Episode 6x11 "Santa's Little Helpers"

This season has really been letting us down so far. Maybe we'll get our shit together for Christmas today.

Mister Feeny is filled with Christmas spirit, and not the alcoholic spirits, and is decorating The Union with some small Christmas trees. The janitor promptly deposits the tree in a trash bin, citing University policy, so thank you Michael Jacobs for making it very obvious how you feel about the holiday political correctness.

I am completely unaffected by the things people say or display around me, including holiday well-wishing, so I simply cannot muster the energy to get worked up over what holiday greeting someone gives. However, to be fair, it is literally unconstitutional for a government affiliated organization to favor one religion over another. That's straight out of the first amendment. I'm not sure if a public university falls under that category, I'm just saying that the argument in favor of political correctness is valid in certain circumstances. But in general, I don't think it matters.

Back to the show, we learn that Rachel is staying in town for the holidays, and Jack's airline ticket to the Bahamas got "messed up" so he's stuck here too. Eric barges into The Union dressed as Santa, apparently he's got a job as a mall Santa, and he signed up Rachel and Jack to work with him. Without asking them, of course, because he's Eric. Mrs. Claus will be played by Rachel, while Jack is going to be an elf, despite his reluctance.  Feeny makes a small joke about how Eric is getting paid more than he does. The gross underpayment of teachers has been a consistent punchline throughout the series, which is a choice I really appreciate. Michael Jacobs has a serious respect and admiration for teachers, and he's totally unrelenting about it from the very beginning. It's a tragically underrepresented topic on television, so good for you, Boy Meets World.

Cory convinces Shawn to stay with him and Topanga at his parents' house, and independent of that fact, Topanga convinces Angela to stay with them as well.

That is hilarious to me. Topanga doesn't even acknowledge the sex part, honing in on the Shawn part. Recall that Topanga discovered Shawn still loves Angela at the end of Poetic License, and Cory learned Angela loves Shawn at the end of Friendly Persuasion. Cory and Topanga both confess those secrets now, and realize the blooming potential for Shangela to reunite over the holiday. Not that we care.


Tensions rise almost immediately at the Matthews house. The road is paved for some real sitcommy business for the rest of the episode. As always, they've failed at really making the audience interested. Meanwhile, at the mall, Eric is being a very progressive Santa.

A bus of kids from an orphanage arrive to see Santa, and the mall manager wants them to hurry them all through since they're not going to buy anything regardless. Eric on the other hand wants to pay them all special attention. And here I thought the writers forgot who Eric was, after he didn't know how to be "caring" in episode 3, and was a total sociopath in the previous episode. But now he's back to his big-hearted self, thank goodness.

Eric gives a handheld game he was playing earlier to the first kid who comes up. This gives The Apartment Crew a real sense of the power of charity, so they go off to buy gifts for all of the children, with Alan's credit card and the money Jack was going to use in the Bahamas.

After helping out the last of the children, Eric develops a real God complex, and vows to give every needy kid what they want for Christmas. Jack and Rachel point out that they have no more money, so Eric resolves to "get creative", which is essentially just stealing presents from under the tree at home, as well as all of Mister Feeny's fruitcake gifts. I do not envy the orphans who get those for Christmas. I guess I don't really envy any orphans... You know what I mean.

We waste some more time at home, and eventually Eric "Robin Hood" Matthews and his merry men head out to wherever they're going to distribute these gifts, even though it's Christmas Eve. Cory and the others take their place, after "accidentally" going to a couples-only ice skating rink. Topanga The Wise wants Cory to stop pushing Shangela so hard, but she really ought to know by now how futile it is, trying to stop the Cory train once it's rolling at full speed.

Alan is irrationally excited about stringing popcorn.

So yeah, while it's difficult to stay invested in Shangela, at least Cory's being extremely entertaining. His neurosis is really annoying sometimes, like in Chasing Angela when it's coming from that place of high-horse superiority, but here it's just hilarious. It's a difficult line to walk, so we should appreciate when they pull it off correctly like this.

