Girl Meets World All 71 Episodes Ranked and Reviewed. The countdown continues with two new entries. Join the Patreon here to get these breakdowns before everyone else.
61. Girl Meets Brother
Summary
In this episode, Riley wants to be treated like an adult, but Cory and Topanga inform her that adults have responsibilities. To prove herself, they have her babysit Auggie while they go out on a date.
References
There were quite a few Boy Meets World References in this episode. The first one is Auggie trying to help Cory with his tie, which references Morgan trying to help Eric with his apron in the second episode of the first season. Next, Topanga says Cory loves her no matter what she looks like, and that’s a reference to when she cut her hair in season 4 Hair today goon tomorrow when Riley is describing how Topanga looks boom bam that’s a reference to how Cory described Topanga In Torn Between Two Lovers (Feeling Like a Fool) season 5.
Cory and Topanga getting stuck on their anniversary in a train station refer to the episode where they were stuck on a train on New Years' in Train of Fools season 3. Then when they showed their flashback to Topanga’s first kiss, that was a reference to Cory’s Alternative Friends in season 1. The proposal at graduation was season 5 finale Graduation.
The larger episode influence was season one Risky business when Cory babysits his sister Morgan and becomes closer to her after mismanaging his responsibility.
Review
A growing theme in Girl Meets World is that Cory and Topanga are too involved in Riley's life. Cory already gets very involved as a teacher, but Riley has had limited time to grow so far in season one. Comparing Riley and Cory and Amy and Alan and Cory and Topanga, you see a clear difference.
Cory actually got to actually watch his sister. He was in charge. It was real responsibility, and he was in 6th grade. Riley, in 7th grade, is spied on by her parents, negating her lesson in responsibility. Also, Cory and Topanga, and Farkle were outside the window and talked to Auggie, but Maya and Riley never noticed, making them look like terrible babysitters. Also, when Alan and Amy left, they actually went somewhere, proving they had a life outside their kids. Cory and Topanga don’t seem to have a life outside their kids. I hope in future episodes, Cory and Topanga take some steps back so that Riley and Maya can develop as the stars of the show. Cory and Topanga can still be extremely impactful in lesser roles as Amy and Alan were.
As the title suggests, the true point of this episode is more about Auggie and Riley than it is about Riley learning responsibility. Auggie wanted Riley to babysit him so they could spend time together. However, Riley ignores him and hangs with Maya. When Riley realizes that Auggie is upset with Maya for stealing time with Riley, she course corrects. I think she learns to pay more attention to her brother more and Auggie learns that he doesn’t have to compete for time with Maya. These are nice lessons, but the episode was too smothered by the parents and didn’t go far enough to teach Riley responsibility. I think they could have achieved both lessons and made a more impactful episode, but instead, this felt like a filler episode.
Grade C
Streaming Assignments
Homework Risky business S1
Extra credit On the fence season 1, train of fools s3 , hair today goon tomorrow season 4, torn between two lovers feeling like a fool s5, graduation season 5, Cory’s alternative friends season 1
60. Girl Meets New World Summary
In this episode, Riley and Lucas must decide what to do after their kiss.
References
At the beginning of the episode, there is a Reference to Girl Meets Farkle's choice when Farkle comes with two tickets for him and one girl and a reference to girl meets brother when Riley babysat Auggie. Overall the episode theme was most like Boy Meets World Breaking up is hard to do where middle schoolers are navigating what a relationship is and what they are supposed to do.
Review
There was an attempt at having the parents back off and stop being such helicopter parents and letting Riley and Maya be more in control. We saw Riley and Maya, and Lucas alone together. We saw Cory and Topanga saying their peace and leaving and staying at home and at school. However, I will say that ultimately this attempt failed.
Because the episode was as awkward as Riley and Lucas as boyfriend and girlfriend, no, Cory wasn’t there advising Riley every step of the way. But they had a crowd of kids pressuring them to be in a relationship and telling them how to act, and they felt like stand-ins for the parental figure on Riley's shoulder telling her how to do everything. Also, it was incredibly unrealistic. Oftentimes Boy Meets World was able to communicate peer pressure using Shawn and one other kid at school, which is way more realistic than the entire school literally.
Also, I like that Cory and Topanga stay home. But it seems they can’t help but helicopter parent. In a meta moment, Cory says sometimes you have to let the kids live. This is a meta-reference to giving Maya and Riley more space to grow.
But then Riley walks in with Lucas, and Topanga immediately identifies their problem like a psychic than she just gives them the solution and then says, hah, like she is laughing at the idea of letting them live. Like, Look what supervision can do.
But she has just undercut the entire episode. Riley and Lucas need to figure that out for themselves. If they need help, Riley can ask, and Topanga can give advice, then Riley can make a choice, but solving the problem for her made the main problem of the episode pointless. Of course, Topanga has the answers. The point of watching the show is to watch Riley figure it out.
Now I did like Maya and Farkle's storyline. I thought in the little screen time they got; they were hilarious. Especially when they walked down the halls as if they just got married. I also liked the analogy of peer pressure in high school and the pressure of creating a diamond wedding ring, alluding to the societal pressure to get married. I also like what Topanga added, turning that analogy on its head and saying the while the right pressure can turn you into a diamond, the wrong pressure can turn you to dust. I like the lesson they are teaching through Riley and Lucas, that you shouldn’t do something just because everyone thinks you should. You need to go at your own pace. Lastly, I liked Dewy's addition; he was hilarious and served as another comical antagonist to Topanga. Final grade C Streaming Assignments
Homework: breaking up is really hard to do season 2 BMW Extra credit girl meets brother season 1, Girl meets Farkles choice season 1
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