Episode 5x02 "Boy Meets Real World"

Lots of opinions after 5x01. Seems that Jack is a polarizing character. Also I'm pretty sure this episode is terrible.

I'm sorry, whose what class? Is that before or after Mr. Turner's Particle Physics lecture?

Anyway we get a bunch of footage of these three colorful roommates being quirky or whatever, it's like MTV's The Real World. Cory even says those words explicitly, so either somebody got PAID or they're trying to appeal to a certain demographic. Shawn's bits are pretty funny, but all we see about Jack here is that he thinks very highly of himself. Someone mentioned in a comment on 5x01 that Jack has some seriously inconsistent character transformations, so let's keep an eye out.

In Feeny's film class the next day, Cory shows a preview of what he's put together so far, and everyone likes it, including Feeny.

Here's Mr. Feeny in The Graduate.

Feeny goes on to explain that if Cory keeps up the good work with this documentary, it could help him get into the film school at NYU. One of the extras is blatantly yawning in the background, maybe she didn't realize she was in the shot? It's kinda funny. The girl sitting next to Shawn, whose name is Angela, comments that Cory's documentary is a blatant ripoff of "that show on MTV, The Real World", and Cory's defensive response uses the phrase "real world" THREE times, so it sounds like they're trying to meet a quota for that sweet sweet payday.

Unsurprisingly, Cory's documentary is starting to get a little invasive.

A girl we've never seen before named Wendy is at the door, looking for Jack. Jack isn't home though, and this girl is apparently an acting major, so Cory tells her to kiss Shawn for the film. For whatever reason, she's down to clown, and of course Shawn is too. She enjoys this kiss with Shawn, and let's be honest, who wouldn't, so she gives him her number. Cory comments that a girl who came looking for Jack ended up with Shawn. God that was so weird to write, it's like, I'm relaying the nonsense content of a sitcom doing the nonsense content of a reality show.

And then more nonsense. Cory, Topanga, and Shawn are eating at Chubbie's when Jack and Wendy show up on a date. Shawn pulls Jack into the back room to be like "what the fuck bro" even though it's totally not Jack's fault. Shawn is being completely ridiculous here. He shouldn't care at all about Wendy, and he shouldn't be mad at Jack when Jack couldn't have possibly known that Shawn was interested. But then Shawn's like "yeah you win" and storms off because this is season 2.

Jack is very sensible about the whole thing and even offers to end the date, but Shawn is still 13 so that doesn't work. Cory just stands by filming the ordeal.

At home, Morgan has hired her friend's older brother to be the new Eric, which is pretty funny. The real Eric shows up too and doesn't mind the fake Eric, and also informs Cory that Shawn and Jack are "about to kill each other". I am really bored with this.

 Corpanga arrive at the apartment, where Shack are arguing about some shit. We learn that Jack is paying for college with student loans and works for his spending money (his step dad is super rich) but Shawn still won't cut him a break. The scene ends with Shawn declaring that he's moving out because, again, he's 13. Eric has experience as a weather man, maybe he can tell us what to do about all this storming out. ...That's not clever, I'm sorry.

That's Topanga's angry-face, directed into Cory's camera. She's pointed out a few times that Cory is forsaking his best friend to make this documentary. And what the hell are Shawn and Topanga doing for their film projects? They were both in Feeny's film class with Cory. I want to know what they're making.

Outside the apartment, Cory defends his lassez-faire style of film making, but Topanga insists that he's being a terrible best friend, and then makes the worst dramatic exit I have ever seen.

Honestly, this is dumb. Earlier at Chubbie's and just now at the apartment, Topanga has been equally silent in these matters. She can just as easily try to help defuse the tension as Cory. Yeah Cory's the best friend, but she's still Shawn's friend, so I don't know why she's just watching it all happen.

At home, Morgan is trying to convince Mister Feeny to give life advice to the fake Eric. I never thought I'd say this but Morgan is probably the most interesting part of this episode. She misses her big brother and the replacement-Eric running joke is consistently funny. Cory arrives on the scene and decides it's his turn for advice. Feeny basically just tells him to stop being such an asshole. But in his sagely, inspiring way.

Now we're dacing. At the apartment. Jack is dancing with Wendy, and Eric with some unnamed girl. It goes on wayyy too long and Eric+his girl just keep doing the same four steps over and over, it's really strange. Jack isn't into it though, he's real upset about Shawn moving out, so the girls end up leaving. Eric tells a weird story about a brotherly experience he had with Cory, and even though he admits that it's a dumb story, he also points out that Jack doesn't have any stories like that with Shawn. It sounds like it's supposed to be profound, but it doesn't make any sense in the situation. The only thing it accomplishes is making Jack feel bad about not being close to Shawn, but he's been actively trying to get close to Shawn, so I don't understand this scene.

Meanwhile, Shawn is busy doing this:

Yeah that's believable. This is "south Philly" outside the building where Shawn and Jack used to live with Chet, some time before season 1. Cory shows up saying "I had a feeling you'd be here." No you fucking didn't, Cory. I would've expected him to be at Chubbie's. Or at the trailer. Whatever.

Cory films Shawn (at his request) as he tells the story of writing fifteen letters to Jack when he was about 10 years old. Naturally, Jack walks up behind him at that exact moment saying "I never got any letters."

WHAT IS ANYBODY DOING HERE

Apparently Jack's mom threw the letters away before he could ever read them, and Shawn's response is "I don't believe that!" and he tries to storm off again. But Cory stops him this time and directly says "You're not listening to him," which is pretty much spot on. Except the fact that they're all adults and this shouldn't be happening.

So I guess this is the part where Cory chooses his friendship over his documentary. And that's enough to make Shawn realize he's being a dumbass.

During the credits, we get a bunch of Real World style interviews with all the characters, and they're all pretty funny. Even Morgan's. Is this the season? The season where Morgan is funny? Is that possible? That remains to be seen. Either way, I still don't mind Jack after this episode. Shawn is pissing me off more than anybody else right now. This whole thing would have been resolved if he had just listened to Jack in the very beginning. It's like Turner all over again, except he's not a kid anymore.

Plot: 0.25 - The conflict was so forced. Shawn was being absolutely ridiculous, even for Shawn. I'm honestly amazed how patient Jack was with Shawn's bull shit.

Character Development: 1.0 - Shawn wants to get close to Jack now, so that's important.

Humor: 1.0 - Yeah it was actually pretty funny. Eric popped up every once in a while, Morgan and fake Eric were good, Feeny was funny... So that was fine.

Life Lesson: 0 - Don't be like Shawn in this episode. And don't... value a documentary over your friends... I guess...

2.25 out of 4.0 - The problem is sort of similar to the previous episode. They're frontloading this Shack conflict wayyyyy too much. We're not ready for this, it's coming on way too strong. We just met Jack, this is all happening way too soon for us to be invested in it. And Jack's biggest selling point, the fact that he's a buddy for Eric, didn't even come into play in this episode. And for the record, no, this episode does not make me want to watch The Real World.

Thanks for reading, see you Friday. Or Saturday. Who knows, anymore.

All images used under Fair Use.