With the current state of the world being… as it is, Disney+ has much needed reprieve, more so than even Netflix. There’s always an air of quality to a Disney production even if it ends up being garbage for other reasons. I’ve really started to enjoy the more theatric Disney musicals, it’s why I’m reviewing the Teen Beach Movies, but in research for those I came across something else, a Disney Sitcom named Austin and Ally.
Far as I can tell, none of the other leads had musical experience going in though I would presume musical talent came as part of the auditioning process, especially given what they ended up with in the main product.
So why am I doing a single review of the entire show instead of an episode by episode retrospective? Primarily because it’s a sitcom. It’s the same reason I’m hesitant on doing the Malibu Rescue series, despite doing the pilot movie. I could break every episode down but doing that would be paramount to just explaining all the jokes. Whilst there are developments through the series, I wouldn’t call the show serialised, or even narrative-driven, so an episode-by-episode breakdown wouldn’t really work.
That and even with me drawing Daredevil and Reboot: The Guardian Code to a close, I’m still doing Dragons, Stranger Things, Jessica Jones and Voltron and I plan to do resume covering Young Justice, do breakdown for the final series of the Clone Wars, and there’s also candidates like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, The Mandalorian, Titans, The Umbrella Academy, the Dragon Prince, not all of these are even set in stone, but there’s a lot.
So, I’m just gonna break the series down as a long review, I’ll discuss some plot, certain running gags, characters and their respective growths and developments over the course of the series, and any other interesting bits I can think of along the way. So, let’s start with the pilot episode because that was the first one. The first 5 minutes are pretty rapid fire with the gags, whilst also introducing the main characters. We start with Ally Dawson (Laura Marano), a talented songwriter who’s a bit of a stick in the mud and suffers from chronic stage fright. Trish De La Rosa, her best friend, she takes no prisoners and says things as they are, in other words she can come across a bit rude, she’s also lazy and has a new job every other minute. We have Austin Moon (Ross Lynch) an extroverted and fun-loving kid with musical and dance talent and his best friend Dez (Calum Worthy) the comic relief idiot who’s an aspiring film director.
Ally works at a music store called The Music Factory, run by her cheap father Lester (Andy Milder) she also teaches music lessons, but her practice room is a bit lacking. Austin overhears Ally performing a version of a song called ‘Double Take,’ the next morning, he and Dez have managed to record and release the song and it’s become a big hit, with Ally getting none of the credit. Ally doesn’t take this well but when she confronts Austin he acts like a total prat. We set the stage of a sorta love/hate relationship between Trish and Dez that lasts the duration of the show.
Austin is booked on a talk show, the Helen show, clearly a nod to the Ellen Show, Helen dances like… something every time her theme music is played. She asks Austin to perform a new song the next day, which is a problem as Austin is shockingly bad at song-writing. He goes to Ally for help, apologising for not giving her credit. It takes all night, and some fun means of inspiration, but they manage it and it’s a decent song. However, when the pianist is sick, Austin wants Ally to perform and has an idea to end her stage fright.
Yeah, I could use that clip a lot for this show, and really any sitcom. His plan is to make it seem to her like she’s performing behind a curtain and lift the curtain during the performance. Upon the curtain lifting Ally's stage fright kicks in and she ends destroying the set. Presumably after that got deducted from Austin’s pay check, he uses the money to revamp the practice room and offers a partnership, where she writes the music and he performs, she accepts the deal and the rest was history. Trish becomes Austin’s manager but clearly it doesn’t pay much as she has other jobs over the first 3 seasons.
I’m skipping over episode 2 which is mostly wacky hijinks and a decent song, straight to the first hint about the future of that partnership. Secrets and Songbooks uses a classic sitcom plot-line where one character reads another’s diary, which is this case is Ally’s songbook. Austin discovers that Ally has a crush, she believes it’s on him, and does what he can to turn her off. As it turns out her crush is actually Dallas (played by a fledgling Noah Centineo, who’d later become no stranger to rom-coms) who runs a cell phone accessory cart. Ally soon works it out and plans revenge with the help of Trish, who claims herself to very good at revenge, this is important as I’ll come back to this later.
When Ally asks why Austin why he freaked out so much over the idea of him liking her in that way, Austin responds that he doesn’t want to jeopardise the current friendship they have, this is episode 3, might’ve worked better a little later. The next minor step for Ally is in Club Owners and Quinceañeras, where she wants to work on her bad dancing to impress Dallas, and ends up unintentionally injuring Austin in the process.
Dallas initially rejects a dance proposal from Ally, leading Austin to offer to dance with her, even with only one good leg, Dallas eventually admits to his own terrible dancing and the two bond over it, though Austin is a little disappointed. There’s also a sweet moment in this episode where Austin gives up on the idea of singing for a potential club deal (it wouldn’t have worked out anyway) choosing instead to give Ally her dance, despite the fact the last time he danced with Ally, he injured himself.
