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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:32:04 GMT
this is the place for anyone to come and post a review about Boy Meets World.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:35:17 GMT
Episode 1x01 "Pilot"
The series opens with some sort of pre-school gathering in the cafeteria and almost immediately we're treated to witty banter between the hero Cory Matthews and his teacher Mr. Feeny, which establishes their archetypes of not-so-serious student and oh-so-serious teacher. Cory sits with his two yet unnamed pals, and as such I will refer to them as Good-Hair and Bad-Hair.
Good-Hair spies Feeny in the company of a blonde female faculty member. They do a slightly-too-long bit wherein they describe how late they stayed up the night before by referencing progressively later segments of a talk-show. Bad-Hair emerges victorious and the title sequence rolls.
Now we're in Feeny's classroom where we see Bad-Hair and a female student acting out the suicide scene from Romeo and Juliet with a plastic dagger, which seems a little heavy for 11 year old students. Cory is listening to the Phillies game via an extremely high tech pocket radio and earbud, and giving the play-by-play to Good-Hair. Shockingly, Cory is caught by Mr. Feeny while a student behind him looks offstage to make eye contact with his mom. "This is my big break", he tells himself.
Cory gets detention. Back at home, we're introduced to the ladies-man incarnation of Cory's older brother Eric. Unfortunately, Eric has decided to take a girl to the next Phillies game instead of Cory. Cory complains to his parents about it, they side with Eric, Cory is sad, and his little sister Morgan "The Punchline Dispenser" Matthews dispenses a punchline.
We jump ahead to lunch at school the next day where Cory and the two Hairs make some jokes. Cory tries to persuade Feeny to let him out of detention, but Feeny tells him to back that shit up outta here because he wants to have lunch with his booty call (the blonde teacher he ate with previously).
Later that night, Cory has moved into his treehouse, Morgan "The Punchline Dispenser" Matthews dispenses a punchline, and Cory is privy to Mr. Feeny (who lives next door) eating a dinner for two by himself after receiving a phone call; sad music plays.
Now Cory is in detention. Cory and Feeny banter. The destructive effects of love presented so far- namely Romeo and Juliet, Eric ditching Cory, and Feeny eating alone- come together as Feeny explains that love isn't actually the pile of bull shit that Cory thinks it is. This lesson might actually be the primary cause of Cory's warped and unhealthy view of love as he gets older. Thanks, Feeny. Side note, that typing diagram on the wall is super badass.
Back at home, Cory reconciles with his parents, Morgan "The Punchline Dispenser" Matthews dispenses a punchline, and then Cory plays video games in a pink three-quarters shirt and boxers. I cannot explain this to you. I do not know why Ben Savage agreed to wear this, I do not know why ABC agreed to air this on television, but it happened and we have to accept it.
Eric laments his awkwardness on the date, Cory explains what he's learned about love, and they're bros again. Cory and Morgan "The Punchline Dispenser" Matthews have imaginary tea together, punchlines are dispensed, and Cory tells his mom that he'll put his little sister to bed. Mrs. Matthews asks her son why he would volunteer to do something that no 11 year old boy has ever done in the history of Western civilization, and he responds with the entire basis of this series. "Because I don't understand anything about my entire life."
The during-the-credits outro bit starts with Cory and the two Hairs (that needs to be a band name) eavesdropping on Mr. Feeny asking the same blonde teacher from before on a date, to which she readily agrees. Wouldn't you? It turns out that it was Feeny's sister who cancelled dinner with him the other night. The pilot ends with an exchange which presents another important theme of this show.
"Confused, Mr. Matthews?"
"Yes I am, sir."
"....As it should be."
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:35:56 GMT
Episode 1x02 "On The Fence"
*Preface* In an effort to transition from "general synopsis" to "review", I'm introducing an evaluation system out of four points. There is one point available for plot, humor, character development, and a sparkling Boy Meets World life lesson. If an episode earns a full point in a category, it will also receive a shiny Badge, all of which are pictured below. I made them in like 3 minutes in Paint, give me a break. There are also possibilities for bonus Badges, which will be defined as their circumstances arise. This is a test run and thus subject to great change and tweaking. *End Preface*
This episode opens in the cafeteria again and Bad-Hair from the Pilot has been replaced by Black-Hair. There's much discussion to be had about super heroes as parents (Cory wants Superman) and water guns. Good-Hair points out that the show's nerd character, Stuart Minkus (it's fascinating that Minkus is named before ever appearing on camera, and yet Good-Hair still has not been called by name), is seated nearby, and is subjected to water gun based bullying from Good-Hair.
The viewer's first reaction is to roll their eyes, "Ugh, typical nerds-being-bullied cheap laughs". But this is somewhere that Boy Meets World truly distinguishes itself from other series. Minkus responds by busting out his own water gun, a far more imposing model than Good-Hair's, forcing Good-Hair to back off. You see, Minkus is a strong nerd. He is often the butt of jokes and insults, but he retaliates! His strengths are emphasized just as often as his weaknesses. I'll be pointing these moments out as we go through the series because he's really the best nerd character I've ever seen on television. If even ONE of the male characters on Big Bang Theory were written as well as Minkus, I wouldn't hate it quite so much. So right away Minkus earns this episode the Character Development Badge. In addition, the whole scene is pretty funny, so we're well on our way to the Humor Badge as well.
We're at the Matthews House next, and Cory attempts to convince his parents to buy him an expensive water gun. The writers definitely went for quantity over quality on jokes for about seven straight minutes here. I laughed a few times, but the laugh track played much more frequently, which is annoying. Even more annoying is Cory's dumb sister Morgan whose every sentence is received with laughter. Fortunately, Cory is as annoyed by her as I am and parries her unfunnyness with semi-funny harshness.
We're at about the 10 minute mark now, and the only real plot so far is that Cory wants a water gun for the "Water War", because no pre-teen wants to miss out on an alliterated event. That's just a fact. Anyway, Cory goes to Mr. Feeny, who you'll recall is his neighbor, and offers to work for money. Mr. Feeny is funny, cancelling out Morgan from earlier. Cory paints Feeny's window shutters and does a great job of it, entirely contrary to what you would expect from a sitcom. I think that earns a bonus badge of "Not Being a Predictable, Shitty Sitcom". Cory isn't quite in the clear though, somehow he got paint on his fence which quite frankly I don't understand. How did he mess up the entire fence without noticing? Any hope of the plot badge is now dead.
Cory must now paint his fence before he can go to the Water War. He recruits his friends with some of the money he got from Feeny. Minkus makes a brilliant Tom Sawyer reference, which makes everyone else look like an idiot for not understanding it. Rock on, Minkus. The scene is written so that Minkus looks smart for having read Tom Sawyer, and everyone else looks like an idiot! He's cool for being smart! It's just so unheard of in television. Seriously guys, I love Minkus.
Cory's friends abandon him, he has a funny exchange with Feeny, and then Mr. Matthews shows up and relieves Cory from painting. "Your responsibility is to stay eleven years old, for as long as you can." Cory runs off to the Water War. When he gets home, he discovers that his dad is painting the rest of the fence for him, even after tirelessly working all day. Cory's older brother Eric comments that he doesn't know how their father can work so hard every day. Cory grins, saying "It's like he's Superman. Superman's my dad," and some touching clarinet music plays. It ties a nice sentiment into the super hero conversation from the opening segment, and the part about Cory appreciating his youth is always valid, so I'm gonna go ahead and throw down a Life Lesson Badge for this episode. The episode ends with some funny water gun antics at the dinner table, but also a lot of unfunnyness from Morgan, so no Humor Badge today.
So we still don't know Good-Hair's name, we probably won't see Black-Hair again, Minkus is awesome, and Pavlov would be interested in how the "studio audience" reacts to Morgan's lines.
