Zoey 102 Was EXTREMELY Unnecessary...

it's honestly weird to see that after all these  years we get a continuation of Zoe 101 a show   that growing up I absolutely loved and even  today I still hold on to some great nostalgic   memories of in more recent times my enjoyment of  the show was a lot more sour thanks to so many   behind the scenes issues that make me less and  less interested in going back to relive those   memories but now after all these years countless  rumors a small all that reunion and even a random   short released onto YouTube about what was on the  tape in the Time Capsule that Zoe said about Chase   where 10 years later on the date of the original  episode it was released that somehow they messed   up quite a bit of continuity with we finally get  to oh wait I forgot we also had that whole thing   back in 2020 where Jamie Lynn Spears pretended  she was releasing something special but it was   really just a music video with some Modern time  influencers in some of the original cast members   coming together to hang out in a warehouse selling  special packages to be a VIP and get some merch   that upon seeing it it totally wasn't legit  and just meant to look similar to PCA merch as   well as a signed CD of the one song to which she  signed my copy of it twice and then be on a zoom   call with her where the majority of the time  she's not talking about the reboot at all or   anything to really do with Zoe 101 and instead  talking about her personal life only to answer   one question regarding the reboot that was left  by Yours Truly where do you see the characters   in the reboot as in where they are in live post  College having kids going to PCA for me I think   that that's the most fun part that we've had when  we're creating this reboot is figuring out where   the characters are where Zoe and Chase are and we  just recently um kind of came up with the concept   that we all love and I think that it's going to  be really interesting for all of you to figure out   where all of us are and I wanted to make sure that  when we did this reboot that we did it for the   fans who grew up watching Zoe we want to grow with  the characters and kind of make it make sense for   where our fans are today and relate to their lives  but also we gotta give them that you know that OG   love stuff that happened with all of us either way  now we finally get to the official continuation of   Zoe 101 awfully named Zoe 102. I am really hoping  there is some good explanation for this within the   context of the movie because just calling it 102  isn't that clever when the title 101 made a lot   of sense in context to the show itself and yes you  did hear me right this is not a TV show or a small   special this is a full-on movie that picks back up  with the characters now in their 20s even though   all of the returning cast members are in their  30s regardless I am eager to see what is even   happening here in this film as when the trailer  came out for it it didn't look too particularly   good and a lot like something you'd find on the  Hallmark or a lifetime channel but you can't   judge a book by its cover you judge it by how far  you read into the book before going wait why am   I even reading this so today let's take a look at  Zoe 102 and do a couple of things one take a look   at the movie on its own merits and two of course  discuss how well it works as a sequel to the   show as we follow the lives of these characters  now as adults it'll be the reunion we all need the main premise of the film revolves around  following Zoe and her adult life working as   a producer on a reality show called love fully  charged where she struggles to progress in her   career and get recognition for ideas based on a  work environment that doesn't give her respect   and as the only woman on the team we see her  struggles with all the responsibilities that   she has after a stressful day at work leaving her  feeling defeated Quinn who is now very successful   sends Zoe a new updated version of the phones in  the show called a techmate with this being a weird   see-through phone Quinn then invites Zoe to her  wedding where she and Logan are getting married   and says yes to going Zoe is pretty nervous about  this though as we find out how estranged she has   kept herself from her friend group throughout  the years deep diving a bunch of her friends   socials to see how close they all have been and  how successful they have all become in their own   respective career Fields but Chase is the one she  is worried about the most he is going to be there   and it shows him being a school teacher working  across the states in Baltimore Maryland and the   DMS over the years between them paint a picture  of him not responding to her after an incident   that happened in Hawaii that has kept them the  most distant but things now began to get a bit   crazy when Zoe is given a special task for work  that requires her not to miss the live finale of   the reality show which happens to take place on  the same day as Quinn and Logan's wedding so she   comes up with a new plan to somehow balance being  there for her friends and celebrating the wedding   as well as all of her work responsibilities that  she needs to do in hopes that she can finally be   given the respect and positions that she knows  she deserves to make things worse Chase is   bringing his girlfriend to the wedding trapping  Zoe in a lie of saying that she's bringing her   boyfriend as well having to hire someone to  play her boyfriend for the whole event but do   lingering feelings of love still break through  the veil or were Zoe and Chase never meant to   be soul mates in the first place sorry I had to  add a little bit of spice to saying that making   it feel a little bit more dramatic that's the  main premise of the story though this film has   a lot going on throughout it I say that though  in a way where I needed to first look at this   film and take away the Nostalgia take away the  characters that we already know know and see if   the movie story has this specific purpose to  benefit the characters or if it's a generic   plot that if it was its own by itself IP would  make no difference sadly it really falls into   that category of a setup that just slots