The first scene has Cory yell-explaining to Shawn and Eric that he doesn't want to go to New York. There's that lighthearted guitar music in the background to show us this isn't supposed to be some dramatic conflict. And you know what? That's perfect. I hate coming into a series finale with some great conflict to be resolved in the last ten minutes. There's no marriage or confession of love, no baby being born, no fight to the death. It's not a climax, is what I'm saying. We're just saying goodbye and remembering the good times.
First up to bat is the Cory-Topanga set of flashbacks. Oh, it's only two. Well they're good ones, when Topanga wants to see if her and Cory's energies converge, and when she kisses him for the first time in Cory's Alternative Friends. In Real Time, Jack shows up to inform everyone that he's joining the Peace Corps. What, like you need a reason? Then Topanga arrives to tell Cory that she doesn't want to go to New York after all. Cory's pretty damn excited, so we get a little montage of him and Shawn cheering in unison throughout the series. And then they dance.
We'll keep a running list. So far we've got
*The roots of Cory+Topanga, and
*The child-like excitability of Shawn and Cory.
In The Backyard, Eric invents the final Feeny Call of the series, prompting clips of
*The Feeny Call throughout time.
There are a handful missing though, in particular the one from Playswith Squirrels. There's a compilation of all of them on youtube though.
Feeny finally admits that he loves the Feeny Call, which makes every fan's heart swell up with joy. And of course he made the pull-string Eric doll as a gift for his old mentor.
I actually never noticed until now, but Eric very casually pulls the doll out of that grill next to him. How long did he hide that thing in the grill? That's pretty funny.
Back on track, Eric asks Feeny to give Cory "the usual," which in this case is
*Advice from across the fence while Feeny gardens.
There's only two little clips of it, but we can take this to represent the general act of Feeny giving life advice to Cory. Feeny explains that he moved one of his plants from a pot in the living room to the plot here in his yard.
Cory: "Because you thought it would to better out here."
Feeny: "No, because I thought if I left it in there... it would stop growing."
This plant metaphor refers to the possibility that Topanga will stop growing if she has to stay here in Philly. Feeny explains further that whats stopping her isn't her concern for Cory, but rather her fear of failure. There's something else here that's very important and is mentioned very quickly. Feeny doesn't come right out and say it, but he heavily implies that the reason Topanga didn't go to Yale wasn't because of Cory after all, but rather this fear of going to a new and unfamiliar place. I didn't remember that part of the conversation, and no one ever mentioned it in the comments, so maybe this slipped through the cracks for a lot of people. Do you folks buy this? That Topanga only claimed to be staying for Cory? That would mean her proposing to Cory was an anchoring maneuver to not have to face her fears at Yale. It seems kind of slapdash to me, and it changes a pretty massive part of their history. I kinda dig it though. It's interesting, and I feel like I'm learning something new about this series I've seen a thousand times.
Right, so now Cory has decided to help his wife leave her metaphorical living room plant-pot, and head to the garden of New York. New Jersey is the garden state, but that's not important. He reaction gives no indication that she was afraid, but whatever. We get some clips of
*The storied romance of Cory and Topanga,
from 3x01 up through Starry Night and Graduation, skipping over their breakup in The Grass Is Always Greener, but including the Lauren Arc (without any actual footage of Lauren, oddly enough).
It's another solid clip reel, but I can't believe they left out both instances of Topanga drawing a heart on her face with lipstick. Not just solid, but long, four whole minutes showing us their journey up to Topanga proposing at the graduation ceremony. It's still not done, actually, as we get a quick recap of the wedding arc, including Eric setting the curtains on fire which is always a treat, and ending with a clip of them exchanging vows. So all said and done it was actually six minutes. Shawn better get six minutes too.
Back in Real Time, we do in fact get Topanga admitting that she's scared of failing. I expected Cory to insist that she won't fail because she never fails, but that's not what happens. Even now, in the very last episode, the show impresses me by defying my expectations. So Cory explains that if she fails, he'll still be immensely proud of her for taking a risk for what she wants and for having the courage to face her fears. It's one of the best things he says to her in the whole series. A+.
Cory: "And if you fail, I think there's a real chance I'll love you even more."
You know, it's scenes like this that make me look back at the "Topanga's parents divorce" arc and hate it even more than I did at the time. Topanga and her interactions with Cory have been absolutely delightful for the last chunk of season 7. It's a shame we had to get through so much crap to get here.
In The Backyard, the showrunners decide to remind us that Morgan is a character on the show. She's equipped with her usual snark, because that's pretty much the only characteristic they thought of in the three and a half seasons since Ridgeway took over the role. Amy is, according to Morgan, "psycho" over the relocation to New York.
