TV Show Review: My so Called Life

The sadness I experienced was beyond repair when I learned that my all time favorite show My So Called Life was going to be canceled after just one season.

No more Angela? No more Jordan? No more Angela and Jordan!? No more Rayanne? My Ricky!? No no, this can't be!
 
It's just one of those teen drama shows that you wish could go on and on forever. A one hit wonder, and no matter how hard teen drama shows try nowadays, nothing nails it quite like My So Called Life did back in the 90's.

The shows main character is Angela Chase (Claire Danes).

The majority of the show surrounds her life, her daily routines, the hardships of being a teenager, the heartbreak of a first love, the loss of friendships, the manipulations, the love, the hate, and mostly just the drama any typical teenager may be going through.

What was so great about this show for me was the fact that I myself was a teen when the show first aired, in many ways some of the things Angela was going through, I myself could relate to or had gone through myself in the past. (Not to mention Jared Leto, who played Jordan Catalano was the apple of my teen aged eye)
 
The show was real. Everything that went on in the show was something that could really happen. There was nothing fake about it, and they didn't ever hold back. Almost every topic a teen could be going through was discussed in this short-lived show.

The Cast-
 
-Claire Danes plays the role of 15-year-old Angela Chase. She is the center of the entire show.
-Tom Irwin plays Graham Chase, Angela's father. He is an easygoing father; he never really plays a strict role throughout the show. He is sort of laid back, but when the time comes, he is always there for his family.

-Bess Armstrong plays Patty Chase, plays Angela's Mother. She is more of the worrywart type mother. She wants to know what is going on in her teenage daughters life, however like most teens, Angela shuts her out most of the time.

-Lisa Wilhoit played by Danielle Chase, is Angela's little sister. She is a typical annoying little brat sister. She is always attempting to pry into Angela's life, not to be annoying, but just to get to know her more. She adores Angela.

-Jared Leto plays Jordan Catalano whom is Angela's love interest. Jordan is smoking hot dream boy that any teen would go ga ga over. How could one not blame innocent Angela for falling head over heels for him? The saying always goes, good girls like bad boys, and this is exactly what the Jordan/Angela saga is about.

-A.J. Langer is Rayanne Graff, whom is Angela's new best friend. Rayanne is like the bad kid no parent wants their kids hanging out with; however Angela adores her, and they have a great friendship. Their friendship however will be tested throughout the show.

-Wilson Cruz plays Rickie Vasquez, Angela's gay friend. He is a happy go lucky fella that every viewer will enjoy. The discussion about 'coming out' is brought up in an episode that is heart touching and will make you cry. This show would not be the same without Ricky.

-Devon Gummersall plays Brian Krakow a boy in the neighborhood who has been madly in love with Angel since they were kids. He is completely jealous of Angela's infatuation over Jordan.

-Devon Odessa plays as Sharon Cherski, whom Angela's old best friend. Angela has known her for years. However as time has gone by the two sort of lost that special bond now that Rayanne is in the picture.

I was, and still am a fan of this show.

I'm such a fan of My So Called Life that I will now take the time to introduce anyone and everyone who has not taken the time to give this show a chance a complete list of each and every episode that My So Called Life consisted of, and my feelings on each episode.

1. Pilot-
You are introduced to Angela Chase in this episode. Instantly I liked her, and instantly I knew I was going to love whatever else the show brought to my TV screen.

Anyhow, you watch as Angela struggles to break free of her goodie goodie perfect student, perfect daughter mold. She frees herself from her old best friend Sharon who she had been best friends with for years, to hang out with the wild and crazy school freak Rayanne and Rayanne's gay friend Ricky. Angela also rebels in this episode by dying her hair fire red.

This is the birth of the little group that you will learn to love. Angela, Rayanne, and Ricky.
 
2. Dancing In The Dark -
 
This whole episode is basically about kissing
 The whole mood is started off when Graham leaves for work without kissing his wife. Angela has a discussion with Rayanne about kissing, and how she would like to kiss Jordan, and how wonderful it would be.

Rayanne then comes up with a plan to get the two together.