In Deejays and Demos, Ally feels invisible in Austin’s success, triggered by something Dez said. This plot-line doesn’t work, she literally embarrassed herself on live television and the clip became popular online. But it’s another example of Austin doing something sweet for Ally, playing her song on the radio instead of his to get her voice out there, not counting on the idea that once it is, people will want to interview her.
World Records and Work Wreckers is the last appearance of Dallas, he quits the job at the cell phone cart under the false impression that he was being hired at Sonic Boom. Ally can’t bring herself to fire him, even as his inability to do much results in the store getting wrecked. Lester won’t help because of reasons. Anyway, he leaves of his own accord at the end of the episode and we never see him again.
The next big episode is episode 15, Film Making and Fear Breaking, which showcases Dez’s unique directing style. He’s making a movie set on a beach, and has Austin play the lead, revealing Austin’s deep fear of umbrellas. This is silly and isn’t mentioned again after this episode but it leads us to finding out about the truth of Ally’s stage fright. She had a nervous breakdown when auditioning for a music school and hasn’t been able to perform in public since.
Successes and Setbacks offers the next major development as Austin signs a record deal with Starr Records and the head, Jimmy Starr. Jimmy Starr is the worst character on this show, and I’ll have some things to say about him, later. The season finale, Albums and Auditions, sees Austin release his first Album. To thank Ally for her help, they apply to a music school she was interested in, the same one she freaked out on before, on her behalf and use footage from a lesson to trick the interviewer.
This works and she’s accepted, but what they didn’t realise is that the school was in New York, while they live in Miami. There’s a small bust up around this, and sweet rendition of the awesome theme song as Ally ultimately decides she’s better off writing with her friends than attending the school.
Season 1 is a solid start, it hits the ground running with gags and wacky plot-lines and scenarios, whilst laying the groundwork for development to start in the next season.
Season 2 starts with a Halloween Special but unlike the other Halloween specials this show, this one has narrative importance. It’s a costume party and Austin is set to perform a duet with Taylor Swift, unfortunately, there’s no way they have the budget for Taylor Swift, so her stunt double gets knocked out and Ally, who coincidentally is wearing the same costume, performs in her place. It’s nice that Austin isn’t even remotely disappointed about this. It’s the first step in the road to Ally overcoming her stage fright.
Backups and Breakups is the only episode to revolve around Austin’s backup dancers, otherwise they appear when there’s a song or music video and never have any bearing on the plot, and Ally thought she was invisible. One is injured and auditions for a replacement begin. Trish has fallen for Trent, one of the auditionees and persuades Austin to hire him. Ally later finds out he was only dating her to get the part and has another girlfriend, when all comes out, the team throw him out. It’s nice that Trish has no doubt that her best friend wouldn’t lie about something like this. So many movies need to take notes from this. This is also the first episode we see Ally’s mother
Magazines and Made Up Stuff is important for 2 characters, first there’s Brooke, who’s dating Austin for the duration of the episode. She’s a tad creepy but don’t worry, she gets worse later. The other major character is Megan Simms, a reporter for the Magazine Cheetah Beat, with the mentality of a 10-year old, because she’s a 10-year old.
Crybabies and Cologne features the return of Trent, who becomes an Artist named T-Fame and pulls an Austin by stealing one of Ally’s songs. Austin unintentionally ignites a feud that lasts all of 5 minutes when you remember that Trent can’t write for sh*t. It ends with a gag involving Bees and I just can’t resist this reference.
The next episode is first part of a big crossover with another Disney Sitcom, Jessie. As an Austin and Ally episode, it’s fine, it moves the plot along by allowing Austin to accomplish his big dream of playing Times Square on New Years Eve. As a crossover, however, the cracks start to appear. Jessie appears for about 3 minutes in the entire episode, only 1 member of her supporting cast appears, there’s not much interaction and the only plot relevant act they do is provide a dues ex-machina for the ending. The second part is an episode of Jessie which is much better as a crossover, though I’m not covering it here.
Ferris Wheels and Funky Breath is next, Austin is shooting his first ‘big-budget’ music video, which is taking place in a fairground. Unfortunately, the girl they chose for Austin’s love interest has really bad breath. Bad breath becomes a strange recurring gag after this episode. Her name is Kira and she’s the daughter of Jimmy Starr, my deepest condolences.
Turns out her problem was Garlic and Anchovy Pizza, which makes me sick just thinking about it, but the issue is resolved off-screen and by the next episode, Girlfriends and Girl Friends, Austin wants to ask her out. In helping him prepare for his date, Ally begins to realise she really does like Austin in that way.
Campers and Complications gives Ally a potential love-interest in Elliot, someone she met at Camp many years ago and was her first crush. We see Austin act jealous for most of the episode, much to Kira’s increasing frustration. It soon becomes apparent to Ally that they’re not right for each other, and admits part of her hopes of this working was to keep her mind off Austin and Kira. Dez eventually gets Austin to admit he likes Ally too. The episode ends with Kira telling Austin that he needs to make a decision.
