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S03.E07: Girl Meets True Maya

RedFire2000

By RedFire2000
in Girl Meets World [V]

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LexieLily

LexieLily

On ‎7‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 5:04 PM, MoonWalker said:
Quote

Maya wants to do something bad to balance out all the good she's done lately.

Why are the adults in Maya's life reinforcing the idea that Maya being good = Maya's losing her identity!

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FrumiusManxome

FrumiusManxome

(edited)

Any sane person would have seen this coming a mile away. Maya was never as troublesome as Cory and Shawn were back in the day, but she obviously had some issues. And just like Cory and Shawn grew out of their childish hijinks, Maya was as well. It has nothing to do with 'Being Riley' and everything to do with being in a much better, stable place in her life.

Idk how they're going to resolve this and try to punish her/have everyone look down on her for it when they literally have pushed her to this. The only thing that could work is if they have all the adults admit they screwed up (which I'm sure won't happen), otherwise they're all going to come off as major hypocrites. 

Edited by FrumiusManxome
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Kromm

Kromm

12 minutes ago, FrumiusManxome said:

Any sane person would have seen this coming a mile away. Maya was never as troublesome as Cory and Shawn were back in the day, but she obviously had some issues. And just like Cory and Shawn grew out of their childish hijinks, Maya was as well. It has nothing to do with 'Being Riley' and everything to do with being in a much better, stable place in her life.

Idk how they're going to resolve this and try to punish her/have everyone look down on her for it when they literally have pushed her to this. The only thing that could work is if they have all the adults admit they screwed up (which I'm sure won't happen), otherwise they're all going to come off as major hypocrites. 

Also, fire that art teacher.

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jade.black

jade.black

I'm getting flashbacks of a Shawn episode from Boy Meets World where Mr. Turner intervenes, except this episode just reminded me how much more realistic that scene was compared to this poor, diluted retread. Maya was basically acting like a child for the entire first half of the episode threatening to do something "bad" just to prove how "bad" she still is. I suppose teenagers can actually be like that, but I felt more like smacking her than having any kind of sympathy for the situation. Even the girls who showed up in the park were like caricatures. For once I actually liked Riley! Lucas has grown on me a lot too (I like every time Farkle points out that all he has going for him is his face), but I did miss Zay.

And I haven't watched a Disney show since my own preteen years (Lizzie Mcguire era), so I'm not sure if this is the norm, but do they all have subplots involving young (like very young) kids? I mean, I'm definitely not watching to see a 3 year old getting in trouble for stealing candy or a 1st grade romance, and I can't imagine that the preteen audience is interested in that sort of story either. I wish they'd aged up Auggie and his friends to be just a couple years younger than Riley (or kept around Cory's youngest brother to be sort of an older sibling figure instead). Topanga is so much better than these plotlines.

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LexieLily

LexieLily

(edited)

This storyline was so much better when Griff and the bullies wanted Shawn to break into the school and steal the test and Shawn ended up quoting the First Amendment at them.

I don't know why the kids and Cory / Topanga / Katy are disappointed and shocked that Maya is out doing something bad when they have all been pushing her to it for weeks. (Months? Apparently it's been a year of HS already. Lol)

Riley continues to act way under her age for someone who is supposed to be a freshman in high school.

Edited by LexieLily
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Skyfall

Skyfall

4 hours ago, jade.black said:

I'm getting flashbacks of a Shawn episode from Boy Meets World where Mr. Turner intervenes, except this episode just reminded me how much more realistic that scene was compared to this poor, diluted retread. Maya was basically acting like a child for the entire first half of the episode threatening to do something "bad" just to prove how "bad" she still is. I suppose teenagers can actually be like that, but I felt more like smacking her than having any kind of sympathy for the situation. Even the girls who showed up in the park were like caricatures. For once I actually liked Riley! Lucas has grown on me a lot too (I like every time Farkle points out that all he has going for him is his face), but I did miss Zay.

