Monday, October 5, 2015

Best Friends Whenever Episode Review: "Cyd and Shelby's Haunted Escape" (#1.09)

Yeah, okay, here's a brief review for the crossover episode. I suppose, if I had to choose, then this was a better episode than GMW's Halloween one. It seems like a dumb show, but nothing about this episode really bothered me. I actually liked the subplot of the annoying guy (whose name I forget) trying to trick Barry into being scared to get him into Halloween. That's the kind of Halloween plot I'd like them to do (I mean, if they even absolutely have to do a Halloween episode) something just about the holiday itself, and not about introducing magic and spookiness. Halloween's a big holiday for kids - parties, trick-or-treating, costumes, there's a lot of material there. Is that not enough for you?


I actually liked the character of Barry a lot too. While I think few are the teen shows that really require a teen character who casually invents time machines and teleporters, he was a fun character. In fact, in one episode, I already prefer him to Farkle in terms of smart guy supporting character. Farkle's smarts are generally told to us, not shown. Most of the times he just acts weird. But then they tell us "Farkle gets A's, Farkle tested better than the rest, Farkle's on the debate team" and then it's like "Right, he's the smart guy, got it." But this Barry fellow just... actually seemed smart. It wasn't, like, his whole thing - he's also arrogant and condescending but in kind of a friendly, cheerful way. I don't know, I'm making too much of the character now, since it's not like "Oh man, Barry's the best, I'm going to watch this show now." But I appreciated that he plays much the same role on this series as Farkle does on GMW, and yet seems to be a better done version of it. But then, I think I'm less into Farkle than most of you are. He's still ultimately not somebody I like all that much.

I did not like Barry's annoying friend. Naldo, I think? That actor sucked and felt really miscast in the role. Why go with that guy? Weird. 

As for the main girls themselves - meh, they're fine. Cyd's a brunette Maya, Shelby's a blonde Riley. I know they're not exact match-ups (From the little we saw, Shelby's a little more down-to-earth than Riley, Cyd doesn't seem to have any angst whatsoever), but it's roughly that equation. Cyd had some legitimately funny lines, but she sometimes felt too quippy, and her actress had pretty flat delivery. Given to a stronger actress though, some of those jokes would have really been pretty good. Shelby's actress was a lot stronger, but wasn't given very much material to work with. 

The main plot was dumb. But like it's Halloween spookiness plot, so of course it is. This could be a decent show, maybe, in a regular episode. I'm... not gonna find out. But it could be. 

Hey, Riley and Lucas were in this one too. I'm confused, because this is happening at the same event as in the other episode, the Central Park Spooktacular, and Riley's still in her flapper regalia. So, like, did this also happen that same night? Where was F. Lucas Fitzgerald while all this was going on? (They mentioned they were waiting for him and Farkle in the GMW episode, but he never showed.) And where's Maya now? I like the idea that Riley was in the middle of dealing with all this ghost shit that night, but took a break to go do a little haunted house adventure game.

Riley and Lucas were given a lot more to do than Austin and Ally were, which was good. But meh, what is there to say? They were fine. Didn't feel wildly off despite being written by another show's writers. I don't know. I don't really have anything else to say.


Episode Rating: C
Episode MVP: Either Barry or Shelby.

We need to permanently ban wishy washy language like "meh it/he/she was fine." I'm not trying to single you out, I'm guilty too, but it's completely meaningless and impossible to disagree with. No one, not me, not you, not anybody, can ever convince you that "meh, it was fine" is incorrect. It's safe and meaningless. It is the bubble wrap of opinions. 

Now I'm going to single you out. This show is terrible. What was this episode even about? Tell me. Tell me what it was about. The girls wanted to go to the party. Congratulations. That's nothing. That's nothing, Christian. At least Meets World of Terror had a plot. There was a ghost and a some sort of window, and that was actually related to the haunted house at the party. We almost universally agreed that it was an insane plot, but I respect that a hell of a lot more than not just not trying at all. That's why you have nothing else to say, there's nothing else to review. 

I like what you said about the side story, that it's a legitimate Halloween story, no magic or spirits or whatever. And Barry has more personality than a lot of characters on Disney, I agree. But holy shit, that Naldo guy was so punishingly unbearable that it ruined any fun I might have had.

