Once upon a time there was a girl whose world turned upside down.
But she didn't.
But she didn't.
Andi Mack is a 2017 Disney Channel Kid Com slash Tween Drama created by Terri Minsky. The show first premiered on demand and on the Disney Channel App on March 10, 2017. It ran for three seasons, with the series finale airing on July 26, 2019.
Andi's (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) big sister Bex (Lilan Bowden) returns home the day before Andi's thirteenth birthday. When she does, she reveals a big secret that will change her world forever.
No relation to Alex Mack of The Secret World of Alex Mack.
All spoilers related to the show's First-Episode Twist are unmarked.
The show provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion; A Season 3 episode has Jonah saying his Costume Day outfit will be "a regular kid just before he finds out he's a superhero".
- Adults Are Useless: Averted, unlike most Kid Coms. With only a few exceptions, the adults actually act wise and try to teach their kids in an effective manner.
- All Work vs. All Play: Celia and Bex, respectively. This is a major reason they don't get along with each other.
- Alpha Bitch: Amber, Jonah Beck's high school girlfriend.
- Ambiguous Situation: TJ's actions at the end of "Walker To Remember". Either his reformation was genuine and getting Buffy suspended from the basketball team was an inadvertent consequence of his confessing to his disability or he faked it and intentionally got Buffy suspended because he was jealous she won the last game for the team rather than him. (Either way, he clearly feels bad about it and is only ever nice moving forward.
- Ambiguously Gay:
- Cyrus, initially due to his obsession with Jonah and Camp Gay mannerisms. Canonically gay as of Season 2.
- TJ also falls under this based on his affection for Cyrus, look back at the end of Season 2, and lack of interest in girls. Buffy, Andi, and Kira have all (both offscreen and in subtext) taken note of the fact that TJ likes Cyrus. Also no longer ambiguous as of the finale, thanks to his Relationship Upgrade with Cyrus.
Luke Mullen in a post-finale interview confirmed that TJ is in fact gay, and that Terri Minsky told him before filming his second episode.
- Amicable Exes:
- Cyrus and Iris: Cyrus admits to Iris that while he appreciates how much they have in common, it isn't working (because he's gay). Iris gets that he likes her, but doesn't like her like that. Cyrus is apologetic that he can't, but she is understanding and they agree to be friends.
- Andi and Jonah: They even call their break up in Season 3 a "no breakup breakup" because of how amicable it is. They reminisce on how stressful their on-off relationship was and how much better off they are as friends. Andi even tries to help Jonah with his other (albeit terrible) relationships with Libby and Amber. (However, the series ends with a Maybe Ever After as Andi muses on what would happen if they were older).
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: "Cyrus' Bash Mitzvah" had a PSA about panic attacks attached to the end of the initial airing, while "Cookie Monster" had a PSA about gun safety. "The Quacks", which guest starred Millicent Simmonds as Libby, a deaf character, had a PSA about communicating beyond text and learning American Sign Language.
- And Starring: As is typical for kid-oriented sitcoms, this designation is given to the adult regulars: "with Lilan Bowden and Lauren Tom".
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "Bex is my mother, and my mother is my grandmother, and Amber is wearing my bracelet!"
- Artistic License – Cars: Bowie's Subaru is stated to be powered by waste vegetable oil, which requires a diesel engine. Subaru's never sold a diesel outside Europe and maybe Japan, and any other diesel engines that would fit in one easily are few and far between.
- More directly (since there isn't a Motorcycles category), the legality of Andi riding the electric bike on the street when she's too young for a driver's license is a puzzler unless it falls into a gray area where it's neither a "toy" nor a "motor vehicle".
- Artistic License – Law: Despite the arrests in "Unloading Zone", there is nothing illegal about the group's conduct, other than possibly running afoul of state and local vending laws. The clothes were taken from the dumpster behind a store. In the United States, items in trash cans or dumpsters are legally considered to have been surrendered by their owners, and anyone can take them without the act qualifying as larceny. It is also unlikely this would be considered trespassing, as the dumpster appears to have been in a back lot accessible to the public.
- How Andi's father ever got his nickname "Bowie" printed on his driver's license instead of his legal name "Steven Quinn", the world may never know.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When TJ goes to talk things out with Cyrus in "The New Girls" after not having spoken since the gun incident. It's important to note that this exchange occurs as they walk right up to each other.
