chuhulil

I think it's more difficult to understand when you're living a comfortable life. When you're strapped for cash, you know that you really need the money and that your well-being comes from your parent's working. When you're living comfortably, you don't exactly need the money, so you wonder why your parent is gone for seemingly no reason. Besides, I had friends in elementary school even who had one parent leave or something, and had to go to extended day after school and things like that because their parent couldn't pick them up from school until 7:00, and had to go home and usually their parent would have to leave again and they'd stay home in an empty household for a while. There's a difference between feeling guilty for a parent's bad situation, or wishing that they were there or even feeling slightly neglected, even when you know that they're doing their job for you than constantly using that as an excuse to make people pity you or tearing down your mother to anyone who will listen or complaining about how horrible she's made your life when she does nothing but work just to support you. Of course, it would be nice if Katy could spend more time with Maya, and if she had the ability to take time from work, the first thing she would do is take Maya and spend some really quality time with her. But the thing is, she can't. If they're going to do a story about a single mother, they shouldn't do it this way. It's just atrocious. Also, was I the only one who was really annoyed that Lucas called Maya "the blonde beauty." I mean, this was supposed to be before Zay even got here so that was when he was going after Riley and asking her father for permission to take her on a date. So, basically they're making it so that he's chasing after one girl and then saying stuff like that about her best friend to other people. If Lucas actually said that, I hope Maya and Riley both dump him and move on to better people, because he really wouldn't deserve either one of them at that point.

Not at all. My mom missed all my birthdays from ages 9 to 14 and a couple more here and there because she had to go out of town and work. She'd been going out of town her whole life for her job and I only saw her on weekends. She had a high paying job, and we were never strapped for cash or anything, so if she really wanted to, she could have taken time off, but that would have meant that she would not have gotten to the job she has now, where she spends a lot of time at home. Of course I didn't know that when I was younger, and of course I was upset that she was gone sometimes too. But I never want as far as to doubt my mother's love for me or say that I have "half a mom" or that she's the reason for any problems I had. I know she loves me, because she worked for me. She worked to make money for my education and so that I could have a comfortable lifestyle, as she came to America with nothing and worked hard so that I never had to be in her shoes. Again, I was always born into a comfortable household, and I never really understood why she was gone all the time, but I knew she was doing it for me, even when I was younger than an 8th grader. Lucky for my mom, she held a job that she wanted, and a lot of people said she put her career over her kids, which I wouldn't even say is true. But either way, Maya's mother is not a waitress by choice. She didn't work at the diner and "Topanga's" because she wanted to further her status as a waitress. She wanted to be an actress, and she has never ever pursued it because she has to make money to support herself and her daughter. She is not at all putting her career above her child, because she's not even going after her dream job, she's going after the job that will get her and Maya through their life. Katy isn't trying to act professionally, it's just part of who she is. Sometimes she's a bit weird about it, but it's her personality, and I don't think it's a bad thing. Definitely not as bad as continually berating your mother who lives her entire life just to make you happy. Just...ugh. My point is that Katy isn't doing anything that a single mom making (probably around) minimum wage shouldn't do. She's basically given up her entire life for Maya. And it's not like she knew that Kermit was going to leave her when she had a child. She was married for goodness' sake. The thing is, many mothers have to do this as well, budgeting every penny and every minute. A person only knows how difficult it is to do this unless they've actually been in their shoes. So to make this type of storyline where a single mother who works 24/7 for her daughter constantly was painted as a bad mother... I know that Disney can't exactly have a Chet and Virma Hunter parenting duo anymore, but then don't make that kind of story. Kids take things literally, they're not just going to know that Katy was "supposed" to be much worse in season 1. And even now when Katy is being portrayed as a rather good mother.... a) The damage is done. Kids can sometimes have a hard time letting first impressions go. When I babysit, kids still tell me how awful they think Katy is even though the show stopped portraying her that way. b) Maya still continues to complain about how everything is broken for her. It's like she doesn't even want to acknowledge how hard her mother is trying.