0 points for plot, 0.5 points for humor, 1 point for character development, and 1 point for the life lesson. That's 2.5/4 with the Character Development and Life Lesson Badges, as well as the Not Being a Predictable, Shitty Sitcom Bonus Badge.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:36:30 GMT
Episode 1x03 "Father Knows Less"
This episode opens with Cory and his father preparing some manly-ass bag-lunches for their afternoon of watching the Navy's Blue Angels "do formations".
That sounds rad, but they didn't invite me. Morgan tries to invite herself, but is unsuccessful, thank goodness. Eric mentions that he gave some girl named Heather a hickey, presumably the same Heather he went out with in the first episode. It's never very well established whether or not Season-One-Eric is good with women. Sometimes he cries over train-wreck dates, other times he thinks he's the wet dream of every woman on Earth.
...Honestly that sounds a lot like me... I need to take five...
Anyway the doorbell rings and we meet a new character! Leonard Spinelli, second in command at the grocery store owned by Mr. Matthews. Lenny is played by Willie Garson, a fantastic actor who deserves a quick tangent. Garson landed a recurring role on Sex and the City in 1998, five years after this episode aired, which lasted until 2004. Then in 2009 he began his current role as Mozzie on the best cop show to ever air on television, White Collar. (If I were to start a second review blog, it would be for White Collar. Damn good show.)
As you can see, Mr. Garson ages backward. This is an age gap of at least 16 years, folks. Fuck it, I'm awarding this episode the "Willie Garson is Awesome" Bonus Badge.
Lenny brought bad news to our heroes, unfortunately, so Cory's dad has to bail on their plans and go clean up some lame ass mess at the grocery store. I smell guilt-induced irresponsibility!
After the opening credits, it's late at night and Mr. Matthews (who I will call Alan from now on, since we've heard his name at least once) wakes Cory up to come watch the Phillies try to pull off a no-hitter. The two men bond and the audience goes "awww". The next day Mr. Feeny gives an exam, and I like how this scene starts so I'm going to try putting a video clip in here.
That's right boys and girls, Minkus is still a boss. Cory did not fare quite so well as our boy Minkus, however; he fell asleep after answering only one question. Cory and Feeny exchange some quips about Cory's failing grade and we're back at the Matthews house. Honestly this whole plot is pretty cookie-cutter, it's been in every show since the invention of the laugh track, and Boy Meets World hasn't done anything special with it. Aside from a few laughs and Minkus's badassery, I'm pretty bored so far.
Cory spills the beans to his mom, whose name is Amy. Now Alan is in the doghouse and tries to sort things out with Mr. Feeny.
Mr. Feeny, the crotchety curmudgeon (or "butt", according to Cory) that he is, won't allow Cory to retake the test. Alan quite harshly points out that Feeny has never had children and therefore cannot fully understand this situation, prompting Feeny to end the conversation. Here's the clip:
Alan was genuinely trying to hurt Mr. Feeny when he said that. It was a low blow, but also very human. Television father figures are generally shining role models and beacons of wisdom, but we see here that Alan is flawed. Not only does this scene add depth to his character, it also provides room for growth. Mr. Feeny also gains depth here as this is the first time we're told that he's never had children, and he's visibly affected by Alan's criticism. This exchange is the highlight of this episode so far, and it deserves a Character Development Badge.
Alan talks the situation over with his wife and realizes that he should be angry at himself rather than at Feeny. Shocking. Alan attempts to explain this revelation to Cory, but Cory doesn't really understand since he's 11. Yawn, yawn, snore, boring.
It's night time now, and Cory incidentally meets up with Mr. Feeny in their shared backyard. Feeny starts to tell the story of a similar situation he went through as a kid, underscoring this episode's worn out theme about the value of educa-
HOLD THE GOD DAMN PHONE.
Wait wait wait wait wait wait. Excuse me? What? What did you just say, George Feeny? Just watch this.
"I have no idea what you learned that day."
"Neither do I."
Did you HEAR that shit?! That is genuine, meaningful wisdom! And the part about education being the result of absorption over time... Are you guys freaking out as hard as I am? I did NOT see this coming. The writers could have very easily decided to pander to the "school is God" mentality pervasive in television shows of the 90's, but they didn't. They chose to give us a message that actually matters.
LIFE. LESSON. BADGE.
The episode is pretty much over now. Feeny and Alan make up in a pretty touching way, and Cory goes to bed. Eric isn't there, which is weird, maybe he's off sucking Heather's neck again.
0 points for plot, maybe like 0.25 points for humor, 1 point for character development, and infinitely many points for the life lesson. That's a Character Development Badge, a "Willie Garson is Awesome" Bonus Badge, and a Life Lesson Badge with some exciting red lines around it because holy shit.
I wasn't feeling good about this review at first, but wow. What a finish.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:36:55 GMT
Episode 1x04 "Cory's Alternative Friends"
It's week two. Let's jam.
The students in Mr. Feeny's class have paired up to give presentations on environmental issues. Cory and his best pal Good-Hair give a pretty hilarious presentation, but it's also pretty nonsensical so Feeny's not happy.
Mr. Feeny blames himself for allowing the school's worst students to pair up and thus lets them try again with different partners. He pairs Good-Hair with Minkus, and Cory with a character we haven't met before, Topanga Lawrence (we hear her first and last names in this scene). This doesn't make sense. Wouldn't Minkus and Topanga already have partners/already have done their presentations? I don't like it. It's like they don't WANT a plot badge. Anyway, in this process Mr. Feeny calls Good-Hair "Mr. Hunter", but we still don't know his first name.
Maybe the writers were still trying to decide what to name him? The characters' names aren't in the credits either, so... I should tweet at Rider Strong and see if he knows.
Regardless, we learn that Topanga's gimmick (at least for the time being) is that she's weird. She asks to check Cory's energies to see if they're compatible partners. Topanga is essentially a second Morgan here. Her "weird" lines get a lot of laughs the way that Morgan's "cute" lines get laughs, but the only times I'm laughing are when Cory is sarcastic toward her (as with Morgan).
Cory is pretty funny. I think that my own sense of humor was influenced heavily by this show. It's awesome that Ben Savage nailed this kind of delivery and timing at such a young age.
It turns out that some girls don't want an unnamed "brillo head" (a hair based name! I could have been a writer for this show) to come to their party. Cory overhears, and we all assume they're talking about him. If it turns out that they were talking about someone else, I'm going to redact my Not Being a Predictable, Shitty Sitcom Badge from episode 2. Well that sets the stage for this episode, Cory is insecure about his hair. Cory and Good-Hair chat about their projects, and Good-Hair has his most insightful line so far in the series.
Now we're at the Matthews house and Morgan does a bit. The crowd goes "hahaha" then "awww" then "hahahah". It hurts.
Cory and Topanga are working on their project. Topanga wants Cory to read poetry while she does an interpretive dance. This bit is actually really relevant like 5 seasons from now, so remember this image.
Cory is a little bitch about the whole thing and Topanga gives the "you shouldn't care what people think" speech. Yawn.
Good-Hair arrives and forces Topanga out the door. How is she supposed to get home, Good-Hair? It's 1993, she doesn't have a cell phone. That was a dick move. Now Topanga has to wander home looking like a mental patient.
Good-Hair has come over to chemically straighten Cory's hair, having obtained the product from his alleged sister Stacy. Naturally, they don't follow the instructions and Cory looks ridiculous. Stacy doesn't actually exist outside of this one episode, so I'm going to conclude that Good-Hair made her up from the beginning and is just masterfully trolling Cory because it's funny.
This whole scene is pretty funny, thanks in large part to Will Friedle, who plays Eric. He's got some great timing and facial expressions here. I would really like to see more of him in the early seasons. Imagine if they cut Morgan out and gave all of that screen time to Eric. Alas.
Now it's time to give the presentation and Cory still looks silly. Everyone laughs at him except Topanga, prompting that touching clarinet music.
Cory sits with the "losers" at lunch since Good-Hair and someone else who honestly might be Bad-Hair are making fun of him, and the losers aren't laughing.
