Good episode, that Jexica, but I think I liked this one even more. Also, this show has a habit of making a funny joke and then going just one line too far where the funniness gets negated. For instance, Maya says Riley's name is "a trick so people think she's cute." that's funny. When Riley responds to this by resting her cheeks on her hands and exclaiming "I'm Riley!" that's real funny. When Maya says "See, it worked, and now I want to squeeze your cheeks!" I feel like they just explained to me a joke because they didn't trust me to get it. A good example of how you should do a joke is the fact that the Spanish teacher, who speaks Spanish well and looks Spanish, is named "Ms. Feinstein-Chang" suggesting that's actually half-Jewish and half-Chinese. They never point out how weird it is that her name is Feinstein-Chang when she seems Spanish. It's just there. Of course, I think Community may have a copyright on a Spanish teacher named Chang.
First off, I really liked that the thing Riley was bad at and Maya was good at was Spanish. It's something they'd believably just be discovering now since a lot of students only started foreign language in high school (well, at least, they do in my day, I have a hunch that's less true for kids now with how the world is changing.) In my experience, though, foreign language is exactly the kind of thing that people who ordinarily good students just can't wrap their heads around, and people who are ordinarily not very good students can pick up. It's a completely different skill, and I think that's why they always say you got to get to kids young with second languages while their brain is still developing. Case in point was my sister and I. I was always a pretty smart kid, and I'm one of those lucky people who happen to test very well, so I generally coasted through school without applying myself much. But in high school I took French and I just could not get it. I worked my ass off and was lucky to get C's on tests. I was fine when it was stuff like translating specific nouns and verbs, ("pomme de terre" means "potato"? Fine, I'll remember that) but the moment you had to actually conjugate and form whole sentences I was completely out of my depth. I never ever took to it no matter how hard I worked, my brain just didn't work in whatever way allows that to make sense to you and so I took only the bear minimum to graduate and actually purposefully went to a college that didn't have a mandatory foreign language program because I knew it would torpedo my GPA. My sister meanwhile, though also smart in her way, was a horrible student. Eric-level bad. But she's picked up enough Spanish to be conversant in it just by working in restaurants and listening to bus boys. So, that really rang true for me. And the explanation that Maya lives in predominantly Spanish neighborhood makes a lot of sense, and is an obvious reason why the more scholarly Riley Matthews of Greenwich Village is more disadvantaged from her gentrified Bay Window perch.
I am not one to plan heavily for the future, but I do know that if I ever have children, it's going to be a big priority for me to get them involved in learning foreign languages young. I encourage you all to do the same! Don't let them be like me, wishing they could, and knowing they'll never be able to.
Okay, back to the show! Also, it's just a good episode. It's funny, and I like the lesson. And I like that finally FINALLY FINALLY Cory is acknowledged as still having a thing or two to learn about being a teacher himself. I'm really glad that the Spanish teacher (who is the BEST example of a teacher on this show so far) wasn't sacrificed at Cory's altar. She was right, he was wrong, he fought her, she won, he knew it. And the thing is Cory came off as a better character because of it. We're not going to like him less because he gets it wrong sometimes. We watched him get it wrong every week for seven years. We like to watch Cory learn lessons. And he works better when he's self-effacing and imperfect and trying to figure things out. No one likes this smug "Aren't I just the wisest wiseman?" guy with his fortune cookie wisdom. Anyway, I hope we see more of Feinstein-Chang though she's actually a pretty stilted actress which is unusual for adult actors on this.
It was also just fun to see Maya having succeeded and her fondness for her A was a fun bit. It was fun to see Zay succeed to, though I would have liked more explanation there. It made sense that Maya would be better than Riley at Spanish, but like.... this isn't a new untested sport, this is baseball, which we know Lucas plays and is very good at. Why would he suddenly be bad? Why would Zay, without practicing or working at or showing any talent thus far, suddenly be better than him? It should be instead that they were, like, playing tennis for the first time, and Zay is apparently a tennis whiz and Lucas just can't get it.
You... probably coulda not subtitled "Gracias" and "De nada" between Topanga and Ms. Kosher-Eggroll, show, I think we know that one.
Weird that Farkle stopped by Riley's apartment for a 30-second conversation. I always hate that on shows. People drop by on TV for the briefest fucking conversations. You should just open the scene with them already there, so it was like they were already hanging out, or else have them just stay when the scene ends.
Ah, the old "Someone doesn't speak a foreign language well and they substituted a goofy word for the word they meant!" bit makes an appearance right at the end. Was wondering when you'd turn up, you ol' TV staple. They even got Tyrion Fucking Lannister pulling you these days.
Episode Review: B+ (I really liked the plot and the lesson, and they did good stuff with Cory as a teacher, and I was into all that, but it still had that uncomfortable air of sanctimony at times that we all recoil at in GMW and as this review went on I noticed I kept pointing out things I was iffy on)
Episode MVP: Sabrina Carpenter (though Ben Savage was close!)
There were a lot of funny moments but Christian explained the problem very well. They almost always take it one or two lines too far.
Cory's humor in this series is totally binary. "Ed's Learnin' Hole"? Hysterical. I laughed out loud. "I'm the best there is!" Not even remotely funny. In the same scene. How do they do that? How do they hit a home run and then 0-3 strike out in the exact same scene? It's almost impressive.
They nailed some huge points for me. Riley is bad at something. Cory isn't the best teacher (though they still couldn't resist telling us how good he is). Lucas continues to lose his status. Also there's a SHIT ton of overshirts in this episode, everybody's got two or more shirts on, and that really brings me back to the Boy Meets World glory days.
I don't have anything meaningful to add to what Christian said except for the thing about overshirts and the fact that I nailed French. Ugh, here it is again at the end, Cory shows his humility but Riley jumps in with that "You always have been!" Like COME ON, can we get ONE MOMENT of genuine humility for Cory? ONE MOMENT without people reminding us he's the realest hardcore thug on the streets? Damn.
The writers are getting closer. I think we can all agree on that. They're getting closer.
Guys, I think we just got two good episodes in a row. For the first time in what feels like forever. I liked this episode. It had the same feel as "Jexica". Very light, but this time, they were able to have a lesson that felt very real. On top of that, they didn't really need Cory to teach it, because he was learning as well. I completely agree that we need to see some more of that, because Cory is at his best when he stumbles, falls, and dusts himself off as he gets better. I also liked that scene in the hall between him and Riley. It felt like the writers wanted us to see that Cory and Riley are almost in the same exact spot, and they'll have to navigate high school together. Really smart.
ReplyDeleteI know why they called this "Permanent Record", but I like how they explained that they meant collegiate transcripts. Sure, its a bit simplified, but I think it worked. The way they used this episode to kind of break Riley down a bit, to build her back up, was really interesting to watch. One of the few times where the real world hit her, and she had no idea how to react. And I liked how that premise extended to the B plot. I'm a huge sports fan, and in a sport like baseball it is very common for one day someone hitting everything in sight, and the very next day, the ball is a blur. And the same can be said for Zay. One day, you wake up and everything clicks. It happens. We are finally seeing Lucas struggle, and it's been sorely needed. On top of that, though, they both get put on JV at the end. Which was perfect, imo. Because it shows that even though they had different practice experiences, they still have to earn it. Also, as a side note, I'm liking this new "confused" Lucas. He's getting some good punch lines, and he's nailing them.
I really liked Maya this episode. It was fun to see her achieve some scholastic success, and how excited everyone was for her. Best part was she looked genuinely happy about it. Topanga calling her "her new daughter" is exactly how I'd expect Topanga to react to Maya's A and Riley's D.
My one complaint, and its small, is that I wish they had established this supposed academic success that Riley had in middle school on the show, and not just bring it up in this episode. I mean, on BMW, we had a running counter of Topanga's A's. And that's because she kept track of them, and was a part of her character. I had no idea what kind of student Riley was before tonight, and I think that's a failure on the writer's part.
Episode Grade: B
Solid episode, with some really fun moments, and good scenes. The lesson was delivered really well, and it was good to see Cory get knocked down a little bit.
Episode MVP: Sabrina Carpenter. Tie for 2nd between Rowan Blanchard and Ben Savage. All could be MVP, honestly.
In fairness, they had established Riley was a good student early on. It came up a lot in the pilot, and then in the first episode with Minkus, he and Topanga get competitive over who has more A's, Riley or Farkle.
DeleteBut it hasn't come up in a while, once Riley was established as being less a mix of Cory and Topanga and more a mix of Cory and... Eric. I actually appreciated them remembering that Riley's actually supposed to be a straight A student.
