Following up a lovely premiere about the inevitability of change, and the pressure to appreciate what one has in the time one has it, Girl Meets World continues to promise both in its new season with “Girl Meets the New World,” to fairly delightful effect. Tonight’s episode may not be as clever as “Meets Gravity,” but the energy is solid, and the humor remains constant and just on the safe side of offbeat.
And, well, let’s be real. “Meets the New World” manages what all of season one did not: Actually provide a semi-solid reason to want Lucas and Riley to get together.
The plot is simple, if typical of the show. When not reaching for the complicated metaphor weaving of “Meets Gravity,” GMW mainly likes to have very long conversations stretched out over different locations, and tonight’s is no different. There’s enough intercutting with B plot Topanga and Auggie’s new friend’s battle over his name (Dewy pronounced Doy—presumably because he can’t figure out the sound, and I am totally both Cory and Topanga in their fight over whether or not this wrong should be righted) to mix it up a little, but Maya tips us off from the get-go in the meta opener. There’s an elephant in the room, and it’s definitely wearing the same shade of lipstick Riley had on when she kissed Lucas.
All of this could easily spell disaster, but surprisingly enough, GMW kind of makes it work. While the show still avoids answering just how it is this topic hasn’t come up yet (Did Lucas go back home to visit? Did Riley lock herself in her room? Does Girl Meets World time just not exist if it’s not actually airing?) there’s enough in tonight’s episode to cobble together an explanation, and it’s suitably rooted in both Riley and Lucas’ expanding characters. Sure, there are the usual dating inexperience beats. Riley doesn’t want Cory to know, the school is ready to pronounce them soulmates, and they hem and haw and blink around each other with all of the necessary over-acting. But there’s a sense by the end of “Meets the New World” that it’s not so much that Riley and Lucas are scared to date, so much as they don’t want to participate in the performance of dating. The conventions don’t align with the friendship they already have, and the friendship they already have is still forming anyway.
The latter is especially important, given who it is we’re dealing with here. While perfectly pleasant in their first season, and blandly appealing in the cute kid way, the Riley/Lucas relationship really struggled last year to take off. Partly because Lucas, while carefully crafted by scientists from discarded Teen Beat magazines and probably several YA novels , didn’t have much of a hook beyond his gentleman’s decency. Partly because Sabrina Carpenter was, is, and probably will remain a better actress than Rowan Blanchard with a knack for drawing out chemistry with her co-stars. And partly because, as solid as the friends as a squad are, it was hard to see what really brought Riley and Lucas together beyond looks. Which, to be fair, that’s still a problem. I take issue with how little we really know Lucas, and I especially take issue with the show telling me Lucas is one of Riley’s favorite people to talk to, when we very rarely see her do anything of the kind.
But then, there’s the basketball exchange. Lucas, to his credit, genuinely asks if she knows anything about sports without assumption—and teases, lightly, when he can tell that for some reason the conversation makes her uncomfortable. Riley tries to hide it, but once he hones in on basketball, the floodgates open, passion bright and exuberant and so intense it’s obvious why she’s tried to keep it quiet all this time. Riley’s a loud presence when she feels allowed to be, her father raised with all the repressing norms of being a girl as opposed to a boy, and it’s endearing to watch her slip—and even more endearing how genuinely head over heels Lucas seems with this side of her. It’s a scene that could just as easily be a joke we never hear again, but for all our sakes, I hope not. It’s a rare moment of genuine connection and humanity for the two, and certainly a more solid reason than most to start a romance. Leave Maya and Farkle to live and mock the flowers and rings and wedding bell clichés, and throw in more of these true self reveals between Riley and Lucas, and the show just might get somewhere in the romance department they’re so keen on keeping.
It might look like we’re right back where we started at the end of “Meets the New World.” Riley and Lucas aren’t dating, Dewy is still Doy. But as Auggie’s keen little friend knows, it’s one thing to make the debate on your terms, and another to avoid the problem entirely. There will come a day when Riley and Lucas have no choice but to change—but in the meantime, they have every right to determine how they want to respond to that change, and that’s as good a lesson as any at their age and with the writers’ current work to fix what once seemed dire.
That said, what did you guys think? Is the Riley/Lucas ship finally setting sail for you, or are you less convinced? Sound off in the comments.
