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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:32:30 GMT
Episode 6x06 "Hogs and Kisses"
This episode is so profoundly frustrating that my blood is already boiling. Call me tonight's lobster dinner cuz I am boiling right up.
We've got a filming crew here trying to make a video-tour of Pennbrook, and through the magic of Protagonist Privilege, Cory and Topanga are the hosts for this tour. But Cory sucks. Bad. The good news is that Cory is self-aware enough to realize it. I would have had to kill myself if we were doing the "How do we tell him he sucks, I don't want to hurt his feelings" trope.
Right away I feel a lot more comfortable than in the last episode. Sometimes Cory is insufferable, sometimes he's amazing. Last episode, he was insufferable. Right now, I love him. People usually choose Shawn or Eric as their favorite Boy, but perhaps Cory has the biggest effect on the atmosphere of the show. When he's awesome, we feel awesome, and when he's shit, nothing can save us. And we're about to see the proof of that when this episode goes to hell in the next couple minutes.
Shawn pokes fun at his best friend, and his natural charm is immediately called out by the video's director, who now wants Shawn to replace Cory. And let's be clear about this. Both Shawn and Topanga are hesitant, while Cory insists that Shawn take his place.
We fade over to the filming of the tour's final scene, which ends with a passionate kiss between Shawn and Topanga. Without missing a beat, Cory freaks the fuck out. Later, in The Dorm, Cory is conducting some sort of masochistic ritual by watching the footage of the kiss over and over again, and continuing to freak the fuck out.
Hey, that's a Streetcar reference. I guess I haven't seen this episode in a long time, I don't remember that. Regardless, Cory's delirium gets him into a shouting match with the guy in the next room over. It made me laugh pretty damn hard, I'm not gonna lie. I've mentioned before that Ben Savage is hysterical when he's acting angry, and this is the perfect example. There's nothing special about the lines either, it's all in the delivery. The other guy turns out to be this giant bodybuilder, which we learn when he breaks down the door to Cory's room.
At The Apartment, it's like, 80% same, 20% kinda new.
Jack doesn't make me laugh very often, but that one got me.
They're still putting on a show for her, but now it's less about getting in her pants and more about not scaring her off. As soon as she leaves they get out some donuts and start burping and taking off their pants and everything. Jack and Eric are convinced that Rachel will want to move out if she sees who they really are. See this seems like something that should have been covered earlier, like right after she moved in. Oh well.
The bodybuilder has now joined Cory in sobbing as they watch the Shawpanga kiss footage together. The joke is that he's gay and is getting a little too close to Cory. They missed an opportunity here, where the bodybuilder could have thought Cory was crying over Shawn, and that would be the avenue to him being gay. That would have worked a lot better.
Topanga finds Shawn at The Union, where he had to sleep on the couch, on account of Cory locking him out of The Dorm. As she wakes him up, he says "No clown, no!" like he's having a nightmare, and I swear Cory said the same thing in a similar situation, but I can't remember which episode. The two of them are then found by Cory, who claims to be over the whole kissing thing, that he is a "happy, healthy Cory."
Another one of those legendary lines. And golly gosh goobers, can you believe that it came from an angry Cory? I'm tellin you guys. Angry Cory. It never disappoints.
Despite the overwhelming resistance of Topanga and Shawn, Cory demands that the two of them go on a date together, and eventually they relent. The episode has become frustrating. It's just... so... stupid... It's soooooooooo stupid. Cory isn't that stupid! "How can we learn so much every week, AND STILL BE SO STUPID?!" One of the main points of the Lauren arc was that you can kiss someone and have it not mean anything, but Cory has conveniently forgotten all about that.
He heads over to Angela's dorm to get her opinion on the Shawn/Topanga dinner date, which, as we now learn, Cory set up and paid for himself.
Angela is, in fact, not an idiot, so she tries to explain to Cory why he is an idiot, but it's no use. Cory is just too stupid. And not even the funny kind of stupid that he was in the first two seasons. He hears Shawpanga returning home from their date, and they're putting on a whole show like they're gonna go make the beast with two backs in The Dorm. Once they're inside, they're reading from scripts and making all these sound effects to really troll the crap out of Cory. It's funny in theory, but since this is Cory's best friend and Cory's fiance, they of all people should know that Cory is fucking stupid, way too stupid to see through an obvious joke like this, they should know that Cory is as dumb as a bag of hammers. But they don't. So Cory walks off upset, before Shawpanga have a chance to say "gotcha!".
Eric and Jack are continuing with their hyper-politeness con during a lovely spaghetti dinner. Rachel calls them out for putting on a show just because she's a woman, but the boys insist that she could never handle the intensity of their slob-ness. Slob-ocity.
Will Friedle, showing up with the perfect delivery.
Rachel decides to prove them wrong by initiating a massive food fight, effectively destroying their entire apartment. Further, she demands that they clean everything up by the time she gets out of the shower. What the fuck is that. What's interesting to think about though, is how exactly you do this kind of scene. Obviously you can't choreograph a food fight, and you only get one take for something like this. I figure they just set the scene up and told them to improvise for a couple minutes, which is pretty awesome to think about. And the actors look like they're having a ton of fun. Is it fun to watch? Yes. Is it a waste of time? Abso-damn-lutely. It seems like the writers were reaaaaally stretching for ANYTHING to fill time in this episode. Start to finish, this Apartment scene clocks in at almost five minutes. We almost NEVER spend that long in a single location.
Cory takes Angela to his room to show her proof of what Topanga and Shawn are doing, but Shawpanga aren't there anymore. So instead they have the exact same conversation they had a few minutes ago. Because Cory is an idiot. Regarding the kiss, "You can't do something like that without feeling anything." Gaaaaaaahhhhh Cory what are you talking abouttttttt. Not only does Cory have the kiss+date with Lauren to refer back to, but also Topanga's kiss+date with that boy band looking guy from the art museum in Starry Night. And also common sense, and the fact that literally everyone else is telling him otherwise. Angela finally saddles up and kisses Cory to prove that he won't feel anything.
And so now Cory's convinced That's pretty much the end, that's it. That was uh... That was it.
During the credits, Jack and Eric literally die waiting for Rachel to get out of the shower. Non-canon, presumably.
Plot: 0 - One of the worst plots ever. I haven't given a zero for plot in a long time, but damn, Cory forcing them to be in the scene together, then forcing them to go on a date, then losing his mind, it was just awful. And you can almost draw a comparison between Topanga telling Cory to go on that second date with Lauren, and Cory telling Shawpanga to go on a date, but it's not really that similar since Shawpanga were never taking the date seriously at any point. And to bring back what I said at the beginning, no matter how everyone else in the episode is doing, nothing could have saved us from the fact that Cory was a train wreck.
Character Development: 1.0 - This one's actually going to Angela. When we first met her, it was annoying how she made Cory and Shawn act, but she herself has been pretty cool for a while. Always keeps her head on straight. And we can see that the "let's be real friends" thing between Cory and Angela from episode 4 is actually happening.
Humor: 1.0 - Angry Cory is hilarious (undapants), and Eric+Jack had some good lines, but mostly just Cory.
Life Lesson: 0 - Don't be as dumb as Cory..
2.0 out of 4.0. - Undapants. Cory and Angela are actually being friends like they wanted. The Apartment is stupid, but not as stupid as Cory. Not much else to say. I guess Eric and Jack were the hogs, and the kisses were the kisses.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:32:59 GMT
Episode 6x07 "Everybody Loves Stuart"
We're in philosophy class, hosted by a teacher named Stuart, played by Fred Savage, star of The Wonder Years. That may be why they used the name of another 90's sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, for the title. Stuart has the whole class eagerly participating in a discussion about free will. He's even got Shawn and Cory engaged in a way that Feeny and Turner never could. So right away we're supposed to like this guy, and see that he's everyone's buddy.
Angela gives a disgustingly self-righteous answer about "fate", the smugness is intolerable, but even worse is her hairstyle. Sometimes Angela has these inexplicable wackadoo hairstyles, it's impossible to let them pass without comment.
Class ends, and Stuart hands back everyone's papers. Later, Stuart has apparently followed his students to The Union, where he loses at pool to Angela and has to buy everyone coffee. Topanga helps him carry the coffee while he mentions going over her paper together at some point in the future. It's just more time showing us how comfortable everyone is with him, except for Eric, who insists that Stuart is no good, even though they've never met. Nothing too exciting here, until a well placed Feeny call.
Time skips once again, and we find Stuart knocking on the door to Topanga's dorm room to discuss her paper. He asks Angela if she wants to discuss her paper as well, but she heads out to the Union instead. By all accounts this is a completely innocent situation. Untiiiiiiiiil it's not so innocent.
He's very sly about the whole thing, it all seems very well thought out and planned. Almost certainly not the first time he's done something like this, which is a little frightening. That being said, there's nothing illegal or objectively immoral about a professor-student romance, and they certainly do happen in real life. However, it was made clear in the opening scene that Stuart is very well aware of Topanga's relationship and engagement with Cory. In conclusion, Stuart is a giant scumbag.
The scene is a little awkward to watch, but it finally comes to an end when Cory shows up, causing Stuart to leave and Topanga to tell her boyfriend what happened. We're back at The Union once again, where Cory pulls Stuart outside to talk about what the fuck he was doing last night. Inside, all the other characters are laughing about there "soap opera names", where you take your middle name and the street you grew up on. (Mine would be David Lansdowne, which is... actually pretty good...) Angela has another bizarre hairstyle, and Jack is constantly berating Eric for being a (hilarious) moron. Business as usual.
Well, not quite business as usual, since we're doing an ensemble scene here. The show has been completely divided between The Apartment and everyone else until now, so this ensemble bit is fantastic. Come to think of it, have these characters even been in a scene with Rachel before now? Shawn met her in the first episode, but I can't recall Topanga, Angela, or Cory meeting her before now. That's gotta be wrong, but I can't think of any other times.
Things escalate outside, and Cory pushes Stuart through the door into The Union. Everyone is speechless, except Stuart, who tells Cory that he just got himself kicked out of college. In The Dorm, Amy and Alan arrive to support their son. Cory claims that this is the first time in his life he's hit somebody, which isn't true. He's hit Shawn a few times, and there was that one altercation with his father in Raging Cory.
Alright, time to waste some time. The Apartment Trio are at, you guessed it, The Union, where Eric convinces Rachel to try to seduce Stuart. Jack spends the whole time making his trademark tired-of-this faces and calling Eric a moron. Rachel eventually goes along with the plan, but Stuart turns her down. She gets pretty angry about being rejected, and it's supposed to be funny, but... it isn't.
Topanga is, of course, also at The Union, and demands that Stuart make this all go away.
So that's the revised history Stuart's going to be telling. Topanga is shocked that he would like like that, but she should know all about retcons!
It's time for the hearing. Eric barges in with a suit and briefcase while some dramatic courtroom music is playing from the tape-player in his briefcase. It's hilarious, but because of the music doesn't really translate to a gif.
Okay I don't really know how to review this scene. Stuart makes his case, it's all very clever and smarmy and annoying. It would be pretty convincing if it weren't so obvious that he's a total creep. I like that the writers went to such lengths to give Stuart a compelling case, like him asking Angela to stay with them in their dorm earlier. Feeny is unable to make a convincing case against him, since he never actually broke any real rules. As such, the Dean is forced to suspend Cory, but she can see what's obviously going on here and only suspends Cory for one day. We're left somewhat unsatisfied since Stuart is never officially reprimanded, but at least Cory didn't get expelled.
What the heck are those people in the background doing here? More than that, what's Feeny doing here? He has no real business being here except trying to protect his beloved students. And the biggest takeaway from this scene is that he can't protect them anymore.
Damn, that's some somber realism right there. The episode ends with our four heroes realizing that they aren't, in fact, children anymore.
Plot: 1.0 - A surprisingly adult story without the sunshiney resolution we might expect.
Character Development: 1.0 - Stuart is presented extremely well, and all the other characters adapt in believable ways.
Humor: 0.5 - Most of this episode had a serious tone. Eric was good sometimes, but also pretty bad sometimes.
Life Lesson: 1.0 - This is life. And these things happen. And you're not children anymore.
3.5 out of 4.0. As I was writing this, I was expecting a lower score, but I think that's just because it wasn't very funny. In every other regard, it's actually pretty great. Fred Savage is a good actor who brought us a compelling character with an interesting story and a meaningful conclusion. Rachel was as pointless as ever though. You could have written the exact same episode without her, and just skip that scene where she tries to seduce Stuart. So yeah. Great episode, just not as funny as the other ones this season.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:33:19 GMT
Episode 6x08 "You're Married, You're Dead"
"Gambling Dan" and two of his Yes Men are playing Five Card Draw with Shawn in The Dorm. This is a shame, because anyone with the epithet "Gambling" ought to be playing Hold 'Em, like every other sane person on the planet. Shawn loses the hand, but it's clear that a lot of fun is being had without Cory around. He comes home just then, though, surprised to see a poker game in his room.
"The Major" is short for "The Major Wuss". Gambling Dan is not Cory's biggest fan. "He's married. he's dead." And "If there were a Whipped magazine, you would be the centerfold." Shawn is the one telling him all these things secondhand, but the point is, these third-parties do not have a flattering opinion of Cory and his engagement.
Does this stack up with the past? Well... yeah, in the sense that this is exactly the sort of thing we've done before. Sometimes I rejoice when we feel the spirit of season 2, but not like this. This is just doing the exact same thing. Cory's not fun! Shawn hangs out with fun people! Cory will prove that he is fun! Lots of laughs on the way! Apparently Shawn is meeting Gambling Dan at Club Cleavage (pronounced clah-vahj), so Cory decides to go along to do that whole "proving himself" thing that never works out.
