Take Three: Vice Principals

Vice Principals: Season 1, Episode 3 “The Field Trip” (B+)

I’m quickly realizing that, even if I wish that Neal would do something different in almost every situation, that’s just not who he is, and this show is firmly committed to being an endlessly awkward, uncomfortable chronicle of the way he lives his life. This installment barely featured Lee, and instead put the focus entirely on Neal, who decided that he wanted to chaperone the history field trip when he found out that Amanda was going. I enjoyed the dramatic music that played when Neal walked over to eat with the teachers before getting hit in the forehead with meat. The entire trip was a series of unfortunate developments, starting with Neal attacking Bill’s educational style and then inviting the teachers to drink in his room only to find that they all went to dinner and then hung out without him. Amanda staying to talk to Neal to tell him that, in her own words, he was being a “bitch ass,” was a nice treat since it gives her a personality and shows that she is willing to speak her mind rather than just be objectified and pursued by him. Neal ending up back in his zone when he told the other teachers about the two missing students set things back on course, and it was nice to see Amanda help him pick out a gift for his daughter. Ms. Abbott finding Lee’s file on Amanda in Neal’s trash is bad news, but I suspect that she’s more into him than anything else, so the blackmail she’ll likely choose won’t be to hurt Neal.