Saturday, October 28, 2023

A Long Walk to Brooklyn

 In the dim mood-light of Threes Brewing, Christian began to drink his first whiskey and ginger ale of the evening. Over-priced, but silent. Sudden frantic knocking on the side door of the bar shook Christian from his reverie. No one else reacted to it, perhaps he was going mad. Nevertheless, Christian approached the door with trepidation, as well as a certain excitement. He opened the side door in one swift motion to discover Sean, soaked from the still pouring rain, standing in an out-of-place yard to the side of the bar. 

No one will ever see this but we did finally get to meet in person! I definitely recommend the experience.

Oh, I was already on my second bourbon and ginger ale of the evening. 

Yeah! So, for context: for those who weren't aware, Sean and I did not know each other from our regular lives when doing this blog. He's from Florida, I'm from Chicago. I'd been wishin' and hopin' and prayin' for a sequel series for Boy Meets World my whole life and when I finally heard we were getting one, I started consuming BMW content on the internet at a wild rate which led me to Sean's blog Boy Meets World Reviewed which I regularly followed and commented on.

Then Girl Meets World came out and it was.... meh. Not terrible, and with moments of promise and two talented young leads, but not great, and not what I was hoping for. But I couldn't find the kind of reviews I wanted for it. Reviews from real outlets that were written by critics that maybe only had passing familiarity with the OG show, were largely dismissive, deriding the nostalgia bait, the glut of mid-2010s sequel series, and the childishness. On the otherside, there were more amateur reviews by BMW obsessives or Disney Channel obsessives, who had only glowing unnuanced reviews. There was nothing from what I felt was my own point of view: someone who loved Boy Meets World very much and would come into it with that perspective, but was also prepared to take a clear-eyed look at the show. 

So Girl Meets World Reviewed was born, its name taken as an homage to Sean's Boy Meets World Reviewed, which I think in turn comes from a Full House Reviewed blog. His blog finished up not long after GMW began, and since he and I had already communicated a little in the comments section of this blog (and because I have a habit of not finishing things I start and knew I'd probably give it up by season's end if I didn't have a partner in crime) I invited him to do it with me and the rest is history.

Fastforward 6 or 7 years later: I've gotten married, moved to New York City, and am a soon-to-be-father. (Just call me Cory!) Sean has recently gotten his doctorate at Dartmouth and is going to be in Brooklyn for a work conference. (Just call him... I dunno, if Topanga had gone to Yale?) and the time was finally nigh!

It was great catching up with Sean, and if anybody is even reading this, it's great catching up with you. Y'all listening to Pod Meets World? If they're reading this, we're totally down to come on.