Alan: "Morgan don't call your mother psycho, it's... not nice..."
Amy is apparently pacified when Alan points out that Eric will be going to New York as well. I thought we were done with that running gag where Eric's parents don't respect him at all, but here it is. That's a shame.
For reasons unknowable, Jack and Rachel are hanging out nearby in the kitchen, and Jack learns that Rachel has decided to join the Peace Corps. So you're telling me they both came to this decision completely independent of the other? I'm calling shenanigans. It was Rachel's idea in the previous episode, and there's no way he would have considered going by himself. He must have already known somehow. Whatever, it's not important. We get some clips of Jack, Rachel, and Eric doing this and that, but it's short since nothing important ever happened with Rachel. Except maybe the end of Seven The Hard Way, BUT THEY LEFT THAT OUT.
The rest of the gang make their way into the kitchen, and Eric and Topanga have evidently maintained the bond we saw in She's Having My Baby Back Ribs as they put their arms around each other while Eric explains his excitement about New York.
Eric: "Nobody knows me there, I can be anybody I wanna be."
Topanga: "I want you to be Eric."
WOAHOHOHAOHAHOAHHHHHHHHH. Break out your tinfoil hats people, this train is leaving the station! Look at that last frame,
*Eric's shenanigans,
and is it a coincidence that the first two are strictly between him and Topanga? YOU DECIDE. Other than feeding that conspiracy theory, I don't think they picked the right clips for this at all. This is supposed to be THE Eric highlight reel, and aside from a two second clip from Shallow Boy (which I absolutely adore), they're all from seasons 6 and 7, which means they're all just punchlines where he's a total idiot. What. The fuck? I'm asking honestly right now, what the fuck is this? Eric has moved me to tears how many times and they want to show him getting struck by lightning in The Union? Yes most of these clips are funny, but he's so much moreeeeeeee. How could they do thisssss, this isn't how he should be remembered. We already had an "Eric is funny" reel with the Feeny Call earlier, and Topanga is specifically being sentimental, she knows he has a good heart, but we don't see any of that in these clips. This is a bottom-line failure by the showrunners. Yeah there's another set of clips in the next episode, but it's restricted to Eric's relationship with Alan. What about Eric and Cory? What about Eric and Feeny?
Up next is ANOTHER set of Eric clips, this time the story of his friendship with Jack. But this too is just focusing on Eric being silly. Nothing from You Light Up My Union or Playswith Squirrels, the two most meaningful interactions between Eric and Jack. How could they do all this Eric stuff without a single clip from Seven The Hard Way when he single-handedly restores their group friendship? I'm just so confused how they chose these clips. There's nothing bad about them, but there are some seriously important moments that should have been here.
That is a nice picture though.
Finally, and most importantly, it's time to address
*Cory and Shawn, "the greatest friendship of all time."
Cory and Shawn are reduced to tears at the thought of saying goodbye to each other, it plays out very similar to the "WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT" bit at Cory's wedding, and it's equally lovable and hilarious. The clip reel comes on, including, among others, "You're Cory, I'm Shawn, just like it's always been. What else do you need to know?" which is a fantastic choice, I absolutely love that one, an excerpt from the library scene in An Affair To Forget, one of my all time favorites, the scene with the celery poster, "UNDAPANTS," and of course "THEY WANT YOU TO TAKE THE ROLLS!"
This one they got right. Only about three minutes worth of clips, but definitely the most enjoyable segment of the episode for me. It could have been one of Eric's segments with the right clips, but alas, Shawn and Cory are taking home the prize. Topanga, as it turns out, has packed up all of Shawn's stuff so he can move to New York with them, which I think makes up for her nonsense at the beginning of the season.
I don't think there's any point in scoring these last two episodes, so let's just keep talking. It's completely insane to me that they only used clips from seasons 6 and 7 (except that Shallow Boy one) for the "I want you to be Eric" clip reel, but other than that this episode is basically perfect. They never even imply the existence of Angela, but if you weren't thinking about it you wouldn't even notice. You can totally feel the love between all the characters here at the end (especially Topanga and Eric woop woooooop). Alan is one of the most important characters in the show and he didn't get much attention, but that's fixed in Part 2, so...
I think that's all I've got to say for now. Again, I know it's tempting to get sentimental about the blog, I'm right there with you, but I do want to hear what you have to say about the actual episodes, so let's try to focus on that until we're done. Which is... terrifyingly soon. See you Friday.
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