Author: theveryspecialblog

Punky Brewster: The Graphic Novel

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I discovered today that Punky Brewster has been re-imagined for 21st century elementary school readers as a graphic novel. And even though I totally don’t fall into that age group, I loved the advanced copy. In fact, I know some baby girls who will be getting this book from me in a few years.

Broken down into seven sections (which kind of remind me of the 5 part story arcs the television series used to use) the story takes introduces us to Punky as a “street urchin,” who discovers a long-lost cousin named Henry. If you watched the original series, you’ll have to accept this as one of the “re-imagined” parts but no modern-day kid would care or notice the difference.

We follow Punky (and her dog Brandon) in her quest to be placed in foster-care and/or adopted by Henry. I know that this adoption was an integral part of the television plotline, but I did feel like it was a bit drawn out in the graphic novel, especially for young readers. It was still a fun read though, and the design of the book is just as adorable as Punky herself. I think would be very appealing to anyone who likes Pippi Longstocking or Amelia Bedelia (or, like me, loves both).

The full title of this graphic novel is Punky Brewster: Volume 1, so here’s hoping that volume 2 includes the infamous very special refrigerator episode, “Cherie Lifesaver.” I’d like to see that re-imagined, and also on my book shelf for multiple re-reads.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Soul Mates

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Sabrina wakes up on the morning of her wedding with cold feet. They’re frozen in blocks of ice. She admits that maybe she’s a little anxious because most of her family can’t be at her wedding and she kind of wishes that Harvey could be there (but he can’t because it’s too weird). Things are clearly not fine even though she promises that they are.

But her cousin Amanda (played by Melissa Joan Hart’s real life sister) is there and soon her Aunt Hilda arrives too. Aunt Hilda brings Sabrina’s mom disguised as a lama as a wedding present. She’s recently been liberated from the ball of wax due to some unexpected leniency from the witch’s counsel. Then Aunt Hilda presents Sabrina with a candle. Her Aunt Zelda has agreed to be wax in place of Sabrina’s mom for the duration of the wedding.

Sabrina returns to her room to get ready with renewed confidence. But she finds doubt sitting on her bed. Sorry, that’s Doubt with a capital D. He’s a person and he’s brought her fiancee Aaron’s soul star. He believes Sabrina is doubting that she and Aaron are soul-mates and he hoping this will help. But they only way to tell if they’re soul-mates or not is to see if their stars fit together. Doubt didn’t bring Sabrina’s star to her (jerk) so she has to go to the North Star to get it.

The soul stars almost fit together, but not completely. And try as she might, Sabrina can’t get them to fit. So she and Aaron have a talk, and he tells her he doesn’t really think life guarantees soul-mates but that they love each other and will try to make each other happy. This convinces Sabrina to go ahead with the wedding.

Just as she is about to walk down the aisle, she realizes she is still wearing a bracelet that Harvey gave her seven years prior with the exact time they met engraved in the band. How could you not remember you were wearing your ex’s gift throughout the entire duration of your engagement, Sabrina??

Sabrina shows up on her Aunt Hilda’s program and asks to speak to her and Mother Spellman STAT. They try to walk down the aisle as discretely as possible, but Sabrina’s stupid friends leave the alter to join the chat too. This is such a nightmare. Sabrina starts bemoaning the fact that the universe has been against this relationship from the start, and her mom and aunt tell her that she’s the only one dooming it to fail. They tell her to listen to what she really wants.

Sabrina decides once again that she will marry Aaron. Only, she can’t make it through her vows. So she breaks up with Aaron at the alter while her friends hide them behind her veil. As Sabrina leaves the church, she sees Harvey sitting on his bike with his soul star (retrieved by Amanda from the North Star). She runs up to him and they start making out, apparently not concerned by the fact that the man she jilted moments ago is just inside the door with all of his friends and family.

Luckily, it’s only Sabrina’s family and friends who end up standing on the church steps to see Harvey and Sabrina fit their soul stones together and ride off into the sunset (err, midday sun…) right at 12:36 exactly.

