It’s time for Riley and Maya’s first dance! In this week’s round of City Gal vs. Country Boy, Maya asks Lucas what he’s going to do at the dance, since there won’t be any do-si-do-ing. Lucas’s breezy reply once again bests Maya: “Well then I won’t know what to do and you can make fun of me.” Considering he’s twelve, his awareness and ability to combat Maya’s teasing in such a casual, respectful way is surprising and awesome. Maya promises vengeance while she hoedown dances, to enthusiastic applause from the surrounding hallway. Lucas walks on with Riley unfazed. Score one for Country Boy.
While discussing makeup, Riley and Topanga realize that Cyclone Day, a long-standing tradition in the Matthews family, is the same day as Riley’s first dance. According to Topanga, it’s Cory’s favorite thing ever: “Your father thinks of it as a tradition… your father thinks of it as his reason to wake up in the morning.” Cory damn near has a heart attack when Riley tells him she wants to bail. She has learned everything she can from Cory—after all, what can he tell her about makeup? “I know if what you’re going to have to do with me,” Cory says. Sweet Lord, Cory. The dramatics. Things don’t improve in history class, where Cory hands back Maya’s paper with a bright red F on it. “You failed me. There’s nothing more that you can teach me,” she says, looking hurt and slightly stunned. With that, Maya leaves to clean out her locker, intent on never coming back.
Later, Cory mopes while he watches old home videos. “I’ve lost my two best girls,” he laments, while Topanga looks on in exasperation. “They both got married. Have children now. Moved to California. Near some other rollercoaster.” Ah, Cory. Never change.
Maya’s new plan is the Frank Mantucci On The Computer School, an online institution that rejects Maya in a thick Bronx accent before she can even start her free trial. Cory sits her down to read her nonsensical paper—she tried to make it sound “smart,” which eliminates any sort of real information. Cory fires a series of Darwin-related questions at her, which she (mostly) gets right. Cory draws a line on the right side of the F, Uncle Jesse-style, to show how easy it is for an F to become an A. He’s actually giving her a C+, but you get the point. Maya spills why she flipped: her father has a new family, so Cory giving her an F was akin to another person telling her she wasn’t worth working on. The details of Maya’s home life are being handled quite well; I expected there to be more melodrama while they bashed us over the head with them. Instead, Maya is slowly revealing information rather than infodumping her life’s history on us. The only issue I take with this is how the writers are pretending like Cory and Topanga don’t know any of this information. With how involved Maya is with their family, some of this was bound to come out at an earlier date.
In a grand show of emotion, Riley declares she doesn’t want to go to the dance (she’s bluffing). Cory tells her she’s going and that he’s going to be a chaperone. Farkle tangos across the floor with Maya while Lucas and Riley Catholic School-dance with the best of them. “You wore that just for me, didn’t you? You put thought into our little game,” Maya asks Lucas, who’s sporting a black cowboy hat. He pulls a flower out of the hat and sticks it in Maya’s mouth, winning the second round of City Girl vs. Country Boy this episode.
Cory requests that the last dance be father-daughter, pulling Maya up and later bringing Riley over to join them. This part was adorable, but may spell out trouble for the future, as Riley pointedly declares Cory to be her father. I wonder when that’s going to become an issue. To cap off the episode, Auggie suggests that a new tradition take the place of Cyclone Day: a singles cruise to Alaska for him and Cory. That kid is just the best.
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