Thursday, December 29, 2016

20 Greatest Meets World Characters: #14. Jack Hunter

#14. Jack Hunter



Played By: Matthew Lawrence (1997-2000, 2015)
Episode Count: 65 (64- BMW, 1- GMW)
Role: Eric's straight-man, Shawn's brother
Signature Episodes: The Eskimo, Santa's Little Helpers, We'll Have a Good Time Then, Getting Hitched, The Truth About Honesty, You Light Up My Union, Pickett Fences, Brotherly Shove, Girl Meets Semi Formal

Jack is troublesome. The most difficult angle here is keeping separate what we so desperately wish he had been from what he actually was. And in season 5... he was a lot of things. He wants to be this Lothario, but at the same time he wants to be humble and pay for his own tuition. The only line of consistent characterization in season 5 is his role as Eric's "straight man." Season 6 is an improvement. We dive much deeper into his relationship with Shawn and Chet. His dynamic with Eric is mostly about fighting for Rachel, which isn't great but better than it was, and when he's finally with Rachel it's largely uninspired. Season 7 finally assigns a real personality to Jack, and it pays off as well as it can coming in that late in the game. 

So let's take a quick run at most of Jack's signature episodes before we go through each season. The Eskimo (teams up with Eric), Santa's Little Helpers (teams up with Rachel and Eric), We'll Have A Good Time Then and Getting Hitched (teams up with Shawn), The Truth About Honesty (teams up with Rachel), Brotherly Shove (teams up with Shawn), Girl Meets Semi Formal (teams up with Eric). The theme here is that Jack works the best when he's a team player. But one of the biggest reasons we're annoyed with Jack is that he's mostly not a team player. He's a heckler! 90% of his season 5 presence is heckling the audience's favorite character! So in these episodes where he finally teams up, it's a treat, and I wish there had been more. 

Alright, let's dive in here. In season 5, Jack stands on the sidelines saying "boy that's dumb" when Eric does something dumb. And there are two problems with that. The first is that he's introduced as "Shawn's brother," the mysterious long lost brother of Shawn, yet ends up spending all his time with Eric. The second is that we don't want that. We love Eric! We don't need some Jack Hunter telling us how silly Eric is. We are well aware, thank you very much. FACT: Approximately 65% of Jack's screentime is him standing next to Eric, shaking his head or putting his head in his hands, and saying "Don't do it, man."

But that's not to say his first season is a total misfire. The side story in The Eskimo gives us a peek into Jack and Eric's dating lives, which not only makes them more relatable, but finally presents them as a team. Shallow as it may be, they're finally working together toward the same goal, rather than having Jack take jabs at Eric's goals from the sidelines. But his strongest component in season 5 was his relationship with Shawn. (I say "strongest" but I really mean "least weak.") Between the two of them, Jack is the one who actually wants to build a brotherhood, while Shawn doesn't really care. That is an excellent dynamic to work from. It opens up a ton of stories and lines up perfectly with Shawn's character. Unfortunately, season 5 barely scrapes the surface. The good moments, though, are the boys' genuine attempts to find common ground in A Very Topanga Christmas, which is honestly an adorable subplot, then back to beating the crap out of each other in Raging Cory, and again in Graduation when Jack is trying to celebrate and congratulate Shawn, and Shawn doesn't care in the slightest. "Why?! You know, you don't appreciate anything, man!"
It's great because we sympathize with both of them. We understand why Shawn is a dick about this stuff, but he has been a dick to Jack all season. The emotion is real and they start brawling, it's great.

