Saturday, July 25, 2015

Episode Review: "Girl Meets Fish" (#1.22)

Yo. As this is a retro episode we're getting, we're doing this retro style - me all by my lonesome.  Actually, we're doing it because Sean is off the grid this weekend, but if he has any thoughts, he'll share them at the end of this review come next week.

And, yeah, that's right. I'm calling this a Season 1 episode. Season 1 opening? Corey Fogelmanis credited as an "Also Starring" after the opening credits is over? Season 1 episode. That's how we do. Also, the physical differences between the cast then and now (particularly Rowan and Corey) is so egregious that I can't try to pretend this actually follows the events of "New Teacher" without quitting.


Well, I've watched this damn episode so I'm not going to waste my own time or yours anymore than they've already been wasted. No one expected this episode to be anything but bad, and yet, that it could be this bad is almost beyond belief. The humor was so aggressively terrible... I just don't know what to say here. I was just so utterly embarrassed to have this associated with Boy Meets World, especially during anything having to do with Auggie and Ava (which... was most of it.) Michael Jacobs fucking co-wrote this. Does he have no shame? No sense of decency? Who did he co-write it with? His son, David Jacobs. While I have no doubt that young David is owed the lion's share of blame, since this guy obviously wouldn't be getting a writing gig on any show not produced by his father, that Michael contributed enough to share a writing credit and this is the best thing we got, and that Michael even let this air, family be damned, is a blight on MJ's record.

Nothing worked here, not just Auggie and Ava. Nothing. Cory and Topanga didn't work (in their, like, cameos in this episode). Maya and Riley didn't work.
Farkle and Lucas didn't work. The fish store guy didn't work. There's no reason for deeper analysis. This was an abomination. I'm not even going to keep talking.

Episode Rating: F (This is, without question, the worst episode of this series. Every other episode ought to be raised a full letter grade by virtue of not being this episode)
Episode MVP: Nope. Na uh. No, sir. If I have to, Rowan Blanchard, I guess, but bleeeeeccccch. Blech to all of this. Blech to everyone.

This show's grounded for a week so it can sit silently in the corner and think about what it's done. But we'll see you on the 7th (and maybe before for something? Who the hell knows?) for Girl Meets Yearbook.

Hello all, I am back in the land of the living. I'm about to watch this episode, but I've already read Christian's review and all your comments. I am not excited, but I have Chinese food so it won't be 100% awful. 

EDIT: 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Pictured: Sean and Christian
What a disgrace! Hooooooooly moly. August Maturo is never gonna work in this town again. His delivery was like Mary Kate and Ashley on Full House. He does fine in dialogue scenes like you've all pointed out, but when he's trying to deliver a joke it's some of the worst schlock I've ever seen. 

To Jacobs's credit, I doubt any of the other whodunnit shows came up with anything as clever as an owl detective saying "hoooo-dunnit," but other than that every single thing was wrong. This is something you would show to kindergarteners, not middle school+. 

It's a good thing I thought of that bit with Jack and Shawn, because watching some of Brotherly Shove to get that picture reminded me that Jacobs is capable of greatness, and it makes you wonder how it all went so wrong for this "episode," 

Girl Meets Fish receives an F.

F-. You're getting held back a year and I'm calling your parents.

42 comments:

  1. Wow, I'm starting to wonder if we have Bizarroland-tastes here. Well, not quite - I'll give it to you that this is far, far, far away from being the best episode of the series, but I'm not quite sure it's the worst.

    ...ok, maybe I have to agree with you that it's the worst still, but I'm trying to say that the worst of Girl Meets World is a flat C compared to the absolute worst of, say, ANT Farm. If you want a real torture test you should watch ANT Farm, especially Season 3.

    It's interesting that of the four "Whodunnit Weekend" theme episodes this night, three of them (including Meets Fish) more or less follow an identical plot structure: a faux-noir theme complete with black and white footage where the investigator/faux-detective character is a redhead who turned out to have done it all along unwittingly but (because this is Disney) was too young/stupid to figure it out on his/her own, and animals were involved in all three. The only one that tried something different (and not even bothering for the faux-noir theme at all) was the only show without a redhead in its regular cast.

