Episode 4x22 "Learning To Fly"

Regarding Girl Meets World, I really hope this whole "OH IM SO AWKWARD AROUND LUCAS" thing doesn't last much longer. 

Okay so Eric has been accepted to Beach State University, and is taking Cory, Shawn, and Topanga with him to visit the campus because he doesn't have any friends.

Gee, it's almost as if his long-time father figure isn't knocking on death's door. You might almost think that everyone on the show has completely forgotten about it.

But yeah, clearly Beach State is no Harvard. And Feeny says as much to Eric in the backyard. As usual, Feeny thinks Eric is taking the easy way out with Beach State, and tells him to give serious consideration to Pennbrook, a fictional school that's actually worth a damn. The Feenster goes back inside, leaving Eric with "I know you'll do the right thing." That's sweet, but we already dealt with this "easy way out" stuff more than once. Oh well.

Topanga shows up and tells Cory she can't go, since her aunt allegedly doesn't want them together overnight without supervision. And thinking back, that does match what little we know about Topanga's aunt from Long Walk part 2. Cory's pretty upset, and goes so far as to mispronounce "kibosh". It's pretty clear that Cory wanted to have sex with his girlfriend on this trip, and it's not entirely clear how Topscotch feels about that, but she walks away without saying anything.

Apparently Eric has a female friend at Beach State and the three boys will be staying in her room at a sorority house. But the... I don't know... house mistress..? has very strict rules against boys being in the house, so it's time for stealth. She's even got a harsh German accent to drive the whole thing home.

This is a pretty fantastic running joke. Shawn does that a few more times, where he knows what someone else is gonna say, it's pretty funny. The girl is named Julie, played by Brigitta Dau, and she hasn't done anything else worth mentioning.

So Eric and Julie go to "windsurf around campus", leaving Shawn and Cory to fend for themselves. They're just sort of hanging out for like 10 seconds when Julie's roommate, Mary Beth, comes home. She was supposed to be at her boyfriend's this weekend, but apparently something's gone wrong. The introductions are a bit rocky.

Mary Beth is played by Lisa Dean Ryan, who was on 48 episodes of Doogie Howser, which I guess is significant. Shawn (because of his dream) explains that Mary Beth has just broken up with her boyfriend. Cory is kind and sympathetic toward her, which immediately sets off those Rebound Hormones in her brain. Meanwhile, Julie is showing Eric the "rec room", and Eric's starting to wonder if there's any actual learning going on at this school.

That couple are just sitting there sort of rocking back and forth on each other's necks for the entire scene, it's really awkward to look at, and must have been even more awkward to act out. I love this dude with the sunglasses though, and his bottle simply labeled "Beer". This is cool though, this is definitely not the same Eric that started out the season. He's realizing on his own that getting a degree here would be a waste of time. Good for him.

Back at the sorority, Cory and Shawn are still in the room for some reason, watching Mary Beth throw the mementos of her recently-broken relationship out the window toward a very very fake and not-moving sepia tone beach.

Also, it kinda looks like Shawn is wearing black nail polish in this episode, and I forget where I saw this, but Rider said he slammed his finger in a door the day they filmed this, and that's why it looks like this. Fun fact.

May Beth kicks Shawn out of the room so she can seduce underage Cory in private. She goes into the bathroom and shouts about how awful men are, and Cory vents his frustration about Topanga bailing on him, and then Mary Beth re emerges. 

I don't think this would work on me. No woman has ever used an oversized football jersey in an attempt to seduce me, and I hope it never happens. Who the hell wrote that? "Dude bro what if a girl was like, into sports like us dude?" I don't know. Whatever.

She is goin HAM on this one, lighting candles and shit. Like, you can't mix sensual candles with a football jersey, those are two very different kinds of sex. Mary Beth puts on some porno music and Cory tries to bail, but the grungy German house mistress mother person is vacuuming right outside the door. MB's got her game face on now, but Cory insists that he has a girlfriend, and decides to prove it by calling her on the phone. Topanga's aunt picks up, and through some convenient dialogue, we learn that Topanga never even asked her aunt about going on the trip. So she's a big fat liar. 

