Friday, January 20, 2017

FINAL Episode Review: "Girl Meets Goodbye" (#3.21)



Here we are, guys. The series finale of Girl Meets World. It's fitting, perhaps, that we say goodbye (again) to Cory and the gang on the same day we say goodbye to President Obama. Not sure why it would be fitting. But perhaps it is.

Let's get into it!

Commercial: There's a CGI Descendants TV show? Weird. Dove Cameron reprises her role in voice form. It's weird that it exists. Oh, and there's an actual Descendants 2 coming as well. Back off about the Descendants, Disney. Kristin Chenoweth does not seem to be reprising her role as Maleficent in the sequel, surprising no one. I can't even stomach Once Upon A Time anymore, so I am going to hard pass. That show's still on?

Liked the first scene. "What? You're too far away now" was great and the revelation of Kerri Abelson, the third best friend who moved across the street and was forgotten was good too. And, look, Cory's finally going to tell them about Belgium 1831. Not the most audacious prediction ever made but, still, called it! Kerri Abelson is a hilarious bit to kick things off, and that sort of awareness is sorely missing from this series. That joke feels straight out of Boy Meets World, like oh crap, things go wrong sometimes, our bubble is a lie. So how do we go from "Why do people become friends if it's not forever" in the episode right before this one, to "I don't care, she's gone" (which was hysterical by the way) in the very next one? Michael Jacobs wrote both scripts! Mike, you just wrote the exact opposite of this! And that would be fine if it served these kids a dose of reality, or if anyone at all commented on Riley's total lack of consistency on this. It fuels my hatred of those "always forever" speeches from Riley. That's clearly not who you are, it's not your history, it's not reality. So as a total change of pace from that, yes, I loved the Kerri Abelson bit.
This is ridiculous, but when Lucas suddenly popped up to say "What if we're not ready for this? I'm not ready for this, Riley!" I realized I had completely forgotten about him. Like that he was a character on the show. I was kind of in a "Oh, it's the last episode, soak it all in. Oh, this may be Farkle and Smackle's last bits." and just.... I forgot that Lucas was someone. I was like, "Oh yeah! Lucas." Not sure what it says about Lucas, but.... can't be anything good.  But, really, it's just that I don't care about the kids and these non-BMW character scenes are just something to get through. I suppose that sentence just said it all. I'll say it again.

Girl Meets World (2014-2017)

But, really, it's just that I don't care about the kids 
and these non-BMW character scenes 
are just something to get through.

Yeah, I think we all came into the series with that mindset. It's too bad they weren't able to change our minds. Well, they did for like a second in Charlie Gardener's first episode. Semi-Formal remains the best episode.

Oh, we get some meta commentary with "Sometimes things end before they're supposed to, but we did our best, and we hope you'll remember us fondly." We'll see how it goes!

I almost never watch the opening credits. When it starts playing, I click over and do something else until the theme song ends. I watched it this time, and a lot of the scenes in the new opener (which I've probably watched wayyyyyyyy less than the original one) were brand new to me. I remembered some of them (the direct references to BMW, the one where Farkle pretends like he's going to throw the football and then drops it) but some were new to me somehow.

Okay, so, some other things happen (Hi Ava. Ava does a whole bit with an English accent and boy howdy let me tell you, that is some funny stuff. The audience can't get enough so clearly, I am in the wrong, for I am not laughing. Maya comes to appreciate Farkle's efforts that I brilliantly wrote about in his ranking post and gives him a kiss on the cheek in the middle of class, completely defying any remote attachment to reality.) and then OH MY GOD, ALL THE BOY MEETS WORLD CHARACTERS ARE GATHERED TOGETHER AT CASA MATTHEWS! Blink and you'll miss Minkus and Harley, as it turns out neither has a single line and may as well not even have been there. Which is fine, really, because it's weird that they'd be there. And I don't care that much about them either. 17 and 20? Psh. Let's focus on the Top 10. 
Hahah, Eric is looking at Turner for some reason. Everyone was looking toward Shawn and Katy, then everyone looks at Riley when she enters except for Eric, because he thinks everyone is turning to look at him (probably). Talk about blink and you'll miss it. Oh wow, that is great. I wish they'd called that out. Had everyone turn and had Eric be, like, "Yes. Hello. It is I."

Guys, my DELIGHT at everything about Eric's moonwalk to Feeny, I can't even tell you. I had to pause and collect myself. I had to rewatch it a few times. All before he said a word. I was cutely aware this time, in a way that I wasn't when watching the Boy Meets World finale, that this is the last episode of Eric Matthews I'll ever get and I tried to drink it all in. But, like, why are they fighting? And, is that it? It ends like that? Eric and Feeny are not talking to each other? WHY? Come onnnnnnn. Still, I liked it. I'm easy when it comes to them. 

Watching Eric moonwalk toward Mister Feeny erased every negative feeling in my life. At a different time in my life, I'd make a gif out of it, but we're all getting old here. 

Hey, Shawn and Katy time. Rider gets one last chance to mispronounce "Philadelphia", Maya tries to stop them from rewriting history (You're on the WRONG show, toots.) The Shawn/Turner scene was great. Short and sweet (which is necessary, we only have 25 minutes here) but nice. I'll let Sean handle that, since I expect he has more to say about it. My prediction about Katy being pregnant did not come true, but I believe other people correctly predicted Shawn wanting to adopt Maya, which hadn't really been a plot point that was on my radar but, sure, makes sense. I enjoyed Topanga wanting to bring the subject back around to her. I also got to marvel one last time at just how likable Cheryl Texiera's Katy is.

Yeah I need to get on my soapbox for this one. You may have already noticed my shrine to this moment that I posted today, where comments are disabled because it's bigger than us and should be left alone. By some crazy twist of fate, the character ranking post for Turner managed to line up with the night the world got to see him reunite with Shawn. If you don't know, I initially started Boy Meets World Reviewed because people were arguing over Cult Fiction for all the wrong reasons and I needed to talk about it. Begun by Shawn and Turner, by Shawn and Turner undone. To have some thousand odd people here reading as I come full circle to where I started... I wish I could describe it. Thanks for reading. Sincerely. This is an enormous moment for me, and it makes the entire series and wait and everything worth it. Like Katy says, "Thank you for everything you've done to help make Shawn who he is." I'm finally ready to let go.
The adoption thing is nice, but entirely secondary. 

Alan and Amy scene was, of course, too short. Still, they felt a little bit more like them than they did in their other performance. But it was nothing of substance. Alan and Amy Matthews could have been established as having died in a ski accident in 2006 for all the difference it would have made to this show.  I barely even remember what he said because I was so caught up in the fact that I was watching Alan give advice to his son again. 