Cyrus: So, you've apologized for not apologizing...but you still haven't apologized.TJ: You can be a little annoying, you know that?Cyrus: Well, you can be oblivious.TJ: Well, you can be very judgy.Cyrus: Well, you can be intimidating.TJ: Y'know what else you are?Cyrus: What?TJ: The only person I can talk to like this. - Bait-and-Switch: At one point in the pilot we see Buffy and Cyrus' reactions to something Andi has told them. Leading us to believe she has told them about Bex being her mother. Only for it to turn out she told them about her being the frisbee team.
- Belated Love Epiphany: Jonah starts to realize he may have romantic feelings for Andi after she decides to end their relationship. Twice.
- Big Damn Heroes: Bowie has a moment in "Crime Scene: AndiShack! when he miraculously finds the misplaced bracelet in a place Andi already looked.
- Big Entrance: Bex makes one on her motorcycle upon her return home.
- Brand X:
- Buffy, Cyrus, and Jonah play Property, a board game that stokes the fiercely competitive nature of its players through buying, selling, and developing properties.
- Bex is the town’s best cosmetologist, according to the obviously fake reviews posted on Whelp. Bex quickly realizes that Celia is the culprit.
- Break Them by Talking: When Kira notices something going on between Cyrus and TJ, she manages to get in TJ's head by taking a dig at the fact that he'd rather do a costume with Cyrus, a boy, instead of her, a girl, threateningly telling him to "have fun with that."
- Brick Joke: Early in episode 10, Andi is working on math homework and expresses exasperation at quadratic equations. Later in the episode, as a cover story for her getting her laundry done by Celia, she says she was getting math tutoring from Buffy. Then, in the next episode, when the new principal is telling the girls and Cyrus about the school's ranking dropping from #3 to #10, out of 162, Buffy easily points out that it is only a 4.3 percent drop.
- Buffy Speak: Buffy, Cyrus, Jonah, and Jonah's mom all refer to Bex and Bowie's surprise wedding as the thing.
- The Bus Came Back: Marty, in season 3.
- But Not Too Gay: While Cyrus is able to vocalise his feelings for Jonah and explicitly state he's gay, his relationship with TJ is mostly subtextual/implied until the finale, and he never gets to kiss a boy (which stands out, because he did kiss Iris, whom he wasn't even interested in, and because Buffy and Marty share a Big Damn Kiss in the same finale Cyrus and TJ's relationship is made canon through a handhold).
- Call-Back:
- In "Mount Rushmore or Less", TJ comes up with a costume idea for he and Cyrus on Costume Day - that he goes as Summer and Cyrus goes as Salt, referencing that time TJ helped Cyrus learn how to do a somersault. Cyrus claims that somersaults are their thing and TJ refers to it as their inside joke.
- In "One In A Minyan" TJ asks who Marty is, Marty first mentioned in "Friends Like These" that despite having 3 classes with TJ he still doesn't know Marty's name.
- Jonah performs Bowies song from Best Surprise Ever at Bex and Bowies wedding in A Moving Day
- Colorblind Casting: The casting for Andi was colorblind, which led to the family being Chinese and white (since the actors cast had to reasonably pass as being Peyton Elizabeth Lee's family).
- Comically Missing the Point: Buffy and Cyrus find the picture of Bex and Andi when she was a baby. They don't seem to put two and two together which leads to hilarity when they think it's a secret baby.
- Coming-Out Story: Cyrus realizes he has a crush on Jonah and tells Buffy. He also jokes about the bad timing of realizing he likes boys just as he gets his first (and only) girlfriend, who he breaks up with upon realizing that he does not and will never like girls in that way. He later comes out to Andi, and the two bond over how frustrating it is to like Jonah.
- The makers of the show have confirmed he is gay.
- And as of Season 3, Episode 11, he has used the word gay in-universe, a Disney Channel first.
- Competition Freak: Buffy's track team is disqualified when she fails to pass the baton to her teammates during the relay. Her coach is understandably furious.Cyrus: But winning isn't everything.
