REVIEW: ‘High School Musical The Musical The Series,’ Season 3 – Episode 1 “Happy Campers”

High School Musical The Musical The Series is back with its third season on Disney+. This time, East High is going to camp as the HSMTMTS Season 3 premiere brings a combination of High School Musical 2 and Camp Rock vibes. EJ (Matt Cornett) and Gina (Sofia Wylie) are a thing, Ricky (Joshua Bassett) and Nini (Olivia Rodrigo) are very much not, Carlos (Frankie A. Rodriguez) and Ashlyn (Julia Lester) are without their Seb (Joe Serafini) and Big Red (Larry Saperstein). Still, they do have Kourtney (Dara Renee). Oh, and a celebrity guest is joining camp with a huge announcement for the summer musical.

If you thought this show couldn’t get any more meta, enter: Corbin Bleu, playing himself as a corporate stooge at camp to make a documentary about the first production of Frozen: The Musical, which the camp will be putting on this summer. He rattles off a bunch of Disney corporate legalese, assures them the film will stream on Disney+, and literally, as I was saying how hilariously meta this all was, a camper blurted it out themselves. I love this show. I love how unserious it takes itself. I love how it continues to find new ways to keep itself fresh without leaving its high school musical roots behind. I love how it keeps bringing in new characters while finding new ways to make old characters feel different. And I love how no matter how corny it gets, I’m still just along for the ride.

I don’t love how I’m not sure if all of our favorites will actually be featured prominently or at least be in the same places together at the same times. Every member of the cast brings something great, and while obviously, in real life, not every member of a group of friends spends it together the whole time, it’s still odd to be missing or separating some key cast members. Olivia Rodrigo is known to have her role significantly diminished this season (she’s not even in the main credits) and will be sorely missed as she’s off having a killer music career right now.

Almost as odd as it is having them all at camp together. I spent my whole life going to and working at camp. I still work at camp. I would never invite my outside friends to come to camp with me for the first time at 17 years old, no matter how much I loved them. Camp is weird. So weird. As reflected upon immediately by half the newbies. And kids who have been going forever have long-standing friendships and inside jokes and stories that simply can’t be explained to others. I’m not saying they won’t have a good time in their own right, make new friends, or become part of a group. It just all feels fishy to me, is all.

We’ll see where it goes from here; I hope they branch out and make new friends, as newcomer Maddox (Saylor Bell) implies is bound to happen whether they expect it or not. But we’re in the third season of a show. How much new are they really going to through at us, as opposed to developing the core group. Especially since it’s camp and they’re in California. We will probably never see most of these new characters again after this season, akin to last season’s North High crew.

Nonetheless, I’m excited for what the new environment will bring in terms of both growth and drama. Camp surely is the perfect place for both of these. So far, I love the setup, and I’m willing to endure an awkward representation of what camp looks like because it’s still going to get the spirit right, at least. The new musical this season is bound to bring lots of good emotional parallels for our characters. Plus, with High School Musical 2 and Camp Rock vibes all over the place, I’m sure the music, in general, will be a blast. The “What Time Is It” rendition, in the beginning, was fun, and the new original song by Bassett, “Finally Free,” was pretty swell, too, even if the montage that played behind it was a bit over-extended.

The HSMTMTS Season 3 premiere has things off to a great start. I can’t wait for summertime and camp with this goofy show, for all of the fun and drama it will surely bring.

HSMTMTS Season 3 is streaming exclusively on Disney+ with new episodes every Wednesday.