Sunday, July 17, 2016

Episode Review: "Girl Meets True Maya" (#3.07)

Michael Jacobs tweeted out that we should buckle up for this episode, which is just a terrible, awful sign. That's like locusts AND stubbing your toe all in the same day. 

Dark stuff.

I like that Riley sings about brushing her hair, but as always, I don't like that they had to make the audience laugh like six times with that one gag. You're all tired of hearing me say this, but I already dislike this. Riley has spent the last two weeks begging Maya to return to her old destructive self, and now that she allegedly has, Woahhhhhhhh, Riley didn't mean like that, not that kind of destructive!

Then what the hell did you mean, Riley? This is what you asked for. And you know, I'm not being fair with that question. I shouldn't be mad at Riley, this is not a poor reflection of Riley's character, and I have to stop holding this arc against her. It's just the writers having no idea what they're doing. 
At the very very least, Cory's lesson tying in with the plot appears to be incidental, and not puppet mastery. Two weeks in a row of Cory not disappointing me, this could be the start of something huge.

Oh my golly gosh it's Doy, but poor Topanga is once again relegated to babysitting. This poor woman, do you think she knew? Do you think it said in her contract that she would spend every scene trying to play off of child actors? Anyone with stage experience can tell you that your co-performers matter. Everyone loves Topanga when she can work with the energy from Ben or Rider or (especially) Will, but look at Danielle in this, she's dying out there! She's dying!
Pictured: Not living
I'm not making this up, watch this scene, literally every line of dialogue has a camera cut. Danielle directed this episode, she knew, she has to have it cut from Doy to Topanga on (I am not exaggerating) every line, because there is no way for her to naturally respond to this kid's lines in a single shot. 

Lucas does an accent here at Topanga's. It's hard to react to... Lucas isn't the "goofy" guy, why is he doing an accent? It's kind of funny though, in a "what the HELL?" kind of way, but I doubt that was their intention. Really really strange moment. There's no way that's a one off moment, it's too strange. (*EDIT* Wow, it was a one off, what the fuck?) God, come on Peyton. This guy teaches acting classes, is this what he's teaching? Are you teaching people this, Peyton?
Pictured: Not teaching
Riley comments that it's charming when he's bad at things, and that's true! I've been saying that since day one. But... maybe go for something that's not as stupid as Mortimer, the British Accent Man. Lucas just won't stop, and Rowan has to pretend it's funny. There's some acting.

It's pretty sickening that the trailer pretended this "Missing 100 Dollars" was actually important to the plot. I'm super glad it's not, but wow, that's... that's bad, dude. On the other hand, both of Riley's overreactions (the fire alarm and now this) have been extremely well delivered and genuinely funny. I think it's because she's getting her arms and posture involved, rather than just making a goofy face like usual.

On the third hand, it's pretty fucked up that Riley thought Maya would steal from her own mother. Maya is rightfully outraged and blames her friends for what's about to happen before storming off, possibly the most Shawn-esque exit of her life.
A police officer accompanies Topanga and the boys home because they couldn't afford another set. Doy yells "Doy" and I just don't care. Ugh... How did I end up here? How did I grow into this life where I sit here and tell you how I feel about a kid yelling "Doy" at a police officer? That's not who I wanted to be.


Pretty much.

Hahahah, this is the most unintentionally hilarious line in the series, it's just after the 11 minute mark. They're talking about Vesuvius in class again, Riley says "Because it's not!" and Cory just says "What?" Like what the fuck nonsense are you saying during my lesson Riley? It's a volcano, what do you mean it's not? And that supports the idea that Cory didn't manufacture this lesson to help the core four, so, yes, best line in the series.

He puts 2 and 2 together though and asks where Maya is, and we all learn she's cutting class. Cory doesn't seem to care much, which is great. The Core Four continue interrupting the lesson though, which is not great.

This Meeting of the Ruffians isn't very entertaining, but they dicked us again with the trailer. The similar outfits and fucking framing made it deliberately look like Maya smashed the statue in the trailer. That's not clever marketing, that's lying. They knew this episode was bad so they had to lie about its content in the trailer to get people to watch it. 

Okay let's not mince words. Maya threatening to absolutely destroy these girls is pretty awesome. The dialogue is still too Disney, like if there weren't the physical threat of violence, if it were just the dialogue... well that's what I expected, to be honest. I don't know how in a zillion years they got this approved but well fucking done. With the brick and the hammer, just like Marx intended. Jacobs told me to buckle up, and I didn't, and I should've.
Maya claims to know who she is now. I still don't, but there's a few minutes left in the episode, so if we find out at some point, I'm gonna call it a win.

This cop is way too involved in these people's lives. We don't need the charade, the audience is not fooled, we know Maya did something nice to the park and we're getting set up. Let's crank it down from a full 10 to like a 3, okay mister police man?

 As usual  I could do without the crying, but I'm happy to wrap up this storyline. I'm not being a shitter when I say this, I honestly don't know what progress Maya has made in this arc. Or since the beginning. She hasn't done anything super bad as long as we've known her. So... yeah, she's still not doin' it. And her clothes... might be different? There's too many zig zags and loops in her portrayal, I still don't know who the true Maya is, other than that she isn't a vandal. 

And it's certainly done nothing to change the triangle, I mean if I'm Lucas, I'm seeing this street art done by a girl who just went to bat with a hammer and a brick and I'm like damn girl, I'ma buy you a ice cream
Yeah actually Lucas does seem impressed. It's not a triangle though, seriously.


So yeah, there's some funny moments and Maya being about to murder some girls was awesome, but I've never been on board with this idea from the beginning. I never understood why the True Maya needed to be found, and now that we've allegedly found her... who is she? Is cutting class True Maya or not? Is liking Lucas True Maya or not? All I know is that breaking a statue isn't True Maya, but then, I never thought it was

First of all - no comment on the police officer's actor? Did you really not recognize him? That's Reginald VelJohnson, best known as Officer Carl Winslow from Family Matters and Officer Al Powell from Die Hards 1 and 2. This guy is is chubby black workaday beat cop extraordinaire over here. It's like getting Liam Neeson to play a grizzled ex-spy. It's what the man does. I can forgive you somehow never having seen Die Hard (although, you should, the first is fantastic) but this is a TGiF spinoff man. If TGiF were a deck of cards, Full House would be the King and Boy Meets World the Jack, with Family Matters in between as the Queen. Nevermind that it was so bad it made Full House look good. 

I guess Step by Step, maybe, is the 10. Maybe Sabrina. Teen Angel is the one the instructions are printed on.

Christian stopped writing there and will continue soon.