And I haven't watched a Disney show since my own preteen years (Lizzie Mcguire era), so I'm not sure if this is the norm, but do they all have subplots involving young (like very young) kids? I mean, I'm definitely not watching to see a 3 year old getting in trouble for stealing candy or a 1st grade romance, and I can't imagine that the preteen audience is interested in that sort of story either. I wish they'd aged up Auggie and his friends to be just a couple years younger than Riley (or kept around Cory's youngest brother to be sort of an older sibling figure instead). Topanga is so much better than these plotlines.

I'm the opposite of you. Riley was annoying this episode and Maya was kinda forced I'm a corner by Riley insisting everything was her doing.

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jade.black

jade.black

3 hours ago, Skyfall said:

Think posts before official air time should have spoiler tags.

I'm so sorry! I'm in Europe at the minute and watch the episodes online, I had no idea it hadn't actually aired yet. I'll be more careful in the future!

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Skyfall

Skyfall

4 minutes ago, jade.black said:

I'm so sorry! I'm in Europe at the minute and watch the episodes online, I had no idea it hadn't actually aired yet. I'll be more careful in the future!

It's fine just found it odd a mod had t caught it. Also why is Disney placing them early?

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jade.black

jade.black

1 minute ago, Skyfall said:

It's fine just found it odd a mod had t caught it. Also why is Disney placing them early?

I watch on a different site with various links (it can be hard to access American videos overseas). Not sure why it was available already, usually episodes don't appear until after they've aired. That's why I thought it had already been on, oops.

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FrumiusManxome

FrumiusManxome

(edited)

I was not surprised in the least. This episode was terrible all around. Riley realized she made a mistake almost immediately yet they decided to run with this plot even though it was made completely void by the events that followed. SO Maya is back to being 'Riley', again, but it's different because.....???? I honestly have no idea what they were going for.

The entire little Tough gang thing was campy as all get out. We've never had any indication before that Maya ran with 'hooligans'. They've acted as if she and Riley have been glued to the hip since birth so when did Maya have the time to do any of these supposed bad things she was known for? And we're back to that garbage Cory was spewing way back in season 1 where he basically told Riley everything that Maya does is her fault no matter what. As if she's Maya's keeper or something. 

I also hate the fact that Katy is just randomly thrown in. She serves little to no purpose. Despite the fact that she works at Topanga's and is supposed to have more free time she's still playing half a mom to Maya. And I'd be seriously insulted as one of the Gang if she had the nerve to accuse one of us of stealing $100 before she even took the time to really look. 

Looks like the love triangle is still not dead. I'm totally even more over it now since they've made it clear we are never going to actually ask Lucas his opinion. 

Subplot was also BS since we're expected to believe a 10 year old boy had no concept of money or what's right and wrong. It didn't even fit with the rest of the episode. It seemed to be there as an excuse to give Auggie screen time. 

Edited by FrumiusManxome
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TDT

TDT

Was expecting a Family Matters reference lol

and those two girls whom Maya once ran with..i couldve sworn i seen one or both as background extras in the season premiere

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Kromm

Kromm

Officer James, eh?

So there's some advanced shenanigans going on here where there are identical fat cops in multiple cities. One Carl Winslow in Chicago. One Sgt. Al Powell in Los Angeles. And the third "cousin", Officer James in New York.

Actually there's also Det. David Sutton (from Turner & Hooch), also not that far from LA (Northern California as I recall). And a guy who works as a guard in a jail in Ghostbusters too, I believe. Also, Al Powell showed up on NBC's Chuck too.

There was even a bad (it stars Lori Loughlin and Greg Evigan--so its GOT to be bad) 1994 TV movie called One of Her Own and there's another fat cop who looks like those other guys named Det. Bob Hymes. So even if we only count the actual appearances of cops vs. similar jobs, like prison/jail guards, and only count Al Powell once, that means there's five of these dopplegangers running around!