    I'm also pretty sure that Micheal Jacobs (co-wrote with another Jacobs - his brother? The original Joshua? Nah, he would still be too young to be writing a show) originally wrote this episode, then Disney saw that it was mystery-themed, then they remembered back in the Spring of 2012 they had this whole mystery-themed weekend and thought "hey, we can do that again! All we have to do is not air this episode for nearly a year and force all the other shows to play along!"

    Also did you and Sean make any decisions about other shows in that thread you asked for?

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    1. I'm confused - are you referring to Auggie as a redhead? Auggie has dark brown hair...

      I don't think we have made a decision about the other shows yet. I think I've heard that after this next run of three episodes (Yearbook/Semi-Formal/Creativity) there's going to be a little bit of a hiatus? So that may be a good time to do it. As for the episodes themselves, I think we'll basically have to do whatever's available in Watch Disney (but, if one of those is one of the suggested episodes, we'll definitely do that)

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    2. Huh, I guess I must be partially colorblind, I thought Auggie was a redhead, though a very deep, dark shade of red. Or maybe I was even thinking of Francesca Capaldi from Dog With a Blog instead. Eh *shrugs*

      Anyway, you can pretty much find any of the episodes on YouTube though the quality will be quite a mixed bag, needless to say. The episodes might be on Netflix too, if you or Sean have access to that. Sometimes they'll have different episodes on the actual Disney.com website than what's available on the Watch Disney Channel app. It's really weird like that, though 9 times out of 10 they'll have one or two of the episodes from WDC and that's it. Like right now, the actual webpage for Jessie has Moby and SCOBY even though it's not on the WDC app: http://disneychannel.disney.com/jessie/video

      You can Sean can skip Moby and SCOBY BTW.

      Oh, and one final thing, I forgot that the actor who plays the Harley wannabee in Meets the Secret of Life plays a character named Dump Truck (really) on Liv and Maddie in Detention-a-Rooney and Flugelball-a-Rooney. There, that should cover absolutely all the BMW/GMW actors on other Disney Channel shows that I can think of.

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  2. Oh it's bad... It's really bad. But it's still better than Girl Meets 1961 and its overly cutesy "oh wow all our great-grandparents knew each other what a coincidence even though there is no way our great grandparents would be that young in the 60s" ending

    This is probably the second worst though, but somehow, Lucas had a line that actually got a chuckle out of me "I had to keep running or she would've died for nothing!" Otherwise it's pretty shit

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    1. Oh, I agree that 1961 was awful (looking back, it seems I gave it a 'D') but while that one was hampered by just a ridiculously bad premise, there was actually some nice things about the execution as I recall. Maya had a few nice, poignant moments, and I think it was one of the first episodes to make Lucaya really start feeling like a thing.

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    2. Another factor may be that my standards have gotten higher. Back when 1961 aired, the best episode so far had been, probably, Maya's Mother - a good episode, but not indicative of the heights this show would achieve in certain great episodes. And most episodes were significantly worse than that. So I was probably grading it a little less harshly. Now that I know it can do stuff like Master Plan and Pluto, maybe I expect a little more, and so am more disappointed when I get schleck like this.

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    3. You know it's bad when Lucas has the only funny line in an episode.

      As for 1961 I have to agree that it wasn't quite as bad as fish noir. The premise of 1961 was ridiculous and it had a really dumb ending but there were at least a couple of funny moments in it I think? And I remember maya and Lucas having kind of a good chemistry there too.

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    4. I'm glad someone else pointed out "..or she would have died for nothing!" I like that too, but there was no "audience laughter"! Not only did this script have awful jokes, they didn't RECOGNIZE when they had a good one!

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    5. Actually, in defense of the usually vacuous laughing audience, I respect them in general this episode because the laughter was really subdued throughout. There was more than one instance when a joke was really bad and I had a quick thought of "Please, don't laugh at that audience." and their laughter would only be light chuckles and I'd be like "Hey! Good for you guys!"