So, I like that this episode will explore the downside to Riley's deciding she doesn't like that Maya exhibited character growth in the last year and wants to revert her to how she was when she was in middle school - namely, that, Maya was a delinquent in middle school and there's a reason she changed in the first place. But, since this all ties into this weird Maya-was-Riley nonsense plot that I despise, I'm using "like"  very loosely. 

Rowan's pretty funny in this fire alarm exchange. Too bad Riley is on my ENEMY list.

Aw, hey Doy. I like Doy. He's a cutie pie! More Doy, less Ava. Although Ava's been bugging me less too. That said, I don't need to see any of them. 

Oh, yeah, Lucas' voice sucks. That whole part sucked. What was that? That was a British accent? It sounded German....ish. 

You know who might as well not even be on this show sometimes now? Farkle. Has he had a storyline this entire season?


Okay, so is it just me, or did Katy go at those kids WAY too suspicious? Given the circumstances, and Maya's constant taunting that she's about to commit some mayhem, I don't necessarily blame Riley for jumping to the conclusion Maya stole the money - it's not like Maya's never stole shit - but Katy just waltzed up to them like "Who stole my money?" Why would you assume it's one of them? When she clearly hasn't even looked hard enough yet to determine it's not just misplaced. It's New York City. Anybody could have robbed you. It doesn't have to be an inside job. No offense, Katy, but you're a bit of a numbskull, as evidenced by the fact that you just lost the money yourself. I would not be surprised if you were robbed when manning the shop alone.

Yeah, dumb Doy story. Nice to see REGINALD VELJOHNSON though. Eh, Sean? REGINALD VELJOHNSON.

So, this whole business with Maya is bizarre. Most people who get up to the sort of mischief that Maya's doing... don't go about it this way. They do it because they're not really thinking, they do it because they're egged on by friends, and, above all, they do it because they think it's fun. This scene of Maya slinking off to an abandoned part of town in the dead of night and solemnly and contemplatively taking out a firecracker and a brick and a hammer and spraypaint one by one is just.... absurd. She's acting as if she's taken some sacred vow to commit vandalism even though she hates it. No one's asking her to do this. She doesn't seem to want to. She's taking it uncomfortably seriously. The writers just feel increasingly tone deaf on how kids act and why they do anything. 

Commercial-time. Are we really at the point where Ice Age movies are taking place in space? How the hell many of these are there now? I think I was in middle school when I saw the first one in theaters (the only one I've seen), and I loved it. Because it was about the fucking Ice Age. I just looked it up, and the Ray Romano mammoth, who was widowed in the first movie, has now gotten remarried to Queen Latifah, had a kid, and the kid is now an adult and gets married in this one. So.... maybe it's time to put the Ice Age franchise to rest.

Oh, and then she runs into her old crew. Because she had an old crew when she was 11, I guess. And they always hang out in this one shitty park that includes a repair shop. Ugh. This kind of stuff worked better on Boy Meets World which took place in a suburb. None of these kids feel like they live in Manhattan, and it's frequently seemed like this taking place in Manhattan gets in their way. 

Ugh, and this "Oh YEAH? Well, if you're so evil, eat this kitten!" shit is just the lamest. No one acts like this. They're so fucking serious and quiet and whispery about this. 

Oh, great she painted "Hope" instead. Can I go home now? P.S. Still can't do that, Maya.

Episode Rating: D (Just excessively overwrought and boring and not funny and tone-deaf to how people act and has to do with a plot I hate anyway)
Episode MVP: Rowan Blanchard (Sorry Sabrina, you were too maudlin and killed your scenes, Rowan at least brought some sparkle to hers)

I don't think I like this show.

152 comments:

  1. The accent was really random. Lucas was never made to be goofy, as Sean said, and that's yet another bit of proof of how underdeveloped he was in Season 1. I read that Riley laughing hard was Rowan breaking character because of how bad Peyton's accent was. Regardless, I liked it--everyone's laughing and not crying overdramatically.

    Will continue later.

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    1. I liked it if ONLY because this is one of the few instances where the group isn't navel-gazing and just having ridiculous, stupid fun like teenagers should be.

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    2. A couple people suggested that it was a line meant for Zay, who wound up not being in this episode, but it reminded me of "Rileytown," with Foreign Accent Riley.

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    3. I read a post on Tumblr from someone who said they are were at the live taping of the episode: they said that the scene had all the kids doing accents (for what reason, I do't know), but when they got to Peyton, his was so bad, the rest of the kids (Corey, Rowan, and Sabrina) all broke character and laughed. So, a good amount of that scene might have been improv.

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  2. I was weirded out when Riley said "I brought you back to exactly where "I" needed you to be" and I'm just like ???? RIley??? But also, I hear Maya's pushed back to hope is for suckers again in the upcoming episodes which sucks a lot. So. Yeah.

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    1. I actually thought for a split second that the story was going to end up being about Riley's insecurity and controlling nature and how she may have gone too far this time. But nope! It's just the writers continuing to ruin her character with this awful arc

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  3. I would go one step further about Doy yelling at the officer. The scene/plotline was horrible; it felt like something Beaver would have done on "Leave it to Beaver." Even the resolution sounded about right for Beaver too. I can totally see Ward saying "I'll pay for it for now, but that money's coming out of your allowance."

    I get that they needed to introduce the cop earlier in the episode, but find a better way to do it. Have him stop by Topanga's bakery/cafe and establish that she knows him and that he's a good guy. Almost anything would have been an improvement over what they did.

    I agree with you the scene with Maya and the Ruffians was wonderful. I appreciated that the writers could have ripped BMW and done the "if you belong here, I belong here," but they didn't. I liked that they had Maya deal with it on her own and really show what people change people means. I thought the point of the episode was that Maya can still be her own person, but that there's a small part of Riley in her.

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    1. Rock solid point, I think everyone expected Riley to show up for Maya in the park, but Maya totally handled it solo. I definitely like that they set her apart from Shawn in that way.

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    2. Yeah that's a really good point. It lets Maya stand on her own as a character, independent of anyone else.

      I'm not sure I actually remember Shawn having a solo scene like that--every time he had an epiphany about his role, even in the awesome "Eskimo," Cory was right by his side.

      So this episode gets well-deserved points for that.

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    3. Cryptid456-"Why they didn't hire a boy slightly younger than Blanchard, I'll never know--if Auggie was a fourth grader when they started, he'd been in middle school now. "
      This is brilliant. It would have let them do some kid storylines early on, but would have allowed them do do more interesting stuff later on, like what happens when Riley and Auggie are in the same school?

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  5. Watching the episode felt like watching Upstate except with Doy stuff instead of Shawn stuff, and with a different aspect of Riley over-amplified.

