Andi Mack Review: Relationships Will Never Stop Being Complicated

Everyone needs good friends and good relationships in their lives, and Andi Mack has some of the greatest. There’s a lot of support, not a lot of judgment, and everyone generally has the same questions around the same time. The older they get, the more complicated friendships and relationships are going to be. Cyrus is the perfect example, as he is trying to come to terms with who he is. It doesn’t get much easier when you’re older. Bex is proof of that. Good friends are important for helping to sort through the muddled mess of constantly changing feelings.

Buffy is the role model on Disney for girls who want to get into sports. She has incredible drive, stamina, and passion for everything she does. Because she’s a girl, there’s a special kind of challenge attached to every sport she tries out for. Buffy is just getting a taste of the kind of discrimination she will face in the future. There is always going to be some punk who thinks she isn’t good enough to make the team because she’s a girl. It’s a good thing Buffy is a girl who is galvanized when someone tells her she can’t do something. What’s also great about this experience is that when Buffy makes the team and Marty doesn’t, he’s cool about it. That scene could have been written very differently. It’s better to showcase a young boy who is genuinely happy for his friend. That would unnecessarily complicate their relationship.

Andi’s still trying to figure out the complications of relationships. This includes friendships, because you don’t always know as much as you think you know about another person. Given the horrible way Amber has treated Andi, it’s no wonder she is confused about why Amber now wants to be friends. It’s because Jonah encouraged the friendship, as far-fetched as that sounds. Jonah may be a person who wants everyone to get along, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. He knows there is more to Amber than what she shows on the surface, and he knows that Andi is one of the most generous people he’s ever met. Amber needs friends to support her through a tough time, and if she and Andi could find a way to be on good terms, why shouldn’t they be? Additionally, Andi doesn’t need to know all of Amber’s problems to be supportive. That kind of stuff is private. Of all people, Andi is the one person who would understand this.

She’ll be learning about complicated relationships for decades. Here’s the thing. When teens try to ask their parents about relationships, they never get a straight answer about anything. Kids, it’s not because adults are trying to be difficult or confuse you. This is not a trick. We give you obtuse answers because we genuinely don’t know most of the time. So, as Andi is trying to figure out why Amber wants to be friends with her, she tries to counsel Bex on her mystery man. Sometimes kids have better answers than parents do, and sometimes what they say is just plain scary. Case in point, Bex and Andi’s conversation about closure. “Do you even understand the words you’re using?” “Do you?” Someone should tell Cyrus that it doesn’t get any easier, no matter who you like.

Bex finally tells Andi about her mystery man, Gabriel. It’s not what we thought. Gabriel wasn’t the love of Bex’s life, he was the guy who messed Bex up. The kids already have a sense of what does and doesn’t feel right in a relationship. Luckily, they haven’t yet gone through what Bex calls a “toxic” relationship. It’s not something that can be explained, except to say that it has a very negative impact on your ability to feel good in a relationship. This is the real reason Bex can’t marry Bowie. We’ll see what the future brings.