Young & Hungry - 2.01 - Young & Too Late - Review: About Last Night

Hey there all you fans of ABC Family’s Young & Hungry! Are you ready to talk about this week’s episode? I know I am. Are you excited that we actually made it to a season 2? Well, the TV gods answered my prayers and reviewed ABC Family’s Young & Hungry after all. So three cheers for that!


I was counting the days until the show’s return, only to realize that it would be up against Arrow over on The CW. They really should have kept this as a strictly summer show in my person opinion. They have some stiff competition and it makes me a little sad to think that this show might become DVR fodder for many people in the same predicament I find myself in right now. Young & Hungry is a cute show with a great cast and just as I had hoped, seems to have found its footing and is firing on cylinders. The cast has gelled and the writers know which actor is best for each different kind of setup. They’ve even found the right balance for characters screen time.

Needless to say, I liked the season 2 premiere and found it to be a huge improvement over the pilot. However, if you are a frequent reader of any of my reviews you should know how I feel about love triangles. Just ugh! I’m not Team Josh or Team Cooper, I’m Team Gabi. I vote for whoever can give her what she needs with the least amount drama, this is supposed to be a comedy after all. In my personal opinion, I feel like Cooper is good for her and can make her happy. Meanwhile, Josh has been written to be a wishy-washy, fickle kind of guy who needs to do a lot more growing up and soul searching before jumping into another serious relationship.

This week’s episode was written by Caryn Lucas and directed by Anthony. I was shocked that David Holden didn’t write this one and also that they didn’t enlist Phil Lewis to direct for the season premiere but these two did an excellent job and I look forward to seeing more from them. I found the pacing to be fantastic. The dialogue was a little schmaltzy but still cute and frenetic, slightly reminiscent of Gilmore Girls in some parts (which is a good thing in case you are wondering). I’m not sure how I feel about Gabi stringing along Cooper (at least that’s how it feels to me). It’s probably because I don’t dig the indecisive girl with splashes of bad timing tropes. While there’s not much a person can do with a single camera in a classic sitcom setup, Rich did manage to find a few interesting angles and the emotional scenes were framed well. He also pulled a good performance out of Jonathan Sadowski.

The setup for this week caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting to pick up right where we left off in the season 1 finale (and shout out to whoever put together that 30 second recap, it really summed up season 1 quite nicely). There were actually a lot of surprises to be had in this episode. I know I wasn’t expecting Josh to jump into bed with yet another blonde so soon and also wasn’t expecting an impromptu vacation for Gabi and Cooper, not to mention Josh giving Gabi back her blanket. That actually chipped a piece of my cold little heart.

I do know one thing though, they better hurry up and have Josh and Yolanda make up. I love those two together. I a lot more than Josh and Elliott (sorry Rex Lee). Speaking of Elliott if I had a bone to pick with one thing in this episode it was how forced and contrived his date with the florist felt, also I don’t appreciate the stereotypical nature of his or Yolanda’s personalities. I use to chalk it up to a lack of diversity in writers’ rooms but you know what, it’s 2015 and everyone just needs to do better. I find it a little annoying when writers go for cheap and easy laughs. But I will say that is nice in an ensemble cast of 5 we have an Asian character, a Latina character and an African-American character.

I’m really enjoying the expanded role Sophia appears to be getting for the second season and I really liked the unexpected character interactions between Sophia and Josh. Umm, don’t hate me but I think Aimee Carrero and Jonathan Sadowski actually have chemistry whereas I never feel like Emily Osment and Jonathan Sadowski do (or maybe I just like to stir up trouble and push crack ships for the hell of it, who knows…).

This episode was a great set up for season 2. We got the central conflict, the best friend is in the loop, Gabi gets closer to her runner-up choice and may or may not discover that she likes Cooper more than Josh and we also get an added bonus of a 3 week time jump without an actual hiatus.

All-in-all, a solid episode with great performances and a sturdy jumping off point with lots of themes and classic tropes to explore. This show has improved with every almost every single episode and I’m looking forward to this season and where these characters will end up. May the TV gods be kind to this show and help it find a loyal and vocal audience.

Grade: A-


Awards

Character of the Night
• Cooper

Best Character Interactions
• Gabi and Cooper
• Elliott and Yolanda

Most Memorable Moment
• Sophia realizing it was Josh’s glove (and that he probably had a weird middle name)

Line of the Night
• Sophia (singing while swinging her bra around): I love to live alone… - #same

Scene of the Night
• Cooper asking Gabi to come with him to China.

Miscellaneous
Style Watch – I was really digging Sophia’s outfit.

Burning Question
•Do you like the show’s new opening credits?

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Show’s hashtag: #YoungandHungry

Young & Hungry airs Wednesday nights at 8PM EST on ABC Family

What did you think of this episode? Are Team Cooper or Team Josh? Please be sure to leave a comment below as well as share this article if you enjoyed it. You know I love you for reading…