    I like Riley, and ultra-Riley is okay with me. But, I now hate Doy. He is the opposite of Shawn. Unless Yogi-with-lines counts as a character, Doy is the only one on the show I hate. And, yeah, putting her together Auggie and Doy did the Topanga character no favours. I usually don’t care too much about realism on this show. But, with the scene already annoying, I became further annoyed that Topanga took Doy to the store rather than back home so he could tell his actual parents what he had told her.

    Given Maya’s refusal at the start to place a limit on how bad she was going to be, maybe it’s understandable that Riley would suspect Maya of theft. But it still felt off. It was never likely that Maya would do something legitimately bad. But I had fun contemplating that she would embezzle money from Mark Cuban.

    I liked that Maya stuck up for Riley in her encounter with those girls. Maybe they meant “true” in the sense of loyal rather than real.

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    1. Yogi is not a character. He is a prop that can speak.

      Good to hear from you Milestones. "True" meaning loyal...yeah, I could definitely get behind that. That actually makes a lot of sense. Come hell or high water, a True Friend is at your side. It even works with what we've seen this season with "Jexica" and phony online fair-weather "friends."

      And I definitely agree on Doy. It infuriates me that Topanga has become the neighborhood babysitter. I'd even take Workaholic, Rarely Home, Mega-Lawyer Topanga over this nonsense.

      I suppose I can see Riley buying Maya stealing from her mother, since Maya has taken things that haven't belonged to her before--technically. But it's still unsettling.

      That said, as often as she thinks the best of people, when things go bad, Riley has thought the worst of people. Which is likely not-as-smoothly-written Matthews Over-reaction than anything else.

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  6. Let me lead off by saying NO MORE DOY! Stop. He's intentionally annoying, and he's there to be annoying. He isn't cute. He isn't funny. He kills anything he touches. Ava and Auggie at least have a legitimate purpose. Doy has none. So, after this, drop him. He's not needed.

    Sean, you hit one of the big issues I'd knew I'd have with this episode before it even started. The inevitable scene where Riley says she didn't mean to bring the "Old Maya" all the way back to borderline illegal ways. Like, what did you expect to happen here, Riley? And while I did enjoy Riley's exaggeration at each supposed Maya outburst, there is an inherent character problem with Riley believing Maya stole money from her mother. That's more than harsh, that's pretty terrible. And for as good as friends they've shown these girls to be, for her to go there is not ok.

    Seeing Officer Winslow (which is what I'll refer to VelJohnson as I think it's cool to have this sort of tie in even though his name was never said) was fun for me. He actually has that cop character down pat. His comedic timing was fine, and he brought seriousness when necessary. One of my favorite guest spots.

    Also, goofy Lucas doesn't work, like you said Sean. I can't tell if Rowan actually broke character, or was over acting to get the scene over, but it didn't work. Lucas Friar is a broken character. It's that simple. Nothing he does really works, and that's because they booked him into oblivion. His little bits of one liners are funny, but that's it.

    The park scene was really good, both pre and post Officer Winslow. The part with Maya and the bullies was good, but I think it could have been better had we been introduced to the bullies before. Say like in...Rileytown! There's a giant neon sign that says "Missed Opportunity" that makes me sad. But, what can you do.

    We knew Maya wasn't going to do anything bad, but there was enough tension to sell it. And it basically laid out for us once again that the real endgame in this show is Riley and Maya. They are all that matter.

    Class was ok, and cafe was good. Nice write up, Sean.

    Episode Grade: C+ The B plot drags this down a lot, but outside of that, everything was good.

    Episode MVP: Sabrina Carpenter No one else really stood out in this episode, so it's her's by default.

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    1. " And it basically laid out for us once again that the real endgame in this show is Riley and Maya." And this is a problem. Despite the strong arguments that Cory/Shawn were the real endgame on BMW, there was enough with Cory/Topanga to accept that was important too. But not here; unless it's the friendship of Riley/Farkle/Maya.

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    2. If anything, this whole "Bring Back the Old Maya" thing reminds me of "Girl Meets Rules." Riley and Maya realize that they balance each other out. I'm not exactly a fan of "Rules," but it's what I saw.

      In regards to Maya doing something bad, it actually felt better here than "On the Wrong Side of the Tracks." Riley and friends thought Maya would do something bad, so it's actually really hurtful. Before, Shawn was acting out and Cory was actively trying to get him back.

      Maya considering destroying the statue felt almost a "Who needs them?" reaction. And her friends were clearly in the wrong.

      I wish Cory and Topanga or even especially Katy had called them out on this, but it didn't work out that way.

      I love Officer Powell (Never saw Family Matters, but Die Hard was one of my first R-rated movies) and I do not like Doy. Not one wee little bit. But I suppose he's there so Disney can say "Look kids, cops are our friends," which is better than what little I remember of Best Friends Whenever's take on cops.

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    3. Doy is there to be annoying. Pure and simple. They probably didn't want to run that story through either Auggie or Ava, so they brought Doy back in, since he seems to not be old enough to know better. So, it'll play better than with a 7-8 year old Auggie, who is old enough to know better.

      And another thing, this episode needed consequences for Maya. If the law isn't going to punish her, then Cory should have at least said that she'd have a week of detention for skipping school. Something that would actually show Maya is "back" to that person Riley wanted, without being as heavy handed as getting cuffed.

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    4. Actually, this is one episode I didn't mind no consequences. The graffiti that Maya did, near where I live, they actually hire graffiti artists to do, as they'll police the vandalism of that better than the police will.

      As for cutting school? Meh. One day off isn't worth a week's detention. When I was in high school, that'd be a note written home, or one afternoon of detention, if that.

      Doy was fine for one episode. But now that even Topanga is calling him Doy; he's lost any slight appeal he may have had.

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  7. The one thing that confused me, is how is Maya at the end of this episode any different from the Maya that was supposedly becoming like Riley? She dresses differently, yeah.

    And I agree. Accusing Maya of stealing is one thing. Accusing her of stealing from her mother's workplace, which is also the place owned by her best friend's mother, is not something Riley should have accused her of at all.

    I've noticed Farkle more and more often pointing out that Lucas is just a 'Face' though. Is he the only one that sees this? Riley comes across as kind of superficial at times, so I can buy her not caring about that, but Maya should.

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  8. A kid named Dewey insisting that his name is pronounced "Doy" is probably the funniest gag this show has come up with. God I wish they left it at that.

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    1. Doy's one appearance in "New Year" was really entertaining. The writers didn't get the hint that maybe that was all that we needed as an audience instead of them beating a dead horse.

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    2. it's ALWAYS the same. they use every punchline twenty times instead of letting us just have the one.