And that takes us to the next point. The acting. The brunette on this show doesn't just have "pretty flat delivery," Christian, she is the worst actress on this network. I mean maybe there's a worse one on a show we didn't watch yet, but I doubt it. Worse than Debby Ryan, MILES worse than Dove Cameron, worse than anyone on Teen Beach 2. Naldo might not have the worst actor on the channel, but he very would could be the most poorly written character. God, when we finally got some Petyon and Rowan, it was like the end of Shawshank Redemption. Or the end of the first act of Count of Monte Cristo. 
The actress for Shelby falls somewhere between Debby and Dov, but below Rowan. She might thrive if she had someone with a modicum of skill to play off of. 

And that doesn't even touch on the whole "Deedee playing in Dexter's Lab" thing they're trying to do. I mean, THIS is what you use TELEPORTATION and TIME TRAVEL for? THIS IS WHAT YOU DO? I mean it's just not a low budget affair! You can't do time travel if you don't have the budget to create interesting sets. But this episode wasn't really about the time travel aspect, so I'll leave it be.

Episode Rating: I hated it. F.
MVP: Rowan and Peyton.

Meh, I thought it was fine.

No, but seriously, I actually disagree with that first paragraph. Sometimes one's feeling on something is just "Meh, it was fine." Sometimes I don't feel strongly about something one way or the other. That's how I felt about this one. I grant that less extreme emotions like that don't lend themselves to debate, and make it difficult for you to refute it, but I don't think the solution is taking a hard-line on something when it's not actually what my opinion is. And I don't think it's completely meaningless, it has meaning: That I found it okay/inoffensive but didn't particularly care for it either. 

Likewise, I don't agree that this episode has no plot. Obviously it didn't have no plot. The plot was that Cyd and Shelby used a teleporter to go to New York for a party, where they ran into Riley and Lucas at a haunted house. There, a side effect of the teleporter turned them into, I guess, ghosts which caused a dilemma because they couldn't hug in order to go back in time. Eventually they figured out how to do it by possessing Riley and Lucas, and so they made it home. Is it a stupid plot? Sure. But I don't think it's any less of a plot or any dumber than GMW's plot, beyond that it involves time travel and teleporters and shit, which is just a conceit of the show. I will grant it's a pretty shitty use for their "teleporter episode." It was just a way to get them to New York. Just... have it be that they're visiting New York, and explain why they're ghosts some other way.

I grant, too, that it was kind of light on the plot, though, and they often took their sweet time getting there. But plot's less important to me on a sitcom - characters and jokes matter more in that context. The greatest sitcom of all time famously eschewed plot at times, devoting entire episodes to people just waiting for a table in a restaurant or wandering around lost in a parking lot. Now, of course, this show isn't Seinfeld, but I do think the point still stands. There were jokes in this episode I actually thought were kind of funny, and I enjoyed the B-plot for the most part. I thought the episode was okay. Not good, by any means, but fine. Certainly among the same level of enjoyment as the other C episodes of GMW we've been having lately. And I did think it was a lot better than GMW's episode, which involved a lot of repeating the same song over and over and poorly choreographed dancing. 

Is the actress who plays Cyd the worst on Disney Channel? Quite possibly, but that's actually not the most damning insult in the world. As we've discussed before, by and large, the young actresses they have are strong suits of the show. Sabrina's great, I think you're starting to come around on Rowan who I think is quite good,  Dove Cameron and Lauren Romano are good, the main girl on Dog with a Blog was decent (AND FRANCESCA CAPALDI IS A NATIONAL TREASURE), and Debby Ryan's fine. Those are the only ones I'm familiar with, and yeah, Cyd's worse than all of those, if this episode is any indication. But, like, I didn't feel like she was the shittiest shit in shittown. She just didn't seem great. There's at least a handful of young actors on Disney Channel, who I think are worse. Maybe I'd need to see more of her and in more dynamic situations to be able to gauge.

But yeah, Naldo could easily be the worst actor on DC. At least Peyton's starting to get some polish to him. As for Shelby, yeah, I'd probably agree, better than Debby, not as good as Dove or Rowan. On par with Lauren Romano, maybe? But this show's brand new, she's got time yet.

Yeah, a brief look at the episode guide on Wikipedia does make it clear that time travel is definitely something they make a priority in their episodes, and they deal with Butterfly Effects and shit. It probably just didn't make a lot of sense in this context since they had to include two characters who live in the modern day. 

