— WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS —
The only thing more consistently inconsistent than the storytelling and overall quality of Girl Meets World is it’s schedule. Seriously, Disney – we have these crazy inventions now called “calendars.” They’re very easy to use. Simply find a time when you want to air the show, and keep it that way. Because while it’s super fun playing “guess the time” week after week, it’d be a bit better if this one small issue could be figured out and stay consistent for awhile.
Okay, with that rant out of the way, this week’s episode of “Girl Meets Brother” was one of the best of the series so far – a bit surprising, considering that last week’s episode, “Girl Meets Friendship” was so bad that it was almost the last episode I bothered watching.
So here’s a quick synopsis of what went on this week: Cory and Topanga are going out to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary, and Cory has a full night of romance planned. At the same time, Riley is looking to be taken more seriously as a young adult, and wants more responsibility, so it’s decided that she’ll babysit for Augie while her parents are out for the evening.
As expected, the evening goes wrong for both parties: Cory and Topanga don’t get any farther than the subway platform when the trains are delayed (a nod back to the Boy Meets World episode where they got stuck on the subway on their way to a New Year’s Eve party), and Maya comes over to watch TV with Riley, ruining Augie’s ‘Best Night Ever’ with his sister (a nod back to the Boy Meets World episode where Cory unsuccessfully babysat for Morgan).
Cory and Topanga make the most of their time on the subway platform, being entertained by a jazz musician who happens to show up (a cameo by jazz legend Herbie Hancock that was completely random, but still worked), a marriage proposal by Cory and a horse ride on a nearby child’s toy horse (if they wanted a horse, they should have just asked Maya – if we’re to believe last week’s episode, apparently she “knows a guy” and can just get a horse when needed). After realizing that the only thing they still need to make the night perfect is seeing their kids, they go back to their apartment to spy on Riley and Augie.
Meanwhile, Maya helps Riley realize that all Augie wants is Riley’s attention, and they go out of their way to make the rest of the evening special for him.
I’m not going to lie – from seeing the previews for this episode, I had set the bar pretty low. “Girl Meets Friendship” was such a mess, seeing a commercial that focused on Augie made me think the ship may have gotten off course for good. Watching this episode, though, I’ve never been so happy to be wrong! It was sweet, funny – silly, yes, and nonsensical (turning Augie’s room into a virtual pirate ship in mere minutes with items purchased from a vintage clothing shop, for example), but in the same way that Boy Meets World used to be.
Of course, adult fans were going to love the flashbacks to old BMW episodes (a gimmick that the writers are wise to use sparingly – once in awhile gives us something to look forward to; too often would turn the show into the live action version of Family Guy). But this episode owes its success to a few elements (I’m going to pat myself on the back here – some of what worked is what I said needed to happen in my last review):
- The pacing was better. They slowed it down from it’s usual frenetic momentum and took their time telling the stories.
- The two stories came together well, which is different from the norm, in which the second story is usually just a cute but pointless Topanga and Augie…thing.
- No one said “How ya doin?” this episode. Thank God.
- Farkle had a very minor role. I have no problem with Farkle as a background character, having a line every now and then, but any more than that leaves less time to spend developing more interesting characters and storylines (I say let him hang around for two seasons then write him out completely and give this kid his own show – he’s a very talented actor).
- Lucas wasn’t in the show at all. I don’t care if they keep Augie and lose Lucas, or the other way around, but one of them needs to either go completely or be used seldomly. The show hasn’t found a comfortable pace yet to maintain storylines that include all of these characters.
- They weren’t in the classroom. While the school setting is integral to the show, they haven’t quite found a way yet to make it work the way it did in Boy Meets World. Giving Cory more control over his class would be a good place to start, but until that happens, it was nice to have an episode outside of the classroom.
- We got to see more of Cory, and Topanga, and Cory and Topanga. Both have been very under-utilized to date, and it was good to have an episode where they played a more meaningful role.
- Maya played a good part. When she’s not flirting with Lucas, she’s got a troubled back story that needs to come out more, and although it was slight in this episode, it was just enough to be a welcomed addition.
- There was a bit more edge – two sex jokes (“three weeks and four days”) and a boob joke. Nothing too crazy, but by Disney standards it was practically porn.
- It was funny. The egg lesson was funny, the horse thing was funny, Farkle’s realization that he’s only part of the story when they’re in the classroom was funny…the show is supposed to be a comedy, and all other flaws in the show can be forgiven if it makes us laugh. This episode did.
This episode is, I believe, what fans of BMW were hoping for when Girl Meets World was first announced. Fine for the kiddies who enjoy standard Disney fare, something for adults who watch because they loved the original show, and an overall return to good story telling with characters we can relate to and have fun with. Here’s to hoping we see a lot more episodes like this one!
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