Very Special Lesson: If you wake up in the morning with cold feet. Stop there. Don’t ruin the day for everyone.

The Princess Diaries: Royal Wedding

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I started reading The Princess Diaries series in middle school. It is by far the most endearing, light-hearted, and comedic book series I have ever read. This book series basically ruined all other “fun” book series for me forever. For decades, I have been trying to find the kind of book that’s fast-paced and silly, but in a way that doesn’t make me feel like an airhead trying desperately to care about vapid and annoying characters. So I am super excited that Meg Cabot wrote a new installment in the series but for adult readers.

Picking up this book, makes me feel like a twelve year-old all over again. And for once I can say that in a good way. I was so into the books when I first started reading them that I actually brought the first volume into the shower with me. This really didn’t make any sense because it basically meant that I stood under running water, destroying the environment, until I finally realized I had to toss the book over the curtain and quickly was the shampoo out of my hair so that I could get back to reading uninterrupted.

While I’d like to say that I’ve gotten more mature in the personal hygiene department, I can’t say that this book is any less addictive than the first. (Or second through tenth. I even picked up the final YA book in college and secretly read it in my dorm room until my bff saw where I had failed to hide it successfully and begged me to let her borrow it). Today alone I have considered reading it:

a. at a stop light ( only my overwhelming sense of road safety prohibited me)

b. on the stationary bike at the gym (which I did, and it was my best workout ever)

c. maybe I could make that shower thing work. maybe I’m older and wiser enough to really master it this time…

As you can tell from the cover, the book is about Mia and Michael’s engagement and “royal wedding” but there’s obviously so much more. The best part of this series was always the little stuff and not whatever big event each book happened to be centered around.

No spoilers! I haven’t finished reading this book yet (though I’m running at a fast clip. If only I didn’t have to work for a living, I could really knock it out!) My heart hurts just to think that there could not be more books after this. There HAVE to be more books. PLEASE @MegCabot (I know this isn’t Twitter but now I want a Twitter just so I can tweet that at Meg Cabot).

I’m bad at being a Millennial and I don’t know how to tweet or instagram or whatever, so who wants to start a letter writing campaign with me?

Very Special Movie: Trading Mom

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I first saw this movie on the Disney Channel under the title “Mommy Market,” which is a way more disturbing title. Today, I bring it to you as Trading Mom. It stars Sissy Spacek and my personal hero, Anna Chlumsky (second only to Jenny Lewis). I saw Anna Chlumsky once on the street in the West Village carrying her newborn babe and her eyes were just glittering. That might sound creepy, but my point is that she seems fabulous in real life just like she is on Veep and in My Girl.

This isn’t a critically acclaimed movie, but it did make me feel kind of cool as a kid. It’s one of those kid’s are in charge kind of movies and basically these three brats get to trade in their mom for a new one at a store where you basically just shop for moms. Their next door neighbor is a witch and that’s how they get rid of their mom. (Yeah, yeah I know this movie horrible. It’s only 29% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.) The next morning, they wake up and find their mom’s room empty. They know their mom used to live there but they can’t remember her at all–spooky.

At the Mommy Market, each family gets three choices. When those choices run out, they’re stuck with whomever happened to be their last pick. I didn’t realize it as a kid, but Sissy Spacek actually plays all of the moms in this movie. The first mom is really into fancy things. The kids like her stretch limo and money, but she throws away all of their toys and pets because they’re “dirty.” And she makes them dress up like demented Von Trapp children, so they get rid of her after that.

Their next mom is an avid outdoorswoman (WordPress thinks that isn’t a word but they’re just fine with outdoorsman–offensive!) But she wants to bread the littlest boys iguana so they can taxidermy the extra pets. Then she takes them all on a rigorous backpacking trip through the rain. But the final blow comes when she ruins a backyard game of kickball. The older kids have organized an inclusive way to play with the younger kids (like we’re talking toddler and preschoolers). It’s really pretty sweet. But outdoor mom strikes out a four year-old by throwing balls way faster than she can kick. Then all of the neighborhood kids leave in a huff, and she makes her children do pushups to get them in better shape for competitive kickball. That’s when they send her packing.

