Greenhouse Academy S3 E1

## Plot

God, I can't believe I'm putting myself through this again. In case you couldn't tell, my opinion of this show obviously changed after I thought it had ended, and while I was initially excited for a third season, I didn't think the trailer did a very good job of showing me what it was about. And then I actually watched the shortened third season, and it turns out that the trailer didn't represent what this season was about at all, at least in my opinion. It focused on action, drama, and cliffhangers, when I'd say that the season loses its interesting footing after two episodes and takes a few to get back to anything remotely intriguing. Once again, we learn nothing about anyone's interesting backstory, and just focus on normal teenage drama. While some of the kids *do* find out parts of a conspiracy, they once again don't share anything with each other or a responsible adult, and the season ends on a huge cliffhanger with at least one of the characters possibly being dead and the other being near death. So, yeah, I hated this season. Maybe my opinion will change when the fourth season comes out, but I seriously doubt it. I can't believe I'm even admitting this, but I stand corrected. The fourth season was really good. Anyways, the episode starts with Leo and Daniel fighting on a mountain over a cliff. We flashback to one week earlier. It's been a month since the end of season 2, and the kids are being given medals of honor. They claim that they thought it was another challenge by Louis. And then Jackie breaks up with Max over the phone. She left the Greenhouse to be with her mom, who found out where she was when she was on the news, and she doesn't think a long distance relationship with Max would work. Emma still likes him. My OTPs fall apart this season. Why couldn't Jessica Amlee come back? Why did they write Jackie off when they could've just replaced her actress like they did with Emma and Brooke? Speaking of which, I think Danika Yarosh does a good job of picking up where Grace Van Dien left off. Dana Melanie… not so much. She's just not Emma to me. It's not her fault, it's just how I feel. I always find it weird when a live action show replaces an actor for a familiar character, particularly if the actors look nothing alike. I hope this wasn't an intentional casting decision, but… whitewashing. Also, instead of finding out anything about a character's past, we're instead left with even more questions, like what Jackie, Sophie, or Suzanne's pasts were like for them to end up where they are now. Judy isn't even mentioned, and Marcus is only seen in a recording for an exposition dump. Oh, and Aspen has obviously left and gone back to London. Anyways, the Science Olympiad is coming up, and a team from the Greenhouse has placed first every year, so Louis has high expectations. Hayley and Daniel are still dating and miss each other, so she invites the Eagles over to study with the Ravens. They get 10th place in the Olympiad, which pisses off Louis. He hates that the teams are actually getting along and being friendly with each other. He thinks they've lost their drive and passion to win and be the best, so he decides to change that by making them go on a two day nature hike through the Santa Barbara mountains while trying to capture three flags. The winning team will get a day off at the beach, and the losing one will have to clean the entire grounds, since they haven't had a groundskeeper in the last month, and Louis has his head so far up his own ass that he's neglected to hire a new one. Expect a lot more swearing from me while talking about this season, at least for the first few episodes. It's like all of the adults become incompetent or evil once they come to the Greenhouse. Louis gives Leo and Sophie emergency walkie talkies… but the team that uses them will automatically forfeit and lose the competition, which naturally makes them extremely reluctant to actually use them when they have emergencies. Louis didn't think this through at all. Brooke later claims that it's because of what happened with Jason, but I call bullshit on that. Given his earlier actions, I think he's just really selfish and only cares about his reputation, not the safety of his students, even if he feels massive regret about it later on. After all, better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, right? I'm surprised he didn't make the kids sign waivers and NDAs. Did he even get permission to do this, considering how last minute it seems? Hayley tells Leo that he's looking at the map wrong, and he reluctantly listens to her. Alex calls Louis Satan in front of Brooke, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Nothing comes from it though, and the Eagles decide to take a quick break. Max lies to Emma and says that he and Jackie are still together, and she claims that she has a boyfriend called Leaf. The Ravens find their first flag. Becca suggests moving the rock with the arrow on it in the other direction to throw off the Eagles, but Hayley points out that that's cheating and it would be unfair, and Max and Emma agree with her. Leo was open to the idea though, but claims he was just kidding. Meanwhile, the Eagles have a food fight. They and the Ravens meet back up when their paths cross. They're still friendly with each other and sing camp songs that night. Wait, do they actually sing the unofficial theme song that should honestly be their actual intro, because their real one is boring, unoriginal, and only a few seconds long? I think they do. I guess that's kind of cool. Anyways, Hayley and Leo are back to being on a last name basis like Harry and Draco (because Brits ares weird), and she and Daniel go on a walk together. It's revealed that Coach Davies is watching everyone and is in contact with Louis, who tells him to do whatever it takes to turn up the heat. The next morning, Max wakes up and discovers that someone burnt the Ravens' flag in the fire pit. They accuse the Eagles of doing it, which they deny. Daniel says it must've fallen in the fire. Hayley is wearing an Eagles sweatshirt. Emma discovers that someone spray painted Leo's guitar in the Eagles' colors. Alex suggests that someone is just trying to mess with them. Parker thinks that the Ravens did it to themselves to start something. Hayley tells them to knock it off, saying that the Eagles are their friends, but Becca says they're not. Daniel drops their flag in the fire pit to make it even, and offers to slash all their basketballs when they get back if it'll make Leo stop. Or you could just clean his guitar or buy him a new one when you get back? Seems like a lot less work. Leo and Becca tell Hayley to just go join the Eagles, and some random guy calls her a traitor. Emma tells Becca to stop, and Max almost says something to Hayley, but doesn't. Becca has a