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Kromm

Kromm

Actually the guy in Ghostbusters could actually BE Officer James. Same city, the character is never named, and if you look at his shoulder patch it says "NYPD", so he actually IS a cop and not just some guard.

https://youtu.be/F2in2VPgDGI

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blugirlami21

blugirlami21

God that was a stupid episode.  I too don't understand why they are acting like Maya was a juvenile delinquent before this season.  Maya has some rough edges but nothing like what Shawn had or say Harley or Griffin had on Boy Meets World.  No one is all good or all bad and it makes everyone look brain dead every time Maya says Riley ruined her or when Maya says she doesn't know who she is because she's an outwardly nice person now.  Everyone changes as they get older, there's no need to have an identity crisis every time it happens.

I missed Zay in this episode but I still enjoy Lucas and Farkle.  They are still the best part of this show for me.  I like Dewey, he's adorable but the candy store owner asking to be reimbursed for a years worth of candy unknowingly by a five year old is pretty ridiculous.  I was so certain that Topanga would use her lawyer skills to contest it but I digress.

The triangle is neither here nor there to me at this point.  Some of the things he says makes me think that he definitely likes Maya best but we'll probably find that out next week.

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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

I think they really are trying to do some sort of comparison with how Shawn was. And it's not working.

Also not working the fact that the show is still trying to make the love triangle a thing and poor Lucas is really just going to go with whichever girl gets to get him, I guess because it doesn't really matter what he wants, then again anytime he talks about it, I get annoyed like "Riley and I just have this
Great connection.. But I connect with Maya too!" Like the show isn't even trying.

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paulvdb

paulvdb

(edited)
8 hours ago, jade.black said:

And I haven't watched a Disney show since my own preteen years (Lizzie Mcguire era), so I'm not sure if this is the norm, but do they all have subplots involving young (like very young) kids? I mean, I'm definitely not watching to see a 3 year old getting in trouble for stealing candy or a 1st grade romance, and I can't imagine that the preteen audience is interested in that sort of story either. I wish they'd aged up Auggie and his friends to be just a couple years younger than Riley (or kept around Cory's youngest brother to be sort of an older sibling figure instead). Topanga is so much better than these plotlines.

Not all of them have very young kids, but some do. Two of the Disney Channel shows that I currently watch have them (GMW and Stuck in the Middle). Two of the other three have younger siblings, but they are closer in age to the main characters (Liv & Maddie and Bunk'd). The fifth show that I watch is K.C. Undercover which has a significantly younger sibling, but she is a few years older then Auggie and the youngest sister on Stuck in the Middle. So it seems to be a new trend for Disney. Of the other Disney Channel shows that I watched in the recent past I can remember only one that also had a very young kid: Good Luck Charlie.

Edited by paulvdb
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Kromm

Kromm

(edited)

Wow. Doy's name is seeming more literal. He's not just supposed to be young, he's supposed to be stupid!  So Doy's role is perhaps to make Auggie seem less annoying? He seemed normal in comparison.

Oh. Where's Art Teacher Asshole to deal with the mess HE caused, I ask you?

And yeah, it's annoying that it has to be the two girls of color who are "the bad girls".

Edited by Kromm
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bagert

bagert

Not only is Shawn conspicuously absent in this episode - I mean this is a direct follow-up to the last ep, where he was a central figure - but he's not even mentioned, even by his new fiancee!

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BigDave

BigDave

The writing on this show is all over the place, and they are retconning things worse than Boy Meets World ever did towards the end of their run. It's pretty disappointing. I think the shows actually gotten worse as it has progressed, and it wasn't even that good to begin with. I was expecting gradual improvement. It's gone the opposite way.

I actually liked BMW in seasons 1-3, but thought it went off the rails a bit after that. GMW has never really gained any sort of footing, IMO, and shoe horning a triange, Shawn marrying Maya's mom, etc, just seems really lazy.