Seasons 6 starts to give us the hazy outlines of something that could have been amazing. Getting Hitched starts with Jack and Shawn fighting over cleaning out the old Hunter trailer. Shawn still wants nothing to do with it or with Jack. Later, Shawn discovers that Jack's step-father has been paying Shawn's tuition, at Chet's request. Jack knew all along, and Shawn is naturally furious. But Jack defends Chet's decision, saying "I'm just trying to help out." This is the key, my friends. Based on his upbringing, this is probably the only way Jack knows how to help people. You look back one episode, Chet is dying, "Oh don't worry I paid for the room," meanwhile Shawn and even Alan and Amy are comforting Chet on an emotional and personal level. Look back two episodes further, he helps the orphans by buying them gifts, which stands in stark contrast to what Eric ends up doing with Tommy. And earlier in Graduation, he buys a caricature portrait for Shawn, while Feeny and Topanga help Shawn on that personal level. Paying for things is supposed to make people happy, right?! Why isn't it working! This is the World that Jack should be Meeting. Combined with his frustration with Shawn's unwillingness to form a relationship, and his grief over not getting to know his biological father, we've got the perfect storm of character development. Eric can teach him about helping people on a personal level, Cory can help him relate specifically to Shawn, and Shawn gives him an access point to his biological family. As of the 16 minute mark in Getting Hitched, Jack has an avenue for genuine storytelling with all three main characters. Here he is, in tears, at the breaking point, ripe for awesome character development!

But then they said "nah" and paired him with Rachel.
This was the crossroads of no return. Imagine if Jack had been with Eric in that scene rather than Rachel. But instead, Jack's story immediately becomes about dating Rachel. We just lost everything. Poof. There are a couple good bits, like his moments of insecurity in Bee True ("manly step ups") and The Truth About Honesty. But for the most part it's a waste, and by the time they break up all the momentum is completely dead. I want to like Rachel. She's a main character on one of my most beloved shows, but she set an awful direction for Jack and Eric's friendship in season 6, and pictured above, she slams the emergency brake on any chance Jack had of becoming a great character. That makes me unhappy.

Season 7 gives Jack a personality, which he has distinctly been missing all this time. Now he has this arrogance and elitism and 6% body fat. His new strong personality shines the most in Pickett Fences when he refuses to bow down to his new spoiled brat of a boss, but also in You Light Up My Union when he and Eric have differing philosophical views. And wouldn't you know it, the views are about helping people, the direction their relationship should have taken. Feeny even says that it's not a one way street, he wants them both to influence each other. This episode is our booby prize after not getting the full arc that that relationship deserved. And Jack's new personality is a perfect fit to drive all of those stories we lost at the end of Getting Hitched. The biggest problem now though is that Eric is different. The Eric that Jack needs here vanished after leaving Tommy, and really only comes back for Seven The Hard Way and the finale, when he says "I'm gonna be a good person, who cares about people." That is who Jack needed but he was too busy doing nothing all season. What's weird is that Jack still ends up where that story could have taken him, going into the Peace Corps, but it's entirely unsatisfying since they skipped all the necessary development. I'll also make passing mention of Brotherly Shove, where we take another stab at Jack's relationship with Shawn, and it's nice, but it has none of the momentum that we saw coming out of Chet's death. It also ends in failure which is a little depressing. Eric and Cory manage to reconnect, but Shawn and Jack fail to, don't they? Ugh, and he's presented as a guy who doesn't enjoy doing anything but going to the gym and the bank. Jack sucks. It's sort of unclear, we don't see them again after the brawl breaks out at the garage sale. But it's still nice because Shawn is actively trying to make it work, which we haven't really seen since A Very Topanga Christmas all the way back in season 5. And no, that's not a point in Jack's favor, but for the Shawn/Jack relationship it's a good ending. They obviously care about being brothers here, but then they both realize they'd rather go hang out with Eric and Cory. I think Chet would have been happy to see it.

And you know what makes it sting the most? Jack's dynamic with Eric in Girl Meets Semi Formal is basically perfect. Jacobs is telling us "Yeah that's the story we should have done." No kidding! So why didn't you do it?! Like I said at the beginning, the hardest part of dealing with Jack is separating what he should have been from what he actually ended up being. It hurts.

There was some debate over the placement of Jack vs Lucas, we thought it was close at the time, but after writing all this I no longer believe that. 

If you walk away from this post with only one thing, let it be that line in Getting Hitched. "I'm just trying to help out." That is his struggle. Every time Shawn spurns or rejects him, and all of his shortcomings regarding Chet... He was just trying to help out. 

I actually managed to forget about Getting Hitched for a bit, until Christian reminded me how much content is in it. Honesty is always the best policy, Sean. I'm proud of you.

