A Useless Episode of Boy Meets World--"Brotherly Shove"

Boy Meets World absolutely abused retroactive continuity (retcon) during its seven seasons. But, really, what should one expect from the scribe of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers? The man (Michael Jacobs) was given absolute gold to work with following Halloween 4. Instead, he made Jamie into a mute and introduced the most annoying kid character in the history of modern film. The mess that BMW eventually became is in no way a surprise once one remembers who created the series. Now, I've watched the entirety of Boy Meets World many times in my life. In the last several months, I watched the entire series three times alone. During that span, I wrote my own version of the sixth season of show because it is a train-wreck.

The problems the show had creatively are vast, especially during its final two seasons. Each and every episode of the final two seasons feels like the writers are actively giving up. Every familiar trope in the sitcom bag of tropes gets used. Characters are assassinated willy-nilly. Feeny essentially disappears. Again, Jacobs had gold with William Daniels (who once acted alongside the wonderful Audrey Hepburn) and they wasted Daniels' talents during the sixth and seventh seasons. Worst of all, the writers are addicted to retconning their characters. Sometime between the second and third season, the show decided to make Cory and Topanga into life-long soulmates who fell in love at the age of two in a sandbox; however, Cory had minimal interest in the girl during the first two seasons. In fact, Wendy made more of an impact on Cory's life than Topanga. Regardless, the decision was made and we were forced to believe stories we knew weren't true about the soulmates. In the interest of boosting ratings, BMW introduced Jack Hunter, Shawn's half-brother. WHAT?!? Of course, the show retconned Shawn's character nearly every season.

In the seventh season episode "Brotherly Shove," the show performed a massive retcon of the Cory-Eric relationship (this episode inspired tonight's write-up). Again, the show had retconned the relationship between the brothers before. In the third season finale, Cory and Eric are at-odds because Eric's leaving for college. Nevermind the series didn't bother to show any of this emotional built-up in Cory. I'd argue the relationship between Cory and Eric was good during the third season. Eric was most present in his younger brother's life during the third season.

"Brotherly Shove" comes out of left-field from the show. Remember, the seventh season sacrificed all creative integrity when the writers assassinated the character of Eric Matthews, so they're walking on thin ice throughout the season. The Matthews family and their friends treat Eric like a mentally handicapped child (these damn writers even retconned the fact that he worked in his father's store so the episode could tell a story about Alan not believing in Eric). Unfortunately, the writers portray Eric as such. "Brotherly Shove" is an exception. His eccentric behavior disappears because of the subject matter. The characters confirm Eric's temporary normalcy, explaining that he's "well-rested."

The issue between the two brothers: Eric feels like Cory cut him out of his life a long time ago. Cory sends Eric over the edge when Eric learns that their father wanted the sons to clean out the garage together, and Cory didn't bother to tell Eric. The problem, the brothers never had a strained relationship. During the fifth season, Eric tells a tertiary girlfriend character about how much he enjoys spending time with his brother. Indeed, the brothers spend valuable time with one another. Of course, both have their own lives. Before "Brotherly Shove," no actual evidence of a strained relationship exists within the show. Sure, Cory resisted Eric being his best man for the wedding but his entire family resisted Eric as the best man. Eric eventually becomes the best man but the whole chain of events are so surreal and absurd that it's simply wrong to expect the audience to attach any emotional development in the characters because of the events.

The two parter--"The War" and "Seven The Hard Way"--aired a few weeks before "Brotherly Shove." In the two-parter, neither side wants Eric because they're all massive d-bags. Now, one could argue that the rift Eric refers to during "Brotherly Shove" began in the episode; however, if Eric's not neutral then Plays With Squirrels doesn't exist. Eric's plots are always played for laughs during the final season--except in "Brotherly Shove." When Eric and Cory briefly reminisce about their past moments with one another, the show avoids anything from the actual show. Topanga informs Cory that he used to worship his brother, that she and Shawn used to be envious of the two but that never happened in the show. The majority of the conflicts for the characters on the show came from contrivance rather than the characters themselves, which reeks of lazy storytelling. BMW just invented various conflicts. The School of Joss Whedon states that conflict must come from character, not plots. But, again...Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.

What's the point of "Brotherly Shove"? The writers give the episode such importance but nothing changes after the episode. In fact, the following episode is the dreadful "As Time Goes By" so it just gets worse. The only lasting thing from the episode is the damn retcon. Like every other episode of the season, besides the Plays With Squirrels scene, the episode is a waste of time (yet I've watched the seventh season three times in less than a year). But, AGAIN, Boy Meets World is an ABC/Disney sitcom. Specifically, it was part of the TGIF lineup so complaining about the lazy storytelling is a waste of time. There's a reason sitcoms had an extended dead period---sitcoms aren't exactly rewarding television experiences. As beloved as BMW was, it was ordinary as the other late 90s sitcoms.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK



THE HULU EPISODE OF THE WEEKEND