At The Apartment, Jack and Eric are trying to sneak past Rachel for no discernible reason. For today's episode, the boys are afraid of her... I don't know, trying to spoil their fun? Judging them? It's very unclear what they're worried about, made worse by the fact that it's bull shit that they made up just for this episode. Jack and Eric are acting like this out of absolutely nowhere. Conveniently, Rachel's writing a term paper about the effect women have on male bonding. She claims she hasn't found a case to observe yet because she's an idiot, but stops being an idiot long enough to realize that she can write about her own effects on Eric and Jack. Not exactly an unbiased study.
At Cleavage, which is essentially Hooters, Cory is his predictably awkward self. Gambling Dan and his yes-man, Louie, are giving Cory a hard time, but Shawn sticks up for him like the awesome friend that he is. Shawn really is an unwaveringly good friend to Cory. Trouble starts when a cute waitress starts doing what cute waitresses do at these types of places, eventually assuming that Cory is there for a bachelor party.
Cory is about to stab his eyes out with a fork to resist temptation, when Shawn tells him to get a grip and suggests he take off his engagement ring. Yeah, Cory wears an engagement ring. Nothing objectively wrong with that, but it bears pointing out. It's particularly interesting since he was the one who did the proposing back in Her Answer, but whatever. So Cory takes his ring off and sets it on the table because he's an idiot. Like when he left his keycard on the table in Prom-ises Prom-ises. HOW CAN WE LEARN SO MUCH EVERY WEEK AND STILL BE SO STUPID. More and more we see just how fucking beautiful that line is. Just having that line in Eric Hollywood makes everything else so much easier to watch. Definitely one of the smartest things they ever did on this show.
Eric and Jack are here too, and Rachel is observing them from the shadows. It's... still not funny. I have nothing positive to say here.
Walking through the hallway outside The Dorm, Cory and Shawn are accosted by Topanga and Angela. Shawn delivers a smooth lie, but Cory spills the beans about Cleavage almost immediately. Shawn's lie was that they went to see "Babe 2: Pig in the City", followed up with "we all know how I feel about little pink pigs." Hopefully that's a callback to his past pig-ownership. Angela gives Shawn the cold shoulder and heads into her room like this is some kinda big fuckin deal, while Topanga takes a more aggressive approach.
Cory makes his case, and Topanga claims she's not mad, and that all that matters is that he's always honest. Which he was. She goes on to say that she trusts him to do whatever he wants, any time. Well great that's perfectly reasonable, good job Topanga, so why did you throw him through a door? It's not okay to throw your boyfriend through doors. It's not polite.
Once Topanga leaves, she is replaced by Gambling Dan and Louie, who have come to invite Cory to their poker game that night since he proved himself at Cleavage, in particular taking off his engagement ring. This of course reminds Cory that he forgot his ring, because he's an idiot. I mean seriously, even directly talking to his fiance didn't remind him? It's just so unbelievably sitcommy, you know? Blech. The only way it could get worse is if there's some zany "it's not what it looks like" mixup later at Cleavage when Cory goes to get his ring back. Oh wait that's exactly what happens.
Like, I don't even have anything to make gifs out of. This sucks.
Topangela are taking showers, talking about how Cleavage is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and how they're sure Cory won't go there again. Topanga comments "As long as some women choose to wiggle around half-naked, there will be men who go to see them." Two for two on Topanga's rationality and cool-headedness, it's very much appreciated in this nightmare of an episode. Angela insists that you have to come from a broken home and blah blah that whole spiel. Just then another girl comes out of a shower who claims to work at Cleavage, and she says it's really not that bad and offers to take Topanga to prove it. "The girls wear more than you'd see them wear at the beach." Excellent point, girl who works at Cleavage. Our society is so afraid of sexuality, but somehow we still manage to wear almost nothing at the beach. Little Jimmy can't see that girl in her bra on TV! But then you go the beach and it's no big deal? I dunno man. I dunno.
Once again I have nothing to make a gif out of, so here's that girl in a towel.
Jack and Eric's story continues at Cleavage as Rachel observes them some more for her paper. They're controlling all of their impulses and keeping their eyes low, just because Rachel is there with them. Eric claims that he and Jack have learned a new level of maturity since Rachel moved in, and they're reminded of it whenever she's around. It sounds sincere, but... that's gotta be BS right? These guys have only gotten worse since she moved in. Either way, she's satisfied with it, and Eric tells her to leave so they can enjoy "the Tushie Dance".
Cory arrives looking for his ring, and the same waitress from last night pulls out a huge pile of "lost rings" for him to search through, which is actually a hilarious touch. The Tushie Dance begins, which Cory joins in celebration after he finds his ring. Naturally, Topanga finds him in this compromising situation.
I thought about editing Dancing Guy into a gif of the Tushie Dance, but this episode doesn't deserve Dancing Guy.
Let's see if Topanga's cool-headedness can hold up in this heat. Cory is still holding the ring, because he was too stupid to put it on the moment that he found it, so Topanga asks why he's not wearing it, and then takes it and walks out before Cory has a chance to respond. "Because I'm fucking stupid" is the only legitimate answer Cory could have given.
Later, Cory finds his fiance at The Union to work things out. He calmly explains that he got pressured into taking the ring off the night before. Topanga doesn't care what Cory does, but he has to either wear the ring or not, which I think is pretty fair. It's bull shit to flip flop between "hehe look at me I'm engaged" and "ehh I don't want everyone to know I'm engaged" like he did in this episode. He really ought to stick with a side, especially since it was his idea to wear the ring in the first place. So good, Topanga's common sense has prevailed again.
Gambling Dan and Shawn show up inviting Cory to play poker again, and Cory says to save him a seat.
Okay that's actually really sweet. I mean the whole fucking point of marriage is that you love the person and you love spending time with them and Cory shouldn't be acting like it's a fucking prison sentence. So I'm glad he said that. And that's it, that's all there is. Just some jammin' music during the credits.
Plot: 0 - I mean, pff, come on. It was nothing. "Oh two characters are engaged? Better do the easiest story imaginable."
Character Development: 0.75 - Cory remembers why he got engaged in the first place.
Humor: 0.25 - Cory was funny sometimes, but everyone else just completely missed.
Life Lesson: 0 - What.
1.0 out of 4.0. It sucked and I'm glad it's over. Gambling Dan was awesome though. I wanna be Gambling Dan.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:33:52 GMT
Episode 6x09 "Poetic License: An Ode to Holden Caulfield" It would seem that Mister Feeny is a professor of English/Lit at the moment, as he reads a poem to class titled "An Unpublished Manuscript for J.D. Salinger." And I'm just gonna completely dodge talking about Catcher in the Rye, let's just leave that alone. Suffice it to say that a comparison of Holden and Shawn would be pretty interesting. I don't know much about poetry, but I think this one's pretty decent. Cory thinks it's stupid, while Topanga and Angela really enjoyed it. The scene ends as we learn that the poem was written by none other than Shawn Hunter. Well it's about time we brought back the Hat of Hobbies. Congratulations on becoming a poet, Shawn. Feeny asks Shawn if he has any more poems. He says he just "writes stuff down, I've been doing it since I can remember." IS THAT RIGHT. We need look no further than Season 2 Episode 15 for one of his earlier works, titled Welfare, that begins "My uncle Ralph he does not care, 'cause twice a month he gets welfare..." Shawn even claims that it's some of his best work. I was initially trying to make a joke, but now I've almost convinced myself that this all makes some kind of sense. There are poetry readings every Friday night at The Union, hosted by Feeny of course, but Shawn doesn't really want to go, feeling like his poems should stay private. Cory's gonna drag him along anyway, though. It's good to see the other characters call Cory out for being insufferably annoying. It seems like Cory's going to be making terrible rhymes and pretending it's poetry for the entire episode, so yeah, annoying to Shawn AND to the audience. Shawn agrees to go to the poetry reading, just to stop Cory's nagging, but with no guarantee that he'll actually read any of his work. Let's see what The Apartment has in store for us today. The three roomies are all studying independently in the living room, but each is doing some small tick that's annoying the others. Rachel is twirling her hair, Jack's eating an apple, and Eric keeps clicking his pen. Tensions rise, everyone explodes at each other, and Eric decides to go to the library to study. It's actually kind of funny and it doesn't seem like anyone is in love with Rachel today. It's basically Christmas. At the library, things aren't really any better... Everyone's really stressed out over upcoming exams and it's bursting out in their behavior. Rachel is about to commit homicide, as is pretty much everyone else here, when Eric takes command of the situation. He explains to everyone that they need to relax and calm down if they want to do well on their exams, and everyone ends up... going to the movies... This is protagonist privilege at its finest. There is no reason in the world for anyone to listen to Eric, it's really kind of stupid to watch. HOWEVER, this is the first time our Apartment friends have had a story that doesn't revolve around Rachel, so I'll take what I can get. The poetry reading has begun, and Cory has taken the stage. Full of energy, he recites a terrible poem about how great Topanga is. Woulda been funny if the poem turned out to be about Shawn, but oh well. Speaking of, apparently Cory signed Shawn up to read, and now he's got no choice but to take the stage. Shawn recites the first two lines, "You don't know it, But sometimes..." and can't get the rest of the words out, so he heads for the door. THAT, at least, has not changed. Shawn Hunter will always head for the door. Cory picks up where he left off, finishing the reading. It's a love poem, and there's one line I really like, "and a breath that fills my lungs with the air between two stars", but most of it sounds really... thesaurusy. Where you just pick the longest word that's synonymous with what you're trying to say, and throw it in. Like, most of these words? There's no way Shawn Hunter knows most of these words. Rider Strong wrote both of Shawn's poems in this episode, and you can read them here if you're curious boymeetsworld.wikia.com/wiki/Poetic_License:_An_Ode_to_Holden_CaulfieldAngela is in the audience, and I think this is the most famous example of "What the fuck is Angela's hair." It looks like someone ran over a piece of paper with a lawn mower and the wind blew all the scraps into her hair. Shawn comes back inside in a huff after Cory finishes the poem, and drags him outside. This is a fantastic scene right here. Shawn is genuinely pissed off at his best friend, and Rider does a perfect job of making is feel his frustration, the same frustration we've been feeling toward Cory whenever he does inconsiderate shit like this. Eventually, Shawn asks Cory what he thinks tonight's poem was about. Cory thinks it was about him, which is cute and funny, but Shawn explains that it was about Angela, who happens to be standing in listening distance. (Which is fucking rude, her and Topanga were eavesdropping on the argument, that's not cool at all.) So this is fairly compelling, but as always the problem is that the show's numerous past attempts to invest us in the Shangela relationship fell short, not to mention their instantaneous off-camera breakup, so I can't say that I'm feeling everything they want me to here. I can't say I care much at all. Angela's been doing great as her own character lately, and Shawn's way more fun as a serial monogamist, I just have no interest in seeing them back together. Cory follows Angela back to her room to continue meddling in Shawn's affairs, as if that argument had no effect whatsoever. On the other hand, he is able to provide some helpful and meaningful insight. Angela's upset that Shawn is keeping his feelings secret, angry that he could have feelings for her and still choose not to be with her. Cory explains that perhaps Shawn's poetry is his only way of truly telling her how he feels. I can't remember any instances of Shawn telling a girl he loves her, so I'm assuming he never has, but now he loves Angela, and that's why we're making such a fuss. That doesn't change the fact that it's strange he would break up with her to see other people. Either way, when Angela approaches Shawn over in The Union, before she can say anything Shawn explains that he wrote that lovey poem while they were still dating, so there's nothing to feel weird about! Defensively, Angela claims that she's moved on as well. So we're in even more of a pickle with these two than when we started. Aside, the fact that they're sitting in front of a fireplace is just so cheesy, like the scene starts with a closeup of Shawn writing poetry in front of the fire. It's pretty hard to swallow, and this episode was directed by William Russ, so I'm surprised he set up the shot like this. The sad music plays as it zooms and fades out, then back in on the group of students from the library hanging out in a hallway. By the magic of Hollywood, they were all studying for the exact same exam, Feeny's exam, no less, and they're waiting for him to post scores on the corkboard nearby. Now Eric, that's not quite true, you learned this method from Feeny! In season 2 episode 23, when you needed to study for the SAT. I wish they would've actually mentioned that at some point. The students are rightfully pissed off at Eric, but soon change their tone when Feeny posts their grades and almost all of them did really well. Feeny pulls his protege aside and commends his efforts, except for the fact that Eric never actually did the studying part before the relaxing part. So that's a fun little conclusion to by far the best Apartment Crew story so far this season. Some of that classic Idiot Genius Eric. In The Union, Topanga and Shawn are waiting for Corgela to show up so they can all go to a movie. Topes figures out that Shawn is still in love with Angela, that he wrote that poem only a couple weeks ago, but he makes her pinky-swear not to tell anyone, since he now thinks that Angela has moved on. During the credits, Cory gives one last poem about Topanga, called Frustration. It is definitely his best work. Plot: 0.75 - It's hard to say. Their intentions were good, right? It's just that I personally am not as invested in Shawn+Angela as the showrunners want me to be. But it was still interesting, Eric had a fun little side story. Character Development: 0.75 - Shawn is a poet, I guess, and Eric knows how to motivate students. Humor: 1.0 - It was decent up until the end, when Cory's poems during the credits bring it home. Life Lesson: 0 - It's okay to be a big broody baby as long as your best friend is willing to invade your privacy. 2.5 out of 4.0. It's considerably more enjoyable than the previous episode, and at least we got a bit of Eric/Feeny. I don't know enough about poetry to comment directly on the poems, unfortunately. But guess what? It doesn't matter because it will never come up again. |
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:34:07 GMT
Episode 6x10 "And In Case I Don't See Ya..."
So far this season, The Apartment crew have been in the background, falling in love with Rachel as a side story. "Maybe when Eric's the main character, he'll have a real story, one where Rachel isn't treated as a sack of meat," you say, with a glimmer and a twinkle in your hopeful eyes. This is the episode where we learn that that theory is bull shit.