Riley is a straight A student, and it actually may be veiled commentary on how middle school is actually really easy. And we usually only saw Cory's class, which was even easier.
DeleteSo Riley is a straight A student, who's never actually had a particularly challenging class. Maya's a terrible student, but the Spanish class is "back-to-basics," so it fits well for her, and she did grow up in a neighborhood where quite a few Spanish-speakers lived, so she took to it.
I really hope this show is following the example of Boy Meets World in regards to the move to High School. In both shows the middle school part was rather childish and moralistic, BMW got more teenagey and complex and less preachy when it went to High School, became the show that I loved. So yeah, so far GMW seems to be going in that direction. Hope I'm not wrong.
DeleteThat was horrible spanish!!!, Maya's was better compared to that teacher ¬¬ So many spanish speaking people in LA and they couldn't find someone who speaks it fluently!! Seriously!! D:<
ReplyDeleteAs a person whose first language is Spanish, I totally agree with you. The teacher was terrible!
DeleteGood review Christian. While I found Jexica funnier, and a bit more Riley-centric, you brought up a good point. This episode is going to have a VERY long shelf-life and high re-watch value.
ReplyDeleteOver on Reddit, several people said they wished they had seen this episode, saying it may have encouraged them to continue their harder classes.
When Shipping and I were kids, we lived in a town that had a ton of Spanish-speakers, but our school system was so mediocre, and the local middle school was terrible, so our parents transferred us to another school in a town a few miles away. And then we moved across the country a couple years later.
I took French in middle school and it was almost entirely vocabulary. I don't remember a darned thing about what I learned in that class.
When we got to go to the local prep school, we had our choice of foreign language: Spanish, French, or Latin.
I struggled in Spanish class when I was in high school, and it didn't help matters that in my state, the grades are on an eight point system, not ten. While that might not seem like much, it means that anything lower than a seventy-seven is a D. I worked my fingers to the bone to scrape a B in that class, and even then it was a very low B.
So, I don't think I've ever empathized more with Riley Matthews than I did in this episode, so I am predisposed to like it.
I liked Riley's despair at getting her first bad mark, and I liked how she kept trying to get better, but it didn't seem like it was working. Progress in a new subject can often be very slow.
And seeing Maya succeed and being overjoyed by it was nice--apparently, she never even got an A from Cory. Would have loved to see Katy's reaction--but we'll get her next week, so yay.
I loved the Spanish teacher. She was no-nonsense, but still approachable and personable. She had complete control of her classroom and she wasn't afraid to put Cory in his place. It's fun to see that Cory doesn't know much about this new environment.
I also liked Topanga's conversation with her--although we don't always see Topanga mother Riley, (And I was really hoping we'd get that here) it is clear Topanga does know what's best for Riley.
Her thanking the teacher for challenging her daughter to grow? That was channeling Alan Matthews, that was. I don't think I've enjoyed Topanga this much since the show began.
DeleteThat's not to say that there weren't missteps. Friar and Farkle's crises felt much smaller than Riley's. Farkle is still brilliant, and Isadora being in the class does not change that. And he's in Honors Chemistry as a FRESHMAN. Not even the most brilliant kids at the "Cryptid-Shipping WArs Prep School" did that.
And Friar...well, Friar is my least favorite out of the main cast, so while I enjoyed watching him be aghast at how he isn't being lauded as the greatest thing that has ever existed is amusing, it takes up too much time.
Yeah, this was the first time I found that six was too many. i think I would have preferred seeing Riley have more attempts to try to improve. Her staying up all night was nice, and we did actually see her try, and her asking for a second chance or extra credit was all good (her not getting those second chances was even better), but I think I would have liked seeing Riley ask for help from her friends other than Maya.
Farkle is multi-lingual (which will make world domination easier, I must admit) but if I recall, it's rooted mostly in the Scandinavian and Eastern European languages.
I think I'd rather have seen Riley try to get help from Isadora.
I'm very fond of Isadora, and while she was hilarious in this episode, I'd have liked to see a bit more of her rapport with Riley. Despite her being in the main group now, we haven't yet seen Isadora help anybody. And that might be something a little foreign to her since she came from the hyper-competitive Einstein Academy, where it was every student for themselves.
As for the scene at the end...it was a pretty sweet sentiment, with Farkle and Riley telling each other that "you're still you," regardless of the Permanent Record, but I do agree, it wasn't completely necessary to have Farkle pop in and then pop back out.
Oh, and did anyone else notice that in that scene, Riley had her hair in the same style she did in "Cory and Topanga," the last episode where she questioned whether what she was doing was good enough?
Overall, a solid episode.
Grade: B+
MVP: Christian made a good case for Sabrina, but I think I want to give it to Danielle Fischel.
Awesome Scene of Awesome: Definitely the scene where Topanga spoke to Ms. Feinstein-Chang
- I agree with wanting a scene between Riley and Smackle. Their interactions are always really fun, I like the dynamic.
Delete- I noticed Riley's hair style too! It reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if anyone watches. Whenever there was a weird spell and Buffy was possessed or whatnot she'd always have the same curly/crimped hairstyle, actually quite similar to Riley's in this episode. I was wondering if they were setting up the same thing here.
Yeah, Topanga got to be funny and actually be Topanga like being able to tell it was a genuine A and telling Riley "Let's just see how it goes." Maybe my line of the episode.
DeleteSecond is probably Smackle's "Not in front of Lucas" to Zay.
Isadora "misinterpreting" Zay and Lucas flirting with her is always a hoot, and I'm actually starting to think it may be deliberate on her part.
DeleteAlso, apparently Isadora calls Riley "Bubbles." While the nickname certainly fits, I wonder whether or not there's a story behind it.
And yes, more Riley-Isadora scenes. More scenes with a mis-match of the group. Isadora does well with Riley and Maya, maybe we could get an episode with just the girls interacting. A lot of us have said we wanted a Mother-Daughter Episode; I could watch a Girl's Day Out Episode.
Cryptid456-"Her thanking the teacher for challenging her daughter to grow? That was channeling Alan Matthews, that was. I don't think I've enjoyed Topanga this much since the show began."
DeleteI agree. I want to see more of this Topanga. There's no reason why they can't have her in Riley's stories. I hope they do more episodes like this one.
Smackle "came from the hyper-competitive Einstein Academy, where it was every student for themselves."
Farkle should have expected something like this. She was coming from a very demanding private school. It's almost natural that she would better prepared for high school academically. The big question, and I really hope we get an in-universe explanation for this, is why her parents switched her from a private school to a public school for high school. There are many logical in-universe reasons that would make sense, but I want a canon answer from the writers.
"A lot of us have said we wanted a Mother-Daughter Episode; I could watch a Girl's Day Out Episode."
I would love a Girl's Day Out Episode, as long the other plot is a Guy's Day Out. It would be fun to see how Lucas, Zay, and Farkle interact with each other when the girls are not around.
After enjoying Jexica more than I thought I would, I had moderately high expectations for Permanent Record. I have heard people say Jexica is the best episode of the series-it's not. Top 10 for sure, but not the best. It was such a breath of relief from major drama....And I agree with Christian. This episode's better.
ReplyDeletePositives: Riley sucks at Spanish. Maya's good at it! I love it. And I liked how Riley didn't do the whole "Whoa is me, Maya should suck at this." Boy Meets World did that with Cory every time Shawn was good at something and it got really old, really quick.
I loved Cory here. This was the best I've seen Cory the Teacher, talking to other adults like a goddamn adult. There was no "MasterPlan Puppetry" here. It was a tough teacher, and Riley had to learn that the only way to beat it, was to get her shit together. And it was very good that she didn't become perfect. I'd love to see more of that please.
More positives: Smackle. What a gem. I adore her character. I loved seeing her be friends with Zay. I also liked Zay and Maya's handshake.
The other two "I'm not the best anymore" stories were really all that interesting. Seeing Lucas whine about being a loser is funny but saying that his "girlfriend" is a loser too seems a tad out of character.
The Farkle/Riley scene. The shippers will adore it. I liked it and it felt authentic but I think it would have benefited from Farkle staying to help Riley study. Otherwise, why'd he come over a 70 second chat.
Holy fuck. Guys. We had two episodes in a row where they didn't cry. WHOOOOOAAA, when was the last time that happened?
This episode was relatable to me because I had trouble with French in high school. I wasn't terrible at writing it, but I stunk at speaking French. I am eternally grateful that my teacher made me get a tutor from the National Honor Society. Why was that not an option? I liked seeing Maya help but sometimes having an older student help you can make a big difference.
