She’s ready to prove Felix is a liar and attempts to seduce him. But Karma, of course, has perfect timing, walking in as the two get pretty close to a lip-lock. Even though Karma’s ready to keep up the GBF ruse, Felix isn’t and prompts Karma to tell Amy what’s actually going on.
Karma confesses to Amy that her family is broke post-drug bust, and, having rented out their house to Felix’s family, they’ve been living out of their juice truck. To make matters worse, she lost her friendship necklace. But, Amy just wants to be there for Karma and promises they can share her necklace (aww!).
Later that night, Liam shows up at Karma’s old window to declare that he isn’t ready to give up on their relationship. The speech is totally cute, but unfortunately, it was all for Felix who reveals that Karma wasn’t the one behind the window for that little love letter.
But, of course, Felix has a secret of his own: His father is Principal Turner.
One-liners Most Likely to Succeed:
“We are 16. We’ve already been arrested and we’re not virgins anymore, thanks to this guy!” —Karma
“Pipe down, Evita! There are no reserved tables in the cafeteria.” —Shane
“It took me four years to finish Fifty Shades. I figured you’d want it back stat.” —Amy
“Stay away from that man. He eats children’s souls for breakfast.” —Liam
“Is it your goal to seduce every guy in my life?” —Karma
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