Eric's trying to get some studying done in the coffee shop half of The Union, adjacent to Gambling Dan's old sidekick, Louie. Dan himself is probably off gambling with people much younger than him, as usual, while it looks like Louie's been kicked to the curb. They won't mention anything about it though, since, as we know, the writers just don't give a crap.
Louie's taking out the (inferred) frustration of losing Gambling Dan by hating everyone else in the room. He and Eric are about to bond over their lack of human connection, when the PA system announces the "Harvest Mixer" on the 2nd floor, which is invitation-only. Even Louie has an invitation, while Eric does not. So he's unpopular and unhappy about it. Definitely sounds like a Season 2 Eric problem. Not a college student problem.
Remember in The Truman Show, how his wife is always doing those blatant product placement lines? Well Eric starts doing that at The Apartment, to the annoyance of Jack, and even quotes Truman's signature line, "And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!" Except Will actually says the line wrong, switching evening and afternoon.
Jack walks into The Union to discover a horde of students watching a live feed of The Apartment. Eric has turned his own life into a sort of Truman Show. He's desperately trying to be the star, but the horde only cares about Rachel, who you can see wrapped up in a towel behind Eric on the screen.
I just pulled up my review of 6x01 to see where we meet Rachel, and I said the whole dynamic would be based on "Rachel is pretty, and thus ___ occurs." And indeed, there we are.
Elsewhere, Cory and Shawn, THE DREAM TIME, have taken Mister Feeny out for an extravagant brunch, in an attempt to get extensions on their midterm papers. Ahhhhh, you feel that? That's that Boy Meets World feeling, our two heroes having school related shenanigans. No relationship drama, no marriage talk, Shawn doesn't have any new hobbies... It's delightful. And it's funny. These are the situations where Shawn and Cory thrive off of each other. This is the best version of their personalities, and I'm already laughing and having a good time.
The boys explain that they're really overloaded with their other courses, and Mister Feeny cordially agrees to give them a few days' extension. Very reasonable.
On The Eric Show, Eric's teaching the audience how to eat soup when Jack storms in demanding an explanation. Eric explains his twisted desire for popularity and Rachel reappears, still wrapped up in her towel, to the cheers and applause of The Horde. She storms off in disgust, though, when Jack explains the situation
Eric's rocking some stubble in this episode. It makes him look 5 years older, I like it.
Feeny hands back the midterm papers at the end of his class, and our heroes both managed a B thanks to that extension. They promise the Feenster that they'll keep up that level of work on their next paper, and he points out that the "next paper" was due yesterday. Clearly the boys expected another extension since the first one was so easy to get, but Feeny isn't playing along. He's silently insulted at the boys' attempt to take advantage of their history and friendship, and gives them both F's on that paper they didn't turn in. So here's our second conflict for the episode. Topanga, thoroughly displeased with her own B, chases Mister Feeny out of the classroom. I'm usually not a fan of her perfectionist gags, but this one was pretty funny.
Later, Feeny is having coffee with Amy and Alan in their kitchen, because he has no life, when Cory and Shawn show up, because they also have no lives. They're pretty disrespectful to their teacher, who quickly leaves since he's tired of their shit. Alan brings down the hammer though. He's not going to tolerate them talking to Feeny that way and demands an explanation. As we already know, their explanation is immature, so Alan tells them both to grow up. Awesome work from Alan in this scene, there's so much Boy-Meets-World-ness going on with this story, I love it.
Eric is dressed as Christof from the Truman Show now, and he's got a control board to mastermind The Rachel Show at The Union, surrounded by The Horde.
This is by far the most evil thing Eric ever does on this show. I can't even believe they wrote this. They're completely sacrificing his character for the sake of this stupid Truman Show gag. Rachel has already made a clear display of her disgust at this hidden camera show bull shit, but now Eric's doing it even worse than before. It's insane. Rachel's taking the whole thing in unbelievably good humor, but that doesn't last long.
Eric's even placed a brick wall outside the door so they can't get out. Their only means of escape is through the window over the sink, down the fire escape, but Rachel can't go that way because she's scared of the garbage disposal, which Eric turns on from his control board. She freaks out, and we get a flashback of Rachel grinding her stuffed "Bunny Baby" in her sink's garbage disposal as a child. So yeah Eric is deliberately torturing her right now. Is it supposed to be funny? I really don't get it. Even The Horde turns against him.
There's that thing about stones and glass houses, Louie, but in this case I'm going to have to agree with you.
Jack has gained all the humanity that Eric has lost, seen as he makes a genuine effort to comfort her and talk her through her fears. Eric realizes what a sociopath he's being today, saying "I just hurt the only two people who tolerate me..." and encourages Rachel to conquer her fear, not that that makes up for anything. She makes it over the sink, and sends a bow toward the camera, the same way Truman does at the end of the movie, before heading off to The Union to murder Eric. Which she does.
Shawn and Cory take Feeny out for one more brunch. They've apparently already apologized off-camera, a somewhat unsatisfying resolution, and this brunch is just gravy. The boys went ahead and wrote those papers that they didn't turn in, but Feeny gives them F's anyway, causing them to take back their food in a huff. The whole bit is humorous and fun to watch, but it's really not the resolution I was hoping for for this plotline.
During the credits, Jack explains to Eric that he now has a huge advantage in their contest to win Rachel's heart. It's true, but it only reinforces the point that Rachel serves no other purpose as a character. The twist is that she shows up with Louie, asking for some privacy.
Plot: 0.5 - Being generous for the Shawn/Cory story. Eric exploiting Rachel's body on television to get popular is pretty awful. And now at the end everything is just back to normal? What the fuck.
Character Development: 0.5 - Once again going to Shawn and Cory, realizing that they're still pretty immature, and Alan reprising his role as an authority figure.
Humor: 1.0 - Cory, Shawn, and Feeny were hilarious. Topanga's bit was good, and Louie was pretty funny too. Even Jack had some good moments, but Eric was a total let-down.
Life Lesson: 0.5 - Don't take advantage of your friends. Whether expecting special treatment, or exploiting them on television.
2.5 out of 4.0. Eric is a fucking sociopath, but other than that it's fine. The Cory/Shawn story had a ton of potential. They were still great, by the far the best thing about this episode, but I wish they had a better resolution. Maybe one day Rachel won't just be a sack of meat.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:34:39 GMT
Episode 6x11 "Santa's Little Helpers"
This season has really been letting us down so far. Maybe we'll get our shit together for Christmas today.
Mister Feeny is filled with Christmas spirit, and not the alcoholic spirits, and is decorating The Union with some small Christmas trees. The janitor promptly deposits the tree in a trash bin, citing University policy, so thank you Michael Jacobs for making it very obvious how you feel about the holiday political correctness.
I am completely unaffected by the things people say or display around me, including holiday well-wishing, so I simply cannot muster the energy to get worked up over what holiday greeting someone gives. However, to be fair, it is literally unconstitutional for a government affiliated organization to favor one religion over another. That's straight out of the first amendment. I'm not sure if a public university falls under that category, I'm just saying that the argument in favor of political correctness is valid in certain circumstances. But in general, I don't think it matters.
Back to the show, we learn that Rachel is staying in town for the holidays, and Jack's airline ticket to the Bahamas got "messed up" so he's stuck here too. Eric barges into The Union dressed as Santa, apparently he's got a job as a mall Santa, and he signed up Rachel and Jack to work with him. Without asking them, of course, because he's Eric. Mrs. Claus will be played by Rachel, while Jack is going to be an elf, despite his reluctance. Feeny makes a small joke about how Eric is getting paid more than he does. The gross underpayment of teachers has been a consistent punchline throughout the series, which is a choice I really appreciate. Michael Jacobs has a serious respect and admiration for teachers, and he's totally unrelenting about it from the very beginning. It's a tragically underrepresented topic on television, so good for you, Boy Meets World.
Cory convinces Shawn to stay with him and Topanga at his parents' house, and independent of that fact, Topanga convinces Angela to stay with them as well.
That is hilarious to me. Topanga doesn't even acknowledge the sex part, honing in on the Shawn part. Recall that Topanga discovered Shawn still loves Angela at the end of Poetic License, and Cory learned Angela loves Shawn at the end of Friendly Persuasion. Cory and Topanga both confess those secrets now, and realize the blooming potential for Shangela to reunite over the holiday. Not that we care.
Tensions rise almost immediately at the Matthews house. The road is paved for some real sitcommy business for the rest of the episode. As always, they've failed at really making the audience interested. Meanwhile, at the mall, Eric is being a very progressive Santa.
A bus of kids from an orphanage arrive to see Santa, and the mall manager wants them to hurry them all through since they're not going to buy anything regardless. Eric on the other hand wants to pay them all special attention. And here I thought the writers forgot who Eric was, after he didn't know how to be "caring" in episode 3, and was a total sociopath in the previous episode. But now he's back to his big-hearted self, thank goodness.
Eric gives a handheld game he was playing earlier to the first kid who comes up. This gives The Apartment Crew a real sense of the power of charity, so they go off to buy gifts for all of the children, with Alan's credit card and the money Jack was going to use in the Bahamas.
After helping out the last of the children, Eric develops a real God complex, and vows to give every needy kid what they want for Christmas. Jack and Rachel point out that they have no more money, so Eric resolves to "get creative", which is essentially just stealing presents from under the tree at home, as well as all of Mister Feeny's fruitcake gifts. I do not envy the orphans who get those for Christmas. I guess I don't really envy any orphans... You know what I mean.
We waste some more time at home, and eventually Eric "Robin Hood" Matthews and his merry men head out to wherever they're going to distribute these gifts, even though it's Christmas Eve. Cory and the others take their place, after "accidentally" going to a couples-only ice skating rink. Topanga The Wise wants Cory to stop pushing Shangela so hard, but she really ought to know by now how futile it is, trying to stop the Cory train once it's rolling at full speed.
Alan is irrationally excited about stringing popcorn.
So yeah, while it's difficult to stay invested in Shangela, at least Cory's being extremely entertaining. His neurosis is really annoying sometimes, like in Chasing Angela when it's coming from that place of high-horse superiority, but here it's just hilarious. It's a difficult line to walk, so we should appreciate when they pull it off correctly like this.
Alan has apparently been snorting that snowy Christmas powder, because he almost immediately forgets about the popcorn and wants everyone to watch as he turns on the Christmas tree lights (and it explains his previous popcorn-stringing enthusiasm). Cory positions Shangela under some mistletoe, and the lights really set the mood, and they're quickly overwhelmed by all the outside influences and kiss passionately on the stairs. I can hardly blame them, I am absolute sucker for Christmas lights. My old supervisor had Christmas lights in his office year round. I'm not really sure why, but it was kinda cool. God I miss Wisconsin, that snow was so beautiful. Anyway...
That kissing situation is somehow resolved off-camera, and now they're back to avoiding each other. Shawn tells his best friend not to make a big deal out of it, and Cory spills that he knows Shawn wrote that poem for Angela pretty recently. So now all the secrets come out, and Shawn and Angela bail to talk things out.
Eric "Robin Hood Santa" Matthews Claus finishes giving away his family's gifts to the children, and one little boy named Tommy who had been there the previous day comes back to return the firetruck Eric gave him.
Tommy says he didn't believe Eric was really Santa when he asked for the truck, but now he does believe and wants to ask for something else. I SMELL EMMY BAIT. If he doesn't ask for parents, I will eat my shoes. Okay yup, asked for parents. And then the sad music played while The Apartment Crew were left speechless. That's just lazy cliche writing, I'm sorry.
Shawn and Angela arrive at The Union to talk because like I said in a previous review, this is the new Chubbie's and there's nowhere else to go. They're let in by that same janitor from before because he's too old to give a shit.
Angela spills her heart, and Shawn does his usual self destruction routine, claiming that he's still not sure he's ready to commit to her.
Damn, there's that strong Angela. You go girl. She really shouldn't have to deal with Shawn's bullshit, and she's decided that she's had enough, and tells him that they're done for good. Granted, Shawn is still a young guy and I don't blame him for being scared of commitment, that's a big part of his character, but I also don't blame Angela for being sick of it. I like how this played out.
Elsewhere, out on a bench in the snow, Eric's having a desperate chat with his nondenominational higher power. I feel the same sort of "wait, what?" as when Shawn did this in Cult Fiction, just because Eric's never done anything like this before, but it is Christmas, so I guess it's more acceptable? I don't know, whatever. Eric asks some tough questions, like hey how can you let this kid Tommy just not have parents? So Eric "Robin Hood Santa God" Matthew Claus Christ takes it upon himself to be responsible for Tommy's happiness, which is insane, but not exactly out of character for our big-hearted goofball.
It's touching, whether you're religious or not, just because we the viewer have such an emotional connection with Eric.
At home, everyone discovers that Eric has Robin Hood'd their presents, and Jack and Rachel confess to being involved. Just then, Eric arrives, with Tommy trailing close behind him. He's invited Tommy to spend Christmas with them, and promised that they can hang out on weekends.
I really like Cory's line there, and I love Feeny's nod of approval. Look at that shit.
That is some pride right there. It's all really very sweet.
During the credits, Feeny reads A Christmas Carol to the gang, a tradition we remember from A Very Topanga Christmas, so I like that touch. Shawn and Angela show up just as Feeny reads "dead as a doornail", which is also a very nice touch.
Plot: 1.0 - That Emmy bait moment was cringe worthy, but the rest of the Robin Hood story was fun. And while we're not too interested in the Shangela relationship, I do like the story they were given in this episode.
Character Development: 1.0 - Eric "Robin Hood" Christ.
Humor: 1.0 - Cory was great, and Eric had his moments. Shawn had to stay dramatic this episode, but it worked out.
Life Lesson: 0.5 - Charity makes you feel good. Doesn't mean you should steal your family's shit and take responsibility for a kid's happiness.