larger role in the first half of the season, but she's kind of a bitch, and super clingy with Leo, who she obviously has a massive crush on. She doesn't add anything new or interesting to the show. She's not one of the eight or nine people who learn about part of the conspiracy. This time it's Sophie, Parker, Brooke, Daniel, Hayley, Emma, Max, Leo, and a new guy named Enzo, and it's not until the last two episodes of the season. God, the writers and director suck at pacing. Anyways, the teams meet again at a river, where they find the next flags. Parker gets the Eagles', and Leo tries to get the Ravens', but he ignores Hayley's warnings about going too fast and slips, and the Eagles make fun of him. Sophie stupidly leaves the iodine pills needed to purify their water on a rock instead of keeping them safely tucked away in her bag like a normal person would. Becca knocks Parker over, and everyone fights in the river. Amazingly, the Eagles don't lose their iodine pills during this. Still, they should have emergency extra supplies in case they need extra food, or at least purified water. I know the school is called the Greenhouse, but I would've gone with plastic water bottles and just recycled them afterwards. At least have the teachers on standby with extra supplies, and probably some paramedics too. Louis is glad that the kids are fighting again, not understanding the difference between healthy competition and actively trying to seriously hurt or kill someone else. Coach Davies isn't comfortable with this, but Louis tells him they'd use their walkie-talkies to call for help if there were any real trouble, *and if they're true winners, they'll tough it out*. Oh, so no pain, no gain huh? Well, guess what Louis? I know this may surprise you, but they can't "tough it out" or "walk it off" if they're fucking dead! **Fuck off!!!** You are a horrible person with terrible intuition and judgment! No wonder Judy, Jason, Marcus, and so many other people were able to trick you so easily and lie right to your face! You! Are! An! Idiot! An idiot who *deserves* to lose his job and his reputation at the very least! It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he's evil too at this point. We have another twist this season with who's involved in the conspiracy. I'm not gonna lie, it's surprising and it hit me almost as hard as the reveal that Emma was involved, but then I actually thought about it and realized that it was kind of stupid. It's just a twist for the sake of a twist, with no foreshadowing whatsoever, same thing with Emma. I actually cared about Emma though. I didn't care about this character or really know much about her at all. And everything I did know was clearly proven to be false with the reveal that she was an evil spy all along. No, it's not Becca, unfortunately. That would actually make her interesting, or at least important. Anyways, back at the river, Leo hurt his hand, but he tells Hayley that he's fine. She gives him the sweatshirt to wipe the blood off, but he just throws it away and Emma puts a bandage on his hand. Becca steals the Eagles' iodine pills because she's a massive bitch who hates them almost as much as she hates Hayley for breaking Leo's heart. No one ever finds out about this or calls her out on it by the way. She's never punished for endangering people's lives. What the actual fuck? What kind of message does that send to real, impressionable people? I'm just saying, in the real world, actions have consequences (at least for normal people). Hayley has had enough harassment and decides to join the Eagles, despite Emma's **one** objection. "Hayley, don't." Yeah, real convincing Dana. Also, I know I'm just mentioning this now, but in fairness, there's a lot of stupidity to cover. Hayley doesn't seem upset that her supposed best friend Jackie left the Greenhouse forever. Becca tells Max and Emma that Hayley has been dying to join the Eagles for weeks. Brooke gives her an Eagles shirt, and Daniel gives her face paint. Sophie tells everyone that their iodine pills are gone. She thought she left them by the river, but she looked everywhere and they're gone. Parker thinks the Ravens took them. Hayley says they didn't take them. Or at least, she didn't. Sophie thinks she should call Louis, but Alex refuses, and drinks the water to see if it's safe. It's not, but he insists that he's fine. Parker hides the rock with the arrow on it to throw the Ravens off the trail. Sophie tells him that's cheating, but doesn't put it back. They're currently lost. Max tries to climb a rock to get a better view and figure out where they are, but he falls and sprains his ankle. He can't walk. Emma wants to call for help on the walkie-talkie, but Leo refuses to. Max tells them to go ahead without him. Emma stays with him, and Leo tells them that they'll come back for them after the challenge. Alex pukes, but he wants to keep going. Emma almost tells Max that Leaf isn't real, but then says that he's an athlete, so he wouldn't really be in a situation like this. Which isn't even true, given the situations Daniel, Alex, and Parker have and will find themselves in. The Ravens and Eagles meet up again near a cliff with the final flags. Leo asks what happened to Alex, and they learn that he's sick. Parker accuses them of stealing their iodine pills. Leo denies it and Becca doesn't come clean. Leo tells them that Max sprained his ankle because they moved the trail sign, and Sophie and Parker don't tell the truth. In fact, Sophie outright lies and denies that they did, which is ***so fucking hypocritical*** when she acts all high and mighty about always telling the truth in the next episode, and when she chooses to hide the truth in later episodes out of fear of being kicked out of the school. Alex collapses, and Daniel and Leo race to the flags. Daniel tells Leo that Hayley is with him, so he's already won. Leo bumps into him, and he grabs Leo's guitar and threatens to drop it off the cliff. Also, these flag locations are stupid. This is such an obvious recipe for disaster. Leo tells Daniel to go ahead because he'd rather take the win, so Daniel throws the guitar at him and then punches him. Leo pushes him off, and we're back to the beginning of the episode. Sophie orders Daniel to stop and Hayley pulls him off Leo. Instead of taking the flag, Sophie grabs something else. I have no idea what it is. Maybe something to signal people so Louis knows they're done with the challenge? Anyways, Sophie says it's over, but Leo says it's not. Alex and Max are hurt, so they all decided to call for help. Leo says he's the Ravens' captain, and he hasn't decided anything. He tells her not to set off the thing in her hand and that they haven't won. She says she's not trying to win, and he lunges at her. She backs up and falls off the cliff. Leo grabs her hand, but she slips and falls.