“Nothing has changed,” Andi Mack‘s mother tells her midway through Friday’s premiere of the newest Disney Channel dramedy.
But the truth is, everything about Andi’s life has changed. For starters, her “mother” is actually her grandmother — a long-buried secret that’s finally unearthed when Andi’s cool “older sister” returns home for an extended visit.
As you can imagine, the Mack family’s world is turned upside down as each member adjusts to its new role; my favorite moment is when Andi and her father grandfather agree that she should just refer to him as “Pops” from now on. (And to Andi’s credit, the fact that she’s even able to get out of bed the next morning proves she’s a better-adjusted kid than I ever was.)
Of course, not every secret is revealed up front. Much of the premiere’s second half is spent on Andi’s frustration over not knowing who her father is after Andi’s sister mom admits that even she isn’t ready to involve him in their lives just yet.
Granted, Andi doesn’t have to go through this journey of self-(re)discovery alone. In addition to her two best friends — Buffy and Cyrus, because those are children’s names in the world of Andi Mack — she also has a budding relationship with Jonah, allegedly the dreamiest boy in school. And she technically has her “new” mom to thank for that last part; a misguided attempt at helping her daughter make friends led to Andi and Jonah becoming frisbee teammates… and possibly more down the road.
There’s also Amber, the villain in Andi’s story, who — among other terrible things — announces her presence by declaring, “Amber alert! Amber alert!” (It’s not until Andi explains what an Amber alert is that she finally stops.)
Without question, Andi Mack is the most mature, most ambitious project the network has presented to date; you can read more about that in TVLine’s interview with creator Terri Minsky. The question is: Will you follow Andi and her friends/family as they navigate these awkward new waters? Grade the premiere below, then drop a comment with your full review.
Um, some children in the real world are really named Buffy. How do I know? Please look at my name. Yes, it’s my real, given name. No, I wasn’t named for a Vampire Slayer. I predate her by a few years.
Anyone else think Andi was the product of a rape? Hence her teenage mother not wanting to raise her? This is an adult show after all.
Nope. I doubt she’d have a picture of her rapist in her memory box.
So, is Disney going to have their first gay teen character? Or am I just reading too much into Cyrus?
I suspect the show will remain silent on the subject and leave it to the viewers to draw their own conclusions. I could be wrong, but I think you are reading it right.
It has been acknowledged that Cyrus questions his sexual identitiy.
In the season finale, Amber tries to show Jonah that Andi likes him by stating “if she turns around, that means she likes you.”. We then see (after Jonah has walked off) Andi obviously turns around, then, Cyrus turns around also. To me, I see this as a blatantly obvious hint towards his sexuality. He has overall been called girly, and of course acts a bit different, but that could absolutely not be any indicator, just if you go by stereotypes (as Disney Channel often does) this could indicate that Cyrus is gay.
Disney is giving is a teen mom story, that could possibly feature a gay character, who made a period joke. This is cutting edge stuff.
Cyrus is in seventh (eighth) grade and likely just learned about all this stuff. Now he applied that knowledge to every situation.
Wow! Excellent show. Peyton Elizabeth Lee is terrific. Can’t believe it’s on Disney Channel.
Reminds me a little of Lizzie McGuire.
I’m looking forward to more episodes.
Which joke was funnier, the one about the “discheads” or the one about the “Bill Clinton charm” Cyrus’s mother thinks their rabbi has?
To be fair, I expect a lot of kids that age are named Buffy, thanks to a certain Slayer. Cyrus, maybe not so much…
Buffy was the little girl’s name on Family Affair way back in the late 60s. She carried around her doll named Mrs. Beasley which was THE Christmas gift for little girls due to the show’s popularity.
Yeah, I know that… but not many 13-yos are gonna be named after *that* Buffy, even with the Tim Curry remake.
There’s the singer Buffy Sainte Marie?
During the recaps during the show kids were talking about how surprised they were when it was revealed that Andi’s sister was actually her mom. If that was meant to be an unexpected twist for the viewers, then it would have been better not to put that information into over half of the commercials for the show these past few weeks. Sure, even if they’d just had the commercials that mentioned there was a secret without actually giving away what it was some people would have gone online to find out what it was ahead of time; but come on, this way they weren’t even trying.
By the time we got to those commercial 2M people had seen it On Demand.
WAY better the that overrated trash Girl Meets World. Andi Mack is great!
GMW was trying to be “The Fosters” and “The Mickey Mouse Club” at the same time. Didn’t work.
I can’t wait for the ep when Larisa Oleynick comes for a visit as her cool, super-powered Aunt Alex.
Ha! That was the best comment yet!
No point getting attached, Disney Channel doesn’t know what to do with shows that actually want to say something.
Considering they’ve never had one, how would we know?
This is my favorite movie on Disney channel. It is so amazing and so awesome.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why do it only come on on Fridays
Andi, were you in Mexico in April because we think that we saw you at a waffle place and also on a paddle board. We also yelled PEYTON! and then your whole family looked at us and it was really funny. Also, your TV show is like the best thing in the whole entire world.
Is Peyton lee Elizabeth,Andi mack going to go out with jonah beck, Asher angel.?????????
THey need to relies season 2 now .i need to now if andi likes Jonah and who cyrus Ike’s HURRY RILISE IT WHEN I WATCHED SOME TEASERS FOR SEASON TOO AND I SAID HURRY AND RELISE IT