I fucking love this kid playing the keyboard. That's literally all he does in this scene. Doesn't say a word, just plays his keyboard like a boss. 2nd favorite behind Minkus. The losers are trying to get a petition signed to help save the job of some teacher we'll never hear about again. Cory gets the idea to make a human chain blocking what must be the only exit in the entire school in order to force people to sign their petition. It works. Topanga is very grateful for Cory's efforts, and thinks it would be fun and enlightening for Cory's first kiss to be at a time when he looks ridiculous.
Cory is handcuffed from being part of the human chain, not because Topanga is kinky. Or maybe it's both, I don't know. Look at that bad ass water fountain.
The kiss setup is actually really well done. Cory's awkward about it but Topanga's pretty damn smooth. I definitely wasn't sold on the "appearance isn't a big deal" theme of this episode until this kiss. It wasn't sappy, it wasn't corny, it wasn't uncomfortable. A well placed kiss in a sitcom is frustratingly difficult to find, but they pulled it off here. This scene also moves Topanga much further away from Morgan and much closer to Minkus on the character scale, and the relationship between Cory and Topanga is central to the series, so I'm willing to throw down a Character Development Badge.
During the end credits, we find out that the girls from earlier were not in fact talking about Cory when they said "brillo head". Godddddddddd dammmmmmmitttttttt Boy Meets World. You almost made it.
Big fat zero for plot, .5 for humor (thank you Will Friedle), 1 for character development, .25 for life lesson.
1.75/4
This episode was kinda crap, but Cory and Topanga's first kiss is a big deal, so it's probably worth watching.
I learned how to make gifs in a quick way, so we'll definitely see more of those. If anyone's curious, I've been using Format Factory for this stuff. It's the VLC player of video conversions. Free, any format to any format (including gifs), and you can tell it to only extract certain time ranges. So I'm pulling a 5 second gif out of a 20 minute mkv in one step, for free. That's fucking impressive.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:37:08 GMT
Episode 1x05 "Killer Bees"
Guess what? Stuart Awesome Minkus got the highest score in the class on the geography exam. Cory Matthews got a C. Cory claims to have studied, and Mr. Feeny points out that the textbook is outdated, as it still has Germany separated by the Berlin Wall. That is some serious BS, folks. It's not Cory's fault. You're a dick, Feeny.
I'm going to assume that the airing order for the first handful of episodes was somewhat arbitrary because Topanga isn't in her seat. It's also odd, now that I think about it, that she appeared out of nowhere in episode 4, yet everyone acted like she'd always been there.
It's time for the Regional Geography Tournament. That might sound like a completely made up plot device but we had a Geography Bee at my middle school, so I'm okay with it. Black-Hair is sitting behind Minkus in this scene, supporting the notion that the episodes aired in a different order than they were filmed. Mr. Feeny has chosen the school's chief badass, Stuart Minkus, to be their representative. But wouldn'tcha just know it, the grand prize of the tournament is something Cory wants, which is to be the bat boy at the World Series. That's pretty fucking ridiculous. Cory tries a little brown-nosing, but Mama Feeny ain't raise no fool.
Later at the Matthews house, the side story begins. Eric is taking his girl Heather on a date to see Aerosmith, but incidentally his parents are going too. I don't know why this bothers Eric, there's almost no chance they'll be anywhere near each other at the concert, but let's go with it. Side note, Boy Meets World makes some bizarre wardrobe choices. Eric's shirt might fit someone twice his size. And that spot on his neck makes one's imagination wander.
Morgan does some things that are almost funny, which is astonishing. Cory, Good-Hair, and Black-Hair have kidnapped Minkus and brought him up to Cory's room. The guys try to get Minkus to give up his position in the Geography Tournament by explaining that being a nerd is dumb. It's a funny scene, but more important is that this scene shows why Cory, Good-Hair, and Minkus are permanent characters while Black-Hair gets shown the door. Acting is more than just saying your lines out loud, Black-Hair.
Poor Minkus caves to peer pressure and drops out. Cory and Feeny banter and eventually Feeny caves to Cory pressure. We're about halfway now, and honestly guys this episode is boring as balls.
Cory's studying pretty hard and starting to act nerdy. In the poorly-delivered words of Black-Hair, "he's mutating, man." And he's not the only one. Even if the rest of the episode is terrible, at least we get to see this.
It's time for the Geography Tournament and Mr. Feeny shows Cory how to relax his shoulders.
That is the best gif I have ever made.
Cory knows nothing and ultra-loses. Back at home, we finally get to see Heather. Game reco'nize game boys and girls, and Eric Matthews has got game.
Eric and his parents sort things out but who gives a shit because look at Heather. Pretty Redhead Bonus Badge. She sort of looks like Van Pelt from The Mentalist. She's played by an actress named Nikki Cox who clearly got some unfortunate plastic surgery some number of years after filming this scene. Google image search if you dare, but I recommend against it.
Back at school, Minkus has returned to being a nerd and Feeny's not too upset about Cory losing the Geography Tournament. Turns out that Cory aced the most recent geography exam since he learned all that stuff preparing for the tournament. I guess they have a geography exam every week or something. Is that the lesson this episode? That hard work has unintended benefits? Pretty underwhelming. There was a chance for Minkus to do some growing, maybe learn about himself and realize that being smart is worth getting picked on a little bit. Heck, I'm sure a speech from Mr. Feeny about that could have jerked a tear or two from me. Instead, Minkus just decides he's done with his giant pants. Not a whole lot to praise here. And they still haven't said Good-Hair's name.
0 for plot, 0 for life lesson, .75 for humor, and 0 for character development.
.75/4 with a Heather Badge.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:38:20 GMT
Episode 1x06 "Boys II Mensa" Rider Strong did an interview earlier this week about how the Cory+Good-Hair friendship wasn't really established before they filmed a few episodes. The interview gives some possible answers to the question of why no one has said his character's name yet in the show, and also why Black-Hair was only around for a few episodes. Good read. www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/showbiz/tv/boy-meets-world-rider-strong/index.html?hpt=en_c2This episode's title is a play on the R&B group Boyz II Men and the organization which currently holds the record for scamming the largest number of smart people, Mensa. The most thorough way to describe the pre-credits scene is "not funny". Cory is wearing a clown nose in class, which is supposed to be funny somehow. Looks like the guy behind Cory knows how dumb this is. To put it in perspective, the hip-hop skeleton in the background ISN'T the dumbest thing about this scene. I just checked Wikipedia and don't worry friends, the person who wrote this episode only wrote one other episode for the rest of the series. Is it a reference? Why is Cory surprised when Mr. Feeny gets annoyed? I just have no idea. Topanga and Black-Hair aren't in class, Bad-Hair is here though. That's fun. That afternoon Cory and Good-Hair finish their respective detentions and find "answers to a test" in a garbage can. Good-Hair gets a mischievous look on his face, but oh darn, they're just the answers for "that stupid IQ exam we're taking tomorrow". Good-Hair wants to throw the answers back in the trash, but Cory decides to keep and memorize them. Do I even need to explain how impossible this setup is? This episode is... not off to a good start... Predictably, Cory gets a perfect score, Minkus is sad, and Feeny makes a way-too-big deal out of it so anyone who's seen the past 5 episodes knows that the old man is trolling Cory right now. Cory and Good-Hair think Feeny is serious, which almost makes them as dumb as the plot. At the Matthews house Morgan wants to get her Halloween costume and Eric is willing to go with her because he's a cool guy, I guess. Good-Hair and Cory show up just in time to suspiciously rush past everyone prompting the abridged version of this review from the minor Matthews characters: Also Amy is apparently in the real-estate business, we'll see how long that keeps up. So Mr. Feeny wants to have dinner with Cory's parents to talk about how their child is a genius. Cory decides his best option is to start acting like a genius around the house so that his parents might actually believe the whole con. What happens next is not pretty. I apologize for putting you through this but you need to understand what I'm working with here. Back at school, Cor- OH SHIT. LIGHT. THE