      I agree that's a great line of Lucas', but I also don't think he delivered it super well, so I could see the audience not really picking up on it.

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  3. I felt embarrassed for the show after watching this. Maybe they just waited a year to air it because they were worried the show would be cancelled if they aired it last season and they just figured they'd racked up enough good episodes by now to be forgiven? Idk. Or maybe it was Jacobs way of reminding us of what the quality of this show could've been to make us more appreciative of what we usually get because like you said I'm about ready to raise every other episode a full letter grade after seeing that haha.

    Maybe we should just rate the worst moments from the episode. Starting with the end, wtf was that weird group hug ending? Cause even though they killed their fish they weren't gonna kill eachother on a school trip? Was that the life lesson? I quit

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    1. One that got me is there's some point where Auggie's... saying something incomprehensible to Lucas and Lucas is like "What?" and then Auggie says something else incomprehensible. And then Lucas hugs him? Or something? I remember thinking "Wow, I just didn't understand that, I should go back and figure out what that was about." and then being like "Nah...."

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    2. I think Auggie was doing an imitation of Peter Sellers as a detective from an old movie. I can't be sure which, might have been a Pink Panther film. I believe he was saying "Don't move". Of course you would have to be as old as I am to even get that reference (50+), and Jacobs is older than I am. I guess he needs to realize that some of his pop culture references are out of date and need to be updated.

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  4. I started watching the episode, and as soon as I saw Auggie dressed like fucking Sherlock Holmes, I hit stop on my DVR remote. Yeah. I'm only gonna watch this one drunk.

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  5. This was awful. It was horrible. I really don't like the characters of Auggie and Ava (I'm sure the actors are okay little kids in a tough industry). They get way more screen time on this show in general than they should, and this episode was too much of a bad thing.

    Among the episodes many, many, many, problems, 7th grade is way too old for class pets. If I were in charge, I would have held this episode until the DVD release, then call it a special bonus.

    The idea for a mystery episode is great. I would have taken it in a totally different direction. Make the mystery more age appropriate, like stuff being stolen from lockers. The episode deals with the dangers of unfounded accusations and suspicion. The history lesson is the Salem Witch Trials or McCarthyism/Red Scare.

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    1. Auggie's not so bad, so long as he's actually interacting with his family. "Girl Meets Brother" is one of the better episodes of Season One, and a large part of that is the interactions between the Matthews siblings.
      Anyway, when I first heard about this episode, I assumed that the fish was Auggie's class pet that died when he took it home for the weekend. That probably would have been better.
      If they had to do a "Who-dun-it" aspect to this episode, why not just have Auggie do something that hurts the fish by accident--say exposing it to soap when he washes the bowl or something--and have Riley take the blame for it. Could have given a chance to see how far Riley's willing to go to protect her brother, and it ties back into that episode where Cory got in trouble for Shawn messing with the school newspaper.

      Oh, and I have a question--how long has the Anonymous Comment been an option?

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    2. I agree that some of Auggie's scenes with Riley and Maya are cute.

      "If they had to do a "Who-dun-it" aspect to this episode, why not just have Auggie do something that hurts the fish by accident--say exposing it to soap when he washes the bowl or something--and have Riley take the blame for it. Could have given a chance to see how far Riley's willing to go to protect her brother, and it ties back into that episode where Cory got in trouble for Shawn messing with the school newspaper."

      This idea is fantastic! It would have worked much better than what actually aired.

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    3. The Anonymous Comment option is brand new at Sean's suggestion. Enjoy! Though, do try to sign-in when possible, so we got to know ya.

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    4. I don't mind Auggie all that much when he's used in a limited capacity and when he's not teamed up with Ava. He's a cute enough kid. But... he shouldn't be all that much more than this show's Morgan because he's just not capable of it. Him having episodes as a star, or him talking directly to the camera? No. Stop it.