Okay, guys. Look. Let's not stand on pretense here. I've been quite vocal about my feelings about Jack. Don't like him. Feel like he was a big albatross around the neck of the latter part of the series. Sean hit the major points so I'll try (and likely fail) to not compound them. I don't like how they wasted so much potential with both him and Shawn and him and Chet. I don't like that he diminished and limited Eric with his mere presence. I don't like that he's generally boring and not particularly funny. And I really don't like how he didn't have a clear identity or personality until his third season. 

Honestly, you know what I think? I think Season 5 was like half-written already and about to start shooting when Disney suddenly approached Michael Jacobs all "Hey, can you put Matt Lawrence in a show? 'Brotherly Love' got canceled and we want to lock up one of those Lawrences and Joey's too expensive." and MJ's like "Well, I mean, we already got three young guys and it's been working so far, that would spread us a little thin." and they're like "Well, Cory's got a big brother, right? Make him Shawn's big brother." and MJ's like "But, isn't he younger than Rider Strong?" and ABC's like "I don't know, Mike! Figure it out! He's on your cast. Use the parents less so we can balance the budget."

Obviously, though Sean and I agree about Jack for the most part, he lacks the fervor on the subject that I do, (I'd say my opinion was plenty fervent, it's just a less extreme opinion) and manages to find things that appreciate him. He's all untapped potential in my book - amazing potential in fact, Jack sounds like a great character on paper. It should write itself. And yet somehow it didn't.  I do start to warm to him in Season 7, even though he becomes a jerk, because I feel like I start to get him. I would have wanted to see that Jack the entire time, and explored more. Maybe meet his mother and stepfather, see him interract with Chet and Shawn way more. Boy Meets World featured only middle class and lower class people, the addition of a one-percenter to the crew could have been a nice addition. Instead he just adds nothing. I bet you can count the number of episodes that you couldn't easily pluck Jack out of without affecting the plot on one hand.

Still, make no mistake. The only difference here is that I would have ranked him one down at #15. He still definitely beats the rest on this list, no question. Jack is still a significant portion of the show. I tend to subsconsciously divide BMW into the pre-Jack and post-Jack years. Hey man. He just wanted to help.

50 comments:

  1. This is Cryptid.

    Excellent write-up. I have a soft spot for Jack, but once again, I am constricted by time in leaving a comment. I'll be back tomorrow.

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    1. Thanks man. Some of the most aggressive debate in creating the rankings was about Jack, so this writeup is important to me. Looking forward to your thoughts

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    2. Sean thanks for sticking up for me and I'm joy. I use James Selmon and Jamie Davis on different phones. I love the back and forth.

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    3. My mom is abusive. I accidentally broke a $50 charger and didn't tell her.It all stems from me not telling her stuff: me calling my brother without permission to talk about my laptop and getting the tablet without permission.She is making me write 1000 lines. She always calling me stupid and told me I can't cry in public because. If I show weakness people will destroy me.she always yelling at me and all stupid bulls** t.😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲 I need some comfort ING. She told me why she so hard on me because I'm disobedient and talk back.But the only reason I'm talking back is I want to have a conversation.😒😒😒😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

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    4. I'm sorry you're having trouble at home but this isn't really the place to talk about it. If you really need to talk to someone I would try posting here https://www.reddit.com/r/raisedbynarcissists/

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  2. "He was just trying to help out. "

    Holy shit. I've never thought about it that way.

    Bravo.

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    1. How old are you? I'm a 17 and a girl. I use James Selmon and Jamie Davis on different phones. Where do you work at? I need to know. Thanks for replying.Its awesome.I love the back and forth.πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜πŸ˜πŸ˜πŸ˜πŸ˜πŸ˜πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€

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    2. let's take it easy on people's personal details. if Mike wanted us to know something about him, it would be on his profile.

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    3. Thanks Sean, my man. Awesome write up.

      I like how these are being more spread out. These characters require deep analysis and explanation and it's been a treat to read so far.

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  3. I have a huge soft spot for Jack as well and I always thought Christian gave him a little too much shit. Really good write up, can't say I really disagree with any of it.

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  4. The worst thing about reading this is remembering again... what could have been. And getting frustrated at this GMW episode; where they didn't even acknowledge he was Shawn's brother. Shawn had shown up by that point, so at least acknowledging that he was more than just Eric's old friend should have been done...

