When Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley) becomes pregnant after a run-in with the school’s resident “bad boy” Ricky (Daren Kagasoff), her life, as well as the lives of most of the students in her school, changes dramatically.
Daddy Issues
After Amy hooks up with Ricky at band camp, she begins to suspect that she is pregnant. After months and months, she finally tells her mother about it, although everyone else in her school already knows. The constant discussion of her pregnancy fills her with angst, and she finds a shoulder to cry on in Ben Boykewich (Kenny Baumann). After one date, they decide that they are in love, and even though he is not the father of the baby, Ben promises to marry Amy and help her to raise the baby.
At first, Ricky is outraged by the news that he is going to be a father. Due to the fact that he was sexually abused as a child, he has become a playboy of sorts and makes it his goal to have sex with all of the pretty girls in school. Amy’s pregnancy makes this goal difficult to obtain, and he is forced to stick with the one girl who is always ready to be intimate with him--Adrien (Francia Raisa).
Jealousy
After much partner-switching and dating drama, the baby is born and Ricky decides to become a more honorable, responsible man, and helps Amy raise the baby. This makes Ben very jealous, and he is constantly whining about Amy letting Ricky into her room to take care of the baby.
Ben’s reaction, though expected, is tiring, as is pretty much everything else on the show. Amy’s constant complaining that she can’t have a normal life drives the viewer up the wall, for it is her own fault that she can’t have the life that she wishes she had. Ricky, who has the potential to be a complex, intriguing character, is kind of a joke, for his acting is so poor that the audience does not believe anything he says, even when he is not lying to the other characters. Even the parents on the show are irritating, for they all have their own dramas and they, like all of the teen actors, are terrible at acting, and the overall show just feels fake.
The Imaginary Life of the American Teenager
The Secret Life of the American Teenager has the potential to be a realistic portrayal of life at an American high school. Instead, the show is like a caricature of its subject matter. True, teens in high school do discuss sex, but on The Secret Life, it is all that the kids discuss. The show, although the actors keep saying that not everyone is doing it, seems to be promoting sexual relations because of the fact that every single high-schooler on the program is sexually active, save for one boy, who just keeps saying how much he wants to be. Overall, the show is a waste of time, and it is not an accurate portrayal of life in an American high school.
The Secret Life of the American Teenager airs on ABC Family Monday nights.
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