FUCKING. BEACONS. Cory finally calls Good-Hair by his name, which I'm sure you all know is Shawn. Cory says it with such emphasis too. What a triumph. I'm glad that's settled, I was tired of ranting about it. His hair is still good though. Look at that shit. Is that worth a character development badge? Naming the show's lieutenant? Let's go with a "Good-Hair's Name is Shawn" Bonus Badge instead. Anywho, Mr. Feeny takes Cory out of class to the lunchroom for a private chat, presumably because the cafeteria is the only other set they've built for the school. The master troll informs Cory that he'll be transferred to a special school for geniuses, a place where fun does not exist. Cory and Shawn (God that feels good to say) are in Cory's room and the curly hair blames the wavy hair for getting him into this whole mess. It's not even remotely Shawn's fault, but I'll take any excuse to make that gif. Now some stuck up woman with a fake posh-British accent has come over to evaluate Cory's IQ in person. Cory convinces his parents and the 60 year old Mary Poppins that he's not a genius by admitting to having cheated on the original test. Alan and Amy never actually believed Cory was a genius, they just wanted Cory to confess or tell the truth or whatever. Amy also tells Cory that he "never has to try to be something [he's] not". It's like they're just cramming these morals in at the end here, but they have nothing to do with the actual story. It's all an unusual take on the lie-that-gets-out-of-control formula. Usually telling the truth is hard because the lie is beneficial and the truth detrimental, but here Cory saves his own ass by telling the truth. There was no point to anything that happened. We do get a meaningful exchange between Mr. Feeny and Cory at the end though. I know what you're thinking, and no, that is unfortunately not the last sleeveless hoodie we're going to see on Boy Meets World. Also Mr. Feeny gives out rulers on Halloween instead of candy. ISN'T THAT FUNNY??!?!!? 0 points for humor, 0 for plot, 0 for life lesson, .75 for character development since we learned Shawn's name and we got to see a little more of Feeny's philosophy on teaching. .75/4 with a "Shawn's Name" Bonus Badge. This was the worst episode so far. I would much rather not be harsh since harshness is less fun to read (and write), but you can watch it for yourselves and see there really isn't anything here. It's hard to write words with the paintbrush in Paint. Seeeeeeeeee you Monday. |
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:38:53 GMT
Episode 1x07 "Grandma Was a Rolling Stone"
Mr. Feeny, the sly fox that he is, has tricked Cory and Shawn into cleaning snails out of his garden but Alan rescues them. They all talk about fishing and Mr. Feeny tells a boring old story, prompting an interesting insight into Alan's character:
This is the sort of thing you only see in hindsight, and there's no way the writers were thinking far enough ahead, but there are a solid amount of episodes further in the series in which Alan struggles with getting older and with his children moving on. And those are fantastic episodes. So this clip gave us a little precursor to some of the trials Alan will be facing as time goes on. It's fun to see things like that, even if they're not deliberate. Alan really is one of the stronger characters in the early episodes and William Russ is a great actor. He's guest starred on The Mentalist, Leverage, and Criminal Minds (among other things), which I love, so it was exciting to see him pop up on those shows.
The titular Grandma (Alan's mother) arrives at the Matthews house and we're treated to the worst thing you can ever do in a sitcom ever.
That's THIRTEEN seconds of clapping while the actors look around at each other without saying anything. That is what I would do if I were trying to parody a bad sitcom. Poe's Law, I guess. I don't even know who this actress is. Let's look it up. Oh okay, her name is Rue McClanahan and she had a lead role on Golden Girls which concluded the year before this episode aired. I guess that's a pretty big deal. Still, this is an obnoxious thing to do.
So Grandma Matthews gives everyone gifts and promises to buy Morgan more clothes than she'll know what to do with. Morgan's unusually eloquent response is that she'll "wear them and then throw them on the floor." That is far and away the most brilliant thing Morgan has ever said and I don't think she'll be able to top it. I'd like to put the video here but my software is incapable of dealing with clips that short.
Yes that's right folks, I'm test driving the actual text tool in Paint instead of writing them with the paintbrush. The paintbrush adds a layer of silliness to the reviews, but hopefully I can convey the silliness through tone and diction, allowing pictures such as this to give off a sort of mock-seriousness. If that makes any sense, congratulations. Moving on.
Corey makes plans with his Grandma that weekend, bailing on the fishing trip with Shawn and his father.
Mr. Feeny's niece is coming to town so he asks Eric what girls in his age group do for fun. This is the first time I've laughed in this episode (9 minutes in) and both Will Friedle and William Daniels show their aptitude for timing and facial expressions so it's worth showing the clip. If you watch the bite marks on Eric's pizza, it looks like they had to do some of these shots multiple times and/or in a weird order.
Eric hits on Feeny's niece. I wouldn't, but it's 1993 and people like big hair for some reason. Grandma Matthews is MIA so Cory's stuck at home while Shawn and his dad are being manly ass men on the fishing trip. Eric pretty much owns the spotlight until Shawn and Alan get back. I'm going to award a Humor_Eric Badge (read: humor-sub-Eric badge) now because he's carrying this episode on his back. I think the writers have a stockpile of high quality Eric jokes that they're only allowed to bust out when everything else in an episode is doodoo. They probably spent the whole budget for this episode on Rue McClanahan's 4 or 5 lines and couldn't afford to do anything interesting.
Eric seals the deal despite his jeans+jean jacket and tucked in shirt, a quite serious faux pas, and claims that she's the most incredible girl he's ever kissed. This is absurd since Heather was a red-haired Aphrodite, but again it's the early 90's so no one knows what they're talking about.
You know, she actually kind of looks like the girl from the music video for Mr. Brightside. Compare her face/hair at the beginning of the gif to this:
They are not the same person, but it turns out that Feeny's niece, played by Keri Russell, has had a pretty decent career. The only role that I know of though is on Scrubs, where she played Elliot's sorority sister Melody, who showed up when Elliot was about to marry Keith. (I love Scrubs.) So J.D. and Eric Matthews are Eskimo brothers, sort of, which is awesome. YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET THIS LEVEL OF INSIGHT ANYWHERE ELSE, FOLKS.
Alan consoles his son by explaining that Grandma Matthews has always been a huge flake, but when she does follow through, she does so in spectacular fashion. Interestingly enough, this describes 95% of the women I've dated in the last few years. Is Alan telling us that that's acceptable behavior? Or just that sometimes you have to deal with it? It's not very clear. Then Granny Maffyoos shows up because what else was going to happen. She tries apologizing to Cory and makes an empty promise about "next time", but words are wind folks, and it doesn't sound like Cory buys it. Good for you Cory, that's a genuinely important lesson to learn, that flakes are gonna flake. That's pretty much the end, but I want you guys to look at Mr. Feeny's outfit here for a second, does it look familiar?
He looks like Walter White! Walt was always wearing his beige jacket and beige pants, which I only remember because it looks so stupid.
Irrefutable proof that Walt's wardrobe is based on Feeny's.
So yeah. I wish I could give negative points for plot. I liked that part at the beginning with Alan, and Eric is becoming more of a ladies' man, so .5 for character development. 1 for humor_Eric, and .25 for life lesson since Cory might not expect things from flaky people anymore.
1.75/4 with a Humor_Eric Badge. Pretty awesome badge, honestly.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:39:20 GMT
Episode 1x08 "Teacher's Bet"
The title is a play on the phrase "teacher's pet".
We're in the cafeteria before school because it's the only school set the creators could afford besides the classroom. Cory and Shawn are discussing Barry Bonds's 43 million dollar 6-year contract with awe on their faces. Taking drugs for a living, ain't that the life. Minkus points out how much bull shit that is, considering that Mr. Feeny only makes about 40 thousand a year. SOCIAL COMMENTARY. How can you not love this guy? I wish Lee Norris, the actor behind the little genius, was on Twitter or something so I could be like "yo, sup". Anyway, Shawn and Cory disagree with Minkus, citing that teaching sixth grade is dumb and easy. -PREMISE ACQUIRED-
Also Shawn apparently got dressed in the dark this morning. At least he's got that hair.
