40.Girl Meets Hurricane Summary
In this episode, Katy and Shawn are bubbling, but then Angela returns.
References
Cory makes a ton of references to Angela but only one new one. That is when Shawn was handcuffed to a boat in season 5. Also, Angela talks about her fears of motherhood and mentions her father. That’s a reference to season 7, Angela’s Men, when we learned about her past trauma and her dad visited campus. Also, Chet being beside Shawn references the episodes after Shawn's father died in season 6 when he would appear near Shawn.
Review
There were more things to like than dislike about this episode. So I'll get the negative out of the way. I was not too fond of Shawn telling Maya to change her wardrobe. Maya was okay with it, but they never explained why it would be okay to say Maya should dress differently. Secondly, If Angela was married, her husband should know her well. Shawn shouldn’t be the only person she is turning to with her fears about parenthood that’s clearly just done for the plot. Also, if they haven’t talked in years, their first talk shouldn’t be about having kids with another man.
Ok, I do like that Angela came back and gave her blessing to Shawn. I think that was important, and it was nice that she helped him realize his feelings for Katy. However, I wish Angela would have stayed. I don’t see why she has to say her piece and just leave. She is Cory's friend, and Shawns and Topanga's she deserves a warm welcome as well. The fact that the girls only know angela as Shawn’s ex is telling.
I like that Katy and Shawn both have reservations. They have both been hurt before, and they are both opening up. I enjoyed their romantic dance around each other. I also like that Chet returned. It was great to see him back and at such a crucial time. Lastly, I love that Maya is growing, and she is actually hoping for things to change. That’s shows this journey has had a positive effect on her. She has hope. Grade B Streaming Assignments
Homework: the Psychotic episode season 6 Extra credit: First Girlfriends club season 5 Angela’s Men season 7 getting hitched season 6 39.Girl Meets Popular Summary
In the main story, Riley gets invited to a party, and Maya doesn’t, but Riley goes and finds out it’s a geek party. However, she embraces being a geek and decides to be their queen until Cory and Maya eventually reel her back and convince her to be who she is, not who people want her to be. In the side story, Topanga returns to her hippy roots and rescues her son's favorite bakery that her law firm is pushing out.
References
This episode consists of three Boy Meets World stories. Firstly it’s Riley's geek party. This is a direct story from Boy Meets World called the Uninvited where Cory gets invited to a party, and Shawn doesn’t, but after pondering if it was cool to go, Cory goes and finds out it was a geek party he shouldn’t have abandoned his friend. Girl Meets World adds a twist to this story. Instead of the geek party being a big reveal and Riley's choice to go or not being a significant choice, they have her go. to the party early in the episode and roll with the punches.
This is when the second plot from Boy Meets World comes in (coincidentally, season 2). Riley decides to join the nerds for popularity, just like Cory, who joined the wrestling team for popularity in Thrilla in Phila. Also, Maya, like Shawn did for Cory, tries to convince Riley just to be herself.
The third episode plot callback is in the side plot where Topanga takes ownership in this bakery. That choice helps her find herself this similar to when Amy(Cory's mom) bought a struggling outdoor goods shop to help Alan (Cory’s dad) reconnect with who he wanted to be. Einstein’s Academy was the school the gang went against in season 4 on the quiz show. Also, the epiphany after not answering a quiz question is from the quiz show episode. There was a flashback to Cory and Topanga's first story together in season 1. Also, when Cory said it’s time to do good, that was a reference to the Boy Meets World finale when Feeny told them all to do good in the world.
Review
I like this episode. It was an entertaining journey, and they put an interesting twist on the events of the previous series. I feel like Topanga's story was particularly gripping, especially with Auggie there looking for her to make everything alright. I also loved how they crossed over Topanga and Riley’s story showing them both dressed crazy. Then Topanga asked Riley If she likes herself and if she was being the best version of herself. It was nice to get the season 1 sage advice from Topanga.
I was happy to see the introduction of Smackle. She was absolutely hilarious in every moment of screentime she got. Also, I liked how they tied this whole thing popularity party into a lesson about Damocles and how it all came back around so neatly. Also, I love the lesson in general that being who people want you to be is just a sword hanging over your head. I also loved that this show addressed cultural appropriation.