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  9. King - Full House
    Queen - Family Matters
    Jack - Boy Meets World
    10 - Sabrina
    9 - Step By Step
    8 - Perfect Strangers
    7 - Dinosaurs
    6 - Hangin' With Mr. Cooper
    5 - Sister, Sister
    4 - Just the Ten of Us
    3 - Clueless
    2 - You Wish!

    Idk about the Ace or the Joker

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    1. THAT was your takeaway? Christian is too good at this.

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    2. Nah, she's got the right attitude. Not sure about the list though. If "Teen Angel" doesn't get a card, then "You Wish!" can't either. They were like the same dumb show, except "Teen Angel" lasted longer.

      I feel like we're missing some. What about that one about the parents who died so the oldest brother raises his, like, 11 brothers and sisters and disguises himself as their grandma? Let me see if I can find that.

      Oh, holy shit, one of the sibs was the guy from Empire: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc-4CGqpFDg"

      And it looks like everyone but the oldest brother were real life siblings!

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    3. Ooh, and there was Baby Talk! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxf2dIA58es

      I really admire the flagrancy with which TGiF ripped off Mrs. Doubtfire and Look Who's Talking with these two shows. I think "On Our Own" ditched the Mrs. Doubtfire angle halfway through though.

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    4. Apparently George Clooney was a cast member of Baby Talk Season 1 and the show, quite wisely, replaced him with Scott Baio for Season 2.

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    5. Wow, Shipping and I are young. I don't remember any of those. Boy Meets World, Full House and Sabrina were what I watched, in syndication.

      I love Boy Meets World, and actually think Sabrina holds up well. Salem was hysterical.

      Christian, you seem to remember a lot of TGIF. What was your favorite after BMW?

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    6. Ye gods. I watched both Full House and Family Matters when they were first on, in Australia. Sabrina is a bit new for me; as it premiered on my last year at high school. I don't really know what else counts for TGIF as even the ones that aired here, usually aired on a different night.

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    7. Yes, Sean, that WAS my takeaway considering that idgaf about this episode and haven't even seen it yet. But I enjoyed the review and am hearing positive things about the portrayal of the cop (not the acting but how the other characters treat him) from other places.

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  10. Pretty solid review Sean. As always, there is things to like and things to dislike in this episode, and you do a good job pointing them out.

    I like what you say about Riley. I like that you're saying that you shouldn't be too hard on her. Reddit has turned into a circle-jerk against Riley, calling her super-controlling (Did they watch the original show? Cory was plenty controlling) so I'm glad to see that you're pointing out that it's mostly the writing.

    I did like the gag where Maya dumped Riley's hairbrush collection out the window, but this isn't a very strong opening.

    And the classroom, thank heavens, does seem to be independent of the kids' conflict. But as usual, there were a few inaccuracies.

    It's been a long, long time since I learned about Pompeii, but from what I recall, it was a port city, which led to economic prosperity. And Vesuvius is not a lava-volcano; it's a lot more like Mt. Saint Helens. And why did they compare it to Ireland? That's just stupid. Compare it to San Francisco, the port city that sits on a fault line.

    Topanga...Topanga...Topanga. It think what it was, was that Danielle was supposed to predominantly interact with Matthews Son while Ben interacted with Matthews daughter.

    But when they dumped Elliot for whatever reason (The Writers said they were undergoing creative changes. I don't know if they ever elaborated), they hired Auggie instead. Why they didn't hire a boy slightly younger than Blanchard, I'll never know--if Auggie was a fourth grader when they started, he'd been in middle school now.

    The conflicts of "What did Maya do" were disappointing, but as a bank teller, I sympathize with Katy temporarily losing the money. But there could have been something there, if Katy actually suspected her daughter.

    I agree with Kit Cosmo--Maya being by herself with the Ruffians was really solid. I don't think Shawn ever confronted any of his demons--however exaggerated they may have been--completely by himself. So bravo, Girl Meets World. That's one of the best scenes in the entire series. And I like the build-up better than Shawn's desire to join Faux Harley's gang--Maya's friends legitimately thought she was doing bad things, and that infuriated her.

    Like I said before, I'm guessing this "arc" is essentially an extension of "Rules," with Maya and Riley supposed to balance each other out. There just hasn't been proper build-up. If we had had something along these lines in Season 2, in the aftermath of "Yearbook," rather than those after-school specials (Though I still like "Farkle" though I recognize its weaknesses), I think this would go down a lot easier.

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    1. That is interesting about Rules, Cryptid. They seem to have gone from them naturally balancing each other out to the uncanny Maya-is-Riley to the artificial Riley reprogramming Maya's brain to fine-tune the Rileyness to its optimum level. Or so it seemed to me. Not sure what they are doing with this.

      Yeah, Ireland was a stretch. Pompeii, given that the catastrophe took place in prescientific times, maybe wasn't that good either.

      Definitely a mixed bag of an episode.

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    2. Good point on the duality of the Riley/Maya dynamic being strained, Milestones. Always a pleasure to hear from you, my friend.

      I have no idea what they're doing with this, but I'm guessing it'll come to a head in "I Do." Which is two weeks from Friday. I have to keep what little optimism I still have that this will be worthwhile.

      Pompeii is interesting--I was wrong, by the way. According to Wikipedia, the eruption in ancient times did contain lava.

      And now modern Vesuvius is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world, with three million people currently living there.

      So it may not be such a stretch after all.

      And yeah, a mixed bag is about right. Which is a shame, since that one long scene with Maya and the Ruffians is one of the best single scenes (however underwhelming the build-up) in the entire show, and stands up comfortably to the original.

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  11. New Tweet from the Writers...

    This week: Lucaya. Rucas. The movie.
    Next week: Lucaya. Rucas. The decision.
    Then: A wedding.
    Then: What's important.
    Then: Belgium 1831.

    I...I...I have nothing. Though it looks like "Bear" is going to be airing after "I Do."

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    1. Thanks for the link. I know they were playing that for laughs, but I thought it was awful. I'm disappointed.

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    2. First, my manners. Thank you for providing the link.

      Next, my emotions. That was...dreadful. I'll elaborate more when it's appropriate.

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    3. On a non-spoilery note... waiting for Lucas to choose between the two girls has crossed a line at this point. It's obvious now that the whole love triangle mess was an emotionally manipulative ploy for ratings, but the concept of two girls hanging out to see which of them a boy will choose is horrifyingly sexist.

      And it's not as though they've been terribly consistent with Maya's character, but it seems completely out of character for her to be participating in that bullshit.