The love-triangle culminates in Chapters and Choices and Partners and Parachutes, the first 2-parter to fall exclusively in this series. Chapters and Choices features a prominent role for Penny Dawson (Julia Campbell) as Ally finally decides to try and conquer her stage fright. Austin decides to make it official with Kira, with the same excuse about ruining their friendship used, but as she pauses to think, Austin and Ally perform a duet and end up kissing backstage, Kira arrives shortly after, accepting Austin’s offer.
Partners and Parachutes features Austin trying to break up with Kira without hurting her. His first idea is to bring their relationship up to Jimmy in the hopes he would force them to break up, this doesn’t happen and he gives his blessing, remember this for a future point. Eventually he just admits his feelings but Megan Sims manages to snap a photo to publish, making it seem less genuine to Ally. They get together by the end of the episode with a great acoustic number.
Freaky Friends and Fan Fiction is largely an unimportant episode but it needs to be mentioned as the debut episode of Chuck, Dez’s rival. I don’t like Chuck, not just because he’s an antagonist but because the episodes with him always seem to play out the same with the same recurring gag that goes on too long. Say what you will for Nelson’s misunderstandings (that I hadn’t mentioned till now because he exists purely for that running gag) it isn’t a 30-second long bit. In terms of placement, it seems odd that it would be here, it might’ve been better off earlier on.
Couples and Careers features a few bumps when it comes to Austin and Ally’s relationship. They can’t go on dates without it being awkward and are so afraid to hurt each other’s feelings, it hurts their song-writing. That being said, I feel a film song, which is what they were making at the time, would likely be made according to a brief, and the genre, one of their main points of contention would be part of that brief.
They decide they’re not ready to be in a relationship yet and split up. I agree they’re not ready but not for the reasons they think. They both knew and feared this might happen, but choose to step away from it instead of work through it, it’s a shame, but we’re not even halfway through the series yet.
Ally begins to work on a solo career, with her beginning an audition in Solos and Stray Kitties, she thinks it’s for a record label but in fact it’s for a band called the Stray Kitties and their manager Val. Thanks to some trickery from Trish, Ally performs solo and is apparently being approached by various record labels, something we never really see any evidence of.
Boy Songs and Badges is not really worth mentioning other than the hilariously fake Bear Costume they use, also a reminder that Austin really can’t write songs on his own. Tracks and Troubles features Kira returning as an artist for Star Records. The team accidentally record over one of her songs and Jimmy is livid upon discovering it, dropping Austin from the label entirely. He thought it was done deliberately as Kira had been vying for one of Ally’s songs, and Ally had refused. Incidentally he didn’t want to sign Ally in fear of a conflict of interest with Austin, okay...
Ally gives her song to Kira to prove no ill intent, Kira allows Ally to perform it and things are smoothed over with Jimmy. Austin offers to step back from the label to allow Ally to be signed by Jimmy but Jimmy is now keen to take them both on. Trish holds off on agreeing for Ally, citing the other interested parties, which we will never see.
Viral Videos and Very Bad Dancing brings the focus on Ally’s awful dancing, she claims to love it and decides to use the oddity of it to her strength with her newest video, the Ally Way. I don’t love this song, but I don’t generally like loud club songs like it anyway. We’re also introduced to Jean Paul Paul-John, he’s very dramatic.
Tunes and Trials focuses on Austin writing a song, ‘Steal Your Heart.’ Everyone wonders who it’s about… It’s about Ally, they throw in a bunch of Red Herrings, but of course it’s about Ally. Val returns and almost destroys Austin’s career by accusing him of stealing the song from her, she faces no consequences for this. Austin also confirms that he does still have feelings for Ally. Steal your heart is a great song, but this show doesn’t really have a bad song.
Sports and Sprains features Dez and Chuck competing on the cheer-leading team whilst Austin tries his hand at Basketball, Jimmy stops him, not wanting injuries to stop him from dancing so when Austin ignores him and twists his ankle, Dez comes up with a creative solution to hide the fact and keep him dancing. This is the one time where I can kinda see where Jimmy is coming from.
Family and Feuds brings the Chuck/Dez rivalry to a head when Chuck starts dating Dez’s sister, the crew eventually concoct a scenario to force them to work together. Not much really changes though, they’ll be back to competing in his next appearance. Val and Jean Paul Paul-Jean return in Moon Week and Mentors for the last time, as judges in a show clearly inspired by the Voice, Austin and Ally are also judges, as a unit for some reason.
Real Life and Reel Life is a greatest hits kind of episode, combining different movie styles to summarise the story so far but Austin and Ally both find out secrets the other kept in the process that push them apart. Ross Lynch does a great Johnny Depp. The situation is resolved as they reprise the scene where Ally conquers her stage fright, this time portrayed as a Twilight Parody and enjoy a kiss that goes on for about 10 seconds.
