As a kid, I wondered what it would be like for my mother to remarry.
It was never an active desire. There was no Disney Family Rom-Com scheming, no hint-hint, nudge-nudge whenever an eligible bachelor came across our path. I was used to the idea of my mother being single. But: I was equally used to living in a world without magic, without aliens, without time traveling portals. The plainness of the real world didn’t render day-dreaming about an exciting life pointless. Why would the fact I'd never seen my mother date matter? Other people remarried, why not her?
Had it actually happened though, I can’t say I wouldn’t have reacted like Maya in “Girl Meets I Do,” as Shawn and Katie’s wedding takes center stage. It’s one thing to get excited about your mother remarrying as a dream, as a possible outcome to her dating. It’s another to watch it play out in reality, out of our hands, out of the safe confines of our imagination. Maya also is used to the idea of Katie being single. She’s used to marriages falling apart, she’s used to “I do” being just words.
She’s also not wrong to think they are just words, and I appreciate Girl Meets World for not, via Shawn, trivializing her fears. He can’t promise her that nothing will ever change, but he can promise that he’s ready to take the leap, and that he wants nothing to change. Hope is a work in progress for Maya Hart, and this is an important step for her in having it. After all, hope is not about certainty. It is about keeping the faith even at the most uncertain of hours.
Unfortunately as an episode, “Meets I Do” is not much more than that. Structurally, it’s classic GMW. Bay Window presentation of the evening’s problem, a slew of different conversations after that sometimes repeating the same talking points. We get moments instead of a story—platitudes instead of dialogue. As this problem goes for GMW, it’s not at all bad by any means. The overwhelming genuine spirit of what it’s going for here does wonders, even for bits like Shawn running out of the apartment, only to come back in and ask Maya if she’s ready to leap. (Sidenote, but my queendom to whoever coins a phrase for these windmill arm, “WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, COME ON!” set-ups.) Some of the talk scenes really are a treat too. In particular, there’s a refreshing quiet solemnity to Maya opening her heart out to a still-sleeping Riley, one that feels novel and more than a bit theatrical. Her lugging Riley on her back, Riley genuinely not waking for even a second—it’s a very nice dose of character-work in what could have easily been another tiring State of Maya Hart address, and kudos both to the writers and to Sabrina Carpenter for carrying it all.
I just do wish that we could have seen a build over the episode. Imagine, for example, Maya asserting at the top of the episode that all was great! She’s so happy! Imagine Shawn and Katie then, together, revealing that they are moving up the wedding because neither have much in the way of family to attend and really this is all about them anyway. Imagine Maya unraveling over the episode, and Shawn trying to dad, and perhaps Mr. Feeny providing some sorely missed advice in the final hour to bring everything together. These are all the same elements, with all the same players. They’re just arranged ever so slightly differently for an ultimately stronger narrative.
That said, it’s been a weak season. I’m perfectly content in saying “Meets I Do” lands. Maya and Shawn have always been the show’s sharpest characters, and if a bit rushed in the final going, this is a next stage the show’s been setting up for a while. It’s easy to be happy for them, and where it counts, “Meets I Do” really does win, with a lovely matched set of vows and a heartstring tugging family moment.
Plus, let's be real. Feeny. Enough said.
