Episode 3x08 "Rave On"

The jazz music during the title sequence sounds like game-show-contestant-walking-down-to-the-stage, mixed with some heartbroken blues.

Eric's throwing a rave, as is indicated by the number of "ILLEGAL RAVE THIS FRIDAY" posters around the hallway. Cory doesn't know what a rave is, and even Mr. Feeny points out how lame that is. I would prefer not to do another story about Cory feeling like a loser, so hopefully that doesn't turn into anything. He does, however, threaten to tell their parents if Eric doesn't invite him to the rave, and Eric caves.

The pay phone is back, and that punch-out clock from 3x07 is gone. Also, thanks for all your feedback on the text. I'll stick to the yellow, and I am now using the "Calibri" font, which was my intention when I accidentally used "Cambria" for a while.

So as if we couldn't guess, the rave is going to be at Chubbie's while Chubbie is out on a cruise. But wait, Friday is also the Matthews parents' 20th anniversary, which Eric forgot about when he scheduled the rave. Cory chews him out, but obviously Cory didn't know until just now either, so hey, shut up Cory. Let's play a game where you win if you name one sitcom that never used an anniversary as a plot device. You lose. On the same token though, both Mr. and Mrs. Matthews themselves remembered, so it's not horribly cliche. And we get this thing, which I distinctly remember from the first commercial I saw about this show.

Topanga's father, Jedediah, shows up with the guitar Amy ordered from him as a gift for Alan. Jed is played by Peter Tork, bassist for The Monkees, who also played this role back in 2x22. In that one, it was career day at school, and he did in fact describe his job of making guitars. So this is a rare showing of continuity. Micky Dolenz, also from The Monkees, reprises his role as Alan's best pal Gordy as he helps Alan carry a new bathtub/jacuzzi upstairs. As in his previous appearances, he's got some funny lines and great delivery. He clearly has a lot of fun being on this show, and it's always a treat when he shows up.

WHHHAAAAA?!! THE TEXT IS MOVING WITH THE CHARACTERRRRRR???!!!!

THIS IS THE BEST BLOG YOU'VE EVER SEEN??!! IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SAY??!!!!

As an aside, I remember that the anniversary in season 2 was their 18th anniversary, so we have indeed skipped time. We already knew that though, I just forgot to mention it: Turner commented that Shawn is 15 a few episodes ago, and he was in 7th grade in season 2. Also Eric is a senior now and I'm pretty sure he was a sophomore in season 2. So that all points to missing one year between seasons if we assume that Shawn is in 9th grade and has a birthday early in the school year. At the beginning of this season, it was heavily implied that Shawn had only been staying at Turner's for a short time, but for the sake of putting this to rest, I'm willing to say that there was actually an entire year that we didn't see.

On the other hand, last season's anniversary episode was after the Christmas episode, while this anniversary episode is before the New Year's Eve episode (no Christmas this season). So the timing doesn't make any sense. But then, who would notice other than me.

That kind of analysis is why I started this blog in the first place. I'm just glad I found an audience who wants to hear about it.

Now something odd happens. A posh Englishman named Reginald Fairfield arrives at the Matthews house. Apparently he accompanied Amy and Alan on a backpacking trip in Europe and Alan promised Reginald there would be a couch waiting for him if he ever visited the states. Well Reg is here to collect, even though Amy and Alan barely remember who he is. It's sort of a "wait what?" kind of funny, and both parents have some great lines here. I'm just soaking this in as much as I can only Odin knows when it'll happen again. Also it's a little less "wait what?" now that I've seen who this actor is. It's Davy Jones from, yyyyyup, The Monkees.

Amy overhears Eric talking about a "secret party" while he's on the phone, which she interprets as a surprise anniversary party. Then Cory overhears Amy telling Alan what she's just learned. Lots of eavesdropping going on in this family. So now it's up to our heroes to try to turn their rave into an anniversary party. Cory begins by recruiting Messrs. Turner and Feeny to come to the party.

Best line in the series? Possibly.

