SPOILER WARNING!

Season 2: Episode 7

This week's episode threw a major curveball from what the audience is used to seeing. We have all been waiting for the big fight between Cassie and Maddy to break out so it’s safe to say a play with musical numbers and no advance in the storyline was totally not expected.

The play put on by Lexi served as a huge flashback of the show plot thus far. We get some new details about what happened after Maddy found out Cassie had been with Nate this entire time. Maddy broke down outside the bathroom door and Cassie refused to come out. This is where Maddy tells Cassie that she would have never done that to her. Now this was not the fight scene we imagined, but definitely hit home for those who can relate to being backstabbed by a friend.

The hysterical scene about the football musical number came out of nowhere and had me cracking up the entire time. From making fun of Nate to seeing Rue crack up in the audience, everything was put together perfectly. The audience’s reactions throughout the whole episode made it so much better. Particularly, my favorite was Lexi and Cassie’s mom who stole the whole show. Her screaming and yelling from the crowd really lightened up the episode and provided comedy for the audience.

My most unpopular opinion is my take on Cassie. I was personally a fan of Cassie, not that sleeping with your best friend’s boyfriend is something I support, but I’ve always felt like she was misunderstood due to her craving for true love, which tends to come off as slight desperation. Cassie’s desire for love and affection has been explicitly stated by her on the show. Unfortunately, this paints a picture of desperation because of negative portrayal from her peers. In one of the earlier episodes, a guy openly tells her she’s boring and no guy actually wants to date her, just use her. I know she’s not the only female who has been told this and it hurts.

That being said, guys in the show sexualize her excessively which clearly has a significant impact on her own self worth. As we’ve seen now with her relationship with Nate, she wants his genuine love so badly to the point of turning herself into Maddy. I truly feel bad for her being that she’s completely lost her sense of self in search of true love.

This is not me trying to convince you that you should be “Team Cassie,” but more so trying to get the audience to understand the reasoning behind her actions. Viewers were quick to hate on her without seeing that she’s incredibly insecure due to the way she’s been treated by other guys in her school. Again, definitely not an excuse to sleep with your best friend’s boyfriend, but when picking apart her character we can see how messed up she is as a person and desperately needs to focus on who she actually is.

I didn’t immediately turn against her because she has insecurities that hit home with a lot of girls who just want to be loved for who they are without being sexualized. Cassie is so used to being loved for her body that her entire perception of love is completely twisted. This creates a sense of relatability between Cassie and teenage girl viewers who are watching.

Being a girl in today’s society poses many challenges with the numerous different physical expectations and seeing celebrities/influencers look perfect in every post on social media. We spend our time so wrapped up in trying to look perfect like these influencers without realizing how much pressure we put on ourselves. Moral of the story is someone should fall in love with who you are, not what you look like, and that’s a lesson that Cassie still needs to learn.

So next time you want to hate on Cassie, just don’t forget she is human too and struggling to figure out who she is and her self worth.