Buffy: Of course it is! That's why I like sports. You always know where you stand. - Continuity Nod:
- In "The Ex Factor", Cyrus references the time he went on a double date with Iris, Jonah, and Amber back in Season 1 to Adrenaline City and ended up being sick in his shoe.
- Convenience Store Gift Shopping: Jonah's attempts to woo Andi with gifts include an "I Wuv You" figurine and a grain of rice engraved with the name "Andy."
- Damned by Faint Praise: Bex tries to at least get on better footing with her mother, if not end their estrangement, though Celia isn't interested.Bex: I would just like to say you've done a good job of taking care of Andi. As much as I'd hate to admit it, you've done a better job than I ever would have done with her.
Celia: ...I was gonna say I like the way you do your makeup.
Bex: ...I'll Take That as a Compliment! - Darker and Edgier: A minor example, but you probably never expected a Disney Channel Kid Com to feature the results of a Teen Pregnancy affecting someone's life in addition to characters with anxiety, a learning disability, military parent, deafness, and financial problems. There's also some slightly more grownup stuff like a joke averting No Periods, Period and mistaking "diskhead" for an insult in the first episode alone. Taken further in Season 3 with a gun safety storyline.
- Deceptive Legacy: The entire point of the show is Andi realizing her "sister" is her mother and her "mother" her grandmother."
- Disappeared Dad: Andi's father. Bex is reluctant to talk about him and never even told him they had a baby, but Ham later admits to telling him about Andi.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: An episode has Andi spending time with her grandparents, and Bex learning of her actions (particularly having Celia do her laundry) is played exactly like a spouse discovering an affair.
- Dress Code: The new principal calls out Andi for wearing leggings in violation of the school's dress code, motivating Andi, Cyrus, and Buffy to stage a protest. While the protest itself is successful, it also leads Andi to an epiphany about her friendship with Jonah.
- Driving Question: Who is Andi's father? Why was Bex traveling around the world instead of staying to care for Andi, and why has she only returned home now? And generally, what exactly happened to Bex in the lead-up to Andi's birth and the immediate aftermath?
- Education Mama: Celia gave Andi The Unabridged History of Math for her birthday.
- Everytown, America: Shadyside, the town where the characters live, qualifies as this.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Bex is Andi's mother, raised as her sister. She discovers this in the first episode.
- Fictional Province: The show is set in Shadyside, Midwest, as in the fictional town of Shadyside in the fictional U.S. state of Midwest.
- First-Episode Twist: Andi's "sister" Bex is actually her mother, having had her through Teen Pregnancy.
- First-Name Basis: Andi and Celia agree on this instead of Grandma. This later evolves into "Cece." Same goes with calling her mother just "Bex".
- Foil:
- TJ to Jonah, which is unsurprising given that Cyrus has taken an interest in both at various points. They're essentially his type: Green eyed team captains who seem confident but have issues and insecurities and turn out to be more than meets the eye and very different to who they're first introduced as. The difference is that Jonah has always been extremely friendly, whereas TJ was cold and mean to start off. On the other hand, Jonah can be quite oblivious to Cyrus and doesn't always pay much attention to him, whereas TJ has always gone out of his way to demonstrate that he cares about Cyrus and thinks he's important.
- Kira is this to Buffy as the school's ace girls basketball player. Initially she seems to resemble Buffy prior to her character development: competitive with a need to constantly one up everyone around her, sometimes at the expense of others. However, Kira is much more of a jerk than Buffy and actually quite cruel which Buffy never was. While Buffy has always supported Cyrus' sexuality and journey, Kira is quick to use TJ's fears regarding his sexuality against him to manipulate him.
- Kira could arguably be a foil to Cyrus as well.
- Full-Name Basis: Jonah Beck is referred to by his full name by just about everyone during Season 1.Cyrus: Hey, Jonah Beck.
Jonah: You can just call me Jonah.
Cyrus: Did you hear that? Jonah Beck just said we can call him Jonah. - Gender-Equal Ensemble: The main teenage cast consists of two girls (Andi and Buffy) and two boys (Jonah and Cyrus).
- Gay Guy Seeks Popular Jock: Cyrus first has a crush on Jonah, the captain of the Space Otters frisbee team, and later develops a crush on and gets with TJ, the captain of the JMS basketball team.