Now it’s time for mom number three. The final choice. The most important choice. And this is when they make the worst choice because they two older children are somehow bullied by their six-year old brother. They pick a circus clown to be their mother. What they don’t realize is that she comes with a bus load of circus performers who now also live in their house/backyard area. The only cool part of this is that Andre the Giant is there (may he rest in peace). This mom isn’t so willing to leave (maybe she knows they don’t have another option after her). So the boys steal the bus and all of the circus performers run after it. Then Anna Chlumsky locks them out of the house, but the boys crash the bus and it starts raining. Thus, everyone feels obligated to let the circus people back inside.

The kids are hungry and cranky, and hear their principal (who has tried in vain to meet with their mom for days) banging on their door and talking about foster care. Things are getting serious. So they sneak out the back of the house and ask the witch next door how to get their mother back. They can’t remember her but they figure she couldn’t possibly suck as much as the others because they kept her for so long before they got rid of her.

The witch tells them to name some wildflowers and that will create some kind of potion. They know a surprising number of wildflower names. At this point they have to like break into the market, then find their own mom, and pick her in order to break the spell. The juxtaposition of foster parents in a market for kids and kids in a market for moms is kind of interesting–but hey, I don’t want to give this too much credit. They get caught trying to steal tokens and find their mom and are banished from the Mommy Market, which promptly vanishes like the Garden of Eden.

Then they all cry in an alley. Ugh, this is so dark. How did I watch this as a kid? They can’t remember their mom still, so they decide to invent a memory of her taking them to the beach and all of these other cool places. Okay, this part is really sweet even though it’s schmaltzy. I guess this movie isn’t so bad.

The next morning, they wake up and everything is back to normal. And we’re left to think this was all one big shared hallucination. Except then they find a throw pillow left behind by that weird fancy mom! The end. Oh and Andre the Giant’s throwing knife is still in the wall. And the principal gets caught by a trap that the outdoor mom made. Now, really, the end.

Very Special Lesson: Don’t be a jerk to your mom.

Your Complete Guide to Jenny Lewis’s “She’s Not Me” Music Video

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Jenny Lewis was my very first girl crush. Before I knew what girl crushes were. Or maybe even crushes. Or maybe even girls. Well, no probably not before that one. But anyway, I thought she was just fantastic in literally everything. It didn’t hurt that she had hair just like The Little Mermaid. I liked that she seemed both friendly and sad. Even in roles where she played a total jerk, she still seemed like she’d be fun to hang out with. I went to see her in college during the Jenny & Johnny tour and was so devastated when she threw her guitar pick right near me, but I couldn’t find it. But I discovered on the walk home that my boyfriend had casually slipped it into my jacket pocket.

She wasn’t the type of child actor that created all of the pandaemonium of Jonathan Taylor Thomas or the Olsen Twins, but I think that’s what made me like her even more. I liked that I could watch her in a kids movie and enjoy how unassuming she was. It made it easier to pretend that I was a member of Troop Beverly Hills and just happened to be off camera in the slumber party scene or at the back of the line as we traipsed through the woods at the Jamboree. So when I saw her music video for “She’s Not Me” it was fun because it’s a great song and because I love kitschy nostalgia.

I got a lot of these more obvious references, but I felt like everything was done very purposefully here and I couldn’t help but wonder: Why is she sitting in a pile of teddy bears? So I did a little investigating…

The Golden Girls–Okay, so the first one’s not a movie. Before she played a girl scout in Troop Beverly Hills, she played a girl scout on The Golden Girls. She was an evil girl scout who bullied troop leader, Rose. Honestly, it’s like the most horrible role if seen her in. Like I totally would have cast her in a remake of The Bad Seed based upon this performance alone.