these  characters in and hopes that them being there   is enough to carry it with that all being said we  got a little bit to dive into here so let's rev   up that Dusty jet X and take a ride down this  pothole-filled memory lane who the hell is Zoe   it's called making an entrance Logan as we  continue on we will be talking about specific   things that happen in the movie AKA that means  spoilers just as a heads up before I even clicked   play I noticed that it was rated tvma which had  me contemplate what that could even mean for a   Zoe 101 sequel but after a bit they changed it to  TV 14 which helps me sleep better at night as the   film is extremely tame outside of some drinking  and cursing now the last thing I like doing is   being overly negative I like being sarcastic  and making some jokes here and there but my   objective is never to just blindly hate or go into  something looking to dislike it I rather end up   enjoying something than not so after watching this  with zero expectations of what it will deliver   putting aside my thoughts of the trailer I really  didn't find much enjoyment in the film it is cool   to get more supplemental moments to characters  from a show I grew up with sure but a lot of the   characters here don't get that if anything it's  pretty surface level stuff that doesn't grow   with them the returning characters we get in the  film are in job feel fields that can relate back   to who they were and always have been but it's  barely touched on with the most detail coming from   Stacy's character who is now a podcaster who never  stops talking about her podcast it's one of those   podcasts where she talks about real life Murder  Mysteries and her husband Mark acts as her field   reporter and helps produce the podcast in fact his  character has maybe the most underlying details of   where he's at as we see him constantly be treated  by Stacy as someone who just works for the podcast   rather than her husband as he has some internal  feelings possibly left for Quinn as back in the   original show he dated her before Quinn got with  Logan at one point towards the end he may have the   one time in the film that I laughed when he is  speaking with Logan and mentions it being like   him having sloppy seconds as his character and  Stacy definitely have some relationship issues   that they need to discuss but for a movie called  Zoe 102 Zoe is the least interesting character   here the plot bringing her back and forth between  the Working World and her friend's wedding is not   as interesting as the movie with would try and  make you believe it is it just adds on to Zoe here   being a distant friend and not giving too much of  an effort to be in their lives that's really the   through line here but it's played and wrapped up  in a way that doesn't really allude to her giving   more of an effort once the film ends maybe aside  from one specific character but we'll get to that   and with all the problems that the film tries  to highlight about the entertainment industry   especially with how she's treated by her boss who  specifically gives no respect to women only ends   up with all of the mistakes that she's made with  her responsibilities leading to her unknowingly   boosting the ratings of the reality show as she  was fired before the ratings came in and then   offered a better position after they came in  as she finds her own self-worth in the space   and declines it until she gets offered higher  pay and a bunch of her asks being granted and   proceeding to then take the job I feel that the  way the film represents this though is once again   surface level not giving further commentary about  her in this field the film felt like it wanted   to say something but all it said was stuff that  we already know and see about the entertainment   industry sure she gets the win in the end but  it's through her just accepting things the way   they are for the gig that she is working in favor  of pushing aside how she really feels about it   chasing the film is fun and had a few standout  moments like seeing Zoe again for the first time   in a long time and walking into a pole having a  karaoke battle with Zoe's fake boyfriend and then   avoiding a pull at the end before he dances with  Zoe their whole setup together starts off awkward   and Chase is pretty cold to her based on the whole  Hawaii thing which we learned was them dating at   one point but when they were in Hawaii she up and  leaves ghosting him for many weeks from there they   only come back together when Zoe forgot to pick  up the wedding rings and the Smart car that she   took from the reality show set hits Chase in the  face and traps him inside with her as it drives   to the jewelry store with the car ride there being  mostly silent and awkward and things only change   when we get this really weird scene involving the  jewelry store employees forcing them to have this   VIP experience there and discussing how they  met as they go into their whole friendship in   relationship up and how a lot of it's been played  out throughout the years and then being forced to   kiss each other before they can grab the Rings  and go from there they're able to speak in the   car ride back where it leads to them kissing  not forced this time as then the electric car   runs out of battery and forces them to walk a few  miles back to the wedding venue at first they are   rekindled kiss feels weird since Chase doesn't  know that her boyfriend is just an actor and Zoe   doesn't know until closer to the end of the movie  that Chase's girlfriend and him broke up a couple   weeks ago and she only came to the wedding not  wanting Chase to go alone and also the wedding   is a complete disaster because I loved so many  reasons first Quinn has never really wanted a   big and flashy wedding and is only doing this  for Logan who gets more worried and concerned   for making the wedding this Grand spectacle than  he does for his bride to be so with Zoe being   preoccupied during the ceremony still trying to  work in secret getting outed for it and upsetting   Quinn as Zoe is supposed to be her best friend  her maid of honor and rather than communicate   with her she's made the wedding experience worse  as as Stacy and Mark think that