Girl Meets World – Girl Meets High School: Part 1 & Part 2

By starrymag | June 7, 2016

By: Dustin Bradley

 

“Girl Meets World” IS BACK! Season Three started off with a two-part episode entitled, Girl Meets High School and boy was it a dramatic one. Along with the fantastic writing and acting that makes this series so great, we also got a new title sequence that echoes “Boy Meets World.” I am so happy to have this show back in my life! Let’s do this patriots!

 

High school. A new adventure. One that can tear your friend group apart. And that is exactly what happens in GMHS.

 

“Promise we that we will always stick together”

 

 

We start off the episode with Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and the gang (now including Smackle) entering their new school, Abigail Adams High. On the first day, they have an encounter with some seniors (two of them played flawlessly by Luke Benward and Ashley Argota) who put them in “the hole,” otherwise known as a stairwell. Riley believes that the Seniors are trying to teach them a lesson. Everyone else thinks that they are just pulling one over on them. This leads to a big fight between the gang, which leaves Riley and Maya (Sabrina Carpenter) all alone… For now!

 

“You did this!”

 

Of course, Riley and the gang aren’t going to go through high school without their very own Mr. Feeny a/k/a/ Cory Matthews (Ben Savage)! Cory is struggling to teach these students as they don’t seem to understand the style of his work. We get introduced to a new character this year in the classroom, Marley Evans (Katie Sarife). Let me just tell you… I love her! She says what’s on her mind and she clearly never has had a teacher like Mr. Matthews who cares so much about his students that he will cater his lesson plans on how to best help them conquer this big ole’ world.

 

Cory finds his groove, eventually, ending the episode with a tear jerking scene all about making the best of this new place. I can’t wait to see more classroom interactions this year!

 

“It isn’t your fault”

 

We got a heart wrenching storyline for Auggie (August Maturo) and Ava (Ava Kolker) this week. Ava’s parents are getting a divorce and, as many young kids do, she believes this is all her fault.

 

Auggie, Topanga (Danielle Fishel), Cory and even Maya all do what they can to help cheer her up, but nothing works. This is gonna take some time. I hope that we get to see more of this storyline this year. I believe it’s an important one to show young kids that families split apart sometimes and when they do you have to find a way to move on, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop loving your parents. Let’s hope we don’t brush past this storyline.

 

“We left them.”

 

After venturing out and seeing what high school has to offer, Lucas (Peyton Meyer) and Zay (Amir Mitchell-Townes) try to get in the football team and Farkle (Corey Fogelmanis) and Smackle (Cecilia Balagot) try to join the intellectuals. Both pairs come up short and they realize that they miss “us.” The only way to get that back is to apologize, but how? They left. How do they come back from that?

 

“Your safe place is each other. Go get your friends.”

 

Riley and Maya are sitting alone in the bay window when they get a little visit from some friends. No, it’s not the gang… But the Seniors. They tell Riley and Maya that they chose their friend group to put in “the hole” because they wanted them to stick together. “The hole” wasn’t a safe place from the cruelty of high school…Their friends are.

 

I should also note that the Seniors are “a triangle” as well, which is complicated because that means that the writer could try to stretch this whole love triangle/ship war between Rucas and Lucaya for a little bit longer, which I am okay with. We need these characters to grow a little more before any decisions get made because, no matter what, they need to stay friends and stay happy!

 

“We’re the cause worth fighting for. Us. Nobody leaves.”

 

Riley and Maya drag the rest of the gang to Topanga’s Café where they all apologize to each other and come back together as a team. It’s a great moment where they finally understand that life is tough sometimes, but if you have good friends you can make I through anything!

 

We also get a triangle moment where Maya asks Riley if she still likes Lucas to which she responds, “I still like him. I like us all.” This goes to show you that while Riley does like Lucas and wants to be with him that she is willing to put all of that on hold to keep the group intact. I appreciate that about her.

 

“A legacy. Pass it on someday.”

 

We end this week’s episode with a callback to the opening moments. It’s a huddled group of friends, who now appreciate all that the Seniors did to prepare them for this. High school.

 

NEXT EPISODE

 

Episode 3 is titled Girl Meets Jexica airing June 10th! The official synopsis states “Riley creates an online alter-ego, Jexica, when she doesn’t feel confident that her new high school classmates will like the real her. Cory and Topanga struggle with Auggie’s internet usage.”