Girl Meets World 3.4 Girl Meets Permanent Record

Key:

Shane Lee is blue
Syd is brown

• So, we are still in the early weeks of their high school career and we know this by several things in the episode, but if this is the case, isn’t it way too early to have  a Spanish class where they only speak Spanish, if they are suppose to be learning it?
• I love this show because it is so easy to relate to. I am totally Riley from this episode. Freshman year I took Spanish one and the teacher only spoke Spanish and expected the same of us during class. My midterm, I made a D- first time (and only time) ever! I too was devastated and struggled, but managed to bring my grade up.

  

  A Scarlet letter!

• I am glad Zay and Lucas did not make the football team, I wish there was more of a story there, but also Zay never strikes me as an athlete. But okay they’re going for baseball next . . .
• Why do they all believe that one test/quiz grade decides where you go to college?? Who believes this?
• The refrigerator ceremony is actually really funny.

  

  This is teaching my son that he can always be replaced!

• Now Corey is acting like her one grade decides her future!!!! WHY?!!!! It doesn’t!
• Finally! Thank you Topanga for explaining how grades work!
• I like that Maya is thriving in a subject where Riley can’t and the reason why is because Maya's neighborhood is predominately a Spanish speaking neighborhood. (I have to ask, how does Maya live from the Matthews?)
• I can’t believe Corey (who is a teacher) just asked another teacher to go easy on his daughter.
• I like that Corey is struggling in high school, just as much as Riley is with adapting to high school.
• Smackle’s joke about the quadrilateral being better than the triangle actually made me laugh because the execution was so good.
• I also really enjoyed the you’re on this side of the room, part!

  

  Together they're Zaya!!! I kind of like that . . .

• How close do the Matthews live to the school that Topanga quickly goes there and back before school even begins?
• We get a Farkle/Riley scene and it so good. I was waiting for Farkle to lean in and kiss her!

  

  "One day we shall kiss!"

• I am so glad the the Spanish teacher actually took the time to explain to Riley how the test grades actually works.
• This was a surprisingly strong episode and I liked nearly everything about it.

***Extra Tidbits***

• Auggie was used very little in this episode and I like it. This is the way they should use him
• It isn’t often we get Riley and Topanga dialogue, but when we do, it’s so good. Topanga is obviously the stronger parent!
• In Girl Meet High School Parts 1 & 2, I was upset that they took away a lot of Smackle’s characteristics and she was just all of a sudden one of the group, without her quirks. They returned in this episode and I liked them. I'm still not her biggest fan but if she is going to be featured, I want her quirks too.

IF I WROTE THIS EPISODE

So, when I first saw the preview, I totally expected this episode to be a bad dream of Riley’s. That could be fun, so I’m rolling with that. Riley would still get her bad grade and Maya would get an A. Zay would make the baseball team and Lucas would not. Farkle would also start getting bad grades as Smackle excels. I would go full blown ridiculous, have Corey and Topenga view Maya as their daughter and Riley as her troubled friend. Riely and Farkle would be placed in a remedial class/study hall where they are treated like they don’t know anything by Corey. Lucas would continue to fail at sports and then decide he should go back to Texas, thus resolving the triangle and still making a joke about it. Just as everything goes crazy, Riley wakes up, sees that she still made the D on her test but decides, with help from her friends and family, to work to bring the grade up!

Girl Meets Permanent Record

In Permanent Record, Riley gets a "D" on her first Spanish test, Maya earns an "A", Farkle discovers he's no longer the most intelligent being in school, Zay excels during baseball tryouts, and Lucas finds out he isn't as good an athlete as he once was. Fun!

So Riley makes a "D" on her first test in her Spanish class and it's a really big deal because it will go on her permanent record and no wonder, "Today, I ham a-wearing sandals" is her idea of speaking Spanish in the class.  I did find it a little irritating that everyone in this episode thinks that ONE bad grade on ONE test will ruin your chances at success forever, though. That's a little dramatic.

You know what else is a little dramatic? Corey going to talk to Riley's teacher about giving her a bad grade. C'mon, Corey, this is ridiculous. A good grade on that test you think is so hard isn't impossible just because Riley Matthews could not get one. You're a teacher, I expect you've had to deal with many parents like yourself right now and I'm sure you didn't like it, so why are you doing this?! I really hate that he did this because I feel like he should know better. I am glad, though, that Senora Fein-Stein Chang handled him so well. Thankfully Topanga came in after Corey to smooth things over, not that things got out of hand, but she redeemed the situation somewhat. Topanga handled the situation as I imagined she would since she's much more competitive when it comes to grades than Corey and knows what it takes to maintain higher grades. This is also why I wasn't outraged by her action of clearing off the refrigerator for Maya's A.    

Her response to the entire situation was as Topanga's should be.  

On the other side of campus, or wherever Zay, Lucas, Farkle and Smackle are, Zay and Smackle were busy being good at things, while Lucas and Farkle failed themselves. Farkle seems sad this whole episode. He's sad because he's Smackle's intellectual inferior and possibly because he doesn't get to play with Lucas and Zay. Look how sad he is these days...

They never even let him sit beside of Lucas and Zay, instead he's almost literally joined at the hip with Smackle (see picture above). I just want Farkle and Smackle to have their own lives and be happy. I don't want them as a couple, either. Is it a good fit? I feel it isn't because they're too similar and competitive with one another. I'm trying to find chemistry between Maya and Farkle but there aren't enough scenes of them together to tell. Shane, what do you think? Would you accept these two together? 


After finding out that the gang is split into two groups, the group of losers and the group of achievers, we see Riley and Farkle have a lovely moment as they discuss what they need to do to move on from their slow starts in this new school. Time spent with Riley and Farkle is usually really genuine and meaningful, so why was this moment so short and why did Farkle jump out of the window so abruptly. I wish the scene would have faded with him in the room so that we would be left to assume that the two spent a little more time together. How quickly I forget, Farkle spends most of his time with Smackle these days. We miss you, Farkle.

The episode wraps up about as quickly as I am going to wrap up this review. Riley gets her sh** together and makes an A- on her next exam, Corey gives his lesson to Riley and Friends before the rest of the students even get to class (he isn't even trying anymore), and Lucas and Zay say some things about their baseball team that I can't even remember anymore.

Did these two move their desks closer together?