Jordan actually kisses Angela in this episode. However even though she enjoyed it, she protests it at the same time. She tells him that he should have manners, and ask if she wanted to be kissed. Later she regrets it, and wishes he would kiss her again.

3.Guns And Gossip-
 
A gun has gone off in the bathroom and Brian finds it lying in a puddle of soda, as he watched Ricky run out of the bathroom. Everyone comes out of classrooms to see what the noise was. Teachers and staff ask Brian if he saw who fired the gun. He doesn't say anything. Brian is threatened by Rayanne later on not to snitch on Ricky. When he is questioned later, he does not snitch.

Angela is having herself a huge drama fit over a note that had been passed to her claiming that she had had sex with Jordan. She gets upset with the accusations and wonders who, and why the rumor had been started.

4. Father Figures-
 
This episode sort of takes on the home base in the Chase house. These episodes honestly never interested me much, and they seemed to focus more on the parents.

Anyways, this episode covers fathers. Angela had seen her father talking with another woman. To reassure Angela that this is not the case, and that he is a good dad he gives Angela and Rayanne tickets to 'the dead' concert. Rayanne falls in love with Angela's super cool dad, while Angela still doubts him. Patty's father has also come out of his retire home and decides to 'run the business' that Patty had been running while he was away. It leads to drama between Patty and her father. Basically it covers Angela and her relationship with her father, and her mother's relationship with hers. For me this episode was just ok.

5. The Zit-
 
This episode was probably the most boring one in the entire show. More than half of the show you see Angela looking at herself in the mirror and worrying about a zit that has popped up on her face over night. She contemplates on whether or not she should pop it. Angela also feels like she is the most ugly girl on the planet in this episode. She is nervous about not knowing whether Jordan likes her or not. She also sees that Sharon her old best friend has a new boyfriend, and how she is still alone, and ugly. Although this was a boring episode, it is something that any teen girl can relate to.

6. The Substitute-
 
A new teacher comes in to Angela's English classroom and throws all of the students off, and even angers them by throwing their previous assignments out the window and tells them all to re-write it.

The teacher also sees that Jordan, the once slacker is showing that he in wants to learn. However he discovers Jordan can't read very well. Although he came in as a bad guy, he really is a good teacher.

7. Why Jordan Can't Read-
 
Angela writes a letter to Jordan stating that she is over him. She however never had any intentions to give him the letter. It was more of just a thought written down on paper for herself. She makes a mistake by giving it to Rayanne to read. When Rayanne loses the letter Angela flips out. Her worst nightmare had come true. Jordan hands her the letter back in the hallway. She goes off on him asking him if he had read it or not. He tells her no, and she refuses to believe him. This is where Angela learns that he can't read. She also asks him out in this episode (he says yes), which makes her mother extremely worried.

8. The Heart Attack-
 
Sharon's father has a heart attack in this episode, which leads to Sharon spending time alone with Sharon while her dad is recovering and her mother waits in the hospital with him. However Angela feels completely guilty for not being able to console Sharon in her time of need. She feels like a horrible friend to her, and even though they are not so close anymore, she feels guilty. Sharon ends up not speaking to Angela and ignoring her by the end of this episode.

9. Halloween-

Angela is deciding whether or not to wear a costume to school. Seeing how she is so much older now. She decides against it, and she and Brian are the only ones who have not dressed up. Everyone in the school had on costumes, but them. This entire episode has a strange melancholy feel to it. Also Jordan keeps skipping school, when Angela warns him about what a teacher had said about expelling him, he doesn't care and that school does nothing for him anyway.

10. Other Peoples Daughters-

Angela is introduced to Rayannes hippie tarot card reading mother. Angela's mother however disapproves of Rayannes mother, and really doesn't want Angela over there much. However with the planning of Rayanne's birthday party Angela gets to go over and help set up the party. However her mother does not allow her to stay because their grandmother is out for a visit. Angela sort of does not fight it, she basically does not really want to go.

Once the party starts it gets huge, everyone is drinking, smoking, and it is basically an out of control wild party. Angela arrives later on while the party has gotten extremely out of control. Angela realizes that Rayanne is drunk, seeing how she can barely stand up. Eventually Rayanne gets so bad that she can't comprehend what is going on. Angela panics and calls her mother. Patty comes to the rescue and brings Rayanne to the hospital, where she has to get her stomach pumped. Angela and her mother bond afterward. It's a very touching episode.