The Morgans! So, like I predicted, their appearance is also brief (though, really, I think they got more focus than everyone but Shawn, Eric, Feeny, and Josh, by virtue of them all getting two scenes rather than one) and entirely about jokes about how there were two of them. What I was NOT expecting was this surreal situation in which they just... both play Morgan. And it's treated maybe that there's only character there, but they're aware that it's two different actresses but maybe the characters aren't (Josh does say "My sister!" looking at them both)? It's weird. I like it and I don't. It's cute, and it's a way to include them both, but I also don't like boiling the character down to just that behind the scenes quirk. Like, I'd have liked to have learned something about what Morgan's actually doing. Still, good to see them. Lily Nicksay is definitely the stand out of the two, makes me wonder what may have been if she'd stuck around. Hope to see more of that actress. 

I didn't get much out of the Morgans, I think Christian has always liked the character more than I do, but I loved the idea. There's just no explanation for this, and I'm a big fan of absurdist humor. "So Mike, which one's gonna play Morgan?" "Both." "Yeah bu-" "Both." 
There is absolutely no way they could have done it better in my opinion. And I never would have thought of that, so, yeah, the official Sean Seal of Approval on that decision.

Feeny's scene was nice. Don't really have any thoughts. Was nice. Thanks for the lessons, Mr. Feeny.

And the final advice scene (and most effective) is Eric's, which is fitting (especially since Shawn does get to be in that final scene, so he's not shortchanged at all) since the main aspect of Eric this series as held on to has been his idiot savant-like wisdom. Will's hilarious ("I can play Topanga!"/"Go and find your favorite quiet place. Mine is under the ocean.") and imbues Eric with such heart and fun. I think I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow. Still, I wish Eric got a bit more of a goodbye. His impression of Topanga followed by "Perfect!" is one of the funniest jokes in this series. Will is just spectacular. And Rider was talking in an interview recently about how he still can't do a scene with Will because they laugh too much, and specifically mentioned that that's why Shawn and Eric don't interact in this episode. I don't know what more of a goodbye we could have done with Eric since they're still not sure if they're moving yet. I'm really happy with this scene, because it has Eric ending exactly where he wanted to be at the end of Boy. "I'm gonna be a good person, who cares about people." He said that to Feeny, and now he's actually doing it in a Feeny-esque role of giving life advice. That's a home run for me.

The next scene essentially functions as the goodbye for Farkle, Smackle, and Zay. Smackle's bit is cute, though it kind of feels like her goodbye was last week. Riley says "Our circle of friends was never complete until you showed up, Zay." That's the kind of thing that sounds like bullshit when they try to communicate it to people like Jack and Rachel on Boy Meets World, but it sure feels true with Zay. Thanks for everything, Zay! Zay rocks. Go do something where you're a main character, Jazz Jr. Farkle's goodbye is the least interesting of the three, a fitting tribute to how worthless Farkle has been this season. Josh shows up for like ten seconds before his sister bails on him, that's rude. We got to see Riley and Lucas outside, but missed out on Josh and Maya inside. I think a lot of people would have appreciated a final note on that story. 

I find Lucas and Riley's goodbye rather interesting. It's treated very much like a breakup scene without, really, any difficult feelings. It's brief, it's sandwiched in between other goodbye, Riley's clearly not all that upset about it. And, jumping ahead, this is really the final Riley and Lucas moment. We later find out that Riley's not leaving and there's no "Oh, yay, we don't have to break up." I kind of take this to mean Lucas and Riley split either way. They both feel ready to move on. I'm really glad you didn't hate this, because I liked it. The dialogue is standard fare, but the tone has an incredible maturity that we have almost never seen in a relationshippy scene on this show. One last time, fuck the Triangle. Jacobs clearly still has the chops for the tone of this dating stuff, I'll always wonder what could have been without Disney.
Oh man! The Bay Window is the NOOK Cory wanted from Season 7! Well, that almost lets the bay window off the hook for all its bullshit. Almost. Somebody around here should have caught that. On the other hand, I love that it caught us off guard. What a fun tie-in.

Farkle erasing "Belgium 1831" one last time because they're not ready/don't have to learn it yet was a fitting coda for... the Belgium 1831 joke.

Okay, that final scene. I don't mind the callbacks to Brave New World, or the flashback, or even Daniel Jacobs' gratuitous cameo as a customer. Oh thaaaaat's what that is. What I don't think is right, despite my fondness for Katy, is her being part of it. This was a moment for Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric. They were the four from that moment. And, like, what is Katy doing quoting dialogue from it? She wasn't there. Katy's an important character, one who deserves a goodbye, but I feel like she got one in her scene with Shawn and Turner. This would have been a nice moment for the main characters from GMW and the main from BMW to share together, but the addition of Katy and the lack of Eric bums me out. 

I'll give GMW this. Maybe because it was less obvious, maybe because we didn't see it coming, maybe because of how much Rowan and Sabrina have grown, but their quoting of the dialogue they shared in the pilot together pulled on my heartstrings more than the quoting of lines from Brave New World. I was disrupted by "Big world." "Ours now." because it just doesn't sound like what the show is supposed to be about, it's not yours, you're 15, but it does have that throughline of uncertainty about the future that Meets World thrives on. Although Riley still has to make sure they'll be friends FOREVER, and I just can't believe that she still needs confirmation at this point. Like, it's a thousand times stronger when it's implied and taken as fact. Everyone walked away from BMW knowing Shawn and Cory would always be friends, why does it always have to be so explicit with these two? As always, though, Maya does a delightful job of keeping her best friend from getting too crazy.

And that's it! Goodbye GMW!

Episode Rating: B+ (Ultimately not much to complain about here, I think they did a good job, especially walking this difficult needle of writing something that was probably a finale but they didn't know definitely was)
Episode MVP: A few good performances here, but the one I think I was struck by most was Danielle Fishel who really sold her big scene at Topanga's. We've talked a lot about how Danielle's been relatively shortchanged in GMW, it was nice to see Topanga be such a big part of the finale. Yeah, they're leaving Philly for Topanga's internship at a law firm, and I like how they paralleled that. Topanga going away for whatever reason is always a big to-do in this universe.

Don't worry, folks, and stay tuned. The show's over but Sean and I are not saying goodbye juuuuuust yet. We'll have likely a few formal goodbye posts wrapping up the series and the blog, and there's still the character list. I know it's hard not to get caught up in the feelings of the show ending and the blog finishing the series, but let's try to keep a lid on that until those specific posts and try to talk about the episode here. (Even though I already fucked that up when I was talking about Turner in this post.)

93 comments:

  1. Shipping Wars Are StupidJanuary 20, 2017 at 9:33 PM

    I wasn't overly thrilled with this episode but what I liked was good.

    This was by far the most I ever bought Riley and Lucas as a couple. Holy fucking shit, it took us THREE SEASONS but we got ACTUAL CHEMISTRY!!

    Loved the Shawn/Turner moment....it made this whole show worth it. Not the episode-the entirety of Girl Meets World.