However, there were also some flaws. The episode had three flaws that stood out to me. Firstly, this is a strange one from such a hardcore Boy Meets world fan, but I must say it. Cory was too involved. A 7th-grade party was an excellent opportunity to get the kids out and about on their own. Cory served his purpose in the classroom. I’d like to see Maya and Riley out in the hall or just on their own without Cory, figuring this out for themselves. If you go back to BMW, Cory and Shawn have their own world to figure things out in seventh grade, and so far, it feels like Cory is way too involved in what should be their world.
The second flaw is Maya; she seems to want Riley back for selfish reasons. It doesn’t matter that Riley isn’t herself; Maya is immediately upset with Riley and trying to get Riley back to herself, but we see little proof that Riley is unhappy or doing something that isn't good for her. Maya seems to want Riley to be one of them, not one of Farkle's group, which doesn’t support the episode message. Shawn wouldn’t do this. He supports Cory until he saw Cory was betraying himself. Then he would try to reel Cory back in. If you watch the original episode, Shawn doesn’t have a problem with Cory going to the party or joining the wrestling team. It’s when Cory starts acting differently that Shawn steps in cause he sees where it’s going. That brings me to the third Flaw. I'd like to see Riley get a metaphorical kick in the pants. Based on the episode, she doesn’t actually suffer any consequences and has no real reasons to stop being the queen of the nerds. For this episode to be more effective, we need to see why she shouldn’t do this. Cory, for example, chose popularity and ended up at a geek party and faced the consequences in the wrestling episode. Also, In the end, I didn’t like that Maya just inserted a question to trip Riley up. Riley should know the meaning of Harajuku, but Maya shouldn’t be able to just add questions in. Overall B+ Streaming Assignments
Homework The Uninvited season 2, Thrilla in Phila season 2, I Ain’t Gonna Spray Lettuce no More season 4, Quiz Show season 4 Extra credit Cory’s Alternative Friends season 1 38.Girl Meets Friendship Summary
In this episode, Farkle Lucas and Riley run for president. In the side plot, Cory and Topanga have trouble putting Auggie to sleep.
References
In terms of callbacks, there are two big ones. Riley running for president and Maya being her campaign manager is a callback to when Cory ran for office when Shawn was his campaign manager. Topanga ran as well. Also, like Farkle, Shawn was constantly telling Cory to give the people what they want. Also, in BMW, it broke out into a mud-slinging contest.
In the side plot, they call back to when Alan kept Cory up all night to watch the Phillies game, and it got Cory in trouble cause he fell asleep at school. Cory wanted to share that moment when his son Auggie and you will see why if you go back and watch.
Review
This episode, while political, had a few cool spins on the original idea. The original class election episode from Boy Meets World taught us that absolute power corrupts absolutely. It also dug into politics in America. The Girl Meets World follow-up is focused more on friendship and what it means to be a friend. The lesson in this episode is that being a true friend means being a friend even when it’s inconvenient. The kids all had political ambitions, and they had to decide whether to be true friends or go for the throat to achieve their ambitions. Also, this episode featured three different political ideas monarchy, dictatorship, and democracy. I thought that was an incredible idea. However, I wish they would have actually explored those systems of government more throughout the episode. Also, Lucas ultimately wins as the democratic candidate, but he did the least amount of work, and in the end, we left believing he won just cause he is a good guy. I would have liked to see him earn the vote. Yes, he didn’t sink to slandering his opponents, but he didn’t inspire with his take on the issues either he just won by default, and of course, democracy was going to win based on who is making the show, but I wanted more.
However, I liked the story of Lucas not wanting to be in New York. That development gave him some much-needed depth. I don’t like that Riley says to him in the end, “so no more trips to Texas ?” And he agrees this contradicts the lesson. Riley isn’t being a good friend. He shouldn’t have to stop going to Texas on weekends and seeing people he cares about. Riley should accept that part of him and that he does have a life outside New York. Also, this episode taught us it is not ok to step over your friends to get what you want. I was not too fond of the fact that Riley, the main character, didn’t waver. They made Maya do all the dirty work for Riley. Instead of letting Riley make the wrong choice and learn from it.
