Boy Crazy Stacey - Spoilers

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

Boy Crazy Stacey is the seventh episode of the Netflix series and based on the eighth book in the book series. Please discuss this episode here. 

[greer]

Toby and Stacey’s relationship seemed rushed. I know it’s Stacey, but still. I guess it’s because of the half-hour time frame, but it just seemed a little much for Stacey to just kiss him in front of the entire Pike family.

[secondhandshoes]

This episode was probably my least favorite, which is funny because this is my all time favorite book. There’s so much to unpack in Sea City, this could’ve been the hour long finale but then the girls would’ve been apart. Twenty four minutes isn’t enough time to hit all of the emotional buildup and let downs that happened in Sea City! There was barely enough time for Scott to lead her on. They did well with what they had to work with, but they had to rush through such an iconic episode.

I did like that Byron had a crush on Stacey—it was never said in the books but my head canon always thought that he did.

Scott always seemed so old and dreamy to me as a kid, so it’s weird seeing him so young! Refreshing but still weird. Time is a trip.

Loved the side plot with the steel wool and how Watson reacted. This version of Watson is lovely.

[wanderingfrog]

I think this was also my least favourite, and for the same reason. (It's not my favourite book, but it is one of my favourites.) Twenty-four minutes just isn't long enough to cover all of this book, and unlike some of the other episodes, where they combined some things from different books or left certain portions out, they were trying to cram most of it into 24 minutes and it just doesn't all fit. It didn't feel all that Sea City-like when it was cool and rainy all the time, either. It made sense, since they changed the timeline for it to be spring break instead of summer, and I don't imagine it's hot on the Jersey Shore during spring break. (I picture them planning to shoot scenes from this episode, someone saying, "Okay, so it takes place at the beach... do we have to wait for a sunny day in Vancouver?" and someone else saying, "God, no, it's supposed to be New Jersey in, like, April.") I do like how obvious it is when watching this that Stacey is being a complete and total dork, and I LOVE how at the end, Mary Anne says she realized in Sea City that actually they are both dorks! When you're reading the book as an adult, it's obvious that Stacey's being silly, but since it's still from her point of view, it's not quite so painfully, embarrassingly obvious as it is when you can see it.

Since there wasn't enough time to fit the whole plot into this episode, and since Mary Anne has been crushing on Logan from afar for the entire series, I liked that they didn't try to shoehorn a romance between her and Alex into the episode. There absolutely would not have been room for that, so I was glad that he was just another new friend that she made, a nice guy who gave her some advice about Logan. No, Alex isn't necessarily gay just because he had a crush on a guy once, he could be bi, but he and Mary Anne didn't like each other that way and it worked well for the show to have them be just friends.

It was kind of weird to see Adam, Byron, and Jordan as very obviously not identical triplets, but I guess it would have been hard to find identical triplets for the role, and making one actor into identical triplets might work for a big-budget movie, but the camerawork and digital editing would be way too expensive for a show. It made sense to have Byron, as "the sensitive one," have a crush on Stacey, too.

Being Canadian myself, I love that in this version, Toby is Alex's cousin from Canada. Hee hee, Stacey has a boyfriend in Canada! Kind of like Kristy and Michel.

[greer]

Haha, yeah, I grew up where going to the Jersey Shore is extremely common, and I have never heard of anyone going for spring break. The water doesn’t even get warm until after the Fourth of July.

[hurricanebill]

I will have to re-watch this one as it was late and I binge watched so many the first night! I understand it was filmed in Canada and that makes sense it was Spring so the weather was cold. The boardwalk was definitely not what I pictured from the book. Did anyone else think that about the boardwalk? It was like when you’re a kid, everything seems so new, huge, fun and fantastic and then you see it as an adult and you realise it’s not the greatest (but you still hold fond childhood memories and are grateful for them). They would have had to work with what they had for the location. Didn’t Ann M. Martin base Sea City on Ocean City, NJ? I had a look at photos of Ocean City out of interest. The location they depicted on-screen seemed very affordable for the Pikes (including the house) and it reminded me of a holiday during off-season when many places are closed and it’s quieter. That made their holiday seem very realistic to me. I thought Scott’s girlfriend was a real piece of work with her reaction to Stacey (she was so much older than Stacey) but it built up the drama, emotion and embarrassment and lucky Stacey having Toby step right in.

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

The only thing I really liked about this episode is that Byron had a crush on Stacey. I understand that they have a budget and that it's filmed in Vancouver but I don't know, I was really hoping that they would change up the location in this one. This would have been better as the end episode and make it an hour instead of the camp book. That's probably just me though.

[greer]

I feel like they could have skipped Sea City this year and then maybe make it the big trip next season, like Camp Moosehead.

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

Jul 4, 2020 18:26:04 GMT -5 greer said:

I feel like they could have skipped Sea City this year and then maybe make it the big trip next season, like Camp Moosehead.

That would have been a good idea, I could see them adapting Little Miss Stoneybrook.

[hurricanebill]

They would focus on how Bailey is to be included in the pageant too because the adults running the pageant would have to be told by Mary Anne and Bailey’s mother. Surely some other adult would bring it to the organisers’ attention to cause drama. That story would open up a lot of gender issues more-so than it did in the 80s and 90s.

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

Jul 4, 2020 18:40:14 GMT -5 hurricanebill said:

They would focus on how Bailey is to be included in the pageant too because the adults running the pageant would have to be told by Mary Anne and Bailey’s mother. Surely some other adult would bring it to the organisers’ attention. That story would open up a lot of gender issues more-so than it did in the 80s and 90s.

Yes! That would be perfect for this series to adapt. Save boy crazy stacey for a later episode or the finale. Maybe Jenny could be a little older (5 or 6 was the youngest for the pageant right?) and been introduced in it too. 

[wanderingfrog]

hurricanebill, the boardwalk wasn't the way I pictured it at all from the books, either. I like the depiction of Sea City in the graphic novel. Burger Garden in the graphic novel was almost exactly how I'd imagined it.

I think Sea City would've been good as a two-part episode, too. Although I guess they still technically could if there's another season, seeing as there are two more Sea City books, but Boy-Crazy Stacey is my favourite Sea City book. If there's a second season (and I really hope there is), I wonder if they'll have another "Super Special" finale, and what location they would pick for it.

[livvy]

I'm trying to drag the series out but I'm nearly at the end .We meet the Pikes and Mallory !

[Penny Lane]

This episode was really hard to watch.

[sparklymouse]

I've always disliked book Stacey in part because it seemed like the boys luved her as much as she luved them. Seeing her act like a big dope around someone who barely acknowledged her made me hate her less.

So many Pikes and so few memorable moments. I feel like Vanessa had the most lines, and they were just her poetry. Was the big thug triplet Adam? That's kind of how I pictured him in the books. Like, he's the one without any redeeming qualities.