Noting Cory's new vulnerability, Mary Beth tries once again to take advantage of him, and then she goes to take a shower. 

She is completely dry after her shower, as you can see, and also has some sort of something covering her cleavage. Overt sexual dialogue? Absolutely fine. Cleavage? THINK OF THE CHILDREN. And apparently she'll be going through her entire wardrobe this evening.

I don't know, there hasn't been much to review since that scene with Eric. It's mostly just Mary Beth trying to seduce Cory. 

This episode wasn't written by the same guy who wrote the wrestling episode, 2x21, so I'm not sure if that's a throwback or just a coincidence. I hope it's a throwback.

Eric walks in on the proceedings and Cory asks MB for a minute alone with his brother. This is a real treat as Eric treats Cory like a mature adult, and doesn't try to scold him or talk down to him or anything. Basically like "Topanga is worth waiting for, but you can make your own decisions." Cory quickly turns that around on Eric, saying that Beach State is the easy way out, and that he'll quickly regret going to school here. It's a neat parallel, that they're both being faced with an easy "sure thing" that would ruin the work they've put into more valuable but less certain alternatives. We also learn that Eric never went to his interview for Pennbrook because he got scared. 

That is a great question Eric. A wonderful question. Mary Beth walks back in the room just then and Cory officially, explicitly turns her down, setting an example for Eric to follow. He does indeed follow, saying "Let's go." You gotta love the sincere moments of brotherhood on this show. Or maybe it's just Eric in general. Either way, Eric has finally chosen to bypass the easy route without pressure from his parents or Mr. Feeny. 

After some stock footage of a college campus, we're inside the Dean's office at Pennbrook. Eric wants another interview (since he missed the original one), but the Dean doesn't want to play ball. This is one of those scenes where you can see the microphone at the top of the shot for a split second.

Eric isn't taking no for answer, and it's honestly pretty amazing. It's a great scene, lots of emotion and "wow, Eric's really grown up". He talks about how Pennbrook will push him to reach his potential, and that if they don't accept him then the school "isn't living up to its potential." That really is a great line.

At the Matthews house, Cory and Topanga are discussing the fact that she blatantly lied to his face, but neither of them is really making a big deal out of it, which is weird. But Topanga explains that she didn't trust herself not to jump Cory's bones during the trip, which is a wonderfully refreshing take on teenage sexuality. The girl is having sexual urges?! THINK OF THE CHILDREN. So yeah, it's a cool scene. Except when you remember that she was ready to run away from home to spend the rest of her life with Cory, but is not ready for sex. Not being ready for sex is totally fine, I just think running away from your parents should come after being ready to take your clothes off.

 During the credits, Eric is opening a letter from Pennbrook with friends and family eagerly looking on. You really have to watch the scene for the full effect, but he's finally done it. Eric got in to a good college. The (in my opinion) best character arc in the series has reached its glorious, teary eyed conclusion. 

Plot: 0.75 - I really liked the foundation. Having Eric and Cory face similar trials of temptation and persevering. The problem is that it dragged on a lot during the middle. I mean how many times did Mary Beth change outfits? Good otherwise, though.

Character Development: 1.0 - Eric got into college! What an amazing ride it's been, from doing Feeny's gardening in 2x23 all the way up to now. I loved every minute of it.

Humor: 0.75 - Lots of seriousness in this episode, but the few jokes it did have were great. Shawn especially was very funny.

Life Lesson: 1.0 - Once again we've learned to try to avoid the easy way out. Cory and Eric both stood up to the temptation of a "sure thing" in favor of something worth working for.

3.5 out of 4.0. - The ending alone makes this episode a must-watch. But the whole ride is a lot of fun. The scene with the Dean of Admissions at Pennbrook is outstanding.

That's another season down. I want to thank everyone for all the love and support. The reviews this season have been consistently hovering around 150 unique readers, which is awesome. I'm going to take the rest of the week off, and then come back next Monday with a new title animation for season 5. Thanks again!

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