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    5. I'm the Anonymous who posted the "If they had to do a 'Who-dun-it'...why not just have Auggie do something...and have Riley take the blame for it. Seeing as I do not have an account, I'll call myself the "What-if Writer" for the foreseeable future, if that's acceptable to you, Christian.

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    6. Full disclosure: I put way too much thought into this and wound up writing a novel. Sorry in advance.
      I'm the Anonymous from above--the one who called himself "What-if Writer" which sounds really tacky now.
      Anyway, hope this works--never set up an account before.
      I never actually watched this episode--the promos were eye-rolling. I'm not saying GMW should emulate the darker episodes of BMW, but this makes me want to build a time machine and go back to convince Michael Jacobs not to allow Disney to put the show on anything but ABC. I actually think a more grounded Girl Meets World could co-exist rather nicely with Last Man Standing--or at least with the latter's relatively tame first season. Anyway that's a topic for a different day.
      Like I said earlier, I think Auggie's strongest scenes are with Riley.
      And I think the episode would have been much stronger had it focused on Auggie and Riley.
      What if the episode had started with Auggie super-excited to take care of the kindergarten class fish for the weekend? What if he accidentally kills his class fish by exposing it to soap while cleaning the bowl, or if he uses too hot or too cold water? What if Riley realizes what happened and takes the blame, invoking a severe lecture from Cory and Topanga? We know Topanga can bring down the Wrath of God from "Girl Meets Demolition" (I have my own ideas about how that episode should have gone, but that's a topic for another day). What if Riley takes the blame for killing Auggie's clash fish, in order to shield him from the anger of his classmates? I can count on one hand the number of times Cory showed any sort of Big Brother Protective Instincts (Paraphrased from TV Tropes, Lord knows I'm not about to post a link to THAT site) for Morgan. But Riley is much more involved with Auggie. What if we see Riley have to pay for a replacement--and because it was a tropical fish, it's actually really pricey and costs several weeks allowance? What if Riley doesn't even try to guilt Auggie about the secret, because she wants to protect him? What if she says "You're my little brother. It's my job to keep you safe."
      How do Riley's friends respond to this, since Riley can't keep anything secret from them? They're only children (Well, Maya has half-siblings who may appear in "Forgiveness" but she's been raised as an only child). This kind of loyalty is something alien to them (Does Farkle even have any cousins? I think Stuart was an only child himself). No history lesson to tie into this--rather, just have Cory act coldly towards Riley until Maya or Farkle loses their temper and blabs what really happened. Cory confronts Riley about it, and her response is simply "Is there anything you wouldn't do for Uncle Josh or Aunt Morgan?"
      Janitor Harley could fit into this episode rather easily--his most humanizing moment in the original series concerned his own sister. If Cory keeps Riley after class to ask what the heck is going on, and Janitor Harley comes into the room to clean, we could have had a very tender scene with (hopefully) not too narmy a life lesson. That's something else I noticed about this franchise--the life lessons in BMW that were explicit life lessons tended to be in storylines that were NOT tied into the school curriculum.
      Where was I? Oh yes, we still need an ending...um...hmm...a teary-eyed Auggie wakes Riley up late at night, to say sorry and then snuggles up with his sister.

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    7. "What if we see Riley have to pay for a replacement--and because it was a tropical fish, it's actually really pricey and costs several weeks allowance?" This would work really well. I could see this happening.

      "What if Riley doesn't even try to guilt Auggie about the secret, because she wants to protect him?" This is the relationship they have. They will team up against their parents, and not rat each other out.

      "Janitor Harley could fit into this episode rather easily--his most humanizing moment in the original series concerned his own sister." Building on this, what if Riley goes to Harvey for advice, since she can't go to her parents, and her friends don't have siblings. It's easy to set up that Riley knows he has a sibling. Earlier in the episode, Riley could overhear Harley talking to his sister on the phone. She's calling because she's coming to visit, but something's happened and she's going to be arriving late.

      As for the ending, I picture Auggie saying he's sorry, and promising to pay back the money when he's older.

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    8. I could see the show working well on ABC Family. It's worth noting, BMW didn't get darker until the later seasons. Comparing season 5 of BMW to season 1 of GMW doesn't seem right. Comparing season 1of BMW to season 1 of GMW, and it's a much closer call.