While I too care more about Riley and Lucas than I do about any of these people, what about their performances really warrant MVP material though? Peyton may be better than Naldo, but he's still... Peyton. And I actually kind of felt like Rowan was phoning it in, you get any of that? 

Ultimately, for me, the thing that puts this episode ahead of GMW's is that I found this one somewhat funny at times. I chuckled more than once. I don't think at any point in World of Terror 2 (beyond, maybe, seeing Doy in his cute little lion costume) did I so much as crack a smile. 

The problem is that "meh they were fine" doesn't translate well from person to person. "Fine" is one of the top 5 most subjective words in the language. I made that up, but still. I prefer how you explained it in your second segment. You don't need a hardline stance to be descriptive.

There was less time dancing in MWoT than time spent in the foxhole in No Guts No Cory. Your move.

Her name is Lauren Marano, but I agree that she's good. She has a very unique enthusiasm that I can't find the right words for. She could be great, but I'm not going to watch her show to find out.

I'm glad you said something because it was poking at the edge of my mind, yes, Rowan definitely seemed like she phoned this in. She didn't care at all. On the other hand, don't come in here acting like there's rules for the MVP, mister picky pants. I mindlessly chose her and Peyton as a middle finger to BFW. 

I think... Cory... said something funny in their episode... 

Whoops, you're right, Lauren Marano. Some die-hard Austin and Ally fan I am. 

78 comments:

  1. As I said before I liked this better than the GMW Halloween episode. That isn't saying much. I did think that Riley and Lucas, who got more screen time than any other crossover guests this weekend, were written like 2 normal teen kids and their dialogue sounded more "normal" than the GMW writers sometimes manage. That's about all I have got to say for this.

    Grade: C+ Nothing special here
    MVP: The twins (Chet and Brett) - because they weren't in it to make it noticeably worse.

    As for Naldo - if you two hadn't noticed the actor, Ricky Garcia, was Lucas' friend Asher Garcia from "Meets Friendship" episode. As for why they chose him, I'm guessing it's because he fronts a band that is signed to Disney's Hollywood Records. They actually sing the theme for BFW and have some video segments that play on Disney.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and as for cyd sean I think that if you watch crash and Bernstein you can see that landry bender came from that

      Delete
  2. I don't really find anything about this show horrically offensive. It's gold compared to some other shows, as i have said before. It's just ...stupid. Aka another disney sitcom. This episode was a decent one. The plot was the strongest of these Halloween episodes, with an actually fine conflict.

    This and Liv and Maddie actually used the crossover aspect in the plot, which is why they were the best on Sunday. I think Landry Bender is...fine. She is the weakest but she's new to being a star (previously being a better written surrpoting character on Crash and Bernstein). Shelby is decent (why is that whenever there's a blonde and bruntute pairing, the blonde is always a better actor) and Renolado is a typical disney sitcom surmounting character who cracks dumb jokes.

    (Think Dez only...the same). Most of these actors just just fine, it's just hard to gauge given the materiel. Really, i think people get too harsh on this stuff. you can dislike all you want, but save your anger for something REALLY offensive.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Can't find the edit button so i must add more: GMW 2 is 1000 times for one simple reason: This episode at least had a proper structure. It did exactly what it was supposed to do. GMW 2 was a tree house of horrors episode...where they split one story into 3 segments and padded it out with useless filler that has nothing to do with anything.

    I laughed a decent amount in GMW 2, and you can call it a guilty pleasure, but there's no doubt BFW was....structured better. Forgot to give grades:

    GRADE: B

    MVP: Rowan, of only for the "Get into Lucas" line. I love my dirty mind sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, and it's a bit better on a normal episode...when it's heavily focused on time travel, like in the 70's one or jump to the future lab. normal episodes like a time to cheat are just there.

      One thing i enjoy about the show is...the plot. Yeah, right in the pilot they hint at an actual story in a disney show that hs nothing to do with romance.

      They...actually finished in that future lab episode, which is dumb but it had a mysery element to it. Not since Wizards of waverly place have we had that. Disney Xd does it a lot on Lab rats and Mighty Med, so i'm glad disney is trying to be disney XD.