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  13. Is it normal that a 25 year old constantly finds the show confusing? The message, how they arrive at it, a lot of the dialogues...
    P.s. I want a scene with them doing homework together. Someone could have difficulties focusing, they could try to help each other out. Could be funny.

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    1. They KINDA did one in "High School", either Part 1 or 2. But it was only Riley and Maya wondering why the others weren't there doing homework because normally they did.

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    2. Well I'd like more scenes involving that then. That's a big part of High School.

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    3. Evi-I love the idea of them doing homework together. "Facts of Life" had a fantastic episode that took place the night before a major test (midterms or finals). The girls were trying to study, but had difficulty focusing. I think they also talked about who they were/their lives. I could totally see GMW doing a great version of it.

      Delete
  14. If Full House is going to be friggin' King then Boy Meets World and Sabrina at least deserves Jack and 10 respectively, though I recognize your card rankings are independent of quality and more reflective of simple line-up status and recognition.

    I hope that came out readable, I really need my coffee this morning.

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    1. Actually I change my mind Sabrina needs to be Jack and Boy Meets World needs to be Ace.

      Delete
  15. I guess my only beef with the episode is this other girls appeared out of nowhere and acted like they had a history with Maya. If they did, Riley would have been aware of them or we would have come across them before. Maya and Riley have been joined at the hips since they were young, so to be introduced to these girls for the first time in season 3 seems like a bit of a retcon in order to build drama. And them to know of Riley but Riley not know them, yeah I don't buy it.

    But I appreciated Sabrina's acting during that scene. She sold having a little backbone and swagger. It felt VERY BMW.

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    1. I don't think it was stated that Riley didn't know who they were. Just that they know of her, since she's always with Maya.

      And while Maya and Riley are attached at the hip now, that wasn't always the case. In the first season, Maya often came to the Bay Window later in the evening, rather than spending all her time at the Matthews' home.

      Delete
    2. That's a fair point about the first season Cryptid. As for Riley not knowing them, I pulled that idea from Riley at the end. Towards the end of episode, Riley says "Who were they?" or something to that effect and Maya responds "Just some girls I used to know."

      It struck me as odd that Maya said that as if Riley was not aware of them.

      Delete
    3. Like I said in my write up, those girls should have been Riley's bullies in Rileytown. Would have given Maya some more backstory, Riley a visible threat and when it comes to this episode, we the audience would have already been introduced to them. There is so much they could have actually done with those girls than to have them on screen for only 2 minutes.

      Delete
    4. The only issue I have with them being Riley's bullies in Rileytown; as you couldn't start off with this quasi-friendliness; because there's absolutely no way Maya even wastes 2 minutes with them if they'd been those girls. You had to think that maybe, Maya could be tempted; even if you probably guessed she'd do the right thing.

      Delete
    5. I think they absolutely could have done it. You introduce them in Rileytown as Maya's old friends, people she's quasi-friendly with. Then, the reveal happens that they've been torturing Riley, and Maya is conflicted about her old friends hurting Riley. You then show Maya obviously picking Riley over them, instead of that confusing "the whole school is behind Riley" ending.

      Cut to True Maya, after Maya storms out of the cafe she runs into the bullies. Maya is obviously pissed at Riley accusing her of stealing from her mom, so she goes temporarily insane and the girls go looking for trouble. Everything from there can still break down as it did, but at least we were given something a little more to chew on.

      Delete
    6. pwfan I agree with your assessment. That's how the girls needed to be introduced. Although I remember the whole "faceless bully" in Rileytown was supposed to represent that bullies can be anyone...with no preconceived notions of what they look like. It was more a nod to kids in the real world that may be having problems, to give them support.

      Delete
    7. So with that vision in the writers' minds, there would be no way they could have introduced a character to throttle Riley...as much as it would have helped Maya's arc in this instance.

      Delete
    8. I certainly agree that having an on-screen bully would have improved "Rileytown."

      If it's a couple of neighbors of Maya's who are bullying Riley, the insults could be really personal--"Maya deserves better than a Nothing Freak like you."

      And Riley's outburst to Maya being a bully would have made even more sense. Here are Riley's bullies who are saying horrible things about her, and claiming Maya as "one of us tough ones" and when Maya teases Riley, she snaps.

      As for the ending, like I said before, I get what they were going for. EVERYONE has to say "No" to bullying, so EVERYONE showed up. But perhaps due to the anonymous bully, it didn't work as well.

      The excellent show "Recess" has the entire school stand up to a bully, but the bullying was physical, and the victim had fought back, only to lose the fight. It fit the situation a lot better.

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    9. pwfan-That's a fantastic idea! It's so much better than what the show actually did. If they ever need new people in the writers' room, they should come to this blog.
      Cryptid456-Your additions to pwfan's idea are wonderful.

      Delete
  16. Also, I guess I had another beef. In meets Upstate Maya tells Lucas if he picks her that he's picking Riley. Yet this episode made it very clear Lucas KNOWS who Maya really is. So why pretend like Lucas WOULDN'T know Maya at the end of Upstate?!? The consistency in the writing between episodes leaves a lot to be desired.

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    1. This is one of my chief complaints with this arc. Lucas is completely out of touch with Maya's transformation into Riley and then back into herself, none of it makes any sense

      Delete
    2. Yeah, I agree with Sean. Not much of this makes a lot of sense.

      In its most basic essentials, Maya questioning whether she's lost her edge, and wondering whether Riley's had too much influence on her that she's lost sight of herself, is a perfectly fine idea for an extended arc. Even better if Maya decided to try to take a break from the friendship on her own.

      But with the Triangle in the background, it's weaker, because a lot of the so-called questions don't make a lot of sense. The dynamic between Friar and Maya has always been different that Friar and Riley, even if the second half of Season 2 did blunt it a bit.

      Having said that, Friar has a long history of being completely oblivious to his surroundings. Even if we had actually seen enough that we could buy "Maya became Riley," I have no trouble believing that Friar wouldn't have noticed.

      Delete
    3. One of the major problems I have with Lucas, other than the fact that he's just a face, (and the more I think on it, the more I object to even Riley not noticing that), is the inconsistency. In season 1, he was supposedly a good student, tried hard, one the 'athlete scholar' award, and was actually reasonably perceptive. But lately they've gotten a lot of mileage out of that he's an ordinary guy, not smart at all, and can't even answer basic questions without calling on Farkle.

      I mean, I have no problem if they want to go with the he's a stereotypical jock - except that should have been built up from the beginning. Not dumped in just so that it's kinda clear that both Riley and Maya are actually too good for him.

      Delete
    4. It's entirely possible that Friar's previous good grades were because middle school is really freaking easy.

