Now in its final season on Disney+, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is wrapping up the TV show based around its popular films by combining them both into one big self-referential TV event. This season, the students at East High will actually get to be a part of the newest High School Musical movie in one final, fun farewell to the franchise.
Opening Shot: A cheering audience in the auditorium of East High goes wild for a big production number performed by HSM alums Chad (Corbin Bleu), Taylor (Monique Coleman), Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and Martha (Kaycee Stroh). A sign behind them reads “15th Reunion: High School Musical.” Then Gina and another actor named Mack, sing a number and end it with a kiss. Who is this guy and why does that kiss look like they’re not acting?
After the performance, a director yells “CUT” and we see it’s all been a rehearsal for High School Musical 4.
The Gist: The students of East High are gearing up for a new school year, after having spent the summer at Camp Shallow Lake. Gina (Sofia Wylie) and Ricky (Joshua Bassett) are in a secret relationship now that she’s broken up from E.J. (Matt Cornett), Kourtney (Dara Reneé) thinks she’s a celebrity thanks to the documentary that was filmed last season, and Ashlyn (Julia Lester) is missing Big Red (Larry Saperstein), while also trying to figure out her feelings for her camp friend Maddox. While all of this personal drama is going down, the gang is informed by Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) that they’ll be putting on a stage production of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
That all seems exciting enough until the students are informed (by HSM‘s Coach Jack Bolton, played by Bart Johnson) that Disney has decided to make High School Musical 4: The Reunion movie, and it’s going to film at East High and be filled with some huge stars like Mack (Matthew Sato) and Dani (Kylie Cantrell), a teen celebrity IT couple, and the OG cast like Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman. And the whole drama department will be extras. The one person who’s not excited by this news is Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) who feels undermined by all of this and still plans to put on her High School Musical stage production.
For Gina, who has had a crush since childhood on Mack, this is a very interesting and exciting development, she’s been watching Mack on TV since he was a child star. But Gina thinks she’s ruined any chance at befriending him after an extremely awkward encounter. But hey, that’s no problem because Gina’s with Ricky anyway, and having feelings for Mack would only complicate things. Right?
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The mockumentary sitcom vibes are very Abbott Elementary but with Disney fingerprints and meta references all over it.
Our Take: With this being the final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, the show is pulling out all the stops by raising everyone’s personal stakes and relationships, bringing in as many beloved, familiar guest stars as they could (though no Efron, Hudgens, or Tisdale) and elevating the music performances as much as possible. I mean, of course there’s nothing realistic about any aspect of the show, but it leans into its meta ridiculousness and successfully mines it for laughs.
The show has maintained its likeability and goofy comedic tone after four seasons, and it’s impressive just how many levels it manages to operate on: Fans of the original HSM cast will feel rewarded seeing the stars and references to the older films, people who enjoy inside baseball (or inside Hollywood, as it were) gags about making movies will enjoy the jokes that poke fun at that process (in the first episode, the HSM 4 director Quinn, played by Caitlin Reilly, has some especially funny gags, both written and thanks to her great physical comedy). And younger viewers will probably just enjoy the silly but endearing storylines of all the main characters.
Parting Shot: As Gina lies down to go to sleep, she gets a series of repeated texts from Ricky wishing her a good night. Her phone dings one last time and when she picks it up, it’s not a text from Ricky but a notification that HSM4 star, and her childhood crush, Mack Alana is now following her.
Sleeper Star: As Kourtney, Dara Renee is really embracing her inner diva (if we’re comparing the show to Abbott Elementary, she is giving serious Principal Coleman vibes).
Most Pilot-y Line: “Is it woke? Is it throwback? What if it’s both?” High School Musical 4 star Mack asks about the newest movie in the franchise. Even the dialogue is meta!
Our Call: STREAM IT. HSMTMTS ends on a high note that you won’t want to miss.