11. Life Of Brian-
 
There is world a world happiness school dance. Everyone however feels like an outsider while attending.

Sharon tries setting Brian up with a new girl named Delia, so he has a date to the dance. He thinks about it, and actually brings himself to asking her out to the dance.

Brian is also getting upset with himself for his infatuation with Angela and how all she ever does is use him and then push him to the side while she drools over Jordan.

Meanwhile Rayanne is going around bragging how she has been 'clean' for 10 days.

Rickie is also bugging out because the guy who he has been obsessed with is going to the dance with Rayanne.

Angela who does not have a date manages to swindle her way into getting a ride with Brian and the new girl. Brian takes this the wrong way and thinks that if he dumps his date, he and Angela will be together at the dance as a couple. When they arrive at the dance Brian's plan backfires, as Angela accuses of him of being cold and heartless for breaking his date off with Delia.

This episode was awesome not only because of the drama, but because in the end Rickie and Delia end up dancing the best dance I had ever seen.

Angela also has a disappointing run in with Jordan who makes a short-lived appearance at the dance. They exchange about 3 sentences, and she is left alone.

12. Self- Esteem-

In this episode Angela is introduced into the world of the boiler room, which is considered to be the schools make-out hide away. The majority of the episode you will see her and Jordan making out in the boiler room, and how she anticipates meeting him everyday in there, that she even begins to skip geometry class, and starts getting bad grades because of the boiler room distraction.

As she sits in the boiler room waiting for him, she over hears him talking about a concert that him and his friends are planning on attending. (Buffalo Tom- *which plays awesome music in this episode) he tells her that he doesn't know if he will go or not, and that he probably won't go. You can tell in this scene that Angela is hoping he will ask her to go with him. However he never does.
 
She instead plans a night out with Rayanne, and Sharon to attend the very same concert she has a feeling Jordan will be at. She is hoping that the night will go great and that Jordan will join her and her friends, and it will be a dream. However when they arrive he seems uneasy that she is there, and he does not even speak to her.

She is crushed and ends up fleeing the concert early. She feels like an idiot for making out with him in the boiler room, and how she feels he is embarrassed to be seen with her. Angela confronts Jordan the next day, and he sort of blows her off. However when in English class the teacher is having a discussion on love, Jordan realizes his mistakes. In the hallway he goes to her, and grabs her by the hand in front of everybody. She is happy, and they look like a great couple when they walk down the hall.

13. Pressure-
 
This episode covers the topic of sex, and how many girls are pressured into having sex before they are ready. Angela learns that Sharon is no longer a virgin, and they have a discussion about it. Meanwhile Jordan has been pressuring her to go with him to an abandoned house to have sex. Angela eventually gives in, and goes with him to the house, where she meets up with Rayanne who is also there partying in the house.

Angela gets nervous and afraid when Jordan comes out to tell her that the bedroom is available now. She bails and quickly makes an excuse about how she is sick from the flu shot she got earlier. She leaves with Rayanne.

The next day Jordan comes over and argues with her and tells her that she is abnormal for not having sex with him.

14. On The Wagon-
 
Jordan's band no longer has a lead singer, so when Rayanne hears of this she immediately jumps the gun and decides to take part as the lead singer. When they get together Jordan complains a lot to Angela how Rayanne is not doing good, and how horrible she is. Everyone gets nervous that Rayanne is going to go back to drinking because she is nervous about the gig the bad has gotten at a local coffee house.

When Rayanne blows the song at the coffee house, she runs off the stage. Rickie panics because he fears she is going to go and get drunk. He calls Angela who didn't attend the concert.

When Rayanne doesn't show up at school the next day Rickie worries. Earlier that day however Angela's mom showed up at Rayanne's house to find that Rayanne simply went home after fleeing, and that she didn't drink at all.

When she shows up to school late, Rickie yells at her for making him worry so much. Rayanne also has a conversation with Angela about how she wished she had come to support her and how she feels Angela is becoming distant from her. Angela lies and says it is not the case; but in reality, it is.

