TV Recap: How It Started - Disney’s "Electric Bloom" Kicks Off with a High-Energy Debut

Disney Channel debuted the first two episodes of their new musical sitcom, Electric Bloom, following the world premiere of ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires. The series follows Posey, Jade, and Tulip, three talented teens who make up the worldwide phenomenon girl group Electric Bloom. Together, they reflect on their road to superstardom, and we start with a recap of the first episode.

Episode 1: “How It Started" - Written by Alex Fox, Eric Friedman, & Rachel Lewis

Electric Bloom finishes another sold-out concert with their hit song “Wherever We Go We Go Together." Backstage, they hop on a live stream for a post-show AUA (Ask Us Anything). Fittingly, the first question asks how the band got started, and it just so happens to be the story of how the trio became friends.

We travel back to a Wednesday during Freshman Year of high school. Posey (Lumi Pollack) is a perfectionist who can’t wait for tomorrow’s Battle of the Bands event. She’s entered alongside her best friend, Shelly Sharp (J’Adore Elizabeth). As Posey gathers her books at her locker, we see that Jade (Carmen Sanchez) is once again on Principal Jeffers’ (DaJuan Johnson) bad side, accused of skipping class again. And there’s a new student joining today, Tulip (Ruby Marino), who seems desperate to make a friend.

At the beginning of science class, Tulip announces that this is her first day in school after a lifetime of homeschooling. Her enthusiasm is a little off-putting to the rest of the class, which includes Posey and Jade. Posey and Shelly brag about their performance at the Battle of the Bands tomorrow, unveiling a cardboard cutout they made of themselves to promote their performance. As Ms. Mecklenberg (Santina Muha) starts class, she groups students into pairs of three and tasks them with finding a creative way to present about protons, neutrons, and electrons.

Posey, Jade, and Tulip are sent to the auditorium. Posey and Jade naturally don’t get along, and Tulip seems to grate on both their nerves. As they sit around uncollaboratively, they each futz with instruments. By the time their mutual crush, Lucas Jasper (Nathaniel "Nate" Buescher), enters to tell them time is up, they’ve barely started. In class, they make up a song on the spot. It’s not good. They get an F!

As if the F wasn’t bad enough for Posey, that afternoon, Shelly tells her she no longer wants to perform with her at the Battle of the Bands. She lies, saying she’s going solo.

In music class, Mr. B (Clayton Thomas) gets frustrated with Jade, who is playing what she wants to on the piano rather than rehearsing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony as instructed. He warns her that she’s at risk of failing the class. If that happens, Jade will have to repeat Freshman year!

Tulip makes a friend… sort of… she’s found that school receptionist Barbera (Ellen Ratner) at least doesn’t ignore her. It’s Barbera who suggests Tulip join Battle of the Bands as a way to make friends. Barbara then hops on the school’s PA system to announce that there’s just one sign-up spot left for the event.

All three girls suddenly head towards the sign-up sheet. Tulip wants to make a friend, Posey wants to get back at Shelly, and Posey made a deal with Mr. B for extra credit if she performes. Arriving at the sign-up sheet together, the girls start to fight. Principal Jeffers has to break it up, warning them that the only way they can all sign up is if they do so as a band. And so it’s decided for them.

Tulip’s house becomes the perfect rehearsal space, with a large, creative room that has everything they need. The girls decide to pull an all-nighter. Practice starts out poorly until Tulip shares a beat she had been working on that creates a solid structure for a song. Posey sees Jade jotting down notes and peeks at her book, seeing that Jade is a secret poet. Her poem reluctantly becomes lyrics for a song. And it’s kind of good!

Rehearsal is interrupted when Posey’s phone alerts her that Shelly just posted a story. Opening it up, she finds her best friend of seven years announcing that she is now performing with Shelly LeBrock (Trisha Macaden), another Shelly. Posey rushes back to school to confront her old friend, with the other girls trailing behind. When they get there, they find the school is locked, but mischievous Jade has a key. Inside, they settle for letting Posey yell at Shelly’s cardboard cutout. But when she physically takes her frustrations out on the fake Shelly, she accidentally knocks down the school’s trophy case. The girls run back to Tulip’s house and continue working on their song.

The next morning at school, Principal Jeffers assumes Jade is responsible for the trophy case and assigns her detention. Tulip tries to take the blame all by herself, showing a video she made on her phone that implicates all three of them. With detention conflicting with Battle of the Bands, none of them will get to perform now!

During detention, Jade suggests they sneak out and perform anyway. Posey is reluctant until Jade comes clean about needing to repeat 9th grade if she fails music. In an effort to prevent that, the girls leave detention and make it to the auditorium just as the two Shellys finish their song.

The song the girls worked on was called “My Beat My Drum." They hadn’t even thought of a band name yet. In their heads, they thought they gave a great performance. In reality, they were just ok. The Shellys won the competition and became their rivals for the rest of high school. They were instead the recipients of a month of detention. The silver lining: Jasper would be in detention with them, too. Jasper was also able to give them a photo of their first performance together.

As Electric Bloom finishes their origin story, they show their fans that same photo, framed on their wall backstage at their concert.

Next Episode: “How It Almost Ended"

Worried that the band may fall apart because of their differences, Tulip books Electric Bloom for their first gig. The girls ultimately learn their differences make them stronger.

The premiere episode of Electric Bloom is available to stream on YouTube. New episodes air Fridays at 8/7c on Disney Channel. The series will stream on Disney+ beginning September 17th.