Grade: B+/A-
MVP: Ben Savage
I thought this was a really sweet, cute episode, and honestly not as sanctimonious as I was expecting it to be.
ReplyDeleteLots of great moments:
- Maya getting the A. She looked so happy!
- Maya and Zay's handshake. And Lucas and Riley not being able to replicate it was funny, because it was so clearly not something Lucas wanted to do. Riley cares a lot about what people think. Lucas isn't that insecure. So it was a nice subtle reminder of that.
- Lucas & Zay both making JV was nice. Zay might've had a good day, and Lucas might've been off his game, but they were both essentially around the same skill level. Now, Zay will have to work harder to keep up with his teammates, and Lucas will have to work harder to retain his skills instead of relying on his natural abilities.
- Cory was great in this episode.
Grade: A (top ten episode for me)
MVP: Ben Savage, but Rowan Blanchard impressed me a lot too.
• It's always nice to see a different classroom. It's always better than Mr. Matthews's classroom. Spanish was no exception.
ReplyDelete• I don't think 6 is too many as someone has suggested. I said this back in GM High School but I just don't find a Farkle/Lucas pairing exactly believable, so Zay and Smackle really add a balance there.
• Speaking of the 6, yyyyaaaaaaaayyyyy! to seeing them simply hanging out at the bakery and at Riley's. Something's different about these kinds of scenes in Season 3, I guess they just don't feel as forced.
• The scene with the 6 in Riley's room is another reason why I think the 6 of them are perfect. I agree with those who are saying that they should explore different relationships more, like Riley and Smackle. The reason why the cast of Disney's I Didn't Do It had such great chemistry was because every single episode, there was an A-B(-C) plot structure and the pairings/groups would be switched pretty much every single week.
• I wasn't looking forward to Topanga's "Maya's my new daughter!" thing after seeing it in the promo, but I enjoyed the scene. This is definitely Topanga's best season.
• Speaking of Topanga, I liked seeing her going to the Spanish teacher. I actually wasn't expecting to see it after they already had Cory did it.
• I actually liked Cory's scene with the teacher more than Topanga's. I guess it was just nice to see him get shut down for his methods for once (Marley doesn't count, she's not even an authority figure). Both scenes were good, though.
• I loved the short bit with Riley and Cory in the hallway. Someone else worded it perfectly: they're both navigating Abigail Adams High together.
• Liked the scene with Riley getting shut down for attempting to ask about extra credit. It's one of the few moments where these characters /don't/ get it their way.
• I agree with everyone who thought that having Farkle come in for a minute-long conversation was a little dumb. They did the same thing in Jexica with Cory's entire class lasting 2-3 minutes. I still enjoyed the scene. Farkle aside, it's kind of nice to see a Riley scene /without/ Maya attached to her hip.
• "The potato am a good sailboat." After watching the episode, for some reason, I couldn't help but think about the astronaut and the squirrel (?) from Demolition. Ohhhh Gooodddd, imagine the writers tweeting about that.
• I don't think I've seen anyone mention this, but I really didn't like how they ended the episode in Cory's classroom. To be honest, I don't actually remember what Cory even said in that scene, but I remember thinking the scene seemed unnecessary. It reminds me of back in Sneak Attack, when Cory gave a personal lesson in detention. My head hurts thinking about that episode. I wish I could say the show has come a long way since that episode, but it's only been 2 solid episodes in a row.
• Loved how the episode ended on a little joke (Maya: Help me in every other class), just like Jexica ended with the girls watching a video. It's just.. a nice change from ending episodes with an oh-so-deep conversation and silence transitioning to Michael Jacobs Productions music.
After my first viewing, I think I still liked Jexica better. But having evaluated this episode, this episode was better imo. Jexica had "We'll be right back with our lesson!" and Maya's southern accent and some other extremely cringeworthy moments. Only cringey thing here was the repetition of "permanent record."
I forgot to mention:
Delete• "Quadrilateral!"
• "She was at school early, like a good teacher." Enter Cory.
"Speaking of the 6, yyyyaaaaaaaayyyyy! to seeing them simply hanging out at the bakery and at Riley's. Something's different about these kinds of scenes in Season 3, I guess they just don't feel as forced."
DeleteThis is definitely something I've appreciated in both "Jexica" and this episode: they're finally showing the kids hanging out, doing homework, and being kids. Sean's point about Season 2 still sticks with me that we hadn't seen up to this point any of them having fun, so I'm glad they're starting to pick that up.
Jet- "The scene with the 6 in Riley's room is another reason why I think the 6 of them are perfect. I agree with those who are saying that they should explore different relationships more, like Riley and Smackle."
DeleteI agree. It would be great if the writers would experiment with different combinations. What if Maya and Smackle were partners for a class project, and Riley had to work to with Zay. That would leave Farkle and Lucas, which sounds right for some reason.
somer-"they're finally showing the kids hanging out, doing homework, and being kids."
I agree with 100%. Not every episode has to be relationship drama or a super important life lesson. Some episodes can deal with teen life, and the small lessons you learn as you grow up.
I think the difference is that we're seeing plots a bit more independent of Cory's classroom. We've seen them do his homework assignments plenty of times, but it was tied tight into the life lessons. We saw them do Harper's assignments too, and they were likewise hard to separate from the life lessons at hand.
DeleteIn the last two episodes, we had plots where the specific classroom used wasn't particularly important. "Jexica" was all about leisure and most of the scenes moved independently of the classroom. Here, it was that Riley was struggling in a specific class; it was her Spanish class, but the general A-plot could have just as easily been told if she were struggling in a Honors Science or Math class while Smackle and Farkle took to it more easily.
Maya and Smackle teamed up for a class project? An excellent idea, seeing as they haven't interacted much. But I can't help but think they'll kill each other.
Cryptid456- "Maya and Smackle teamed up for a class project? An excellent idea, seeing as they haven't interacted much. But I can't help but think they'll kill each other."
DeleteThat's kind of the point. How do you work with someone who is completely different from you and values totally different things? It's a lesson about working together and how to get along with people.
I really liked this one. It reminded me that Girl Meets World is a sitcom not just a melodrama.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really liked and hope to see more of is Cory interacting with the kids before class and not in the middle of a class. It's not exactly Feeny giving advice at the fence, but I'll take it.
"I really liked this one. It reminded me that Girl Meets World is a sitcom not just a melodrama."
DeleteMe too! I hope the writers remember they're supposed to be writing fun sitcom with the occasional life lesson, not a soapy melodrama.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt may not have been quite as solidly put together as Jexica, but it was another well-made episode. As much as I enjoyed it, I wonder if, to 12-year-olds, it felt like a half-hour exhortation to do their homework.
ReplyDeleteIn one episode of Community, Chang is revealed to come from a Jewish family, or, if that memory is faulty, certainly to have a Jewish brother. As a Community reference, it was nicely detailed and subtle. It would also turn out he knew little Spanish and confessed to teaching them Klingon for a while.
After finishing this episode, I knew I liked it. One thing that struck me was wondering whether Topanga's hair was ever like that in BMW, I thought it was at one point, but maybe not. I LOVED the fact that there was no "extra credit or retake" (see Austin and Ally, GLC and other shows), because that would've been so predictable and a Disney moment, I am glad that the writers went that way and were allowed to do that. I liked the bit at the end only because it established that Riley still has a way to go.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the review, and really appreciated the remembrances and musings about both the challenges and importance of learning a second language.
ReplyDeleteMy junior-high and high-school French experience was similar to Christian’s. Except for the working my ass off bit. I always tried to coast.
I would later, through the military, spend about a year where learning French was my job, and did pretty well for someone laughed at during the placement evaluation. I was then posted to Montreal, and quickly realized that my grade meant nothing. So, I took some evening continuing education classes at McGill, made a point of using French with the more patient of my francophone co-workers, and by the end of my two years there was functionally bilingual. (Or so I tested out. My last week, I made a call and got halfway through “bonjour” when a child dropped the phone and went screaming to his mother that an Anglais was on the line.) Though I knew I would regret it, and do, I have let my skills atrophy over twenty plus years since.
I took first-year Russian at university and had an easier time with it. Much easier actually, receiving the only academic award of my life, a book prize from an endowment no longer sufficient to cover the cost of a hardcover book to present as an award. But that was a far as I got with it, knew I would regret not continuing with it, and do.
