Cory’s Classroom: Cory launches a diatribe against nature. He’s been put in charge of the Nature Club because his other option is the Ski Club, which isn’t an option for him. The entire Matthews family must avoid everything about skiing as a result of what happened at a ski lodge in Boy Meets World. For those of you who need a refresher or, god forbid, have never seen it: Cory hurt his foot on their high school ski trip and ended up talking with a girl named Lauren all night. They ultimately kissed, leading to Cory and Topanga’s big breakup. Cory is so grouchy about the great outdoors because the Nature Club’s hike is going to be at the very same ski lodge. In order to help stave off the power of nature in young relationships, he brings Topanga and Uncle Josh as chaperones. I don’t think he considered how giddy Maya would be with that development.
Ski Lodge: history repeats itself when Riley falls off the bus and hurts her foot. She sets herself up in the same bay window that Cory did, and the triangle discusses how they put their issues on hold so Maya can find herself. I used to consider the emotional maturity and willingness to frankly discuss issues to be a good thing on Girl Meets World, but at the conversations have taken a turn for the ridiculous–and repetitive Lucas believes that “Maya’s Boing” (i.e., Josh) is going to mess everything up for the three of them.
After the first hike, the kids return and tell Riley about how Farkle wandered off and Maya broke the rules to go after him and save his life. Lucas is vexed by Maya’s disregard for the rules and her own safety. She claims that her disregard for rules is what he likes about her, but he disagrees. Okay, I’m not going to say that’s what he liked about her, but I will point out that he didn’t dislike that about her. This attitude shift feels very forced.
Ski Lodge Movie Night: Maya wants to watch a spy thriller while Riley wants a romantic tear-jerker. Lucas imagines his life with each of them through these lenses. In Huckleberry Bond, Lucas and Maya are a spy couple trying to bring down the Purple Cat, portrayed by Riley. Riley claims that the two of them would tear each other apart. Maya breaks the one rule of the joint–don’t pull back the curtain–leading to an explosion and garnering another Lucas lecture.
Riley’s romantic tear-jerker fantasy is so, so boring. Lucas moons over when he’ll find someone who will appreciate his stories about birthing horses. Enter Riley. Josh and Maya interrupt their almost kiss dressed as doctors who have bad news: Riley is going to die of Gooey Sap Disease. Cut to Lucas sitting beside Riley on her deathbed. Please note: both of these fantasies proved to be made of rather dull filler.
The crowd disperses, leaving Riley to muse on whether or not they can be the ones to make the choice about the love triangle. “That brings up a good question: who is in control of your life?” Cory says. Topanga blessedly ends the conversation: “I am. Go to bed!” Riley opts to stay downstairs on the window seat, putting her in the perfect position to make eyes at the young receptionist who walks in. He brings her a cup of hot chocolate and waxes poetically about the stars, and I continue to be quite bored. Stay tuned to see if anything actually happens in next week’s conclusion!
Girl Meets World truly excels when they lightly sprinkle Boy Meets World references into a show that can stand on its own–not when they try to force entire Boy Meets World storylines to work when it doesn’t make sense to do so. All of the filler makes me think that maybe this should have been a one episode storyline, not two. The only important takeaways were that Lucas hates Maya’s tendency for mischief and Riley meeting the new Lauren. Only the banter and humor between Josh and Maya salvaged this one. Dragging the love triangle out has become rather tedious, and I want them to do away with it after this two parter.
Boy Meets World Throwback Factor: high–maybe too high. However, when Topanga says, “Lauren did not age well, I’m just saying,” after seeing the elderly receptionist, I laughed.
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Episode Rating: 4/10
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