    Alan/Amy was too short but that's the curse of doing a one-part episode.

    Apparently Minkus and Harley had lines that were cut-Minkus offering to fly the Matthews to London on his private jet and Harley offering to help his friends bring all their shit to the plane...because he's strong and that's how he can help or some shit.

    The dialogue was cheesy, I don't really get how Belgium 1831 fits in to this, but it's a done deal now.

    I can't believe we're finally here....

    I can't wait to see the final few blog posts and to see where Sean and Christian end up next.

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  2. i herd from someone at the tapeing that they cut sum scenes with eric and his parents and harly and minkus scenes. i hope we get some deleted scenes in the future also will posted this tweet
    https://twitter.com/willfriedle/status/822669781711003648
    he said Thank you all for watching #girlmeetsgoodbye #GirlMeetsWorld tonight. So much fun to play Eric again. It won't be the last time. #DunDunDun

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    1. I think a lot of people are misconstruing that as a renewal hint when really I think it's just gonna be more online videos

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    2. Which is a good thing because the 2016 presidential campaign was very fun to watch

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    3. Yeah. He has stated he's in talks for a youtube series playing Eric. What that actually means I haven't heard.

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  3. They really should have made this an hour. Cutting these scenes does nothing when you want to fit in every single character. I mean, Josh literally comes in, says a line or two, and then just sits there. And doesn't say anything else.

    I was a lot more negative about this episode. I was on the edge of my seat for the Boy Meets World stuff. Eric talking to Feeny, Shawn and Turner's reunion, that was all great in my book. But I've been soured by GMW for so long that these emotional moments no longer do anything for me. It's almost beginning to make me physically ill having this melodramatic stuff in every other episode.

    It's weird how Sean pointed out that the third friend joke felt straight out of Boy Meets World because I said the same thing in my review. And then they kept the joke going........

    I'm really going to miss this blog. You don't get reviews like this on most websites.

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    1. If Disney was smart, which they're not, but if they were they would release an extended cut version on the season DVD.

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  4. literally will friedleJanuary 20, 2017 at 11:14 PM

    I don't know how I felt about this episode. Farkle's immediate dismissal of whatserface (the third best friend) after asking about her was the funniest joke he's had in the entire series (also possible idea: Farkle should have been a sarcastic and dismissive "intellectual" type instead of the SUPER-QUIRKY nerdlinger whose SAGELY ADVICE is always given in the same dull drone), but aside from that I could not have cared less about him as a character. The most noteworthy thing about his erasing "BELGIUM 1831" is that he did an awful job and didn't actually erase the whole thing.

    ehh other thoughts:

    Sarah looked incredibly sad in class when Riley was talking about moving and I don't know if she should have. I guess they're friends? Eh, if someone in my high school was moving away and I spent as little time talking to him/her as Sarah did I wouldn't give a shit

    The two Morgans thing was incredibly weird. I've always appreciated BMW's meta-humor, but that was like a weird double-meta thing. They got a couple good jokes out of it (well, one) but it was just...weird.

    Eric and Feeny having some sort of tiff was clearly a ploy on Jacobs' part to get fans to RAGE for a revival of the series.

    Minkus and Harley were literally only there because they've both been on the show before. In-universe I see no reason for their presence.

    where were topanga's parents


    Anyway, I feel responsible for the show ending. It had a chance and then I decided to catch up to keep up with this blog and then I killed it :/

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    1. Yeah, I'd have been down for that kind of Farkle. Or, what I think I'd have enjoyed, would have been a Farkle who's like a little Frasier.

      As for where are Jedidiah and Rhiannon/Chloe.... let's pretend they're dead. But obviously, while for Topanga they would be meaningful, for fans they wouldn't be so much, and also there's the whole "Who plays them?" situation, and I don't need them to do the Morgan joke with Annette O'Toole and Marcia Cross.

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    2. they did film a Minkus and Harley scene but that got cut out of the episode. they also had a scene with eric and his parents that got cut too.

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    3. literally will friedleJanuary 21, 2017 at 2:40 AM

      Whoever that guy who was rewriting like every episode is: rewrite the whole series with Fark-sier. I need this in my life.

      I wouldn't really care much about who plays them specifically; actually, just give me two random new people and have Topanga say something like "Mom, dad, what do you think about blah blah?" and literally just have the two say "You know, I agree with the Matthewssss" "Yeah, me too" "Alright thanks mom and dad"

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    4. Christian-"what I think I'd have enjoyed, would have been a Farkle who's like a little Frasier."

      I love this idea, but I would make the character more like Frasier's mother. Someone who apperciates the finer things in life, but someone who can also enjoy more regular things. Martin at one point gave a great speech about how his wife/Frasier's mom liked opera, but wouldn't complain and enjoyed parts of going to baseball games.

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    5. Just want to say I'm super glad you caught up with us for the end, Mister Literal. I think you're the second oldest commenter from bmwr who's still around, behind the hero ben sandwich

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  5. literally will friedleJanuary 20, 2017 at 11:16 PM

    Oh, and I'm pretty sure Christian was only big on Morgan-1's performance because she's gorgeous (okay, maybe not gorgeous, but REALLY PRETTY).

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    1. Of the two of us, Sean is MUCH more prone to be biased by a pretty face. Lily's definitely pretty, but I actually found her performance pretty dominating of the two. Mainly just because I have no context for her beyond "They just shot the neighbor!"-style line reads. Also, because I thought Lindsay Rappaport was notably stilted in her delivery - surprising, because I always thought she did a good job as a kid. But it seemed like they went out of their way to give Lily much more to do. She got to do the "There's two of us" jokes, she got the longer and more poignant of the speeches to Auggie.

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    2. That can't possibly be true. Liv and Maddie was just good television.

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    3. I genuinely wanted to watch Descendants!

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    4. Teen Beach 2 had compelling leads!

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    5. literally will friedleJanuary 21, 2017 at 2:50 AM

      re: liv and maddie - i googled "dove cameron" and apparently she was in a episode of shameless or something and jesus christ dude wow

      also christian did you mean lindsay ridgeway geez man

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    6. Yes. Yes, I did mean Lindsay Ridgeway. Lindsay Rappaport's the name of a character from One Life to Live.

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    7. I gave Christian the benefit of the doubt that she got married or something. What a goofball. Also all of my other comments are lies.

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    8. Guys, yesterday was a tough day.

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    9. And yeah I was genuinely surprised she was able to walk into Disney with Shameless on her resume and get a lead role

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    10. As someone who's seen Dove's guest spot on "Shameless", which for years was hard to find online. As if it was intentionally hidden. However, as far as her role on the show went, it was very, very tame by the standards of that show.

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  6. Seriously though... you guys liked the Eric/Feeny stuff? I don't even remember the moonwalk, I'll have to rewatch because that sounds cute but the feud was just confusing and had way more shouting than it needed. First time Eric genuinely disappointed me on this show. I just want a "if I'm really quiet will you stay" quality moment you know?