Totally agree with everyone here. I mean, it's so completely obvious that her mother loves her to death, and Shawn got bounced around all the time. And even going through all of that, he still didn't complain about his life nearly as much as Maya does. Honestly, when she told Shawn "I've got half a mom" and was complaining about how her mom wasn't there for her birthday I wanted to cry tears for her poor mother. I mean, a single mom working her butt off to make minimum wage and support her daughter? It's so obvious that Katy jumps through hoops for Maya and loves her more than anything in the world. How anyone can be so disrespectful to someone who does all that just to do their best to make you happy? Just ugh. It's so disrespectful to say the least. I liked Maya when she was Riley's edgy best friend who was still learning to cross the line. She's turned into a pity party and yet all the attention is on her. Also, this has turned into the Maya show. Maya can do art, Maya can sing, Maya's such a strong, wonderful person. I love to see character development but jeez, it's like no one even acknowledged any of the other kids even though they were just as much a part of it as she was. In fact, I'd go ahead and say Zay did much more than Maya, he's the one that got the kids fired up to do this and all. It just seems kind of ridiculous that whenever all the kids do something, it's just Maya that seems to get credit nowadays. Like, she's becoming a successful person, like Shawn did. But BMW didn't need to turn Cory into an airhead to achieve that. Like, what exactly is Riley good at? Because it seems like "fixing things" is being handed over to Maya too. Lucaya...ugh. Why they need to go that route is beyond me. But it definitely seems like it's coming. I for one am not excited. This is a Disney show, not a soap opera. Most people are not watching this show for romantic pairings. So the fact that they're actually pandering to what one group of people wants is ridiculous, especially when there are tons of Rucas fans as well. And as I've said 20 times before....they're in middle school! Why are relationships such a big for them? Is that the message to send to children? I just don't get it. The episode seemed a bit off to me, like many of the other ones. Just the whole "Oh...you've shown us the light. We know now that we were completely wrong" thing, especially after that entire circus they did was somewhat laughable. I thought it was a rather cute episode, and while it touched on a somewhat important subject, it was still cute and funny and lighthearted. I feel like everything is just kind of forced on this show at the moment. I quite thoroughly enjoyed Season 1.There wasn't Rucas propaganda every episode even if it was there on occasion. Also, all the kids seemed to be pretty involved in storylines, and the viewer learned about their strengths and their weaknesses. Now it's turned into the Maya show with Lucaya propaganda every episode. Also, they gave Riley some dumb pills before S2 as well. I love Rowan. It breaks my heart to see her be given material and a character like this, with the mentality of a 3rd grader, when Sabrina is given the type of material she gets. Don't get me wrong, I love Sabrina very much, she's so talented. But I just don't see why the character of Riley has to be such an airhead for them to develop Maya's character. They're overdoing it with that....by far.

Exactly. This show is geared towards children. That's what's really irritating me about this whole thing. I mean the only thing that Maya kept saying right before her realization that Lucas and Riley "are like brother and sister" is that they're two sunshiney rays from the same sun and that all of a sudden that means that they're relationship is more like siblings. I mean, what? So basically what the writers are saying is that Riley and Lucas are both nice, optimistic, good people who like to help others and value friendship and stuff like that and because of that they don't make a good couple. Basically they're teaching kids that two good people can't have a romantic connection, which is quite dangerous. I've seen way too many teens think that abusive relationships are okay because "relationships are always dramatic." Whether or not it's a good thing, television does influence how people act. Disney has established itself as a channel for the little ones, and to me, this means that it's responsible to put out content that's appropriate for its audience. Why 8th graders need to be dating on this show is beyond me and that's already influencing kids in not great ways, but portraying two similar people as incompatible? It may not seem like a big deal to some people, but that's actually a dangerous notion, especially for adolescents. I didn't even have a school dance until I graduated middle school (it was like a graduation celebration type dance) and no one even asked anyone to it, people just hung out with their friends and had a good time. That's why I was so happy when Jack told Riley to hold onto her friends as long as she could. Because there's no reason for the writers to make such a big deal about 8th graders dating. But unfortunately it's pretty obvious that there's much more relationship drama to come.

I said a few posts ago. Whenever Maya was saying that she wanted Riley back it was because she wanted Riley to "fix things." I'm sorry but that just doesn't seem to me to be the proper reasoning for wanting your best friend back. And with the entire semi-formal thing, she actually really didn't do much for Riley at all, because she was afraid that if she did something she would end up sharing that Riley and Lucas is "like Riley's brother" (which I'm glad she didn't, don't get me wrong). She does care about Riley, but I usually just see that she's always there when she needs help. Granted, I don't know if that's as much that Maya doesn't try to do things about Riley or just the fact that Maya has 20 different storylines now and so most of the time it is about her anyways. I just think that as this show progresses, their friendship is becoming more and more about Maya and "fixing" her life than it is about Riley or any of the other characters for that matter. When Season 1 started, I didn't find any issues with their dynamic at all, I actually thought it was pretty great. They weren't exactly like Cory and Shawn, but that still had the same strength in their bond. But I think that as Sabrina established herself as a great young actress, the writers decided to give her more material and storylines, which threw the dynamic of the show to a completely different place.