It's never too late to learn Milestones. Shipping and I have no talent for foreign languages, but we have a aunt and uncle who are trilingual. They were raised English speakers, but can speak Spanish and Serbian. And they didn't learn Serbian until just a few years ago.
DeleteCryptid, that’s interesting and hopeful. Maybe when/if I retire, I will take some classes. But Christian is dead on that it is way better to start young. Everyone I know who is a) smart and b) a parent has their school-age kids in French Immersion.
DeleteI probably should mention that my aunt and uncle are missionaries--they picked up the languages through complete immersion.
DeleteThey spent about a decade in Venezuela and then came home for a few years. Their kids lost their fluency in Spanish, but I'm betting the ability is dormant, rather than lost forever. They went to Serbia a little more than three years ago and picked the language up fast.
... maybe. I lived in the Netherlands for about 4 years, and could speak, from what I understand, reasonably fluent Dutch at the time. Since leaving there, I've forgotten all but a handful of phrases, even after going back to the Netherlands to visit some old friends.
DeleteMind you, I'm really bad at picking up languages. But yes, it's certainly possible it's dormant; but it's also possible it's gone, and they'd have to relearn from scratch.
Overall, I liked the episode. I did have a problem with the early part of the episode. I didn't like the idea that everyone agreed Riley wouldn't get into a good college because of one bad grade. There should have been one character who said, something like "one bad grade on a test isn't that a big a deal/you still have plenty of time to earn good grades and have a strong finish," or something more supportive early on. I do like the way the episode ended, and I really hope we see more of the spanish teacher.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Topanga say something like "One bad grade won't really hurt you but if you get a bad semester grade, then it will affect you."
DeleteYeah, Shipping's right, they mentioned that it was the final grade of the class that was really important. One little blip doesn't mean much.
DeleteI sort of felt everyone else was messing with her/ playing into her overly dramatic response to a bad grade.
DeleteI couldn't tell if they were messing with her or not, and that bothered me a little.
DeleteI don't think they were messing with her--Farkle and Friar were both concerned about their own futures. Friar in particular tried to draw attention away from grades...which could mean something in itself.
DeleteIt wouldn't surprise me to find out that Lucas has only done well in school because teachers kept massaging his grades so that he could stay on the sports teams.
Maya was outraged that grades in middle school mean squat as far as colleges are concerned and she could have done nothing whatsoever. So while the scene did seem to pile on Riley, and didn't mention until the end that Maya is struggling in every single class except Art and Spanish.
Isadora might have been messing with Riley and Farkle, but I doubt she'd be able to do that without breaking face halfway through the facade and asking what should she say next.
I actually think Topanga and Cory were messing with her - just a little bit. They definitely do agree that every exam means something, but I think they were exaggerating slightly in the first scene. Especially Topanga. "Then I'll be your daughter again?" "We'll see."
DeleteIt's actually a shame they didn't mention art; because the way the episode panned out, she's either not doing it, or is struggling in that. Riley asks for Maya's help in Spanish, and Maya mentions she needs Riley's help in everything else. Then again, in my experience, subjects like art you're either good at, or you're not. I wasn't; so I dropped it as soon as I could.
I liked the episode; but don't really have a lot to say about it. I actually did like Riley relying mainly on Maya for help on Spanish in regards to the other kids, as that's pretty much the only time Riley will ever need Maya's help, academically. There'll be plenty of things that Farkle could help Riley in.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing with Zay and Lucas just confused me though. I could see Zay not making the cut. But Lucas to be, as it appears, laughed off the football team did't make sense. For Zay to be so much better at baseball than Lucas, when we've had previous times to say that Lucas is good at baseball, was silly. Farkle and Smackle - meh. I would have liked to have seen that Farkle was better than her at one subject - English, or History; which is more than just being 'smart' would be an obvious one. (Smarts help; but it's not like science for example, where the facts are everything).
I did like Topanga's classroom scene though. That, and the following home scene, reinforces the 'team effort' that Cory and Topanga have supposedly learned; and which has been making an appearance so far this season.
am I the only one that feels the scene between Roley and Farkle is just another foreshadow for them to end up together. I swear we get more moments between these two than either of the girls get with Lucas... and I think it's intentional.
ReplyDeleteI'm not super into shipping, but I agree with you. From the first episode I saw Riley and Farkle as Cory and Topanga 2.0. It didn't turn out to be that type of relationship, but I do think they may end up together at the end of the series, mainly because I also want Lucas and Maya to be a couple. Lucas and Maya are a couple from an old movie, like "His Girl Friday".
DeleteI don't really "ship." But I'm pretty good at picking up clues for how the show is going. I knew that the ********** would ********** at the end of How I Met Your Mother. Based on what I see, Farkle and Riley will end up together. Will we actually see it? Not sure. I'd actually like to see a plotline where Riley asks Farkle out and he turns her down......The chemistry between Rowan Blanchard and Corey Fogelmanis is the best male/female for the kids on the show which helps significantly.
DeleteWhile the chemistry between the actors is palpable, I don't know if I actually see Riley and Farkle getting together. And, speaking for myself, after this Triangle ends, I would rather see a nice string of episodes where Riley has no romantic interest whatsoever.
DeleteAs it stands right now, the only way I see Riley and Farkle ending up together is if they pull a "Wonder Years" scenario and we flash-foward and the person we THOUGHT would end up with Riley turns out not be the One, but Farkle did.
That being said, I am perfectly fine with Farkle becoming Riley's confidant. In fact, that might even be better. I'm very fond of the trope "Platonic Life Partners."
Warning: TV Tropes can be addictive.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlatonicLifePartners
To me, Lucas and Maya are the Topanga and Cory. The usual make fun of you in early middle school, start to see you as a romantic interest, how about we date now... That's how Cory and Topanga went. Riley went full-on crush-at-first-sight, and Farkle did the whole one-sided-love-with-my-best-friend deal (my favourite, by the way).
DeleteThat being said, as this is Disney and boy/girl relationships make up a lot of the storylines, i feel the only way to get Uriah whatshisname on my tv screen is to have Maya pine for him for three more grades. Don't disappoint me, Disney.
As long as we don't retcon it to them -always- being in love with each other at some point...
DeleteThat being said, I was for Lucas/Maya before the triangle. Now I'd actually prefer Lucas got tossed off by both girls. Yes, I think he's made a choice about who he wants - but that makes his procrastinating about saying anything even worse. And if he really is still confused? Then yeah; people who say he doesn't like either of them enough are right.
I'm inclined to agree with Will. I haven't been one for "shipping" in quite some time--seeing as it can ruin the fandom of shows...try looking ANYWHERE in the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom that doesn't revolve shipping.
DeleteAnd even if we weren't in this Triangle, I wouldn't want either girl to end up with Lucas because where's the growth in that? Riley needs to grow, and Maya needs to grow, and neither of them can reach close to their full potential if there's even a chance of a romance with Friar.
Hindsight's twenty-twenty, but sometimes I think it may have been interesting to see Maya as someone who swore off romantic love altogether after her parents divorced. It was annoying as hell when it was College-Aged Topanga, but it would be rather interesting, nay heart-breaking, to see it as a character trait in a girl whose father abandoned her mother when she was small.
Even with Topanga, at least for me, it wasn't the fact she was in College that was the major issue. Someone in College, who'd bounced from boy to boy, or girl to girl, seeing their parents get divorced, could easily give up on romantic love.
DeleteBut someone who had found the person they wanted to spend their life with, not only delay the marriage but also swear off love? That was just weird.
I'm starting to think that too, and while I'm not actively for or against it I wouldn't mind either way. :) I can't see Riley/Lucas as a long-term thing and I don't feel any romantic chemistry between Farkle/Smackle. I hope they wait until late in the show's run if they are going to do it though, since it seems like the type of relationship that would happen later.
DeleteAgree with Julia. If it happens, it'll be a ways off. I'd like to see Smackle and Zay date at some point. That'd be hilarious.
DeleteConfession: I'm for the whole Riley/Lucas or Riley/Farkle deal. Either one's cool. I'm a sucker for the whole loving your best friend trope, or the forever kind of love at first meeting deal. Yeah, they can break up and date others at some point in the middle, but i want the romantic entanglement acknowledged at the beginning and solid at the end. *Sighs*
DeleteI get that, and I know a lot of people are like that. But I... I like the whole forever kind of love at first meeting be really rare. Seriously, I can get behind, and even support, Cory and Topanga as that (even when watching BMW, though it gets hard to do so at times), but it should be... a unique thing. If they do that with Riley/Lucas, or Riley/Farkle as well, or if they had done that with Shawn/Angela, it lessens the appeal of it for me with them.