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  7. Yeah, watched it now. This seems kinda clear that they at least heavily suspected that the show wasn't going to get a 4th season.

    Should have been an hour. Minkus being there I can accept - whilst Cory never really liked him; Topanga always did like him. Sure, it was only ever as a friend and not the way Stuart wanted but still. The others should have had more than a fly-by-night thing.

    Interesting fact though. Apparently one of the Morgans, based on that episode of GMW, has decided to return to acting. Probably Lindsay; as Lily has had a couple of things since about 2013; though nothing major.

    And I think that was always the problem with GMW - the writers wanted to push the BMW characters, except for Cory, into the background mainly; but people wanted to see them. Continuations are tricky beasts, and to get the ratings, you need to combine new characters with seeing how the older ones dealt with life since we last saw them.

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    1. Yeah I believe Lindsay was a high school teacher, I remember reading a huge BMW fan online talking about how he had no idea she was the same Lindsay Ridgeway until she brought it up in class one time

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    2. It's Lily who's recently decided to return to acting.

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  8. I'll come back later for more but the one thing I wanted to mention that I haven't seen touched on is how the Morgan1/Morgan2 handoff was handled. They literally tagged in like a wrestling tag-team when swapping off. Ben Savage's love of pro wrestling gets one last nod in the Meets World universe.

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  9. All I have to say about the Carrie bit: where was this humor throughout the show?

    The bit where they pan through the original cast was magical. I had to watch it a couple times.

    I was surprised you guys basically skipped the big decision part in your review. But then you mentioned Danielle in the MVP part and I have to agree. I love that Topanga, who has been completely useless on GMW, gets the "big reveal" moment.

    The flashbacks were honestly not needed. It's really weird because BMW ends with BOY telling a little boy advice and GMW ends with BOY telling GIRL the exact same advice. It's..weird. Just write a new ending scene. I was really glad they didn't try to recreate the final bit in Feeny's classroom.

    In a way I'm kinda glad this was cancelled because this was a great finale imo. If it had gotten a fourth season, I don't know how they would top this. Is it because of the BMW nostalgia? Probably. Sadly.

    Not important at all but: I caught the airing on Disney Channel and they literally put a commercial over the ending credits.. like cmon.

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    1. The bit about using flashbacks bugged me a lot during earlier seasons - this season they've pretty much cut them out, which was a good decision.

      The actual decision wasn't important. What was important was the how they got there, and why they made that decision.

      I'm actually kinda convinced they were reasonably sure it was going to be cancelled. Getting -everyone- back for that finale just... wouldn't have made sense if they were sure they were going to get a season 4. I don't know if Disney had already private told them or not, but I think, especially given various things that all happened shortly after the final episode was filmed, they knew - and that perhaps framed at least part of the particulars of the final episode. Minkus, Harley and the Morgans in particular stood out as 'there because this will be our last chance'.

      As for advertisements over the closing credits - that's a common thing these days. It's been bugging me for a while; but it's been happening for years. Just like some shows no longer really do opening credits any more, and that annoys me too.

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    2. I do believe they had an idea they were being cancelled as well and maybe they kept it under wraps so fans could panic and campaign for another season. I remember way back when someone from production posted a video of him saying "Girl Meets World won't be coming back.. Best Friends Whenever is also done..[insert one or two other shows]. It's all money." Plus, they let Peyton Meyer keep the Matthews COUCH after Season 3 and the girls gave away the friendship rings after they wrapped up Season 3... they definitely knew.

      "As for advertisements over the closing credits - that's a common thing these days. It's been bugging me for a while; but it's been happening for years. Just like some shows no longer really do opening credits any more, and that annoys me too."
      Very true, but it's not very common on Disney and it sucks they chose THIS time to do it.

      Another thing about flashbacks: the transition to flashbacks is so rough. They even have to put a music cue to indicate the transition. Just cut right to the flashback.. I believe that's way more effective.

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  10. Quite a good finale episode. When I was watching the ep, I was hoping that you guys would catch Daniel Jacobs' cameo; glad to see you did. I actually had this brief thought when I saw him like "if he was able to make it on the show, couldn't he have played Josh from the start?" but I know there's a big difference between a one-off appearance and reprising a character for multiple episodes. And who knows if he was willing to do that?

    Yeah, I discussed the weird Morgan situation over on Mike's blog post for this ep, and...I guess this is canon now? It doesn't make any sense to me. I wanted to believe they made it so that Cory apparently had two sisters both named Morgan all along, but when I caught Josh's singular greeting ("hey sister") now I want to think that this is some weird "two people morphed into one character" deal. I dunno, it's the finale and we should cut them some slack for being able to get both of them on this show, but I can't help but look into it.

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    1. I head cannon it as they're both married and happen to be named Morgan, but since they look so much alike they like to fuck around with everybody so know one knows which is the true Matthews Morgan. It's become a huge inside joke with in the family.

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    2. I wish that could be true; but they actually -don't- look alike. As kids they looked passably similar, but they really don't look alike now.

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  11. This is Cryptid.

    I have various thoughts on this episode, but one quick point about Carrie, the third friend who moved across the street.

    I completely agree that it's very BMW-humor. It actually reminded me a lot of "Other side of the school," where Minkus and Turner (and probably Frankie at times) vanished at John Adams High.

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    1. This is just a minor irritant, but her name is actually spelled "Kerri", both in the closed captions and on the IMDb page for the episode.

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    2. i fixed it in the post, thanks

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  12. I agree with everyone who said this would have been an hour. It felt rushed, and it would have been nice to have more time with the characters and flesh out a few of the scenes.

    I didn't like the two Morgans. It just felt strange and too meta for me. Also, we didn't find out what she was doing/what she's been up to.

    I loved that Shawn adopted Maya.

    I hadn't thought about the fact that if Riley doesn't move, are she and Lucas going to stay together.

    If they were writing it like was going to be the finale, then have them move to London. It sets up a reunion movie where family and friends visit them in London. The Europe episode of most sitcoms usually suck, but maybe it would work better as a made for TV original movie/reunion show.

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    1. It feels like the writers had no idea what to do about the Morgan situation so they just threw up their hands and said, "Yeah, there's two of them." That's the kind of absurd joke that could work (and actually has) on like, Fresh Prince or Boy Meets World itself but not here.

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    2. Honestly the more I think about it the more I like the way they handled Morgan. It was stupid fun

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    3. Sean - It's mostly because this show has a habit of taking something funny and running it into the ground. Jazz telling the new Aunt Viv that something's changed about her ever since she had the baby, followed by Will nervously looking up at the camera is hilarious. The other side of the school, and Minkus telling Mr. Turner to wait up is hilarious. Eric saying hi to both Morgans and high fiving them like it's normal is also hilarious. But them both talking to Auggie and joking about how there's two of them is just annoying and makes me think this show doesn't understand what restraint means. It's like they have to explain the joke in case someone won't get it. And when you have an absurd joke like that, you really shouldn't try calling attention to it so much.

