Stumble Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Finals Week

Stumble Season 1 Episode 10, “Finals Week,” is a chaotic scramble for Courteney and the team. After a brief two-week break, Stumble returns in a big way as we finally find out whether the team is going to Daytona.

Unfortunately, this coincides with finals week. The team not only has their cheer obligations, but they can’t stay on the team if they don’t pass their classes.

Therefore, they have a lot of work to do on this densely packed episode.

The amount of content throughout this episode is staggering. Every character gets a moment to shine in one way or another, which might not always be the best thing.

In fact, quite a few of these subplots feel a tad unnecessary and mostly just make the episode’s pacing feel chaotic.

That’s not to say it’s all bad; the gags surrounding Boone’s documentary are very funny. There’s a little bit of meta-humor surrounding the mockumentary genre and the fact that not everything is interesting to film 24/7.

As far as mockumentaries go, Stumble is one of the more loudly goofy ones out there, so it’s cute to see them acknowledge the pitfalls of the genre.

Of the many storylines here, Steven had one of the more complete ones, and with that, even had a few moments of redemption.

Steven is a strange character, full of moments that come off as more irritating than endearing. Initially, the episode makes you think they are going to push him even deeper into that pit.

As evidenced by him messing up the recording for the skills tape and showing Tammy the buttons routine. But fortunately, he only did one of those things. As it turns out, he showed Tammy a fake routine.

It’s one of Steven’s better moments, showcasing his loyalty. Hopefully, going forward, the series leans more into his character.

Like previous episodes, “Finals Week,” also features a cheer performance. Unlike previous episodes, it isn’t done by the buttons.

Courteney brings in a professional team to “show them how it’s done,” and their performance is truly out of this world. That said, it would have been nice to see more of the main team’s routine. The routine we do see is incredible, but it also didn’t do much to serve the plot.

Despite all the chaos of this episode, it does end on a high note. The team is going to Daytona.

Steven’s recordings may have been useless, but the camera crew following them around also has footage of their skill demonstrations. Peaches steals the memory card from the camera crew, and they use the footage from it for their submission.

It’s honestly such an obvious solution, especially given the attention drawn to the film crew this episode. This is a fun way to use the genre to its advantage.

With 10 weeks to Daytona, there is still plenty that can go wrong. But at least now the team knows they have a chance.

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Stumble airs Fridays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

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