I fucking love Sheen. And Principal Willoughby back there almost looks like Mr. Feeny.
Well that only took half an hour... Back to the show.
There's a sub plot about the Matthews family's annual vacation to the Jersey Shore (back when people took it seriously), which includes a Goofy Golf Tournament. Cory and Alan vs. Eric and Amy. Apparently the latter is consistently victorious, but Eric is willing to throw the game if Cory lends him some money, which Cory neither accepts nor refuses.
In class, Cory's being a huge brat about the play. He wants to make it more like an action movie because I don't know why and ultimately quits the play because he's a dumbass.
WAIT A MINUTE. WAS THAT..???! IT'S....! IT'S HIM! HE'S BACK! It's the same kid playin his fuckin Game Gear in the window sill! (see episode 16's review) Like, he actually walks up, sits down, and takes it out of his backpack. I don't think he's even in Mr. Feeny's class. Wow, I love that guy. Is he secretly the main character? Where the hell is his spinoff?
Anyway. Yeah. "Prince Haagen Dazs". Pretty damn funny. That's a good scene, and naturally it required Minkus's finesse.
The trip to the Jersey Shore has been cancelled since Alan got a pay cut. Cory suggests that his father stand up for himself and throw his weight around to get his original salary back. Alan actually considers it but his dear wife reminds him that it's not wise to take career advice from a 12 year old. (Either this aired out of order or Cory turned 12 in the previous episode, not 13. Probably the latter.)
This is something magical about the first season. I can't think of a single dialogue between Amy and Alan that I didn't love. They are amazing together. It's odd that I've never talked about this. They are hands-down my favorite TV parents. They're flawed and they know it, they flirt and fight and banter and laugh, they're well-developed characters... they're real. Well, except for the episode where Shawn blew up a mailbox but forget that one.
I want to give an Amy and Alan Matthews Bonus Badge. They're perfect.
A caption would only ruin it.
Since Cory quit the play, Mr. Feeny had to switch the roles around. Minkus got Hamlet like he wanted, and Shawn has been upgraded to Polonius.
Miraculously, Game Gear Man is not in the window sill during this scene. Is he in class? Does GGM even go to class? Maybe he only comes to school so he can sit in the window sill. Come to think of it, where is everyone? Apparently Minkus is a terrible actor, and Shawn's getting pretty into the whole thing.
This is awesome! It's wonderful to see Shawn being passionate about something. The best part is that it's believable. Theatre is one of those things that you can't fully appreciate without actually being on stage. Anyway Cory watches everyone rehearse and it's another great scene (thanks again, Minkus).
That's actually what he says.
After watching rehearsal, Cory realizes that he fucked up pretty hard, but Mr. Feeny isn't going to kick Minkus out of the role. Cory still thinks Shakespeare is boring so Feeny does a monologue from Hamlet and it's fucking bad ass.
Back at home we learn that Alan confronted his boss, but didn't end up quitting. We get a life lesson here and it goes beyond the standard "don't be a quitter" spiel. The real message is that you can't make selfish decisions when people are counting on you, which is exactly what Cory did when he quit the play. We're seeing the pattern of this show now, where the sub plot usually only exists to tie the life lesson into the main plot. Sometimes it's pathetic, like episode 19, but this one was spot on.
The outro bit consists of a rogue spear carrier ruining the play. What the fuck scene of Hamlet is it supposed to be anyway?
Okay so Minkus starts from line 129 here. http://shakespeare-navigators.com/hamlet/H12.html
The stage direction immediately before what Minkus is saying is that everyone except Hamlet exits the stage. It doesn't look like that happened here. For real though, that soliloquy is fantastic. You can actually hear Minkus saying "Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter." In other words, "it's too bad God doesn't like suicide." Isn't that awesome?! In my entire public school career Hamlet was never assigned to me. Too busy reading garbage like Everyman and Waiting for Godot and A Streetcar Named Pbbtthhh.
This is the best episode so far. The story is a ton of fun while maintaining believability. It's hilarious. We see character growth from Shawn, Cory, and Alan. The life lesson was good too, particularly its presentation. We feel genuinely bad for Shawn when he pleads with Cory to come back to the play. It's a very real example of Cory letting everyone down, so Alan's lesson fits beautifully.
This was written by the dynamic duo, Ed Decter and John J Strauss, who previously gave us episodes 9 and 15, which were also fantastic. (And 7 but shhhhhhhhhhhhh)
We never did learn why Eric wanted to borrow money.
Go watch this episode. I loved it.
4/4 with all the badges and an Amy and Alan Matthews Bonus Badge.
See you Friday.
Clips and images used under fair use.
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