The season ends with Fresh Starts and Farewells, Austin is heading on tour, but Trish has one last surprise for Ally, a chance to impress another record exec, Ronnie Ramon, who she eventually signs with. Unfortunately, in doing so she can’t go on the tour with Austin. The two depart on good terms.
Season 2 is primarily about Ally’s growth as an artist, she is a very different person at season’s end than she was at the beginning. They begin introducing more recurring antagonists, although none of them last into season 3 except for Chuck, yay…
Season 3 begins with Road Trips and Reunions; Austin is still on tour. Ally is clearly missing him, seeing him everywhere and Austin is doing the same. When they left, Austin left Ally a plane ticket to come visit and some comedic hijinks later, Ally agrees to stay with them for the rest of the tour. Which lasts the next couple of episodes.
The gang return to Miami in Beach Clubs and BFFs where Trish instantly gets a job with a new Beach Bar, which to the shock of literally everyone, she keeps for most of the season, and it’s revealed Kira and Ally have been hanging out but this is Kira’s final appearance in the show, so it honestly meant very little.
The main story continues in Austin and Alias. Ronnie Ramon had decided that Ally writing songs for someone on a competing record label is a bad idea, and tells Ally it has to stop. Gee, if only she had had an offer from Starr Records, this wouldn’t have been a problem, oh wait… I kid mostly, Ramon is much better than Starr. Ally tries to write for Austin under an alias because the idea of being anonymous was inconceivable, but she gets discovered. She stands up to Ramon and he ultimately relents, valuing her enough as an artist to let this go.
In Princesses and Prizes, Austin is auctioned off for a charity date and Ally gets a little jealous. By the episode’s end, they both admit they still love each other but given how badly it went before, need to try again with other people. Cupids and Cuties is a Dez focused episode but also introduces us to Jace, Trish’s daredevil boyfriend. He’s sweet and kind which means there’s not a lot of comedy to draw out of him, which is why he sadly doesn’t appear that often. We’re also introduced to Carrie, a ditzy girl who becomes Dez’ girlfriend.
Not much to say about Directors and Divas other than there being some cute in-jokes about Teen Beach movie, with Grace Phillips from Teen Beach movie making an appearance and we get introduced to Dez’s idol, Spike Stephens, who ultimately allows him to show off his talent..
The drama resumes with Ally’s New Crush aka Hunks and Homecoming. We’re introduced to Gavin Young, a country singer who Ronny Ramon wants Ally to write songs for, this goes on whilst Austin is left behind, igniting his jealousy again. He realises he wants to try again with Ally, and Trish responds with this.
“You sure you want to go down this road again? It was awfully bumpy last time and we all got a little car sick”
You and Dez spent that entire episode blowing up sh*t for a film competition! Don’t start. Unfortunately for Austin, his jealousy had not put him in Ally’s good books and Ally and Gavin had begun to develop a relationship of their own.
With that blow, Austin tries to date another girl, Piper, Carrie’s sister, in Austin’s new Crush aka Fashion Shows and First Impressions, unfortunately he doesn’t make a great first impression, appearing as a guy who only cares about looks. Through a series of humiliating tasks, including the first recurrence of the bad breath gag, he proves that he isn’t shallow. Though Piper doesn’t exactly come off smelling of roses here either.
We’re introduced to Armand Bianchi, a fashion designer with a very weird taste. Ally becomes his new model but that career ends prematurely thanks to Austin, she’s not all that upset though. Her catwalk walk needed work.
We get a couple of filler episodes after this, the first being Fanatics and Favours, which brings in NBA superstar Dwayne Wade and reveals Dez’s last name is also Wade, they’re distantly related. Eggs and Extra-terrestrials, aside from featuring another bad breath gag, just why? Is interesting because it was written by Calum Worthy, the actor who plays Dez. It’s one of the more out there and bizarre episodes, totally fitting with Dez.
The relationship drama continues in Proms and Promises. Prom season is in full swing and the ladies are all looking for their men to ask them. Bad news comes for Trish when Jace breaks his leg and can’t go to Prom with her. There’s a dance competition and Dez is excited to enter with Carrie, how long before Chuck shows up? As if on cue, he’s Trish’s new date, he broke up with Dez’s sister, and was with a minor character named Sun Hee in an on-again-off-again type relationship.
Whilst everyone else seems to be asked, Ally isn’t getting an invite from Gavin. Instead, he wants her to come and run through mud with a pig whilst having tomatoes thrown at her, doesn’t that sound like fun? If your answer is yes, you clearly live a different life than I. Why the tomatoes? I don’t get it. Anyway, this proposal gives Ally second thoughts about Gavin so when he does eventually ask her to Prom, she turns him down.