3.5 out of 4.0. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Again, the strongarm attempt at making us feel sorry for Tommy was overdone, but otherwise it's pretty darn good. Thorough character consistency and good humor.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:35:34 GMT
Episode 6x12 "Cutting the Cord" Hey everybody, quick announcement. My current goal in life is to be an animator, in fact I quit my high paying job in the tech industry to focus my time onto pursuing that goal. I just finished my second Flash cartoon, where I did all the animating and voice acting, and it's on youtube. It's not that good, it's not that funny, and if you're not familiar with Super Smash Brothers it won't even make sense. But it was still great practice for me, and it turned out significantly better than my first cartoon. So if you want to support me outside of this blog, you can like the video or subscribe to the channel, or just leave a comment saying it's terrible. Or you can just keep enjoying the blog, because that's awesome too! www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVkZGnINnrEThe first 45 seconds of the episode remind us what happened with Shawn and Angela up to this point, that they broke up, kissed on Christmas, then were officially declared "over" by Angela when Shawn couldn't make up his mind. Reasonable, since there was a month gap between episodes 11 and 12. That's pretty much a guarantee that the Shangela relationship going to be this episode's focus, so right out of the gates I want to run away and shut down the blog. But sometimes, you just gotta see things through to the bitter end. Alan is AWOL, so Amy has taken Eric with her to Lamaze breathing class, and of course he turns the whole thing into a circus. Sometimes Eric's idiocy is hilarious, but I have a hard time getting into the humor of him tormenting his pregnant mother. Alan shows up though and takes over, and Eric is asked by the police chief from Psych to be her Lamaze partner since her husband is currently deployed in the Navy. To ask Eric for help, she must be even dumber than he is. Alan explains that he was late because he was out looking at motorcycles, which is television-speak for midlife crisis. Big Man Matthews has always been one of the more compelling characters on the show, so I'm definitely interested to see where this goes. Over at Chub- err, The Union, Shawn and Angela have arrived with what is effectively a restraining order, restraining Cory (and Topanga, but mostly Cory) from interfering in their personal lives any more. First thing that comes to mind for me? It's about damn time. Shawn informs Cory that both he and Angela are fine with being apart, and that they both have dates tonight. For reasons unknowable, Shawn has decided to double tonight with Cory and Topanga. It worked out for the best though, since Shawn's being a real downer, and Topanga helps Shawn's date understand that it's not her fault. This scene is actually really funny because, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, Shawn and Cory get to play off of each other. Cory's right, Shawn was the king. They've gone to great lengths here to show us that this relationship with Angela has done something special to Shawn, but I still can't feel sorry for him since this is completely his fault. He actively chose not to get involved with Angela again at the end of episode 11. She told him she loved him, and he said he wasn't ready. It's been five and a half seasons of Shawn sabotaging himself, and I'm running out of sympathy. In the "last time on Boy Meets World" at the beginning, they even left out the part where Shawn tells her he's not ready. It actually kind of made it look like Angela's fault, and the episode has been framing Shawn as the victim! I don't understand what the fuck the writers are doing. This is a sitcom, so it's only a matter of time before Angela and her date, Ron, arrive at this restaurant as well. Shawn instantly springs to life when he sees Angela, pulling his date over to him and yelling out the punchline of some joke as if he's been having a great time. Rongela come over to the table and make introductions, and I gotta say, Ron is Mister Steal Yo Girl. Real sharp lookin guy with a radio voice, and those 90's-as-hell double earrings. Shawn doesn't stand a chance, and quickly falls back into his depression. At The Apartment, Eric is reading a book on pregnancy because that's his shtick for the episode. Hey, I learned something today. That's good television. Alan arrives at the door to discuss motorcycles with Eric. It's obvious to everyone in the room that he's having a midlife crisis, no matter how much he denies it. This is Alan Matthews we're talking about, though, so we shouldn't expect his developments to be so one-dimensional. And indeed, we learn that he's always tried to be a friend to his sons, as well as a father, and now he feels too old to, you know, throw a ball around or whatever with his new kid. Oh Alannnnnnnn, you try so hard to be a good father ;___; Seriously, you gotta love this guy. And holy shit, we made it through a whole scene without anyone trying to bang Rachel. The restaurant where all these dates are taking place is having a karaoke contest tonight, and Rongela are the first contestants, which of course motivates Shawn to compete as well. We have to sit through like a minute of Rongela singing The Shoop Shoop Song by Cher. Once again Ron is making me question my sexuality, this time with his singing voice. Topanga and Cory are up next, doing Springsteen's War. Cory's hilariously enthusiastic, while Topanga doesn't seem to be a fan. Look at those HIPS. That is absolutely amazing. I really don't understand why Ben Savage couldn't find his way into any other shows after this, he really is genuinely funny. Shawn and his date, Kelly, are up now, doing I Got You Babe. After a bit, Kelly tries to hold hands with Shawn as they sing. That weirds him out, leading to the inevitable and predictable "I can't do this." That sad clarinet music plays as they walk off opposite sides of the stage. Back at Lamaze, they're learning to burp babies (see the logo at the beginning), and Eric's partner goes into labor. Alan takes command of the situation, handling it expertly, and takes the woman off to the hospital. Alan is the man. Shawn is sulking over at The Union, on the big couch that is apparently always reserved for him and his crew, like at the coffee shop on FRIENDS. Anyway Cory and Topanga try to console their friend, but he understands that everything is pretty much his fault. He comments that he'll never be able to have a relationship like Corpanga's, but they remind him that they're freaks when it comes to romance. Of course, that's inconsistent with all the times Cory's tried to get Shawn to have what he has, but at least this time Cory is making some sense. "I'm my own worst Eskimo." Has there ever been a more loveable angst-factory than Shawn Hunter? Shawn declares that he needs some time alone from everybody while he pulls himself together, and then it cuts over to The Apartment. Amy, Alan, and Eric arrive with pizza and what looks like a six pack of beer, to unwind after driving whatshername to the hospital. The actors make certain to direct the labels toward the camera to inform us that is in fact root beer, don't wanna get any craaAAAaaAAaaAaaazy ideas. Eric has conveniently decided to save his moving speech for after they got here, and unloads it right away. It is pretty sweet though, about how Alan not only helped that woman, but helped him when he froze up and lost his cool when things got messy. Eric explains that that's what's really important in being a father, and that he'll always be able to do that, even for this new kid on the way. Root Beer brand root beer. Because anything else? It wouldn't be free! In all seriousness though it's a great scene. Alan is a wonderful dad and to hear this all coming from his son's gigantic heart is very sentimental. Everyone except Shawn is now hanging out at The Union having a great time, even Ron is there. Shawn walks up to the door outside and observes their good time, but decides to walk off camera instead of joining them. During the credits, Cory and Topanga (but really Ben and Danielle) are singing War again, and this time Danielle has as much enthusiasm as Ben. It seems like they start improvising, and they're both laughing pretty hard, it's a lot of fun to watch. Why can't they be this much fun during the actual show? Plot: 0.5 - More Shawn and Angela drama, blah blah blah. We spent like five minutes at a karaoke restaurant. Hard to give points for this. But I liked Alan's story, as always. Character Development: 1.0 - Alan Matthews starring in the Alan Matthews show. Shawn didn't really develop much, he's still sulky and angsty, but at least he seems to have grown up a bit from his high school serial dating. Humor: 0.75 - Cory and Topanga were both pretty funny, Shawn had his moments too, enough to cover for the fact that Eric wasn't really very funny in this episode. Life Lesson: 1.0 - Eric's conversation with Alan at the end about being there for his children is really inspiring. 3.25 out of 4.0. Well I certainly liked it more than I thought I would. Cory being silly and Alan being the best dad ever are the highlights. And the restraining order against Corpanga's interference bodes well for the future. They're both much more fun when they're not butting in to Shawn and Angela's business. |
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:38:19 GMT
Episode 6x13 "We'll Have A Good Time Then..."
At the end of the previous episode, Shawn decided he needed time alone, but it seems that time has come and gone. He's hanging out with Cory again today, as they walk into The Union and coincidentally meet up with Jack. The plot is set in motion when some fellow informs Shawn that an old guy is taking everybody's money at the pool table, and Shawn quickly recognizes him as his father, Chet. The last time we saw our favorite deadbeat was season 5, episode 2, and I for one am happy to see him again. He always brings so much life and energy to the show.
Shawn claimed earlier that he's never beaten his father at pool before, but manages to do so today and win back everyone's money. He doesn't make a big deal out of it though, which is a nice touch. Chet goes to buy a Pennbrook sweatshirt, while Shawn explains to Jack that Chet is going to be leaving soon, no matter how much he insists that he's staying.
The Hunter men find themselves at The Apartment later after lunch. It's pretty much exactly what we'd expect. Chet's got his trademark swagger and starts flirting with Rachel, still insistent that he's going to stay this time, while Shawn lurks in the background knowing all too well that his father has never followed through on that promise in the past. Rachel takes a picture of the Hunters, and Chet takes a picture of Jack hugging Rachel, which is Eric's cue to storm into The Apartment and pull them apart.
Even Eric knows that Chet never really stays.
Shawn and Chet mince words about whether he's staying or not, and the phone starts to ring. Eric answers, and hands it to... Chet... How the hell... Why is no one questioning the fact that Chet just got a call at The Apartment? Not one person comments on how strange this is. Regardless, it's a buddy of his, offering a job in Vegas dealing blackjack. We're given the impression that it's a lucrative opportunity, and Chet doesn't say yes or no right away, prompting Shawn to jump on his case about leaving again. There's this whole whiny self loathing rant from Shawn as he realizes he's exactly like his father, running away from the people who care about him. And I mean, it's sort of true, like with Angela, but he says "I hurt everybody I care about" and that's just being dramatic. It's really only Angela that he's hurt.
Shawn hating himself is somehow the turning point for Chet, who declares that he'll call his friend back and decline the job, but just as he says that, Chet has a heart attack. Or rather, a myocardial infarction, since I was watching House on netflix last night.
At the hospital, tensions continue to rise between Shawn and Jack. Jack has proceeded through this episode as if he knows Chet the same way Shawn does, or at least that's how Shawn sees it. But Shawn's the one who's always had to deal with their father's BS, so.. Gah, I can't think of the right word. I keep wanting to say that Shawn doesn't think Jack deserves to be so concerned, but that's not the right word. It's something like that. It's a compelling dynamic, either way.
Cory and Topanga are talking about wedding stuff, including Cory's vows, which Topanga wrote for him to say, and that shouldn't surprise anybody. Topanga wants to go snorkeling in Bermuda during their honeymoon, but Cory's really only interested in staying in the hotel room.
Damn... That's the realest shit I ever heard.
Angela's there too, and the gang are soon informed about Shawn's father being in the hospital. There really isn't a whole lot going on this episode for a while. First we have Eric and Rachel visiting Chet, but who cares? They have no relation to him at all. The one significant thing is that he asks Rachel to get Jack a birthday gift for him, which she agrees to.
Jack and Shawn argue some more out in the waiting room. Shawn is convinced that he's exactly like his father, always running away from relationships, and Jack tries to calm him down, unsuccessfully. Feeny and the Matthews parents arrive and offer their sympathies and all that to the Hunter boys, and proceed into Chet's room. I feel like they missed a GIGANTIC opportunity in this scene. Shawn grew so much in the second half of season 5, and this is the perfect setup or Feeny to tell Chet how proud he is of Shawn, or something like that. You know what I mean? It just feels like it should be happening, but it doesn't. Their only exchange is an agreement to play pool against each other.
Chet does have a more meaningful exchange with Alan though. He asks him to look after his boys when he's "gone", meaning, once he's moved to Vegas. So indeed, Chet hasn't changed one bit. Shawn is right about him. Feels kind of like when Will's dad ditches him in that one episode of Fresh Prince. I think he even a similar conversation with Uncle Phil that Chet's having with Alan. It hits hard, it's hard to watch.
It's finally time for Shawn and Jack to have their turn in the room, and... I don't know I've watched this scene five times and I'm still not sure what to write. I mean, you kinda just... have to see it... But Shawn and Chet finally get all of their issues out in the open, and tearfully agree that they need each other. It's a fantastic scene, they really nailed this one.
Shawn thinks the only way to stop being like his father is with his father's help, and Chet promises that he's going to stay this time. Shawn believes him this time, and so do I. Chet pulls out the gift he had Rachel get for Jack, and just as Jack starts to open it Chet has another heart attack. The last thing he says here is "I'm sorry, Shawn."
Everyone's gathered out in the waiting room while Jack finishes opening the gift, but we don't quite see what it is yet. A surgeon enters the room and informs the Hunter boys that their father died on the table.
That's honestly one of my favorite shots in the entire series. Rider and Matthew look perfect right there, and Alan's reaction is absolutely heartbreaking. I love how they wrote the surgeon's line too. There's no warning to the audience, we're not prepared for this at all. Even Feeny is convinced that Chet's going to make it out. But the very first thing he says is "We lost him..." and it hits you like a train, just "holy shit...". Extremely well done, extremely emotional, A+.
The last shot of the episode shows us what that gift is, and it's a framed picture, the one Rachel took earlier of the three Hunter men.
There's no "during the credits" in this episode, and that was absolutely the right call.
Why did the writers want to emotionally devastate Shawn so completely? It seems almost sadistic, but it's also excellent. As a writer or creator, you have to push your characters to their limits to see what they're really made of. The extremes are where we can truly explore a character. So while we're all obviously hurting for Shawn, we're also caught in the development, and we want to see where he goes from here. On the other hand, killing off a character is a classic technique for boosting ratings mid-season, so I guess it depends on how cynical you want to be about this.
Plot: 1.0 - I think I have adequately explained this already.
Character Development: 1.0 - Shawn.
Humor: 0.5 - It was about as good as you could hope for, for an episode this dark. Cory and Eric snuck in a few jokes, and Chet was funny in the first half.
Life Lesson: 1.0 - "I need you dad."
