Girl Meets World 3.6 Girl Meets Upstate

Key: Shane Lee is Blue and Syd is Brown
Girl Meets Upstate

• Here it is you guys, the second part to girl meets Triangle which isn’t called Girl Meets Triangle part 2. The exciting conclusion to the triangle that the writers say doesn’t exist, but totally does. Anyway, do we actually think Lucas is going to choose one of them? I don’t really, but I would love to be proven wrong!
• So, we begin, not with Lucas who we left in mid sentence last week when he said “I choose . . .” Maya? Riley? You Pikachu? But instead with Riley and Maya on the subway where we learn they can be attracted to other boys. (They should, in my opinion)

  

  Um, does Shawn own two cars or did Riley &/or Maya drive sans a driver's license?

• I need more Maya and Shawn scenes. They work wonderfully as father and daughter.
• Please tell me they are not going to blame this on Shawn or Maya’s clothes- that’s exactly what they’re doing.
• When Lucas told Katy she’s a wonderful mother, I’m glad someone remembered how much Katy has actually grown.
• Isn’t it weird that they Lucas is just pondering away in the bay window. I mean, I know it has to be featured in the episode, but this is a stretch that he can just hang out there for hours.
• Oh hey, Shawn kept that picture from Maya’s birthday. Good job to the props department for not losing it.
• Well, it’s nice to know that Shawn and Katy’s first date went well. We never got to see it, or really hear about. I know it’s been hinted that it went well, but why do we have to accept that all of this was happening off screen? I totally was expecting an episode where maybe Maya wanted the date go well that she’d be worried she’d lose Shawn forever if it didn’t.
• I have an issue with the this is all the clothing’s fault- in a previous episode in season two I believe, Maya told Riley those clothes meant a lot to her because they were so nice and the nicest gift anyone gave her blah, blah, blah, now she's going to sell them, just like that.

  

  "Yes, Maya, that is still a variation of what Riley is wearing"
• Shawn has never been Corey, ever! His style is a little Feeny-esque in this episode though.
• I know Riley and Maya are the focus of the show, but i want more scenes just like the Katy and Topanga one we just got. It was short, but it was so nice to see that outside of their daughters, they actually are friends and have lives too.
• Question: Why does Corey have a key to the school? He’s a new teacher- do all teachers get keys to the school? I seriously don’t know. Also wouldn’t the school have an alarm system?
• On that note: Riley and Maya had no trouble getting to Shawn’s, which is apparently in the middle of nowhere, upstate NY. So, why are they asking for a ride now?
• Is it just me or is it slightly creepy that the art teacher is just hanging out in the school at night?

  

  "Oh, hey creeper!"

• Zay has really grown on me and continues to. I am glad someone pointed out how long we’ve all waited on Lucas’s decision.
• I knew it! No decision! Uhg! I hope the stupid triangle jokes stop now.
• Okay, onto the other big decision this episode. I genuinely love Shawn and Katy, but I need to see more and want to invest more in them. The last time they shared screen time was when he asked her out for the first time. This episode focus is more on the adults and every once in awhile, this is not a bad thing.

  

  This could've been another cliffhanger!

Extra Tidbits:

• Again, no Auggie and again, I am very happy about that.
• Also, Smackle was conspicuously absent again, with no mention of where she was.

  

  Riley and Maya walked right past Smackle that night!

• I feel like this show is more of a spinoff rather than a sequel. A sequel isn’t afraid to revolve around its predecessor's characters, and usually does more than update us on theirs  lives. They are the stars as well.This show, much like a spinoff, uses one or more characters as a jumping point, like Corey and Topenga, but then focuses on new ones, Riley and Maya, and sometimes give us updates like “oh yeah, Shawn has been seeing Katy and it has gone so well that he’s asking her to marry him. Watch our new starts celebrate with them.”
• I did like the paint fight, and all the throwbacks this episode gave us. It’s a good message that you and only you can decide who you are, but you have to do all of the work.  

IF I WROTE THE EPISODE

I’m not sure I can do one of these this week, simply because if I was writing the show, things would be drastically different up to this point, but I’ll try to do a synopsis.