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augmentedfourth

augmentedfourth

9 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

Having the only non-white teens in the episode be the two "bad girls" was more than a bit sketchy. 

Oh thank god, it wasn't just me who thought this. Also, when Maya asked the police officer why he was giving her a second chance, it was hard not to yell "because you're a blonde middle class white girl!" at the TV.

 

This might be one of the few episodes that had close to zero redeeming moments. It stunk.

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Texasmom1970

Texasmom1970

4 hours ago, bagert said:

Not only is Shawn conspicuously absent in this episode - I mean this is a direct follow-up to the last ep, where he was a central figure - but he's not even mentioned, even by his new fiancee!

That actually didn't surprise me since they were dating and fell in love without us seeing or hearing anything about that!

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allonsyalice

allonsyalice

I was trying to save all my thoughts until the end of this little arc and I just can't anymore. I was trying to remain optimistic, but I can't. I don't get why any of this is happening (especially Shawn/Katy because why are they trying to push that so hard? it's not like Shawn really needs a reason to be around on the show)

I honestly don't get what they're trying to do with this show anymore (but to be really fair, I don't think they know either.)

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Mabinogia

Mabinogia

WTF was that shit with Doy? How old is he meant to be, because if it's over two then they have missed the mark by years. I just don't get the point of that storyline at all. But hi Officer Winslow. Nice to know you're still working.

This ep at least showed that Maya pretty much knows that everyone insisting she do something "bad" is freaking stupid.

I'm still getting the impression Lucas wanted to choose Maya. Maybe it finally dawned on him that Riley is about 10 years too immature (and just plain dumb) for him.

Love that what 14-15 year old Maya is allowed to roam the streets of NYC alone at night. Yeah, that Katy is a great mother. *rolls eyes* Still don't get what Shawn sees in her, other than wanting to have a family like Cory does so marrying Cory's daughters best friends mother.

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BigDave

BigDave

(edited)
4 hours ago, allonsyalice said:

I was trying to save all my thoughts until the end of this little arc and I just can't anymore. I was trying to remain optimistic, but I can't. I don't get why any of this is happening (especially Shawn/Katy because why are they trying to push that so hard? it's not like Shawn really needs a reason to be around on the show)

I honestly don't get what they're trying to do with this show anymore (but to be really fair, I don't think they know either.)

I think you nailed it in your last sentence. I don't think they have any clue what they are doing. The concept of the show was great (Cory and Topanga having kids that are learning about the world like Cory did in the original), but the execution has been so bad. Nothing seems authentic. The characters are over-the-top, the scenes are unrealistic, the stories are either unrealistic or bordering ridiculous in its melodrama, and there does not appear to be an end game for anything (the triangle storyline has been stretched out so long that it appears they don't even know where to go with it).

Having watched this episode, at what point did they ever explain that Maya used to hang out with a bad crowd? I know BMW retconned a lot of things like this as well, but it's just lazy.

I never watch Disney shows, so maybe this is Disney's fault as much as it is the writers on the show, but I truly thought we'd see improvement when the cast went to high school. So far, I am very disappointed. The potential is there. They might just need to change networks or something. 

Edited by BigDave
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allonsyalice

allonsyalice

1 hour ago, BigDave said:

I think you nailed it in your last sentence. I don't think they have any clue what they are doing. The concept of the show was great (Cory and Topanga having kids that are learning about the world like Cory did in the original), but the execution has been so bad. Nothing seems authentic. The characters are over-the-top, the scenes are unrealistic, the stories are either unrealistic or bordering ridiculous in its melodrama, and there does not appear to be an end game for anything (the triangle storyline has been stretched out so long that it appears they don't even know where to go with it).

Having watched this episode, at what point did they ever explain that Maya used to hang out with a bad crowd? I know BMW retconned a lot of things like this as well, but it's just lazy.