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    9. I wouldn't mind GMW being paired with Last Man Standing on abc; I love that show.---And, LMS is one series that gets better and better with each season.--Cannot wait for season 5. One of the top quality comedies, IMO, yet on the underrated side, along with The Middle.
      ABC seems to struggle with a good pairing for LMS too. As it stands now, I'm don't thing Disney's GMW is necessarily a good match, but thinking of what it could be----More Boy Meets World in GIRL, and Last Man Standing has a night-partner.

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    10. Now on Cryptid456 revision of Girl Meets Fish.
      All that you wrote is certainly better than what we got.

      Honestly, when I first read the description of Girl Meets Fish, I thought it was Auggie's class fish; it was his turn to take it home, and then the fish dies. They still could have done the mystery-'who-done-it' theme, with The Four(or three) being the main suspects.---They were the only ones we really saw during the interrogation anyways. This, too, would've been so much better. And, it makes more sense for Auggie's grade(whatever that is) to have a class pet.

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    11. Heh, glad to see the response to my Really Long Comment is positive. It gives me great honor.
      Most of what we find underwhelming about Girl Meets World, I think comes from Disney Channel. Sure you have your restrictions on what they can show, but they also have an inherent handicap in the time restrictions. No Disney Channel show has ever been more than four seasons--the minor exception to this is Hannah Montana, which spread out its third season over two years and actually had /many/ episodes so it wasn't actually drawn out. GMW could have done the same thing--have the third and fourth season each take two years. So then you have six years to tell the story, instead of four. Michael Jacobs said in an interview that he has most of the story mapped out and knows how it'll end--most likely with the kids graduating. While that in itself isn't automatically a bad thing, Jacobs did bring up time jumps...I don't know how I feel about that; it makes sense--they only have so much time to tell their story--but they might be shooting themselves in the foot.
      I'll say this for comparison sake--the show doesn't really hold up looking back, but the graduation finale on the Suite Life series--which came at the end of six years across two series, was very heart-warming, and wasn't even that much of a clip show. If GMW can tug the heartstrings when it's their turn, I count the show as a success.

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    12. Wrote another novel. It got away from me.
      A lot of people think Girl Meets World should have been on ABC Family. Honestly, I don't see it.
      BMW took itself and the world it lived in seriously, but when it was dark, it tended to veer into Very Special Episode Territory--"Cult Fiction" and "Dangerous Secret" being the most obvious, but then again, sometimes Anvils Need To Be Dropped (TV Tropes again).
      In any case, ABC Family is today, I think, too risque for anything Michael Jacobs produces. As far as Hollywood goes, Jacobs is pretty old-fashioned (for which he has my utmost respect).
      Do you really think the channel that revels in being "A New Kind of Family" is the home for a show where parents, as cheesy as Cory and Topanga are, are supposed to be revered?
      I've watched a fair bit of Last Man Standing, and while it's fun to see Tim Allen be on television again, I think it became a little too mean-spirited following its re-imagining. That being said, "Mike's Pole" was one of the best half-hours of television in recent memory.
      Oh, and Riley having a confidant in Janitor Harley has quite a few potential story lines. Seeing as Cory has apparently told Riley very little of anything that wasn't Feeny-related about his youth, Harley could have the time of his life bringing up all the stunts Cory pulled back in the day.
      If Riley's the New Cory (or Eric), Maya's the New Shawn, Cory the New Feeny, Harley could have been the New Janitor Bud.
      I have to say, when "Meets the Forgotten" aired, I half-expected Harley to bring up the time Cory and Shawn led the Student Union to the cafeteria to protest the options.

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    13. "Seeing as Cory has apparently told Riley very little of anything that wasn't Feeny-related about his youth, Harley could have the time of his life bringing up all the stunts Cory pulled back in the day. "

      I even have the perfect reason for Harley talk to Riley about Corey. Corey has a last minute emergency (nothing too horrible, but he has to leave school, and there isn't time to hire a substitute.) All of the other teachers are busy, so Corey gives them an in-class assignment or a study hall, with Harley supervising them. (it doesn't matter which it is. It's not important for the story line). Something happens, and Harvey starts telling them stories about Corey as a teenager.