Riley and Maya would deal with the fall out of Lucas choosing Maya over Riley. At first Riley would try to distance herself from them, but in class, the lesson would be about some pair of historical figures that had a good friend help them do something or I don’t know. Anyway, with her good friend;s Farkle’s help (yes I am planting Riarkle or Farley seeds), Riley would put her feelings aside, and be happy for her friends. Topanga would have a heart to heart with Riley about how every time something happens it happens for a reason and they can beat into our heads once again, that there are only one Corey and Topanga.

As far as Shawn and Katy go, I would have had their first date episode, where Riley, Maya, Farkle and Lucas follow, against the guy's wishes. I might have ended this one with Shawn telling Corey and Topanga and maybe Maya over hearing or something like that. I would give them their own focus and make it a little more special.

This episode was as much about Shawn and Katy as it was Maya and Riley, maybe a little more. At the end of our last episode we watched Riley storm out of the Matthews' home with Maya, seemingly on a mission to get the real Maya back. We picked up this week in the same spot only to find out that Riley is leading the pair to uncle Shawn's house, the house that's 40 miles past the end of the world. The girls arrive and, once again, Maya and Shawn discover they have things in common. 

We all know by now that Riley is to Maya what Corey is to Shawn. And vice versa. Riley and Corey are the good influence to their bad, the happy family to their broken ones, the ray of sunshine to their dark clouds. Riley has always wanted to be as cool and adventurous as Maya, but Maya has always wanted to have the things that Riley has had; the family, the consistency, and the stability. And we already know that Shawn has always wanted the relationships that Corey has had, particularly his relationship with Topanga. So a sizeable chunk of Girl Meets Upstate was devoted to Shawn and Maya (mostly Shawn) deciding what they want for themselves, and not just taking the Matthews' prescription and living life as Corey or Riley would. Alright, whatever, but why, why, why would they rush Shawn's relationships with both Maya and Katy for this? I'm all for it in a reasonable amount of time, but the time Shawn and Katy or Shawn and Maya have spent together in front of the viewers has been limited. It's just so hard to believe things when you don't see them and we have not seen these relationships grow. And sticking pictures of Maya and Katy on Shawn's "special" wall at his house isn't going to make up for anything.

I want Shawn to have his happy ending but this one isn't satisfying because I don't believe it. That's worse than Shawn spending the rest of his days alone. However, it is amusing that the teenagers decide to take things slow, "take a breath first and find out who we all are"  as Maya puts it because that's how adults would do it...No, Maya, not on this show. This situation is only amusing for that one single reason, otherwise it's super annoying. I'm starting to think the people responsible for this show have no idea which of the girls they want to pair with Lucas so they keep putting off the decision. THIS HAS GONE ON FOR SOOOO LONG! We all know this so I don't have to scream it, BUT IT'S SO HARD NOT TO!!!! For my own sanity, dear god, I just want it to stop. Lucas could be with one of the random kids from the back of the class and Maya could be with Yogi at this point and I would not care. Just make the triangle go away, and someone please go fetch Charlie Gardner for Riley so that I can be the happiest girl in the world. 

I guess asking for Charlie is too much. Sadness. We've even witnessed more dating action between Riley and Charlie than we have between Shawn and his new bride. I'm not entirely sure what that comment was about or what I'm trying to argue, I just want this dude back and I'm willing to mentally malfunction for it. BRING CHARLIE BACK. GIVE RILEY CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE! 

Anyway, so Shawn figures out what he really wants, which is a family with Katy and Maya, and he proposes to Katy. If this is going to be Shawn's story, I at least hope that they will incorporate Rider Strong into the show more as his character so that we can see Shawn grow with Maya and Katy. Let me know this is real or else I won't enjoy it. 

I think I've touched on almost everything that I've wanted to touch on. There was one thing I didn't mention above, and that thing was a thing about Zay and Farkle. They crawled in the bay window together! It's totally possible that they were hanging out together as friends all day! I hope so. I so badly want a Zay and Farkle bond to happen, onscreen would be cool too. Don't cheat us out of this one, people.  I want to see this relationship blossom. 

Alright, that's all folks. See you next week.