At first, she doesn’t want to go to prom at all, but her father persuades her to have some fun with her friends. When she arrives and Austin sees her in her prom dress, he realises he still wants to be with her and not Piper. This said at a time where Ally hasn’t broken up with Gavin so he may be throwing away a solid relationship for a pipe dream. Also, Dez managed to arrange Jace making an appearance without telling Trish because he wanted to prove he can keep a secret, also because he’s Dez so doing stupid things is not out of the norm for him.
Austin had the poor sense to state his feelings about Piper aloud and Carrie overhears him, telling him unless Austin gives Piper the time of her life, she’ll spill the beans and ruin his prom. Not really sure how it’s much worse than what actually happens. Austin spends the next few minutes trying to avoid Ally but they get voted Prom King and Queen. Celebrity privilege, amirite?
Austin admits all to Piper and the two amicably break up. Good news comes for Trish also as Chuck and Sun Hee get back together, allowing her to be with Jace for the evening. With Carrie wearing a tight dress she can’t dance in, Trish and Dez end up competing in dancing together, they end up winning but the contest was rigged for Chuck to get the money, as it was being donated to his woodwork club.
Austin is about to admit his feelings for Ally but then Gavin arrives (another surprise by Dez, shockingly) trying again with a prom-posal, Ally takes him aside and admits she doesn’t think they’re right for each other, again the breakup is amicable. Now with the love triangles dealt with, Austin and Ally get back together, sharing a dance. This episode marks the last appearances of Piper, Gavin, Jace and Sun Hee.
The next few episodes are not especially important in the grand scheme of things but have some interesting elements I think are worth mentioning. Videos and Villains is essentially a clip show. Given that the show is filled with musical numbers and videos, a showcase for them was an easy plot to come up with. Brooke is back, transitioning to full-on antagonist at this point. There a few continuity guffs as many of these performances are not filmed ones in context and one was a dream sequence, go figure how that got there.
I know this wasn’t the case as some of the songs on the list were directly referenced in the wraparound but why not make this a full-on audience vote? None of the songs in this list are from this season, so you could’ve presented a list of s1-2 songs to the fans and allow them to vote. The wraparound could be still be filmed and largely be unchanged, it’d just be a matter of inserting the videos in editing. Maybe the early 2010’s were too early for this but it’s an interesting thought.
Beauties and Bullies is one I want to talk about. The show had tackled a few basic morals, ones that are usually intrinsic to a comedy like ‘don’t read someone else’s diary,’ ‘not everyone you try to help can be,’ ‘don’t judge things before you know what’s going on’ that kinda thing, the kind of lessons you can have protagonists learn without them losing likeability, anti-bullying is not like those. You can’t have the protagonist be the bully, at least not by intention.
The story goes that Trish gets a role in the school play and is mocked online for superficial sh*t, Trish doesn’t take it well, despite portraying a tough exterior and begins to distance herself from friends and school alike. In a real-world situation like Trish’s, this seems realistic, the problem is this isn’t the real world, this is a sitcom, and Trish’s character has been a called a lot worse and never been portrayed as this vulnerable.
But even allowing for that, there’s something else I will not buy, the rest of the group find out about it and plot to humiliate the bully (who is a one-off character) and Trish stops them, saying she doesn’t want this. Trish, the master of revenge, is speaking out against escalation, something which, by the by, is a major storytelling trope in comedy.
I admire what they’re trying to do, and even applaud them addressing a topic like online bullying, a problem which is only growing worse in 2020, however I feel the execution was not well thought through, and making matters worse, in the end credits, the actors as themselves make a speech about it. I get the feeling Disney may have mandated this, but I don’t feel it’s the right call as it implies a lack of faith in either the audience or the story and makes the whole affair come across as preachy. Though I will say Austin performing a song for Trish at the Beach Club is really sweet.
Horror Stories and Halloween Scares is a Halloween special that feels a bit out of place coming after Junior Prom and before the summer break in continuity. Also, because for only the second time this season, Trish has a new job. She still had her old job in Beauties and Bullies, which she got immediately after coming back from the tour, so go figure when this takes place.
In Records and Wrecking Balls, Ally has released her first album and is immediately about to go on tour, wow that’s fast, take that Jimmy Starr. She has to leave her job at Sonic Boom, some hijinks happen but at the end, the job goes to Carrie.
Relationships and Red Carpets was intended as a finale to the entire show. I’m very glad that it wasn’t because… Yikes, do I have some hot takes here. Proceed with caution. Austin and Ally are both nominated for best debut album, that in spite of their respective albums coming out like 2 years apart. Anyway, they’re excited to reveal their relationship publicly again but Jimmy Starr intervenes.
Austin’s appeal to fanatic Teenage girls would end if the world found out he was dating, according to Jimmy. Didn’t complain when it was his daughter he was dating, or when it was Ally the first time, both of which got pages in Cheetah Beat. Also, you really overestimate the amount these people care whether or not he’s in a relationship. I don’t think it’s a turn-off at the very least.