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    1. That bothers me so much that they didn't say he was Shawn's brother. I can buy him not keeping too many tabs on Corpanga-we don't need explanations for that. Friends drift. It happens.

      But with Shawn? Did they have another falling out? Is Shawn being all emo again? Tell us show, tell us!

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    2. Jack was never really tight with either Cory or Topanga anyway. Sure; he was quite vocal about how 'they love each other' when Shawn was wondering what made them different, but he was more like a friend-in-law.

      But yeah; they should have said he was Shawn's brother. Almost makes me think they realised that the fact he spent more time with Eric than his brother was bad, and that maybe he should never have been introduced as Shawn's brother.

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    3. Whatever the reason, I do believe it was a conscious choice. Maybe they just thought that for people who didn't watch the show, they'd become distracted by the revelation? Like, as soon as Riley heard this was Shawn's brother, she'd be all "WHAT? You have to meet Maya! Maya, come here! This is Shawn's brother" "You're Shawn's brother?! What's your name?! What was Shawn like as a kid?!"

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    4. Christian, I am now glad they didn't bring it up.

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    5. It's possible that Shawn and Jack's relationship was meant to have its own episode. I can't imagine Matt Lawerence would be hard to get back; he was having the time of his life being Jack Hunter again.

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    6. Just read the x- mas story. It's pretty good. Get it patented.πŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’Έ It could be a pop culture phenomenal. Do IT !!!!!!!!! πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ˜²πŸ€‘πŸ€‘πŸ€‘πŸ€‘πŸ€‘πŸ€‘πŸ€‘

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  5. This is Cryptid.

    With Jack, we now begin to get into the main cast members of the original show, and who helped form Boy Meets World.

    It is notable that Christian tends to divide Boy Meets World into the pre-Jack and post-Jack years, and the distinction is accurate as any divider. Of the three additions to the group of friends, Jack is far and away my favorite.

    I like Jack Hunter. I think his role is one of sadly misused potential but it makes sense in a way. He's Shawn's brother, yes, and it is regrettable that this is not his most defining role. However, Shawn was still in high school, and therefore still interacting with Cory and Topanga. I hypothesize that we didn't see much of Jack and Shawn together, because that would mean less time with our Power Trio.

    In some ways, and in all honesty, I didn't think of this until last night, Jack Hunter is a bit of an anti-Turner with his relationship with Shawn. With Jonathan Turner, we see Shawn leave his home with Chet, and eventually return. When Jack comes to town, Shawn leaves Chet pretty much for good, and this time Shawn is not the least bit happy about it.

    Jack is especially interesting because for all the times he and Shawn get into arguments about money, we get glimpses that Jack, and his step-father, are not your stereotypical one-percenters. Jack's step-father is willing to pay for Chet's hospital room AND at least part of Shawn's tuition, no questions asked.

    I do have to wonder where Shawn would be if he were unable to finish college. Probably work at the photo studio, now that I remember correctly.

    And while Jack isn't quite as fun as Eric's straight man, the fact remains that this is something he is completely unfamiliar with. He's not Jason, who I can assume grew up with Eric and got used to the weirdness. And I think it's pretty telling that Jack actually does go along with an occasional Eric-antic.

    Remember when Eric talked to Spirit Feeny for advice? I can't see Jason doing that, but Jack did after only a little hesitation.

    I have some more thoughts for Jack, but now we're getting back into Shawn territory, and I need time to gather my thoughts for precise articulation.

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    1. "Of the three additions to the group of friends, Jack is far and away my favorite."

      Jack's probably last for me. Rachel's actually my favorite, probably. She's by far the most pointless, and I advocated for her not making this list, but I didn't actually have anything against her, I just didn't see the point of her. Jack and Angela I actively disliked, but Angela had her moments - moreso in her first two seasons - and I didn't feel like she was a waste.

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    2. You could probably split it up as the pre-Angela and post-Angela years as much as Jack, since they're the same, but Jack came on real strong right off, whereas Angela was far more gradually weaved into focus.

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    3. That's objectively weird. I don't think Rachel made me laugh a single time. At least Jack is funny sometimes. He's my favorite of the three additions, but not by a lot.