DeleteI have supported my fair share of those in fandoms, but I can never get behind one in a specific fandom. Loving your best friend I can be behind a bit more.
Cryptid456- "after this Triangle ends, I would rather see a nice string of episodes where Riley has no romantic interest whatsoever."
DeleteI love that idea! Riley and Maya could make a vow not to date for a certain period of time, than Maya starts dating someone new before the time limit. Maya seems more mature and sure of herself, so she seemed like the one more likely to date first after the triangle ends. Riley is worried about what this means for their friendship. This would be a great moment for Shawn to come back and interact with Riley. He could tell that Cory and Topanga dating didn't end their friendship, and that no matter what, they were Cory and Shawn. Corey-"To me, Lucas and Maya are the Topanga and Cory. The usual make fun of you in early middle school, start to see you as a romantic interest, how about we date now... That's how Cory and Topanga went."
That is one of the many reasons I support Lucas and Maya as a couple. I love relationships in TV/Movies where the couple can't stand each other at first.
Julia Delbel-I agree with you. I want Riley and Farkle to end up together, but not until the least season.
Shipping Wars Are Stupid-Smackle and Zay would be fantastic. Maybe Smackle and Farkle had tickets to something, or there was an event they had planned to go, but Farkle gets sick and can't go, so Zay offers to take Smackle. The two of them together would be great fun to see.
New Tweet from the Writers. I beat 1960 and Shipping to the punch. I win.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/GMWWriters/status/744546501557293063
"Friday: It begins. Triangle. Upstate. True Maya. Ski Lodge. Ski Lodge. I Do."
Let's see if I remember...Katy will be in "Triangle" and Shawn will be in "Upstate" and "I Do." The writers said that the Triangle would be addressed properly in the next four episodes.
Full steam ahead guys.
Just to add in my two cents about Riley and Farkle, I'm 99.9% sure if not 100% sure at this point that they will be together by the end of the show. There has been countless foreshadowing and sneaky subtext and meta on the writers part and it all points to Riley and Farkle. All of it. Literally all. The most blatant for me was Charlie Gardner in GMT pt. 3, "she ends up with Farkle, how did we not see that coming?" There was also the Girl Meets STEM episode where they were the only pairing in the class with a clear glass. Not to mention "you mean take care of the babies, Farkle?" "WHAT? How long have I been out?!" They've had more alone scenes/more deep talks than any other pairing on the show besides Riley and Maya. It's odd that that's the case considering how often Riley speaks of how well her and lucas can talk to each other when in reality it's Farkle she has all the good talks with that we've been shown. In season 1, Riley tells Maya that she'll never settle for anything less than Farkle. Riley and Farkle "get" each other, as shown in both GMRileytown and GMTexas and interestingly enough, GMFirst Date. As Farkle and Lucas go to great the girls in the subway, Farkle tells Maya that they should run in slow motion towards each other. Maya says something like "that's rediculous. Who would ever wanna do that?" And then the camera pans to Riley, running in slow motion towards Farkle. They are the only two who have exchanged "I love yous" on screen besides Riley and Maya. Another thing to think about; why would the writers make Farkle the one to come in and have the pick-me-up convo with Riley in Permanent Record if they were truly trying to convey how well Riley and Lucas supposedly communicate? Wasnt Lucas having problems with baseball? They easily couldn't written him in as the one to come into Riley's room and remind her of who she is while talking about his problems. But no. They made it Farkle and his issues with his girlfriend. There's a ton more clues that are much more subtle but if you're looking closely, you pick up on them. I'd list them all but I think you guys get the point lol. I agree with some of the others above me. I'd prefer Lucas with neither girl. The special thing about Riley and Farkle is that it means Riley WILL have some time to herself before they become a romantic thing because she'll need that in order to recognize that what she and Farkle have is the true foundation for a successful relationship. That's all I have to say.
ReplyDeleteLook at this way. We're on Season Fucking Three of this shit and Lucas and Riley have talked.....uhhhh, about basketball and Lucas helping a horse give birth....and uhh....uhhhhhh.....
DeleteEh, I think any foreshadowing toward an eventual Riley and Farkle relationship tends to be in the minds of those who just actively ship them. You can take anything as a hint if it serves your purposes. I see nothing indicating Riley/Farkle myself. I don't think they'll go down that route, and I don't think I'd be into it.
DeleteWhat I'd personally want is another matter, but I feel pretty confident at this point that the show's sticking with Riley and Lucas.
I do agree with Christian is that no matter where the show goes, it's going to be an uphill climb to sell me on anything. Just because I think the show is leaning towards Riley and Farkle doesn't mean I don't want it to seem authentic. If they hadn't changed Stalker Farkle, I'd not be onboard at all.
DeleteAnd further...we're on Season 3 and in a lot of ways, we're still struggling with the Riley/Lucas relationship and what it exactly is.
DeleteI'm a huge nerd and have a big interest in television and the whole process of show writing and have come to learn one thing; Nothing on television is an accident. If it's made it in the episode, it has a purpose for being there. I think you're underestimating these writers and how much meta and thought is put into the show and dialogue. I didn't start to truly appreciate the show until I realized how genious the writing is. Yes, I said genious. (and I must admit, I didn't realize this by myself). I came across a blog on tumblr - ill link it here with their main post that spider webs into hundreds of others - http://theowldetective.tumblr.com/post/139153972731/the-biggest-clue-is-in-the-pilot-part-one-sloppy - that opened my eyes to the level of detail put into this show. Don't get me wrong, at first I was very skeptical. I was like 'it's a Disney show, for crying out loud! There's no way that this is possible! They're grasping at straws!' But the more Ive investigated, the more my mind has been blown. I HIGHLY recommend reading into the blog I linked above and then making a decision for yourself. Yes, the blog does seem to center it's focus on ships, but it shows the amount of thought put into the show nevertheless. It also makes you think more about those lines that seem to have little to no significance and question the ones that do. Fascinating stuff (for me, at least).
ReplyDeleteActually, I don't think recommending that blog is a particularly good idea. The author shows no hesitation to discuss plot-relevant spoilers for episodes that are a long ways off. Which is bad.
DeleteSeriously, if you want ANYTHING to be a surprise, do not look up that blog.
While I was an English major in college, and thus came across my fair share of commentary on hidden meanings and inspirations of passages of text, I also have a not-so-small sympathy for the people who refuse to do this.
Sometimes, what seems to be foreshadowing just isn't. Sometimes, the curtains were blue because they were blue.
The other point is that, until it's stuff we've actually seen, it's just what they're reading into it. You cannot possibly know whether it's foreshadowing or not, until it's been done and dusted.
DeleteAnd sometimes what people think is foreshadowing, or other fan theories, turns out to be, well, there's no nice words for it.
DeleteJust a couple months back, fans of the Harry Potter series were seriously discussing whether or not Draco Malfoy had sneaked information about the basilisk to Hermione because he had a crush on her. Yes really.
And whilst I don't have a problem with it, "foreshadowing" has been used in every single fandom, to describe why the couple any particular person supports is the 'official couple'.
DeleteIt's one reason I'll just go with whoever is currently the 'couple', rather than getting involved in shipping discussions.
Hey Christian, I have a question.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that you're going to ensure that when you have kids, that learning foreign languages will be encouraged. With this, I agree with you.
But that got me to thinking--which language do you think is most beneficial to learn?
Speaking for myself, I'd love to learn Hebrew, but I don't think it'd be possible--the alphabet is far different, and they write from right to left. As for the future "Cryptid456 Jr." I think there is a lot of value in Spanish or French or maybe Portuguese.
This is going to be short and sweet. I LOVE that the lesson was, 'kids, ya gotta pick it up in high school for COLLEGE!!' Because so many shows I feel like don't focus on kids getting into college. It was SO good and SO refreshing! Good job GMW!
ReplyDeleteemily caitlin-Yes! So many shows just make it something that happens in 12th grade, when the process really starts picking up steam in 10th grade.
DeleteRatings are in: 1.63 million viewers. Tops for cable shows on Friday night.
ReplyDeleteBetting this coming Friday will be over 2 million with a lead into a Disney Channel Original Movie that's been advertised ad nauseam.
While that it isn't very high, and once again, it was a very good episode, but it looks like cable itself has taken yet another hit.
DeleteDoes anybody know if the Nielsen ratings are only partial? Could more people have seen this episode and it just wasn't noted?