Troop Beverly Hills–This is probably the most recognizable of all of the reference in the video. But can I just take a moment to say how perfect Vanessa Bayer is at impersonating Shelley Long? Also, Zosia Mamet’s hair is on point. I was immediately like “OMG she’s Cleo!” But did you notice that Jenny Lewis also pays tribute to her character’s gymnastics training? Seriously, such a good movie. This may need to be a Very Special Movie…

Pleasantville–I feel like the Hell Ville reference has to be a reference to Pleasantville just based on the name alone. But the priest and the Jenny’s outfit don’t really make sense with the movie.

The Wizard–The movie that introduced us the super cool yet ultimately disappointing Nintendo Power Glove. But such a cool idea though.

Toys R Us Commercial–I’m pretty sure this is the inspiration for both the teddy bear (obviously) and braids scene as well as the tricycle scene (less obviously). Also, look out for Baby Steve Urkel!

Jem: Alone Again

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Screen Shot 2015-05-24 at 5.16.42 PMThere’s a new girl in the Starlight Home. Jerrica finds her crying while cradling a ping-pong paddle like a baby doll. Laura says no one understands her and she doesn’t “measure up” to all of the other abandoned children at the Starlight House. They’re so cool with their fashion sense and talents. Jerrica tries to tell her that everyone is good and something and Laura’s all like everyone but me! Then she goes off to film this music video:

Jem and The Holograms enter the room and are all like you’re so talented! They ask her to play at their concert with them, but she says she’s not good enough. Finally, she accepts  under protest and then she starts to crack under the pressure. A drug pusher overhears her talking to herself on the see-saw at school. He offers her pills that will make her “play great.” Then he tells her he’ll be at the concert and hopes she will play her best. This makes Laura be all like, okay if the cute boy wants me to!

I’Screen Shot 2015-05-24 at 5.23.05 PMm not sure what kind of pills this dude gave her. She starts of feeling “lighter and faster” but then she starts hallucinating like crazy. She sees the thermos in her lunch box turn into a bird. Then she decides she’d like to fly like a bird and climbs out on her ledge. She yells at Jerrica, who is below the windo begging her not to jump, angrily and says, “You may be prettier than me and smarter. But I can fly. I can fly!” Okay, so I’ve narrowed down the drug options here to PCP. If I were Jerrica, I’d call the paramedics and then seek shelter immediately. But Jerrica’s a rescuer, so she runs upstairs while Laura is doing a countdown to blastoff and reaches the window just in time. Laura ends up slipping, but Jerrica has super human strength, so she catches Laura by the arm while also maintaining her own balance and then uses her core strength to lift Laura up into a standing position as she pulls her through the window.

Right at this moment, Laura seems to be coming down from the drug and is genuinely shocked and depressed that neither the thermos nor she is a bird. Jerrica says a lot of things like let’s talk but she never actually says anything of substance other that “WHERE ARE THE DRUGS?” and Laura says “THERE ARE NO DRUGS!” So then she goes back to school and gets more drugs from the pusher/boy she has a crush on.

This drug seems more like cocaine. She can’t sleep and all she wants to do is play guitar ALL NIGHT! One of the other Starlight Girls beats her up because she’s being so annoying. She’s like totally pummeling her but they’re only grounded for a week each. The next morning, Laura is extremely irritable and cannot find her drugs. She starts destroying the house because she can’t play her music or live without the drugs she’s taken like twice now.

Screen Shot 2015-05-24 at 5.52.48 PMJerrica finds her stealing money from her purse (the pusher has started charging now). Laura looks all around school for the drug pusher, but when she overhears him giving the same sales pitch to another starlight girl she starts subbing because he didn’t love her at all! Jerrica finds her outside of the school and takes her for a drive to talk her into going to rehab. She fails to mention that the drug pusher was selling to another Starlight girl literally moments earlier, but she does agree to go to the group, and also to participate in a sting operation to catch the drug pusher. (Luckily, the other Starlight girl didn’t want the drugs and gave them to the police right after the drug pusher gave them to her.)

Now Laura is immensely more confident, and just in time for the concert!