3.5 out of 4.0. Honestly the score doesn't matter. You'll either love or hate this episode. For the casual viewer it will seem needlessly dramatic and sad, and really not what you're looking for in a sitcom, but if you're invested in the characters like I am, it is exceptional.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:39:05 GMT
Episode 6x14 "Getting Hitched"
The first minute and a half shows us what happened in the previous episode, but thankfully the episode itself kicks off with a much more lighthearted tone. Topanga surprises her boyfriend at The Union with her recent purchase of "The Fiancee Game". They need a couple to play against, and Eric and Rachel conveniently arrive just in time. As I'm sure you all know, you can't play The Fiancee Game without an official moderator, so Eric recruits a nearby Mister Feeny, who is surprisingly eager to participate.
Before the hot, steamy action of The Fiancee Game can begin, it cuts over to The Dorm, where Shawn Hunter is sullenly stacking soda cans into a lovely pyramid, which is obviously a metaphor for stacking sadness into a pyramid of having a dead dad. Something like that, anyway.
Jack shows up and wants his little brother to head down to the old trailer with him and sort through the old man's stuff. The whole dead-dad/broken-heart thing has multiplied Shawn's normal angst levels by a factor of about 17.3, so he wants Jack to just throw all that old shit away, cuz he ain't goin back.
Back at The Union, Cory and Topanga are having a very bad time in the Fiancee Game. Cory's answered every question wrong, and presumably so has Topanga. Eric and Rachel are rocking out though, including Rachel knowing that Eric's favorite fish is "penguin". Feeny can see that Topanga's getting upset so he ends the game and Rachel heads home, but Eric's getting relationshippy thoughts as a result of his success in the game. So that will surely come up later, which I'm not excited about. This scene, though, has been one of the very few where Racheric were actually fun to watch.
Topanga decides that the only reasonable solution to this problem is for her and Cory to move in together.
It's amazing to me that she can be ready to live with him, and still not ready to have sex with him. I feel like the natural order is sex -> live together -> get engaged, yet they're proceeding in the reverse order.
Chet's old trailer is pretty messy, leaving Jack without any idea where to start. It takes about five seconds for Shawn to show up. He hugs it out with his brother and starts to have a look around. I really don't understand where this total change of heart came from, but it moves the plot along. Shawn seems unusually excited to find his dad's lighter, and stashes it in his pocket without saying anything, so that should be significant later. Most important, though, is when he finds a letter from Jack's stepfather, telling Chet not to worry about paying him back. Turns out, Shawn's tuition money was coming from Jack's stepdad! Dun dun dunnnn. That's actually a fantastic bit of detail that I never saw coming when I first watched the series. I fully expected them to just sweep it under the rug. On the other hand, Jack said he was paying for college with student loans, so I'm not sure why his stepdad would pay for Shawn but not Jack. Probably just an oversight.
I wonder if it's deliberate when Jack says "your father" instead of "our father".
Eric arrives at The Dorm, where Cory is eagerly waiting for Topanga in his expensive new silk pajamas. Eric's looking for advice about what to do with Rachel. He mentions the "unspoken competition" between him and Jack, which, pfff, come on, unspoken? But Cory doesn't give a shit since he thinks he's gonna get laid tonight. And frankly, that's a reasonable assumption. Cory finally gets him out the door, but not before Topanga arrives with a bag full of her stuff, since she's moving in or whatever. Eric asks her "Oooh what'd you bring, toys?", and see this is an interesting line. If you're young, and you think Eric is merely displaying his innocence as he thinks Topanga would come over to play with toys, then sure, that's chuckle worthy. But if you're an adult, and you think that Eric has picked up on the presumed sexual nature of this encounter, due to Cory's pajamas and sheets and behavior, then that line takes on a very different, and awkward, meaning. I don't know how they got away with that. Surely they were going for the first option, but it's way too close to the line.
Doesn't matter anyway cuz Topanga ain't here to sin. She just wants to have a normal, sex-free living-together situation.
Back at the trailer, Shawn's raving about how he doesn't want to be a charity case for Jack's family. Let's travel back in time to my review of Season 1 Episode 10, and I quote, "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." How fucking spot on was that shit? That has been consistent through the whole series, and we're seeing it now in this episode. This time, replace "Cory" with "Jack", and "friends" with "family", and Shawn is once again willing to accept it.
The trouble isn't over though. Shawn still isn't really willing to help Jack learn about their father, since he thinks it's all shitty stuff that's just gonna make the situation worse. Some sad music plays as we head back to CoTopangary.
There's a handful of jokes in this scene that are completely based on the fact that Topanga's wearing a green face-cream mask and it looks weird. Okay, serious question, are we ten years old right now? That is some terrible, lazy ass writing. Booooo. Booooooooo.
Eric Kramer's his way into the room again, and nothing worth mentioning happens. When he leaves, he plays with Topanga's face for some reason... It seems like a reference? I have no idea.
He sucks one of his fingers clean as he walks out, which gets the standard "eewww" from the audience, but just as they finish their group expression, some guy yells out "sick!", it's clearly audible in the footage, and he sounds truly disgusted. Honestly the funniest thing to happen today. You should go listen for that, it's hilarious.
Topanga goes to wash off her mask before bed, and Cory... starts praying. He spends like a whole minute asking God to bless various people, which I guess is nice of him? But it's really not very engaging television. Topanga joins the praying and asks God to bless Cory, just before a fade over to The Apartment.
What in the gosh darn heck was that? Their entire living-together experience has been a disaster so far, and they're continuing to see how much they don't know about each other, but we're supposed to throw all that aside because they prayed for each other? I don't get it at all. What on earth are we supposed to take away from that? It's weird.
Anyway, Jack tries to explain how he's feeling to Rachel, but starts to break down as his emotions overwhelm him. In particular, he's having trouble dealing with the fact that he'll never get to know his real dad, but he has to keep it locked away for Shawn's sake. In the heat of the moment, somebody on the show finally gets to kiss Rachel. And it ain't Eric, much to his disappointment, as he walks in just as things start to heat up.
I'm... actually pretty okay with that. That sort of thing definitely happens in real life, and I like how they made it a curveball by making us think Eric was gonna make something happen.
In the final scene, Cory shows up at the trailer and informs Shawn that he is in fact still a virgin, much to his disappointment. Shawn thinks it's a good time to "get outta here", and wants to hit the road with the trailer. He invites Cory along, which Cory accepts, and that's about it. I can't claim to fully understand how trailers work, but there has always been a hallway on the back wall leading to the bedrooms, and now that's just not there anymore.
Plot: 0.75 - Yeah it's fine. The Cory story was fun comic relief except for when he started praying... Jack and Shawn were sort of connected but also independent, and Rachel was interesting for probably the first time ever.
Character Development: 1.0 - Eric finds that he has feelings for Rachel beyond the superficial, but she's currently got her tongue in Jack's mouth. Cory and Topanga realize that they don't know each other as well as they thought, and maybe they're not ready to live together. Shawn wants to head out on his own. That's some good shit all around.
Humor: 1.0 - Honestly I'm just giving it for the guy who yelled "Sick!". Seriously, you should go listen to that.
Life Lesson: 0.5 - Living with your SO is harder than you might think.
3.25 out of 4.0. It's actually a pretty good episode. I expected much worse. And the title is pretty clever, like hitched for Cory and Topanga and their living together, and also Shawn hitching up his trailer for the road. I think I've covered everything I want to say.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:39:37 GMT
Episode 6x15 "Road Trip" And we're back, tryin this one more time. As an anonymous commenter so aply put it, " I remember this episode as being 'the one where Shawn takes Cory out to some diner and they meet a band or something' and this band was like an actual real life band of the 90s but even back when this aired I was always like, who are these people." That's the abridged version of this episode, and hey, if that's enough for you, great, see you Friday. I'm not sure why I haven't said this before now, but during the stupid theme song one of the lines is "Wanderin' down this road that we call liiiiiiiiife". And for the decade or so that I've been watching this show, every time it sounds like "Wanderin' down this road of E. Coliiiiiiiii". Seriously. Listen to it. That's what it sounds like. Shawn and Cory set off on their road trip (oh my god that's the name of the episode!) off camera, so now we're joining them out on the open road. Shawn's wearing a bandana for the only time in the entire series, and it's almost universally accepted that he looks like an absolute tool. I don't know, you guys know I love Shawn, and yeah I know his dad just died, but this angst is just too much. He's like how an angsty 14 year old imagines himself at 18. Except in real life they grow out of it by then. Shawn did not do that part. This is the worst. I'm gonna play WoW for like TEN MINUTES. Just TEN MINUTES, and then I'll come back to this, I promise. Just TEN MINUTES, like FIFTEEN MINUTES. He refuses to tell Cory why they're even taking this trip, at least for now, and eventually we find ourselves at some backwater truckstop diner. There's four girls about 19 or 20 working here, and we meet them all over the course of a minute or so. The fourth one literally just stares at Shawn for a good 20 seconds, it's really weird. Finally the owner of the diner comes out, who is also the father of two of the girls, and makes sure our heroes don't get any hormonal ideas. This guy is drying his hands the entire time he says these lines, and they really don't look wet enough to warrant this much drying. He's played by Art LaFleur, who seems familiar but nothing's jumping out at me on IMDB. He's been doing one-off characters since the late 70's and is still going strong, including an episode of Baywatch, like everyone on this show, and an episode of House, which is fun for me. The four girls are the members of the former girlband "Nobody's Angel". They never got anywhere, and disbanded before their second album came out. What they did do, though, was collaborate with a boyband that also never got anywhere called Youngstown, to make the song Pokemon World for Pokemon The Movie 2000, which you can listen to right here www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0FjlxQJU88. Don't be embarrassed, I listened to it too. It's safe to say that that was their best gig ever. There's also a guy in the credits credited as "Milkshake Guy", so I'm excited to see what he contributes to the Boy Meets World mythos. Back to the show, Dad Guy comments that Shawn looks familiar, and heads back to the kitchen still drying his hands. Shawn tells Cory he should "go home", which is weird since they just started this trip, I'm not sure why Shawn brought him in the first place, but we're stuck with it since Shawn refuses to explain any further. It fades over to the apartment where Rachel and Jack try to sort out the fact that they shared a passionate kiss in the previous episode. They agree not to tell Eric about the kiss. At the diner, we jump into a performance by the four girls which lasts for two and a half minutes. On normal TV, this would be very frustrating. However, in this situation, it's fantastic! Because it's two and a half minutes that I can just skip and not have to write about, other than by saying that it's not very good and they're blatantly lip syncing. Like, the guys dancing to Hot Stuff in 5x10 was significantly more entertaining. Shawn and Cory lie and tell the girls that they're pretty good and would have a real shot at success, a shot that they would take if it weren't for Intimidating Dad Guy insisting that they stay. In what might be the weirdest bull shit on this show of all time, the girls ask Cory to talk to Scary Dad Guy for them, to convince him to let them go. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAT? Cory doesn't want to play ball, and tells Shawn it's time to go home, even though they just left. Unless there was an unspoken timeskip between the first scene in the truck and their arrival at the diner. I guess that's possible. Regardless, Shawn says he isn't going home, and that the purpose of this trip was so that he could say goodbye to Cory. Cory is rightfully outraged at his best friend's nonsense, but Shawn isn't even listening. Instead he spots a picture on the corkboard behind the register of Controlling Dad Guy with Shawn's own father, Chet. Even Cory has to admit that that makes things interesting. Lumberjack Dad Guy, the girls, and some of the regulars reminisce about Chet with Shawn, and he has to give them the bad news about his father's death. They take the news in good spirits though, and joke about Chet and remember the good times. It's actually sort of moving. Shawn gets on board with the good spirits, and asks Cory to give a toast to Chet, since Shawn claims to be bad at that sort of things, which... is kinda bull shit to ask someone else to do that, but whatever. Ben Savage gets the Perfect Delivery of the Day award for that one, that line is amazing. Shawn convinces him to do the toast anyway, and yeah, it's pretty nice. In death, we tend to cut people a lot more slack than usual, so Cory's toast is very forgiving. Chet was always an interesting character though, so it's good that we got to say something nice about him. In Apartment Land, everyone agrees that they're all just friends and the kiss thing went too far. Eric is satisfied with this outcome and goes to get his laundry from the dryer. Soon as he's gone, things go too far once again. KBM DATING TIP: That shit works. I've done a lot of dating in my days, and "I think we should kiss" or "We should probably kiss" at the end of the first date has a near 100% success rate. Or even just asking "Do you want to kiss?" It is INFINITELY better than the awkward lean-in-and-hope-for-the-best that most people get stuck in. That's just terrifying and unnecessary. Shawn and Cory are in the trailer now, presumably still near the diner, and they start to fight. I think the last time they had a physical fight was 3x17, in The Hallway. Correct me if I'm wrong. The argument is about what you'd expect, Cory's saying all the reasonable things that the viewer is thinking about the whole situation, while Shawn just wants Cory's blessing for this stupid getting-away-from-everything-indefinitely road trip. The girlband girls just sort of barge into the trailer, which is pretty uncool. Regardless of whether they should have made it in the singing business, I can see pretty clearly why none of these girls made it in the acting business. If uh, if you catch my drift. Because... you know. 'Cause they're bad at acting. I cannot begin to understand why they value Cory's opinion so highly, but they really really want to know what he thinks they should do. Cory has an appropriately "What the fuck?" reaction to their request, but one of the girls gives him what I assume are supposed to be puppy dog eyes, but I don't think she really understands what they are. She just kinda looks like a pissed off Colin Mochrie. Cory's a pushover, so he tells them they should go for it. Overprotective Dad Guy probably assumes there's a wild orgy going on here, so he makes his way into the trailer as well, just in time to hear Cory's advice. Cory explains further that sometimes you have to let go of your loved ones and let them find their own way, which is WOO SO CLEVER because he's simultaneously giving himself advice about the Shawn situation. What an unpredictable turn of events. I can't believe it. That girl is still making that same weird face in the background, she needs to stop. Hulk Dad Guy decides to fire the four girls so they can go end up as waitresses in LA. But hey, they do deserve credit for chasing their dream, I can't deny that. More important than what Cory's saying there is the fact that everyone else is just sitting on the couch in silence, staring at the wall. Look at em back there, there's even more to the dialogue between Shawn and Cory and they're just awkwardly sitting back there the whole time. It's really strange. Cory gives Shawn his "blessing" to go soulsearching, and then it fades over to Shawn getting into the driver's seat of the truck. Cory has mysteriously vanished, maybe he took a cab back to Philly, there's no explanation for where he went. Chet's ghost appears and tells Shawn he'll always be with him. He points at Shawn's head, which is considerably less puke-worthy than pointing at his heart, but it's still deserves a big eye-roll. Plot: who cares Character Development: not me Humor: Cory was funny like twice Life Lesson: wear a bandana to be cool shut up out of 4.0. Still not sure who Milkshake Guy was. |
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:40:08 GMT
Episode 6x16 "My Baby Valentine"
Cory's having a phone conversation with his best buddy because Snapchat wasn't invented yet. God, can you imagine Cory on Snapchat? What a nightmare. Anyway Cory's talking about his Valentine's Day plans, including the fact that he's got his "red turtleneck for the romantic carriage ride". Why not just wear the rainbow suspenders and a bowtie too? I guess he's not getting laid no matter what, so it hardly matters.