      It's like what Christian said in his review of "Permanent Record": "Also, this show has a habit of making a funny joke and then going just one line too far where the funniness gets negated...........I feel like they just explained to me a joke because they didn't trust me to get it."

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  13. This is Cryptid.

    I have a few more thoughts I'd like to express. As pseudo-finales (there was always a chance, however slight, for a Season 4, while this was being written, whatever else happened) go, this isn't bad at all. My complaints with it, are largely complaints I've had with the show itself, and the related analysis will likely be better elaborated when we eventually get to Riley and Maya's slots in the Top 20 Characters.

    The "you're too far away now" bit was pretty funny and, from my perspective, reminded me a bit of "Bay Window" and the flash-forward where Adult Riley and Adult Maya claim the furthest they've been apart was eleven inches.

    Kerri Abelson was also pretty funny, once I put it in the old BMW-humor context. "Other side of the school," and whatnot. Sean's not wrong though--it is a little jarring to see Riley and Farkle to a degree so casual in their disregard of a half-forgotten friend.

    Cory's Classroom. Waste of time--minus the aforementioned humor at least. Thank the Good Lord I never have to waste another minute of my life watching Cory teach his students in a style that is an insult to everything George Feeny and Jonathan Turner stood for.

    Am I the only one who got a "This is your life" theme from all the old BMW stars? It was nice, but at the same time, I wish they hadn't cut out the Minkus and Harley scenes. More importantly, I wish we could have seen Minkus and Shawn reunite properly. Or Minkus and Feeny for that matter.

    Eric's bit with Feeny was unexpected (I was willing to bet money we would get one last grand-daddy of a Feeny Call) but it was also very funny. So Eric and Feeny are not speaking...I'm willing to bet the spat is over something very petty, like Feeny taking a cookie that Eric had "dibs" on.

    The Shawn-Turner scene is great. My only wish is that we could have fleshed it out a bit more--maybe have given it its own episode. Why the hell wasn't Turner at Shawn's wedding?

    The Riley/Lucas goodbye...I actually was impressed. Lucas Friar is far and away my least favorite character, who is supposedly a protagonist, in any television show I have ever watched. But this...this was good. It had closure, it had grace, there were no hurt feelings--and that's remarkable, considering "Ski Lodge Part 2" and the tantrum Lucas threw over Riley talking to another boy (and never apologized for) has loomed in my mind for months.

    But Michael Jacobs still has it. The Triangle was a disgrace, and setting aside my dislike of Lucas in the first place, that's what happens when you have a love triangle with THREE main characters. I too will always wonder about what would have happened had this not been on Disney Channel (I maintain it should have been placed with Last Man Standing on ABC, but that's me). And I also wonder what would have happened if Uriah Shelton hadn't gotten hurt, necessitating rewrites, but that's all water under the bridge at this point.

    I felt like a colossal doofus when the Nook was brought up. How the hell didn't any of us catch that?!

    I'm in the middle of Christian's and Sean's takes on the final quoting of lines from the pilot. "Big world." "Ours now." It's very sweet--Rowan's acting has improved tremendously--but at the same time...this journey has not exactly been a struggle much of the time. Cory and Shawn and Eric were a revolving three-course meal for the World. Riley and Maya (and to some extent, the entire group of friends) have struggled significantly less. But that's more a problem for the show than it is this individual episode.

    All in all though, I can't find many faults with this episode in itself.

    It's been fun guys.

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    1. Interesting thoughts Cryptid. Yeah, Lucas and Riley's goodbye was... interesting. If I could see into the writers minds, I suspect that the reason Lucas never apologised for it, is that could have been a risk of having the overly relationshippy-stuff dragging on. For better or worse, other than the triangle, this show has never focused on the romantic relationships - of either the adults or the kids. Even Katie/Shawn was dealt with rather fast.

      I kinda got the thought that it was purely Eric not talking to Feeny, and I thought it was a case of, in pure Eric-logic, he felt abandoned because Feeny never kept in contact after Eric went to New York.

      In general though, the lack of struggle for the kids,is a sign of the times. Whether you think that kids had it tougher then, or have it tougher now, or it's the same, it seems clear that TV kids have it a lot easier. Nothing really goes wrong for them in the majority of TV shows.

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    2. literally will friedleJanuary 21, 2017 at 11:11 PM

      Theory re: Eric/Feeny feud:

      Eric asked Mr. Feeny to be an advisor during his term as a Senator and Feeny said something like "No, Eric, you don't need me; you'll do fine as a Senator as long as you listen to your heart," and Eric OBVIOUSLY took that as a slight, because in his mind Mr. Feeny was trying to find a way to avoid working with him.

      anyway when eric told topanga to uhh listen to her heart or something like that the whole feud was resolved (whether or not feeny was in the room)


      And the lack of struggle is probably more indicative of the Disney Channel than it is of the times. We know from BMW that Michael Jacobs doesn't have a problem with putting his characters in rough situations (or with letting their problems linger over full seasons or longer) so I have to assume that the resolution of every single problem, no matter how large or small, in a single episode is a result of executive meddling. or maybe he's just getting soft in his old age idunnoguys

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  14. You know what, I love the IDGAF attitude of this episode. It was as if Jacobs decided that he was going to write whatever fan-service/ham fisted crap he wanted to and damn anyone who didn't like it. Two Morgans? Yup, in there with no question. Harley and Minkus in there with no lines, just because? Yup, we're doing it. Our Shawn/Turner reunion? You damn right we're getting it. Maya Hunter? Was there any doubt? Constant meta humor about "rewriting history". Surrre!

    Yes, we did get some great little moments like the initial scene at Topanga's with the group and both Cece and Amir really shined here. And I really did enjoy the "break up" scene between Riley and Lucas. That was more maturity we've seen from both of them in some time, if ever.

    There will be plenty of time to properly eulogize and pontificate just how this show fits into the universe, but that's not today.

    Episode Grade: B+
    Episode MVP: Danielle Fischel. That decision scene really cemented it for this episode.

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  15. Not much to say. I think seeing what they did with the Morgans and seeing the other characters again was the only interest for me. I purposely read what happened and I figured they wouldn't end the show or season that way. Jacobs would want to leave an opening I guess.

    The Morgan stuff was weird way to do it. Personally, I'd have started with Lily giving some advice to Auggie, cut to Auggie sad face, he looks up and it's Lindsay and he's the only one who notices. People only notice Morgan is suddenly in different clothing. Maybe make that a runner in the episode, a deliberate continuity error where each shot has a different Morgan in it.

