Episode 1x17 "The Fugitive"

Yup. It's THAT episode. Probably one of the most remembered episodes of the first season. Whether or not that's a good thing, we'll find out. It was written by Jeff Sherman, who also wrote episode 2. If you're hoping for a Harrison Ford joke, you'll be disappointed.

It's storming outside and Cory, realizing that he can't go play baseball like he wanted, goes up to his room to discover a very damp Shawn. I assume we're supposed to be taking this scene seriously since the audience doesn't laugh, but I mean... look at him. Shawn constantly runs his hands through his hair, but now, when it's actually physically blocking his vision, he just leaves it there? His clothes are unusually dark and he even tells Cory not to turn on the light. The whole scene is a laughably transparent attempt to set the mood.

The first thing Cory does after the title sequence is turn on the light. Shawn instructed him maybe 5 seconds ago not to do that, but it seems they've both forgotten. Shawn takes off his dark jacket to show us a bright yellow shirt and then pushes back his bangs. It took less than 10 seconds to undo all of the mood setting that I was just talking about.

Whatta we doin 'ere, Jeff Sherman? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL!??!?!??

Shawn confides in his best friend that he blew up a U.S. mailbox (you know, those little blue metal ones) outside Alan's grocery store with a cherry bomb. This has been in the back of my mind for several years, I guess it's finally time to look up "cherry bomb" on Wikipedia. Ok, well they're illegal in Canada, but so is FREEDOM, so who cares! There's even a "Popular Culture" section of that Wikipedia article, but it has no mention of Shawn Hunter. Time to fix that! 

Bam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_bomb#Popular_Culture

Look at me. Contributing to the zeitgeist. 

Why did Shawn blow up the mailbox, you ask? He found matches on the ground and lacked the impulse control necessary to not light the fuse on an object called a "cherry bomb". 

IT HAS THE WORD "BOMB"

IN THE FUCKING NAME. COME ON.

Cory agrees to grant Shawn asylum for a few days and hijinx ensue as it's suddenly time for dinner. This is odd, since Cory wanted to go play baseball only a few minutes ago. 

It's all pretty funny and ultimately Eric discovers his new roommate. Cory bribes his brother into secrecy by agreeing to take over his chores. Explosions, lying, bribery... We're seeing the dark sides of our heroes today.

Time for school.

                                   

How do all these people know about the mailbox AND that Shawn is a suspect? Were there witnesses on the scene who were able to identify this 12 year old? That seems likely. Mr. Feeny starts reading The Tell Tale Heart to the class, which is a nice touch. Boy Meets World loves to relate its plot elements to literary themes, and it's usually done well. We first saw it in episode 8 with The Diary of Anne Frank and that was a great episode.

Later, Alan is interrogating Cory in Cory's bedroom. It's clear that Alan knows Shawn is hiding under the bed. I hope this is an intentional parallel to the heart being hidden under the bedroom floorboards in Tell Tale Heart. 

Alan gives Cory a speech about how "you can always come home", but he's really just trying to tell it to Shawn. 

After Alan leaves, Cory and Shawn argue over how to proceed. Cory thinks it best to involve his parents and calls Alan back upstairs, but Shawn escapes through the bedroom window. Now Cory has to talk to his parents about what's happened. Turns out everyone knew all along, including Morgan and Shawn's parents. Why in the name of Nidaba the Sumerian Goddess of Writing did this episode have to be written? What the FUCK kind of parenting is going on in this episode? 

Shawn has added trespassing to his list of no-no's by camping out in Feeny's classroom, where Feeny does indeed show up and offer some words of wisdom.

                                  

Why was Mr. Feeny out of breath the whole time? Look, honestly, I want to take this scene seriously. I really want to. But look at Shawn. He's been wearing Cory's clothes the whole episode since he's been staying in Cory's room, and it just looks ridiculous. I can't even pay attention to what's going on. It's the same problem when he argues with Cory right after Feeny leaves. What a fucking terrible decision. Unless, and this is strictly desperation talking, it's trying to be artsy by saying "see how ridiculous you'll end up looking if you make bad decisions?", but no one would believe that.

The show ends with Cory convincing Shawn to go home but it's so bad that I just don't even care. I can't care. I'm drained. I've been trying to write this all afternoon and I keep getting distracted because this episode is fucking terrible. This review is fucking terrible. For the first time so far, Boy Meets World is being genuinely preachy, and it's not at all fun to watch or write about. And we have to come back next episode and pretend that Shawn isn't a domestic terrorist. It would have better if they did this as the season finale. 

It's particularly difficult because while this episode is a shit-tornado, it's also important. The reckless bad-decision-machine + reasonable safety-net friendship dynamic is pretty central to the series, at least for the first few seasons, and this episode really sets that in motion. It's critical character development. I have to give it the badge and that makes me angry.

I hate this episode. I have always hated it. The premise is ridiculous, the actors know it's ridiculous, and I just don't want to think about it anymore. The only part that kept me sane here was the 10 seconds of Tell Tale Heart, but it wasn't really ever mentioned again, and its theme isn't properly represented. The guy in Poe's story goes mad over the guilt, but Cory isn't ever overcome with guilt, he didn't even do anything wrong. Shawn doesn't feel guilty either. He's just being whiny and annoying. Everything about this is wrong. 

0 for plot, 1 for character development, 0.25 for humor, 0 for life lesson.

1.25/4 and a big middle finger from yours truly.

If I haven't burned down my apartment, I'll see you Friday.

Fair Use or some shit.