      (Heck, KC's premise could have been an XD if it had a male lead)

      Delete
    2. Christian was talking to me about that, the overarching story for BFW. I agree that it sounds pretty cool and could potentially give this show something awesome that none of the others have. Oh you said they finished it. Well still. Maybe they'll do more with that.

      Delete
    3. Well they really didn't finish it because they showed that Shelby's father was put in charge of the future lab so it didn't feel wrapped up to me at all.

      Delete
    4. The Future Lab episode was nothing but a bait and switch. Nothing resolved. That was probably good as 8 episodes in to solve the main season 1 arc would have been terrible. Not that this show is great.

      Delete
    5. I actually haven't seen it yet, i was just saying they addressed it early. The clips i saw looked like it might resolve the mystery of the lab...but at least they aren't finishing their best aspect early.

      Delete
    6. hey sean I think that if you watch crash and Bernstein you can see that landry bender was in that before best friends whenever

      Delete
  4. I watched this and a couple of the other of Halloween specials. In a row, which was a mistake.

    Without a pre-existing interest in any of the characters, I was in the much the same frame of mind as Sideshow Bob watching MacGyver.

    It’s hard to really tell, but I would have a hard time arguing against the opinion that this and the others were better at being a straight-up kids’ show than GMW. I don’t hold that against GMW, even if it didn’t like WOT2.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm on vacation this week so I might watch it if I get bored.

    Sean, you raised a really good point. The word "fine." I do a fair bit of writing for one of my jobs where adjectives aren't really used. I write in my free time. We all have written long responses here. So words are cool. I think the word "fine" is subjective. But yeah, I use it a lot when I could use words like "average" or "meh" or "didn't do anything to influence my opinion on the episode."

    Christian, interesting points on Farkle. I too think GMW has told us he's a genius rather than showed us, but if I remember correctly BMW did it with Topanga too. That also has to do with Best Friends Whenever's premise. Two girls have a buddy invent a time machine. Plots ensue. I really like Farkle's character (due in large part to his development) but I can understand why others wouldn't. At least he isn't as hyper/obsessed as he was early on. God, that writing was cringy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, see, I think with BMW and Topanga's it's a little different. I don't consider Topanga a genius. She's just smart and driven. She got all As in school, but she wasn't supposed to be Miss Teen Genius, she just was a really good student. She was obviously much smarter than Cory and Shawn, and that was made pretty clear, but other than that, yeah, she was mainly just a normal girl. But Farkle's, supposedly, a literal genius, analogous to his father. And I don't see it.

      Delete
    2. Hmmm...Can't say I disagree. I'd like to see the writers continue developing their characters though.

      Delete
    3. Topanga isn't a genius--she's just driven. Kind of like Percy Weasley. Riley supposedly gets straight A's as well. While that often doesn't make sense, I think "Demolition" hinted that Riley occasionally plays the part of "Bunny Farmer" deliberately. And hey, Luna Lovegood was sorted into Ravenclaw.

      We saw Farkle get his 700th A last year, and he has routinely said "Yay" whenever there's a new assignment. One wonders why even at his most hyper he never went "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" So there's a little bit of show, at least.

      I don't know guys. I left my spiel on BFW on the last post and like I said, if I want to see kids learn time travel is not a toy, I'll happily watch "Minutemen." That was actually a pretty good DCOM...I think it may be on Netflix.

      Delete
    4. Don't you mean "Snowsuit Guys"? :P

      Delete
  6. I caught this by chance on TV earlier. The BFW parts weren't anything special but I did think this might have been Lucas at his funniest. His reactions to the spinning chair and Possessed Riley genuinely got me laughing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm with Christian in that I just liked the raw comedy, and it worked for me, so I liked it. It was better than GMW Of Terror 2 because I actually got entertained from it. Disney Channel isn't going to deliver the next Mad Men, in fact if they do it'll probably just piss of a bunch of parent groups, so I'll settle for just being entertained. The main time travel overaching plot isn't solved yet, the episode was just mostly a stepping stone to further it along. I really wish people would learn to know what they're talking about before jumping to conclusions and influencing people's opinions. It's how this country's going to fucking elect Trump.

    The actress playing Cyd, Landry Bender, eh...people go gaga over her but I think it's mostly just how she looks hot and either the fanbase is mostly made up of people her age or creepy men who subscribe to "age is just a number". Most likely the latter. Ewww. I've met people like that, and most of them act like they belong in jail for other reasons alone. Maybe she'll evolve to be a better actress. They say you shouldn't work with kids or animals in Hollywood for a reason, but at least kids grow.