- Girlfriend in Canada: In "Arts And Inhumanities", when Buffy meets Marty's girlfriend Rachel, she makes a joke about Rachel not being real and living in Canada, which the latter does not take kindly to at all.
- Heads or Tails?: In the Season 2 preview, Bex flips a coin to help Andi decide whether to go to the Space Otters team party.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Amber starts as a heel in Season 1, goes face in season 2, briefly slips back into heel in "The Snorpion", but goes back to face at the end. By Season 3 she's at the face again and seems to be sticking to it as she's noticeably getting along with the others more.
- Heroic BSoD: After watching Andi move on from their relationship, Jonah goes into a full blown panic attack at Cyrus’ Bar Mitzvah.
- I Have No Daughter: Celia refuses to acknowledge Bex. A heated discussion after Bex reveals Andi's true parentage ends with Celia admitting this, though judging by how distraught she looked during the situation and how stressful it was,
it might've just been something she blurted out and didn't actually mean in spite of her actions to Bex.Celia: I don't want to lose my daughter!
Bex: I'm standing right in front of you!
Celia: No, not you!
[Bex is shocked, then storms off to comfort Andi.] - In-Series Nickname:
- Rebecca Mack is known to everyone (except for her mother Celia) as "Bex". Celia, for her part, was known as "Cece" in her youth and revives this nickname for Andi to use in place of "Grandma". Averted by Andi, whose first name might sound like a nickname, but she was born Andi Mack.
- Andi's actual nickname is "Andiman", coined by Bex. Only Bex ever used this nickname until Jonah picks it up, and it appears on her Space Otters uniform shirt. Jonah, for his part, seems to be something of The Nicknamer, coining "Cy-guy" for Cyrus as well.
- Cyrus coins the name "The Good Hair Crew" to collectively describe himself, Andi, and Buffy. Andi isn't terribly fond of it, but Cyrus says it's too late - the t-shirts have already been ordered. Joshua Rush, who plays Cyrus, has since been seen wearing said t-shirt in real life. In the whole first season, the term was only used in the episode "It's Not About You", but the fandom has embraced it wholeheartedly, and it seems likely to stick.
- It's All My Fault: Andi realizes that her first words, "Mama," directed towards Celia and not Bex, drove Bex to make the decision to leave home and let Celia raise Andi.
- Jail Bake: Played with. When TJ is summoned by the student court for stealing a teacher's golf cart to help an injured Buffy, Cyrus acts as his self-appointed lawyer. After TJ is pronounced guilty and his punishment, lunchtime detention, is announced, Cyrus says this:Cyrus: I'll bake you a cake with a hall pass in it.
- Kick the Dog: Amber brings up Andi's missing father in the middle of a party to humiliate her.
- Kid Com: Albeit with strong Dramedy elements that nearly veer to Teen Drama territory, including "heavy" plotlines being depicted as unexceptional (i.e. no very special episodes) and a fully serialized story structure (so Disney Channel doesn't air the episodes Out of Order, as has otherwise historically been).
- Last Het Romance: Or only het romance. Iris is this to Cyrus. Even before he comes to the realisation himself, it is rather obvious that Cyrus only likes Iris as a friend and is dating her to spend time with and impress Jonah. A “terrible” kiss seals the deal for Cyrus, making it clear that he is not interested in girls.
- Last-Name Basis: Characters often refer to each other by their last names (Mack, Beck, Driscoll, Kippen, etc.)
- Laugh Track: Surprisingly averted. It makes sense given that the show is from the same creator as Lizzie McGuire, which didn't have the laugh track of the sitcoms that followed it. And like Stuck in the Middle (which also gets by perfectly well without a laugh track), it isn't produced by It's a Laugh Productions (the company responsible for most of the Disney Channel Kid Coms).
- Local Hangout: The Spoon, a Malt Shop-styled local eatery.
- Love Dodecahedron: Ooh boy. Andi has a crush on Jonah, who is dating Amber. Jonah returns Andi’s feelings and breaks up with Amber, who seemingly still likes him as her feelings cause her to lash out an Andi. When Jonah asks Andi out, Cyrus has realizes he's jealous and also has a crush on Jonah. Walker shows a clear interest in Andi from his first appearance, and Andi is conflicted until she finally chooses Jonah. Cyrus' crush on Jonah fades as he gets closer to TJ.