Lastly, the Auggie story was cute, but in the end, when they learn that Auggie won't sleep cause he wants both of them to put him to bed, it’s unclear if they plan to do so from now on or if Auggie just needs to grow up. Because obviously, they both love to put him to bed, but they switch off for a reason. They don’t have the time, so just putting him to bed together doesn’t seem like a viable solution. For example, in Boy Meets World, when Alan wanted more time with Cory and kept him up, he had to learn he couldn’t change Cory's schedule cause he felt bad. Cory had to grow and appreciate that Alan was going to make the best of the moments they had. But in this Girl Meets World episode, Auggie certainly hasn't grown, and I’m not sure if the parents can even do anything differently. Grade B+ Streaming assignments
Homework: I am not a crook season 2(election) Extra credit: Father knows less season 1 ( Alan & Cory staying up) 37Girl Meets Money Summary
In this episode, the kids learn about the value of money.
References
There are quite a few references in this episode. Firstly, Farkle learning about being poor directly references Cory getting lessons about being poor from Shawn after Cory’s father Alan quit his job. An interesting reference is Auggie getting an allowance. Cory got one, as well as a kid. Interestingly, Auggies allowance is 2 dollars less than Cory's even though Amy Alan had lower-paying jobs and one more kid to take care of, and a bigger house (although in New York, who knows how much Corys and Topanga place cost). Auggie says I made my father feel bad to Cory and gets him carrots. This is a direct reference to the Father Son Game when Cory says the same thing after he and Eric bail on the father son baseball game and the carrots is a reference to the barbecue Cory and Eric threw to try and make up for it. Also, this moment could be a double reference referring to when Cory called his father average in season 6. Also, when Auggie talks about throwing it in Cory's face that Topanga makes more money, that's a reference to season 7 when Cory and Topanga fought because Cory felt Topanga was throwing her success in his face. Review
“What good is what we have if it keeps us apart. “ Farkle had the line of the episode. It works on two levels: Minkus and Farkle coming together like father or son and Cory's pie chart. That says the money you have shouldn’t separate you from others. People change people. I love that this episode addressed wealth inequality showing that the vast amount of America lives in poverty and the shrinking middle class. A problem that has sadly only become more and more relevant since this episode has aired. I also think this episode handled Maya pretty well for the most part. Each time her friends got too sentimental, she reeled them in with the realism. For example, Farkle tried to say that just friends matter, money doesn’t, and Maya reminded him money does matter when you don’t have it. I also liked the show acknowledged Maya doesn’t have it that bad from what we have seen.
However, I will say that’s a weakness of Girl Meets World is they do a poor job of highlighting how poor Maya is with Shawn; it was evident he lived in a trailer park he didn’t have a lot of money. His dad was laid off in season one . Shawn's dad didn’t work full time again till season 4. Maya has a mom who works a low-paying job but busts her tail to provide for Maya outside of not having a phone. Maya lives in an apartment not far from her friends, and we don’t see her struggle for money or things often, and when she does, it’s usually just played for laughs. Speaking of laughs, Maya was hilarious in this episode. The highlight for me was when she came back from the train and had totally changed after they said money doesn’t change you. I like that Cory taught the kids specifically the kindness you show others that changes them. This is true. I also like that they addressed the rich hoarding wealth. Some might see Farkle as bratty, but I liked him being embarrassed by all his stuff. He is a kid, and that’s realistic and deepens his character. I also thought it was good that they showed Minkus donating his money because, just like the pay it forward experiment, if you keep all the money and don’t help those in need, do you deserve it?