Very Special Lesson: Taking drugs won’t fix your stage fright. But becoming addicted to drugs and kicking the habit in a week will make you feel badass enough to play an arena concert.

The Brady Brides: The Mom Who Came to Dinner

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As the poll from last week’s Friday Face-Off proves, this crowd is more of a “Come on, Get Happy” than a “Sunshine Day” group. That’s right, The Partridges won the Friday Face-Off, but I’m going to throw you Brady fans a bone today. As I said when I started the Reboot-O-Rama series, I’m not just attempting to complain about television and kids these days, but it’s really all been an elaborate ploy to write a post about The Brady Brides.

The Brady Brides is a terrible series that I somehow caught in reruns as a kid and determined to be the best thing ever and potentially “better than The Brady Bunch.” In hindsight, this was patently false. This show is bad. The jokes are flat. It’s weird that Maria and Jan live together with their husbands after their infamous double wedding. And all of the other, more interesting, Brady children are absent except for in the pilot movie.

But so rarely do we get a piece of kitsch quite to this level, that I think it’s high time we all stood back and appreciated The Brady Brides in all of it’s glory. Take for example today’s episode, in which Marcia and Jan decide that their adult mother cannot spend the night alone in her ranch house while their dad is on a business trip. So against their husbands’ better judgement, they invite Carol to stay over.

As Marcia says to the husbands “Mom’s not a mother in law. She’s mom.” That’s an stupid and illogical sentence, which leads them to each bet their respective wives $5 that the evening will be a disaster. I feel like these dudes are intentionally sabotaging in order to win this bet, but no…that would be a much better plot. In an effort to be genuinely helpful, Jan’s husband Philip rewires a light switch to be on an automatic timer and also know (somehow) to contact the police and fire department in the event of an emergency.

Then Carol comes over and they all sit around discussing the girls failures–Jan when she felt sorry for Marcia’s goldfish as a kid because they were cold and wet, so she dried them off and let them “sleep” in her bed–and Marcia who didn’t realize she needed to unbox the TV Dinner she had tried to make the night before. Then her husband Wally says, “Marcia’s best cooking is never done in the kitchen.” And they make out in front of Marcia’s sister and mother. Carol stares at them (nonplussed) and Marcia giggles and tells Wally to cut it out because Carol is watching–to which Wally replies, “Well, she’ll just have to wait her turn.” …

Philip volunteers to sleep on a cot in the living room, so that Carol can sleep in the bed with Jan. This is because they’re clearly the non-sexual couple. Jan kisses Wally goodnight and then we jump-shot to a post-coital Marica and Wally. Marcia asks Wally to put on pajamas because her mom is visiting. Wally insist that he doesn’t own pajamas. Then Marcia calls him out for letting Phillip sleep on the cot and not even volunteering to take the cot. Um, hello WE HAVE JUST ESTABLISHED THAT THIS MAN SLEEPS NAKED AND HAS NO PAJAMAS.

Anyway, she insists that he sleep on the cot instead of Philip and he has to sleep in a terry cloth robe in place of pajamas. But then Wally has a nightmare and falls off the cot, so Carol insists she sleep on the cot. Then they all argue about who sleeps on the cot. Then Jan says that she owns the cot and will thus sleep on it, leaving Philip and Wally to sleep together. This is entertainment. Ha-ha.

Then a cop brings a neighborhood boy over to the house because his mother isn’t home. And then the cop gets caught up in a game of “who’s on first” with who is married to whom and who is the mother-in-law. Ugh. Then all of these white people tell this black child that they don’t like him out on the streets at night (ugh the poor child with the absentee mother–social commentary!) and all of the white people care for the minority child. So they put the child in the bed with the two men even though Wally definitely isn’t wearing anything under that robe.

I’d like to point out that I have noticed a couch and a love seat in addition to the cot in the living room. The small child could easily sleep on the love seat and Carol Brady could sleep on the couch which looks way more comfortable than the cot. BAM solved your problem Bradys. But no, they want to make this episode into a particularly awful rip-off of Three’s Company. 

