Episode 4x15 "Chick Like Me"

Somehow I missed the fact that the judge in 4x14 played the dad on Wonder Years. That puts things in a slightly different perspective, but overall that episode was still the worst this season.

Cory's protagonist privilege has netted him a column in the school's newspaper, which is fine, since no one reads school newspapers except the reluctant parents of the kids who write the damn things. He's writing a "humor column" where every sentence starts with "Is it just me..." and Shawn doesn't think it's very funny, because it's not. In fact, Shawn thinks Cory should write about something more important. I admire that, Shawn, but you need look no further than the news media of 2014 to see that nobody gives a shit about what's important when it comes to the news.

Topanga walks around the corner toward Shawn and Cory, accompanied by a girl named Debbie. Debbie tells Toboomerang the story of her date with some guy who's probably named Brad. He was a real sweetheart, buying her an expensive dinner and acting like a gentleman, and then at the end of the date felt that his previous actions entitled him to her body. Topanga agrees that's real shitty when guys basically put on a show to earn their "reward" at the end of the night. Right on, a lesson for more than just teenagers.

Debbie is played by Katie Wright, who isn't in anything else.

We get a really genuine exchange up next. Shawn asks if Debbie is completely uninterested in making out on a date, and she says "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, but it shouldn't be expected just because I went on a date." Shawn follows with "Then how are we supposed to know if it's okay?" Debbie says that the girl will let the guy know, Shawn claims that the "letting them know" is never very clear, and Debbie claims that it is clear, but guys are "too busy planning your next move to hear her say no". I really, really liked where that was going until Debbie's last line. I mean, she's not wrong, but Shawn was talking about how to know it's okay to start making a move, and Debbie ends up talking about how he should know to stop. I think that would have been really interesting, especially for teenagers, talking about the signs that tell you to make a move. Or at least, Shawn could have said "how are we supposed to know it's not okay", then it all would have been consistent. Alas, it looks like this is a "no means no" episode, but that's still important.

It's time for class now, and Feeny's talking about the book Black Like Me, written by John Howard Griffin in 1961. Griffin actually artificially blackened his skin to experience life as a black man at a time when race relations in America were particularly strained. That in itself is pretty rad.

If the title of the episode is any indication, this book is going to inspire our heroes to take action. Oh okay, that was literally the next line after I paused it. Shawn suggests that Cory dress in drag and write about it for his (convenient) newspaper column. Cory agrees after hearing Feeny describe the worldwide success Griffin achieved after publishing Black Like Me.

We haven't seen Lonnie since Christmas, but here she is again at Alan's store. I'm genuinely surprised she's lasted this long. Lonnie sells something to a guy who looks like he's 30, and then asks her on a date. She agrees, and offers to cook him a "big 'ol dinner", and then go "eel grabbin" in the river after dinner. Silly Lonnie, you have to wait a while after eating to go swimming. That must be why the guy bolts out the door, he doesn't wanna get a stomach cramp.

Awwwwwwwwwwww. Intelligent Eric is appearing in this episode, apparently. He uses Lonnie's experience with hunting to compare men to the types of critters she tracks in the woods, suggesting a calmer approach, being sure not to scare them off.

Imagine we're sitting at a bus stop together, just you and I, and I tell you that there's an episode of a sitcom where a teenage boy dresses up like a girl. Then I tell you to list the top five most obvious jokes to put in the script. All five of those jokes are in this next scene: Cory comes home with Shawn and some bags of freshly bought female clothes, and explains their plan to his parents. So yeah, the jokes write themselves. They even do the one where the audience laughs at the mere SIGHT of a bra. It's really lazy and easy humor, but I guess there was no getting around it. Regardless, even with Topanga's help, it doesn't go very well.

The 2nd and 3rd buttons from the top on Cory's dress are unbuttoned, and I can't tell if it's intentional or not, but it's pretty distracting and no one comments on it. Not only does he not look the part, Cory can't really act it either. Shawn however, displays quite an aptitude for femininity as he tries to explain it to his struggling best friend. This gives them the idea to have Shawn take on the role instead. At school the next day, he's all dolled up, and it's honestly pretty convincing. He's turning the heads of men and women alike as he walks with Cory to their lockers. After meeting up with Topanga, we learn that Shawn has decided his new name is Veronica.

Just then, the same guy Debbie went out with comes around the corner. He is apparently their "target", and his name is Gary. He's played by Ryan Bittle. Bittle didn't really do anything special after Boy Meets World, but he's currently starring on the soap opera All My Children, so take that how you will.

So I guess their plan is to hook Gary up with Veronica so Shawn can see exactly what Debbie was talking about. Cory introduces Veronica as "Veronica... Wazboyski", and you can actually hear a slow crescendo of audience laughter as they start to puzzle out that joke. Gary is THIRSTY as fuck, and immediately sets up a date with Veronica for Saturday. There's only 7 minutes left, so that's two thirds of the way done and almost nothing has happened. They really put all their eggs in the "how many crossdressing jokes can we make" basket, and they haven't been great. Certainly not offensive, and I definitely respect that, but not particularly funny either.

