After two episodes of Zoey (Yara Shahidi) navigating the new normal with new boo Luca (Luka Sabbat), season 2, episode 3 "New Rules" unpacked another complicated relationship in Zoey's love life: The one she has with her squad of girlfriends.
In the episode, Zoey sees Doug (Diggy Simmons), new-ish boyfriend of Jazz (Chloe Bailey) at a "co-ed kickback" where Jazz is not present. As we know from the episode's early run down of "the rules" of this particular group of friends, this is specifically not allowed by Jazz. What does this have to do with Zoey? Well, as Ana (Francia Raisa) and Nomi (Emily Arlook) point out, telling your friend when their boyfriend is doing something shady is very much the official "girl code."
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Zoey does not tell Jazz that Doug was at the kickback, but it gets back to Jazz anyway. Zoey goes through the episode alternating between criticizing herself for being a less-than-stellar friend, and expressing frustration at the way-too-many rules that fall under girl code.
Eventually, Zoey apologizes for messing up girl code, and all her friends forgive her — save for Jazz, who removes herself from the narrative entirely by leaving the squad's group chat. (My heart!)
This episode explores something that's often left undiscussed: When so many rules around friendship are unspoken, and with people having different opinions on what's right to share and what will just cause more drama, how can we truly be "there" for our friends? After all, Zoey is right that Doug wasn't doing anything particularly strange at the party, despite the fact that he and Jazz agreed not to hang out at such events without one another. (A rule that, personally, I can't believe either party agreed to. It's college, and where is the trust?)
For many people, college is a time where your friends are the only support system you have within close proximity — which is why it kills Zoey that Jazz is angry with her in the first place. (She misses those obligatory "good morning!" texts.)
While I sincerely doubt that Zoey and her (unbelievably self-involved) boyfriend Luca will last come graduation, I do believe that her friendship with friends like Jazz have the opportunity to stay strong for years to come. The bond Zoey has forged with these young women is based on something real. So why are they fighting over essentially made-up rules?