      But it also may be because Friar got good grades because the teachers decided to keep him passing to stay on the sports teams. That's actually a huge problem in schools across the country, and it ruins the kids on the sports teams.

      Delete
    5. Whilst I agree to an extent, he was stated to be better than the other jocks. If this wasn't actually a specific plot point in an episode, I wouldn't object so much.

      Then again, maybe I'm just annoyed that there seems to be this quite big divide between the good students of Farkle, Isadora and even Riley, and the 'bad' students of Lucas, Zay and Maya. There don't seem to be kids who can do well if they study; but have a tendency to not study as hard as they can. Kind of like Cory, and even Eric in the earlier seasons.

      Delete
    6. I don't know Will. Remember in "Triangle," Riley mentioned that Maya's grades had improved, and "Permanent Record" indicates that the girls adopt one another's study tactics as needed.

      So Maya does seem to be smart, but very lazy.

      Delete
    7. That's a fair point. I'm happier about just banishing Lucas to just being 'smart for a jock' - which, given TV stereotypes, really doesn't mean he's anything special.

      Delete
  17. One last point. The whole scene with Lucas and the accent, I loved it for it's stupidity and the fact that it addressed something many here complained about. That being that the group never just goofs off and hangs out like teenagers. That moment felt very authentic, where even Rowan broke character because she was HAVING fun. We need more of them being normal teens being goofy. I applaud that for being in there.

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    1. I agree Matt. We do need more scenes like that. While I think it was executed poorly, we need to see them have fun a lot more.

      Delete
    2. I agree. More scenes of them just being teenagers, hanging out, and having silly fun.

      Delete
  18. Ratings are in - 1.825 million viewers . So it was up from True Maya, but not by much. Not releasing it early on Disney On Demand doesn't seem to have had any effect on the ratings.

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    1. It was released early though.

      Delete
    2. I have Disney-On-Demand, it wasn't released early. They did put it on the app that morning, but app views count towards the ratings. They have made that clear.

      Delete
    3. That's weird. I saw bootleg clips on Instagram the week before True Maya aired.

      Delete
  19. It's being aired on a weekend night during the summer months when kids are out of school. That's a hard time slot and season to be asking for really strong ratings from a tween show.

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  20. does riley really have a statue mAde of her

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    1. Nah. It's just a random statue of a group of friends. In the end they show that they just symbolize Riley's group in the episode. Same with Riley in particular. If Maya did vandalism it would show how little she cares for Riley and her positive influence so the statue in a way represented Riley. They just made it more obvious this way. At first it confused me too, though =]

      Delete
  21. Did anyone get the political undertones of this episode with the cop? Because I did. I thought Riley was hilarious in this episode and her comedy was well done, I got a mom vibe from her with the fire alarm and thought it was awesome and her one liners with the bay window were clever.
    I cannot stand when they make the rebel kid seem like they've done insanely bad stuff like Sean mentioned but where is the evidence? It drives me crazy because maya thinks she's this bad girl when really she's a scared one, she wouldn't harm a hair on a cats head yet she talks like she threw a cat in the river.
    I also couldn't get past that the park was Christopher park, I know it's where Riley lives but why not pick a park near where maya lives? That park is too small, there would be WAY too many people around and stonewall is right across the street and it stays open until about 2am.
    So we touched on the racial issues in the nation and the lgbt issues all within a 30 minute period. Well done GMW.
    And poor topanga, get her some friends or at least scenes with Cory that isn't about parenting.

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    1. >So we touched on the racial issues in the nation and the lgbt issues all within a 30 minute period. Well done GMW.

      Um, Emily, can you help me out here? I may have zoned out but I don't remember this being mentioned at all?

      Delete
    2. One, it was sarcasm...my apologies for not making it more clear (not sarcasm)
      Two, how topanga spoke with the cop I felt that vibe and if people knew the history of Christopher park for maya to ruin a statue there would mean something much bigger...
      It didn't have to be mentioned, for me it was very subtle.

      Delete
    3. I understand what the statue meant for the four kids but still, it was at Christopher park and has a totally different meaning.

      Delete
    4. Shipping, I saw this today, it's interesting http://bmwsequel.com/2016/07/19/girl-meets-world-is-making-headlines-for-girl-meets-true-mayas-police-officer-recogntion/

      Delete
    5. For those who don't get what Emily is saying here, I actually did a little digging, and she's kinda right.

      Christopher Park is a designated part of the Stonewall National Monument. For those who don't know, the riots at the Stonewall Inn are considered the spark to the modern day LGBTQ equality movement we know of today.

      I view the dialogue with the cop to be more coincidence than anything, but it was still nice to see.

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    7. We have to remember that this episode was filmed a couple months ago. A lot of the undertones are almost certainly by happenstance.

      What I got from Officer Powell-Winslow-Awesome was more a "Cops are our friends" vibe than anything else. Which is nice--most kid shows (think Nickelodeon) portray cops as buffoons if they show them at all.

      Delete
    8. I appreciated how they represented him
      Absolutely! And mr. Winslow is the best! I just wish politics would stay away, I still believe there were the undertones, but yes, I agree it was done well and I appreciated the respect shown and not the mockery like Nickelodeon

      Delete
    9. emily caitlin-My first thought was, Christopher Park looks nothing like that. It's way too small to be what they are showing on TV. I'll give you racial issues with the cop. If kids are even vaguely aware of adult conversations or catching bits of news, they'll have some understanding of racial issues and the policeman. I do think the "cops are our friends" was done much better in Maya's plot than Doy's. To get the LGBT issue they would need a historical knowledge that is far beyond what I would expect from tweens.

      Delete
    10. My whole thing is, I wish thy chose a different park all together due to the history of Christopher park. Whether they know the history or not it's still there and they did show the Christopher park sign

      Delete
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  23. As always Sean, perfect review and excellent choice of pictures.

    Die Hard 1 is the greatest Christmas movie of all time. See it.

    My thoughts?

    Fuck Riley.
    Fuck Doy.
    Fuck Lucas.

    Maya was great. Farkle was underused.

    The end.

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    1. I agree!! Farkle needs to be used way more often to balance the other three. He could have been gold in this episode.

      Delete
    2. Thanks! I've definitely seen Die Hard, but Family Matters was a bit before my time. I like Die Hard 4 too, Justin Long was great.

      Delete
    3. The only thing that keeps me from disliking Riley is that I believe /she/ believes that she is helping Maya. Or she's trying to, at least.

      Die Hard was awesome. Die Hard 4 isn't that bad either, but it's been a long time since I've seen that film. It may be worth another look.

      I never got into Family Matters, back when TGIF reruns were super-popular on ABC Family. I honestly don't think I watched a single episode.