I wouldn't call Maya a bitch at all. It just seems to be that their friendship is always about Maya and Riley's constantly doing things for her, but I don't really ever see Maya putting effort into reciprocating anything. Like Riley created an entire elaborate plan to make Shawn Maya's "dad" and I've never actually seen Maya put serious effort into do anything for Riley. It looks like a somewhat one-sided friendship. It's not something Maya does on purpose and she does care about Riley though. I just don't think she's really the greatest best friend in the world. Also, I don't care whether they go ahead with Riley and Lucas or not. But the entire Maya knowing how she feels about him before she does? That's just not right. Why can't Riley realize that on her own? How would anyone know how someone feels about another person before they do? I understand why Maya wouldn't tell her but the idea that she "knows" that to begin with is ridiculous. She doesn't know that. That's what she thinks or that's what she sees between them, but she doesn't know what Riley feels for Lucas.

Exactly! The writers are going back on what's happened previously, and they're acting like the previous episodes didn't happen because some viewers liked the idea of Maya and Lucas more than Riley and Lucas (even though there's also plenty of people that like Riley and Lucas as well). Kids watch this show, and this is going to make kids think that: 1) Middle school is the appropriate time to start serious relationships. No, this show is not pushing anyone as having a serious relationship, but it focuses so much on dating that kids will think that they should too. 2) People who are similar can't be romantically involved, which is not true. 3) Someone else can accurately know how you feel about another person and you won't know it yourself. That is just ludicrous. The entire idea that Maya knows how Riley feels about Lucas by pretending to be her is just completely ridiculous. It would be one thing if Maya realized she didn't see Lucas and Riley as a couple, but to say that Maya knows how Riley feels about him and Riley doesn't? Give me a break. 4) When this first few episodes came out, Riley was portrayed as a good person and someone that knew how to be a good friend and make other people happy. Now they've turned her into an airhead. That's like telling kids that if you're a good person and you look for positive things in life, you're delusional. I love the character of Riley a lot, and it makes me so mad how they've put her on a cloud and are portraying her as someone that can't even think for herself. She's smarter than that. Also, is it just me, or is Maya not such a great best friend? It kinda bothered me how in Girl Meets Yearbook, when Riley turned into dark Riley, she said "We need Riley back to fix Farkle." And then she told her mom that they need Riley back to fix things. You'd think that if your best friend changed you'd want her back for more than to fix things when Maya makes messes (I know Farkle wasn't Maya's fault, but still, when Riley fixes things it's usually to help Maya). Also, when they snuck out to go to the party, Maya was only planning on relieving her conscience by telling her best friend's parents that they went so Riley would get in trouble. She wasn't even going to tell her own mom until the tater tot told her too. I just feel like Riley's constantly doing things for Maya and Maya's idea of buying her a Christmas present is buying herself a winter coat in Riley's name. I know it's just supposed to be funny and stuff, but it seems to be a one-sided friendship. Riley is always doing stuff for Maya and I haven't seen Maya help Riley a whole lot either. Like on BMW, Shawn didn't come from a great background either, but the friendship was so mutual. Shawn constantly gave Cory advice and helped him through life, and Cory did the same thing. That's why it was such a great friendship. Sometimes I don't see Riley and Maya the same way. I thought they had a good friendship in season 1, but this season it seems to be the Maya show.

It just doesn't make sense to me I suppose. Like many people have said, Maya and Lucas act more like brother and sister than Riley and Lucas. Just because two people are similar doesn't mean that they are like brother and sister and can't have a romantic connection. Cory and Topanga are different in many ways but they're very similar in others. My main problem is just that the show is pandering to the fans instead of doing what they intended to do initially. Girl Meets Yearbook was an episode about being yourself despite what other people say about you, and yet the show used it as a vehicle to change their plot based on what viewers were saying. All of it is just too forced. They're in middle school. Why do they have to have relationships right now? I don't want this show to be exactly like BMW, but BMW did a great job at making sure that the events in their lives happened at reasonable ages. The first few seasons were about Cory figuring out who he was before he was dating. Quite a few of these storylines fit high school kids at lot more than kids that are supposed to be in middle school.

I have always liked Riley and Lucas together and I do see chemistry there. However, that's not the reason that a possible pairing of Maya and Lucas makes me angry. It makes me angry because the core and message of this show seemed like it was supposed to be the importance of friendship and family. However, Maya dating someone that Riley has strong feelings for is not in any way putting friendship first. And while I'd hate to see Riley and Maya's friendship break up, I'd hate it even more if Riley was just "okay" with Maya and Lucas dating. That's just not realistic at all, especially for middle schoolers. I haven't seen anything that has made me believe Lucas is like Riley's brother. I think that's more wishful thinking on Maya's part. But, going against the theme of the series and pandering to the fans makes the show lose its integrity. I wish they had gone a similar route as Boy Meets World and not gone for romantic relationships straight away in Episode 1. What I loved about Boy Meets World was how they spent more time allowing Cory to learn about himself before he dated Topanga. And even when they did start with Cory and Topanga, it was gradual and in no way forced.