- Exaggerated in Season 3, when Buffy and Walker start dating. Seeing them together makes Andi jealous and makes her question her feelings once again. She feels that she now views Jonah more as a friend, so the two agree to be friends now. Jonah then starts dating Libby. Buffy eventually decides she's over Walker, ghosts him, and reconnects with Marty, who now has a girlfriend, Rachel. Libby then dumps Jonah, and Jonah almost immediately gets back with Amber, much to Andi's concern, after bonding with her over their family's situations, bringing us back to square one.
- Love Triangle: Bex, Bowie, and Miranda have a bit of this in Season 2.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: The premise of the first episode has Andi discover Bex is really her mother.
- Man Hug: Buffy gives Cyrus lessons on how to "bro hug" after Cyrus receives a text from Jonah saying he's girly (which ends up being a typo; Jonah meant to say "gnarly").
- Men Are Better Than Women: Played with, Marty tells Buffy that men are always physically stronger than women. However it's never brought up again.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Jonah hugs Amber in the Season 2 premiere, turns out he was just sympathizing the fact her dad lost his job.
- The Moving Experience: In mid-Season 2, Buffy has to move to Phoenix when her mom gets a job there, but at the last minute, the job changes because of government cuts and she only moves one hour away.
- Multitasked Conversation: The back-and-forth Cyrus and Buffy have in "Unloading Zone" over whether he should give TJ the shirt... isn't just about the shirt, is it? It's an Allegory for the anxiety that comes with having a (gay) crush.
- Myth Arc: Similar to the second season of JONAS, each season consists of a long arc which deals with a certain issue (Season 1, for example, Andi's discovery that Bex is really her mother).
- Noodle Incident:
- Celia and her sister Mei are well on their way to filling the Chinese zodiac with them.
- Cyrus claims he met his doppelganger.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. Cyrus thinks that Andi is being so private about what happened on her birthday because she had her first period the same day.
- Not So Above It All: Celia angrily sprays a neighbor using her water hose when the latter calls her "grandma".
- Old Flame: Much of the show is centered around Bex and Bowie's reunion. The pair dated in high school and only reconnected when Bex reached out to Bowie to inform him that he has a daughter, prompting him to return to Shadyside. They both attempt to propose to each other, but only get officially engaged at the beginning of Season 3. The rest of the season is spent wedding planning and with them very much in love.
- One-Mario Limit: This show acknowledges this trope even as it defies it with a character named Buffy among the regulars. In the pilot, Buffy dismisses the connectionnote even as she admits she's been watching the eponymous show lately and thinks it's pretty good.
- One of the Girls: Cyrus's closet friends are Andi and Buffy, two girls. He is friends with two other boys, Jonah and TJ, both of them more traditionally masculine than him especially TJ who's on the basketball team. In the first case, Jonah was a crush and in the latter, TJ was gay himself. TJ mostly had male friends into typically male interests, however.
- Only One Name: If you're not in the opening credits or a relative of Andi, you only get to have one name, with the exception of TJ Kippen, Walker Brodsky, and Miranda and Morgan Patrick.
- Offscreen Breakup: Jonah and Libby.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Buffy is a very aggressive and competitive athlete, almost to Jerk Jock levels.
- Playing Sick: Andi enlists Buffy and Cyrus to help her fake being sick to avoid going to school after her disastrous conversation with Jonah.
- Plot Parallel: So many.
- Cyrus shows up expecting to match jackets with Jonah in Season 1 and coordinate costumes with TJ in Season 3 only to be blown off by both of them, the only real difference being Jonah's obliviousness to Cyrus' disappointment and TJ seeming absolutely devastated that he let Cyrus down, and the fact that the matching jackets were Cyrus' idea, whereas the somersault costume was TJ's.
- Cyrus shows up expecting to match jackets with Jonah in Season 1 and coordinate costumes with TJ in Season 3 only to be blown off by both of them
- Previously on…: Every episode after the pilot begins with a recap of the previous, and ends with an On the Next.
- Subverted slightly. Some recaps include callbacks to older episodes if the information is pertinent, including episodes that took place nearly half a season ago.
