What I’m Watching: Vice Principals

Vice Principals: Season 2, Episode 6 “The Most Popular Boy” (B+)

I’ve never been happier to find out that I was wrong. I was ready to write this review approaching it as the second-to-last episode of this show, but it turns out there are actually three installments left! The way that this one ended left me feeling great about this show’s completely unique style thanks to the incomparable delivery of “Take a picture, it’ll last longer” to the gawking teachers from another school. Neal becoming popular is an interesting journey since it’s not actually what he’s always wanted, and only he and Amanda among the mob personified by the overly aggressive Ms. Abbott realized that not teaching to the tests meant not just Lee would fail but also the students. I’m not sure there’s a romantic ending in this for him and Amanda, but he did get an awkward hug of sorts at the end after he stepped in to help her. Lee and Christine seemed to be doing okay when Lee’s honesty led him to offer up to cook dinner, and the meal itself went great, until she realized that he had lied about the whole thing, prompting her to pick up and leave. It was triumphant to see him, in his misery, be on the right side of things with an enthusiastic Nash’s help so that this foursome was able to hilariously fill in all of the right answers on the tests - the kind of feat only possible in movies or television - so that the kids would pass and Lee wouldn’t get fired. I can’t say what’s going to happen next, but this was a great episode.