The second season of MTV's "Awkward" is drawing to a close, but we still have two episodes full of snark, wit and heart to look forward to, plus a super-sized 20-episode third season on the horizon.
Earlier this week, HuffPost TV was on hand for the comedy's finale party, where we caught up with most of the show's cast -- Ashley Rickards (Jenna), Brett Davern (Jake), Beau Mirchoff (Matty), Molly Tarlov (Sadie), Jillian Rose Reed (Tamara), Greer Grammer (Lissa), Nikki DeLoach (Lacey) and Mike Faiola (Kevin) -- to preview the final two episodes of Season 2. We'll have more from those interviews next week for the finale, but first comes the Sept. 13 episode, "Once Upon a Blog," which is presented as a "what if" episode, exploring the ways in which Jenna -- and those around her -- might be different had she had made other choices.
"I can say that you will see Jenna in more than one way than you would’ve ever expected her, and the biggest difference you could’ve [imagined]," Rickards previewed on the red carpet. "It was a blast for me to play all those different aspects and all those different circumstances in one 22-minute episode. I’m doing Twitter take-over, and I’ve got so many behind-the-scenes photos that I could not tweet for the longest time and I am so excited to tweet them."
One third of the Matty-Jenna-Jake love triangle, Mirchoff was similarly enthusiastic about the concept: "There’s a few different storylines going on all at once in this episode: What if Jenna didn’t meet us in those specific circumstances or what if she didn’t do this certain thing? It’s a very interesting episode, it’s kind of like a butterfly effect -- you get to see what could’ve happened and it’s interesting because it’s all very true and could’ve worked out in any of these different ways. They do it in a very different way and I think fans are really gonna like it."
In this alternate universe of different choices, there will be some surprising new character dynamics at work, including a shift in Jenna's relationship with her nemesis, Sadie. "No matter what happens with Jenna, we’re gonna see Sadie reacting to it, but I don’t know if you saw the little snippet of Jenna in the cheerleading uniform?" Tarlov teased. "So Jenna might be in with Sadie in this episode ... but are you ever really in with Sadie?"
The "what if" scenarios are played out from Jenna's perspective, just like the rest of the series, but even the actors in supporting roles admitted it was one of the most enjoyable installments to shoot yet. "It’s actually really interesting, it’s Jenna asking what if she never got into that closet with Matty, so we get to go back to what we looked like in the pilot," Reed reealed. "We look a little younger, we’re in the clothes from the pilot; it’s really fun. It’s one of my favorite episodes."
As for whether Jenna will ultimately choose Matty or Jake, the stars confirmed that she will make that call in the finale. "She definitely comes to a decision ... I don’t know if it’s a decision she’ll stick with," Davern said coyly. Head back to HuffPost TV for more from the "Awkward" cast next week.
"Awkward" airs Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. ET on MTV.