Reginald Fairfield shows up and starts stalking Feeny. A couple girls, the two behind Feeny at the beginning of that gif actually, are talking about how lame it is that the rave's been cancelled, and wish they could meet a guy with the stones to go actually host one. Eric overhears, and I mean, one of the girls is wearing a tartan skirt, so, honestly, what options does he even have.

Later that night, Cory, Shawn, and Topanga arrive at Chubbie's for the party and see a line of ruffians and scoundrels trying to get inside, while Frankie the Enforcer is on bouncer duty. Eric has relaunched the rave because, like I said, tartan skirt. "Good news bro, we're throwin both parties." Things are not going well inside. There's a huge crowd already and nobody wants to cooperate. Cory is informed that his parents are outside trying to get in.

Frankie is wise beyond his years, that's for sure.

They did some weird shooting with these scenes, some of the people in line right now were inside just a second ago, including Jay from Jay and Silent Bob.

So Eric has decided to convince his parents that everyone at the party is either related to them or a family friend or whatever. Gordy and Reginald Fairfield have some dialogue here, reminding the audience that two members of The Monkees are currently at this party, so there's really only one way for this to end.

Either way, it doesn't take long for Amy and Alan to catch on to what's going on, thank goodness, and they're pretty fuckin disappointed in their sons. I also want to point out the lack of Morgan here. From the beginning of the season until now, it's been reasonable to just brush it off as "she's not around" or whatever, nothing wrong with that. But in this episode, we're looking at a blatant disregard for her existence. What's weirder is that they reintroduce Morgan with a different actress only six episodes from now. I feel like a small amount of rearranging could have made this work. In fact, airing this episode later in the season (with the new Morgan) also would have made the timeline match up with last season's anniversary (a few episodes after New Year's/Christmas).

Back on track, Amy and Alan want to leave, but the third Monkee, Jedediah, arrives with Alan's guitar gift. Seeing the guitar gives Cory the idea to have the band they booked for the rave play the song that his parents danced to at their wedding. But Frankie the Enforcer did some enforcing earlier and didn't let the band into Chubbie's. WHO CAN POSSIBLY FILL IN FOR THEM?

Remember that episode of Scrubs where J.D. has a fantasy about what would happen if life were more like a sitcom? And at the end Clay Aiken sings Turk and Carla's wedding song to win some money for the hospital? Yeah, this ending here is exactly what Scrubs was parodying in that episode. But hey, it's cool to see the Monkees play. And it's pretty convincing! I think they're actually playing live here. If not, at least their guitars are plugged in (lookin' at you, RHCP).

During the credits, a man played by Dave Madden tells Gordy, Reginald Fairfield, and Jedediah that he wants to be their manager. This didn't make any sense to me at first since I didn't actually know what The Partridge Family was about, but now I do, and Madden played the manager on that show. So this makes sense. But boy is that joke dated. The Partridge Family ended its run in 1974, so they were really stretching for this bit. Either way, he ends by telling the musicians that they "could be bigger than the Beatles." Not exactly funny, but it brings the whole Monkees-inside-joke-meta-humor thing to completion.

Plot: 0.75 - It was great until the painfully predictable ending.

Character Development: 0.5 - I'm grasping at straws here, but it was nice to see Eric and Cory actually work together on something.

Humor: 1.0 - Absolutely non-stop humor from start to finish. Definitely the funniest episode so far this season. This is a prime example of how funny Boy Meets World can be. There were a few dead jokes, of course, but you can never expect 100%.

Life Lesson: 0 - The Monkees will always have your back.

2.25 out of 4.0 - I tried to throw some extra points in plot and CD because I genuinely enjoyed watching this. The score doesn't do it justice, this episode is hilarious. Obviously I've shown a preference for the life-lessony episodes of this series, but sometimes it's just so funny, with fantastically written dialogue, that it works purely on comedy. Finally, I'm gonna throw out a Monkees bonus badge, because hey, they're the Monkees and people say they monkey around, but they're too busy singin to put anybody down.

The guy in the top left did not make an appearance. Micky Dolenz looks hilarious with an afro.

Thanks for reading, see you Friday.

All images used under Fair Use.