High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: Season Three Review

The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series cast poses for a quick photo while attending Disney's annual D23 Expo in 2019. Source: D23 Expo 2019, Flickr

When Disney launched its streaming service, Disney+, in 2019, one of the first original series to be launched on the app was High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. The series follows a group of high school theater kids who attend the infamous East High, the school where the iconic High School Musical films were shot. The show features stars such as Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Sofia Wylie and many more talented young actors. 

Ever since its release, the show has curated massive success, with the series even becoming one of the first Disney+ original series to be renewed for a fourth season. With the third season having recently come to an end, many fans are still recovering from the season finale and all that went down throughout the season. 

Personally, I have been a massive fan of the show ever since its release in 2019. Between the show’s stellar soundtrack and the nostalgia that the HSM genre brings to gen z’s like myself, this show had me hooked since the first episode.

The first two seasons of HSMTMTS took place in the wondrous halls of East high, following the students as they navigate through high school drama while also taking part in their school’s drama club, performing musicals each semester. However, season three brought about a change of scenery. Taking place at a summer camp in California, season three’s change of pace was necessary because it allowed the audience to see the characters outside of their comfort zones.

Season three saw the return of many of our favorite characters such as Ricky Bowen (Joshua Bassett), Gina Porter (Sofia Wylie), Kourtney Greene (Dara Renee), and EJ Caswell (Matt Cornett). The main plotline of this season saw the kids preparing to put on the first ever student run production of Disney’s Frozen. The catch that no one saw coming was that the kids were going to be filming a documentary for Disney+ documenting their experience putting on their production of Frozen, and Corbin Bleu (Chad Danforth from the HSM movies) was going to be directing it. This all seemed exciting in the beginning, but as the season went on, the audience realized that this was going to cause much drama for our beloved characters. 

Now that I have laid out the basics, let’s get into my thoughts on the season. 

Overall, season three was by far one of the most fun seasons of television I have seen in a while. I felt like this season returned back to the roots of season one with the increased use of the mockumentary style interviews and the dry, sarcastic humor that made season one so enjoyable. 

Regarding the choice of musical for this season, I thought that Frozen was a great option because the storylines in the movie mirrored the storylines for a lot of characters in the show, which I think was a unique stylistic choice made by showrunner Tim Federle. 

The soundtrack for this time around was very impressive, with this season featuring songs from the Frozen broadway soundtrack, High School Musical 2, and Camp Rock one and two. Some of my personal favorites are “What Do You Know About Love?” performed by Joshua Bassett and Sofia Wylie, and “Finally Free”, performed by Joshua Bassett. The music is what makes the show stand out from other shows directed towards a young adult audience because the series features both original songs as well as covers from all of our favorite Disney Channel Original Movies.

This season also featured groundbreaking storylines that showcased LGBTQ+ representation as well as a storyline revolving around a character struggling with anxiety. It is very refreshing and exciting to see these topics be talked about in a television show that is targeted towards a younger audience because kids and teenagers will see the representation of themselves that they deserve to see on screen. 

Although I have always been a fan of HSMTMTS, season three really elevated my love for the show. The plot was very well delivered this season, and I appreciated that this season ended in a state of hope rather than on a cliffhanger like the two previous seasons. From episode one to episode eight, viewers could very clearly see that the intention of this season was to showcase that embracing change is ok, because you never know where it may lead you. 

Season three of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series was truly such a fun watch, and if you are interested in checking out the show, make sure to head over to Disney+ to stream seasons 1-3!