The three girls are eating or whatever in The Apartment that they bullshitly stole from Jack and Eric in the last two episodes. It's not really "The Apartment" without those two, so I'm not gonna call it that anymore.
Shawn is at the door to continue his pursuit of Angela, and she seems amused but also annoyed by all of this. And of course Cory is there to support his friend, and not, as he points out, to talk to Topanga. Angela shuts the door in Shawn's face, but answers another knock a few seconds later to find someone new.
Well not entirely new, the actor played the philosophy professor in 5x04. Apparently he's here to recruit students for Pennbrook's ROTC program. He shuts the door on the boys, so that's basically a family tradition at this point, then starts prying into his daughter's personal life. Rachel asks about Angela's mother, so now we know that her and Mr. Moore are "no longer together". Riveting stuff here folks, riveting stuff. Rosie the riveting stuff.
We're at some kinda rally for Mr. Moore's ROTC recruitment, and of course it's at The Union. Eric swears his revenge on nearby Topanga for beating him up in the previous episode.
Is this the impossibly dumb Eric you guys don't like? It still seems about normal to me, I think that's funny. I'm glad this discussion about season 7 Eric got started, it adds some actual substance to these awful episodes. More importantly, did you see Feeny's face there?
That's amazing.
All the new ROTC recruits give up pretty quickly, including Jack which doesn't seem right, but it advances the plot so there you go. The one exception is Shawn, who's working pretty hard to impress Master Sergeant Angela's Dad. More like... Waster Sergeant... Cuz he's wastin my time.
Please hold your applause.
Angela wanders in for some reason and scolds Shawn for trying to get to her through her father. She insists that she doesn't love Shawn, and this is where it gets weird. It is obvious right away that Waster Sergeant has decided to believe Shawn's claim that Angela loves him. For no reason in the world he believes this random guy that he just met, even though his own daughter insists the opposite. For all he knows, Shawn is a stalker, it's honestly what he sounds like, saying over and over again that Angela loves him.
While all this is happening, Eric's taken up residence in a nearby trashcan and occasionally waves a white flag of surrender. I'm inventing the Eric-O-Meter to deal with his alleged spiral into idiocy, and it's showing that Eric levels are currently "Normal", no problems yet.
Speaking of stalkers, Eric is now stalking Topanga in Brew Lagoon through various means, as he plots his revenge, and I don't have a problem with this either, I think it's funny. Shawn shows up looking smooth as hell in an army uniform. He claims that he's enlisting. Angela's first reaction is "Did you do this for me?" which is just disgustingly self centered, but apparently Shawn did do it for her, so I guess it's fair. She storms out, proving that she and Shawn really are meant for each other, and Shawn explains to Cory that he has nothing in his life so he might as well join the army. Once again we've completely ignored his road-trip-epiphany that he wants to spend his short time on earth with his friends.
Like... the writers totally shit on Shawn last season, and then at the end he finally said that he was happy with his life, and now he's moping again? I really feel robbed here. Let's just end the show after season 6 when Shawn's happy, Feeny gets married, Eric is about to travel to find himself (another cool thing the writers ignored), and Corpanga aren't gonna get married. It's a great ending, all things considered.
Eric starts telling the Waster Sergeant about his plan to sneak attack Topanga, but then yells out exactly when he plans to get her, defeating the point of a sneak attack.
More like Faster Sergeant... Cuz I wish this episode would end faster.
That one wasn't as good.
He tells Eric to drop and give him twenty, so Eric drops and hands him a 20 dollar bill. Wrapping all of that up, my Eric-O-Meter is dipping into the red a little bit, that was pretty damn stupid. It's a funny line from the Faster Sergeant on the surface, but we all know that Eric isn't even close to a disgrace. We just have to look back at Santa's Little Helpers and the whole Tommy arc to see that Eric has done, by far, the most for humanity out of anyone on the show, except for Feeny. But we do see that side of Eric again later in the season, so it's not completely lost.
Faster Sergeant Moore asks Feeny what he thinks of Shawn, and it's moving to hear what he has to say. "I have seen Shawn overcome every obstacle that life has thrown at him., and grow up to be one of the finest young men that I know." That, of course, instantly brings to mind City Slackers, The Eskimo (two of my all-time favorite episodes), and all the stuff in between. Feeny continues to sing Shawn's praises. I really wasn't expecting to feel this many emotions in this episode. It's nice.
It's finally time for Eric's sneak attack. He's hiding in a giant American Gothic painting, ready to leap out when Topanga walks past.
This is registering way more on the "silly" side of the Eric-O-Meter than the "stupid" side, so there's an A+, I love that bit.
Later, at The... Tnemtrapa... the girls are doing nothing again, because none of them have ever had established hobbies and Rachel isn't actually that close to either of them. Shawn and the Faster Sergeant arrive for one last attempt at not minding their own business.
Get a load of this shit, Sergeant Moore tells Angela "I don't want him anywhere near the army. But I do want him near you." It's just so uncomfortable for me, this guy is trying to convince his daughter to date some guy he met yesterday. Yeah he's got a glowing recommendation from Feeny, but still. It's just weird.
Are you seeing this?! Who is this guy! It's absolutely outrageous. It is an outrage. You do not do this shit to your adult daughter (or son). I can't deal with this.
So we learn that Angela's mother walked out on her family, and now Angela's afraid of doing the same thing to Shawn. So indeed, Topanga has shared this "I = my parents" mentality with poor Angela. Thanks, Rachel, for doing absolutely nothing to help. Bullshit that I couldn't explain if I wanted to happens and now Angela's not afraid anymore, woo hoo, they're back together. She tells Shawn she loves him and it's just uncomfortable for me since her dad verbally beat it out of her. The audience cheers so damn loud when she says it too, ugh, everything is wrong with this scene.
To close out the episode, we see bloopers of another sneak attack from Eric, where he tries to hide in the sofa.
It's pretty damn amazing. I'm really glad they included this in the episode.
Plot: 0.25 - I like Eric's revenge plot.
Character Development: 0.5 - Shangela are back together, but it was so forced that I can't even be slightly happy about it.
Humor: 0.75 - Pretty much just Eric, some Cory too though.
Life Lesson: 0 - Please, please, please do not treat your children like Crapster Sergeant Moore treats Angela.
1.5 out of 4.0. - It is an absolute shitshow except for the fun bits with Eric. But at least the Shawn/Angela conflict is over (again), and I'm pretty sure it's for good this time. That's finally done.
Thanks for reading, see you Monday for the worst Eric-centered episode in the series.
All images used under Fair Use.
I don't know. This episode is so out of the blue with Angelas backstory just suddenly coming up for her reasons to avoid her romance with Shawn. Is next week the episode where Eric and Jack do something with the football team? I also think its a bad episode for Jack. Can you do a meter for Jack as well? His character turns into something else too, it's like, who is this person? Its kind of funny how all the characters change or do something and Rachel does... nothing. Forever. And when she does do stuff I want to punch her, see the first two episodes of this season and the apartment and the episodes "war" and "seven the hard way".
ReplyDeleteYeah the football cross dressing episode is Monday. "A poor man's Chick Like Me", as someone in the comments so aptly put it. Jack could use a meter too. He reverted back to the early Jack in this episode, where all he does is make snide comments about Eric's shenanigans. For a while in season 6 we had a fun Jack that would have teamed up with Eric to get revenge, but it seems like he's gone. And you're right, Rachel's meter would literally never move throughout the whole series.
DeleteNot to contradict the great KBM, but that episode comes later in the season. This is the one where Eric and Jack bet a crapload on Pennbrook losing a college football game which will only be probable if the star player can't play due to bad grades. Don't blame you though, both episodes feel similar in that Eric and Jack are scared that someone will cause them serious injury. I'd honestly not have remembered except I watched this episodes not too long ago because I knew you'd be reviewing them. Awesome work, and I love that you pay so much attention to the comments and that we readers have input, despite the fact I'm way too lazy to do something like this!
DeleteOh, haha, thanks for clearing that up! I love how you described that, because that was my exact thought process. Jack and Eric do something dumb and are scared, so that must be the one where they hide as women.
DeleteThat's the conflicting thing about season 7-Eric. I hate season 7-Eric. He's still extremely funny but he's just too much of a cartoon character at times and his stupidity seems to be his only character trait for a lot of this season (with his big heart coming into play only when it has something to do with the plot). Anyway, the whole Angela's mom back story is just a complete Ass Pull and there's literally been nothing in the whole series to back it up. By the way, I heard that the actors literally couldn't finish the final scene without laughing so they put the bloopers in this episode.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think I agree with this. I asked KBM about his opinion on "Super Stupid Eric" initially in the comments. Perhaps it's not even that Eric gets stupider, but that stupidity becomes his chief trait, to the point where it seems that his family thinks he should be institutionalized. I guess my personal favorite version of Eric would be seasons 4 and 5, where he was silly and fun but was still someone who went on dates and was considered desirable and had his own struggles and victories, that were realistic and relatable. This Eric feels like mere comic relief, but then again, I haven't seen the season in its entirety for a while, so I don't know.
Delete1st anon: Ass Pull indeed. And that sounds about right, that scene is way too funny.
Delete2nd: I really like that you mentioned the dates. Dating is the perfect litmus test for Eric. He's not even attracted to Rachel anymore. I think you guys have convinced me. There's nothing to him except his silliness now.
I think that's a great point. It's not just that he's stupid but that he seems to be only stupid until Brotherly Shove. There are a lot of wonderful moments later -- the trampoline scene next episode, the whole pizza slice in the mouth, Mr. Squirrels -- but they're rooted in an Eric that's a step removed from the great Eric of seasons four and five.
DeleteHas Jack become a money-obsessed, completely-vain trust fund boy yet? Because I'm really interested on seeing when that starts; by the finale, he's completely unrecognizable.
ReplyDeleteBesides being stupid, this episode is just too little, too late with Angela's shit. She's had barely any personality or backstory for years, and they kind of just gave her this random one that only comes up like twice. And who cares about her and Shawn.
The portrait and the couch are amazing, though.
I don't remember when Jack starts to shift, but the one that stands out is the weight loss episode where Jack is suddenly obsessed with his body fat. In the finale, he wants to start I'mJack.com because, well, he's Jack, and he can't handle being cut off. Nevermind that the first major monologue Jack gets in the series is about how he works for his money and takes out student loans.
DeleteYeah Jack doesn't really make sense anymore. Since the very first time I watched this series, Jack and Rachel joining the Peace Corps has left me completely unsatisfied and just upset. It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't mean anything, I just hate what they do with Jack in this last season.
DeleteFrom what I understand anon, plenty of hardcore fans who grew up on the show were rooting for thins couple as well as Cory and Topanga. Yeah, some people cared, or else the writers wouldn't have drawn their story out so long. And Angela may not have always had her own story deprecate from her relationship with Shawn, but she had a personality. If anything was clear to see it was all that, at least.
DeleteThe painting bit in this episode (before he jumps out) makes me laugh everytime. I agree with you that he has just become silly, not really stupid. He's never been too bright, but his antics have gotten more and more over the top.
ReplyDeleteI actually think the moment when Angela comes to tell Shawn off for trying to get to her through her father is the moment the father realizes Angela has feelings for Shawn. I never attributed him trying to get them together because he particularly liked Shawn, I saw it as him seeing Angela genuinely having feelings for him. And for that reason, I believed this episode. It has a very complex understanding of human emotions, without being falling into the TV trap of making it obvious to the viewer what is going on.
ReplyDeleteHis father knows that Angela wouldn't go out of her to tell Shawn off for joining the army if she didn't care about him. Why would she bother? She'd never see him again, and it wouldn't effect her. I also believe his father see's a little bit of the mother in Angela, so that gives him a hint as well. He, of course, as you mentioned, doesn't know Shawn, but he is trying to do the right thing for his daughter. He still feels protective of her and he goes to Feeny because he wants some closure that he is doing the right thing, and Shawn is a good guy. I think Angela's dad is a nice break from TV fathers who are way over protective of their daughters. He handles the situation very maturely.
As for Eric devolving, I think the moment when he jumped out of the painting marks the exact point in the season when his character changed. This over the top antic is exactly the sort of thing he would have never done in previous seasons. It fails my "this wouldn't happen in real life" test, and takes away Eric's credibility as a real person. He essentially becomes the person that the Sergeant tells him he is. A person who does over the top things, that you can't count on. This is exactly why Girl Meets World is failing, because they are trying to copy the "over-the-top antics are funny" model, when they should be trying to copy the "real persons, in real situations" model, with some humor sprinkled in.
Agreed 100%
DeleteI appreciate this comment for making sense of the Angela/Shawn/Sgt. Moore situation because it really does just come off as two men telling a woman how she feels about a situation. I kind of agree with Sean here.
DeleteI can't really touch the retcon with Angela's mom – this show has so much retcon for everyone else, why would a plot for Angela be any different? But I do like Angela and Shawn together so *shrugs*
As for Eric's dumbing down, idk. I thought the revenge gags were funny and I also found his antics with Alvin humorous too. Even the "drop and give me 20" was funny. Idk where I'll see that Eric is too dumb. But I know it happens. I'm not a fan of that Plays with Squirrels thing.
For no reason in the world he believes this random guy that he just met, even though his own daughter insists the opposite.
ReplyDeleteThis episode is so odd. Like as soon as the episode begins, it's all these references to how 'cute' Shawn is for pursuing her, even though this is basically the first independent action he's made to getting her back, and how mean Angela ran away from his love, even though the only reason they broke up in the first place was Shawn dumping her. It just seems so out of the blue (especially Angela's mom, who never came up before or ever again.)
And Angela's dad is weird every time he appears (the next episode has that bizarre line about how he and Shawn are two guys who need to decide what's best for Angela, like she's a small child.)
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ReplyDeleteSaw Will talking about the couch scene in an interview recently. Said they did tons of takes, it was really late, and they couldn't get through the scene without laughing. I wonder if they showed bloopers because they never got it without them breaking! :D
ReplyDelete