Shawn's at some truck stop on the road, and he's afraid to wish Cory a happy Valentine's Day since this crowd of cowboys is behind him. Now that's confusing to me. It sounds like we're supposed to think these are some tough customers who won't take kindly to any of that man love, but even in the 90's I would have thought cowboy outfits were sort of a "gay" thing. Either way, they're cool with it, and the audience laughs, reaffirming the idea that we should have assumed they weren't. Weird.
Good for you, progressive cowboys.
As the phone call ends, Topanga arrives in Cory's living room. They dredge up the past concerning last year's catastrophe of a V-Day, I'm not sure why, maybe they're just reminding the audience what happened. Apparently Topers had to pick up Morgan from school since Amy forgot, again. Morgan's having some "left out" issues with the new baby on the way, which is just about the most cliche pregnancy storyline you could ever write. Because of said issues, Topanga invites Morgan to... spend Valentine's with her and Cory... What...? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! Seriously, Cory getting cockblocked at every opportunity isn't funny after the 20th time.
The parents and Eric come home and it's... pregnancy-palooza. Amy is difficult to deal with, lots of lazy jokes from pretty much everybody, and finally Topanga decides to throw a "Valentine's Day Baby Shower" for Mrs. Matthews. I can't really explain why, except that it advances the plot.
I don't really remember this episode, so I'm going in blind here, but I'll be thoroughly surprised if it doesn't involve the words "my water just broke" at some point.
Topanga insists that this baby shower won't interfere with her and Cory's plans, but he's not satisfied with just words, and I can't blame him at all. This is some bull crap Topanga's pulling right now. So Cory decides to take command of the baby shower, but of course, he doesn't actually know anything about baby showers.
Well at least some people are getting intimate this Valentine's Day. Jack and Rachel are going pretty hard in the same spot they made out both times in the past: the couch. They agree that they should tell Eric about this blooming romance, and then start kissing again. A well-crafted scene, all things considered. Haven't seen teenagers acting like teenagers since, like, season 4. I'm assuming they're 19, but maybe they're 20, whatever. You know what I mean.
It's baby shower time, and "the joke" is that Cory is doing literally everything wrong. And that horse is dead and beaten very quickly. He even hired a male stripper for the party, who shows up doing the pizza delivery man routine. And let's remember that Morgan is at this party, but oh, okay, Amy covers Morgan's eyes as soon as the stripping starts. So yeah he starts his routine, and manages to get his shirt off before Amy sends him packing. The funniest things about this are actually really subtle, and you'd almost certainly miss them if you weren't trying to write a blog about it. I only noticed because I paused at the right time. So yeah, two things, the first is Angela's reaction to the guy taking his shirt off...
And the second is Morgan's reaction.
Amy was using her hand to cover Morgan's eyes, so Morgan lifts her mom's hand to peek at this guy. That is easily the funniest Morgan moment in the series, and honestly it was probably improvised. Very funny, very easy to miss.
Amy declares the party over after she gets rid of the stripper, and sullenly walks offcamera. Topanga is angry with Cory and so she cancels their plans for the evening, and storms off upstairs! Honestly, what did she expect here! Both Amy and Topanga know perfectly well that Cory is a moron most of the time, and now they're upset that he did moron stuff.
The men have organized a poker game at The Apartment to take place during the baby shower, so that's where we are now. Jack's just about to break the Rachel-news to Eric when Feeny and Alan barge in. The sweater-vested old man has a real spring in his step today, and goes so far as to hug Eric and tell him he loves him "like a son". That's pretty fuckin significant to just idly slip in here! Well I'm glad it got said, especially since he's so resistant to tell the other heroes he loves them at the end of the series. But today Feeny's clearly got a different kind of love on his mind, directed at Dean Bolander.
Cory shows up now too, and the joke is once again that he messed everything up at the baby shower.
Meanwhile, Amy opens the gifts she received for the shower. It comes up again that Morgan's sad about not being "the youngest" or whatever anymore, so Amy promises to spend as much time as possible with her until the baby comes, which is practically a guarantee that that baby is about to drop. Sure enough, she gets some sort of rumble in her stomach and we cut over to The Apartment, where they receive a call from Topanga informing them that Amy's water broke. Six weeks early, as a matter of fact.
This does not interest me. Am I alone here? I'm genuinely interested to know. There have been zero times in my life where I was interested in a pregnancy on television. I just cannot get invested at all. The "six weeks early" thing is their attempt at separating it from normal tv pregnancies, but it's still not enough to pull me in.
At the hospital, Topanga's taken care of pretty much everything and guides Alan right where he needs to go. It's... nice. Topanga has taken charge and directed her attention to what really matters here, instead of stewing over what happened earlier. These moments of level-headedness are always the times that I like Topanga the most. And Cory feels the same way, as he realizes that this stuff takes precedence over his earlier plans. It's a great little scene for sure, thumbs up.
So Cory and Topanga have managed to set aside their own shit for this important event, but Jack and Rachel are still pretty focused on themselves.
She tries, but is unsuccessful once again. Doesn't matter though, as Eric reveals that he knows they're falling for each other. Poor Eric.
Alan makes his way into the delivery room, where things are already under way for Amy's C Section. The doctor performing the procedure is played by McNally Sagal, who played a hospital administrator on Sons of Anarchy, so I'm concluding that the two shows exist in the same universe. Even more, she was already on Boy Meets World! She played that newscaster at the end of Danger Boy when Feeny and Cory got on the roller coaster. So her character has apparently spent the last four seasons at medical school. Good for her.
Morgan has been awesome this episode, it might be her best episode ever. Which is a shame, since I've only seen this one like twice in my life. And one of Angela's best episodes was Starry Night, which I never watch. It's a shame that some characters shine in episodes that I hardly ever watch because it leaves me thinking that they're just weak characters in general.
So the new baby boy gets born, but he's having trouble breathing and has to get rushed off to the ICU. Crazy times.
In the waiting room, Cory's stuck worrying about his own stupid problems again, which makes him look like a real bozo when Alan comes in with the bad news about the ICU. The baby isn't breathing on his own and has to be on a respirator. William Russ gives a pretty powerful performance here.
You can see Angela there on the side, she's had literally one line in this episode. Less than Rachel. So much for being Topanga's best friend. Without the Shawn drama they've got nothing to write for her! It's a little sad, honestly.
Alan makes his way to Amy's hospital room, as she's trying to decide between "Joshua" and "Daniel" for the baby's name. The veterans among us know that she eventually chooses Joshua, so it might have been a cool touch if, say, Auggie had been named Daniel instead. Either way, the episode fades to black as Alan is about to give her the bad news. It's just the music playing over the logo during the credits. They've done that a lot this season.
Plot: 0.25 - I mean... what really happened here? There was a baby shower that wasn't really much of a baby shower, and then Amy gave birth. Pretty straightforward.
Character Development: 1.0 - I always give this one away too easily, but Eric is handling the Jachel situation with surprising maturity, and Morgan was at least some sort of character trait.
Humor: 1.0 - Just because it's so rare for Morgan to make me laugh.
Life Lesson: 0.5 - Don't be a self centered piece of crap like Cory.
2.75 out of 4.0. I doubt I'll ever watch this episode just for fun. It's not very fun. Shawn is almost entirely absent and Eric's actions are all in response to the Jachel thing. If it weren't for Morgan peeking out at that stripper, I'd have said this whole episode was a wash. I was about to say that at least we don't have to watch Jack and Eric compete for Rachel anymore, and that's true, but there's still more drama to come from that as Eric tries to figure out what to do about it. Blah.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:42:18 GMT
Episode 6x17 "Resurrection"
You can't center an episode around whether or not a newborn is going to die. By default there are only two paths we can take. Either he lives and the whole episode is just one big emotion-bait, or he dies and what the fuck you just killed a baby and now the parents are going to spiral into depression. Looking at our options, it's about 99.9% chance the baby lives, so any suspense in the plot is automatically wasted. It's not like Chet, who we already had an attachment to, and actually could have gone either way. Added to the fact that we've all seen this already and know how it ends... like... what am I holding on to here? Is the life lesson the power of medicine? Yeah science and medicine kick ass, but that's not why I'm watching this show.
Let's get this over with. Right away the redhead doctor who used to be a journalist informs the parents that they're getting a new doctor, a specialist with newborns, and even he isn't sure if their baby is going to live. But we're sure, so *snore*.
Out in the waiting room, Cory is once again making this all about himself. It's difficult to even explain what he's talking about because it doesn't make any sense. He wants Topanga to be there for him, which she is, but it.. doesn't count..? because she's not acting like she used to when they were kids..?
That was an expert deduction by Topanga, I'm glad SOMEONE understands what he's doing. But of course he responded with insanity that makes you want to punch him in the face. It immediately fades out of that scene, over to Eric hanging out with Tommy at The Apartment. This is one of those remote cases of continuity, as we first met Tommy all the way back in the Christmas episode, number 11. The writers have shown us a certain amount of respect by not blatantly reminding us who Tommy is, and I appreciate that.
Ever since Jack and Rachel "got together", Eric's been acting less like himself, which Tommy picks up on as the two of them pack Eric's suitcase.
That's actually kind of adorable. As child actors go, Tommy's certainly not the worst.
Jachel come home, pleading with Eric not to move out. Okay so that's what the suitcase is for. All one of the suitcases. The topic of conversation shifts over to the baby dying, and Tommy decides he wants to go visit Eric's new brother in the hospital. The audience thinks it's cute, but it seems obnoxious to me.
Topanga comes home to her dorm and holy shit it's Angela. All we've had to say about her the last few episodes is that she wasn't there. Topanga explains what happened with her dumb boyfriend, and Angela comments that Topanga is handling the baby situation "very maturely", but clarifies that that's not a compliment. Oh god this can't be happening. Angela's insane too.
Topanga begins to reminisce about her time as "the weird kid" in season 1, and tells Angela the story of helping Cory with "a poem for school" when she danced around his kitchen and put lipstick on her face. She's referring to 1x04, "Cory's Alternative Friends", and is giving a false account of what happened. It's nitpicky, but they might as well have just said what actually happened. (That is the episode where the new background came from, arguably the best shot in the whole series.)
Angela tries to convince Topanga to indulge in Cory's lunacy. "Dance around him. Help him through what's going on." I get the sentiment here, like do whatever you have to do to comfort him while his little brother is dying, I get that. But Topanga had the right of it when she told him not to hide from the rest of his life. He needs comfort, that's fine, but he still needs to face the situation.
Maybe Feeny will help. Cory finds the old man having coffee at The Union and explains his frustration with Topanga.
I'M LEAVIN YA CORY. THAT'S IT. TIME TO REVIEW FRESH PRINCE.
I mean come on. MAYBE we could have a real conversation about this if he wasn't completely bullshitting right now. Topanga grew up at the beginning of season 2! She stopped being weird when she started seventh grade. You are in college now, Cory. Have you paid literally no attention to your girlfriend for the last five years?!
Instead of responding to that question, Feeny offers to take Cory to see his baby brother.
We're in the ICU now with Amy, Alan, and some other concerned parents. Amy has decided to name her new son "Joshua Gabriel Matthews". Biblical-Figure Archangel Matthews. See the problem with that name is that it's not cheesy enough. Was "God Christ Matthews" already taken? I just gave a moment to thinking about naming, and it occurs to me that if, on Girl Meets World, Auggie's middle name isn't "Shawn", then the entire show is a waste of time. I feel like that would have come up in the Christmas episode, so it's almost certainly not the case, and that's pretty disappointing.
So Mista and Misses are hanging out with their baby, and Alan tells God to "come on", whatever that means. Eric and Tommy watch from a window and then head home. We see that Topanga still hasn't strayed from her path, as she and Cory have another completely insane fight.
Are you seeing this shit? Is Cory ten years old right now? He never cared a moment in the last five years that Topanga wasn't "weird" anymore, but now that he needs something from her, he thinks she's a villain!
Just then, Shawn arrives at the hospital, back from his road trip that lasted, what, a week? Cory's first reaction is to say "Shawny", which he neglected to ever say in the Christmas episode of Girl Meets World, something that a large number of fans have taken issue with. Shawn says all the hopeful things Cory needs to hear, that everything's going to be okay, all the fun they're going to have with Joshua in the future... And this all turns Cory's attitude right around. And that's fine. It's heartwarming to see Shawn bring Cory back to life. I don't have a problem with Cory wanting some hope to hold on to. It's just bull shit the way he's taking out his anger on Topanga, who has done absolutely nothing wrong.
The doctor suggests that Cory go in and talk to Joshua, and Shawn and Topanga tag along.