- Product Displacement: Characters refer to "Toaster Tarts", "Baby Taters" (the latter could just be The Spoon's name for them), "Facepage", "MeTube", and "Instapic."
- Promoted to Opening Titles: Bowie gets promoted to the opening titles in season 3.
- The Promposal: The entirety of "Secret Society" is an elaborate way for Walker to ask Buffy to his fall formal. It involves pretending that there is a secret society and inviting her friends into it one by one. It's essentially everything Buffy hates so she says no.
- Protagonist Title
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In "Crime Scene: AndiShack!", Morgan replies, "No...I...don't!", just before Bowie enters with the found bracelet.
- Real Life Writes the Plot:
- Buffy and Marty's storyline was interrupted and delayed due to Marty's actor, Garren Stitt, leaving the show in Season 2 to play Oscar in General Hospital.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. Mack tries to mediate between Celia and Bex.
- Red Herring: Morgan in "Crime Scene: AndiShack!". Turns out she didn't take Andi's bracelet after all, as Bowie miraculously finds it in a place she already looked, claiming it somehow fell in there.
- Reformed, but Not Tamed:
- What Amber seems to have settled as. While she is genuinely nicer she does show signs of her old self. Such as leaving Andi atop a ferris wheel or telling Jonah he gave up a great girl (meaning her) when he dumped her for being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- As of the end of Season 2, it is clear that TJ has definitely changed for the better, even acknowledging his previous behavior as problematic. However, he still has some of his sarcastic persona (but in a more teasing way than in an unpleasant way like before) and is continuing to work being a good person by cutting out his toxic friends and learning to hold himself accountable (such as when he goes to talk about the gun situation, but Cyrus calls him out on not properly apologizing; it is implied that this is something he is not used to yet).
- Relationship Revolving Door: Jonah and Amber break up, but Cyrus' pep talk inadvertently convinces Jonah to reunite with her. By the end of the episode, Jonah and Amber are a couple again, much to Andi's disappointment. He then breaks up with Amber in the finale after he realizes that she is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. They get back together in Season 3.
- Revenge by Proxy: It is implied that Kira, who has a grudge against Buffy after she kicked her off the basketball team, is manipulating TJ to hurt Cyrus, Buffy's best friend, to get back at Buffy or punish Cyrus for being friends with her.
- The Rival: Aunt Mei is this to Celia, always finding a way to one-up her. When Celia invites her over to announce Bex and Bowie’s engagement, Aunt Mei arrives with her pregnant daughter, who is carrying twins.
- Scary Librarian: Mrs. Devlin. Bex always found her creepy and Andi becomes terrified of her after watching a horror movie about a demonic librarian.
- Secret Test of Character: In "Bought, Lost, or Stolen", it's revealed that Amber is seeing Cyrus' mom for therapy. At The Spoon, Amber tells Cyrus her deep, dark secret: she spits in the hamburgers she serves and likes to watch people eat them, and threatens Cyrus not to tell anyone. The next day at The Spoon, Buffy is served a burger, and Cyrus knocks the burger out of her hand before she can eat it, all while keeping Amber's "secret". It is revealed that Amber doesn't really spit in the burgers, she was just testing Cyrus to see if she could trust him, as per therapist recommendation.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Cyrus and TJ, respectively. Interestingly, they tend to subvert these stereotypes when interacting with each other. They help each other overcome their respective obstacles.
- Sensory Overload: Jonah is prone to panic attacks, but he's so focused on avoiding stressful situations he never knew until Cyrus's party when he feels that he's losing Andi.
- Shipper on Deck:
- When it comes to Andi/Jonah, Bex crosses the line into The Matchmaker. She ships Andi/Jonah even before the two characters properly meet, and asks Jonah to give Andi frisbee lessons just to introduce them to each other. She continues to contrive ways to get Jonah to really notice Andi through the first season (such as the party and the makeover). Buffy and Cyrus are both pretty enthusiastic Andi/Jonah shippers at the outset, but Cyrus in particular shows less interest in the pairing over time. In the second season premiere, Cyrus realizes this is because he has feelings for Jonah, which he then confides in Buffy. She becomes a lot more outwardly cool towards Andi/Jonah than she used to be, at least in part to avoid rubbing it in Cyrus' face.
- Andi and Cyrus are Buffy/Marty shippers as well, but they're a bit more subtle about it by comparison.