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    1. The deliberate switching of morgans without anyone commenting on it, except maybe auggie, is probably the second best way to do it in my opinion, behind how they actually did it. Also hey, I'm glad you're still here. The full journey, I appreciate it so much man.

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    2. i just checked, you're actually the oldest commenter from bmwr who's still around. nothin but looooooooooooove for the hero ben sandwich. you deserve a medal.

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    3. I'm no hero, just a man who likes to discuss Boy Meets World Universe and keeps the boymeetsworldreviewed url on the bookmarks bar.

      I'd also like to thank my future wife/wives, Future Riley!, Grace Phipps from Teen Beach 2! and now Morgan #1 Lily!

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    4. Seriously, when the ____ Meets World is done, I'd like to see what other creative path you take you and Christian. Even though I don't comment on new episodes very often, it's really hard to come up with stuff to say for shows that have completely lost me so cheers to you and Christian for keeping this going. I suspect I'll comment more on the character list.

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  16. I'm gonna Miss the Show so Much! I wish it got a 4th Season! I'm still hoping that some platform will pick it up. Disney made a Huge Mistake and it will cost them dearly!

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  17. It was a good episode and good finale. I love how everybody from BMW came back. I also loved the Kerri Abelson and 2 Morgans Bit. But it would have been better if Jack and Rachel came back, we didn't need Angela because she would cause tension between Shawn and Katy as well as make Maya all sad again. Also, Riley and Lucas didn't break up, they just expressed their feelings towards each other and they know they are boyfriend and girlfriend. I do like the Meaning and Message at the end of the episode, where no matter what happens you will always have friends and family. And I'm really hoping that it does get picked up somewhere to do a 4th Season. I would give the episode a A.

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  18. Well, clearly I'm late to the party, but hey, as long as it's not over...

    I wish this episode didn't have to deal with a "series finale problem", but I guess it was necessary to bring back the BMW cast, so that's okay.

    First off, the whole Kerri Abelson stuff was GREAT humor. Loved it. Humor badge.

    The classroom bits throughout the episode were a nice way to bring the "Belgium" running gag to a close, but were ultimately pointless, and Farkle doesn't even errase it properly.

    The shot of the BMW cast was absolutely awesome, though as much as I get that Minkus and Harley's lines were cut, it seemed kinda weird to have them there. They should have reshot the BMW cast shot without them, or shortened their lines, or something. I dunno.

    continued...

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    1. Then came my least favorite moment of the episode. The Eric/Feeny bit. It starts with Eric moonwalking towards Feeny and preparing himself to do the mythical Feeny call. I start getting filled with fandrenaline (I just made that up). But then, he doesn't. Instead, we get a "I'm not talking to you!" conversation that would genuinely make me laugh if it wasn't, you know, Eric/Feeny. The best relationship in this whole universe, broken, for some unknown reason, just makes me really sad.

      Anyways, after that we get Turner/Shawn/Katy/Maya, but let's be honest, we watch this scene for Turner/Shawn. And it does not disappoint. It's amazing. When I saw your post about it, It made me wanna watch every episode with both of them. So I did. Also, character development badge for Shawn not being scared or even needing help to decide to adopt Maya, and for adopting Maya.

      Next, Amy/Alan, then Morgans (both playing Morgan, which I guess would confuse though who haven't seen the show, but I though it was pretty fun), then Feeny, (another good scene) then Eric. This Eric moment makes up for the previous one. Eric being smart and giving the best advice is something I love everytime it happens, and I'm glad they put that in the finale. I wish they'd combined Amy/Alan with Eric, with Eric giving that advice, and Alan or Amy or both saying they're proud of him. I really want them to be proud of Eric, because I am.

      Then we go to Topanga's with the GMW kids, which I don't really care about, but it truly is Rucas at it's best. Then Josh goes there for absolutely no reason. Then the BMW cast that lives in New York City arrives, they decide to stay because Topanga's is Topanga's bay window or something. Most of us knew they weren't moving, but Topanga actually followed Eric's advice, thus making the guest appearences useful, and doesn't give up Europe JUST for Riley, so 0.75 for plot.

      Then we get flashbacks to the moment from the finale with Josh, and they don't even cut out Josh's reactions, which I think they should have, but it was still pretty nice. Then we get a callback to Riley and Maya's conversation from the pilot, which was cool. Then they say "Thunder" "Lightning.", (which does NOT begin to compare to "I love you all, class dismissed", but oh well) and the show ends.

      There wasn't any really important life lesson, unless I'm missing something, which is a pity because I think they should have given us the "ultimate life lesson" of the series in the way BMW did. Still a good finale, though.

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    2. Plot: 0.75 Character Development: 1 Humor: 1 Life Lesson: 0 Total: 2.75/4

      I think it was a good finale to GMW, though I don't know if it's a good finale to all of MW, so I'm gonna give this episode a B and give MVP to Topanga and MVR (Most Valuable Realtionship) to Shawn/Turner.

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    3. Felix - the fact she gave up London for -herself- was arguably the best part of the GMW portion of the show. Yeah, the BMW cast returning was good; the two Morgans was in my opinion comedic gold, but the best part of the episode from a 'GMW possible finale' aspect, was she gave up this for herself. Not for Cory, not for Auggie, not for Riley.

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    4. True. If she had chosen not to go because "Oh, Riley and Maya were crying just from the prospect that they may or may not be separated" it would have gone against Topanga's character, good parenting, and any sort of realism, and it would have destroyed my opinion of the show. And Topanga would get LVP. But she didn't, and it was great.

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    5. "If she had chosen not to go because "Oh, Riley and Maya were crying just from the prospect that they may or may not be separated" it would have gone against Topanga's character, good parenting, and any sort of realism, and it would have destroyed my opinion of the show."

      I was surprised at the lack of crying in this episode. You would think there would be a lot of crying (from the kids) with the situation they're in. I really appreciated that Riley wasn't in her 5-year-old mode in this episode. I especially felt her maturity during the scene with Lucas--yes, very generic dialogue, but I really felt her growth there--it's too bad they made her so damn inconsistent.

      But back to the main point: I also like the fact that Topanga made the decision for herself, not for anyone else. It's really great to see her shine after doing nothing the entire show.

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  19. Now that the show is over I've been thinking about what could've been.

    I recently saw a part of Tell-Tale Tot and there's a short but funny bit between Riley and Josh:

    RILEY: Ugh Josh, you told them.
    JOSH: Told them what Riley? [speaking fast] That nothing happened? Why would I tell them that nothing happened if nothing happened why would I tell them huh???
    CORY: It's okay Josh, Maya told us.
    RILEY: What?
    TOPANGA: Maya told us everything.
    RILEY: Why?
    JOSH: I wouldn't rat you out Riley[...]

    I actually wish Josh was around more. I think he brings out a different side of Riley--he's someone older, but not /much/ older. It's too bad most of his existence had to do with Maya.

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    1. This is Cryptid.