      After school, Riley and Maya starts asking questions/teasing Corey. Corey is furious because he's worried the kids don't respect him anymore. At the end, both generations learn a lesson. Corey learns that respect can still happen even if they know his past faults, and the younger generation learns their parents were once people with pasts. Maybe he gives them a home-work assignment: ask your parents about their biggest regret or mistake.

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    14. Cool there are other fans of Last Man Standing and The Middle out there. Girl Meets World could fit well with The Goldbergs or Fresh Off The Boat. ABC, even before Disney bought them, has always been a family comedy network.

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    15. Oh, the possibilities of Harley telling Riley about the Adventures of Young Cory.
      "What?! He told you he only dated your mother? Let me tell you about the time he dated my sweet little sister."
      "Johnny Baboon well-behaved?! Junior, your dad led a student protest against Old Man Turner!"
      "I have no memories of any incident relating to Mr. Turner's motorcycle. How dare Baboon accuse me of such blasphemous and evil acts."

      As funny as it is to imagine, "Meets Flaws" clearly establishes Harley as being in deep respect for Cory--without his job as a custodian, it's likely Harley would actually be homeless. With that in mind, I can't see Harley telling the kids about the past unless he gets angry at Cory being self-righteous about something, or perhaps reminiscing about Mr. Feeny.
      More to the point, Harley was only in nine episodes of BMW--if we want to hear somebody tell embarrassing stories about Cory and Shawn, Harley might not be the best choice. Does anybody know where Frankie is these days?
      But going back to what I mentioned in the "How Girl Meets Fish Should Have Ended and Started....and In-betweened" what if Harley comes into the classroom to clean when Cory's lecturing a despondent Riley over "responsibilities concerning your brother" and "your mother and I raised you better than this"? What if Harley, having more than his share of experience of watching over a younger sibling--he was the one who picked T.K. up from the baseball game their deadbeat father abandoned her at--realizes exactly what's gong on after taking one look at Riley.
      "Baboon, you dunderhead! Look at Junior--does she look even a little defiant?! No! That is the face of a sister who is protecting her little brother even though she knows she'll get in trouble! And she's doing that because she cares that much! I should know, I wore that look a hundred times for Theresa!"
      This is the most awesome comment thread I've been a part of in weeks.

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    16. LOVE your ending to this version of "How Girl Meets Fish Should Have Ended and Started....and In-betweened!"

      I'm not picturing Harley telling Riley stories about Corey out of anger. I'm picturing the fun silly stories. The kind that don't make Corey out to be bad or evil, just the kind that show he was once a kid who made mistakes.

      Who would have thought that such an awful episode would produce such a great comment thread? Clearly there are some really talented creative people here.

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    17. This thread has been a pleasure, Miss Cosmo.
      You're probably right, Harley might not be able to resist the temptation to bring up the good ol' days of "Harley, Joey and Frankie" and the "fun" he had with Johnny Baboon.
      I just meant that Harley wasn't in as many episodes as it would appear--which is a credit to the actor's charisma that he's so memorable--so hearing from Eric or Jack or even Frankie who's in town to give a presentation on his newest book of poetry may be a bit more believable.
      Harley actually has quite a bit to bring to the show. His childhood was rougher than Shawn's or Maya's but he isn't bitter about anything. He seems to enjoy his lot in life. I don't mind him referring to Cory as "Kid Who Helped Me Out," because he's clearly a few years older than Eric, who is two years older than Cory. Alternatively, while the show will never go to the lengths we saw in "Everybody Loves Stuart," I could see there being a teacher who's a bully, or who condones bullying and Harley, haunted by his past years as a thug, being someone Riley goes to for advice.
      An upcoming episode is "Girl Meets Forgiveness" and revolves around Maya coming face-to-face with her father (and possibly half-siblings). Shawn's in the episode, but I think Harley could be a foil here as well.
      We don't know what the episode will entail; the writers said the episode wrote itself, which may indicate it won't be as Disney Channel as other episodes. (Giving credit where it is due, "Maya's Mother" was an excellent episode that wasn't very Disney-flavored). We might see Maya and her father come to a degree of understanding, in the vein of "As Told By Ginger." Or, less likely but not outside the realm of possibility, we may see Maya and her father NOT come to an understanding at all, along the lines of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" where Will breaks down when realizing his biological father does not love him.

