This summer’s reality shows lacked complexity, and tended to favour one overblown storyline over a more cohesive selection. Jersey Shore’s Miami revamp is no exception. The silly idea-turned-cultural-phenomenon has primarily focused on the on-again/off-again relationship between last season’s only serious couple: Ronnie and Sammi. Despite breaking it off between seasons, the couple (sort of) rekindled their relationship in Miami, although it’s far from perfect.

The majority of the early episodes focused on Ronnie blowing off Sammi, getting too drunk, and making out with-to borrow a Shore term-“grenades.” The later half dealt with the consequences of telling Sammi about Ronnie’s behaviour via an anonymous letter. What the show’s producers seem to be forgetting is that aside from Vinny, Sammi and Ronnie are arguably the two least interesting characters in house. Instead of getting into the Ronnie/Sammi fiasco, more time is spent wondering what Situation, Pauly D, Snooki, and JWoww are doing. Remember when you were a kid and you’d be disappointed whenever The Simpsons ran a Lisa episode? It’s kind of like that; no matter how interesting the plot, downplaying a show’s best characters is never a good idea.

To be fair, some time was spent on the girls’ reaction to the return of Angelina, an outsider who left the first season after only three episodes. But still, the stories involving the most interesting characters have been weak-nobody cares that Snooki knocked over a tray of chicken. If that’s the best they can do then there’s serious doubt about the quality of the rest of the season, let alone season three.