Even though I wasn't in middle school at the exact same time that this show takes place, I remember all those elements of middle school - finding the perfect first day of school outfit, getting a bad haircut (mine happened when I stupidly let my little sister cut my hair with regular scissors because I was too impatient to wait until the next day to get a haircut), liking boys who have no interest in you, the cruelty of other kids, and feeling ugly. They touched on so many things in just one episode.
What I really love is Maya and Anna's absolute loyalty to one another. When Maya told Anna that it would be better for Anna not to be her friend after the whole "your dad's dead" debacle, that was true adolescent sacrifice. There is nothing lonelier than having no friends in middle school, but Maya was willing to do it in order to let Anna escape the social taint of being her friend. Meanwhile, Anna refused to leave Maya on her own. That is the kind of female friendship I love. I was actually afraid that Maya was going to end up ditching Anna for the popular girls at the beginning of the episode, so I liked that they didn't go that route.
I also loved the unexpected support Maya got from her brother. I laughed so hard at the aardvark penis insult that he told Maya to yell at Brandt.
On a shallow note, the music and the clothes are so perfectly 2000. I loved that Maya was trying to give herself a Sarah Michelle Gellar haircut. That bowl haircut she ended up with thanks to her mom was all kinds of awful.
ETA: Endng the episode with TLC's Unpretty was perfect.
Edited February 10, 2019 by ElectricBoogalooncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJocGlxYGt6sbHNamxo