I never watch Disney shows, so maybe this is Disney's fault as much as it is the writers on the show, but I truly thought we'd see improvement when the cast went to high school. So far, I am very disappointed. The potential is there. They might just need to change networks or something. 

[[Responding in the Likes/Dislikes/General Impressions thread]]

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Kromm

Kromm

10 hours ago, bagert said:

Not only is Shawn conspicuously absent in this episode - I mean this is a direct follow-up to the last ep, where he was a central figure - but he's not even mentioned, even by his new fiancee!

Its always about the combination of money and compartmentalized writing on these cheap ass shows. 

Each of the past three episodes had a different writer, despite them supposedly being one plot arc. Incidentally all of them were men--which is somewhat distressing given that this is supposed to be about the emotional troubles of a 15 year old girl. Each episode also had a different director (at least this last was directed by a woman, Danielle Fishel, when she wasn't on screen in it I mean). The practical end of all of this is that some script supervisor likely tied these all together, but that process isn't always that perfect--the writer of True Maya may not have even known the marriage proposal was going to be in the previous episode and the script supervisor may have simply not wanted to go to the trouble of inserting a mention. Also, Rider Strong was likely only paid/contracted for a specific number of appearances this season. Heck, think about the fact that large portions of Meets Triangle and Meets Upstate happened in the Matthews apartment and Auggie was totally absent. Again, he wasn't contracted for those episodes so they just left him out and didn't even bother to explain that he was at a neighbor, or something like that.

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FrumiusManxome

FrumiusManxome

(edited)
1 hour ago, BigDave said:

I think you nailed it in your last sentence. I don't think they have any clue what they are doing. The concept of the show was great (Cory and Topanga having kids that are learning about the world like Cory did in the original), but the execution has been so bad. Nothing seems authentic. The characters are over-the-top, the scenes are unrealistic, the stories are either unrealistic or bordering ridiculous in its melodrama, and there does not appear to be an end game for anything (the triangle storyline has been stretched out so long that it appears they don't even know where to go with it).

Having watched this episode, at what point did they ever explain that Maya used to hang out with a bad crowd? I know BMW retconned a lot of things like this as well, but it's just lazy.

I never watch Disney shows, so maybe this is Disney's fault as much as it is the writers on the show, but I truly thought we'd see improvement when the cast went to high school. So far, I am very disappointed. The potential is there. They might just need to change networks or something. 

I've seen this thrown around a couple times, but seriously it's not a Disney show thing (this isn't particularly directed at you, but you're just another person I've seem questioning this so thought I'd finally chime in). I have watched a majority of episodes of most live action shows currently on Disney . I give everything a try just to see. And GMW is undoubtedly the most poorly written out of all of them. None of their other shows is nearly as heavy handed or melodramatic.

The closest is Best Friends Whenever, and that's only when they started delving into their more nonsensical 'serious' plots. 

But, yeah, GMW is the only one that does 'very special episode' lessons every single week. I can name a bunch of different plots from all of their other shows that are just kids having fun/acting like teens. Heck, even the show about a teenage spy/spy family and the show about a famous teenage TV Star trying to be a normal girl again are more relatable and realistic than GMW.  So blame Michael Jacobs and crew for GMW, not Disney. 

Also Auggie was a misstep because of his age and his plot lines. Ava tore him down before we really got to know him, plus being so young means he doesn't really have interesting stories to tell. And Jacobs ' unwillingness to allow the show to truly focus on anyone else's opinions or experiences outside of Riley and Maya doesn't help matters. 

Edited by FrumiusManxome
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BigDave

BigDave

(edited)
14 hours ago, FrumiusManxome said:

I've seen this thrown around a couple times, but seriously it's not a Disney show thing (this isn't particularly directed at you, but you're just another person I've seem questioning this so thought I'd finally chime in). I have watched a majority of episodes of most live action shows currently on Disney . I give everything a try just to see. And GMW is undoubtedly the most poorly written out of all of them. None of their other shows is nearly as heavy handed or melodramatic.

