Episode 2x18 "By Hook or By Crook"

If you check out the comments on the reviews for 1x03, 1x07, 2x04, and 2x05, you'll see that I've got my first scathing critic! Let's pull out the old checklist here...

• Fiery, self-righteous critic? Check
• Intro animation? Check
• Celebrity acknowledgment? Checkaroni.

I'd say we're really startin to rock and roll here folks.

Eric and his best friend, His Majesty The Fantastic Jason, come home to the Matthews house with some new books about backpacking across Europe. Some of them slightly more enlightening than others.

How beautiful is that gif? I figured out a better way to make them. Welcome to the future. (If it's moving slow, just wait for it to finish one full cycle, and then it should be good.)

So Eric and Jason are planning to trek across Europe over the summer. Alan warns his son that that trip ain't happenin unless Eric can pull together a B average at school. This sets the premise for the Ericlogue, and this might be the first time Eric's education has been central to the plot. He's usually chasing skirts or setting up some scheme or other, so this is a nice change. 

In Turner's class the next day, Topanga exists again. Our lovely heroine learns from Shawn that Cory is out sick. Indeed he's "got somethin bad", as is evidenced by Shawn's claim that today is film strip day in Sex Ed and Cory still isn't there. That seems backwards to me, Sex Ed was only ever incredibly, uncomfortably awkward at my schools, it was like an episode of The Office. Either way, that's a pretty strong sign that this episode will focus on Eric. Turner comes in and regales the class with the story of his motorcycle being run over that morning. Shawn promises Turner a good deal if he goes to get the motorcycle fixed at his uncle Mike's shop and offers a business card. This is followed up by a lovely display of the show's self-awareness.

Good on you, Boy Meets World, for acknowledging Shawn's limitless uncles. Do you see the kid on the left? He's like "god dammit I'm trying to learn and this fuckin Shawn kid fuckin ruins every single class I am so done with this bull shit-". And the girl in the white shirt between Turner and Shawn starts flipping through her book. Clearly her talents are wasted in the background. For real though, she's in every episode that has a scene in this classroom, but I don't think she ever gets a name. 

The next scene starts at the end of Mr. Feeny's history class. Eric and God's Greatest Gift Jason try to persuade their teacher into giving them both Bs instead of their usual C+s on the exam that Thursday. Feeny is not convinced, and we get to see William Daniels's legendary "how do I put this gently..." expressions.

Is there anything worse than Thursday exams? It's like, damn, just make it Friday, come on. You need the weekend to dampen the blow, you know? "Well I can't answer any of these questions but at least tomorrow's Saturday." Anyway, Feeny suggests they get tutoring from a senior. I don't understand why Shimmering Magnificence Jason is worried about his own grades, maybe he's just trying to be a good friend. They agree to work with a tutor, but Eric isn't happy about it and explains that all tutors are Minkus-y nerds. Eric discovers that he is incorrect.

Oh Will Friedle! Those faces! Take my heart, I beg of you, you wonderful actor. I say this every time, but Eric and Transcendent Stupendous Jason are so damn good together. The tutor's name is Torie, and she's played by Terri Ivens. Ms. Ivens has had a decent acting career, including a starring role on All My Children, and the obvious highlight is her role on the 2012 TV movie "Piranhaconda", which can't possibly be anything less than fantastic.

Later we come in on the conclusion of Angelic Aurora Jason's session with Torie. Eternal Splendor Jason tries to flirt with her, but she ain't havin it. On the other hand, when Eric comes in for his session, Torie gets a bad case of the flirty flirts and suggests they go somewhere more comfortable. Wuh oh, is that the smell of imminent compromised integrity? I've smelled it on myself enough times to recognize it anywhere.

That came up on a Google image search for "compromised integrity". How is that even a pyramid? It's the 60 degree angle of choice, really. Whatever.

We're at Uncle Mike's repair shop now, where Shawn evidently works part time, and it's the same set that was previously used as a towing company in 1x18. The actor playing Uncle Mike was an unnamed delivery guy in 2x10. Maybe he just works a bunch of jobs. Maybe he just wants to provide for his family. You don't know. Shawn convinces his uncle to give Mr. Turner a good deal, and it's super sweet to see the planting of the first seeds of the relationship between Shawn and Turner.