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    4. It's not *objectively* weird. If one actively annoys me, and the other doesn't, why wouldn't I prefer the one who doesn't? I agree Jack had moments of levity and Rachel didn't, but it's sort of a case of Jack being mainly a D student who occasionally gets some Bs while Rachel's just a C student. Ultimately, those sprinkles of Bs aren't going to give him a higher GPA if it's mainly Ds.

      Also, even when he was funny, he wasn't, like, *that* funny.

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    5. For me, part of the issue with Jack is they seemed to flutter between whether he was a D student or a B student. When he did well; the episode was written as though that was to be taken for granted; and when he did poorly, the same. So sometimes he's a pure D student, sometimes pure B; and sometimes, very occasionally, a B student who was suffering due to spending so much time with Eric.

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  6. The description of the hypothetical conversation between Jacobs and the exec is exactly how I picture the hiring of Matthew Lawrence to have went. Jack is the golden picture of wasted potential for the show. He could have had a major impact, but instead he was given so little to work with and very little direction.

    No issue with putting him over Friar and Farkle, and I think Top 15 is spot on for him.

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  7. I definitely agree that the show pre-Jack and post-Jack feels different. He and the other two latecomers are a big reason that seasons 5, 6 and 7 are my bottom three.

    Jack's probably the best of the later characters, but as this thorough character analysis points out, he's still largely flawed and has lots of wasted potential (Feeny would disapprove). The main issue to me is that he's just kind of dull. He doesn't have a particularly strong personality, and while straight man characters can be wry and funny, I don't think he plays that role all that well either. Compare Jack's exasperation with Eric to Feeny's dry sarcasm whenever Cory or Shawn does something boneheaded; it's like night and day.

    The last point is something I've mentioned before and I think I'm in the minority with it, but I dislike Eric's character turn from S5 onward. He's a great comedic actor but a little goes a long way with him, and I think making Jack his straight man ended up ramping Eric's craziness and stupidity up to distinguish the two characters more. IMO, season 3 and 4 Eric is the perfect Eric, and one of the best characters on the show.

    Generally speaking, it feels like the introduction of Jack opened the door to several decisions that detracted from BMW for me: dumber Eric, more focus on the kids as a group and less on the adults, the apartment setting instead of the Matthews' house, etc.

    I think they should've just stuck with Jason as Eric's buddy. They had a more dynamic, varied relationship and funnier onscreen chemistry.

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    1. Oooooo, comparing Jack and Feeny is interesting. Feeny is just infinitely better at telling the audience someone is being stupid, in both serious and hilarious ways. Clearly the writers and Jacobs are capable of this, it's a wonder they failed so hard on that aspect of Jack.

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    2. This is Cryptid.

      Haven't seen you in quite a while Matthew. Welcome back.

      Good points on Feeny and Jack.

      Can't overlook the actors themselves. His excellency, Bill Daniels, has a wit about him that is not exclusive to Feeny. Remember when he was a doctor on Scrubs? He behaved in a very similar fashion to JD's antics. Reacting to oddness with dry wit seems to be something that fits Williams like a glove.

      Seeing as I have literally never seen Matt Lawerence in anything other than the Feeny-verse, I can't comment on his reactions.

      With Feeny, you get the impression that he's seen oddballs and the occasional cloud cuckoolander throughout his career as a teacher. So he knows what does and does not work for making it in the real world. More importantly, he's an authority figure.

      Jack is supposed to be Eric's peer, only a few months older, so seeing him react to Eric the way he does rubs a little meaner. Not to mention the fact that Jack usually only reacts to Eric-antics. It'd be another thing entirely if Jack was the straight man to Cory and Topanga antics.

      In spite of his repeated statements that Cory and Topanga were weird, Shawn also admitted that he wanted what they had. Jack could have been a foil there.

      That being said, it could just be in the delivery. Shawn's Cory's equal but I don't think any reaction to a Matthews' shenanigan matches his aghast exasperation over Cory bringing pudding to college.

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    3. I absolutely agree with Matthew, I actually just said something like that to Sean without seeing this. I think part of why Eric's stupidity was ramped up was to provide a contrast with Jack. When Eric was on his own, he could be a more complicated mix of things. He wasn't pigeon-holed into being the Ernie to Jack's Bert.