That's really sweet, but I can't ignore the fact that she didn't try to stop Topanga. And how does she even know he's not family? What a jerk.
So the trio are in the ICU with Joshy Josh now, and it's pretty uncomfortable to watch. The slow, evocative music is playing while they talk to Josh. It's the definition of emotion-bait, and all I can do is roll my eyes. Let's make a note, though, of what Shawn says in his ridiculous monologue directed at this day old infant. "Don't go out of town. Don't go anywhere. Life is right here with these people, with your family. And my family. We got the greatest family there is, Josh." IS THAT RIGHT, SHAWN. IS THAT A FACT. BECAUSE I'M PRETTY SURE YOU DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THAT SHIT WHEN RILEY IS BORN A FEW YEARS FROM NOW. Spoilers, if you haven't watched that Christmas GMW, Shawn left town when Riley was born because, here's the kicker, he didn't have a family. This is the worst.
That right there is the smug face of a man who never takes his own advice.
At The Apartment, Tommy and Eric goof around some more, and then Eric takes the last of his things out the door for good. It fades back to the hospital where the showrunners did their damnedest to make us think that Joshua had passed away, but he is in fact ready to go home with his family. And then the audience fucking applauds and cheers as Amy and Alan walk off camera. Are you serious with this?
The parents proceed out to the waiting room where everyone else is, well, waiting. Shawn makes some comments, and Angela's right next to him, but she's had zero lines since that one scene in the dorm with Topanga.
Topanga draws on her face with lipstick to remind Cory of who she used to be, and Shawn's response is the same as it was in 1x04, which you might not know if you weren't me.
You can see Cory's head peeking into the shot at the end of that gif, and he's got the lipstick heart on his face too, but that hasn't happened yet, as you can see in the first part of the gif. So that shot of Topanga's smiling face is... not where it's supposed to be.
So yeah, Topanga draws on Cory's face too, and they agree to be each other's Valentine, even though that was several days ago. The very last shot of the episode shows us the ICU again, and how all the other parents are still there.
Credit where credit is due, that may be the best artistic choice of the whole series, showing us that last shot of the ICU. They could have left us feeling good and optimistic, but Jacobs said "No, make it real." It's powerful.
(The credits are just the logo and music.)
Plot: 0.25 - It's dumb! We're already almost certain that Joshua isn't going to die from the beginning, and at the end there's no real exposition about it. He just... got better. My opinion on this probably doesn't sit well with some of you, and I'm sorry, but this one just doesn't do anything for me. Especially with Cory being an asshole the entire time.
Character Development: 0.75 - For Eric moving out, and Topanga bringing back some weirdness. I do like the idea of Topanga bringing back some weirdness (which I don't think comes up again after this episode), I just hate that Cory demanded it from her after five years just so she could make him feel better.
Humor: 0.25 - Almost none.
Life Lesson: 0.5 - Hope is important, but if a newborn is teetering on the edge between life and death, you really ought to come to terms with the reality of the situation.
1.75 out of 4.0. And that's the end of Grandpa KBM's story. I don't like this episode and I never watch it. I don't think Topanga's weirdness comes up again after this episode, and everyone seemed to validate Cory's assholeness the entire time. I just don't enjoy anything that happened, except for that very last shot of the ICU.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:42:41 GMT
Episode 6x18 "Can I Help To Cheer You?"
In The Union, Cory and Topanga are arguing about wedding stuff, but it's lighthearted and fun, making us feel right back at home after the previous episode. Over in the coffee shop half, Eric and Tommy are having some treats. But things get heavy real quick, as Tommy asks his Big Brother if adoption is ever going to happen. I feel like Tommy was either misled, or never had the situation properly explained to him, but either way you gotta feel bad for him.
I said in the last review that Tommy isn't the worst child actor, but that was clearly not true. Or isn't true anymore. Every line is a test of your will and your patience. And I barely passed.
Cory, Topanga, and their respective best friends are, I don't know, sitting-in? on a wedding ceremony to see what sorts of things they want to include in their own wedding. If this sort of activity does actually exist, it seems reserved to a time before the internet, yet here we are. Topanga claims this sort of things happens all the time, and that they just need to keep a low profile.
We meet two new fellows off to the side, the groom and the father of the bride, but they aren't getting along very well. The F of the B is named Stan, and disapproves of this man marrying his daughter because he's a kindergarten teacher and doesn't make much money. He wants this guy to join his plumbing company to have a higher salary and provide nice things for his daughter. Yeah I know, lots of exposition, and the worst thing is that most of it doesn't matter, which we'll see in a few minutes.
Stan and Cory take an immediate like to each other.
For the sake of creating a narrative, Stan asks Cory to marry his daughter, going so far as offering him a million dollars to do it. He claims that it's because Cory is nice and polite to him, and therefore deserves his daughter's and in marriage. It's completely insane. And if he's got a million dollars to throw at the first guy he meets, why does he care how much money the other guy makes as a teacher? (Also worth pointing out is Michael Jacobs's continued theme of the underpayment of teachers.) And Cory doesn't even have a job! He has zero income and is probably in debt, but somehow he's a better fit. I guess it's supposed to be nonsense? And we should derive some sort of humor from how nonsense it is? It really doesn't feel that way, but it's the only thing that makes sense.
At home, Eric's discussing the Tommy sitcheeashun with his parents, who both agree that it's impossible and irresponsible for Eric to adopt him. This point is driven home by Eric's inability to zip up his pants without catching his shirt.
Eric complains that everyone he knows has someone they want to dedicate their life to: Cory to Topanga, Jack and Rachel to each other, his parents to the new baby. He says Tommy needs him, but it's clear to the viewer that Eric needs Tommy just as much. So our boy with twenty rings on his fingers and a still-unzipped fly goes to call the adoption agency to.
That's actually really funny. It's a shame they don't give more jokes to Amy, she's got great delivery and voice, but I guess there's only so much to go around. And it's usually serious stuff whenever she gets involved.
Anyway Eric returns from his phone call with the news that a family wants to adopt Tommy, so he heads down to the orphanage to see what's up. Eric has a cute little dialogue with his Little Brother, insisting that they can still be Big and Little brothers, but that won't work. This family lives in California. To quote Eric, "I don't want them to live in California." In the heat of the moment, Eric declares that he's going to adopt Tommy.
The orphanage matron or whatever there is Mrs. Gallagher, played by Nia Vardalos. Nia went on to take the lead in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but before Boy Meets World she voiced one of the main characters on "Team Knight Rider", a spinoff of Knight Rider. As we all know, our own Mister Feeny was the voice of KITT on Knight Rider, but it doesn't look like KITT was in the spinoff, likely a big reason why the spinoff failed so quickly.
Back at the wedding, Shawn thinks Cory should.... take the money. Cory doesn't want to, because he loves Topanga, so Shawn decides to cast his lot in with Stan.
This wedding story is cripplingly boring, and not funny enough to beat out the boredom. You would think that Eric's story is the main story today, and usually the main story gets the majority of the screen time right? But I just time it, and it's almost an exact split with Cory and Eric both getting about 10 minutes of the episode. We're bouncing between "oh my god my heart is breaking" and "I don't care about this, why are we at a wedding".
Back in Emotionville City, Eric's filling out the paperwork to adopt Tomothy. Mrs. Gallagher explains that the other family is pretty great, and successfully adopted a girl from the orphanage when they used to live here in Philly, expertly closing that plot hole of "why are they adopting here if they live in Cali".
Gallagher is doing a magnificent job as a character (in addition to being extremely well cast), guiding Eric through this incredibly difficult and painful decision, since she knows that Eric can't possibly go through with this. She's helping him as much as she helps Tommy. She knows as well as we do that Eric is still a child at heart, still so innocent, just like Tommy. And it's definitely deliberate, having Eric say things like "I don't want them to live in California," to show us that he's still got that kid in him. It's not nearly as well developed as Eric/Feeny, but it's still wonderful to watch because Tommy brings out the best in Eric, just like Feeny did. Full disclosure, this episode makes me ache for poor Eric, and brings him back into the spotlight to remind us why he's the most loved character in the show.
So Eric finally understands that he has to let Tommy go, and braces himself for the showdown.
I'm not gonna lie to ya, it's rough. This is one of those scenes that really messes me up every time I see it. And if it was anyone in the world other than Will Friedle... I don't think it could have worked half as well.
If you're on mobile, you are missing out right now. That's A+ television right there. Granted, a lot of its power comes from the fact that we've seen the whole series up to now and we love Eric, so it's hard to say how a casual viewer would feel here. Hopefully it wouldn't be lost on them.
Maybe it's supposed to act as a cushion after that last bit, but we have to go back to the stupid wedding now.
There isn't even anything to review, really. The procession starts and Shawn makes me laugh, which is cool, I guess.
The bride is pretty, which is supposed to make us think that Cory's actually having a difficult time with this decision. And look at Angela, tryin not to laugh.
Cory begins to imagine himself being fed grapes by the bride on some beach, and thus instinctively raises his hand when the minister asks for objections to the marriage. He can't control himself at this point, and he ends up doing the most bull shit thing I've ever seen in my life. I mean this is some Full House shit right now. Cory gets up and makes a fucking speech to a crowd of people he doesn't know about how important love is and THEREFORE HE'S NOT GOING TO STEAL THE BRIDE. He doesn't explicitly say that last part, but jeez, it's so insanely ridiculous.
Wasn't the one rule to keep a low profile? But here's Cory god damn Matthews, making a speech about how important love is in front of a bunch of strangers on some random folks' wedding day. Un. Believable. UNBELIEVABLE. Who could have POSSIBLY written this! It's laughable, which might be fine if it were tongue-in-cheek, but it's not, because the audience isn't laughing. This is disgraceful after such an amazing scene with Eric. And then they all trot out of the wedding hall on their self righteous high horses as if Cory's opinion is actually worth a god damn thing to these people.
IT'S NOT.
At home, Amy and Alan try to console their poor son. Alan has a line that sounds like "Kids are a zillion", which doesn't make any sense at all, I honestly cannot figure out what he's supposed to be saying. Tommy shows up at the door for a goodbye hug from Eric, which is sweet, but I'm still sour over that absurd speech at the wedding.
During the credits, Shawn has taken over the beachside fantasy, but for some reason he's wearing blue jeans and his shoes. Someone didn't think this through.
Let's separate this episode into halves. The Cory wedding half gets a 0 for plot, 0 for character development, 0.5 for humor, and 0 for life lesson. The Eric half, on the other hand...
Plot: 1.0 - Tears your heart apart. Why are we tearing all the characters apart? Shawn, Eric, The Matthews family had some trouble with Joshua, what the heck is going on here? For Eric, at least, it hit all the right notes. I would have liked it better if Tommy hadn't shown up at the end, but I can't blame them for going for the happier ending.
Character Development: 1.0 - Eric wrestles with his inner child and comes out on top. With the help of Mrs. Gallagher, of course.
Humor: 0.5 - Obviously they couldn't make it too funny, with the nature of the story, but that's okay.
Life Lesson: 1.0 - Sometimes you have to make those hard decisions for the greater good.
Either 0.5 or 3.5 out of 4.0. Seriously what the fuck was that speech at the wedding, I can't let it go. It's just so out of place and unbelievable.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:47:57 GMT
Episode 6x19 "Bee True"
Eric is intent on progressing the relationship between Dean Bolander and Mister Feeny, which at present is nothing more than professional, and perhaps friendly. We learned in My Baby Valentine that Feeny had the hots for the Dean, and we've seen the two interact several times in the past. By the Light, they've actually laid (lain? fuck "lay" and all of its conjugations, that shit is TOO confusing) the groundwork for this pairing. It's so simple, and it makes such a difference. The point is, Eric is working to motivate Mister Feeny, while Topanga and Angela put the moves on Bolander. As the three women enter The Union, the Dean explains that she's fond of Feeny, but he needs to "pick up the pace."
I was hoping for Topanga to drop in about "destructive gender biased thinking" (re: Turnaround in Season 2), but she doesn't, and so it falls on Mister Feeny to make the first move. Fortunately, Eric is doing a commendable job of coaching his mentor.
Just as the Feenster is about to spill his heart to the Dean, some chump in a multi-pocketed vest named Lester barges into The Union and the Dean rushes over to hug him. "Lester" is probably the most old-man-ish name I can think of. Well that sure throws a wrench into things.
Lester tries to woo Bolander, clearly an old flame, but she introduces him to Feeny, perhaps oblivious to Lester's advances. Also, his name isn't actually Lester. It's Curtis. I checked, and she has called him Curtis the whole time. I am apparently an idiot. Anyway, Curtis is in town to give some presentation about his top secret archaeological find in Africa. He is also, as we now learn, Bolander's ex husband. I think this picture alone would have been a sufficient replacement for everything I just wrote.
Oh wow, he even says right here in front of everybody that he intends to win her back. What a bozo.
This next scene... is special. I want to do it justice. Every line deserves a gif or a quote or a mention. Shawn and Cory are working a table for a bake sale, and Eric has come to them to ask for a favor, in the style of that daughter's-wedding-favor stuff from The Godfather, and they're all doing the Italian mobster accents. Eric needs them to run a "scheme" on Feeny and Bolander, the type of scheme they used to run all the time in high school. It may very well be the best scene this season. As you can see from the background and the logo, I'm quite pleased with this. Further, Cory reminds Eric (and the viewer) that he's on probation after he punched Stuart earlier this season, so it's riskier than usual to pull any hijinx.
ERIC AND FEENY.
SHAWN AND CORY.
A SCHEME.
HILARITY.
CONTINUITY.
IT'S EVERYTHING. IT'S PERFECT.
And the best part is that, in my ignorance, I've only seen this episode a couple times. I don't remember anything except how it ends, it's like seeing it for the first time. I'm so excited.
Anyway, by the end of the scene, Shawn and Cory look like they've decided to go for one last caper. And the audience cheers at the end of that scene, one of the, like, three times in the series that I approve of that.