15. It's A Wonderful Life-

This episode surrounds Rickie, and how he has just recently told his father that he is gay. He tries to lie to Rayanne and Angela about the recent bruises and cuts on his face, saying he fell. However you know from the very beginning that it was his father who in fact beat him for being gay. It turns out Rickie has been homeless ever since he came out and told his father he was gay, and Jordan brought him to a place where he could crash in an abandoned warehouse. The entire episode is extremely sad, and touching. Not to mention this is an issue that many teens have, and will go through.

16. Resolutions-
 
Angela sets Jordan up for student to student tutoring, and it turns out Brian gets Jordan to tutor. He tries getting out of tutoring him, however no one will switch with him. He is left with no choice but to tutor Jordan, his nemesis. Ricky also finds a home with his teacher (who is also gay) in this episode. It's really a heart-warming moment when this occurs.

17. Betrayal-
 
Angela keeps trying to tell herself she is over Jordan. Rayanne doesn't buy it. No one does really. However while she is working on auditions for the school play, she flirts with some guy named Corey (while Jordan watches), whom Rickie has had his eye on for quite some time as well.

Anyhow, this is the episode that takes the show into a whole new twist. Rayanne has committed the ultimate betrayal. She has lately felt like Angela hasn't been spending enough time with her anymore.
Meanwhile Brian has been assigned to do videotape students within the school for a school project he has been working on. While he is taping at a local coffee house he sport Jordan and Rayanne alone talking. They seem to be drunk seeing how both of them are stumbling.

They make their way over to Jordan's car and they both start discussing Angela, how great she is, and he asks Rayanne if she likes Corey. Before you know it, the two are kissing. He opens the car door and they end up doing it, all the while Brian had been filming.

Angela finds out about the tape through Sharon who had heard it from Brian. She goes over to Brian's and demands to see the tape because she thinks everyone is lying. However what she discovers on the tape she almost wished she hadn't.

18. Weekend-
 
Angela is left to watch Danielle. She has Rickie, and Sharon over, when Angela discovers a pair of handcuffs in her parent's bedroom she is shocked, and makes jokes about it to her friends.

Danielle ends up handcuffed to the bedpost as a joke, when they realize there is no key. They enlist Brian over to try and get the handcuffs unlocked. Rayanne is also present and she tries to apologize to Angela. However Angela ignores her and says she does not want to hear it, or talk about it. This particular episode for me was sort of boring; I was also surprised that Rayanne was even allowed in the house after the episode before. This episode had more to do with Angela's little sister than anything. It was the most airtime she had gotten during the entire show so far.

19. In Dreams Begins Responsibilities-
 
In this episode Jordan begs Brian to write an apology letter to Angela. He protests, but ends up writing it for him anyways. Brian wrote an extremely meaningful letter, however he wrote it as if it were from him, not Jordan, although signs the letter of using Jordan's name. He finishes the letter and gives it to Jordan who passes it off to Angela. She reads the letter and manages to find forgiveness, up until the very end when she discovers that it was Brian who had written the letter.

The show ends with Jordan coming to pick her up in his car, as Angela looks out the car window at Brian.

This episode for me was fantastic. However you are left scratching you head, and unless you are some super psychologist you never really know what happens to Angela. Does she stay with Jordan, and go to Brian knowing that those were his feeling on paper and not Jordan's? Does she confront Jordan for passing Brian's letter as his own? And after finding out, why on earth did she get in Jordan's car to begin with?

Do Angela and Rayanne ever truly make up and become best friends again, or does she enlist Sharon as her Best friend again? Do things go back to normal the way things were before she had ever met Rayanne? 

What ever happened to Ricky's home situation? Does he still shack up with his teacher, or does he have new home in foster?
 
Even though the show is an excellent show, there were a lot of unanswered questions that they should of gone over before going off air. I just wish the show had more time. It was really sad that this was how it ended -like dot dot dot...only it never continued for a second season.
Anyways, I recommend My So Called Life to any teenager really, not to mention adults as well. It's sort of a sneak peek into a teen girls diary, and it's got gobs and gobs of juicy gossip.