Topanga's back in class, maybe she'll get some lines later. Cory cracks jokes at Mr. Feeny's lesson, at the end of which he assigns everyone a book to read. After class they have a dialogue about which of them has the harder job. Mr. Feeny, as any good teacher would, suggests they swap roles for a week, which will include Cory administering an exam to the class. The wager is on whether more students pass or fail the test than usual. Normally sitcoms have children and their parents swap roles which is tired and boring, but this is a little different and might be fun.
We're at the Matthews house next, and Eric has brought home girlfriend #3, an Asian with her shirt tucked in named Linda. Morgan makes a joke here, and I want you to see how it goes.
That's a pretty funny line from a youngster to her mother, "you're just going to have to be more independent". I like it when kids are too smart for their age instead of taking the easy "aww" route. I gave a good laugh after the word "independent", and you can hear a few brave renegade audience members laughing then too, but most of the laughter comes after the second half of the line. But the second half wasn't funny! The joke was the first half! There are a thousand things wrong with audience laughs/laughtracks and it's usually not worth talking about, but this really burns me.
Also what the fuck is Eric wearing. I couldn't even leave my apartment if my shirt and pants were the same color, and here he is acting like it's no big deal. And I think that's his jean jacket there under his arm too. Does anyone understand how this could have happened? Linda looks pretty good though. I'm a fan of that ponytail with the lower hair hanging naturally style.
Cory tells his parents about the bet with Feeny, and we learn that the stakes are Cory's new bike and one fifth of Feeny's weekly paycheck.
In class, Cory abolishes the dress code and the fascist no-hats rule, and ultimately loses control of the class. Fearing that he might actually lose his bike Cory starts to take things seriously, but it looks like he's pretty fucked.
At home, Cory's reading the book that Feeny assigned in order to prepare for class the next day. Eric and Linda show up, and Linda is sobbing. "Some jerk at the mall called her a bad name", Eric tells Morgan, with the implication being that it was a racial slur. The first fifteen minutes of this episode seemed like typical switcheroo hijinx, but shit kinda just got real.
This compels Cory to talk to his class about how prejudice is still very real, including the story of what happened to Linda the day before, and that it's shitty to be shitty to other people. If it were any other show I would expect the class to slowly come to order while nice music plays as Cory talks about this important issue. But that's not what happens. Nobody's paying attention except Feeny. Cory decides that he's a crap teacher and is about to walk out the door when his teacher gives him a look that honestly pierces straight into the core of my being.
It's a look of sympathy, understanding, some "I know you just tried really damn hard and I'm proud of you", and a little "Don't give up just yet."
Wow.
Then Cory goes H.A.M.
There are a few things I really like about this. The first is that Cory actually says "wop". That's pretty ballsy for 1993. The second is something that most real schools actually fail at, which is showing the students how an issue applies to them. Assigning The Diary of Anne Frank and saying "prejudice is bad mmk" does absolutely nothing for suburban white children. They dismiss it. I dismissed it as a kid. So it's just awesome that Cory throws it in Shawn's face. The third is when Cory says "When someone calls someone else a bad name, it's not good that just that one person jumps up." That caught me off guard. Be honest, were you thinking to yourself "why isn't anyone else getting mad at Cory for saying that?" I know I wasn't. It's a damn good point to make and absolutely earns "Teacher's Bet" a Life Lesson Badge.
That paragraph might sound awfully reminiscent of the end of my review of episode 3. Episode 3 also started out like a formulaic predict-athon, only to smash my face in with an awesome life lesson at the end. In fact, both this episode and episode 3 were written by the same person, April Kelly, who also co-created the show alongside Michael Jacobs. To my great dismay, this is the last episode she wrote for Boy Meets World, and she hasn't written for any other shows that I've watched. I might check out her episodes of Becker and Happy Days since those are semi-classics. I can only hope she works on Girl Meets World.
Back to the show, it's time to find out who won the bet. We can only assume that this exam was about The Diary of Anne Frank since the episode wouldn't really make sense otherwise. Who do you think won? This is a television show, and we just saw Cory give an impassioned speech about why the subject matter is important. Obviously this motivated the students to read the book allowing Cory to take Feeny's money.
NOPE.
Dammit April Kelly, why are you so amazing? I wish I could talk to her about this stuff.
During the credits we find out that Linda has become a cheerleader and then Mrs. Matthews does a cheer from her high school days. It's awful. I remember how intensely cringe-inducing it is from watching this episode however long ago, and I skipped over it just now. Linda shows up and does her cheer, which I skipped over, but now Eric is acting like Linda's and Amy's are the same. I take pride in having thorough reviews on this blog, so I'm going to have to watch the cheers to know for sure. Maybe I should have a beer first.
God that was painful. They are the same cheer. I guess I'll put up the clip in case you haven't felt like dying yet today.
I like this episode. .5 for Humor, .5 for Plot, .5 for Character Development since Cory is starting to gain some real respect for Mr. Feeny, and 1 for Life Lesson.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:40:03 GMT
Episode 1x09 "Class Pre-Union"
Before the title sequence, Cory is spoofing 60 minutes by using his dad's camera to film stuff and make the audience laugh. This includes Morgan leaving for a birthday party, wearing the golden necklace that her mother has decided to let her borrow. This was an absolutely disgraceful decision to make as a parent. Amy Matthews, I am shaking my head at you. Then Cory breaks the camera. These parents clearly do not know their children as well as I do.
Cory and Minkus wear some pretty cool hats as they debate over the issue of taxing the colonies.
I would love to see the syllabus for Mr. Feeny's class. Last episode we were learning about the Holocaust and now it's the American Revolution. Anyway Cory spouts off the standard adolescent diatribe against history, "It's in the past", "who needs it", etc, and comments that he'd rather look toward his future.
Look at Minkus, fucking naming the episodes now. Pretty sure Cory hasn't named any episodes yet.
Cory and Shawn eat lunch with Bad-Hair, who decided to look more like Shawn, so they let him back on the show. Also Cory calls him by his name, which is Larry.
At home, Cory's working really hard on his future-self project in which he'll be center fielder for the Phillies. Morgan traded her mother's golden necklace to a girl named Stephanie for some plastic piece of crap necklace. Amy calls Stephanie's mother to get her necklace back, but Stephanie's mother cites "black black no trades back". It was "blackjack no trade back" when I was younger, and it screwed me out of more than a few good Pokemon cards. I can totally relate, Amy.
Cory gives a genuinely impressive presentation in class, but Mr. Feeny is a massive jerk about it.
Cory's spirit is crushed and he mopes around at home later. I would too. He put real effort and heart into this project and Mr. Feeny completely shut him down. Alan gives his downtrodden son a wise talking-to but it doesn't help. We're stuck with a sad episode today folks, but at least Eric does this:
Stephanie and her mother come over. They have British accents because all stuck-up people have them. Amy and Morgan have devised a sinister revenge plot wherein Morgan trades plastic garbage for Stephanie's valuables. It goes off without a hitch and it's actually pretty funny. Not as funny as Eric though.
"I don't even know who that was!" Funniest line so far in the series. I'll part with a humor badge here.
Alan apparently sent a bunch of "telegrams" to Jim Abbott asking if he'd come talk to Cory. So Jim Abbott makes a guest appearance. I don't follow baseball, but Jim Abbott is actually a pretty badass dude. He was born without a right hand but went on to be a Major League pitcher, and pitched a no-hitter a few months before this episode aired. That's a bonus badge if I've ever heard one. So Mr. Abbott tells Cory that it's great to have big dreams but that it's also important to have backup plans and stuff. Right on. He gives his lines pretty well too, which I didn't expect. (Remember Michael Phelps on SNL? >_>) Abbott is a motivational speaker these days, so he knows a thing or two about delivery.
