I know there have been A LOT of terrible episodes, but this one was arguably the worst.
shareI'm getting pretty tired of their "Halloween special" episodes. This show is unrealistic enough already without going to such ludicrous lengths to completely destroy the viewer's suspension of disbelief.
Þæs ofereode, ðisses swa mæg. -- Deor
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"Heavy-handed" is something I feel like I repeat way too often with this show. This episode was the DEFINITION of that. Every other line was one of those "We're saying something symbolic or deep or that has double meaning or whatever." GMW loves its "We're speaking in a monotone fashion about something that should make you feel." Farkle used to be the main culprit of this but now EVERY character does it.
It was also a classic "Maya and just about everyone else would be nowhere without Riley, who is the center of the universe and is therefore more important than you" episode. Without sweet lil Riley, not only do characters not grow INCLUDING HER PARENTS WHO HAVE ALREADY MET THE WORLD AND HAVE THEREFORE GROWN but they all seemingly regress.
HEY LOUI,
I Agree w/ everything you pretty much say,
except for....
Riley IS Maya's Saving Grace! If that window was locked, she would probably hanging out w/ those two broads, she'd probably be getting into more serious trouble, Maya's Mom wouldn't have met Sean or work at Topanga's she'd probably hook up w/ some Drifter from the Diner.
and if this was Real Life.... (or Lifetime)
That Drifter would end up Molesting Maya, Maya would end up w/ P.T.S.D. and think she has use her body to get through life, and then she'd solicit some Serial Killer and end up Murdered and No One would care and she'd just be Another Statistic!
Also the Episode showed that w/out Riley Meeting Maya she'd be even more out of touch w/ Reality than she already is, and her Parents would be in a Miserable Marriage Corey would be a bitter teacher!
Maya was a bully yes, but Lucas was just a Loner/Rebel (Adam's High version of Johnny Cash.)
it also show's that if Augie wasn't born Riley would be Maturely stunted, she'd still think she they baby of the family, when Augie was born she knew her place in the family!
people complain about Riley being far fetched or having Delusions of Granger,
but she's not that far fetched, look at Zooey Deschanel!
I know you didn't say Lucas was a Bully, but someone on this board said they both were bullies, where It was really only Maya that was the bully!
Women, can't live with em; So stuff your mother and live with that.(Bullet Tooth 504)
Lucas's problem isn't that he was a bully, even before meeting and befriending Riley and the gang he was against bullying (he got in trouble for protecting... I think it was Zay wasn't it?... from bullies). Lucas's problem is that while he was and would have stayed a good guy as far as not hurting those weaker than him, he was a violent person too quick to anger, that skipped non violent attempts at deescalation straight into fighting people that angered him. Meeting Riley and joining the group didn't change his core personality as much as helped him learn to control his temper and how he reacts to things he doesn't like. He's still the same person with the same beliefs inside, just different in how he goes about expressing his emotions.
You get something many don't... the general concept of the butterfly effect and how it tends to work (and likely would work in real life if able to test it). The characters were different in ways that seemed fairly accurate in terms of the show's world. Riley was more loudmouth and loony because she'd never had Maya to help ground her. Maya was more of a troublemaker and bully (which they portrayed decently enough given their show's weird style) because she not only grew up without Riley as her role model, but without having Cory and Topanga treating her like a member of their family or having them to go to when she needed advice her mother just couldn't give her (they didn't replace all of the problems her dad abandoning her, and to some extent her mother's personality and attitude, caused her... but having the Matthew's did fill in for some of the most important of her emotional need and help keep the worst of her attitude problems in check). Frankly it's possible she was friends with the juvenile offenders we saw earlier this season.
Farkle didn't have friends outside of Riley and Maya (later Lucas), and without them he had nothing to motivate him to grow into a more rounded person and out of complete dork mode. And Lucas, who still seriously injured someone in the event that led him to NYC, was actually acting how he was in the episode BECAUSE he isn't a bully and doesn't like his violent side... he was guilty. He always felt guilt about how he acted and the events his violence led him to, but his anger at others being hurt throws him into a rage that would cause him to do it again and again to anyone wronging innocent people (especially his friends). So had Riley and Maya not met him, and Riley actively wanting to be friends/more with him from the start and thus both of them actively dragging them into their group, then it's extremely reasonable to believe Lucas would have remained a loner, because he was ashamed of what happened and scared to put himself in a situation that might allow/cause it to happen again. But as he said, he was driven to help, so couldn't ignore Maya bullying Riley even in the alt. story where they weren't friends, because bullying angers him (also... in normal events, I'd say Maya's good natured taunts and picking on him actually helped him learn perspective and may have actually "trained" him to not go off the handle and give an entirely unpreportionally greater response to lesser forms of bullying even when the intent wasn't meant as friendly). Out of the cast of friends, Smackle is the only one that doesn't make sense. Granted, while her and Farkle's relationship would be different, if anything no Riley/Maya friendship would mean, at most, that Smackle didn't change schools or become friends with Farkle. There's no reasonable way it'd cause her to turn into a bigger stereotypical nerd, or somehow have her turn out needing headgear. Smackle would be the same Smackle we first met, but just with changes in her and Farkle's connection/relationship caused by his personality difference... her personality and general appearance would not have reason to change.