      I completely agree with you, Jet. I think Josh adds a new dimension to Riley's character. Having said that, I'll wait to elaborate when it comes time to discuss Riley in the Top 20 Character Countdown (I'm thinking she's number seven).

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  20. The final ratings are in:

    5:30 LaM: 1.23M
    6:00 GMW: 1.64M
    6:30 Biz: 1.16M

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    1. It's a little sad how the series finale couldn't even crack two million.

      Are those ratings considered high in 2017?

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    2. Meh. From what I understand over here in the wonderful land of Oz, Disney doesn't rate traditionally nearly as high as some of the other networks. Given this, and given ratings for -all- Disney shows, maybe it is.

      Also, a lot of shows if they're cancelled whilst they're still relatively popular, actually lose ratings even for the finale. Where major ratings is usually picked up for the Finale, is if it's a show that's 'gone on too long' - so people come back for a flash to when they still enjoyed the show.

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    3. Didn't it air at like 7/6 central or something? I'm not sure I'd even left work yet. It seems clear to me they cast GMW off to die. It almost doesn't matter what its ratings were.

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    4. I'm sure you're right. Whatever we personally think about how the show had gone, whether we wanted a fourth season or not, the last thing Disney wanted after officially cancelling it, was for them to embarrassed by huge ratings. Yes, they would have claimed it as 'too little, too late' and 'people tuning in to say goodbye', and would have had certain validity, but it is still easier for them if it rates badly in the finale.

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    5. Christian, all their shows now air between 5:30 - 8:00. All the shows have been in those slots for 3 weeks and will continue for the foreseeable future.

      Also in answer to Mike's question this rating is as high as the series has gotten during the last 6 months. The ratings for all of Disney's shows have fallen off the table since the end of last spring.

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  22. I'm sorry, but I'm rewatching Brave New World (they air BMW reruns on TeenNick) right now, four days after the airing of Goodbye.... and there's just no comparison. None.

    Goodbye aired at 6/5 c. Disney's current strategy of scheduling new programming really baffles me. As if a contrived Sofia Carson movie at 9 o'clock was more important.

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    1. There -is- a comparison. Is Brave New World far superior? Undoubtedly; but there is clearly a comparison. It's even bigger with the penultimate episode of each though - where in the final minute or so of the episode, they find out Topanga's got a job offer that takes her away.

      And if nothing else, Cory's reaction show that he -has- evolved in the last 15 or so years. Unfortunately, it all seems to be off-screen.

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    2. Agreed. Perhaps my use of "no comparison" was a little hyperbolic. But just he juxtaposition of the two episodes, being able to see Brave New World again mere days after Goodbye, helped amplify the stark differences between the two.

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  23. Am I the only one bothered with the excuse for why all the characters were in the episode? It seemed weird for Topanga to make a family and friend reunion just to ask for an advice (a personal one at that, where they can't really help). I mean, some of them came from other states! Phones and Skype are a thing...

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    1. I thought that was fine. And a lot of them -did- help; the only one who probably didn't help Topanga at all was Morgan; but maybe she's still living with her parents. Something like that face-to-face was best; and the big interstate movers were Alan and Amy, and I can see them not having Skype.

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  24. Imo, the best moments in the final episode were the ones with the old cast. It kind of sums up how GMW was as a whole. It wasn't able to truly develop their younger characters so they weren't as impactful. I feel like this whole show was copying and pasting what worked in Boy and trying to make it work in Girl and most of it felt shoehorned in. It worked in Boy because we got to know the characters so the plotlines made sense. Trying to suddenly get deep when the characters haven't been going in that direction all along just doesn't work. There were really no good character arcs.

    I would have liked to see Riley and Lucas be an actual couple. The ending scene with them was as close as they got. I wish Maya had more to do than just hang around with Riley. Shawn had other friends and other activities besides just being with Cory.

    I really liked the Shawn adoption scene. I wish they had spent more time on that and made it into a bigger plot of an episode. I also loved the two Morgans. Eric was great as always, but I wish we had gotten a Feeny call.

    Overall, it was a decent episode, but a forgettable finale.

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    1. I also wished Maya had more to do than just hanging out with Riley as well. Well, she did have these two girls who she hung out with in her childhood, but she stopped hanging out with them due to her influence of Riley, in the True Maya episode. And yup, Shawn had other friends that hung out with, but he also stopped hanging out with those people as well because of Cory, and both Cory and he decided that they don't really needed other friends since they have each other to count on most. But you're right that he, at least, had other things he do without Cory, which Maya need to figure that too.

      What I don't get is that why would Riley and Maya be so explicit about their friendship, when Cory and Shawn never doubted their friendship and always knew that they would always be friends. Since Cory and Shawn always knew they would be unbreakable, and they really are unbreakable even if they are separated, so why would these girls doubt theirs now?

      What I like a development from Riley and Maya's friendship is that they need to, at least be separated from each other sometimes, and just let life goes the way it should go. From there, they might get to see if their friendship is breakable or not, rather than forcing themselves always being together and always be too codependent of each other. I mean, look at Cory and Shawn, these two were always together, but they never forced each other meeting other people or not doing other stuff without each other, and they weren't always depending on each other with some things unless one of them ask them to help. Cory and Shawn were always together and even become like brothers as they grow, but they separated themselves from one another, however, they always knew that their friendship would be forever and unbreakable. They never doubted their relationship and always let each other grow on their own. These girls need to know more about their friendship and be more confident about it.

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  25. I liked GMW. But, it's unlikely either of these last two episodes, that aired back-to-back up here, would be referenced in any defence of the series I might make in any summarizing post(s) Christian and Sean might make.

    It was nice to see the BMW characters back, but that would still be far more meaningful for you guys than for me.

    For me, this was about seeing Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter play their characters two last times. They are the reasons I watched the series, and they are the reason I wish GMW would continue.

    Interesting note about Goodbye airing down there the day your guys said goodbye to your last president. As I watching these two episodes, I was getting new flashes on my phone about the new guy banning Muslims.

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    1. Milestones - Your comments about it not being as meaningful for you is a good point, and I think overall is why GMW kinda failed. Not just in the finale, because with only a normal-sized episode, cramming all those guest stars meant we didn't really get Rowan and Sabrina one last time; but in general.

      I think they tried hard to balance the 'nostalgia' factor of BMW-veterans, with the new GMW-only fans, and they utterly failed. They should have decided from the get go what they were going for - a continuation of Cory/Topanga and friends, or 'the new generation'. Trying to satisfy both audiences meant both felt like they were getting shortchanged. I think even a lot of the BMW veterans might have actually enjoyed the series more if they let it be its own series, with just the occasional reference back, rather than the heavy-handed stuff they did, whilst claiming it was a new show.

      It's not so much the episodes with Shawn in them, or Eric in them, or what-have-you. It was the heavy handed reflection episodes, which were clearly just pandering to the success of the original show. Girl meets Ski Lodge, I'm looking at you.