Cory brings this new perspective on his dream outside to Mr. Feeny, who gives his approval. A "follow your dreams" lesson from Jim Abbott with Feeny's approval? That's a badge.
The end-of-show gag involves Cory filming his parents while they cuddle on the couch, which is weird because he broke the camera earlier.
This episode was written by the same duo who wrote episode 7, which also had a famous guest star. Maybe they're just the guys for that.
Sprinkled throughout this episode were some bits from Alan about how he wasn't able to get his dream job of engineering bridges due to family obligations and all the other curve balls (look at that timely baseball metaphor) that life threw at him. This cements Alan's position as "best character in the first season". There's just so much more depth to him than anyone else. And like I said in a previous review William Russ is fantastic, so I'm happy to give away a character development badge.
The story here was clever and I haven't seen it done in any other shows, so I'd say it earned a plot badge too.
That's the first perfect score of the series. I didn't mention it earlier, but Minkus and Topanga both had some great lines, and even Morgan did something interesting. This is a really good episode, the kind that springs to mind when you think about why you love this show. Go watch this one, guys.
4/4 with five badges.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:40:27 GMT
Episode 1x10 "Santa's Little Helper"
Before the title sequence, Mr. Feeny finishes reading "A Christmas Carol" to the class, even though he's only on the first page of the book.
Historically, Christmas episodes of sitcoms are terrible and end with some cheesy "Season's Greetings" Christmas card thing with a photograph of the cast and an animated signature. I might almost say that I am a Scrooge about Christmas episodes, but I wouldn't actually say that because it's not funny. I genuinely don't remember how this episode goes, so maybe I'll be impressed.
Cory and Shawn are dicks to Minkus and Topanga at lunch, and contrary to the audience's belief, it isn't funny. Minkus is a nerd, Topanga is weird, we get it. Then again, they are sixth graders and this is how sixth graders make fun of people, so I guess if they're going for realism...
Cory and Shawn talk about Christmas gifts (Cory's getting a super rad basketball) and Minkus comes by to collect Shawn's contribution to the Mr.-Feeny's-gift fund. Shawn dodges and pivots (Basketball verbs) the inquiry, and eventually runs away.
In an exchange between Alan and Amy we learn that the mall Santa had a heart attack as soon as Morgan told him what she wanted. Morgan now thinks she killed Santa Claus. I had to use google just now to make sure I spelled Claus correctly. There's a running gag in this episode about how wool is a shitty fabric. There might be a big joke about it later, so there's the context for you just in case.
Cory wants to call Shawn to tell him about all his new presents under his tree. Alan, the wise sage that he is, responds by presenting a character point about Shawn that's actually significant throughout the entire series.
That's right folks, Shawn is poor, but more importantly he's insecure about it. Anyone who watched Boy Meets World in the past knows how critical this is to the series, and this is actually the first time it's brought up. Equally significant is that Cory's immediate reaction to this knowledge is to give Shawn one of his own gifts; he wants to help his best friend not feel so unfortunate. This is also critical to the series.
Cory tries to give Shawn his awesome basketball, but it doesn't go over well.
WASN'T THAT BEAUTIFUL?! Cory wants to be appreciated. Shawn hates charity. These opposing characteristics will engage in glorious combat many more times and it's absolutely fantastic. I love seeing friends struggle with conflict. And this isn't some petty shit that gets resolved with nice music and a hug by the end of the episode. This is a life long battle between best friends, and we've just witnessed the drawing of first blood. Awesome.
Minkus comes to collect Shawn's contribution again, and it goes pretty much the same as before. After Shawn leaves, Cory makes up a story about owing Shawn five dollars and not paying him back.
Once again we see Cory trying to take some weight off of Shawn's shoulders. It's a nice gesture, but as we already saw, Shawn is rather averse to charity. Shawn will inevitably find out about this, but I don't know how he'll react and I'm genuinely interested to find out. Good work Boy Meets World, you've captivated your audience. Plot Badge.
Shawn goes to thank Minkus after class for putting his name on the card. Minkus regales Shawn with the story of Cory's debt repayment. The two exchange "Merry Christmas", which is pretty adorable.
We see a distraught Cory on his back porch. Shawn shows up and gives a worn out basketball net that he found to Cory as a gift. I'm going to write the rest of this scene for you guys as if I were the writers for any other sitcom in history.
Shawn: "I know what you did, Cory. With the five dollars and all."
Cory: "You do..? Look, I'm sorry, I know you hate chari-"
Shawn: "It's okay Cory. I know you were just looking out for me... Thanks."
Cory: "No problem, Shawn. That's just what best friends do."
*Hug/Music*
And that would be disgusting and would reinforce my cynical view of Christmas episodes. However, Boy Meets World is a good show so that's not what happens. They poke some fun at each other and play with the basketball a little. Shawn does not even mention the five dollars or the gift for Feeny. Neither does Cory, for that matter. Either of those would have completely dismantled the theme of this episode. Cory probably believes that Shawn thinks Minkus just did him a favor, which is reasonable since that is what Shawn thought initially.
The point is that this time, Cory isn't looking for thanks or acknowledgement. Indeed, it's not that Shawn hates charity, he hates pity. He hates self righteous people thinking that he needs help. But in this case Cory didn't help Shawn because Shawn needs help, he helped Shawn because they're friends. Even if Shawn were rich, Cory would have done this for him. THAT is the difference.
I love that gif. It should be obvious by now, but this episode has earned a Character Development Badge.
Mr. Feeny dresses up as Santa to make Morgan not feel like a murderer anymore. They take the cast photo at the end but there's no "Season's Greetings" or anything, thank goodness.
0.5 for humor, 1 for plot, 1 for character development. This episode's life lesson was kind of embedded in the character development, so I dunno. Half a point, I guess.
3/4 With two badges. Definitely worth watching.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:40:47 GMT
Episode 1x11 "The Father-Son Game"
The non-paternal Matthews characters make a bunch of bad jokes in the kitchen until Swagmaster Alan Matthews comes downstairs lookin' pretty fly.
It's time for the annual Father-Son baseball game between Alan's grocery store and some bookstore where a bunch of hippies work. I'm surprised that either store has enough dads to put together its own baseball team, but that's fine. Alan is ecstatic, Cory and Eric don't want to go. Uh oh.
In Feeny's class the next day, Topanga doesn't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance for legitimate reasons. Cory supports saying the Pledge, but for all the wrong reasons, and the two briefly debate. I appreciate the effort here, it's an important discussion to have even today. But it feels haphazardly thrown in to take up time. The issue is never even mentioned again until the last couple minutes of the episode, and it's not impressive. Shawn is funny though.
It's unusual that Minkus doesn't get any lines in the classroom. We're at lunch now and for the first time so far, Rider Strong (who plays Shawn) completely dominates a scene with humor. He's had some funny lines, and maybe dominated a few emotional scenes, but nothing quite like this.
"I'm just never happy unless I'm doing stuff like this..." Hysterical. Ultimately, Minkus is able to outsmart our heroes, and Shawn's facial expressions continue to be on point. I'm going to award a "Rider Strong is funny" Bonus Badge.
I'm also impressed that Shawn knows who Stephen Hawking is. The next four or five minutes is all boring fluff and I'm not gonna talk about it. Eventually, Cory and Eric are trying to weasel their way out of the Father-Son baseball game (which is scheduled for the next day, Saturday). It's clear that they don't want to go, so Alan relays the game's cancellation to his sons; however, it is apparent to the viewers that he is lying.
So what happens next? Do Cory and Eric learn the truth and ultimately spend a great time at the game with their dad, learning a valuable lesson while that clarinet music plays? You would think so, but once again Boy Meets World avoids that shit like Wall Street avoids responsibility (so edgy).
Right after the scene where that gif came from, we jump straight to school on Monday, where Topanga tells Cory she missed him at the game which was not in fact cancelled. The Father-Son game apparently allowed daughters as well, which is cool. Breakin' down that glass ceiling. Cory feels guilty and the clarinet plays. At home Cory explains the situation to Eric and they both feel like the giant asshats that they are. This inspires them to put together a barbecue for their dad, with the help of Willie Garson.
