Episode 1x15 "Model Family"

Mr. Feeny is showing an episode of Leave it to Beaver to the class, probably because the copyright has expired and ABC can get away with it. The scene starts with the ending scene of the Beaver episode, which is kind of meta when you think about it. Mr. Feeny leads into the plot for this episode by citing a 1950s census which indicated that the model American family had a mother, a father, and two children. A quick Google search determined that was a fib. The average number of children in a household was less than 1.5 for every year of the 50s.

This misinformation is used to set up the next assignment for the students.

Cory's use of "nerd-o-rama" mirrors Shawn's exclamation of "surprise-o-rama" in the previous episode, and I stand as bewildered now as then. Maybe it was funny 20 years ago, I don't know.

After the title sequence, we're at the mall with Eric and his buddy Jason. This is Jason's first appearance and it's incredibly exciting for me. He's played by this fellow, Jason Marsden.

Where do I begin! Jason Marsden is one of my favorite voice actors. He's a skilled screen actor as well, due in no small part to that award winning grin, pictured above. He has an extensive (and still growing) IMDB page, so I'll refer you there to really understand how awesome Mr. Marsden is. Some highlights are Max from the Goofy movies, Chase Young from Xiaolin Showdown, Noel from Final Fantasy 13-2, and more recently he was one of the spirits in those two flashback episodes of Legend of Korra a few weeks ago. But his best role, by FAR, was Craig Boone in Fallout: New Vegas. Boone is one of the most well-designed and captivating characters in the history of video games, and Marsden brings him to life flawlessly. Jason Marsden Bonus Badge muthafuckas.  

                                          

Listen to that voice. It's silk. It's a river made of silk. Why doesn't the audience laugh after he says "It's a game"? I thought that was hilarious.

Anyway, a talking pair of legs cons Eric into paying $90 for a modeling portfolio. The whole scene is really funny. Friedle and Marsden are fantastic together on screen and are actually best friends in real life, which makes my heart sing. It's a crippling shame that Jason disappears after Season 2. 

We're in Cory's kitchen now and the gang are learning how to be each other's model family member. Topanga wants Cory to practice Native American spiritualism and Cory calls her "Little Big Hair", which is another one of those smart jokes that make you love this show. Eric comes home and regales the young'ins with the story of his afternoon, but they point out that Eric has been scammed. Cory informs his parents and Amy thinks they should let Eric sort out his own mistakes, to which Alan reluctantly agrees. Their patience appears to pay dividends as Eric tells them that he knows he fucked up and is going to the mall to get his money back.

To our surprise, it turns out that the "modeling agency" actually got a gig for Eric that pays $50. Eric breaks the news to his parents and concurrently quits his job at his father's store. Alan tries to restrain himself, and gives us the fourth facepalm of this episode. 

                                     

Now it's time for the kids to deal with their family crisis in class. It's about three minutes long, but every moment is genius so I'll just post it and then we can talk about it. 

                                    

Shawn remarks that he does a good geek impression, but what's more fun is that he's doing a great Minkus  impression. The breaks in his sentences, the constant nodding... It's a perfect imitation of how Lee Norris plays Minkus and I love it. Minkus does a pretty funny job too, I just wish I could make out what his name tag says. It doesn't look like "Stuart" or "Minkus" or "Shawn", so I wonder what it could be... Topanga doesn't really sound like Cory. I'm not sure what she's trying to do here except be aggressive, but Cory's not even an aggressive person so I don't get it. The biggest flaw in this scene lies with the audience for not erupting into hysterics at "A person's body is his temple." I distinctly remember watching this for the first time with my sister, and we both died. Look at Cory's face while he says it. It's completely perfect. And we even get our little life lesson about families at the end. This is definitely one of the top five scenes of the first season.

So that's done, time to resolve Eric's story. He and Jason are at the mall for Eric's photo shoot, along with Eric's new groupies. Their chemistry is fantastic yet again.

We learn that Eric's gig is actually to wear a lobster costume and sit in a dunk booth above what is supposed to be melted butter. Jason dunks him. Who wouldn't, honestly. That lobster costume is pretty fantastic.

Eric begs his father to give him his job back. Alan gives him a lesson about being a responsible adult, and ultimately Eric settles for a weekend nightshift position. 

This was a wonderful episode. Good laughs the whole way through, and a fun story. And Jason Marsden. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this review and I think that's reflected in my writing (in stark contrast to the other reviews this week). It's interesting how polarized the first season has been. I either have a ton of comments and clips and pictures, or I think to myself "What the fuck can I possibly say about this monstrosity." Thankfully it was the former this time. I hope you had as much fun as I did. 

1 for plot, 1 for humor, 1 for character development since Cory learned about fatherhood and Eric learned about adulthood, and .75 for the life lesson. I'd really like to give a perfect score, but the life lessons here just weren't as strong as some of the earlier ones. The duo that wrote this episode, Ed Decter+John J. Strauss, also wrote episode 9 which did get a perfect score, as well as episode 7 which was a piece of smelly garbage. Looks like they got the hang of it after their first attempt and their last episode is number 20, so let's look forward to that.

3.75/4 with 3 Badges and a Jason Marsden Bonus Badge. This is a must watch episode.

See you Monday!

All clips and images used under Fair Use.