For one thing, from what I understand, it won't take into account people who record it to watch it later. Also I don't believe takes into account people who watch it on the website.
DeleteAlso, in today's culture, a lot of people like to bingewatch; so they'll get the whole series then watch it over a weekend. Ratings across the world have been dropping for around a decade, and this is a large part of it.
Bingewatching is something I hadn't really considered to be honest, but it raises an interesting point.
Delete"Fuller House" is a continuation of one the TGIF shows (like I really need to mention which one). The critics loathed it, but apparently enough people tuned in to get it a second season.
That gets me to thinking, what would it have been like if GMW aired on Netflix? The bingewatching aspect would be nice, but sometimes less is more.
That being said, I'm not exactly sure how they find ratings on Netflix. Suppose someone clicks on the show by accident, does that count as a view?
I personally hate bingewatching. Hell, even the whole 'to be continued' is something I love, if used sparingly.
DeleteInterestingly enough about the critics thoughts on "Fuller House" - what they generally hated, was what is praised when it happens on GMW - the return of old favorites. GMW occasionally gets slammed by critics for not bringing up stuff from BMW -enough- but Fuller House is slammed for doing it too much.
But to the actual question, I think GMW would not have done well on Netflix. At least, not the way they aired it. The whole cliffhangerish stuff at the end of Girl Meets Texas Part 1, would have sunk like a rock, because it wasn't a case of waiting a week, it was just 'next episode please!'.
Having said that, it's possible that it's more likely they may have gotten the order the series should have been watched in, in order.
Fair point about the order--I doubt we'd be nearly as frustrated with the Triangle if we had gotten the episodes in story order. "New Year" is a pain in the ass, since "Semi-formal" is clearly set near the end of the year.
DeleteBut I'm no sure about the whole cliffhanger aspect on Netflix. There are plenty of shows that have cliffhangers and with bingewatching you don't have to wait a week or two or a month for the next new episode. Take Daredevil or Jessica Jones, for example, they're extremely popular.
But I do agree about bingewatching in general. I can't even watch more than four episodes of Scrubs (which is awesome) in one sitting.
You said you lived in Australia. How'd you even find BMW in the first place?
The first season actually aired in Australia. I caught up on the other seasons more recently, as my partner suggested GMW might be a good thing for our son. BMW is actually rather strange is that most of the shows from that time did make it here; though a few months behind.
DeleteIt makes my view on BMW a bit strange; because I went into it knowing that certain things would happen. I am usually pretty good at judging things objectively though, pretending I don't know. But it probably has me throwing things at the screen more, when it seems to something be just drama for the sake of drama, rather than any actual character development.
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DeleteIt sounds like you'd be good friends with Milestones. He only just watched Boy Meets World for the first time this past year, so that he could better appreciate the Ric scenes, and more especially the Shawn arc.
DeleteIt was a real treat watching him check back in periodically saying what episodes he had just watched.
But yeah, drama for the sake of the drama is a real pain.
I've watched it to completion myself; am now watching it with my partner. We're up to near the end of season 6. Her patience with Cory is a lot less than mine is, but I'm a bit quicker to say that Topanga isn't entirely in the right either.
DeleteYeah, I read through all the back comments here, or most of them anyway, before I posted for the first time. Some of the other fandoms I follow are real bitchy, so I was biding my time. But then the group here seemed friendly, so I came out of lurking.
Well then, if I haven't said so already Will, welcome aboard.
DeleteCryptid456-TV critics, at least in the 1990s and earlier, didn't matter much. People would watch what they liked, even if the critics hated it. "Brady Bunch" got horrible reviews, but enough people watched so the network thought renewing it was worth it.
DeleteWill van Roekel-Welcome. This is a really cool place to have an intelligent conversation about a TV show that rarely veers too far off-topic.
I’m sure Will and I will get along very well. Sounds like he didn’t enjoy BMW as much as I did, at least the middle section of the series.
DeleteI’m always happy to wait for the show to air, though how I caught up with the series after I got hooked last year amounted to scattershot, out-of-sequence mini-binges. I may no longer have the energy to binge watch, even if I were so inclined.
The TV landscape I grew up with was festooned with critically reviled hits. Gilligan’s Island anyone? There probably has never been too much of a correlation between quality and popularity.
Actually, I quite enjoyed BMW. I just didn't like Cory - in particular how he treated Topanga in a lot of seasons 5 and 6. If my primary introduction had been in those seasons, I would have to ask why did Topanga end up marrying him. Even as it is, I have to rationalise she is still remembering him in earlier seasons, and there are a few episodes where he actually is absolutely perfect to her. Just not very many.
DeleteBut Shawn is wonderful throughout.
Season 5 and 6...ah, now that's where "Cory and Topanga" gets divisive.
DeleteThe Lauren Arc is prominent in Season 5, and while I would take Lauren every day of the week and twice on Sunday over the Triangle, it doesn't make Cory look very good...which is likely the point.
Season 6 is more interesting. On the one hand, we get the excellent "Everybody Loves Stuart" where Cory reveals he is willing to channel the fury of his father in defending Topanga's honor, which is awesome.
But we also get a bit more of Cory's, frankly whiny attitude over a lack of physical intimacy in his relationship with Topanga. While physical intimacy is undoubtedly important, Cory wasn't really doing it because he wanted a new level of closeness with his future spouse--he almost seemed a little resentful that Topanga wanted to wait. "You're Married, You're Dead" and "Gettin' Hitched" are probably the most notable.
Will, what were your thoughts on Eric?
Firstly, you've pretty much summed up my thoughts on Cory in seasons 5 and 6; except even before the Lauren-arc he's not really in a good light in that season. What bugs me the most about his resentfulness is actually how early it starts. Despite the fact he got insanely close to getting that physical intimacy at the end of the previous season, even at the beginning he acts like she's been teasing him, before saying no at the last second. I just wanted to strangle him. My partner points out that the way he's acting, Topanga could easily feel that he gets that, he's gone.
DeleteI liked Eric. Yeah, he had an insane degree of flanderisation in the last 2 seasons, but my thoughts are that it's a defence mechanism of sorts. He lost the girl he wanted to Jack, no matter how happy he might be, his brother got the girl of his dreams by the age of, let's say 15. Then Tommy is taken away, and what's worse, he has to be the one to definitely say "You're better off without me".
To be fair, both Eric and Shawn frustrate me at times as well; but not to the extent that it seems they're making the same mistake over and over and over.
To be fair to Cory, unlike the vast majority of young males on broadcast television, he does actually take "No" as an answer. He never told Topanga "If you really love me, then you'll be physically intimate" and he never threatened to break up with her if he didn't get his way.
DeleteIt was more "You love me, I love you, we'll be together forever anyway, so why wait?"
The way I see it, Topanga always had final say, and she demanded that they wait, which makes her a FANTASTIC role model, in my opinion anyway.
And Eric's flanderization as a defense mechanism? It's possible. I've also heard people suggest that he just plays the roll of the fool because he finds people's reactions funny.
I want more Eric this season. I still think an episode where Senator Eric sponsors unpopular legislation that turns Riley into a target from her irate classmates, only for Eric to prove he's acting with the best interests of his constituents in mind, could be great.
Yeah. As I said, I'm a bit more patient with Cory than my partner. She's actually stated she hates Cory from about season 4 onwards. As a combination of his demands for intimacy, his acting like an old man rather than a teenager, and his "I always know best" attitude. My only real issues is that I really think he started complaining about it too early for me to sympathise (from the first episode of season 6), and that he actually listens to Shawn to much when it comes to Topanga. Other than that, I'm okay with him; it just gets to be a bit much through the middle part of Season 6.
DeleteMore Eric would be good; I just don't think we'll see an episode with him as Senator. Mind you, the political system works quite differently here as well, so in a certain sense I would quite dislike that.
At some point, I began to find Cory intermittently grating. After only a single viewing of the series, it’s hard to remember exactly when, but the middle of Season 6 sounds about right.
DeleteI would like to see Eric again. But his presence would serve as a reminder of Riley’s connection to political power, and maybe of the role she and the rest of the gang played in electing a U.S. Senator. Maybe we would wonder why they aren’t kings.
I found him annoying off and on through season 5. During Season 6, at about the time of Shawn getting heavily into poetry, I started having to look for a redeeming point for him every episode.
DeleteLOL you should see how late I put my reviews up. I haven't even gotten to Meets High School PART 1 yet. I've put up reviews an entire month late.
