Boy Meets World/Headscratchers


 * The episodes "Heartbreak Cory" and "Torn Between Two Lovers". So Cory spends the day hanging out with another girl and they forge a close friendship. Why does Shawn comment on this like it's such a huge scandal, and why does Cory let him make it seem that way to the point where he feels the need to lie to Topanga? And when Lauren falls for Cory and kisses him, why is it his fault? The only thing he really did wrong was not explain everything to Topanga, and despite the Flanderization that happened over the years she's not so unreasonable that she'd hate him forever just because Lauren kissed him. Surely after all these years she realizes Cory loves her and only her forever and ever amen. Lauren's feelings for him don't change that. Then in "Torn" she thinks she needs to test him by saying he should date Lauren? WHY? Cory clearly doesn't love Lauren like he does Topanga. I think these episodes were feeding into the stereotype that a male and a female are incapable of ever being just friends and that if Cory connects with another girl he's not related to, there must be romantic, passionate sparks between them. Lauren's feelings aside, what she had with Cory was clearly a case of Platonic Life Partners.
 * Topanga doesn't really get upset that he and Lauren kissed, though, does she? I felt she was more mad because Cory lied to her, promised never to do it again, and then immediately did it again! He violated her trust, how was she supposed to believe Cory didn't have feelings for/want to be with Lauren? Because he said so? His word is practically worthless by that point. As for Shawn -- he's always incredibly overdramatic about Cory and Topanga (see "And Then There Was Shawn") and Cory tends to get sucked into Shawn's whims.
 * Yes, except both times Lauren was the agressor. Furthermore Topanga actually told Corey to meet with her to see if he possibly had any feelings for her, and when he does just that (realizing in the process that he doesn't) She treats it as a violation of her trust DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE DID EXACTLY WHAT SHE TOLD HIM TO DO! I'm sorry, but Topanga comes off as completely unreasonable and selfish the whole time.
 * ...yes, exactly. Like I said below the point of the drama was Cory lying and Topanga had every right to be pissed at that, but her reaction was so overblown. Why not just...refuse to talk to or see Cory for a week or two, rather than ending the entire relationship because of what Lauren did?
 * It's also not like Cory didn't immediately call her out on being pissed that he did what she said. He yelled. That almost never happens.
 * I think Topanga was probably hoping that Cory wouldn't go through with it even though she was telling him to; that's what puts the secret in Secret Test of Character.
 * True. I guess the whole point of the drama is "Cory lied and violated Topanga's trust", but the episode kind of played it like "another girl fell for him, he's a pig". Cory's only major mistake was lying at all. (And good point about Shawn! Makes me wonder, would he have gotten so dramatic about Lauren if he knew what it would indirectly lead to? It was Cory's fault for lying, but Shawn acting like Cory was a cheater for making friends with another girl sure didn't help matters.)
 * I want to point out how Cory originally was going to tell her but Shawn suggested that he shouldn't because that would only upset Topanga.
 * I know Cory is ridiculously insecure, but come on. Embarrassed about "Cornelius"? Won't even tell his wife? Whose name is Topanga?
 * And Harley is emabaressed about having the first name of "Harvey." What's so bad about Harvey?
 * "The First Girlfriends Club." Pretty much the entire thing, three of Shawn's exes team up to show Angela what a dirtbag he is, except one of them was a mutual break-up from very early in high school (they broke up after Mr. Turner started dating her mom and things got weird), and the other one dumped him!. As for the third girl, he only dated her once'', and that was years ago.
 * This troper absolutely hates that episode, especially the fact that it featured Jennifer Basset as one of the jilted exes. The same girl who demanded Shawn stop seeing his best friend in order for her to go out with him, and she acts surprised that he dumped her. Shawn may have been a player in the past and I can understand the girls being scared he might hurt Angela, or feeling hurt themselves, but they went too far.
 * She dumped Shawn after he refused to stop hanging out with Corey, which is why the whole thing makes no goddamn sense.
 * To be fair, with the possible exception of Alex Mack, the FGC are painted as pretty damn crazy and are called on it in-universe by Angela. The problem is that Shawn tends to believe the worst in himself to a ridiculous extent and takes everything that they say at face value.
 * In season one, Shawn mentions a sister named Stacey. However, she's never heard of again. It still bugs me, especially after Jack comes in into the picture. I just decided that Stacey got away from the Hunters, but it's still annoying. Then again, Nebula Lawrence (Topanga's sister) appeared once and was also never heard from again.
 * Nebula is mentioned a few times before and after her on-screen appearance though, and considering that Shawn's first half-brother apparently struck out on his own I'm amusing Stacey did the same.
 * I choose to believe that the first season takes place in an alternate universe to the following six seasons. These two universes share a broad-strokes background, but differ in certain details like offscreen siblings and Cory and Topanga's constant romance. I suspect that Minkus's inadvertent discovery of time travel in season one is somehow responsible for these divergences.
 * Remember that Shawn has at least two half-brothers and nearly everyone at the trailer park is part of some kind of Tangled Family Tree.
 * What bugs me is that Mr. Feeny was a teacher for forty years and a college professor yet he is never referred to as Professor Feeny or Dr. Feeny.
 * Old habits. The core cast spent eighteen years calling him Mr. Feeny, and when Rachel and Jack were introduced to him he was still Mr. Feeny. It would simply feel odd calling him something else after all that time, even if it was proper.
 * In a second-season episode, Mr. Turner decides that if his entire class can hold an informed and productive discussion on The Grapes of Wrath, he wouldn't test them on it. They would've already demonstrated their knowledge in the discussion, after all. The "Just Bugs Me" comes on three levels. 1) Mr. Feeny declares this to be nonsensical hippie trash, despite it actually being a fairly common practice. Hell, Feeny's used it himself before this episode. 2) Feeny forces Turner into going back on his word and catching the kids off-guard by giving them the test anyway. Out of the blue. Without telling the kids ahead of time. 3) Feeny has the absolute gall to blame Turner when his class calls BS on the sudden switch. And the worst part of it all is that Turner's method actually worked. Even Shawn, of all people, actually read the book for once and came prepared to discuss. The kids only rioted when they realized they'd been played for saps, which was Feeny's own doing, not Turner's. Nonetheless, Feeny's made out to be the sensible, responsible good guy of the episode.
 * Mr. Feeny had only recently become the acting principal. Clearly, he was temporarily Drunk with Power.
 * How are the Matthews so wealthy? Amy is unemployed, Alan manages a grocery store, and they have three kids.
 * Amy wasn't unemployed in the beginning, she was a real estate agent and Alan was the manager at a large chain grocery store. They were never depicted as Pottery Barn Poor but there were some episodes where they had to cut back on some luxuries like an expensive road trip to the shore, but overall it was due to being smart with their money and years of careful saving. After Alan quit his job at the grocery store they bought and operated a succesful sporting goods store where Alan, Eric, and Amy worked. They were never depicted as extremely wealthy (except for Shawn calling them "rich," but he lives in the trailer park) but upper-middle class.
 * Is Pennbrook supposed to be a public school? Why is Amy taking a creative writing class there, of all places?
 * I always figured Pennbrook was supposed to be a semi-private university. Pennsylvania has those, like Temple or University of Pittsburgh. The state funds the university but not to the level that they would a state university like Penn State or Rutgers, and in return they get more autonomy.
 * "The Last Temptation of Cory." Cory was essentially sexually assaulted by Missy Robinson. She cornered him in a closet, refused to let him leave, and kissed him. He very clearly did not kiss back, and when she asked if he liked it, he turned her down, saying that he was in love with Topanga. And yet this is his fault? This is even more egregious than the Lauren example.