American High School
Genre: Teen/Comedy/Romance
Executive Producer: Richard Linklater
Writer: Chad Taylor
Season 1 Episode 3 - The First Day
Cast:
Cooper Hoffman .... Buzz Gentrie (Regular)
Judy Greer .... Helen Gentrie (Regular)
Sydney Park .... Gwen Johnson (Regular)
Sung Kang .... Lee Sung-min (Regular)
Mitchell Hoog .... Dennis Christy (Regular)
Maddie Ziegler .... Jane Christy (Recurring)
Odessa Young .... Francine (Recurring)
Larry Miller .... Principal Sparks (Recurring)
Plot: Buzz (Cooper Hoffman) wakes up to the sound of his mom calling his name. He gets up and carefully chooses his outfit, cycling in and out of several shirts before settling on the right one. When he finally emerges, Helen (Judy Greer) smiles and says he looks so handsome. But she also points out that he took so long getting ready that they are both going to miss first period if he takes much longer.
At the American High School of Busan, Buzz nervously makes his way to the entrance and spots Gwen (Sydney Park) walking in at the same time. She apologizes again for the other night and he says not to worry about it. He thought it was kind of funny, actually. He asks if she is nervous for the first day and she says she is tired more than anything. As a military brat, it is almost like every year is a new beginning.
The first day is mostly orientation and each student is paired with another, to encourage them to get know one another. Buzz is paired with a jock named Dennis (Mitchell Hoog). From looks alone, they are total opposites. Dennis’s skin is bronze, teeth pearly white, and hair blonde as blonde can be. Dennis starts the conversation the only way he knows how, which is asking Buzz if he plays any sports. Buzz says he loves sports but has never been much of an athlete. Dennis points to a heavier classmate of theirs and says he isn’t an athlete but Buzz must’ve just not found the right sport yet. He quickly apologizes, saying he is trying to get better at that. Before Buzz can ask “better at what?,” their homeroom teacher walks in: Helen Gentrie. She gives Buzz a little wave and he sinks into his seat. Dennis asks if he just witnessed a little flirtatious moment between student and teacher. Buzz slowly turns towards Dennis and tells him it’s his mom.
Gwen is paired with Francine Dallas (Odessa Young), a plain quiet type of girl. Gwen can empathize since she’s naturally introverted as well. However, this makes for a mostly awkward first day as Gwen asks about hobbies like what Francine likes to read but it doesn’t go anywhere. But then she asks about music and Francine’s eyes light up. She shows Gwen her notebook, which is full of magazine cut-outs of various teen musicians and reveals she plays some music herself. Gwen smiles and says she thinks they’ll get along just fine.
Principal Sparks (Larry Miller) enters the classroom and informs the class that their original foreign language teacher has had to go on indefinite leave so they’ve needed to bring in a replacement. Lee Sung-min (Steven Yeun) introduces himself to the class as their new Korean teacher. He was born and raised in Korea and his English is a bit broken but he says he hopes to visit America some day and the kids seem to like him.
At lunch, Gwen and Francine continue their music conversation as Francine reveals her parents had her take piano and double bass lessons growing up. Meanwhile, Buzz and Dennis talk about a common interest of theirs: girls. As they survey the cafeteria, Buzz admits that he gets lovestruck pretty easily. Dennis tells him he should hide that and play it cool instead. He offers Buzz his assistance in that area. But just as he says this, the junior class is entering the cafeteria for their lunch. Buzz’s eyes are fixated on a girl (Maddie Ziegler) with striking blue eyes, flowing blonde hair, and a posse surrounding her that indicates that - despite this being the school’s first day - she’s already found herself on the top of the popularity pyramid.
As Buzz looks on with wonder, he slowly snaps out of it as he sees Dennis trying to get his attention. When he turns his head, Dennis’s eyes are wide and he’s shaking his head no. Buzz tells Dennis not to say what he thinks he’s about to say. Dennis, resigned, nods.
“Is that your mom?”
“…that’s my sister.”
End credits: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fgnEDi7bq0
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