ReplyDeleteHow does the grade affecting college thing even work in the US? In Canada, at least Ontario, post-secondary acceptance is based soley off of your average of your top 6 classes (including any program-specific prerequisite courses) in Year 12, and if there is a tie with limited spaces left they can only look as far back as Year 11.
ReplyDeleteWell, high school transcripts has your final year grade for each class. Although, unless it's a fairly elite college, most of them don't really give a shit about your freshman year. Sure it's important, but sophomore, junior and senior years all way more important.
DeleteJulia, i was wondering that as well. I thought the whole point of the SAT was as a form of college admittance examination... thingie. This whole transcript being used as a determining factor threw me for a bit. As long as your O levels are solid, including maths and english (or whatever native language; spanish, french, dutch) and you've graduated high school, that's what determines the university you attend. Better if you do A levels, as well. First time i ever thought about my transcript was in university.
DeleteWell, Corey, some colleges in the United States are actually starting to disregard the SATs, finding them to be biased against minority students.
DeleteSee, here in Australia, only the final year counts. That's all the assessment tasks, combined with the final exam (that is -not- marked by the school educators, to avoid 'buffing' of scores to make the school look better), is what determines your chances of getting into University. All your previous results really only matter to the school; as it tells what kind of student you are. The whole concept of O levels just... means nothing to me.
DeleteWill, mine is like yours. Exams in the final year that are not marked by the school itself. You choose the subjects you want to take the exams in, the only mandatory ones are maths and english. (CSEC/O' Levels) Then, if you do college/sixth form, that has final exams not marked by the institution, itself. As students, Mid-terms and final exams aren't worth stressing or fretting over, as it means nothing to university (like you said), just the school.
DeleteCryptid, is the exam going to be replaced with something else?
DeleteJulia Delbel-Colleges take into account a number of factors, grades, and also what classes you take. A grade of B- in honors chemistry is going to look better than A+ in Intro to Basket Weaving. (I promise I'm not bashing the arts. I took 3 art classes even my high school only required 2, and I still got into a great school). Colleges also like to see improvement over time. If someone got a C in Math in 10th grade, but a B in 11th grade, that would be appealing to a college. Other factors include extra-curricular activities, and SAT scores.
DeleteInteresting how it's different everywhere. Here things like extra-curriculars don't seem to affect where you get into (though they often lead to scholarships and things like that). Unless the program has specific required high school prerequisites you can take whatever subjects you want. What matters is the levels of classes, since certain types of schools require a minimum level but all are weighted equally (not sure how advanced placement works here). There are certain classes required in order to graduate but other than that it's pretty open.
DeleteOh, and we don't have anything like SATs here but we do have standardized tests taken in 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 10th grade. The first three don't affect anything (and they might be getting rid of them soon) but getting 75% or more the 10th grade one is a requirement in high school. That plus the course credits and 40 hours of volunteer work are what high school students need in order to graduate.
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ReplyDeleteI have a bad feeling the uphill streak might be over. The writer for this week's episode is Joshua Jacobs who wrote the episodes "Cory and Topanga", "Commonism", and "Bay Window".
ReplyDeleteWhile Commonism was dreadful, "Cory and Topanga" actually has a very solid first half.
DeleteIt's only when we actually get to the flashbacks that it suffers--Riley was wondering whether she'd make the world a better place, so "Sock Basketball" and the Topanga Lipstick Dance don't quite fit.
I got that she was trying to find if Cory and Topanga ever felt as geeky as she did.
DeleteI agree "Sock Basketball" didn't fit, as Cory was literally being like hundreds of kids his age then, I thought the Lipstick Dance did show how utterly not fitting in Topanga had been.
If I remember correctly the Jacobs kid that wrote Commonism is a different Jacobs kid than wrote C&T and Bay Window.
DeleteAnd having seen Triangle already I can say it is better than all of those. At least IMO.
No it was Joshua Jacobs who wrote Commonism and C&T and Bay Window.
DeleteIt was DAVID Jacobs who wrote Girl Meets Fish.
Hey guys, late again to the party, but I have an excuse. I was out Friday night and Time-Warner Cable's On-Demand with regard to Disney Channel has been very buggy lately. "Permanent Record" is still not available, but I have been able to watch "Triangle" already. I have only been able to see the episode once, and I don't like to comment on things I have not seen several times.
ReplyDeleteThat said I agree with the overall review. It was solid throughout and though I liked "Jexica" more, I can see Christian's view that this was the better episode.
One thing to note about the trouble with Spanish for Riley and Maya being good at it - I think it's a right brain/left brain thing if I remember correctly. The side of the brain that processes language, especially the ability to think in a language is also the side that makes one very expressive and generally good at art and music. This is also in line with Maya being good at art and Riley drawing shitty purple cats, so bravo on them actually getting that correct.
Grade: A Another great episode with almost nothing but tiny nits to pick. They are hitting their stride again. Sadly the history of this show leads me to believe they will crash after a few more good episodes after they have made believers out of us.
MVP: Danielle Fichel She was great and given more to do than participate in the B plot. About time. Also has anyone else noticed that in these last 2 episodes that Topanga is starting to wear her hair in new styles reminiscent of how she did in the early BMW years? I like it.
Stay tuned for "Triangle" - it was good but not as good as these last 2 episodes. Better than "High School" though.
1960—I came down pretty much the same as you on this one. A strong episode. I thought Jexica was better still, but would count all votes going the other way.
Delete"Jexica" was a little more Riley-centric, which is something in short supply, despite her being the lead. "Jexica" was also a shenanigan, while "Permanent Record" was more along the lines of Classic Matthews-Panic.
DeleteThat said, while I did enjoy "Jexica" a bit more, I think "Permanent Record" is superior. If nothing else, it has a much longer shelf life in re-watch value, since grades will always be a thing for kids, and as I said, several people on Reddit said they wondered whether or not viewing it as teens would have encouraged them to stick with harder courses.
Cryptid, that’s interesting. I remember that, when I was that age, if I had a bad day at school, I wasn’t looking to relive it via a TV show, and hated when it would occasionally happen, usually thanks to Room 222. While those uncomfortable memories have faded, Permanent Record did prick them at least a little.
DeleteThen, I was only ever trying to make it to 3:00 PM, and if I was looking further into the future than the week-end, it was to Christmas or Summer. Grades for university admission weren’t a consideration. Things have doubtless changed since that long-ago time. But, Permanent Record, for me, asked for a bigger suspension of disbelief about something more central to the episode than, say, Riley’s ignorance of Pluto’s astronomical classification was to Pluto. (Lucas and Zay swapping athletic prowess didn’t help either. But, hey, they did that on Community once too.)
Jexica could have said anything it wanted to about social media and I would have bought it.
I think it's implied that Riley did know that Pluto was considered a "dwarf planet" but refused to believe it. From what I can gather, the science-fiction community threw a collective temper tantrum when Pluto was downgraded.
DeleteBut I can vouch for Permanent Record's being believable. I certainly panicked like that a fair few times. Like I said, college-prep school. Our class was full of Farkles and Smackles. And we had a couple of Feenys--Shipping can tell you more about that. And a few Turners--if memory serves, one teacher made me re-write an essay SEVEN times before I managed to get it to an A, which in our state has to be at least a 93.
I even know people who didn't know that Pluto was a "dwarf planet" for a while; so even if she didn't know, it's not exactly unbelievable (except in the regard of much season 2 being unbelievable in that they dropped the "Riley is very intelligent girl" angle).
DeletePermanent Record is quite possibly an episode that is best viewed though with at least the knowledge of how the American schooling system works. For me, it makes no sense. I mean the jump from primary school to high school wasn't even that big a jump here; and the only time it -starts- getting hard, is the jump into Year 10.
I was thinking in terms of when Pluto’s reclassification happened and when Riley would have been taught the name of the planets. Just last week, with indirect thanks to GMW, I became aware that the names of one of our provinces had changed, or at least gained an attachment. It might not be weird that I didn’t get the memo, but I would expect a kid educated since the revision to know about it.
DeleteBut it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t much more than a McGuffin. By comparison, Grade 9 affecting one’s ability to attend university was a cornerstone of Permanent Record.
This might be another time where thinking I understand America better than I actually do comes into play. I have seen enough TV shows to be familiar with SATs and the sweating out of responses to applications to various universities. That post-secondary aspirations could torpedoed at the very beginning of high school was an alien concept to me. Cryptid’s verification of this is useful.
Not sure what the situation is in Australia, but private universities are all-but unknown in Canada.
They filmed "Girl Meets Her Monster" tonight. Written and directed by Danille Fishel.