Who is paying for all of this? Certainly not Eric and Cory. Willie Garson just shows up with all the food they need, so I imagine Alan is eventually going to get hit with the bill, and that's kinda shitty. No one is even helping him cook, especially not Willie Garson. Look at him just chillin his ass off back there, freeloadin piece of...
Just so we're clear here, Cory/Eric called up Willie Garson, said "hey bring us all this food we won't pay for", and then told their dad to cook it for everyone. What. The. Fuck.
In a stunning display of presence of mind, the Matthews brothers realize that this disgraceful excuse for a gift wasn't good enough to make things right with their father. There are only four minutes left in this episode, so it's almost a guarantee that the wrap-up to this story is going to be unsatisfying.
Now we're in Feeny's class to re-address the Pledge of Allegiance business. You should see this for yourself.
Was any part of that coherent? I'll concede that "It's dumb to do something and not know why you do it" is a solid lesson, but what does that have to do with Father-Son baseball? Is he saying he should have played baseball to... show allegiance to... his dad..? I... What? And why doesn't Topanga get to weigh in on Cory's new perspective? After all, this whole thing started as a debate between the two of them. This is not good writing. And there's only two minutes left for Cory and Eric to do something special for their dad.
I know I'm going overboard with the clips in this review, but you really have to see this stuff to understand how I'm feeling.
They're blaming Alan? Didn't Cory just give a speech to his class about how tradition doesn't matter? But seriously, THEY'RE BLAMING THEIR FATHER?
This episode is a travesty. Every moment without Shawn's involvement was either not funny, or nonsensical. It was written by Bill Lawrence, one of the producers for the show, and is the only episode he ever wrote. I have exactly one guess as to why that is.
0 for plot, 0 for character development, Absolute Zero for life lesson, and I guess 0.5 for humor because of Shawn, as well as a bonus badge for Shawn.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:41:19 GMT
Episode 1x12 "Once in Love with Amy"
It's a busy morning at the Matthews house. Eric gets dumped, Cory needs a permission slip for a field trip, Amy has to get to work and constantly avoids her husbands attempts at early morning romance, and "Judy, Queen of Zits" calls to bail on babysitting that night. Eric is going to babysit in her stead.
Points of note are that Amy has bowling league that night, Alan has a managers' meeting, and Eric digs up an artifact of wisdom: "You know the big difference between guys and girls? Girls want commitment. Guys want girls." Deep stuff. Also Morgan's bowl of oatmeal shatters the modern scientific paradigm by disproving Newton's Law of Cooling.
Mr. Feeny gives the class a good math problem, despite being their social studies teacher. "One person washes a car in 6 minutes, the other in 8 minutes, how long does it take them to wash it together?" Cory's answer of 7 minutes and Minkus's answer of 4.5 minutes are both wrong. Topanga channels a spirit and obtains the correct (and still unknown) answer. Honestly, this scene captures pretty much everything about the first season. We've got sardonic Feeny and naive Cory bantering, Shawn comprises the peanut gallery, Topanga is being weird, and Minkus is being a smarty pants. And it's funny. If I wanted to convince someone to watch the first season of Boy Meets World, I would show them this scene.
Later that night, Cory and Shawn are trying to solve the math problem. Somehow Minkus shows up at the door and does my favorite bit of the entire first season. (I know these long clips make me look lazy, and I'm sorry, but it's worth it.)
Where the fuck was the Emmy nod for that? God, I'm still laughing. I need to make a gif, hold on.
Absolutely wonderful. Humor and Character Development Badges. I was gushing over Minkus with a colleague the other day, and she mentioned that Lee Norris was on One Tree Hill. I can't IMAGINE that I would enjoy that show, but he is in all nine seasons... I want to talk to him, but this is from an interview he did in 2009: "I just don't think I'm exciting enough to have a Twitter personally."
There's no point in finishing this review. It doesn't matter what happens next.
But I might as well. Back on track, Mrs. Matthews, as it turns out, has lied to her family and is not going to bowling league. (Seriously, does anyone care anymore? Fucking Minkus.)
The Matthews brothers resolve to stalk their mother instead of just asking her, leaving Shawn to watch Morgan. Thankfully, Boy Meets World decides not to insult our intelligence, and wraps the whole thing up pretty quickly. I don't know what the point was, but there were enough funny bits throughout those few minutes that it was still enjoyable. As Amy explains the sneaky-danger-excitement-date to her sons, Eric thinks it was a cool thing to do while Cory is upset that she lied. Amy explains that the real world isn't so black and white, and that Cory needs to learn to think with a more open mind.
Somehow that gives Cory the insight necessary to solve Mr. Feeny's math problem. His explanation of his answer is solid and Shawn looks like he's actually learning something, which is cool, even though he's wearing those fucking stupid clothes again. He's kind of making the same face as the picture of Lincoln behind him. And then there's Feeny's line at the end of the clip.
Heartwarming, to say the least. Also the math on the chalkboard is Minkus's further attempts at solving the problem. In that process, he has inadvertently figured out time travel, which as we all know is represented visually by $5 special effects.
Look at 'im, bouncing up and down to clean the chalkboard. I love that guy.
The story about Mr. and Mrs. Matthews sneaking off to their date was poorly fleshed out, and that whole formula is extremely tired. The only thing to come out of it was Cory's lesson to "think differently", but the attempt to tie it into the math problem was awful. There are a million better ways for Cory to learn that he needs to think differently. Honestly, the secret to the episode is to follow Minkus. All of the scenes where the character Minkus was present (anything in the classroom, and his Emmy performance at Cory's house) were spot on. Everything else was uninspired. Honestly, the root problem was trying to make Amy the "wise parent" instead of Alan. We all know Alan's been rocking this season, but we barely saw him in this episode. The writers wanted to give Amy a shot at the spotlight, and it did not work. Can't blame them for trying.
P.S if you know a way to contact Lee Norris, please show him this review. If he never knows how I feel, my restless soul will be left to haunt the internet forever.
1 for humor, 1 for character development, .5 for plot since the math problem plotline was good, and .5 for life lesson since it was a good lesson presented poorly.
3/4, with two badges and an Emmy for Lee Norris.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:42:05 GMT
Episode 1x13 "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not"
Disclaimer:
We've got one hell of a crapstorm today my friends, and I'm not talking about the half inch of snow that fucked over my morning commute. No, this crapstorm is named Boy Meets World episode 13. I'm trying to think of how I can even approach this. There's maybe five sentences worth of content. Nothing is funny or interesting, the plot is pathetic, and I guess the life lesson is okay. It's especially perplexing since it was written by April Kelly, whom I've previously showered with accolades and praise. Honestly, this is probably the reason she never wrote another episode. If you have the overwhelming desire to be angry-bored for 20 minutes, go watch this episode of Boy Meets World.
Actual Review:
We start out in Feeny's classroom before class actually starts. This would normally take place in the cafeteria, but I suppose they wanted a seamless transition. Minkus hits on Topanga and she friendzones the shit out of him. This is crap, Topanga. Minkus is obviously superior to Cory. Mr. Feeny arrives and announces that they'll have a guest speaker to tell them about high school. The speaker turns out to be Eric and this happens:
There are two things to take away from that clip. First is what I consider to be the first incarnation of Eric's legendary Feeny Call. We can hear it in his tone, and we know that it's his destiny. Second is when Topanga makes googly eyes at Eric. Eric says some dumb shit about high school. Cory and Shawn are wearing clown costumes.
Somehow Topanga gets to the Matthews house. Everyone assumes she is in love with Cory, including Morgan who says something stupid. Gadzooks, how could this conundrum possibly be resolved? Cory shoves Topanga out the door instead of using his basic communication skills, where she goes all Sam Fisher for a chance to see Eric. Her dream comes true as Eric listens to Mr. Feeny explain why his presentation about high school was less than worthless.
