Welcome back, Wildcats! We’re just getting into the start of the drama with the second episode of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”.

If you need a quick recap, check out our first review on episode 1, “The Audition” before moving on. If you’re ready for “The Read-Thru”, then get’cha head in the game and let’s get going.

With tensions growing still from Ricky, Nini and EJ, the cast has to learn how to adapt and work together despite personal feelings getting in the way. The read-thru is far from productive as Nini does her best not to have anything to do with Ricky throughout and keep her sole focus on EJ. Miss Jess and Carlos, the choreographer, begin to worry for the cast’s chemistry with the two leads not getting along. The two start to plan on how they can get Ricky and Nini to get along by creating rehearsals just to work on Troy and Gabriella’s parts and even add in a kiss at the end of the “Breaking Free” number in an attempt to make the two improve their relations.

When EJ finds out about the change in the script, he enlists the help of his cousin, Ashlyn, who is playing the part of Ms. Darbus in the musical. EJ wants Ashlyn to steal Nini’s phone during a rehearsal to see if she has been receiving any text messages from Ricky lately. Ashyln refuses and does her best to focus on her power ballad that Miss Jess has asked her to write for Ms. Darbus in the second act, called “Wondering”.

With the added pressure of being forced to get along and struggling with the dancing, Ricky decides to quit the musical. This gives Gina, the transfer student and understudy for Gabriella, the hopes that soon Nini will follow and she can get the lead role. Gina follows Ricky off to the skate park that night to try to convince him to stay and continue to put his own spin on things. Ricky is then determined to practice the choreography more and comes to practice the next day ready to continue on in the part of Troy.

At practice, EJ finds Nini’s phone in his bag and gives a thank you to Ashlyn for helping him retrieve it after all. Ashlyn admits that she didn’t help, and that’s when Gina steps in, saying that she has the same goal for the musical to go their way, as long as they work together.

Clearly the drama is just getting started and we expect to see so much more in the next episodes. All of the chaos is very reminiscent of how Troy had to decide if he was going to choose the musical over basketball in the original movie, only this time, Ricky has to decide to stay in the part of Troy rather than giving into the pressures of dropping out. For the episode only being about half an hour long, there is so much drama packed in and the pacing is really well done so viewers don’t feel completely overwhelmed with everything going on. This episode was nice to see a bit more of the characters too, as we got to learn more about Ashlyn rather than all the focus being on the Ricky/Nini/EJ drama that’s taking center stage. Hopefully the next few episodes focus on the rest of the cast as well.

Stick with us, Wildcats… as we continue to delve into the drama in drama club and watch if this musical ever reaches opening night.