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    4. I don't think Eric's stupidity really increased much at all in season 5, at least not to an annoying degree. He still feels like the same guy as seasons 3, 4, and even 2 in 5.
      6 can definitely be argued as a changed character, even as early as the season premiere, but he still has his moments. Season 7 Eric is just a completely different character for the majority of it, even though he's still fun to watch.

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    5. To be fair, Feeny has got years of experience on Jack; Cory and Shawn probably aren't his first smart-arse students he's dealt with; just the first ones to actually touch him emotionally.

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    6. Well sure, but that doesn't stop the writers from doing a better job of writing his dialogue.

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    7. And in regard to the actors themselves:

      Matthew Lawrence has been around a bit. They did die off substantially since Boy Meets World though; and a lot of them starring with his older brother. Who, ironically, I would have seen first; though never a huge fan of the show he was on, it did make it to Australia.

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  8. This is a pretty solid write-up guys. Can't say I disagree with what you wrote.

    Jack certainly appeared in enough episodes as a main cast member to justify his appearance this high for sure, and if he was underused in regards to his relationship with Shawn, he certainly wasn't with Eric.

    I thought that adding Jack in season 5 was in a way more important than adding Angela because it let Jacobs and the writers do something that they hadn't done much in seasons 1-4, especially since Jason Marsden left the show, use Eric as an A or B storyline all the time. Certainly Eric had his featured episodes prior to Jack arriving, but after he and Jack became roommates you could pretty much count on Eric and Jack to have their own story each episode.

    Adding Jack and using him and Eric also had the side effect of almost making Morgan invisible except for a few episodes over the final 3 seasons. I wonder if that was intentional or if it caused a lack of available story time for her and they just didn't compensate. Either way not many people seemed to care.

    I thought that going in to season 3 of GMW that Jacobs might use Josh and his college buddies as sort of a parallel to Jack and Eric, with them using Cory and Topanga as his Feeney, if you will, but sadly Josh's time is always spent with Riley and friends and we get Auggie and Ava instead. Maybe he felt bad for under using Morgan.

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    1. "Maybe he felt bad for under using Morgan."

      He should, I think it was a mistake how little he used Morgan. One way he could have rectified that though is to make her a recurring character on Girl Meets World who could serve as a twentysomething female role model for Riley and Maya. But alas, we've not seen her at all.

      She's going to be in the finale, but with all the other returns in that episode, plus the need to actually end the show, my guess is it's just going to be a cameo.

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    2. There's this happy medium somewhere between how much Morgan was used; and how much Auggie is. I don't need Auggie as a B-plot every, single, episode but having Morgan have the occasional story that is somewhat independent of Cory's wouldn't have been unwelcome.

      And it is really disappointing that Morgan isn't even mentioned. They have Christmas without mentioning Aunt Morgan? Cory's brothers turn up; and they don't even -mention- how Morgan is doing? Like ever?

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    3. I agree, to an extent. Honestly, I'm fine with how Morgan was used in the first few seasons. I needed next to no stories about Morgan when she was that young, she can just exist to add some color to the Matthews'.

      It was when she was got older (she was in her early teens or so by the time the series ended) that I'd have liked to see more of her. She was the same age Cory was when the series began, and he had a whole show about him. She needn't have had anywhere near that focus, but once she got to a respectable enough age, and assuming the actress could hack it (and I think Lindsay Ridgeway could) she could get mini Girl Meets World stories of her own. Especially as it would have given Amy, Alan, and even Feeny stuff to do, and even better if somehow (or sometimes) it could be worked into whatever Cory or Eric had going on.

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    4. "And it is really disappointing that Morgan isn't even mentioned. They have Christmas without mentioning Aunt Morgan? Cory's brothers turn up; and they don't even -mention- how Morgan is doing? Like ever."

      In fairness, very few characters who returned were mention before they did. No mention of Shawn, Alan, Amy, or Josh before "Home for the Holidays", no mention of Eric until "Mr. Squirrels" and no mention of Jack until "Mr. Squirrels Goes to Washington." The one exception to that is Angela, but then she directly tied into Shawn's storyline.