      ... Down here, we here more about 'the Wall' than the banning of Muslims. Is he actually going ahead with banning them?

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    2. Shipping Wars Are StupidJanuary 28, 2017 at 7:47 AM

      The president has signed an executive order effectively banning anyone for the next three months (and will likely continue it) that come from one of seven Muslim-majority countries. The countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. After that, folks from those countries who are Christians can come over if they site religious persecution.

      He says it's to prevent terrorism but in reality, it's basically a Muslim ban.

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    3. Will, the conversation up here has mostly been about NAFTA, until today at least. I was paraphrasing a few one-line alerts, and Shipping has nicely provided the details.

      For the first four months of the year, for many years now, I supervise university students who come work for us. Mostly they are international students, and this year there a couple of Muslims in my crew. They are both really good kids, and while that doesn't really affect my apprehension of this new US policy, it sharpens my feelings about it.

      I wouldn't have brought it up other than with respect to Christian's note about finding a connection with American politics. This is a connection I wouldn't have made myself, even if it had aired on the same day up here. But that didn't stop American politics from inserting itself quite jarringly into my viewing of the finale.

      Pivoting even further back to the episode, I quite agree with you about Goodbye being another example of GMW struggling to be many things to many people.

      As Sean points toward the end of the post, we will have time later to discuss the series as a whole. But I would make a quick comment based on Christian citing Semi-Formal as the best of GMW. One of the reasons I would favour Pluto (both are Mt. Rushmore episodes for me), is that Shawn's integration into GMW if far and away the best for BMW interlopers. Eric is a distant second, and for him it was usually more of a case of GMW being integrated into his guest appearance.

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    4. This is Cryptid.

      Hi Milestones, it's been a while.

      An interesting point Milestones--I sometimes forget that there are people who were introduced to the Feeny-verse through Riley and Maya, rather than Cory and Shawn. With that in mind, I can see how this would be a bit lackluster.

      I look forward to the coming days, when we can discuss the characters in depth, and the series as a whole.

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    5. ... oh dear. Reminds me of an old Prime Minister we had here who used to go on about 'stop the boats'. He terrifies me.

      Yeah, the people who met the Feeny-verse through Riley and Maya is the main reason I would have gone for an hour, =if- they knew it was to be a finale. (Which they didn't unfortunately, but yeah...). The first half I would have had for saying goodbye to the majority of the BMW alumni, barring Cory, Topanga and maybe Shawn. The second half I would have dedicated to saying goodbye to the new cast. But yes, this is in an ideal world where they knew it was to be the last episode. Let it either be dedicated to Riley reuniting with her friends now she knows she's staying, or saying goodbye if they decide to ship them off (though I may not have done it to London if I knew this was to be the last episode - elsewhere in the States seems a more realistic candidate).

      Like Cryptid, I'm looking forward to discussion with the remainder of the character list; and then the summing up post. I'll discuss more where I think it worked, and where it didn't, then.

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    6. Y'all can't talk about anything except GMW and y'all talking about the president and personal stuff when I couldn't do that because my problems were too personal and all threads had to be GMW/BMW related, right, CHRISTIAN?!👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹😒😒😒😒😒😒😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😕😕😕😕😕👹👹👹👹👹👹😒😒😒😒😒😒

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    7. Cryptid, Will, I look forward to these discussions as well.

      James, I feel just terrible.

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    8. Will van Roekel-"Trying to satisfy both audiences meant both felt like they were getting shortchanged."

      Actually, there's a very easy way they could have satisfied both audiences. BMW frequently had multiple plotlines in each episode. Often it was Cory/Topanga/Shawn and a subplot with Eric, although there were different variations. Instead of giving subplots to Auggie and Ava, the show should have given subplots to Cory and Topanga or other members of the older generation. It would be similar to the episodes were the subplot went to Turner/Feeny/Eli. They could have balanced older generation and younger generation, but they didn't. Shows with plotlines that appealed to kids and their parents used to be more common.

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    9. Kit wrote - "They could have balanced older generation and younger generation, but they didn't."

      I'm pretty sure the reason they didn't do that is because they were on Disney. The only Disney show I remember doing this was Good Luck Charlie.

      I pointed out in a post 2 weeks ago that part of the reason Disney cancelled GMW wasn't because it wasn't attracting enough viewers, it was because it wasn't attracting enough of the right viewers. They were 3rd on the network with the youngest kids and 5th with the real demographic Disney wants, tweens. The show was already skewing too old for them. C&T plotlines probably would have resulted in cancellation of the show after the second season.

      Disney isn't looking to get "us" to watch their shows, as we aren't buying the products advertised on their network. I'm sure Jacobs and the writers had to contend with this among other things.

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  26. Thanks milestones1958.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

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  27. One point about some of the complaining I've seen about the Feeny/Eric scene in Girl Meets Goodbye. There seems to be some speculation that 'something happened' between the two characters in the intervening 17 years since Brave New World. I don't think so, I think the writers just wanted to hit on the comedy side of their relationship and "I'm not talking to you!" was their way of doing it. Besides that, there's the fact that the episode wasn't about Eric and Feeny, it was about Topanga's decision (which was annoying only because this is the third time they've fallen back on that plot point. Why couldn't it have been Cory who had a lucrative job offer in another state?) and the GMW characters. Also, Eric and Feeny had their moment in BMW, two of them actually. One came in Brave New World, of course, and the other came when Eric was accepted to college and when he thanked Feeny for his help Feeny responds with the classic "It's what I do." There really isn't much more you can say about the great relationship those two had on BMW.

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    1. I'm inclined to agree. I've seen a lot of speculation about the meaning of that scene and even convoluted theories about what the cause was... I don't think it meant anything.

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    2. Shipping Wars Are StupidJanuary 29, 2017 at 9:31 AM

      Agreed.

      It was a gag.

      Nothing more. Nothing less.

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    3. This is Cryptid.

      Well, nothing of any actual substance happened.

      I'm sticking with my earlier statement--Feeny did something completely trivial, like take the last cookie from the cookie jar that Eric had "dibs" on, and Eric is just being Eric about it.

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    4. Hi Cryptid, naturally I bring the least amount of authority to this topic. I had re-watched Brave New World just before watching Sweet Sixteen/Goodbye, and I still couldn't have said with certainty whether or not there was any unresolved issue between them, though it seemed unlikely. I wasn't really wondering anyway. It did just look like a bit they were doing.

      Maybe the actors worked out a backstory for themselves, and, as you suggest, it probably would have been something trivial.

      It didn't really bother me that there was a cavalcade of BMW characters in the middle of the GMW finale. But as the time was winding down, and the opportunity to spend time with my favourite characters was coming to a close, I regarded with great displeasure the insertion of clips from the BMW finale, and a cameo by the original Josh.

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