Episode 3x22 "Brother Brother"

Is the title a play on Sister Sister? I don't know what else it could be, but that would be a pretty dumb title.

It's the end of the school year, finally, so Eli and Turner are giving Eric back the things they've confiscated from him over the year(s?).

The real Feeny comes up to Eric to chat and the joke-bat keeps hitting home runs. The chemistry between Eric and Feeny is completely undeniable at this point. They're just too perfect together. Aside from the laughs, we also learn that Eric's been turned down by a few more colleges and is on the waiting list for North Southwestern San Diego State. Further, he plans on traveling the country during the summer. That was a pretty damn good minute and a half. That's honestly one of the strongest opening scenes so far in the series.

On the other side of the hall, Cory and Topanga are clearly still high on getting-back-together. If you've ever "gotten back together" with someone, I don't need to tell you about that first week or two. Regardless, Topanga's going away to summer camp, and Cory wants to go with her, mostly-jokingly.

Topanga lookin 90s as fuuuuuuck.

So yeah, Cory's super bummed out that his girlfriend is going to be gone all summer, and it doesn't help that Topanga isn't nearly as upset about it. Or upset at all, really. Eric tries (unsuccessfully) to cheer his little brother up.

The Feeny puppet would cheer me up in ANY situation. Seriously, that is the funniest thing I have ever seen. Cory's just bein a big ol' Debbie Downer. Shit, who's good at crafts and stuff? Start mass producing Feeny puppets, make millions of dollars, and send me one for free.

Actually, send me two. Shut up, you can afford it.

Now Shawn and Cory are at a park somewhere, which is new and exciting. But uh oh, Shawn's gonna spend the next two months traveling with his dad. What's a poor lonely Cory to do.

Now we're in Cory's kitchen and he's the mopiest mope ever. His parents suggest hanging out with Eric before he leaves on his car trip, but Cory fires back with all the times his brother has bailed on him for shitty reasons, and it's actually pretty emotionally charged. It's about time Eric had to face what a shitty brother he's been. Morgan offers to hang out with Cory, but then remembers that she has "day camp" all summer. So why isn't Cory going to camp, you ask? Apparently his parents tried to send him once before, but they had to come get him after only a few days.

Okay so that's basically all of the setup, I think. Just explaining why everyone is unavailable for the summer so that we can really hash things out between Cory and Eric. And sure enough, after Cory goes upstairs he has another argument with Eric. "We only spend time together when you're stuck with me", "I'm your last resort", that sort of thing. Things escalate, they tussle, and Eric resolves to leave the next day. My only real problem with this is how overdue it is. But I guess Eric leaving for college is enough of a catalyst for Cory to finally want to deal with this shit.

We jump forward to Eric's going-away dinner at Chubbie's the next day. Naturally, none of Eric's friends are here because we've never met any of them on the show. Except Jason, God rest his soul. Feeny, Turner, and Eli are here though, as are Shawn and Topanga, so... this is more or less the shittiest party Eric has ever been a part of, but he's taking it in stride. Feeny gives a nice little speech and shows Eric his framed diploma.

Feeny pretends not to love that hug, but we know the truth. I would love to get a closer shot of all those signatures on the banner. I would say that the party happened earlier, and Eric's friends have all gone home, but none of the food has been eaten, so I can't really piece this one together.

Cory decides to say a few words, the essence of which is "we shared a room for fifteen years and I don't even know you". Then Cory slinks off. And I mean, he's not wrong. All they've ever really done is take jabs at each other, except the one time they were "THE MATTHEWS BRUTHAAAS". But this is pretty much the exact opposite of "THE MATTHEWS BRUTHAAAS". 

The next morning, Cory's already gone off to say goodbye to Topanga by the time Eric wakes up. We get like two and a half minutes of Eric having a heart to heart with his parents. It's pretty well written, but it's definitely not tuggin' my heart strings like it's supposed to. I think that comes from the fact that Eric's interactions with his parents have been really limited this season. Morgan comes down too, and her cuteness is exploited by putting her in goddamn footie-pajamas and she gets sad and stuff. She said "ass shit cunt" in the previous episode, so I think she's a little old for footie-pajamas.

We jump over to the park where Cory says his goodbyes to Shawn and Topanga, and tries his damnedest not to show them how upset he is. It's dusk now, lookin like Twilight Princess in here, even though it was morning in the last scene. Cory sucks at solo-basketball for about 20 seconds, and then Eric shows up. Apparently he was "halfway to Jersey" and came back for a proper goodbye.

Cory reveals that he swiped the most recent letter from North Southwestern San Diego State from the mailbox out of spite a day earlier, and now gives it to Eric to open. (Recall that Eric was just on the waiting list.)

Ho Ly shit, where are the tissues. That shit breaks my heart every single time. WHY ARE YOU SO REAL, BOY MEETS WORLD? How do I even process this? All season we've watched Eric try to get his act together and make it into college, but it wasn't enough. No Hollywood magic here folks. This is one of the best decisions they ever made on this show, painful as it is. And you really have to hear it to get the full effect, Eric's tone is the most hollow and lifeless thing you've ever heard, it really is devastating. And that's good television.

Eric is about to cancel his celebratory road trip, but realizes a better idea is to take Cory along with him.

The credits-scene is much more lighthearted, and is basically just the boys joking around with their family and Mr. Feeny before taking off on their trip. Nothing really worth quoting in a gif. Eric's definitely told everyone that he didn't get accepted to college, since Alan reminds him to check out some colleges while he's on the road. So there was a HUGE opportunity that's been wasted here. I would give every penny in my bank account to see Eric telling Mr. Feeny that he got rejected from North Southwestern. Can you even imagine? Just thinking about their facial expressions is making me well up.

*At Feeny's back door*
"Uh, hey, Mister Feeny."
"Ah, Mister Matthews, one hug isn't enough for you, hm? This is an exciting time for you, I'm surprised you haven't already left."
"Mister Feeny they rejected me. I'm not going to college, and it was silly of me to ever think that I would."
"...Your dreams, Mister Matthews, are not silly."

Buuuuut that's not how it went down. Oh well.

Plot: 1.0 - It's about time Cory and Eric bridged the gap between them. This was a good story that definitely needed to be told. And like I said, the part where Eric reads the letter, that's some good writing.

Character Development: 1.0 - Eric and Cory get closer, Eric is faced with the fact that he's been rejected from college.

Humor: 1.0 - Consistently funny, and of course THE FEENY PUPPET.

Life Lesson: 1.0 - Brothers are important, and don't assume you're getting into college until you actually get accepted. 

4.0 out of 4.0. This is the last episode with Eli, if I remember correctly, and Turner has a considerably smaller role in the next season. They each got like two lines in this episode, so that was a little send off for them. It's funny, it's powerful, and it's real as fuck. That might as well be this show's motto.

So that's it, season 3 is over. 3 out of 7. Almost halfway. The MVP for season 3 is, without a doubt, Eric Randall Matthews. Consistently hilarious, an engaging and compelling character arc, amazing acting... Definitely the best character this season. I think that might be what sets us apart from everyone else. The people who really love Boy Meets World understand how incredibly important Eric is to the central themes in seasons 3 through 7. Once you stop seeing him as a side character, and instead see him as the other main character, there's a lot more to appreciate about this show.

As always, thank thank thank you for reading what I have to say. I'll be back on the 12th for season 4, with a fun new title animation. See you then.

All images used under Fair Use.