    I've found BFW serviceable for what it is, enough to earn Bs or B-s. It's from the same creator of Dog With a Blog (it's pretty much replacing that show) so who knows maybe it'll gain some awards along the way too. The same guy is also an executive producer of Fraiser, which I think is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. For some reason Sean in particular strikes me like he might be a Fraiser fan, in which case I owe you a beer one day (I'll make sure it's a fine Chicago draft in Chicago).

    Also, it's LaurA Marano. Laura, not Lauren. Man, three times and you still couldn't get her name right!

    Also, shameless plug time! http://nickanddisneyreviewed.blogspot.com/2015/10/best-friends-whenever-reviewed-cyd-and.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CYD looks hot? Really? Man, don't see it. Granted, she was in a dinosaur costume all the time. However, while Shelby was all zombied up, I could recognize she was pretty attractive. Googling them normal seems to confirm that Shelby's the better looking.

      "For some reason Sean in particular strikes me like he might be a Fraiser fan, in which case I owe you a beer one day (I'll make sure it's a fine Chicago draft in Chicago)."

      I'm the one from Chicago. :) Sean's from Florida. But I like Frasier.

      Delete
    2. *shrug* it's what the fandom thinks apparently. Keep in mind she's, like, 16?

      And sweet, yeah I'll keep track better where you guys are.

      Delete
    3. Hey Christian, seeing as from you're from Chicago, I thought I'd ask: Think the Cubs have a shot this year? I'm rooting for them.

      Delete
    4. Haha, no one has any obligation to keep track of where we're from. Just thought I'd let you know. You may consider us mysterious review ghosts who show up with reviews and have no real identities.

      Cryptid, I'm actually a Pirates fan, so I'm not entirely pleased with the Cubs right at this moment. But, yeah, I'd say they have a shot as long as Arrieta keeps pitching.

      Delete
    5. Let's Go Mets - Ya Gotta Believe!

      Delete
    6. Actually Landry Bender is only 14-15

      Delete
    7. Yikes. For whatever it is worth, I wasn’t all that thrilled with the comparative-hotness-of-teenage-girls discussion when they were thinking 17.

      Delete
    8. And as for cyd if you two hadn,t noticed the actress landry bender was wyatt sister cleo bernstein

      Delete
    9. it's from the people behind randy Cunningham 9 grade ninja the excutive producer is from dog with a blog ricky Garcia was lucas friend asher Garcia landry bender was wyatt sister cleo Bernstein plus the setting is the same as crash and bernstein

      Delete
  8. Not particularly relevant to the discussion at hand, but look at this. Guys, looks like ABC Family is getting a bit of a makeover.
    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/abc-family-changes-name-freeform-829689
    All I can say is took them long enough. ABC Family has been making me grit my teeth for years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They've been trying to do this for the better part of 10 years. Just glad it finally happened.

      Delete
    2. I liked when they were going to be called XYZ. I thought that was a good name. Freeform?

      Delete
    3. "XYZ" has a sense of logic to it, in a marketing sense. "ABC" was actually bought by the Walt Disney Corporation back in the 90's, which is why TGIF went to Walt Disney World.
      I'm actually surprised--I'm sure I read that having "Family" in the channel title was actually in the contract Fox signed with Pat Robertson way back when and it carried over when Fox sold the channel to Disney.

      Delete
    4. Disney has a lot of money. While the old contract may have stated things, for the right amount of cash and/or other considerations they could have gotten Robertson to sign off on just about anything. wouldn't be surprised if the 700 Club finds a new home as well.

      Delete
    5. No, I think I read "700 Club" is there to stay. Which raises the question of why doesn't Disney just make a brand new channel for college viewers in the first place, if they want to distance themselves from Robertson.

      Delete
  9. Can well all agree that it's now cannon that's Lucas's favorite tv show is essentially this universes version of care bears?

    Come on that bit was glorious and made the whole episode worth it, IMHO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Considering Riley, Farkle and Maya all willingly watch "Mr. Googly and His Oogly-Googly Friends," which I'm guessing is a cross between Barney and Bear in the Big Blue House, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.

