Now this is more like it. After a few weeks of humdrum episodes and a truly unfortunate Halloween, Girl Meets World arrives this week in style, as Riley tries out for cheerleading—to the deep concern of almost everyone around her. It may not look like much. On paper, “Girl Meets Rah Rah” is practically the definition of sitcom drama, after all. Riley has a goal, Riley is utterly incompetent but blithely pushes on, Riley wins out in the end because … Reasons? The power of dreams/hope/originality/whatever. And let’s be real, the show’s generally good at remembering the big details, but the show is also often out of order and episodic. It could easily be a while before we do anything but see a pom pom on a dresser—if we ever do anything more than that.
As an episode however, “Meets Rah” is more than its trappings. I was charmed from the first, and though I kept waiting for it to lose its footing, it never did. It’s possible I’ve said this before, but if I have, it’s clearly been a lie—because as small an episode as it is, “Meets Rah Rah” definitely feels like the first episode to independently match, sans any leg up from any of the Boy Meets World cast, the highs of its father show.
What is the difference though? It’s an understandable question, given how slight the premise is. As always, a major factor is the pacing. GMW has often done better when the plotlines have obvious home and school connections without the need for new sets. Whether it’s because the show feels the need to really get their money’s worth or because the show is nervous about drifting too far from school as a base—whether or not the story fits—we’ve seen plenty of episodes struggle to keep pace because of it. “Meets Rah Rah” has an obvious advantage here. It’s a school story, with personal tension. The gym pre-exists, and is really just an extension of the general school set anyway. Couple it with the simple structure (protagonist wants thing, thing has obstacles, protagonist overcomes) and we have a nice and easy time.
But it’s more than that. Yes, “Meets Rah Rah” lucks out, but it’s also a story which celebrates and plays with these separate spaces, taking its fortune and dissecting it to see just why it is it works here (and, one could argue, why sometimes it doesn’t). Cory’s division is natural. While his monologue as he articulates the line between father and teacher—between his fierce desire to preserve his daughter in her happiest moments and his professional obligation to encourage growth especially when failure seems inevitable—might be a little too pat, there’s not a false note in it. We discover more of ourselves with everything we do, most especially when we fall. For a parent, that’s hard to take. For a teacher, it’s just sometimes the necessary stage before standing tall. Where other GMW episodes have had Cory and Topanga fade into the background, wary of figuring out how to give them enough info to be useful and not enough info to overwhelm, “Meets Rah Rah” properly explains the odd place Cory sits in, and then quietly gets out of the way. Just as Feeney did, just as Alan and Amy did. If only the show could somehow work out a way for Topanga to do it too, we’d be all set.
“Meets Rah Rah” is also an ensemble piece. Yes, as mentioned, Riley’s stuck with the majority of the jokes, but for a story with Riley at the center, it certainly doesn’t feel overshadowed by her. Everyone gets in a good jab or two (highlights include Cory’s long string of Nos when asked if fathers actually want their kids to discover their true selves, and Lucas’ inability to properly balance his certainty Riley might be dead with his role as Good Kid TM) but more importantly, everyone is present. As, shall we say, variable as the acting talent can be on GMW, the cast does gel well together. Even Isaiah/Zay had his moments, as much as I would like to write “Stop trying to make fletch happen” across his forehead, proving that all things can be borne if the energy is high. Much like BMW, the show has successfully created a lovable world that truly seems to love each other, and that is arguably the most important thing a comedy can do.
But ultimately, I think this week’s success is this: Riley truly is terrible. She is not joke terrible, save for a dire drop gag. She is never preposterously terribly. But neither is she secretly talented, just needing to unlock the inner cheerleader within her. Take one look at the routines tonight’s guest cast performed and it’s easy to see how ludicrous such a turn would be, and yet, it’s not hard to imagine similar shows breaking it out. Riley is , above all else, an everygirl. But tonight, she is very specifically this girl, one with verve and spirit and an obvious interest in sports—but also one with very little athletic ability. She can do the basic moves, but not as fluidly; the mid-grade moves, but a lower level. She can improve, probably, but neither will she ever really master it—otherwise certainly by now after all these years she would have. As sugar-sweet as the outcome is, there’s something to be said for the show sticking to its guns in this. Some things you’re just not good at—even if you love it, even if you would like to be, even if you try. That doesn’t make you worthless, and that doesn’t make it impossible for you to do the thing you love.
It just means you’ve hit upon a way into it that doesn’t work.
“Meets Rah Rah” probably won’t end up on any Best Ever lists. It probably won’t be remembered in any Buzzfeed gif collections, or whatever equivalent will exist in ten years to feed our need for nostalgia, and probably won’t show up in many fanworks. Them’s the breaks when you’re in TV—small moments like these get lost in the shuffle of first kisses and special guest stars. But it is, nevertheless, a triumph, perhaps most of all for embodying precisely the lesson of the night.
“I can do this,” the show has told us so often—and today, it really did.