Meanwhile, Jack and Rachel arrrrrrrre making out. That's pretty much all we've seen of them since Chet died. But hey, it's fine with me since it frees up Eric to do interesting shit. Which is exactly what he's been up to the last few episodes. Oh, wow, Rachel's first line is "Have you noticed that this is all we do?" See I could totally write this show. So the tall one explains that she wants to go on dates and stuff, and decides for both of them that they're going to go dancing the next night. She asks if Jack knows how to dance, so I guess she's never heard the story of Last Tango In Philly. Jack doesn't seem too happy about going out though, which is supposed to make us interested in this plot thread. It does not succeed.
In what must be Mister Feeny's... archaeology class... containing the four youngsters as well as Eric, that Curtis guy is giving an Indiana Jones type story of his own adventures, to the raucous applause of the students. His arrogance finally tips our heroes over the edge. It's go time, you sack of bitches.
The next scene is... interesting. Shawn and Cory sneak into the science lab where all of Curtis's archaeological findings are being kept, intent on making a big mess. It devolves into breaking stuff, in particular while trying to open a jar containing a preserved human brain. It's sort of frustrating to watch, because they're just wantonly breaking priceless artifacts, like some kind of Urkel or Kenan & Kel type thing, but it's still funny. I rather enjoy how Shawn somehow knows the names and details of various artifacts, like "Hand me that ancient Phoenician mallet." So yeah, it's fun because it's Shawn and Cory, but breaking stuff has never been my cup of tea.
Now we're in Feeny's... quantum mechanics class... which must be a meta joke at this point, but the audience doesn't laugh, so I dunno. There's no way he's qualified to teach this class, especially since he misspelled BOSON on the chalkboard as "bozon". More like BOZO, AM I RIGHTTTTTTTTT?? THAT'S HUMOR, FOLKS.
THAT IS HUMOR.
More specifically the board says "Higgs Bozon", and as we all know the Higgs was fairly recently confirmed to exist, over at CERN.
Eric isn't actually enrolled in this class, but he's here anyway just to annoy Feeny about the Dean, which is accomplished fairly quickly. Feeny dismisses the class, probably because he realized that he's not a physicist, and explains to Eric that he thinks it's proper to allow the Dean to sort things out with her ex husband before he makes a move. Eric disagrees, citing his loss of Rachel to Jack as evidence of the need to act, rather than wait. He never really had a chance with Rachel, but I mean, his advice is still solid.
Aaaaaaand we're breakin' stuff again. Cory accidentally drops the brain's jar onto a jar containing some sort of bee, which is let loose to wreak its stingy havoc as a result. The boys open a window to intentionally set off an alarm, calling in the only man capable of hearing it in this universe, Mister Feeny. But that was their plan, so it's a fun piece of self-aware humor. Time to initiate phase 2 of the great comeback scheme: blame everything on Mister Feeny.
The Jack/Rachel sidestory is so unimportant stacked up against the Shawn and Cory adventure going on, but the abridged version of this next scene is that Jack feels like a shrimpy pity-case going out in public with Rachel. As such, he's wearing "Manly Step-Ups" for added height as they're about to leave The Apartment. Interesting to note is the fact that the Hunter men are only capable of wearing black leather jackets on dates. She convinces her shorter boyfriend to stop worrying about it, and whaddya know, the problem is resolved and they head out.
The scheme has reached critical mass. Dean Bolander arrives back in the science lab with Cory and Shawn, as well as Topanga, Angela, and Eric.
Everyone is supporting the "Feeny did it" story, and it goes like you can imagine, like it was a crime of passion, or whatever, and the Dean seems to think that justifies it. Curtis shows up, and doesn't give a shit about anything in the room, including the Dean herself, except for that bee. For weird and unimportant reasons, the bee is going to save thousands of lives, but Feeny kills it as it's about to sting the Dean. (Angela actually has a line in this scene, but of course it's about Shawn.) So yeah, Curtis is still a jerk, and Feeny gets the girl. Everyone's happy.
Except Shawn and Cory, who have to wash windows as punishment.
During the credits is some crap with Jack and Rachel, IT'S NOT IMPORTANT AND I ALREADY FORGOT IT.
This episode is absolutely wonderful. I had so much fun, start to finish. I'm not even gonna bother breaking it down, it's a 4.0, no question. Destroying valuable artifacts for the sake of romance isn't a great life lesson, but whatever, it's not about the points, it's about the spirit of the points. Or something. Best episode of the season. I know you guys get the point after six seasons, but SHAWN AND CORY. ERIC AND FEENY. Respectfully, there are people who enjoy Cory/Topanga the most in this series, and I would never say that they're wrong, but what Corpanga story this season can even come close to being this entertaining? I'm honestly asking.
This is one of those episodes that's perfect for people who've never seen the show before. I'm really happy right now, it feels like the show is alive again. As far as I'm concerned, this should have been the episode named "resurrection".
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Jun 28, 2015 13:48:34 GMT
Episode 6x20 "The Truth About Honesty" Our four heroes are all in the bathroom at the same time because friends love to shower and shave as a team. As usual, Angela seems completely superfluous. She has lines, which is better than usual, but she doesn't actually contribute anything. But hey, she signed a contract, might as well write her into the show. Cory is grossed out by Topanga having used his razor to shave her legs, and honestly I'm surprised Topanga even shaves her legs at all. Actually, back in "Cory's Alternative Friends" in season 1, Cory says "You're going to be one of those girls who doesn't shave her legs, aren't you," and she answers that she hasn't decided yet. I know you've all been on the edge of your seats since then, this plot thread taunting you with its dangling threadiness, so here you go. We finally have the answer. BOY MEETS WORLD REVIEWED. FIVE STARS. Critics are raving, "Yeah it's okay but I'd rather just watch the show." Anyway Cory lies about being grossed out, but Angela tells Topanga the truth (they're all still in the bathroom), so Topanga decides to make a giant mountain out of the smallest molehill I've ever seen. Like those molehills in Banjo Kazooie? Smaller than that. Topgangrene declares that they have to be 100% completely honest with each other from now on. Cory thinks it's a good deal, but Shawn can see danger from a mile away. Well, from the other side of the bathroom. I don't know how far that is. We've transitioned to the coffee shop side of The Union, and I'm seeing on the side of a mug that this place is called Brew Lagoon. I probably should have caught that a long time ago. Topaljs;dj comments that "My Petite Chou" is playing at the university theatre, and I swear they used that earlier the series. It's not a real movie, and it sounds so familiar, so it must have been on this show... Cory, inspired by his new honesty powers, declares that he doesn't want to see My Petite Chou. Or the Icecapades! Because he can't get in trouble for honesty now, and darn it, he doesn't like the Icecapades! Eric strolls in with, allegedly, Joshua in a baby carriage, but it's pretty obviously empty. Jack and Rachel show up next, exhibiting what I've decided to call "The Chubbie's Phenomenon", or Chubnomenon. The Chubnomenon is characterized by people independently showing up in quick succession. Apparently Jachel are having their "first dinner party". Everyone agrees to go, except Eric who doesn't want to deal with the emotional turmoil of being there. Eric takes "Joshua" outside and pulls a Shawn, that is, woos a woman with lies by pretending to be the baby's father when she takes interest. And it's about time too. Eric hasn't had a girl since Jennifer Love Fefferman in 5x17. Amy and Alan continue the Chubnomenon, and actually pretend to be Joshua's grandparents to help Eric. They're probably just sick of Eric crying over Rachel, and will say pretty much anything at this point to get him to move on. It's time for the dinner party, and we join our heroes in the elevator up to Jachel's apartment. Topanga has styled her hair in a way that I can only describe as "crinkle fries", and Cory is... well, see for yourself. See? He wants to eat it. Cuz it looks like french fries. He plays the "you want me to be honest" card again, describing in vivid detail how much he hates the crinkle fries hair. Funny stuff. Angela doesn't have any lines. Inside the apartment, Rachel is inspired by Corpanga's honesty deal to play a version of Truth or Dare for people that are afraid of dares. I mean, for God's sake, what if they dared you to say a bad word? Anyway it's called The Honesty Game, and you draw a name out of a hat and ask that person a question, which they have to answer truthfully. Everyone is laughing at Jack's erection, and he's embarrassed. That was just too perfect, I'm sorry. But seriously, pants are so frustrating, that shit happens all the time. The running gag of the night is that Jack is too passive and doesn't voice his opinions, which certainly wasn't the case when he was constantly calling Eric a moron in every episode prior to this one. It's still pretty funny though, Matthew Lawrence does a great job with it. Eric arrives at the party with the girl he met earlier, Dana. As Shawn eloquently points out with a posh accent, this should be interesting since Eric has told Dana nothing but lies. Refer back to the logo to see Eric's opinion of Toplorable's hair. Crinkle Fries draws Shawn's name from the hat, and asks him who he wants to spend a no-strings-attached night with, out of everyone on earth. That is a seriously saucy question for Topanga, like, I would expect Cory or pretty much anyone else to ask that before Topanga. Regardless, he says Angela because the writers aren't quite finished boring us to death with that. At least she has an interesting response. Topanga and Cory have some... interesting faces there. Angela makes it clear that this has to be no-strings, no commitment, no emotional attachment, and then they head into... someone's bedroom. Now see that's the most interesting thing Angela's ever done. But I guess that's not saying much. Rachel asks Cory what he would change about Topanga if he could change any one thing, literally the third time this question has been asked tonight, demonstrating just HOW MUCH FUN this game can be. Props to Topanga for asking something else. Everyone including Topanga expects Cory to make some comment about sex, but he actually says he doesn't want Topanga to need to be perfect all the time. This is confusing, since a few episodes ago he demanded that she act like the old Topanga, who, in addition to being "weird", needed to be perfect at everything. Regardless, she doesn't agree that she always needs to be perfect, and proves it with the harshest thing she's ever said. Rachel is either as shocked as I am, or she, like Cory, wants to eat Topanga's crinkle fries. She did make tater tots, but it's just not the same. Even though Topanga blatantly crossed the line, she decides that she is the victim and leaves the party, with Cory chasing after her. Rachel blames herself since she started The Honesty Game, but Jack explains that the party would have been bad no matter what. That's a touching sentiment, and Rachel appreciates it because she's not Topanga. We take a trip over to the love shack, which is actually Rachel's room. Huh. My money was on Eric's old room. Poor Rachel. Shawn and Angela are going at it pretty hard while some cruiseliner saxophone music is playing in the background. Shawn's having trouble following the statute of "no emotional attachment", which is slightly backward from how things ended between them with Shawn unable to make a commitment, but I'm sure this will develop more as we go on. Well I'm... pretty sure it's Rachel's room, but... I guess you never know... OKAY HERE WE GO NOW, Cory and Topanga are in the elevator to leave and they deal with the whole Yale shit pretty quick, BUT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT HERE. Topanga comments, as they embrace, that she just wants to be able to use his razor, that she doesn't want a relationship that's just two individuals living under the same roof. Cory is still grossed out by the idea, even more by the idea of her using his toothbrush. Oh, crap, we have to go back to the love shack real quick, but remember this, I love where this goes. Shawn decides that it's a good time to confess his love to Angela, who really doesn't want to hear it, and then pushes him off the bed. Shawn realizes that he's starting to adopt some of the relationship values that Cory and Topanga have, and he's not exactly happy about it. OKAY HERE IT IS, back in the elevator, Topanga's exploding about how ridiculous it is that Cory won't share his toothbrush if they're going to spend the rest of their lives together. Cory asks her if she can handle real honesty, and that is exactly what he brings to the table. "The truth is, I could never share any of my personal items with someone who won't even show me her tushie!" OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OHHHHOHOHHHH SHIT SON. What really seals the deal is that Crinkle Fries almost immediately agrees that that's fair. She's been demanding total emotional connection while holding back the physical connection, and because she's a rational human being she is able to admit that that was a bit one sided. Awesome. That is the kind of relationship development you want to see. A+. Corpanga re enter the party, with Cory declaring that he has "seen the promised land", and I mean, as far as I'm concerned, boobs are the promised land, but Cory is allowed to have his opinion. Angela and Shawn leave the party for some reason now. Sure the moment was ruined in the bedroom, but they might as well eat, I dunno. Eric goes on to claim that he is also Batman. As we all know, Will Friedle was the voice of the new Batman in Batman Beyond, which was an awesome cartoon, and it started airing a few months before this episode aired, so yeah, nice work, writers. Eric has been hilarious. During the credits, Cory uses Topanga's deodorant in The Bathroom, which she thinks is gross, so I can't actually tell if we made any progress at all. Shawn follows Angela into the bathroom, another instance of the Chubnomenon, but he claims that he's not following her and doesn't care about her at all. She gives him a big smooch, but he stands his ground. Angela leaves the bathroom, raising the question of why she came in here to begin with, and as soon as she's gone Shawn hops over for a cold shower. The Hunter Boys' erections are out of control in this episode. Eric never got his tater tots  Plot: 1.0 - I don't have any real problems with this. I don't know anyone who hosts dinner parties at 19, but it was a fine excuse to have an ensemble episode. We haven't had a good one of these in a long time. Character Development: 1.0 - Shawn's feelings for Angela re-emerge, Jack and Rachel actually seem like a genuine, functioning couple, and Cory and Topanga make some progress in their relationship as well. Great stuff, although Eric is still stuck in his lie-tacular situation. He doesn't seem to mind though. Humor: 1.0 - Everybody was great. No complaints. Life Lesson: 1.0 - Physical intimacy matters. And keeping it no-strings-attached might be harder than you think. 4.0 out of 4.0. Going into it, I didn't expect to give it a full score, but I really have nothing bad to say about it, and a lot of good things. Some real relationship developments happened here, and it was a lot of fun getting there. Anything negative in the writeup was just for comedic effect. I hope by now it's clear when I'm being negative for humor and when I'm being negative to be critical. |
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