      And Farkle has definitely been underused. He and Isadora could be used as a foil--show us what a GOOD high school relationship looks like.

      Delete
    4. "He and Isadora could be used as a foil--show us what a GOOD high school relationship looks like."

      I would love to see Farkle and Isadora be invited to a couples only party, and then actually go to it. Maybe the invite came from someone Isadora knew from Einstein Academy, or some other part of her life. "Wonder Years" had a great episode with a couples only party.

      Delete
    5. That's actually a really good idea. Farkle and Isadora haven't even had their first kiss yet, though they seem genuinely fond of one another, and other couples could tease them about it.

      Delete
    6. Cryptid456- First kiss brings a great deal of pressure, which is great fodder for an episode. Since many private schools are 5th-12th or 7th-12th, it's possible that Isadora keeps in contact with her classmates who are still at Einstein Academy. They could be the ones teasing her, which would see. They don't believe she's actually dating Farkle. They think it's a lie to impress them. Isadora and Farkle get invited to a couples only party, where they play 7 minutes in heaven or spin the bottle. Farkle walks out because he wants their first kiss to be special, not something they were pressured into due to a stupid game.

      Delete
    7. Kit, that's legitimately the best idea you've ever had.

      You ever consider a career in writing?

      Delete
    8. Cryptid456-Everything after the party is from a spin the bottle party in "Wonder Years." It wasn't a first kiss, but there was a similar dynamic. Winnie didn't want to be pressured into kissing her boyfriend. She wanted it to be natural. I switched the genders for this episode.

      Thank you for the compliment. Writing is my hobby. I write fan-fiction and original stories. The format I'm most comfortable in is screenplay.

      Delete
  24. I like that first part of your review Christian, about Riley not necessarily liking Maya's character development.

    Sometimes friends simply don't like the changes they see--when Shipping and I was in high school, one of my friends started to change. It was mostly just growing apart--Adonis joined the football and swim teams while I kept more to my studies. Really, it wasn't that Adonis changed--he just had a couple of friends that I didn't trust.

    Nothing bad ever happened, and Shipping and I still see Adonis a couple times a year for lunch, so all's well that ends well.

    Also, loved your bit on Reginald Veljohnson. REG! REGINALD VELJOHNSON!

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    1. Dang, that original Reginald bit sure stuck with me. I'd only casually seen some of the episodes of the show as a kid and I sometimes used that Reginald bit in my late teens, not even knowing where it came from. I was unreasonably happy to see it when binge watching the show. =]

      Delete
  25. They're apparently filming "Girl Meets Sweet Sixteen" this week. That's almost certainly another birthday episode for Maya. Maybe Friar, but probably Maya. Nobody else is old enough.

    Other than that, I know no details.

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    1. It's for Maya's grandmother, who was born on leap year. She's really 64 or something, but she'll be turning 16 if you only count the leap year days.

      Delete
    2. Leap year? Hold on a minute...that's impossible. Riley was born in 2001, per "Home For the Holidays." Season One is the 2014-15 school year. Season 3 should be 2016-2017.

      Did they just move all the events that have happened so far back one year?

      Delete
    3. Apparently, it has nothing to do with a birthday. One person said it's the kids wondering what it will be like when they're 16. Also, there's a big game changer clifffhanger at the end of the episode. A big enough event that:

      1: Rowan, Sabrina, and August were all crying after they filmed the final scene of the episode. August's mother had to come on stage with how much he was crying.

      2: This event will effect everyone and change the show in a big way.

      3: All the spoiler blogs on Tumblr that usually spoil scenes and dialogue from the live taping are keeping quiet about this and only telling people privately. The only thing people are saying is what the ame changer isn't.

      4: Someone claimed that if this event goes a certain way, it could end the show.

      Delete
    4. "One person said it's the kids wondering what it will be like when they're 16." O God this sounds like Cory & Topanga + Bay Window combined somehow.

      Delete
    5. Here is everything post Curtain Call for GMSS. I recommend putting it on mute because they are blasting the theme in the video. Sabrina actually runs right out the back.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpHm5c9bWO4

      As far as the cliffhanger goes, from what I can gather from those who have seen it, we can figure it out on our own by watching some past episodes, including ones from BMW.

      The episodes are:

      Girl Meets Mr. Squirrel Goes to Washington
      GM Jexica
      GM True Maya
      GM Rileytown

      BMW Episodes:

      A Long Walk to Pittsburgh 1 & 2
      Graduation (Someone specifically said the Cory+Topanga plot)
      Angela's Ashes
      Brave New World 1 & 2

      Delete
    6. Interesting... What's your take?

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    7. I honestly don't have a take. People have already said what it isn't. No one has died, no one is pregnant, nothing happens to the kids, so whatever it is isn't exactly forefront. We'll have to either wait and see, or put 2+2+2 together to figure it out.

      All I know is, these kids do get emotional...a lot. This isn't the first time Rowan has broken down post show. I know that for a fact. I hope this isn't something that's supposed to be profound (like Bay Window was supposed to be) and turned into an overly emotional mess of nothing.

      Delete
    8. From what I've heard, nobody's moving away and there's not a divorce in the works either.

      So I literally have no idea what this is going to be.

      So let's leave it at that--remember, Christian doesn't like specific spoilers being discussed ahead of time.

      And these kids do get emotional a lot--and so do a lot of millennials. I will scream if I read one more poorly structured post, with bad spelling and grammar, and the responses are along the lines of "This is so good! I'm crying!"

      It's strange. Everyone here really enjoyed "Jexica" and most of us have mixed feelings, at best, for this arc. But the Tumblr-blogs, most of them hated "Jexica" (Gee, I wonder why) and really enjoy at least some of this arc.

      Delete
    9. Cryptid, I saw a tweet that said "Triangle and Upstate > Jexica and Permanent Record!!"

      I hate this show's fans.

      Delete
    10. My guess is that they are splitting up the high school.

      Delete
    11. Matt Rainey-Splitting up the high school as in different people will now be going to different schools based on redistricting? That could work. If they redrew the lines, maybe Maya would no longer be at the same school. Based on the fact that she lives slightly further away, I think she's the most likely candidate.

      Slightly off-topic, and I do apologize-Have we seen Lucas's bedroom or his family's apartment yet?

      Delete
    12. We have not seen Lucas' place yet. And if they did redistrict, based upon what we have seen, Farkle lives further away from Riley than Maya. You could see he lived in a high-rise and you could see the Chrysler Building from his window. That isn't happening from the Village.

      And Jet - those fans are the same ones that vote on IMDB and say that Upstate is the second rated episode of the entire series. I think most of the regulars here will say that Upstate isn't even in the top 2 of this season. Those were Jexica and Permanent Record (I am not saying that is the order, YMMV)

      Delete
    13. It can't be redistricting. Literally, it can't.

