The class is watching an educational film about hormones and puberty stuff on one of those projector things. Topanga is WAY too pleased with this movie. But the guy next to her just knocked Game-Gear-Window-Sill Guy off of the Favorite Character throne.
Seriously, she holds that face for the entire scene. Cory makes a joke about George Burns. I don't know who that is but the audience thinks it's funny so it's probably not. The film ends and Cory explains to Mr. Feeny that hormones are for chumps and he doesn't wanna deal with it. Shawn and a girl brush hands as they reach for his dropped pencil and the sparks fly even though our boy is wearing a sleeveless jacket.
The Lonely Island have a song about what we just saw there.
Shawn discusses asking girls out with an oblivious Cory. Minkus suggests his method of reading Perky © magazine to understand how girls think. The girl from class makes the plot easy for us by asking Shawn out, who can only manage to giggle and nod in response.
....
....
See you later...
.....Terminator...?
That line is so horrible that it's actually almost clever, since the Terminator says "I'll be back."
Now Shawn's wearing different shirts so it's either the next day or his date went SUPER well, and he's regaling Eric with the details of his romantic rendezvous. Apparently they snuck into a movie and Eric gives his approval. That's pretty rad. Imagine if someone snuck into a movie on Full House or a Disney channel show. They would do a two-episode story about how wrong it is and at least one character would cry. Anyway, Cory comes in and doesn't like that he's being excluded, but he also doesn't want to talk about dating so it's quite the pickle.
And then this.
Let me explain why that was genius. Everything up to this point has been telling us that hormones have commandeered Shawn and this unnamed girl, and that they dig each other. We've seen Shawn's reckless side and hey, they snuck into a movie. What's more, we've also seen and heard (mostly heard) about Eric's romantic exploits, and we know that Cory is still immature toward the whole thing. We've been primed, so when Shawn delivers his line perfectly and we see the absolutely priceless reactions of Eric and Cory, everything just collapses together and it's fucking hysterical. The Matthews brothers have the same reaction but for different reasons: Eric is impressed and maybe jealous, while Cory is just sort of awestruck. It's funny that they believe it, but it's funnier that we believe it. Then Shawn flips the table and says what really happened. It was a comedic bait and switch. A flawless comedic bait and switch. You can almost always see these things coming, but they got me this time because I was primed. Most of the time, this show uses punchline and commentary humor, as do most shows, but this joke was a work of art. Humor Badge.
At lunch, Shawn eats with the girl, who we now know is named Hillary. Cory is left feeling jealous and lonely, so he goes to Minkus for his Perky © inspired advice. Clearly Perky © is not related to Cosmopolitan since it's not completely fucking retarded. Minkus is perfect and the whole conversation is really funny. I would post it but you should watch this whole episode anyway, so I'll leave it at that. Cory goes on the hunt with his new tricks of the trade and walks past a bespectacled pirate to find Topanga.
Cory suggests they go to Bob Stoopcheck's Burger World. We learned about Bob Stoopcheck's Pizza World back in episode 16, so this guy is some sort of interplanetary fast food mogul, which is awesome.
Topanga's a vegetarian though so they're going to International House of Sprouts instead. She says "It's a date", and Cory does the whole "who said anything about a date?!" thing. That's a depressingly predictable way to take things, but honestly they could cut to a Miley Cyrus album for the next 10 minutes and I'd still recommend the episode.
Back at home, Alan and Amy banter and it's perfect like always. Cory comes home and talks to his parents about everything. In doing so, his mother points out that he's only doing this to "keep up with Shawn". Wee woo, wee woo, red fucking alert. That's a central theme for the first few seasons, and adds to the already strong dynamic between Shawn and Cory. Character Development Badge. You know what would be interesting is if the title is actually referring to Shawn, rather than Cory.
I had to use Chrome's incognito mode to search for that Kardashians picture. You know. Just in case.
Cory chickens out and tells Topanga he has the flu, but she shows up with some smelly remedy for him to drink. He tells her the truth and then teaches her to play color-commentary-sock-laundry-basket basketball. It's actually pretty adorable.
They hi-five and Cory gets the giggles. After some cute banter, she leans back on his hand he gets the giggles again. If you recall, Shawn got the giggles by touching Hillary's hand. COINCIDENCE??? I guess we're supposed to forget that Cory and Topanga already kissed in episode 4.
Later Eric and Shawn find Cory on the porch. Shawn had a second date and he blew it.
Don't feel bad Shawn. You were doomed the moment you decided to wear those crimes against humanity on your body. I'm pretty sure one of the Geneva Conventions outlawed that shit.
I just love it. Boy Meets World deals with dating brilliantly (well, until Cory and Topanga get serious). Try to tell me that's not part of why you love this show. It's messy and confusing and challenging, sometimes it's shallow, sometimes it's heartbreaking, and we'll be seeing all of that as we go.
This is a great episode. The story is enough fun for a Plot Badge and it already got those other two. There wasn't much of a life lesson though, except maybe "don't fall for a classmate named Hillary", which I can verify from personal experience. The outro bit does some pretty spot on foreshadowing.
And the future looks bright. I really wish this had been the season finale. That clip just leaves you with a smile and a good feeling.
3/4 with three Badges.
See you Monday for the season finale.
Clips and images used under fair use.
I think you mean the Geneva Detention Convention...
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