Episode 6x03 "Ain't College Great?"

That's a good one.

Cory and Shawn have finally arrived at their new college dorm, and Cory brought pudding.

As you can see, Shawn's hair has changed a bit since last episode, when he still had his wavy bangs. Now it just makes him look 40 years older. Put a beer gut on him and he looks like some angry New York taxi driver.

So Shawn doesn't want to be known as "Pudding Boy's best friend", and HOLY SHIT it feels like we're back in season two! We left the soap opera drama in the previous episode, now we're seeing our goofy hero in a new environment trying to find his way, and his cool best friend is keeping him in check. SHAWN AND CORY. OLD SCHOOL. BACK IN ACTION. Feels great.

Cory's parents and Morgan come in with the rest of Cory's luggage, and he tries to send them off with a "Well hey, thanks for raising me. See ya," which hits way too close to home. Amy's wearing overalls, which reminds me to be glad I haven't seen non-work overalls in a very long time. Cory's family leaves, prompting the arrival of the boys' girlfriends, who whisk them off to sign up for classes. Along the way, we learn that Cory is afraid of the co-ed bathroom.

Cory wants to sign up for challenging courses in the hopes of reinventing himself, in particular Existentialist Thought And Its Effects On Quantum Physics, while his friends are going to be signing up for basic introductory classes. You can already imagine all the cheap laugh we'll be getting out of that.

At The Apartment, it's another episode of Two Guys Want To Sleep With Rachel. So that whole "we have have to keep it platonic" thing from the end of last episode is already in the dumpster. Rachel's sobbing on the couch, surrounded by used tissues and snack foods.

The guys try to make her feel better. Jack is very sensitive and empathetic, while Eric is more fun and whimsical, reciting In a Cabin In a Wood with Rachel. You could argue that they're just genuinely being nice, and maybe they are, but Rachel lights a spark when she responds with "if you two were one guy, I would be in serious trouble." You really should have known better than that, Rachel. That is only going to cause problems.

Over at the Student Union/Bookstore place (which is the new Chubbie's, and I'll call it The Union from now on) Cory's friends are trying to convince him he's a huge fucking moron for signing up for a bunch of impossible classes. He doesn't listen though, since he's stuck on "reinventing" himself.

I love Topanga's face at the end there, like "huh that's actually a decent point".

On his way out of The Union, Cory crosses paths with his Quantum professor, who starts speaking total gibberish when Cory asks for a synopsis of the course. I think a lot of people enjoy this, but I think it's kinda dumb. I am more than ready to be disagreed with. Regardless, this has the desired effect on Cory who rushes off to some dean or other, though it's definitely not the same dean that Eric was involved with last season. I don't think we'll see that guy again, and looking back it seems they were smart enough to stop writing that character pretty early on. I think it was episode 4 that was the last time he appeared. Huh. I totally forgot about him.

Cory successfully drops his courses, but all the intro classes are already full. He pleads with this dean whoever guy to "please fix this", but the dean guy dishes out a serving of harsh truth.

First of all, college is not the real world. College is fucking easy and I wish I could have stayed there forever. So to answer the question in the title, yes. Yes it is great. Second, this shouldn't be a new concept for Cory. Even in high school you can't just magically get into a full class. And third, this is bull shit. There is an abundance of people eager to help you as much as they can. They want you to succeed, partly because the school makes more money if you stay enrolled. I don't know why TV shows like to make college seem so much harder than high school, and high school seem so much harder than middle school, but it's all crap.

The shot fades to Cory at a lake in Wyoming, accusing Feeny of not preparing him "for life". Right away we all know that's a bunch of HOOEY. For the curious, Cory got here with the air miles he's accumulated from his pudding labels. Silly, but at least they gave us something. After seeing how easy Feenys retired life is, Cory decides to stay.

Back at The Apartment, Eric's trying to seem extremely sensitive to impress Rachel, going for the "two in one" thing she mentioned before. At least Jack seems to have given up on these shenanigans.

And like... what are we even doing right now? Eric has always been sensitive! He's the most sensitive guy on the show! Certainly more sensitive than Jack. This has been completely fabricated just for this episode. Disappointing.

Rachel appears to be won over by this charade and uses her sexy voice to ask Eric to help her with her laundry. Jack and Eric both seem to think this is a big deal.

In Wyoming, Cory's acting like a tired old man, to hilarious effect, but Feeny insists that Cory is too young to be doing absolutely nothing, and realizes that he himself is also too young for this kind of life. It really is funny. It's always great when Ben Savage goes outside the normal Cory range.

That's Cory in the blue hat, if that's not obvious.

We're in the laundry room now, with Eric and Rachel, and lemme tell ya. Rachel has turned the sexy levels up to "Holy Shit".

She does a whole routine, blatantly trying to seduce Eric.

So yeah, he's like "you're not acting like yourself" and she's like "yeah neither are you." Woopdy woppy woodly doo ladies and gentlemen. Don't try to seduce your roommate unless you're acting like yourself.

Feeny tries to work things out with the dean/guidance counselor whatever guy from before, but no luck, so he and Cory wander into The Union, where they meet up with Topangela and Shawn. It turns out that they all signed up for an extra class specifically to drop it and make room for Cory in case he needed it. That seems like really vital information to share at some point during the first half of the episode. Either way, Cory is no longer screwed and we get to have a heartwarming moment with Mister Feeny.

I love that look he gives Shawn there at the end.

During the credits, Jack decides to bring out his "fun" side, the same way Eric wanted to be sensitive. (refer back to the logo at the top) So I guess Jack isn't actually above the shenanigans. The whole bit is really funny though, I'll give it that.

Plot: 1.0 - It feels like the old Boy Meets World again! Cory learning a lesson with the help of his friends and Mister Feeny. And Eric doing some unimportant yet funny side story.

Character Development:  1.0 - Feeny's not ready to retire! Woooo!

Humor: 1.0 - Eric was fantastic as always, and Cory was great in Wyoming. Feeny had some great lines too.

Life Lesson: 0.25 - Sign up for your courses like a not-massive-idiot.

3.25 out of 4.0. It's a great episode, lots of fun along the way, even if the Rachel story is the same shit we've seen in the last two episodes. Maybe someday we'll see something different in The Apartment. And we've gotta remember that bit about the co-ed bathroom. By same crazy twist of nature, that comes up again.

Thanks for reading, see you Monday.

All images used under Fair Use.