      Delete
  10. Also I just realized they should've had the plot be Cyd and Shelby take Riley and Lucas to the actual 1920s. Why didn't anybody think of that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know...the Feeny-verse does not lend itself to time travel well. "As Time Goes By" was set in the 1920s, wasn't it?

      Delete
    2. But it's not the Feeny-verse, it's the Cyd and Shelby-verse!

      Delete
    3. Because I believe Cyd and Shelby learned their lesson about time travelling to a time outside their lifetime. That almost went very badly in the episode they did that.

      Delete
  11. Girl Meets Graduation seems to have a loaded cast, a little disappointed that Lindsay Ridgeway is coming back as Morgan instead of Lily Nicksay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A-ha! So that's when Morgan's coming back, called it!

      Delete
    2. Yeah Seth, DIDN'T THEY SEE THE RESULTS OF THE CHARACTER BATTLE?!

      But, seriously, I get it. Lily was only there for 2 years, Lindsay was there for 5, and she was the last Morgan we saw. Lindsay probably deserves it.

      Still, yeah - Shawn, Eric, Turner, Minkus (+Jennifer), Josh (...is he up for it?), Katy, Charlie, Smackle, Zay, Doy, and Ava? Yowza. No way Morgan's role in this is anything but "Happy Graduation, Riley!" "Thanks Aunt Morgan!"

      That's a very stuffed crowd.

      Delete
    3. At least they didn't try to cram in Alan and Amy too? I like to think they offered and William and Betsy were like "Fuck you. Call us when you actually want to use us."

      Delete
    4. Really excited to see Shawn and Turner together again. And to see Eric and Shawn in an episode together.

      Delete
    5. None of that guest cast has been confirmed by the writers. Someone posted that shit on the Wiki and everyone else is running with it like it's gospel. I'm sure some of those folks will be there, but I wouldn't count on all of them until I see it from the writers or Disney.

      Delete
    6. Tbh, I'd watch a buddy comedy series with Turner and Shawn.

      Now as far as Alan and Amy goes, send Riley and Auggie to Philly for the weekend.

      Delete
    7. I'm inclined to agree with 1960, if only because that Wikia is a glorified fan page.

      Same thing with IMDB, which I recall saying that Morgan was supposed to be the one Riley went to for help in "Rileytown." And that "Hurricane" was supposed to be Cory and Shawn taking Riley and Maya out for a "fun night" and apparently running into Angela...which to be fair, probably would have felt at least a little more organic.

      Shawn and Turner ARE supposed to reunite at some point, and Shawn is also due to reunite with Minkus as well. It makes sense for it to happen here. I'm hoping to see Minkus have a dragon tattoo on his chest. If they're going for humor for that reunion, might as well go all out.

      Delete
    8. Since the writers tweeted today that they are finishing filming "Meets New Years" today and filming "Meets Graduation" next week I'm sure we will get a real guest cast list by the time "Texas" airs.

      Delete
    9. Think "Graduation" will be the last to film? "Master Plan" was last to film last season even though "First Date" is actually the finale.

      Delete
    10. They said it was. Filming for season 2 will end by the end of next week. Everything else is already in the can.

      Delete
  12. It would make sense if the guest cast was that large because so many of the next episodes will be about this relationship crap and they seem to struggle getting the old cast members back for more then a few episodes per season. So they probably are trying to wrap up most of those story lines on a multiple part season finale. Plus having so many people from the old show back toward the end of the season might drive up ratings to fully assure multiple more seasons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, that reminds me. After we get through "Texas," I'm going to go back and check the episode list for Boy Meets World Seasons 2 and 3. I want to see whether we really are spending a significantly larger amount of time here having romantic episodes compared to the original.

      Delete
    2. Cryptid, what do you consider a romantic episode on GMW? I see "Meets Boy", "Meets First Date", "Meets the New World", and maybe "Semi-Formal". Other than that we have gotten just a bunch of looks and not much more.

      On the other hand in BMW by the end of eight grade, Shawn had pretty much dated anything that was wearing a skirt and Cory had dated like 5 girls in seventh grade plus the season long on-again off-again Topanga romance in eighth grade. They really started it all in "Boy Meets Girl" in season one and just went from there. Can you imagine Disney letting GMW have these kids going to a make-out party like they did in "Fear Strikes Out"? And BMW did that in seventh grade. That was after "Wake Up Little Cory". So far GMW is a whole lot of nothing but smoke and mirrors in regards to romance.