      I think it's an out of sight/out of mind thing. They had no plan to include Morgan, so they're hoping by not mentioning her, maybe you won't think about her - and, for the new audience, they wouldn't know to think about her.

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    5. I'm actually okay with the lack of mention of Jack. I think mentioning of Cory's immediate family; as well as Topanga's parents, might be nice as well. I get it's not what's done on this show, but it would be nice.

      I think it's especially sad though, and I thought this about Eric as well, that they're not even mentioned. It's one that most of the other recent 'sequels' have done right - they've mentioned the characters who would naturally be mentioned.

      I'm not a huge fan of Fuller House; and I wish the endless debate of 'will Michelle come back' was over; but at least they do acknowledge her existence; which does make sense in context. Granted, the Olsen twins are substantially more famous than either of the Morgans; but still.

      And yeah, I know that that's a fairytale version of GMW that was never going to happen; but it still frustrates me.

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  9. This is Cryptid.

    I didn't get much of a chance to talk about Jack's relationship, or lack thereof, with his brother Shawn. While it certainly should have been the most important aspect of Jack's place on the show, sadly it wasn't. It's a shame, there was a lot of potential there--Shawn has repeatedly shown hostility to charity and pity, while Jack, whose step-father is apparently quite a philanthropist, is happy to use money to try to fix problems.

    In a way, the often frosty relationship of the Hunters brothers reminds me of a sub-plot from the show "Power Rangers Time Force." One of the characters, Wes, was essentially a trust fund baby who broke off from his extraordinarily wealthy father's corporation to lead the Rangers. A second character, Eric, was a solider, and later Ranger, under Wes's father. Eric had gone to school with Wes, and was very cold towards him, eventually revealing that he had grown up "dirt poor, and [I have] had to struggle every day to get my life out of the gutter."

    Perhaps it's over-analysis (most likely), and I don't know if I'd make the connection so readily if it weren't for my inability to see the name "Eric" and not think "Boy Meets World," but it is something I've noticed.

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    1. Two brothers, one living a life of privilege, the other a more working-class life is a pretty common trope. Shows up a lot in soap operas, the main kind of show that would introduce a long-lost sibling.

      In example, the plot of the show One Tree Hill was the exact reverse of the Hunter situation. The father had a son with one woman, and never raised him, so he grew up working-class, and then he later got married, had a second son, and became wealthy. The show is about the two sons who are also, like, basketball rivals or something.

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    2. So is Josh a fuckboy or not? See last comment on Josh's page.

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    3. There's a good gmw fanfic called the season of change.

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  10. Looks like our time with the Matthews and friends is now officially over. MJ tweeted he just got the call. 1993-2017. A damn good run with a 15 year break in between.

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  11. Just came here to report what chill said. The GMW Writers account on Twitter just officially gave the news that the show has been cancelled.

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  13. Having seen "World Meets Girl" I can say that there are really only 2 real episodes left. The review shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to write up.

    It's an hour of your life you won't be getting back and the only thing they've done I'll never watch more than once. Maybe the Disney execs watched it before pulling the plug.

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  14. There were a lot of good points made in this post. I actually liked Jack, at least for season five and six. The fact that he was Eric's straight man and he was pretty much there to say things like "You unbelievable, incredible moron" could get grating. However, I still think it could have worked. I feel like Jack needed to be more of Eric's right-hand man, someone who enjoyed getting into trouble with Eric because he liked his company but could occasionally see how insane he is. Jack saying that he still likes Eric no matter what crazy things he says or does is almost like a statement for the friendship that never existed. Episodes like "Fraternity Row," the Halloween episode with Candace Cameron, "The Eskimo," "First Girlfriends Club"........that's when Jack was at his best. We were robbed of more Eric/Jack adventures when they introduced Rachel, at a time when their friendship was just starting to turn into something more special.

    And then Jack just does nothing but suck up air for the rest of the series. Then he becomes an inexplicable asshole in the last season, which is worse when you consider the fact that he treats Eric like shit. Eric at his lowest point, when he's become a deranged psychopath that nobody wants to be around.

    His appearance in "Semi Formal" was great, though.

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