I don't remember anything suggesting Cory and Topanga had a bad marriage, but certainly having a loonier version of Riley was too much for them for them to consider having another child. Thus Topanga was still fully focused on work without having to develop a better work/life balance to raise Auggie (though one of the the other problems besides Smackle I had was Ava... without Auggie, there's no reason she'd have ever developed into someone connected with Topanga or the family in a way that allows her to just pop in their apartment whenever she wants. And without Auggie, she'd be even less tolerant of putting up with Ava, she would never have gotten close to any point where she acted MORE open and accepting of Ava's attitude. That part was unrealistic. As far as Cory, it's reasonable to believe his teaching style was influenced by his own child and her friend. Of course, the negative connotation of that is that Riley alone wasn't his influence to become a type of teacher that tries to teach his students about life... showing that difference could further prove once and for all that Maya is, for all intents and purposes, the main character. Without her as a surrogate daughter, Cory teaches "names and dates". As someone that's acted as Maya's surrogate parent figure for years, he teaches life lessons. Seems to prove she's the one he's trying to help "meet the world".
Overall, the portrayal of the main characters as depictions of how they'd be without Riley and Maya having become friends is realistic enough within the construct of their show.
Someone ever tries to kill you... you try to kill em right back.
I think it clever how Michael Jacobs pokes fun at his own shows like BMW'S
inconsistent timeline or how The characters say what were thinking like how when Augie showed up as the ghost and Cory's whole class groaned and moaned.
OR the thing w/ AvA dumped "Doy" because he won't say "Dewy" etc. and threw him out like how Topanga used to throw her out.
Last but Not least the thing where Maya's MOM said "See you in two months" or How MR. Feeney said "Just GO W/ IT!" when Shawn asked if he was a Minister?!
The Morgan being grounded thing on BMW was funny too.
the only other shows that do that are adult contemporary cartoons like Family Guy or South Park and Especially The Simpsons.
Fuller House probably does but i really don't care about that unless they get the Olsen Twins back(Mary-Kate) or their sister Lizzie Olsen could step in.
Women, can't live with em; So stuff your mother and live with that.(Bullet Tooth 504)
also I hope it's the last we see of "Doy" and they bring back Raffi or Raphy, but make him less racist!
Women, can't live with em; So stuff your mother and live with that.(Bullet Tooth 504)
"Heavy-handed" is something I feel like I repeat way too often with this show.
LoL!! You know, I never made the connection with their names before. But now that you've pointed it out, I don't think I'll ever recover.
I had/have such high hopes for this show but...it's just too preachy for me. And I've got a HIGH tolerance for preachy (I enjoyed 7th Heaven, for cryin' out loud). I mean, I wasn't expected Degrassi in terms of how they dealt with social issues but I was expecting at least a little nuance and subtly. But, it's almost as if the writers would prefer to just TELL us the plot as opposed to letting it unfold.
I think it clever how Michael Jacobs pokes fun at his own shows like BMW'S
inconsistent timeline or how The characters say what were thinking like how when Augie showed up as the ghost and Cory's whole class groaned and moaned.
I never considered Degrassi all that nuanced. It's a soap opera for children. Which I guess when you're a kid if a show includes gay characters or drug use or cutting etc., it seems really grown up and super serious. But actually it's not.
Look at a show like Breaking Bad. It's not deep or adult because it deals with drugs. It's because it assumes it's viewers are smart and that they will get all the nuance and symbolism included in the show. They expect you to keep up with the small stuff.
I so agree. Another heavy-handed episode about Riley and Maya's "friendship." Gee, that's original.
As a drama, it failed. As a comedy, it wasn't funny. It was a terrible episode.
The whole point of the episode was to show not only how important riley and maya friendship is but all how they also helped lucas and farkle as individuals. Farkle is less dorky and over the top while lucas learned to loosen up and show more personality.
shareThe whole point of the episode was to show not only how important riley and maya friendship
The show has reached new levels of unbearability with this episode. I almost nearly turned it off, which is something I usually only reserve for something like "Bunk'd". I really was surprised they managed to make this episode so much worse than the first two halloween specials, which themselves were atrocious.
1. The "young" riley and maya are obnoxious characters and are played by expectedly terrible actresses, the show already has enough 4 year old characters and throwing that into the mix turns it into something that would be more suited to NickJr. Even when I was a child I did not find characters screaming at each other ad nauseum funny as much as it is ear wrenching.
2. The preaching is as usually ridiculous. It's a halloween episode ffs and they couldn't lay off trying to teach some sort of lesson or getting extremely dramatic for even 30 seconds. Yeah we get it "people change people" whatever that means, that horse has been beaten into the ground and it's always been corny phrase that no one outside of the show's universe takes seriously (sometimes I wonder if Corny actually believes it himself, btw the Cory character is now at a point where it is completely disconnected from Cory on BMW... in-fact I could never see BMW Cory being that far up his own ass).
3. Ignoring the obvious massive errors in continuity (like why would smackle being going to a public school if she never met the maya/riley/farkle gang). The storytelling was poorly done and not thought out. What was up with the Auggie ghost plot? It looks like it was shoehorned in at the last minute and makes 0 sense, and I doubt even a 7 year old would have felt any emotional response to it. It was just another example of the showing trying to shove drama down our throats to teach some sort of deluded 'lesson' about as well thought out as a fortune cookie note.
Mid S1-Mid S2 I thought this was the best written show on DC since GLC but since then (i think around a couple episodes before the cringetastic communism episode) it has turned to a chore for anyone to watch and I will not be sad if it is canceled prematurely. Backstage does every aspect of this show 10x better and is far more watchable.
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I agree. I did not like this episode at all. With all the rumors about the show being cancelled, I wonder if the writers are not putting in maximum effort. The Where am I from show was terrible also.
shareI'm just so glad i came from the Boy Meets World era. I don't hate Girl Meets World, but it hasn't got the same feeling as Boy Meets World did most likely as this is the modern day and most things these days are crap compared to shows and films of the past. These days we get nothing but remakes of classic films which are dreadful among other things.
"Pass The Parcel. That's Sometimes All You Can Do" - The History Boys