Entertainment

Tamara Gets Her Moment On 'Awkward'

by Alanna Bennett

One hazard of being the central character on a teen show is that things become about you way more often than they rationally should. And so it is that, from Tamara's very understandable point of view, her best friend Jenna can be pretty damn self-centered sometimes. This is especially true when Awkward goes love triangle, as Tamara and Jenna experienced this week as they fought over Owen.

Unlike many love triangles — or even most love triangles on this show — this one wasn't about who'd end up with Owen at the end of the day. No, Jenna seems to be down with the shy young sophomore, so when Tamara finds out that Jenna hooked up with him — in fact, that she was hist first time — without telling her about it, things get heated once Tamara reveals that she, too, hooked up with Owen.

Jenna's never been filled to the brim with tact, so her attempts to smooth things over with her best friend come off as condescending. Tamara doesn't want her "sloppy seconds," basically, or to feel like she's second best or a supporting character. This can be tough when one is literally a supporting character, of course — but the show's addressing of this was a long-time coming, and Tamara gets to watch Jenna try wildly to get back in her graces for the entire episode.

Jenna is, of course, still the show's main character, and so storylines will still, of course, revolve around her. When Tamara gets upset about playing second fiddle to Jenna, it's still Jenna's POV we explore the issue from. But they've gotta fight it out sometime, so now was a good a time as any: They've gotta band together now that Jenna's been blamed for the entire dude database Tamara set up.

Image: MTV