They go to the awards where Austin continues to pester Jimmy, who gives an ultimatum. If he goes public about his relationship with Ally, he’ll ban him from any public performance or from recording any new music. This is dumb for a lot of reasons and horrifying for several others. But I really don’t get the logic, if Jimmy considers Austin a liability, he’d just drop him from the label, we know he’s willing to, he did before.
Carrie revealed early on in the episode she’s moving to LA, so much for her working at Sonic Boom, which leaves Dez in a bit of a quandary. Ally finds out about the ultimatum and decides the best thing to do is break up with Austin and save him from making the choice.
After finding out that Dez is heading to film school in LA to be with Carrie, Austin decides to make his relationship public anyway, and Jimmy follows through on his threat.
I’m gonna hold off on a lot of my problems with this until later on, when we see just how far he’s willing to go to enforce this ban. Trish has garnered enough interest to start her own management company, and quit her other jobs.
I get what they wanted here, both of the last 2 finales were about Ally making a choice that could affect the relationship. Here, it’s Austin that has to make the choice and the sacrifice for their love. However, the circumstances behind it feel so dishonest to me, it kinda undercuts the entire affair.
Thankfully, the show was renewed for a 4th and final season and it’s clear the show-runners wanted to pull out all the stops this time. The intro gets a do-over, it’s the same song but now both Ross and Laura sing it together, the opening shots have all been redone too, now inter-spliced with some clips presumably to save on the budget. The transition shots have all been redone and there’s one other major change coming which I’ll get to. I have to wonder if the gap in terms of production was longer between s3 and 4 because they all look noticeably older this time around. Ross' hair, which he describes as perfect in every season has been getting longer and shaggier with each season.
Now, season 3 ended with the gang going their separate ways so the first order of business is to bring them back together. Buzzcuts and Beginnings is the opening episode of the season, Dez and Trish have both popped to Miami for the last night of Ally’s tour. We get the final, thankfully, reprisal of the bad breath gag as Dez has refused to use Toothpaste since a supposed breakup with Carrie, who’s now modelling for Toothpaste. So, mints, gum, mouthwash, all out of the question?
Austin’s been having a rough time, thinking constantly about performing, though he’s happy to be with Ally. However, his dreams of the 4 of them getting back together for Senior Year are dashed when Trish reveals she’s getting an online management diploma to go back on tour, Dez says he’s going back to film school, and Ally reveals she was offered a European Tour by her label. Wow, that was fast.
Feeling dejected, he consults his mother. Austin’s Parents been minor characters throughout the series, but just haven’t done anything worth mentioning until now, where she recommends that he enrol in Military school. Isn’t that usually where you send problem children with behavioural issues, or is that just my interpretation from watching too many bad kid’s movies?
Austin goes through with it, but the others have all decided they don’t want to go through with their plans (Ramon must be patient with Ally, especially given what happens at the end of this season) and head off, eventually stopping him. If there’s a theme to season 4 it’s maturity, though it’s a fairly common one for the last season of a coming of age story.
In Mattress Stores and Music Factories, we find out that Sonic Boom is going through tough times, as people are using the store to try out instruments only to order them online cheaper. People are queuing up for Autographs with Ally, in the guise of wanting music lessons, coming close to overwhelming her. Austin needs to find a new job, desperately trying not to be dragged into his family mattress store. Some hijinks later, Ally decides to convert Sonic Boom into a Music Academy, somewhere people could learn from their experience about show-business and all aspects that go into making it as a singer.
The Sonic Boom sets are all given a pretty major overhaul, it’s only barely recognisable as the same sets, plus a new dance room gets added, not entirely sure where but… The A&A Music Factory chugs along nicely for a few episodes, as the crew get back into the routine with Senior Year as well, we also find out that Trish and Jace have decided to take a break, there could be a number of reasons as to why from a behind the scenes perspective, maybe the actor was unavailable, maybe the feeling was there wasn’t enough comedy to be wringed from him, and maybe they just had another idea for who Trish was actually gonna end up with, prepare your sick bags for that.
Homework and Hidden Talents is my favourite episode of the entire show and showcases Austin and Ally at their best as a couple, supporting each other through the episode’s conflict, which I won't spoil here. We also get a nice B-plot with Dez and Trish with Dez’s using his director’s skills to film a book report with Trish as the star.
Duos and Deception is only of note because Dove Cameron, who around here we saw as Liz Larson from Barely Lethal and at this point would be most well known for playing Mal in the Descendants films and both the leads in Liv and Maddie, makes an appearance. She gets the credit of special guest star, whilst everyone else just gets guest star. Heard she wanted to be credited as the super maxi-extreme ultra-special guest star but they thought it was a bit much.
Wedding Bells and Wacky Birds features the return of Carrie and we find out the breakup was a result of a wacky misunderstanding or two. Both believe the other broke up with them, but in fact neither did so they’re back together by the end of the episode. Yay! Ally’s busy at the recording studio as she as Austin were tasked with doing a budget presentation on a wedding, and apparently only got one day to do it, bit harsh.
