Warning: This article contains spoilers The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Season 1, Episode 5, "Cherry Picker," now streaming on Disney+.
The Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers has focused on what is actually important about youth sports and continues that theme in Season 1, Episode 5, "Cherry Picker." The episode develops the friendship between Maya and Lauren. The two girls come from different social circles prior to joining the Don't Bothers but have become friends while they are teammates. However, their new friendship is tested by the social pressure of their independent cliques at school.
Lauren is a fan of the fantasy genre and is friends with people who like to live-action roleplay and wear capes. She is confident in her identity and finds strength in wearing her cape at all times. On the other hand, Maya is one of the popular girls. They don't really have social crossover while they are away from the rink. However, in "Cherry Picker," they really start to bond.
Maya helps Lauren find her cape after practice. Lauren opens up, revealing that she had scoliosis as a child. Her dad gifted her the cape to hide her brace and empower her through her struggle. It has been an important part of her life and identity ever since. Maya reveals that she had a hard time adjusting to Minnesota after moving there from New York. While trying to fit into a new school, she worked hard to drop her Brooklyn accent. The two girls decide to film a TikTok together, and Maya says she will post the video.
The next day though, Lauren learns that Maya never posted the video. She confronts Maya at the popular girl table in the cafeteria where Maya claims she didn't post the video to protect Lauren from bullies. Lauren doesn't buy this explanation and accuses Maya of being embarrassed to be friends with her.
Later Maya tries to apologize to Lauren for not posting the video and trying to hide their friendship. She does it while Lauren is with her friend group. Much like Maya, Lauren tried to hide their friendship from her other friends. Maya accuses Lauren of doing the exact thing Lauren accused Maya, resulting in the new friendship straining and bleeding into their hockey game.
When neither Lauren nor Maya is willing to do a trick play during the game because of their disagreement, Nick makes a speech about how they need to forget their clique fight from school and focus on being teammates, which helps them get through the game. Then at school, they trade clothing styles and admit they don't care if people know they're friends, deciding to sit with the Don't Bothers in the cafeteria instead of with their regular cliques.
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers frequently focuses on the themes of teamwork and friendship as fundamental values of youth sports. That continues in "Cherry Picker" when Lauren and Maya struggle to balance their relationship as teammates with their school clique reputations. Eventually, they learn that their friendship is more important than the social pressure of cliques through their role on the Don't Bothers hockey team.
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers stars Lauren Graham, Emilio Estevez, Brady Noon, Maxwell Simkins, Swayam Bhatia, Luke Islam, Kiefer O’Reilly, Taegen Burns, Bella Higginbotham, and DJ Watts.
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