Eric and Torie are at Chubbie's, which is not exactly my idea of "somewhere more comfortable", and there's no ice in their drinks. Torie confesses that she's super hot for Eric, offers to give him the answers to Feeny's test, and, to the audience's excitement, kisses him. At lunch the next day, Eric and Gallant Perfection Jason have just completed the exam and both admit to struggling with it, in fact Eric left half the test blank. Eric tells his best friend that Torie offered to give him the answers, but he didn't take them. Mr. Feeny arrives, having immediately graded their tests out of a "morbid curiosity". 

Hail Him Praise Him Jason got a B because he's awesome. Mr. Feeny calls him "Mr. Marsden", so they're actually using his full real name for his character's name. Fascinating. I never knew that. 

And Eric got an A-. After lunch Eric confronts Torie, wondering how he could have scored an A- when he left half the test blank. Somehow Torie managed to fill out the answers on Eric's test in between the class ending and Feeny immediately grading it, but fine. Eric explains that he wanted to prove he was smart, and she talks down to him like "why do you care about school when you're so good looking?" This is a very weird thing for her to ask since she is also good looking and also cares about school. 

At Uncle Mike's shop, Mike tries to charge Turner a lot more than they agreed on and Shawn comes to his defense once again. You have to wonder if the writers got here and thought "you know, this is good stuff, we need to do more of this", or if they had already planned out Shawn and Turner's friendship arc.

It's late at night and we're at the Matthews house, and Eric is studying fervently in the kitchen. Mr. Feeny is a black hearted monster, why is he giving another test so soon? There's no real sense of the passage of time here, maybe it's actually been a while, who knows. Eric gives Torie a call, hoping she can direct him to the most important topics to study. The compromised-integrity tutor doesn't think Eric can pass the exam without cheating and tells him all the answers to the test, which Eric reluctantly and guiltily writes down.

Overcome with guilt, Eric confesses his cheating to Mr. Feeny, but lies about the source of the answers. We've been lacking in powerful Feeny lessons this season, but the wait pays off here, for sure. Eric claims that he'll always just be an average student, that he just isn't capable of excelling in academia.

Mr. Feeny.

Brings.

Down.

The hammer.

Mr. Feeny believes Eric is capable, and points to Eric's laziness and his affinity for easy excuses. It's all really quite inspiring, and sets the groundwork for their friendship arc. Anyone who has seen this show knows how emotionally powerful the relationship between Eric and Feeny becomes, and it all starts right here. Awesome.

No caption necessary.

Torie comes along, having been called to Feeny's office before this scene started for some unrelated reason. We get that whole 

• "How could you tell him what I did?!"
• "I didn't..."
• "Oh shit."

thing, which is honestly a staple for this show. Feeny really chews Torie out for not believing in Eric and for robbing him of his chance to prove himself. It's amazing. Ultimately though, Feeny just sort of lets her go with a warning. In an otherwise perfect scene, that has always bothered me. Feeny also comments that Eric will need to come to summer school, but Eric is okay with it.

The scene fades to black, the credits start, and the audience applauds. Forget everything I've ever said about the studio audience because I would fucking clap too. This ending is absolutely fantastic. You wouldn't expect one of these "I did something bad" confession scenes to ever be worth a damn, but this one is worth many damns.

Plot: 1.0 - Wonderful. Exquisite. Not entirely original, but very well written and entertaining. This is the first time we see the man that Eric is going to be for the rest of the series and it is EXCITING.

Character Development: 1.0 - Shawn+Turner arc, Eric+Feeny arc. Couldn't ask for more.

Humor: 1.0 - Quality from the whole cast.

Life Lesson: motherfucking 1.0 - I've already gushed a lot over that ending. It's lovely and inspiring without being cheesy or cliche. That's basically a tagline for the entire series.

I fucking love this show, you guys. I highly suggest watching this episode.

4.0 out of 4.0 with an "I fucking love this show" Bonus Badge.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the improved gifs. I know I enjoyed making them. I want to avoid using clips from now on, unless there's some classic line that you absolutely have to hear. I got some 3D modeling software, so I might be able to rig up some new badges by the time we get to season 3. 

See you Wednesday.

All images used under Fair Use.