- Andi ships Bex/Bowie pretty hard, for obvious reasons.
- Shout-Out: In the spirit of Lizzie McGuire, character dialogue is often peppered with pop culture references.
- The Shrink: All four of Cyrus' parents are mental health professionals.
- Silent Treatment:
- Iris gives this to Cyrus, leading him to believe that he's been dumped. Jonah explains that Iris is just testing their relationship, a technique taught by Amber.
- Happens again to Cyrus in Season 2, this time with Buffy. It comes to a head at Jonah’s pancake fundraiser and is partially responsible for Jonah’s panic attack.
- Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: It even looks much realer than a typical Disnick Kid Com with almost everything done outdoors or on location, but it's still a well-scrubbed, bright look with a new school, a picture-perfect house and street, and even the funky urban spaces the kids and younger adults inhabit by choice exhibit a very...Utah Mormon version of a hipster aesthetic, further cleaned up by Disney (the show has earned a reputation for leaving locations cleaner than they found them)
- Spiritual Successor:
- Lizzie McGuire, to an extent. The shows both follow teenage girls and the ups and downs of their lives, have a Token Trio Two Girls and a Guy setup for the title character's circle of friends, lack the canned laughter usually used in a sitcom, and are named after the lead character.
- This is kind of one too to The Secret Life of the American Teenager, albeit set in middle school. Some of the characters and plotlines from that show do show in some ways (minus the sex and other things, due to being in middle school); compare both Andi and Bex to Amy (Andi having Amy's traits while Bex getting Amy's teen pregnancy part), for example.
- Staring Contest: Andi and Amber engage in one. Blinking is apparently allowed.
- Status Quo Is God: Averted like you wouldn't believe.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Andi's friends think that her secret is that Bex was absent from her life because she was busy taking care of her secret baby. But it's not like they were that far off from the truth...
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Bex gets her own place and takes Andi to come live with her, but her first attempt at being a full-time parent without any help from her parents doesn't go as well as she would have liked.
- Cyrus writes his first ever movie, and while he impressively got the whole thing down, the end result is very unappealing. As many writers can tell you the first stories you write tend not to be very good. It doesn't really help that Cyrus is a kid with a huge ego.
- Take That!: Seeing that Andi has made an art project out of her old CD's, Bex makes a snarky remark about being "real torn up that I can't listen to Nickelback anymore."
- Teen Drama: But set in middle school. The show's themes, the Previously on… and On the Next parts, and many other things in the show do make you think there's some laughs but most of it feels like it was Disney Channel's 2nd attempt to make a teen drama after the second season of Jonas L.A.- and they succeeded. And yes, it includes a wild teen party (see below).
- Teen Pregnancy: Bex. What's more shocking is that she's Andi's mother as well.
- Thematic Theme Tune: "Tomorrow Starts Today". Notably not sung by any of the cast members.note
- 13th Birthday Milestone: In the series' debut episode "13", Andi gets a surprise visit on her 13th birthday from her older sister Bex, who announces she will be moving back in with their parents Celia and Ham. Bex then gives Andi a back of secrets contained and opens it to reveal a picture taken of Bex holding Andi as a baby. It is at that moment revealed that Bex is actually Andi's mother, leaving Andi curious to as if there's a picture of her father inside the box.
- Time Skip: Summer passes between Season 2 and 3, and we find the characters 8 weeks later in the Season 3 opener with Jonah returning from frisbee camp and Bowie returning from his tour.
- Token Trio: Andi and her friends Buffy and Cyrus are this, being an Chinese-American girl (Andi), an African-American girl (Buffy), and a gay Jewish guy (Cyrus). The stereotypical formula is subverted since Andi is the lead. Also qualifies as Two Girls and a Guy.
- Totally Radical: Any slang the characters use tends to be decades out of date, to the point it almost seems deliberate. Jonah Beck once calls Cyrus "gnarly" and even his made-up slang ("docious magocious") sounds distinctly retro. Cyrus says "groovy" at one point. Multiple characters use the term "savage", including Cyrus (for Andi's new motorbike) and Marty (for a new pair of sneakers). TJ gets "LOL" said out loud and "niceberg."