      Bear in mind, I do not live in NYC, so most of my information in second-hand, and thus likely not entirely accurate.

      From what I understand, New York City actually has something akin school choice--public high school students make a list of the public high schools they want to attend, and then the departments are allotted accordingly.

      I think it's called a voucher system.

      In any case, even if districting was a factor--Stuart Minkus is Billionaire Ex Machina and could likely nullify it.

      And Jexica was a great episode, and Permanent Record actually holds up to the original show. They weren't the best this show has done, due to relatively little plot development, but dammit if they weren't the best filler episodes of this series.

      Delete
    14. Maybe Katy and Shawn are expecting a baby?

      Delete
    15. Nope, Shipping. It's already been said by those who've seen it that no one is pregnant.

      Redistricting is possible, but not likely. For those who can find a common theme from the episodes I listed above, they might find the answer.

      Delete
    16. Besides, if ti was a baby, there's no way in hell the spoiler-blogs wouldn't have already blabbed it for all to hear.

      Delete
    17. I'm pretty sure there is a completely understandable reason as to why the kids were crying after the taping. I can't say why here but even if they weren't generally emotional I understand why they may have broken down at this.

      Delete
  26. @christian "too bad riley is on my ENEMY list" this was very funny

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  27. Spot on with the grade Christian. The one thing that saved this from being an 'F' for me was the cop. I've seen Ski Lodge. I look forward to your review.

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  28. Boy meets world was always quirky but I finally just started watching this show and it's too quirky. Also the triangle is horrible, I don't even sense any chemistry from either ship to be interested. I'll probably get heat for this but I don't think lucas is a good fit for the show, especially as a main character.

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    1. Hi, Pamela. Welcome to the blog.

      *Holds out hand in greeting*

      You won't get heat here. Friar is a dreadful character, a terrible love interest, and frankly, a lousy friend.

      He does nothing. Literally nothing. His deliberate inactions hold everyone back.

      While I may dislike Riley's actions these last few episodes, the fact remains they're actions. She's trying. She's doing things. It's junk, but it has substance in its own way....sorta.

      Friar on the other hand, goes out of his way to do nothing. Anytime there's anything that remotely resembles effort, that isn't related to sports, Friar is extremely reluctant to do. Some moral compass.

      Ignoring the fact that he's fictional, if we were in the wild, I would attack Friar. Even if he wasn't in my food chain, I would go out of my way to attack him. If I were a hippo, and he was a pronghorn antelope, I would swim across the Atlantic and travel across the Appalachian mountains and the Great Plains and then bite Friar in half.

      Delete
    2. Welcome, Pamela. And you won't cop heat for disliking Lucas here. I'm the most patient with him (I think) here, and even I'm losing patience with him.

      He's a worse friend than Cory at his worst, and love interest... he's only interested when it suits him. It's even worse than the Shawn/Angela one in regards to that.

      Delete
    3. I'm pretty patient with Lucas as well, because I still think he can be a good straight man if the antics head in that direction.

      However, anything serious (whatever definition of "serious" the writers are using), and Lucas falls flat. All of the criticisms I've read so far here are harsh, but they're fair. The writing team is still reeling from trying to fit Lucas into a role outside of "pretty boy love interest" from Season 1, with mixed success.

      Delete
    4. Part of the reason for my harsh critiques of Friar, which I admit are hyperbolic and exaggerated, are, in part, responses to how Friar was given undue praise throughout much of the first season.

      Delete
    5. Right. His characterization probably suffered the most from the whole "telling vs showing" problem that plagues the show. We're told he helped people in Hurricane Katrina when he was like, 5. We're told he's a good student and a good athlete (and didn't actually see any aspect of athleticism until like, "Forgiveness").

      We were never given a chance to relate with him until the show slowly pulled the pedestal fragments from under him. I'll be much more sympathetic to him if they keep breaking him down.

      Delete
    6. Actually, it's entirely possible that Friar was part of a relief effort that went to New Orleans long after Katrina. The rebuilding effort took years, and they're still not finished.

      Alternatively, it's also possible that five-year-old Friar helped people by doing tiny, five-year-old chores--handing out sandwiches and such to relief workers, or the people in crisis.

      I am not sympathetic in the least to Friar, and have no interest in watching him improve. This is due in no small part, that whenever he has a problem--the excellent Texas Part 1 nonwithstanding--he tends to just complain about it rather than take effort to improve.

      Case in point, "Permanent Record" which has three of the generally successful kids suffering from the same general problem of struggling. Riley comes to the conclusion that because she's been a good student before, she can do it again, and then studies and studies and studies and then she's successful. We don't get that with Friar.

      Delete
  29. New Tweet from the Writers.

    "Both Morgans."

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    1. Hey, at least they won't give Morgan the Michelle Tanner treatment that Fuller House did.

      Delete
    2. I think it was suggested either here or some other board that if Morgan appears on the show, they should switch between the two actresses completely at random. Like, within the same scene. But nobody in the show points it out and acts as though they're both the same person.

      Delete
  30. This is Matt Rainey.

    Im thinking maybe one of the parents is getting a new job out of state. My guess is it's probably Topanga. That would explain how it would send the kids into a spiral. She may decide to live in Pennsylvania while the kids finish school or something to that effect. It also would bring parallels to graduation and a Mr. Squirrels goes to Washington when the parents pack up and leave at the end. It also would keep the theme of long walk to Pittsburgh as well when she moved.

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    Replies
    1. Whilst I can see a parent getting a job out of state could be something, I think it's more likely to be Shawn; and there's no way Topanga and Cory would voluntarily put themselves through that again. If she got a job out of state, they'd be moving.

      But given Shawn's job, an out of state job is more possible there. Despite not having seen Topanga at work, the awe her boss seems to hold her in would suggest he'd do anything to keep her, which does explain her seemingly flexible hours; so I doubt an out of state job is likely for her.

      Delete
  31. Matt Rainey again.


    Or wild card,

    One of the kids reveals their sexuality.

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  33. Latest tweet: Girl Meets Writers ‏@GMWWriters · 2 hours ago

    Tonight: Maya shoots everybody, Riley dies and the world ends twice.


    If you've already seen Ski Lodge part 1 you'll understand that this one is pretty straightforward for a change.

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    1. Be sure to elaborate on these points next week, buddy.

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      Delete
  37. Guys. Enough. This isn't the comment section for Ski Lodge. These spoilers are absolutely unacceptable and you all know better.

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  38. God, and some of you are spoiling episodes way in advance? What is wrong with you guys?

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