The closest is Best Friends Whenever, and that's only when they started delving into their more nonsensical 'serious' plots. 

But, yeah, GMW is the only one that does 'very special episode' lessons every single week. I can name a bunch of different plots from all of their other shows that are just kids having fun/acting like teens. Heck, even the show about a teenage spy/spy family and the show about a famous teenage TV Star trying to be a normal girl again are more relatable and realistic than GMW.  So blame Michael Jacobs and crew for GMW, not Disney. 

Also Auggie was a misstep because of his age and his plot lines. Ava tore him down before we really got to know him, plus being so young means he doesn't really have interesting stories to tell. And Jacobs ' unwillingness to allow the show to truly focus on anyone else's opinions or experiences outside of Riley and Maya doesn't help matters. 

That makes sense. I think Jacobs definitely deserves the blame, I just wasn't sure if Disney handcuffs him in any ways. BMW dealt with much more realistic and serious topics in a much more realistic way, where this show is like a live action cartoon with how silly and unrealistic it is. BMW wasn't perfect by any means, and they retconned things and used self-awareness to explain plot holes similarly to this show, but I could at least relate to the things they did write about more often that not. It's such a huge difference that I thought maybe Disney is pushing them to go in a certain direction. If he's writing this without any restrictions, then he's lost his talent and needs to find something else to do. 

Edited by BigDave
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Pallida

Pallida

So the message I got out of this episode was that Riley doesn't want Maya to be good enough for Lucas (read that as either goody goody or adequate, because I got both), but not bad enough to get arrested.  That's a terribly selfish position.

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Skyfall

Skyfall

(edited)
On July 16, 2016 at 0:02 PM, augmentedfourth said:

Oh thank god, it wasn't just me who thought this. Also, when Maya asked the police officer why he was giving her a second chance, it was hard not to yell "because you're a blonde middle class white girl!" at the TV.

 

This might be one of the few episodes that had close to zero redeeming moments. It stunk.

I don't think you can call Maya middle class. She seems to live in a poorer neighborhood and her mom has to work extra hours just to get her a nice gift. Now you can pull the white entitlement card sure but the cop was black so still not that much at play, in the end I think he just realized she didn't really do anything bad and actually made the spot better in the end.

Edited by Skyfall
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Skyfall

Skyfall

On July 16, 2016 at 6:48 PM, Mabinogia said:

WTF was that shit with Doy? How old is he meant to be, because if it's over two then they have missed the mark by years. I just don't get the point of that storyline at all. But hi Officer Winslow. Nice to know you're still working.

This ep at least showed that Maya pretty much knows that everyone insisting she do something "bad" is freaking stupid.

I'm still getting the impression Lucas wanted to choose Maya. Maybe it finally dawned on him that Riley is about 10 years too immature (and just plain dumb) for him.

Love that what 14-15 year old Maya is allowed to roam the streets of NYC alone at night. Yeah, that Katy is a great mother. *rolls eyes* Still don't get what Shawn sees in her, other than wanting to have a family like Cory does so marrying Cory's daughters best friends mother.

To your last point, if you're in middle/high school you're old enough to be alone anywhere. Below that depends on age and location. Big city probably not, but a small rural area where everyone knows everyone than its fine at the higher end.

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augmentedfourth

augmentedfourth

18 hours ago, Skyfall said:

I don't think you can call Maya middle class. She seems to live in a poorer neighborhood and her mom has to work extra hours just to get her a nice gift.

What the show says and what it actually shows are two entirely different things, as a bunch of us have been saying basically since day one. While obviously not as well-off as the Matthews, despite the show trying to claim "Maya is poor and underprivileged!", I'd still put Maya (and her mother) firmly in the middle class. Granted, it's Disney, so they're probably not going to show an actual slum, or Katy working three different jobs, none of them in a place as nice as Topanga's, but there's still a discrepancy there between what they say and what's coming across to the viewers.

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