Carol, who is now on the cot, cannot sleep. She’s totally annoyed by the fish in the tank she’s next to. She wants them to blink. It’s very disturbing to her that the fish don’t blink. **Trigger Warning: Fish that Don’t Blink**

Then Alice shows up at the door because she’s gotten locked out of her apartment. The obvious next step is to spend the night with Marcia and Jan. They try to turn on the light, but the trigger Philip’s emergency alert system. Then that same cop from earlier shows up and takes Alice home. I guess he plans on breaking into her apartment for her. After some paramedics show up and try to carry Carol out on the cot (which they mistake for a stretcher I guess…) they all decide it’s better just to stay up all night playing Scrabble than to figure out where everyone sleeps.

Very Special Lesson: Let your mom sleep on the cot when she says she wants to sleep on the cot. But don’t put her next to the fish tank.

Very Special Movie: Model Behavior

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I present you with the greatest Disney Channel Original Movie ever. This month’s very special movie of the month is Model Behavior. It stars Justin Timberlake and Maggie Lawson from Psych. It’s a classic tale of dream makeover, fish out of water, and total and complete lies about one’s identity. It’s kind of like The Parent Trap or Trading Places–if those movies were about winning Justin Timberlake’s love and adoration.

Alex is a plain girl with strict parents who make her go to bed early, so she can get good grades and help them with their catering business. Janine is a super model superstar with a fab life but she’s not allowed to eat fried food. Alex is aware of Janine (she’s a supermodel, duh) but she doesn’t realize that they look exactly alike (because they’re played by the same actress). When they meet at an event that Alex’s family is catering, they decide to trade places for a week.

Each girl is totally happy with her new life and everything is super boring until Alex bumps into Justin Timberlake and agrees to go out with him as Janine. Meanwhile, Janine is revitalizing Alex’s image at school with her super confidence. She even lands a date with Alex’s crush, a jerk named Eric. They end up at the same restaurant one night and are both pissed that the other is going out with a guy they think sucks–Janine because she thinks it’s all a publicity stunt and Alex because Eric wouldn’t date her before (when she was living her own life and not Janine’s). Thus, they briefly switch places again so they can have a conversation with their respective dudes.

Janine really rips Justin Timberlake a new one, and for whatever reason he doesn’t get up and leave immediately. When Alex returns to the table (as Janine) she tells him to forget whatever she just said to him because sometimes she has “moods” and it’s almost like she is “bipolar.” And even then, he doesn’t leave. This is the crazy/hot scale in action, people.

Oh and by the way, for whatever reason Alex’s strict parents who make her be home by 9 pm don’t supervise her kid brother at all. So even though he’s probably 12 years old, he gets into this classy New York restaurant and spies on Alex. Then he films Alex and Janine coming out of the bathroom together. Serious rookie mistake. They don’t even stagger.

When Janine gets homes to Alex’s house from her classy dinner with Eric, Alex’s dad is all pissed because she forgot agreed to help her dad with catering. Then he grounds her for three weeks. Like wtf. Are you allowed to make your minor child work in your business like that and then punish her when you didn’t give her a choice? This appears to be a middle class Long Island family. Like how can they possibly afford to live on Long Island if they have to force their children to work as day laborers?

Anyway, things start to go awry here. Alex gets Janine fired by floundering in a fashion show and Janine ruins Alex’s interview for a Summer Program. Then Alex’s kid brother shows up to confront her at Janine’s apartment. Like how was he even allowed in there?? I guess they let just anyone up into superstar’s apartments in the early aughts. It was a simpler time.

Anyway, Alex has Justin Timberlake meet her out on the streets of New York. Then she kind of changes her appearance to look more like her real self, but she doesn’t want to tell him who she is. She hands him the tape that her snooping brother made, so he can see for himself. Then they kiss. And Eric catches them–thinking that Alex/Janine is cheating on him. This leads Justin Timberlake to think Janine/Alex is cheating on him. Basically, the worst way to come clean ever.