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- Judging from how often everyone orders them, baby taters might as well be the only dish served at The Spoon.
- Celia loves her muesli.
- Twofer Token Minority: Cyrus is Jewish and gay.
- Two First Names: This show has a penchant for them like all the Macks, Miranda Patrick, Jonah Beck, and Bowie Quinn (though the show claims that doesn't count since Bowie is a last name, a clear reference to David Bowie)
- Actually it does count, as Season 3 reveals Bowie's name is actually Steven Quinn.
- Two Girls and a Guy: We have the artistic Andi, the athletic Buffy, and nerdy Cyrus, though Cyrus is gay, meaning romance isn't in the equation.
- Unfortunate Names: Buffy isn't a bad name, but as to be expected, she can't go without comparison to the other Buffy
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: When Buffy rejects Marty, Marty moves on and finds a new girlfriend, Rachel. The news that he moved on so quickly shocks Buffy, and Buffy is eventually the one to reach out to Marty to reconnect with him because she misses him.
- Vague Age: It is yet to be revealed exactly how old Bex was when she conceived and then gave birth to Andi. Most evidence suggests that she was in her late teens. In "Mama", we learn Bex left home when Andi was approximately six months to a year old and never looked back. It's hard to imagine her going far unless she was already 18 by then. Her ex-boyfriend, Andi's father, skipped town over a year before that, before he could find out Bex was pregnant, although of course he could have been older than her.
- Bowie was born on October 15, 1985 - which would make him 17 when his daughter was conceived and 17-going-on-18 when she was born (September 28, 2003).
- Very Special Episode: "Cookie Monster" and "The New Girls" has a 2-part arc all about gun safety.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: In one episode, after getting motion sickness from riding a merry-go-round, Cyrus pukes into his shoe.
- Wham Episode: Has its own page.
- Wham Line:
- "Andi, I'm not your sister... I'm your mother."
- "You like Jonah."
- "Okay, well that, of course, is Aunt Ruthie's kugel, uh, that's your classic bagel and lox. That's gefilte fish - skip that. And I'm gay."
- Wham Shot:
- Episode 6 reveals Andi's father, a musician named Bowie.
- Episode 12 Cyrus looks back back. This after Amber says if (Andi) looks back means she likes Jonah more than just as a friend. Confirmed in/just before Season Two
- In the Season 2 Finale, TJ looks back at Cyrus. It was confirmed that this look back was for Cyrus and not Buffy, but the editors made it ambiguous.
- Episode 13 of Season 3 has Cyrus sadly look back at TJ on the swings with Kira, confirming his feelings for TJ.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?:
- Except for an Establishing Shot in an early episode the electric bike hasn't been seen since The Pilot.
- A discussion about Buffy breaking up with Walker occurs in "The Quacks". Buffy has been ghosting him in the hopes he gets the message, but Cyrus and Jonah insist she actually talk to him. Walker is never mentioned again after "One in a Minyan" and there is never any confirmation of their break up beyond Buffy pursuing a relationship with Marty in a way that implies she's single.
- In "Dancing the Dark", Bex convinces a reluctant Andi to have one. It ends with Amber humiliating Andi over her missing father and the grandparents returning home early.
- Amber takes Andi to a high school party in "I Got Your Number". Although nothing really extreme happens, Andi is very nervous, especially by all the older people there, and when she loses Amber, she immediately calls Bowie to come pick her up.
- And in the series finale, Andi, Bex, and Bowie host a party at the Mack house because Celia is away. She pranks them by pretending not to be okay with it but actually joins in on the fun.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The exact location of Shadyside is not specified. It is only known that it takes place in the Midwest in the US.
- Writers Cannot Do Math:
- According to the pilot, Andi was born on September 28, 2003. The episode takes place on September 28, 2016, her thirteenth birthday (but was not broadcast until April 2017). Several months later (both in and out of universe) there is an episode about Chinese New Year, in which multiple characters confirm it to be the "Year of the Dog". This means the date must be February 16, 2018. So the writers accidentally skipped a year somewhere and transposed the setting from the (very) recent past to Next Sunday A.D..note
- There's a lot of similar problems throughout the Andi Mack timeline that make it pretty much impossible to work out when things are happening or how much time has passed since the show's beginning - or, in some cases, even between individual episodes.