It's nighttime and we're at the store. I guess Eric and Lonnie waited until after closing to do this. Eric's teaching her how to come on a little (a lot) less strong, and it goes well until she gets too handsy trying to see what brand of shirt Eric is wearing.

You wanna know why this is awesome? This Lonnie story is perfectly placed in this episode. Sometimes the Eric stories are weirdly independent of the rest of the plot, but this is one is perfect. They're showing us that it's not just guys who can come on too strong and disregard the other person's boundaries. She even says "I never woulda thought that bein friendly could drive people away, but I guess friendliness is just different between men and women." That's an awesome line. Eric is enjoying it since he already likes her, but that guy who ran away in terror at the beginning was a fantastic touch.

 We jump over to the end of Veronica's date with Gary at Chubbie's. Gary's bein a super swell guy, all polite and well mannered. Apparently they still haven't eaten, so Gary calls for a waitress, which is honestly like having a waitress at goddamn McDonald's or something, this place is like 5 cubic meters, but whatever. The waitress turns out to be Cory in drag, using a voice like he smokes eight packs a day.

This is actually pretty funny because Ben Savage is selling the hell out of it. After Cory, now Corra, takes their orders, Gary goes into mega creep mode. Veronica's lines are written pretty well here. I'll just use the first one as an example. For coherence I'm going to use "she/her" to mean Veronica. Gary puts his arm around her and asks if she's having a good time. Veronica replies "Little trouble breathing... You're crowding me a bit." So it's believable, right, that blend of "I don't want to be outright mean, but I don't want him to do this". Sadly, Gary keeps putting on different moves, and Veronica responds the same sort of way each time. This calls back what Debbie said in the beginning about the guy being too preoccupied to hear "no". Let's stop for a second to be clear that there's nothing wrong with making a move, but if the other person ain't okay with it, ya gotta throw in the towel.

Oh I guess they're not going the subtle route today, eventually Veronica directly quotes that Debbie line from earlier. She goes over to Corra and explains her discomfort, and makes the grand realization that this is what she's been doing to girls for far too long.

I thought Shawn learned about this in the Dana episode last season, but I guess some habits aren't so easily broken. It's interesting if you think about this episode like Shawn experiencing his first date with Dana from Dana's perspective. Veronica wants to bail, but Corra insists that she stay for the sake of the newspaper column.

Gary comes over and apologizes, and takes Veronica to play foosball. Corra comments that her hosiery is bunching. Gary tries to get all up on Veronica again, in the guise of teaching her some foosball techniques, and it's reaaaaally creepy, but realistic at the same time. He makes a comment about how Veronica is dressed, which basically amounts to "You're asking for it", and she says ".... I just wanted to look nice..." and that is that REAL shit, folks. Just because a girl looks nice, that doesn't mean she's saying "I brought these things for you to enjoy", it's not an invitation to start grabbing whatever you can see. Damn, this is turning out really well. Gary is relentless and ultimately receives a hard punch in the face from Veronica.

That joke gets me every single time.

During the credits, everyone at school is thoroughly impressed with Cory's article. Holy shit, the boys actually pulled off one of their crazy schemes. Nothing even went wrong this time, that was exactly how they planned it. Incredible. "Everyone" includes Debbie, and after hearing Shawn explain what he learned in the ordeal, asks him for a date and he agrees. Cory comments that his hosiery is still bunching.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WITH LONNIE? That last scene in the store ended on such a cliffhanger! (heh... cliffhanger... in a store for outdoor gear...) OH GOD THAT WAS THE LAST EPISODE WITH LONNIE. WE'LL NEVER KNOW. Damn, that is gonna kill me.

Plot: 1.0 - I liked it. It's the first cross-dressing episode of a sitcom I've seen that actually tries to do something important with it. The only real event was the date with Gary, and that only took up about four minutes, but the setup leading to it was solid. And the scenes with Eric and Lonnie were spot on.

Character Development: 1.0 - I feel cheated for giving this point to Shawn back in the Dana episode, since I'm now giving this point for an extremely similar development, but whatever.

Humor: 0.5 - It was lacking, but I still laughed enough to be satisfied, especially when Cory became Corra.

Life Lesson: 1.0 - Pretty much everything at Chubbie's. Especially "I just wanted to look nice." That one hits you right in the gut. Rider Strong did a fantastic job in that scene.

3.5 out of 4.0. It's pretty much everything you could ask for. And hey, if nothing else, Cory and Shawn are wearing dresses. Don't miss this one.

Thanks for reading, see you Friday.

All images used under Fair Use.