Alex and Janine call each other that night to describe how they have destroyed each other’s lives. Then they’re all like h0-hum the grass is not always greener. FALSE. The were doing very well as each other and they blew it because they are dumb. Like fine, it’s hard to be a model but you got to make out with Justin Timberlake so STFU. I do feel bad for Janine though. Alex’s dad is kind of a jerk.

Both of their families follow them there, and Justin Timberlake shows up too. He’s gone to the dance because he finally watched the tape that Alex gave him of both of the girls leaving the bathroom…I’m assuming she must have recorded a portion where she reveals her true identity and high school because that’s the only way this makes sense. Then their families are like woah we suck enough that our kids pretended to be other people and they decide to start listening to their children.

Very Special Lesson: If you wear glasses and you switch places with someone who doesn’t wear glasses but otherwise looks exactly like you, then you won’t need to wear your glasses while being that other person. It’s like free Lasik.

Girl Meets Squirrels

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Eric Matthews arrived at John Quincy Adams Middle School last night, and let me just say it was THE BEST EPISODE EVER! I’m qualified to make this assumption because I have now seen five episodes total of this show.

Riley and Maya are having a fight over Riley not defending Maya when someone insulted her but the insult was true. It’s a classic case of truth vs. undying loyalty. Corey is in over his head, so he calls in his big bro, Eric–who shows up at the younger Matthews apartment in a shot-for-shot remake of the original Mr. Squirrels lollipop introduction.

Also, he holds balloons in Corey’s doorway and seems to have stolen the balloons from reunion party in Boy Meets World.

girl-meets-world-balloons

Eric is currently the mayor of a small town in upstate New York near border of Quebec. He dresses like Mr. Squirrels because that’s how his townspeople dress and it makes them more comfortable, supposedly. At this point in the show, I’m groaning a bit because I’m like ugh they’ve decided to perpetuate the stupid Eric trope of the latter years. 

Stupid Eric is exceedingly funny, but I always loved the charming thoughtful Eric years of his high school to early adult days, personally. I did enjoy his ridiculous behavior in the college years, but it was such a departure from his original character that my brain had trouble reconciling it.

Anyway, Eric does remove his Squirrels outfit and try to help the children work out their friendship issues. (Plays with Squirrels was classically helpful  with friendship, if you recall the original series). He comes to school with Corey the next day and is still full-on goofball, putting scotch tape on his face and forgetting what he’s said seconds before. My heart mourns for the loss of the sensitive, intuitive Eric we once knew.

girl-meets-world-hallwayWhen he orders the class out into the hallway to better discuss the issue of “friendship war,” Corey pulls him to the side and says that they joke around a lot, but he needs to know that Eric has this under control. Then the show gives me everything I’ve ever asked for and assumed as a viewer. It’s like a switch flips and Eric totally drops the act. He’s not stupid at all. It’s all some ridiculous act–the kind you see from people who really are too perceptive and intuitive for their own good–and he actually is the problem-solving thoughtful person we once knew. Sure, Eric is not an intellectual and never has been, but he knows how to be serious when the moment calls for it. The Eric we see at this point reminds me a lot of the Eric who told adorable little sixth grader Topanga that they couldn’t date in the most “let ’em down easy” kind of way I could imagine from a teenage boy.

As it turns out, Maya is constantly insulting cute-boy Lucas, and he finally retaliated by calling her a “short little stack of pancakes.” That to me sounds like bizarro middle school flirting, but she takes it to be the world’s greatest insult, and she’s pissed when Riley doesn’t stand up for her because she actually is short. I actually like the kids at this point because the whole class goes all “Breakfast Club” and Eric actually gives them the chance to work it out themselves. This show seems to have a lot of Corey unloading a lot of life lessons he’s already learned, so it was nice to see Eric let the kids figure it out for themselves…which was kind of the thing Boy Meets World excelled at.

Very Special Lesson: We’re still who we are, even when we seem not like ourselves. Eric is just the best. Also, if Girl Meets World continues on this track, I’ll have to give the writers more credit.

Very Special Question: Will we ever find out what happened to Topanga’s sister Nebula?