Karaoke and Kalamity (spelt with a K because poor literacy is Kewl) introduces us to Ridley, a promising young singer in need to conquer her fear of… well, pretty much everything. She’s the key in the other main conflict of this and the next episode, Austin’s performance ban. Apparently, Austin couldn’t even do a dance move at school, sing at a birthday party or perform in the practice room without Jimmy somehow stopping him. Austin has resorted to singing Karaoke in a small bar, which Trish gained a job at for some reason, in disguise. When Jimmy finds out he’s absolutely livid and so am I, I think it’s time we finally discussed Jimmy Starr.
I don’t know a lot about the record industry but I do realise the importance of Image as you become a brand to sell records and why a record exec might have a problem with certain public relationships. But Jimmy is a businessman, if he believes he cannot make money from Austin after the events of the s3 finale, he should’ve just dropped him from the label, in a deal like that he may still have been able to find a way to keep the rights to pre-existing songs.
So, why would he bother with a performance ban? And why would he enforce it so stringently, preventing Austin from taking part in a karaoke competition with the prize being a plate of chicken wings. The only answer that makes sense is that he wanted to hurt Austin and that is not ok. I can’t help but of get a whiff of the history of the abuse that recently been unveiled about that industry, and it’s not made any better knowing that Austin is a child.
Of course, it’s nowhere near as bad the kinda stuff we hear about but it doesn’t have to be, it’s a show aimed at children. I don’t believe this was even intentional by the show-runners, in fact I highly doubt it, but it’s another example of them needing to think through their implications.
The ban ends at the end of Mini Me’s and Muffin Baskets, which is rightly a Trish focused episode as she takes on an apprentice who overthrows her and begins to mess things up and get in over her head. Jimmy wants to sign Ridley to his label, but Trish throws in that she’ll allow her client to sign, in return for lifting Austin’s performance ban, which he relents. This is his last appearance and nothing of value was lost. I do feel very sorry for Ridley though.
Dancers and Ditzes is the last focus episode on Ally’s dancing, and it shows that Austin’s “I believe you and together we can go fart…” from Homework and Hidden Talents might’ve been all talk. Ally’s making a performance for an award show and wants to do a dance number, but even with some heavy training, neither Trish nor Austin believe she can pull it off and cancel her one chance to prove it. Ally is livid.
We cut to the ceremony itself, where Ally performs off an impressive dance routine, having presumably rehearsed in secret, spurred on by her anger at Austin and Trish. All is forgiven, and if you think this conflict seems a bit rushed, it is, but it’s so they can squeeze in a performance from guest star Becky G.
Mysteries and Meddling Kids marks the last appearance of Brooke, who once again gets away scot-free despite setting the main episode’s conflict into motion. I will come back to this at the end, but this is long enough as it is. It’s a cute little Scooby Doo inspired mystery and features the return of Chuck, who seems to have mellowed out a little, and has broken up with Sun Hee, this time seemingly for good.
Comebacks and Crystal Balls marks Austin’s return to the stage with another new song. He gets a bad reading from a fortune teller and Dez’s ideas for a big entrance result in some minor issues, like him getting stuck in a glass box. Naturally even backstage on a concert show, no-one can get him out, and he ends up performing in the box, until Dez activates explosives that break the box open, certainly one way to make a big entrance.
Burdens and Boynado is a Trish focused episode, as she finally has to confront the childish actions with one of the bands she signed, one that had been brought up once or twice prior to this. Not much here of note other than there’s a B-plot involving a guy named Benny, played by Rico Rodriguez, the sister of Raini Rodriguez, Trish.
Personally. I would’ve cast him as Trish’s brother given they guy they did cast for him ended up on probation for attempted murder but hindsight’s a bitch, sometimes. We get another Halloween special which feels out of place but the main through-line continues in Rejection and Rocketships, which is special because it was directed by Raini.
Ally has interview to go into Harvard and thanks to some pretty obvious lies ends up rejected. She feels down, and ends up losing faith in everything, if only until Austin cheers her up. He’s involved in a stupid as hell B-plot where he and Dez ride a kid’s mall rocket ship for most of the episode. It makes more sense than I make it sound but it isn’t that interesting. Trish sends over to Harvard letters of commendation from students at the Academy, persuading them to give Ally a second chance at an interview. She gets accepted this time.
Cap and Gown and Can’t be Found features a new Austin song that isn’t available on an album. Part of the show’s appeal to Disney is the ability to merchandise the soundtrack, and with season 4, of course they needed a new album. Austin and Ally: Take it from the Top has only 5 songs, one of which is the opening theme. The problem is that it was released in March 2015 and the series concluded in January 2016, it’s possible the songs were not written yet, or in the case of “Two in a Million” were too spoiler heavy for things to come. It’s shame though, because the last 3 unique songs of the series are really good and aren’t available to purchase.
The actual story of the episode is another great one for Austin and Ally, showing how far Austin will go for Ally and how Ally can occasionally see through his lies.