However, this episode does not stick the landing in the final scene. They bring on Mark Cuban from Shark Tank, and that was cool. Cory and Minkus made the kids present their ideas for charity with virtually no prep time, and that’s not fair. Also Cory says your assignment is due now to insinuate they had time to think on this. But as Cory knows from his Risky Business assignment, if it wasn’t set to be due yet, then the kids might not have even started. So they could be totally unprepared. Then it’s just Mark Cuban shooting down their ideas because they aren’t fleshed out but only because they made them give the presentation on short notice. Riley says we spend the money we need to end malaria on Halloween candy, so we should cancel Halloween and make malaria day. Mark shoots her down and says; we can’t take Halloween away. And he’s right. We shouldn’t take Halloween away. It’s not good press. But how about parlaying that idea into a better one? If everyone knew for the same price of candy they buy once a year, they could end malaria. I feel like people would help so we could do malaria day, just a different day. But no, Mark just throws away the baby with the bathwater. Then Lucas starts with world peace, and Mark doesn’t even let him finish saying, if Gandhi couldn’t do it, neither could you. There is so much wrong with this part. First off, you don’t know what Lucas would say, so how can you kick him out. Also, Gandi was a horrible person who didn’t seek world peace because he was racist and sexist and even looking at his own country, he didn’t believe the Dalit caste could be lifted. Read all about him if you don’t believe me(https://www.vice.com/en/article/ezj3km/gandhi-was-a-racist-who-forced-young-girls-to-sleep-in-bed-with-him). Also, everything is impossible until someone else does it, so how dare Mark limit Lucas from trying his hand at world peace cause it’s too big a problem. If we stop trying to achieve those big tasks, we will never make a dent in them. Also, as we learned in Girl Meets Rah Rah, a person who tells you can’t achieve something isn’t helping you grow, and you shouldn’t give up, so I hope Lucas never gave up despite what Mark said.
Next, it’s Farkle, and he says he wants to invest in Maya, and I don’t have a problem with this. Maya is written as the less fortunate one. If anyone should know what to do with the money, it should be her. However, when Maya makes her suggestion, the episode falters. Giving Maya an unspecified amount of money and having her fix an unspecified amount of roofs is a bandaid. We are led to believe that Minkus is uber-rich and just got a whole new fortune, and so when he wants to make a change, it should be a systematic structural change. He has life-changing money, so he should make life-changing charity. Honestly, it seems like, after all the good this episode did, they failed in the end by crapping on big world changes in favor of cheaper, less impactful band-aid fixes. Minkus and Farkle are geniuses, and I would love to see Minkus, a captain of industry, brainstorm with the kids as he did for his other projects and help them find a sound way to accomplish a great goal and help fight the systems that keep people poor. The last scene was performative and bad. It represented the opposite of Girl Meet Worlds' teachings of striving for the impossible, not letting anyone stop you from taking over the world. But the rest of the episode was excellent and did a fantastic job promoting the kids to change people because people change people. B+
Streaming Assignments
Homework Santa’s Little Helper season 1
Extra Credit I Ain’t Gonna Spray Lettuce no More season 4 Father Son Game season 1 Average Cory season 6 The Provider season 7
46. Girl Meets High School Part 2 Summary
In this episode, the kids find what they were being messed with, and Auggie helps Ava deal with her parent's divorce. Reference
There was only one reference, and it was to Feeny's infamous do-good speech. Right after that, Cory says history repeats, but you can’t rely on your past success. It’s a good lesson but maybe a clue that there will be fewer references in the future. Review
I think the episode was about average. I like that the kids finally got their butt kicked. The football team mauled Lucas and Zay, and Smackle and Farkle were overconfident in their abilities and found out they weren’t the smartest people at school. I like this part of the story because it’s very realistic to the high school experience. You are going from being a king to the bottom of a very high totem pole, and it’s your job to rise to the challenge and adapt. I think Girl Meets World barely addressed the hormone difference, but I appreciate the attempt when Riley and Maya sort of see older kids making out.
I also enjoyed seeing Cory find his groove. Having a lesson is a core part of Boy Meets World, and it always makes an episode better when the conflict and the in-class lesson are on point. In this episode, Cory compared High school to the Alamo, where you get massacred, but it's only the beginning of the fight. I thought it was an excellent metaphor. I also like the idea that older students who had been through what freshmen had were messing with Riley and her friend's heads to try and prepare them for high school. That reveal was very cool. The seniors basically saved the friendship of Riley Maya and the gang by not allowing shame to keep them apart. I also thought it was an excellent choice to have those who made the wrong choice turn into mentors.
Ava's storyline was great once again. Honestly more mature than even the high school story about how to cope when life gets hard. Auggie and Ava taught us we need to move forward and be there for our friends even if we can’t make things better right away. Auggie can't do anything about the fact that Ava's parents are getting divorced, but he can be there for her. The negative of this episode is that there wasn’t much conflict because it was a part two, so the entire episode is resolution. While I liked the things, they did it’s not as entertaining as some more conflict-heavy episodes. Final grade B+ Streaming Assignments
Homework: Notorious season 2 Extra credit brave new world part 2
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