      While I have no problem with how this is playing out, I don't see how you think that GMW is spending a lot of time on romance.

      Delete
    3. Hmmm...good question. What actually counts as a "romantic episode"?

      I was going to wait on it, but oh well. Using a liberal definition of "romance," the episodes with moderate-to-major (i.e. beyond flirting) romantic storylines are by my count "Meets Boy," "Sneak Attack" "Farkle's Choice" (technically, even though the episode's dreadful), "First Date" for Season One. "New World," "Secret of Life" (Nominally. Most due to Riley acknowledging her feelings for Lucas as not-entirely platonic). "Tell-Tale Tot," "Yearbook," "Semi-formal," "Farkle" (Smackle counts, and seeing as "laaaaaaaaadies" is dead and buried, it makes sense), and "Texas." Counting "Texas" as three, that brings us to thirteen episodes.

      Huh, I guess it isn't that big a part of the show after all. It really is just the fandom on Twitter and IMDB. You were right--it isn't that long.

      And I guess it just seems more prominent because as far as Riley is concerned, she seems to have an air of "Status Quo is God" about her. She hasn't had that much in the way of plot development outside of Lucas--sure she's much more confident now, but she hasn't had an episode where she resolves to change and sticks to it after the tag scene. Don't get me wrong, Riley's still a delight to watch.

      Delete
    4. Don't know how I forgot "Sneak Attack" and "Farkle's Choice", but I don't see "Secret of Life" as a romance episode so much as an exploration of character. I also thought "Tell-Tale-Tot" was more about Riley and Maya coming to terms with their consciences and just using Josh as a prop to give them an excuse to break the rules. While I admit that Maya was gushing over Josh, we all know that right now with their difference in life/romantic experience, there was no way Josh and Maya were getting together. I guess "Meets Farkle" would qualify, though the romance seems to be secondary to the real message of that episode. I am assuming that you are correct in that "Texas" will be more about romance than most episodes we have been given to date.

      Delete
    5. It's not that I don't think that romance isn't, or shouldn't, be a part of a coming-of-age show. Far from it. It is an important part of growing up. And it isn't that I don't like a good love story.

      The thing of it is, that for Girl Meets World in particular, it often feels like romance is the most important plot point. And then there's Riley's development as a character...while romance may not have had as large a role in episode plots as I thought, Riley was defined very much by her infatuation with Lucas.
      To compare, Cory wasn't really defined as "Mr. Topanga" until they were engaged, and then he realized that was actually the point.

      "Tell-Tale-Tot" is about consciences true, but there could have literally been any other excuse for sneaking out. Heck, the girls "sneak out" in the pilot and then make it all of four feet out the Bay Window.

      I think I need to keep in mind that when BMW aired, fandom as we know it now didn't exist for coming of age shows. Nobody shipped Topanga and Shawn, so to speak--not that anybody would; those two would kill each other in twenty-nine seconds.

      Take the most recent Q&A with the writers. The vast majority of the questions were about Lucaya, Joshaya, and Rucas. I get it, teenagers be teenagers--they like romance a lot.

      Part of me wonders whether this may be personal. In my own writing, I try to avoid romances because I'm not sure if I can make it sound genuine.

      Delete
  13. There has been little to know talk about rah rah since its not really a major episode. Any predictions on how its gonna go? Just filler or just underhyped?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel like it could be a really good episode, it's a really fun idea at least. There's no major life lesson or plot movement that has to be delivered, so really its only job is to be funny. The writers really hyped up gravity and secret of life in the first week of season 2 and i thought one of the best episodes, girl meets new world, was barely talked about.

      Unfortunately I liked the idea a lot more than I'm liking the promos. I don't know if you guys remember but there was a throwaway joke in season 1 where maya and riley were coming home from cheerleading tryouts and they had failed miserably once again as per yearly tradition. I thought it was a really funny idea. As long as they stick to "Riley and Maya are terrible at cheerleading but tryout every year anyway just for the hell of it" I think it could be funny. If they try to make it an inspirational story about perseverance it probably won't be.