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  6. This episode was the worst thing I have watched in awhile. I actually would have given Lucas the MVP, he had the only bright spot of the episode in my opinion. But wow, I completely agree with you that this was the worst episode of GMW. I have no idea what they were thinking. It was absolutely brutal.

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    1. I agree Lucas did have this episode's best line, but that's a testament to writing, not acting. I actually thought his acting was pretty meh, here. He had Noir-ish dialogue, saying things like "I tells ya", that he just delivered flatly as if it were any other line. Rowan, on the other hand, actually did a decent job with her noir bits. Probably the best of any of them.

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    2. My only chuckle actually did come from Rowan when she broke character for the interrogation when Lucas says "I'm more of a dog person"
      And she answers "aww me too❤️"

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  7. I didn't watch. Didn't need to. Knew exactly what we were in for by the promo. I could tell this episode should have never seen the light of day. DC has no reason to air these shit, out of order episodes. They are a self sustained network. They don't rely on ad money, so there is no reason to air these episodes to "get their money's worth" out of it. These gimmick weekends always end up doing more harm than good. Every time. This will be the 1st episode I missed, that I don't plan on catching on repeat. No need to waste my time on an episode that doesn't move the story forward.

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    1. I'm curious what you think of the other Whodunit Episodes though. I think Disney wrote the whole theme around Meets Fish, actually.

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    2. Honestly, I didn't catch them, and based on some of the loosely tied arcs, I'm glad I missed them.

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  8. This was terrible. So glad it wasn't just me. Class pets are not a thing past third grade. How did this get through a table read?

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  9. It was a grade school play on television. Elementary grade, that is.

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  10. Well unlike most of you, I didn’t think that this was as bad as most of you did. Knowing that this was held back almost a year, you have to try to view it like you would have if it had aired last fall.

    Even considering it was a season 1 episode, it wasn’t great, but I liked it well enough. This is a show targeted for youngsters, so I though the humor was appropriate. I also liked that the vast majority of screen time was allotted to the kids. We had just enough Cory and Topanga to get the messages across.

    I absolutely agree with your decision to call it a season 1 episode. We all know it is and I can’t imagine that anyone would disagree.

    Things I liked – Fish Store Phil: he was funny and I loved the line asking if Riley had a debit card. If this had aired shortly before Demolition, I would have called that line foreshadowing.

    Farkle admitting that even though he is smart, he continued to do stupid things with the fish. I also liked that during Lucas’ home run, they got the same baseball announcer (Gary Thorne) to do the play by play that they used in Friendship (Phillies vs. Mets). I love consistency, and sadly this is one thing this show (and BMW) doesn’t do well. I also almost lost it when Riley asked her classmates how many fish they had each killed and Yogi admitted to killing 23 fish.

    What I didn’t like – I usually love Auggie and Ava, even though I know most folks seem to hate them. But I thought that in this episode they both had their weakest performances of season 1 here. That was unfortunate since they both had so much screen time, but maybe that is why. They were still pretty young and are still learning. Both have been better in season 2.

    Overall I give this episode a B. Hey, I am judging it against season 1. While it doesn’t stand up to “Father”, Master Plan”, or “Maya’s Mother”, it was better than “1961”, “Sneak Attack” or “Farkle’s Choice”. I enjoyed it and there were no horrible scenes here.

    MVP – I choose Fish Store Phil. Not because he was great, but he was good and he was funny and it's not like we are going to get a chance to give it to him again. And no one else really stood out.

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