Santas and Surprises is an oddly timed episode, don’t know how many people celebrate Christmas just after graduation. Maybe it’s a thing in Miami but I doubt it. I know it actually aired around Christmas, but it could’ve been re-ordered for Disney+.
The next step in the story happens in Musicals and Moving on. Dez is heading back to film school in LA, Ally’s heading to Harvard and is putting her music career on hold (we never find out how Ronnie Ramon reacts to that) Austin’s off on a world tour (so much for Austin losing popularity for being in a public relationship, it’s almost as if the whole argument was dumb) and Trish is torn between managing the Academy and performing in Spike Stephens’ latest play whilst, you know, also running a management company.
The crew have a bust up triggered by this issue and it’s Trish that brings them all back together with a great cover of ‘You Got a Friend.’ Kudos to Ross for being able to say 'Baby-lonians' 3 times angrily without laughing, wonder how many takes that took. At the end, Ally gives Austin her songbook for him to use.
The series comes to a close in Duets and Destiny. After a fake out proposal turns out to be just an invention of Dez for one of his films, it’s revealed that during a 4-year time-skip Austin and Ally split up and haven’t talked to each other since. Where better to bring them back together than where it all started, the Helen Show.
Neither knew the other would be on with them, so it’s initially awkward for both of them, though it’s quickly revealed that their breakup wasn’t any act of spite, it was them trying to lessen the pain on each other from having to be apart all the time. Dez tries to ease the tension by showing clips from his film about them. It doesn’t work. Ally is working on making a musical comeback, with her due to perform on the show, but all the good songs she’s written are about the two of them, and she doesn’t feel comfortable performing them, especially not with him around.
They eventually talk off-stage and it’s clear quickly that they still love each other. Austin offers to help Ally with her song by singing it with her, not sure how that makes it less awkward but it seems to work, and lucky Austin has the ability to learn a song in 30 seconds as they’re soon on stage performing it. “Two in a Million” is a great song to cap off this series. They decide after the song to perform as an official duo, not sure how their record labels would respond to that but hey, it means they’re together at the end.
We cut ahead 10 years, Austin and Ally are married and have 2 children. Dez and Carrie have a son who’s got a 300 IQ, you could square Dez and Carrie’s IQs and multiply them together and it’d still be less than that. Trish has got together with Chuck and I feel this is the one major misstep of this finale, I think I threw up a little in my mouth. Regardless of what they did with Chuck in s4, which is not a lot really, he’s still Chuck. Trish deserves better than him. They have a kid too, who’s a pageant princess because of course she is. Trish is now an actor and Dez a proper director, so who’s running the Music Factory? I have no idea but apparently the group can roam in it freely anyway.
Austin and Ally is a great show with likeable and relateable leads, well-written dialogue and comedy and character depth and progression throughout the show, even if it isn’t obvious from episode-to-episode. But where this show really shines is in the songs and choreography. There isn’t a single song I’ve listened to from this show I don’t like. Don’t Look Down and Take it from the Top are my personal favourites. It helps that all the actors that sing have clear musical talent.
Unlike with other musicals, the songs don’t have to exist to service the plot, though there is often a tangential relationship. As a result, the songs are often easier to listen to out of context than certain other musical soundtracks. On the downside to that though, some plots have rushed endings to save time for the song, Dancers and Ditzes is a particularly egregious example, as they needed to fit in Ally’s song and one by guest star Becky G.
Disney rarely falters when it comes to dance choreography and this is no exception. It’s a pity the backup dancers are usually just treated as beings there to show up when a dance starts and disappear when it stops. In Comebacks and Crystal balls, the backup dancers only react to Austin being in the box when the curtains open
When it comes to faults, I can think of only a few (I'm not counting realism as a fault, this show wouldn't be what it is if it were true to reality). Some of the supporting cast are there for one joke and don’t really get fleshed out, Chuck is just, argh, and then there’s the weird way they handled antagonists. Most shows have an antagonist humiliated after their plan fails, but with only a few exceptions that bit doesn’t happen. It’s like Wile E Coyote failing to catch the Road Runner but not falling from a cliff in the process, that’s just not how this works.
The show’s comedy uses the standard sitcom approach of relateable if sometimes silly plots, witty observations and the occasional bit of slapstick, it’s much less reliant on slapstick than most other sitcoms, which places more emphasis on the clever writing, but is likely why we don’t see antagonists suffer for their actions.
I can’t guarantee this show will work for everyone, but it’s largely upbeat and has catchy songs and is the breath of fresh air I really needed in the current climate. It’s a shame they never got a Disney Channel movie, I can see a lot of potential in what these characters could do with a longer running time, some on-location shooting potential, and a larger budget.
If you thought this retrospective was interesting, please share it around, I've been working on this one for a while and it's a lot of work. I will be doing a couple more of these to serve some long-term plans but I'd like to know if people want to see more of this.
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