"Shame on you Eric Matthews, you didn't tell Cory's class about drugs and alcohol and peer pressure, something that you're completely qualified to do!", says Mr. Feeny. I'm paraphrasing.
At lunch the next day, Topanga makes up a dumb ass excuse to come to Cory's house again and leaves her notebook behind. The boys peek at her notebook and learn that she actually likes Eric, not Cory. Zoinks! Maybe if we, the viewer, had been led, along with Cory and Shawn, to believe that she liked Cory then this might actually be a fun twist, but knowing the truth all along made it a complete waste of time. Topanga shows up at a different door than last time, which is mighty convenient. She and Eric have an awkward conversation.
This conversation goes on for a long time. Much longer than it needs to if they're simply trying to progress the story. And Eric is using his soothing PSA voice. So one of two things is going on. Either they're telling their 15 year old male viewers not to date 11 year olds, which I doubt, or they're telling young female viewers not to fall for teenage boys based solely on their good looks. Orrrrrrrr, mayyyyyyyybe it's more of a comment on the futility of trying to prevent young girls from doing that, since Topanga completely refuses to relent.
Then again, it might be a comment on the futility of trying to prevent EITHER gender from being superficial. April Kelly has earned the benefit of the doubt, so we'll go with that one. Even so, it's not presented well at all and no one except for me would ever even think of that. That was Topanga's sister who came to pick her up, by the way. Her name is Nebula and the rest of the series takes place in an alternate universe where she never existed.
In Feeny's class the next day, Eric shows up randomly and gives another, much more after-school-special speech to the students. I'll go ahead and post the whole thing here. I have a lot to say about it, so check it out for the full effect. It's not bad, I promise.
As we've seen before, April Kelly sort of baits us into thinking that we're going to get a trite platitude of a life lesson, and ultimately comes through with something meaningful, a next-level lesson, if you will. Anyone else would be expecting a "don't do drugs" sermon here, but we know better. Fool me once (twice), April Kelly... So what's today's next level lesson? The key is when Cory says "We're not into that stuff. What we like is baseball and comic books", and Eric's response, "Yeah that's what you like now." It's an interesting point, ya know, you'd be hard pressed to find an 11 year old who wants to get baked. But as Eric explains, there's no way to predict how you're going to feel in the future, especially during the mental clusterfuck that is adolescence. Better still is when Eric uses Minkus's crush on Topanga (lucky guess?) against him. That's a very real situation and it's fleshed out more thoroughly later on in the series.
A few shows have definitely had a better presentation of this next-level drug lesson, South Park in particular, but it's not fair to compare a basic cable sitcom from 1993 to South Park. Let's give Boy Meets World some credit: they didn't try to use scare tactics, Eric and Feeny don't talk down to the students or to the viewer, and there wasn't some scapegoat to point at and say "look how dangerous drugs are". That last one is particularly tough to avoid; even high quality shows like Fresh Prince of Bel Air have fallen into that. Sadly, Boy Meets World does try to pull that scapegoat shit in a later season, but for now, our girl April Kelly doesn't want anything to do with it.
In keeping with the theme of superficiality, we get to see the first time Shawn ditches Cory for a girl right before the credits. I guess that's pretty significant character development for Shawn.
For the record, the five sentences of content are: "Cory and Shawn think Topanga likes Cory. Topanga actually likes Eric. Shenanigans happen. Don't be superficial. Don't do drugs."
Escape clause: I'm not trying to take a stand one way or the other on smoking and drinking and stuff. Just tellin ya what the show says.
0 for plot, .25 for humor, 1 for character development because of Shawn's hormones, .5 for life lesson because they made me work for it.
1.75/4
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 23, 2015 12:42:44 GMT
Episode 1x14 "The B Team of Life"
We begin in medias res. Basketball tryouts have transpired, and Cory, Shawn, and some new kid are eager to learn the results while discussing the fact that only literal filth belongs on the second string (or B team). To his great excitement, Minkus makes the B team. Shawn and the new guy who will probably blink out of existence after this scene make the A team. Shawn uses the word "surprise-o-rama" as though it were actually a thing that people say. It is not. Cory, as it turns out, only made second string. Wuh oh.
Mr. Feeny is giving a lecture on evolution and natural selection. Through those concepts Mr. Feeny helps Cory to understand that he can either improve at basketball or be weeded out, a la Darwinism. That's a fuckin awesome lesson. How bout a Charles Darwin Bonus Badge.
Eric is working out to win back the 10th grade girls, who are more interested in seniors than they are in him. Surely if he made these poses in front of those girls he would incite a school-wide orgy. And he's wearing Chuck Taylors. Eric Matthews ought to be swimming in ass.
Mrs. Matthews is sewing a princess dress for Morgan, or hemming it I suppose... I don't know, Morgan is wearing it, Amy is doing something to it with a needle. The point is, they have this exchange:
Morgan: "I'm gonna be the best princess in the play!"
Amy: "Morgan if you don't hold still you're gonna be the best princess with tetanus."
I guess I just made a pun with the word "point", and I apologize for that. Anyway, it's a funny joke, but it's also a smart joke- at least, it's smart from the reference frame of the target audience. Morgan doesn't ask what tetanus is, and there's no further elaboration. To be able to laugh at that exchange, we as the viewers have to already know what tetanus is, how it's contracted, and why it makes sense in the context of sewing. One particular bit of praise you'll almost always hear on the topic of Boy Meets World is that "it doesn't talk down to its audience", and this tetanus joke is a good example of that. The show doesn't hold your hand to make sure you know what's going on. It's like Community in that way.
There's a similar exchange between Alan and Eric shortly after.
Maybe "Schwinn" was more of a household name back in 1993, but to me at least, that's a smart joke. Both actors also had fantastic timing and tone there.
Back to the plot, Cory's feeling neglected because everyone gets distracted by something or someone else as soon as he tries to talk about his B team situation. He gets pretty upset and makes a big fuss, and then that one sad tune plays as he storms off.
Cory gets hyped about maybe getting to play in the next game, but it's an away-game and "second string don't go to away-games", so he's sad again. School ends and Cory returns to an empty house, building on that neglect he's been feeling, and so he watches TV.
How bout that second part? That's some meta shit right there. Hey shitty 90's sitcoms, Boy Meets World is better than you, and it knows it.
They waste a few more minutes but eventually Cory and Feeny cross paths. Somehow Mr. Feeny knows that Cory's family drove to the away-game to support him. The two banter about the role of families in evolution, and ultimately the wise sage drives his pupil to the b-ball game.
Exactly none of any of that makes sense. We were just told explicitly that second string players aren't even allowed to go to the away games, but this whole conversation transpires without Cory ever mentioning that critical detail to Mr. Feeny. It's understandable that his family didn't know, but what exactly is Cory's plan here? There's no bench for him to sit on, nowhere for him to go once he arrives at the game. And wouldn't his parents notice that there are no second string players on the court? The next scene starts with the whole Matthews family getting home, so some sort of witchcraft must have taken place in the interim, allowing them all to meet up somehow.
Oh okay, three first string players fouled out of the game, so they had to bring in Cory. Again, the logistics behind that aren't coming together in my mind, but let's move on. Cory reconciles with his parents, but it's pretty boring.
Oh, that's the end? But nothing happened. "Cory was sad for like a day and then overreacted but then everything was okay. Basketball." That's the abridged version. There was definitely some smart humor, and overall it was pretty funny, so it deserves a Humor Badge. This episode was almost certainly aired out of sequence given the ever-futile attempt at giving Cory a second friend. That kid did actually show up a couple more times, but he's definitely not in any episodes after this.The out-of-sequence claim is supported further by the basketball thing in general. Cory has only ever expressed interest in playing baseball until now, a sentiment which goes unmentioned in this episode. Why didn't they just make it about baseball? Either way we'll never hear about it again.
0 for plot, 1 for humor, 0 for character development, 0 for life lesson.
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