ReplyDeleteA Riley vs. Topanga episode. About time we had a mother - daughter episode, even if this is not what we expected.
Apparently they're arguing over something. Please please please don't be as stupid as the """fight""" in GM Mr. Squirrels.
DeleteEven better, it's actually WRITTEN by Danielle Fischel. Remember how Will knocked our socks off with Semi-formal with how he nailed Eric and Jack?
DeleteThis could be the best look at Topanga we've gotten this whole series.
And I agree--it's about time we got a mother-daughter episode. I mean, I understand the meta-reason for why--any shenanigan would likely not occur if Riley went to her mother for advice, as she'd tell them an excellent solution to the situation.
That being said, I've made no secret that I wanted Topanga to be the new Alan, because in my opinion the most important, or at least most influential, person in a little girl's life should be her mother.
So, excellent. I don't even mind that it's a fight. If it's good conflict, at least.
Directed by Fishel? Well, that might not be too bad. Commonism's problem was its script. Not even Steven Speilberg could have saved that trainwreck.
DeleteI too am terrible at learning languages. High school Spanish class was easy to pass cause my HS was shit, but I wound up struggling in my first collage science class. It was mico-biology 101 and I was forced to take it for no good reason. Anyways most of the terms and vocabulary were in Latin and I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough I'm an auditory learner. I just hear something once and I can automatically remember it, but different languages knock me for a loop because I can't just listen and understand and all my usual memory tricks no longer work for me.
To this day I have a best friend who's fluent in Spanish and lived with collage roommate from France and I couldn't tell you a single sentence in either language.
I understand your pain. My grandfather, whom I grew up living with, was a Linguist professor and translator. He could speak tons of languages and read even more. Whatever gene he had skipped me because I barely passed High School French.
DeleteFriendly reminder that tomorrow's episode will air at 7:30 P.M.
ReplyDeleteI will not be watching the live airing as Cryptid and I shall be attending an evening showing of the critically acclaimed Finding Dory.
May the Triangle die in a fire.
Just a note on tomorrow's episode. After having seen it twice and thought about it, all that shit Jacobs was tweeting about it being obvious from the start - actually makes some sense now.
ReplyDeleteA couple of the Tumblr-fan blogs took all the tweets and put them in a row, trying to find connections.
DeleteSo, yeah, I'm betting there was actually something to all the tweets being deliberately overly mysterious. But it still doesn't fit the Feeny-verse much.
can you link me to the tumbir blog?
DeleteWooow! I LIKED tonight's episode! From the sage high schooler named Sage, to purple cats and jelly beans. All of it. When's the next episode? What happens next? Okay, Luke, i know i'd said to pick Maya and then have her reject you....i've changed my mind, yo.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it was the same situation in the States, but up here there was a giant, obnoxious Adventures in Babysitting countdown clock on the screen throughout that really made it hard to enjoy watching Triangle. And I enjoyed watching Triangle. GMW is on a roll.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that in the promo for Upstate that Riley and Maya are wearing the same clothes they had on when they left the Matthews' apartment at the end of "Triangle". They must have started their adventure immediately, grabbed some sleeping bags and hit the road.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed. I like this. A truly continuous storyline is something that I don't think any Disney Channel sitcom has ever really done before. There have been arcs before, but nothing quite like this.
DeleteWhere is the Triangle review?! PLEASE
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt's Linda Cardinalli's birthday today. Happy Birthday Lauren!
ReplyDeleteNew Tweet from the Writers.
ReplyDelete"100K Q&A. This week. I'll let you know what day and when. We're looking forward."
While this season's episodes, apart from High School (and even Part 2 had some genuinely funny banter), have been great, I can't help but feel that the questions 99.99 percent of fans are going to ask are about the "ships."
While that may be the case, if the past is any indication, the questions are screened and they choose which ones to answer.
DeleteI'm just afraid that "Ski Lodge" will be this year's version of "Texas" as the most popular answer.
Hopefully we get a definte answer on how many episodes there are this season. Fans are panicking because there's only a handful of tapings left--bringing the total to 21 episodes, which sucks because that means more waiting and who loves less episodes? ALTHOUGH, 30 episodes seemed to hurt Season 2, rather than benefit.
DeleteIt's possible Jacobs got permission to have some episodes filmed without an audience. Jacobs is sick of details being leaked, and I can't honestly blame him.
DeleteAnd I wouldn't necessarily say that 30 episodes hurt Season 2, more like they didn't use the time they had very effectively. I'll elaborate later, when I've had time to better articulate my thoughts.
the 3 questions i want to ask the writers are
Delete1. is girl meets world really going to get canceled after season 3?
2. are we going to see Mr turner and Shawn in an episode together?
3. are we going to see Eric and Mr Feeny in an episode together? will he hear a Feeny call from Eric?
To answer those questions Megan,
Delete1. Probably not. Ratings aren't great but the entire channel is suffering, so that might not mean much for GMW. Such is the nature of cable in this age of digital streaming.
2. I'm pretty sure the Writers did say that Shawn and Turner would reunite. Specifically, Shawn is supposed to ask him for advice on loving a kid that isn't technically yours.
I better stock up on tissues.
3. I don't remember if the Writers already said this, but Mr. Feeny is going to be on the show again--apparently in an episode due to air in August.
More to the point, I honestly doubt they know after only 5 episodes have aired whether it'll be renewed. And they won't confirm that it's canceled if it has been till much later.
DeleteBut wow. If Shawn and Turner are to reunite, and Shawn is to ask Turner or advice on -that-? Wow. If it's done well, that could be one of the best uses of old BMW characters we've seen (barring Cory and Topanga themselves).
Cryptid - I believe the tweet from Daniels indicated that his episode is filming in August. Everything that is going to show in August is already in the can.
Deleteon periscope the prop guy Jeremy said that they have 5 more episodes to film and that the show might be canceled.
DeleteWill van Roekel-"If Shawn and Turner are to reunite, and Shawn is to ask Turner or advice on -that-? Wow. If it's done well, that could be one of the best uses of old BMW characters we've seen"
DeleteI agree with you. I would love to see Shawn and Turner interacting as adults. If that's the issue that brings them together-it could be fantastic if the writers do it properly. Actors can only do so much with what they're given.
Am I the only one who likes Riley and Farkle? I feel like this could be a real path the writers go down. They have Lucas call her a loser (not in a mean way, but in an unthinking way) and Farkle give her a bit of light inspiration that gets her to ace the next test along with the other people helping.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what with Jacobs' thing about people being too "jelly and jelly" like in that episode where Eric and Jack meet girls just like them, but it doesn't work out because of the extreme similarities. So Lucas and Riley being that similar feels a little ominous, but maybe they forgot.
And Riley has her thing with "supposed to" going on, and Lucas is the epitome of that, so I dunno. I'm hopeful, but not expectant.
just to point out. I don't get why people don't seem to complain about the Spanish class teacher... I mean... that's not real spanish. I am a native spanish speaker and I can tell that the sentences she says at the beginning are not even close to being correct !she didn't even bothered to change the verbs into their correct conjunction. That's a point less Disney.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that no one caught two pretty clear "Farkle really isn't quite as smart as he thinks he is" moment:
ReplyDelete"I WAS THE NORTH STAR. I WAS THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE SKY"
getting past that farkle would definitely know the star is named polaris, the brightest star in the sky is the sun, brah. overanalying this, it's clear the line is meant to show that farkle has been overlooking someone who clearly outshines him substantially (smackle)
also
"We're a quadrilateral"
"we say 'square'"
except come on farkle a square is a specific kind of quadrilateral. LUCAS/ZAY/FARKLE/SMACKLE COULD BE A PARALLELOGRAM, A TRAPEZOID, A NON-SQUARE RHOMBUS, A NON-SQUARE RECTANGLE OR A QUADRILATERAL WITH NO PARALLEL SIDES. again farkle is trying to throw some smart shit out there but is wrong
And even though I'm a few months late on the "high school foreign language" thing I'll go ahead and say: I was one of those kids who did very well without trying in every class, including Spanish (during the last couple weeks of my Spanish 3 class during my junior year the teacher showed us what our grades would be with a 0 on the final [basically saying "This is the worst you can possibly do," to let us know how hard we needed to work on the final] I had like an 89 in the class with a 0 on the final, and was actually told "Okay, so you obviously don't need to take the final, but please still show up". You can hate me now.
ulviZdio-mo Tiffany West https://wakelet.com/wake/HLtqLuXgKVfWfbVxGNv2B
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