      Delete
    2. From the clips I have seen I think it will be decent. I think Zay will be good in this episode although he has one line in there where they try to make him come off as smarter than everything up to this point has portrayed him to be (the scene when riley isn't actually in the bed). I don't like the ending because I don't think its realistic enough but its a kid show so what do we really expect? I do think this episode will demonstrate more of that undying hope that Riley gets from the latter seasons Cory. I do like the interesting dynamic somewhat explored between Cory the teacher and Cory the father. I don't think this episode will be filler but I don't think it will be an episode that people really remember when the season is over.

      Delete
    3. Maya doesn't try out in this episode but Riley is still bad and I don't think you will like the ending to this either.

      Delete
    4. Perseverance is one of the themes of the Feeny-verse, if Shawn and Eric are any indication.

      Considering there's going to be another celebrity guest star, I'm not looking forward to it.

      Oh, and I just checked the episode list. Airing in November "Girl Meets Forgiveness" has been renamed "Girl Meets The Forgiveness Project." Uh oh.

      Delete
    5. Seth, you mentioned seeing the end. Do you happen to have a link to the episode?

      Delete
  14. I haven't seen the whole episode but the clips I saw that included the ending were on https://instagram.com/makeluck/

    ReplyDelete
  15. If IMDB is right then Lucas loses his memory and falls for Maya then develops new feelings for Riley. This just seems like a clumsy unrealistic way for people to confront their feelings. I will reserve judgement until I watch the Girl Meets Texas trilogy but this just seems like a lazy way of approaching the subject.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed on it being clumsy. We'll have to wait and see. IMDB isn't the most reliable place for fans. The message boards suck. Neither is the wiki. I heard that in "Meets Farkle" Riley was supposed to either go on a date with Farkle (Not happening this season, if at all) or that she was going to say she wouldn't go out with him until he became normal-which is way out of character.

      Delete
    2. Yeah...amnesia plots don't usually work. I liked it in "Spider-Man 3," funnily enough.

      Now, if Maya or Riley had a fight with Lucas shortly before the accident and he can't remember that or anything within the last few days, then that's fine. Or if he kissed one of them shortly before the accident, and can't remember what he decided, then okay. Status Quo is God is annoying, but I can get over that.

      This really is going to be "Michelle Rides Again" all over again. Did any writers for Full House write for BMW? Or is the trope really just that common?

      And Anonymous is right about the boards. "Hurricane" had a summary of how Cory and Shawn were taking the girls out for a "fun night" and running into Angela by chance. Granted that may have actually been smoother than what we got.

      Delete
    3. Yea I don't know if its true http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4930184/ but it just sounds like he lost his memory after the accident then wakes up to see a pretty blonde girl and then his memories start to come back and he remembers all these feelings for Riley. Then in part 3 my guess is they go back home talk it out and none of them end up together so Riley and Maya can stay friends. That seems like something the writers would do at this point in the show considering how young they are and how so much of the season has been devoted to friendship.

      Delete
    4. Considering the next episode after Texas is "Meets The Forgiveness Project," I wouldn't be surprised to see Riley angry at Maya and/or Lucas at the end of Texas.

      I got my take on how "Forgiveness" should go, but I'll wait until it airs to elaborate.

      Delete
    5. Seth you do realize that IMDB synopsis aren't written by Disney but by fans, correct? The plot lines Disney has officially leaked say nothing about memory issues. While it could happen, I would hope (and assume) that this is all so much shitty fanfiction.

      Delete
    6. I realize that yes, but it seems like a disney storyline and allows a copout for the writers on how to get the kids to confront their feelings.

      Delete
    7. Yeah. While IMDb synopses are fan-written, that definitely does not always make them wrong.

      Delete
    8. That's a fair point, Christian. But either way, I'm not looking forward to amnesia-Lucas.

      Delete
    9. There wasn't a live taping for the Texas episodes, so they could, by a matter of educated guessing, be correct, but there is a zero percent chance that the person who wrote it actually knows.

      Delete
    10. Oh really? That tidbit is actually rather interesting. Have any other episodes not been live taped this season? I had heard Rileytown had not had a live taping of the confrontation scene, but I had been under the impression we actually had a casted/cast-listed (?) bully, so I think I may have misinterpreted the explanation at the time.

      Delete
    11. There was no live taping for all the Texas episodes as well as Bay Window, New Years and Graduation.

      Delete
    12. Money was the last episode to have a live taping. That taped in between the second Texas episode and the third due to Mark Cuban's availability.

      Delete
  16. CANCEL BEST FRIENDS WHENEVER

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete