Episode 3x18 "Life Lessons"

Harley Keiner is coming back for Girl Meets World. I think he's a janitor? So that's pretty exciting.

It's time for final exams here at John Adams High. Err, okay, they're actually two weeks away... Which is... plenty of time... But our heroes and a bunch of extras are terrified since three of the exams are in one day. Topanga breaks down into full anti-social studying mode while Shawn has a reaction that really hits home for me.

Fuckin real talk right there. The extras groan and Cory assures them that if they devote the next two weeks to studying, they'll have nothing to worry about. The scene immediately cuts to Shawn and Cory watching TV in a few different locations, and then they're finally cramming with only two days left before exams, wondering where all their time went. Honestly, that explanation really doesn't do it justice. It's about 30 seconds long, too long for a gif, so I highly recommend finding this episode just for the first minute. It's so spot on, I can't even handle it.

Some "tough" looking guys come up to Cory and say they need to "get rid of Feeny", since he's the mastermind behind this diabolical exam schedule. It's hilarious that backward baseball caps were perceived as "tough" back in the 90s. These guys look pretty ridiculous. I bet they're in a garage band or something.

Cory does that thing sitcoms do where he manages to get the attention of a large group of people just by saying "listen up gang", and they all decide to go talk to Feeny as an organized unit. Buuuuuuuut the scene cuts to them all watching TV at Chubbie's. It's pretty funny, I actually didn't expect that. We're doing good so far.

At school, presumably the next day, the mob of students, lead by Cory, ask Mr. Turner why the exams have to be jammed together in such a demanding schedule.

Apparently cut-aways to the punchline are the name of the game today. And that's fine, it's definitely working.

Feeny is adamant. He goes on to explain that the schedule should be hard, to make sure the students are actually learning all the material. To give my own insight, I believe the reasoning is that you can't cram for three exams, right? You can cram for one, maybe two, but three would be difficult. That's just my two cents. Anyway, Feeny. though steadfast, agrees to hear out the students' concerns. Naturally, Cory is chosen to represent the students. That tough guy from before in the leather jacket, apparently his name is Denny, which is just the least intimidating name he could ever have, tells Cory that if he can't change Feeny's mind, the rest of them will take matters into their own hands. This guy's tone really pisses me off. Who hired him.

Needless to say, Cory is unsuccessful. It's interesting to think about how the target audience feels right now. As a middle/high school student, we would probably sympathize with Cory, but as adults we remember all of the exams we passed without actually learning anything by studying the night before, and so we understand Feeny's intentions.

The students are unhappy with this outcome, so Denny and his Ragtag Gang Of Hilarious Thugs, henceforth abbreviated DR. GOHT, band the unhappy students together and march off to enact some unspecified revenge against Mr. Feeny. It appears that Shawn goes with them.

At home, a leggy redheaded woman named Brenda arrives at the door and Eric lets her in. She's been set up on a date with Mr. Turner by Amy Matthews, and she mistakes Eric for Turner, so they have a humorous exchange.

I was sitting here like damn, I know I recognize this woman from somewhere. And then I was CERTAIN that she is currently playing Zelena on Once Upon A Time. Like, the resemblance is RIDICULOUS, their mannerisms, their voices, everything. It's insane how similar they are, but alas, they are not the same actress. This is Lisa Akey who really hasn't done anything worth mentioning. I was so excited too, dammit all. She also kinda looks like Rachel, who comes into this show in season 5.

Anyway, Turner had to cancel the date, so Eric offers to take her to dinner in his stead and she agrees. Quick reminder, Eric did indeed turn 18 a few episodes ago.

That saxophone riff plays as we jump ahead a few hours. Through his kitchen window, Cory sees DR. GOHT tp'ing and shaving-creaming Feeny's house. They break a window, alerting Feeny, and they run off. Feeny comes out and makes eye contact with Cory as the sad clarinet music plays.

That's some crazy shit. Not much to say about it except that's pretty compelling.

The next day, Feeny's class ends and Cory talks with him about the exam stuff again. The teacher explains to his student that the pressure caused by the difficult schedule is what forces them to really learn, but in greater detail than how he explained it to Mr. Turner earlier. He goes on to tell Cory that he's decided to retire at the end of the year, since he believes himself no longer capable of earning his students' respect.

In the hall, we learn from Shawn that he didn't actually take part in the vandalizing, but Cory thinks they're both responsible since they knew about it and didn't do anything to stop it.

This is heavy stuff! Not only have the terrorists convinced Feeny to retire, our heroes feel like it's all their fault. It's hard to pretend that this would ever happen in real life, but in the Boy Meets World universe, this is a great story so far.

Later, Turner comes to Feeny's house to convince him not to retire.

Wo-hoah! That legendary stern Turner voice I've talked about before! This really shows us how the dynamic between these two teachers has changed since the beginning of season 2. Mr. Turner giving a stern life lesson to Mr. Feeny... Who woulda thought! It works though, for sure. I think the key here is that this is the kind of advice we would expect Turner to be giving to his students, right? At its core, this episode is about bullying. Feeny is being bullied by DR. GOHT. Indeed, what we're seeing is that you don't have to be a student to learn from a teacher. Further, the fact that it's Turner in particular is critical. Imagine if that was Eli instead of Turner. It would be a disgrace. Turner's character arc over the last two seasons is what allows this scene to work. Awesome. Sadly, Feeny is not convinced.

In the Matthews kitchen, Eric tells his parents that he's going out with Brenda. Amy realizes it's the Brenda she was setting up with Turner and forbids Eric from seeing her (because of the age difference), but Alan encourages him, even so far as to lend Eric his car. During the date, Eric and Brenda aren't hitting it off, but Turner arrives just in time to swoop in and take over the date. Eric meets some other girl his own age. That's the end. Why on earth did we do that? I mean, it was fun, but that's a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion, especially since Turner just got done with something much more important.

Back at home, Cory and Topanga are studying when Shawn bursts in. Apparently DR. GOHT are up to no good at the school. I guess... they walk there...? Either way they're at the school in the next shot.

DR. GOHT have made a mess of the parking lot and spray-painted all over the walls. Denny's got some bolt cutters and breaks the padlock on the door to the school. Cory and Shawn get kinda preachy about how Mr. Feeny cares about his students, and Shawn explains that he learned about freedom of assembly from Mr. Feeny, but that it only applies to peaceful assembly. It's just sort of showing us how this education is applying to real life, I guess.

That definitely could have been written better, but woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah damn! That's powerful. Throwback to City Slackers right there. I pointed it out several times, the development between Feeny and Shawn during this season. I wasn't just makin that shit up, it's all come to fruition here now. Again, the actual wording isn't amazing, but the essence of what he's saying here is really satisfying.

So anyway, Feeny comes out through the now open door and DR GOHT run off. They were all really bad at saying their lines. Feeny reveals to our heroes that he's not going to retire after all, and then they help him clean up the parking lot.

During the credits, everyone learns their exam scores. Shawn got mostly C's, Cory got mostly B's, everyone's happy.

Plot: 1.0 - Despite the unsatisfying conclusion of Eric's story, everything else was good.

Character Development: 1.0 - Turner has clearly earned Feeny's respect, Eric learns a little about why age gaps can in fact make a big difference in dating, and the heroes obviously get a little closer to Feeny. But we can't leave out the old principal himself, who shows us more of what makes him human and vulnerable, as well as displaying his true passion for teaching. Great stuff.

Humor: 1.0 - The cutaway gags at the beginning were great, and it's consistently funny throughout the rest.

Life Lesson: 1.0 - I've already talked about the lessons from this one at length. After all, the episode is named "Life Lessons". What did you expect?

4.0 out of 4.0. That's the third perfect score this season. Great episode. No reason to miss this one.

Thanks for reading, see you Wednesday!

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Episode 3x17 "The Pink Flamingo Kid"

I've been putting this one off because I remember it specifically as being terrible. Like, one of the lowest lows of the series. But I guess it's time. Time for a test of my willpower. 

So Cory's got a camera and he shows up at Turner's place, and Shawn's on the phone with his dad since it's his dad's birthday. No sign of ol Chet Hunter's return yet, and Shawn's a little broken up about it. They resolve to go to Shawn's old trailer park and film him and his relatives as a birthday gift/general update for Chet.

I don't think that's particularly funny, but if you do, congratulations: that's every punchline for the first half of this episode.

Maybe 30 seconds later, we're at school and Shawn's already made another joke about his family being criminals. Eli comes along and informs Cory of some contest at a news station, but the deadline for submissions is two days. Could this conflict with his commitment to Shawn? Gollypops. What a compelling story. The Ericlogue begins. Eric's hauling some junk to Feeny's office for no reason, apparently Feeny's going to be auctioning off some stuff from his attic. Why the hell does he need to bring it to school? Because it's convenient for the production crew, that's why.

We're at the trailer park now, and we first meet Shawn's uncle Mike, who is shockingly both a character we've met before, and is played by the same actor. Don't get used to that. They make a few jokes about how he's a criminal. Uncle Mike calls out the rest of the Hunters, and they make a joke about how they're criminals.

After like 8 more jokes about how literally everyone in the Hunter family is a criminal, Cory ends up filming this.

Special Boy Meets World Fan Challenge: Why are they all hidden? I suggest you watch the episode because there's no way anything I've said so far will direct you to the answer.

Uncle Mike steals Cory's wallet, and then we meed Eddie, some sort of gang leader, but he's certainly lacking the class and relative charm of Harley Keiner. He gives the boys a hard time about not including him in their video, and tells them to get the fuck out before he starts to do gang leader things to them.

At home, Eric has cleaned out his own attic in hopes of finding something of value, like Mr. Feeny did. I think this would be funny under different circumstances, but I'm pretty numb to the idea of humor after all the criminal jokes. Anyway his parents trick him into thinking he'll find valuable stuff if he cleans out the attic and the garage.

Oh bless you William Russ and Betsy Randle. Bless your experienced acting. Will Friedle is doing well too, I'm just sour about everything before this. But this is good. Great, maybe. Something to keep me going, a reason to keep fighting.

At Turner's apartment, Cory and Shawn are reviewing the footage and see that they accidentally filmed that Eddie guy hauling around some presumably stolen computers. How the fuck was Eddie dumb enough to let that happen? How does this guy get dressed in the morning? Cory and Shawn were practically right next to him, it's ridiculous. Regardless, Cory wants to use this hardware thievery ring as the source material for his news-station contest project thing. Shawn doesn't like the idea.

Gee that was mature and rational. What the fuck. It's not like the tape had any sort of conclusive evidence. Shawn would rather protect this trailer park gangster piece of shit than send the tape to his dad as a birthday gift. I can't even begin to understand how this makes sense. "It's my family, I can do whatever I want" is his justification. Cory's pissed, by the way. He's also as confused as I am. The next day at school, Cory demands an explanation.

Shawn refuses to provide one, so they tackle each other and grapple a little bit, it's honestly not the worst act-fighting I've ever seen, and the extras react by crowding around and shouting "fight!" which is about as realistic as it could be. Turner and Eli break up the fight and Cory says he thinks that Shawn is just jealous of his skills with a camera, which is just completely fucking retarded.

And because I know we all want it,

Cory is going to go down to the trailer park to get more footage of Eddie stealing shit. Shawn warns him one last time, but Cory doesn't listen. So now Feeny is left to give advice to the frustrated Mr. Hunter. Shawn is playing the whole "who needs friends when you have family, family is always there for you" EVEN THOUGH HIS PARENTS ARE BLATANTLY NOT THERE FOR HIM so I just don't even know how the writers could have POSSIBLY thought this made sense. Mr. Feeny points out that you "don't have to be blood to be family", which is pretty great advice that Shawn really shouldn't need to hear after all these years.

We can always count on Eric. His parents try to convince him that he's getting scammed by both them and the appraisal place, but he's too far gone.

At the trailer park, Cory is a complete fucking idiot. He's already got the thugs on tape hauling their stolen stuff, about a thousand times more footage than he had before, but "I gotta get closer". No you don't Cory. You're already withing not-moron seeing distance. Jesus this is ridiculous. Eddie and the gang catch him, break his camera, and are about to beat the shit out of him.

PFFFFFFFFFFFFHAHAHAHAHAHA

aaaaaaaaahahahahahaha

Shawn threatens to call the cops on Eddie, who responds with "Come on man, I'm your brother." Shawn sticks to his guns and the trailer park gang crew squad decide not to kill Shawn and Cory. Shawn clarifies that Eddie is merely his half-brother, and that his existence "just didn't seem worth talking about." Shawn and Cory reconcile, Shawn points out that Cory is his "family" and that Eddie is only "blood". I feel like he should have known that already.

During the credits, Eric's fuckin loaded, apparently he sold some mask he found while he was cleaning for $4,000. Feeny shows up and inquires about the mask, apparently it was his, Eric gives him the money. Poor Eric.

Plot: 0.25 - Eric's wasn't terrible.

Humor: 0.25 - Eric, Amy, and Alan were good.

Character Development: 0.25 - Development occurred but it was LONG overdue. How fuckin long have these guys been friends? And Shawn only now realizes that Cory is his real family? It's just not even remotely believable.

Life Lesson: 0.50 - "You don't have to be blood to be family."

1.25 out of 4.0 - Just not a good episode at all. Obviously they're never going to MENTION Eddie again. I mean shit, there are several very important Hunter related events in the future and this guy isn't even whispered about. The only remotely reasonable thing is that he's Shawn's mother's kid from a previous husband, but even then there are a lot of places where he should come around. This was a complete fucking mistake by the writers. Just make him a cousin or something for crying out loud, what were they thinking? In the past, Shawn's mentioned a sister, as has Topanga, but they were never actually on screen. This half-brother was on screen and had lines and directly impacted the story, and is immediately erased from existence. What a complete waste of time.

At least it's over. Thanks for reading, see you Monday.

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Episode 3x16 "Stormy Weather"

Well I'm a minute in and already my hopes are down in the gutter. They already threw about 10 punchlines at me in that span of time and it's just an insult to my intelligence. The gist of it though is that Eric is working way too hard at his news-station internship and thus neglecting his other responsibilities, including going to class. Mr. Feeny's class ends as he mentions that Lincoln freed the slaves for political as well as moral reasons, which is just the realest shit you'll ever hear. I hope everybody at home was listening to that.

As he tries to make his way out of the room, Eric is stopped by Feeny, who informs him that if he doesn't do the paper due Friday, he's not going to pass the class and therefore won't graduate.

At Turner's apartment, Shawn and Dana Pruitt are hangin out, doin some homework. I don't think Shawn's had a girlfriend for more than one episode before, so good for him. Turner comes home just in time for Dana's mom to show up, and the sparks flyyyyyyy.

The whole exchange here is pretty great, and really shows off the chemistry these two have built up over the last two seasons.

At the news station, we see John O'Hurley, who I only know as J. Peterman on Seinfeld, is doing the weather, and Eric watches with stars in his eyes. We see how really invested in this internship Eric has become and then a guitar riff plays over some stock footage of cars driving in the snow. Wasting a lot of time here. At the station again, the weather guy is AWOL and who else would be chosen to fill in but our boy Eric. God knows they couldn't just not have the weather.

Eli is there because his contract said he had to be in a certain number of episodes and the writers didn't know what the fuck else to do with him.

Eric does a great job as a weather man, and everyone congratulates him at home, including Mr. Feeny. I don't know why they were all watching the weather at the same time, but sure. Oh okay, Feeny is actually here to remind Eric that his 2,000 word essay is due by Friday. Eric says he doesn't have time for it with this weatherman stuff, but that's bull shit. 2,000 words is for children, what the fuck is he gonna do for the rest of the night? Just write it now, jesus. Anyway, here's the big conflict of the day, Eric has to choose between the weatherman stuff and actually graduating from high school. No surprise, he chooses the weatherman stuff. He is also turning 18 at midnight that night, so he's feeling like he can make his own life choices and all that other shit that always happens on a sitcom when someone turns 18.

The next morning they do the whole "OH YOU WANT ME TO PAY RENT?" thing, and Eric storms out. Heh... Storms... Weather... Whooooooooooooo that's about as funny as anything this episode. Where's Dana? It's not all bad though, we're getting to see that tough love that Alan Matthews is famous for. We've missed out on that this season, so it's good to have it again.

Oh here's Dana. And Shawn. They're waiting for Turner and Miss Dana's Mom to come back from their date.

So Turner and Madame Mother Of Dana have decided not to see each other again since it would be too awkward for Shawn and Dana. What a riveting conclusion to this story arc that we saw 30 seconds of. Anybody else would have forgotten about it by now.

At the station, Eric finishes his weather cast and is approached by the station manager. He's got a real weatherman coming down to take the job since Eric is just an inexperienced kid. Eric wants his old internship position back, but that's only open to students, and since Eric sort of dropped out over night, he's screwed now. Woops.

Alan shows up next. He tells us the story of how he went into the Navy after high school, to his father's great disapproval, and that he doesn't want to make the same mistakes his father made. So they reconcile and I don't know how I feel about it. Eric was already fucked, this doesn't influence his decision to go back to school at all. He was gonna have to go back regardless. It's just like "hey I'll support your decision to do the thing you can't do anymore." I dunno.

Anyway bak at school, Eric hands in his paper to Mr. Feeny. The old man is hesitant to just welcome Eric back with open arms, but Eric explains that he's learned how tough the real world can be, and that he'll never be able to find a job without a diploma. Well fuck the 90s. 20 years later you're gonna need a DEGREE in a STEM FIELD to have a CHANCE to find a job. Those high school diploma days, man. My poor generation. Feeny is moved by Eric's new value of education and welcomes him back school.

During the credits, Shawn and Dana are making out at Chubbie's and then they see Turner on a date with Dana's aunt. Because where the hell else would two full grown adults go on a date. God damn, Turner, this is why you're not married. You keep fuckin takin these girls to god damn Chubbie's. That's never going to work in the long term, man.

Plot: 0.5 - It wasn't bad, it was just frustratingly predictable.

Character Development: 1.0 - Eric's finally gonna start learning some shit at school.

Humor: 0.5 - Shawn was consistently funny, but he only had about a minute of screen time.

Life Lesson: 1.0 - Let's see what we learned here. Even a sure thing can go horribly wrong. Fathers shouldn't abandon their sons. The real world is hard, especially for dropouts. The entire Pruitt family is good looking. I'd say that's worth the point.

3.0 out of 4.0. - I think this was a somewhat shorter review. There really wasn't a whole lot going on in this episode. It's another example of my flawed scoring system, I would never really seek this one out to watch, but that's a pretty good score. Oh well. What the hell happened to Eli? We never saw him again past the 10 minute mark. And Eric needed that internship to pass the journalism class. Whatever.

Thanks for reading, see you Wednesday.

All images used under Fair Use.

Episode 3x15 "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter"

If you haven't seen the teaser for Girl Meets World yet, consider the two following questions:

"Should you go watch it?"

"Do you want to be disappointed?"

Those two questions have the same answer.

Who's Shawn on a date with this week? Could it beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee DANA PRUITT? Played by the lovely and talented Larisa Oleynik?

Yes.

That is who.

Larisa played Alex on The Secret World of Alex Mack, and a bunch of other cool stuff (just go to IMDB) all the way up to 2014, and you better believe I was excited to see her on Mad Men. And this actually isn't the first time Larisa and Rider have met, they played opposite each other in Les Mis a few years before BMW started airing. So this is a real treat.

Anyway, these two are lockin' lips here at Chubbie's and start planning their next date. Dana suggests working a volunteer booth or a picnic, but Shawn's not keen on either of those activities: it's apparent that he really just wants to makeout some more, so Dana ultimately declines a second date.

The gif tells us the plot in a nutshell. Shawn's super interested in this "nice girl" but because he's a hit-it-and-quit-it kinda guy, the odds are against them.

Off to the side, Eric's discussing his recent shitty grade on a paper with Eli and Turner. Our boy Rico explains that he's trying to turn things around so he can get into college, and the teachers tell him about an internship at the local news station. The competition's rough, but Eric thinks the other applicants will all cancel each other out, leaving him to steal the spot. Eli's not so sure, but Turner's convinced.

That might be THE most meta thing I've ever heard. Imagine you're on your couch, watching this episode, and in between spoons of chocolate pudding you're like "pfff how the hell would Eric ever get an internship pfff", and then your cynical, smartass buddy is like "it's a fuckin tv show, what do you expect." That's what Turner is saying, on the meta level anyway. In context it's just, sure, Eric can get a job at a silly tv station, but he's also saying "we're on a tv show, of course he's going to get it." Funny stuff.

Back on the other side of the hallway, we learn that Dana wants a date with Cory, and Shawn is supportive, though hesitant. He quickly finds some "bad girls" in leather jackets to take his mind off of Dana.

Home girl on the right has her shirt tucked in, even the dangerous girls weren't safe from the power of the 90s.

At the Matthews house later that night, Shawn's hanging around in the kitchen even though Cory left for his date after dinner. He's just waiting for Cory to get home so he can ask how things went with Dana. Morgan is lurking around too, and she's got some boss ass comfy slippers.

Look at those slippers. Are those little cows? That's awesome, I want that shit.

Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews go to bed, and Cory comes home shortly after.

This is one of those rare times where I just have no explanation for why something is funny. But I love that line. And look at Shawn's hair bounce, god damn.

So Cory didn't kiss Dana on the date, but he had a good time. It quickly becomes apparent that Shawn has very real feelings for this girl, and Cory agrees to back off. I'm not entirely sure what purpose this served, except to show us what kind of guy Dana is typically interested in.

At school the next day, we meet one of the smarty-pants guys Eric's competing against for that internship. His name is Arthur and he's played by Danny Strong, another actor I saw on Mad Men recently. Maybe that's just the way of things. You got Alison Brie on Mad Men too, sitcoms and Mad Men, folks, it's destiny.

On the other side of the hall, Shawn talks with Dana about her date with Cory. Turns out, she thinks Cory is the kind of guy you could get serious with (yeah no kidding), so she didn't want to rush things by kissing him. But on the other hand, she kissed Shawn on the first date because he's cute but not "boyfriend material". Ouch. At lunch, Cory and Shawn discuss their respective identities as the "nice guy" and "bad boy". Topanga comes around and lays down some fuckin truth about how Shawn objectifies women and needs to grow the fuck up. 

This is good stuff! Up until now, the show has mostly been glorifying Shawn's dating habits, but now we're seeing the dark side of it.

At the news station, Arthur's just finished his interview for the internship and it looks like it went pretty damn well, and a sweaty, nervous Eric is up next.

In Feeny's class, the man himself mentions that if the media had been as invasive in the past as it has become in the last few years, some people, including Kennedy, might never have been elected. True enough. Shawn opens up a debate in the class about whether Kennedy could be considered a good president. The first time I saw this I didn't know about Kennedy's numerous affairs, so I was like what the fuck, of course he was a great president after the Cuban Missile Crisis. But now that I know the full context, it's actually a really interesting discussion. Dana believes "less of a husband, less of a leader", so we see how this debate about Kennedy is analogous to the conflict in this plot. And that's pretty awesome. I always say this, but I love when the lessons in the classroom directly reflect the lessons in the story. Very good stuff.

Now we're... back at the news station... I guess the interviews are during school hours...? Anyway, Eric comes out even sweatier than he went in, and the interview was clearly pretty shit. But he starts chatting with some guy who appears to be a janitor, and helps him clean up the studio. As he does so, he explains that all the other applicants just want something to put on their resumes, and that he really needs this job, and that he would put his heart and soul into working there. In all honesty, he explicitly said earlier in the episode that he just needed some stuff to help get into college, but we'll accept that he really does want to work here.

Anyway the old janitor guy turned out to be Pat Darby, the station manager (come on Eli, it's television!) and so Eric gets the internship.

Pat is played by Brandon Maggart, who was a big deal in the 80s and had a recurring role on Sesame Street in 1970, so he's alright in my book!

At Turner's apartment, Cory searches for a lost mitten while Shawn gets advice from their English teacher. Cory finds the "scarf he lost last year" under Turner's couch cushions. BUT WAIT! Shawn only moved in with Turner at the end of season 2! This is strong evidence of my "a year passed between seasons 2 and 3" theory. Cool. Turner advises Shawn to show Dana he really cares, rather than just telling her. That's the abridged version anyway. It's actually some of the best we've seen of Turner this season. Is it mere coincidence that Eli isn't around for Turner's good advice? THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS, PEOPLE. THIS IS WHY WE'RE HERE.

We're seeing a lot of this, where Shawn and Cory trade off between being either goofy or the focus of the story, and it works really well. And honestly, I think I like it better when Shawn's getting the character development and Cory's doing the jokes. Cory's humor is more silly and witty, while Shawn's is mostly centered on him being dumb in one way or another. Either way, it's definitely working in this episode.

Next, Dana finds Shawn outside Chubbie's.... somehow... and he shows her that he was listening when she suggested they go on a picnic and bleeds his heart out for her, so she agrees to a second date. It's pretty compelling and sweet. Usually this kind of scene is really hard to watch, but they're both so solid in these roles and the writing is pretty good, so it's definitely easy to watch. I do have two things to point out though.

1. Dana explicitly suggested they go on a picnic at the beginning of the episode, but in this scene she tells Shawn he's silly for trying to have a picnic in the middle of winter. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, DANA PRUITT.

2. For as long as there have been shows and movies, there have been stories of the guy who "just needs a chance" and ultimately gets the girl, like we saw here. But almost never is there a girl who "just needs a chance", you know? This is a great episode and all, but like, why don't we get one where, I dunno, Trini gets a date with some football player who's willing to "give her a chance"? You know what I mean? I'm not trying to preach, I'm sure BMW isn't gender biased or anything, it's just sort of a double standard. Then again, Cory kinda gave a chance to Topanga back in season 1... I dunno. Leave a comment.

During the credits, Eric and Morgan pour coffee for the entire staff of the news station. 

Plot: 1.0 - Great stuff for both Shawn and Eric. Why is the "it's television" excuse okay for Eric here? Well, this episode is more of a setup for him. The news station plays a big part in coming episodes, so we cut a few corners here for the sake of a later story. And that's fine.

Character Development: 1.0 - Shawn's journey of self discovery continues. Shawn and Turner talk about dating stuff, making Turner look more and more like a father, which is always cool.

Humor: 1.0 - Everybody did a stellar job in this episode. Even Morgan was tolerable.

Life Lesson: 1.0 - We learned about what to do and what not to do in dating, and Eric showed us that passion is highly valued by prospective employers.

4.0 out of 4.0. This is one of my favorite episodes. The Shawn and Dana pairing is great, Cory is hilarious, Feeny's history lesson relates to the story, Turner acts like a father figure, and Eric gets a little bit closer to college. Recipe for fuckin success right there. 

Thanks for reading, see you Monday!

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