Alan has apparently been snorting that snowy Christmas powder, because he almost immediately forgets about the popcorn and wants everyone to watch as he turns on the Christmas tree lights (and it explains his previous popcorn-stringing enthusiasm). Cory positions Shangela under some mistletoe, and the lights really set the mood, and they're quickly overwhelmed by all the outside influences and kiss passionately on the stairs. I can hardly blame them, I am absolute sucker for Christmas lights. My old supervisor had Christmas lights in his office year round. I'm not really sure why, but it was kinda cool. God I miss Wisconsin, that snow was so beautiful. Anyway...

That kissing situation is somehow resolved off-camera, and now they're back to avoiding each other. Shawn tells his best friend not to make a big deal out of it, and Cory spills that he knows Shawn wrote that poem for Angela pretty recently. So now all the secrets come out, and Shawn and Angela bail to talk things out.

Eric "Robin Hood Santa" Matthews Claus finishes giving away his family's gifts to the children, and one little boy named Tommy who had been there the previous day comes back to return the firetruck Eric gave him.

Tommy says he didn't believe Eric was really Santa when he asked for the truck, but now he does believe and wants to ask for something else. I SMELL EMMY BAIT. If he doesn't ask for parents, I will eat my shoes. Okay yup, asked for parents. And then the sad music played while The Apartment Crew were left speechless. That's just lazy cliche writing, I'm sorry.

Shawn and Angela arrive at The Union to talk because like I said in a previous review, this is the new Chubbie's and there's nowhere else to go. They're let in by that same janitor from before because he's too old to give a shit.

Angela spills her heart, and Shawn does his usual self destruction routine, claiming that he's still not sure he's ready to commit to her.

Damn, there's that strong Angela. You go girl. She really shouldn't have to deal with Shawn's bullshit, and she's decided that she's had enough, and tells him that they're done for good. Granted, Shawn is still a young guy and I don't blame him for being scared of commitment, that's a big part of his character, but I also don't blame Angela for being sick of it. I like how this played out.

Elsewhere, out on a bench in the snow, Eric's having a desperate chat with his nondenominational higher power. I feel the same sort of "wait, what?" as when Shawn did this in Cult Fiction, just because Eric's never done anything like this before, but it is Christmas, so I guess it's more acceptable? I don't know, whatever. Eric asks some tough questions, like hey how can you let this kid Tommy just not have parents? So Eric "Robin Hood Santa God" Matthew Claus Christ takes it upon himself to be responsible for Tommy's happiness, which is insane, but not exactly out of character for our big-hearted goofball.

It's touching, whether you're religious or not, just because we the viewer have such an emotional connection with Eric.

At home, everyone discovers that Eric has Robin Hood'd their presents, and Jack and Rachel confess to being involved. Just then, Eric arrives, with Tommy trailing close behind him. He's invited Tommy to spend Christmas with them, and promised that they can hang out on weekends.

I really like Cory's line there, and I love Feeny's nod of approval. Look at that shit.

That is some pride right there. It's all really very sweet.

During the credits, Feeny reads A Christmas Carol to the gang, a tradition we remember from A Very Topanga Christmas, so I like that touch. Shawn and Angela show up just as Feeny reads "dead as a doornail", which is also a very nice touch.

Plot: 1.0 - That Emmy bait moment was cringe worthy, but the rest of the Robin Hood story was fun. And while we're not too interested in the Shangela relationship, I do like the story they were given in this episode.

Character Development: 1.0 - Eric "Robin Hood" Christ.

Humor: 1.0 - Cory was great, and Eric had his moments. Shawn had to stay dramatic this episode, but it worked out.

Life Lesson: 0.5 - Charity makes you feel good. Doesn't mean you should steal your family's shit and take responsibility for a kid's happiness.

3.5 out of 4.0. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Again, the strongarm attempt at making us feel sorry for Tommy was overdone, but otherwise it's pretty darn good. Thorough character consistency and good humor.

Thanks for reading, see you Monday.

All images used under Fair Use.