Zoe's boyfriend   is acting odd and mistake him for the Malibu  murderer and hijack the wedding to try and   expose him for that with him denying it of course  and confessing to being weird because he's acting   as Zoe's boyfriend and mixing into that more of  all the stress that's on Logan's obsession with   the wedding here I'll leave Quinn at a boiling  point telling Logan that as she then calls off the   wedding and leaves just a little less creepy next  time okay door open door so with everything left a   disaster Zoe and Chase sit together at the beach  as they wish they could go back to the simpler   days of PCA the film also established earlier  that PCA closed down in 2009 for poor education   standards and it wasn't an accredited school  as well as after an investigation into it all   the dean was taking the tuition money that's used  to get into the school and using it to gamble so   Zoe gets the idea in the end to bring everyone to  the now abandoned PCA clean up the courtyard and   set up a more personal and intimate wedding with  everyone's help as Logan apologizes to Quinn and   fixes things bringing her there as they officially  now get married having one last PCA moment   together to remember Zoe and Chase become an item  as they slow dance and confess their love before   they all party the night away from there and  of course Zoe's the one to catch the bouquet my   personal two moments of fun in the film come from  these party sequences with the karaoke part from   earlier in the film being a lot of fun and them  all drinking dancing and being together in the   end at PCA but the rest of the films spends too  much time focusing on a generic plot that doesn't   really have satisfying conclusions specifically  on Zoe's job side I much rather have focused on   something that elevates these characters where  they are at in life in their specific conflicts   with all of the fat cut from the film the things  that don't need to be here I know School reunions   can feel a bit played out but why not a story of  PCA being closed down and them all coming together   after being estranged from each other wanting to  go to PCA and give themselves a true reunion that   they couldn't have keeping the plot focus on them  and their relationships with one another generic   as that may be at least it would service the  characters better and give us more time to flush   them out in the current day yeah it's cool to see  Michael Logan Mark Chase Stacy Quinn but we spend   too much time on Zoe's story that it feels like  there's so much left to learn about The Supporting   Cast as in the original show while still being  called Zoe 101 we had so much time to focus on   the rest of the friend group it wasn't just Zoe's  story it was her being a vessel into the land   escape a PCA for us to care about everyone and  again with Zoe in the movie at least to me having   a pretty uninteresting storyline for her work and  Jaime not delivering her lines to particularly   well here we end up with a sequel that feels like  it doesn't understand the show that came before   which as a fan of the original show does suck to  see of course I wanted something good out of this   I wish I could be saying a lot of the opposite  here but this didn't feel made because they had   a good idea and wanted to have fun bringing these  characters back but more so in a way to bank on   your Nostalgia to give it a watch regardless if  it respects your time for doing so or not this   mixed with how the other time Jamie put together  an unofficial music video years ago just leaves   me with a bad taste in my mouth about it all I  also really don't like the purposeful Erasure of   Nicole's character which of course Alexa Nicholas  who played her wasn't going to be in the film   for a bunch of reasons that has been brought to  light about her experiences working on the show   and why she wasn't on the show after the second  season but when the movie goes out of its way to   explain where characters like Dustin is at in his  life and make verbal mention of other characters   not in the movie like Lola and even Dana which the  actress had her own behind the scenes stuff happen   for where she didn't come back after season one it  all just feels icky and purposeful I shouldn't be   ending the film with the most exciting part being  that we get to see a jet X on the PCA campus and   I'm pointing at the screen like Leonardo Dicaprio  and freaking out like it's another MCU Cameo and   the whole Malibu murderer thing turns into the  Stinger of the film with a scene that plays after   the Zoe 101 title card pops up at the very end as  Stacy and Mark are leaving the wedding party and   notice Zoe's fake boyfriend by himself next to  his car as they apologize for accusing him and   he says it's no big deal before they drive off  with it cutting to an unknown body in a zipped   up bag in his trunk before he closes it meaning he  was the Malibu murderer all along and that's how   we close out the Zoe 102 movie I wish things  were different I wish this film went so many   other directions than it did but in my personal  opinion it misses the mark more than mark misses   being with Quinn well I am pissed off the most  about is that at no point do we get any reason   that this film was called Zoe 102 other than it  being a sequel to Zoey 101 not even just being   the address of her house or freaking anything  I'll take anyhow that it is her house to dress   that's why the movie is called Zoey 102. well you  know what I'll give the 102 a better purpose I'll   split down the middle of one and two and rate  the film one and a half stars on my letterboxed   account finally I feel content but those are just  my feelings on the film as a fan of the original   movie I would love to hear yours as well did you  like it did you not like it tell me how you're   feeling about Zoe 102 in the comments below and  I thank you all for watching this video like And   subscribe for more content like this and I'll be  back with another video soon but until then later thank you

Channel: Jordan Fringe

Views: 261,925

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Id: dBO9djBJHkk

Length: 16min 14sec (974 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 29 2023