S03.E11: Girl Meets the Real World

[AmandaPanda]

Quote

Riley has trouble with her debate assignment when she must argue if people are naturally good or evil.

[Primetimer]

Another history class, another chance for Cory to exploit Riley's naïveté....

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[LexieLily]

Riley doesn't believe people can possibly be evil. Isn't that pretty much what they all believed about Maya a few episodes ago and they all had collective heart attacks because Maya was actually *gasp* trying to be good and mature herself?

Riley continues to act like she's emotionally better suited for kindergarten or first grade rather than high school. I refuse to believe Topanga's daughter could ever be so willfully ignorant about social issues or anything deeper than what's in the pretty magazines.

Edited August 20, 2016 by LexieLily

[Kromm]

Wow, Riley really is portrayed as if she's five years old, isn't she?

Also, this version of New York has bizarre homelesss people just like everything else is kind of bizarre there.  Who apparently pay Fifth Avenue prices for his new Two Shoes, since if Riley was giving him a dollar EVERY day, even if we only count school days, what should it take for like discount store prices?  Two months at the very outside?

Edited August 20, 2016 by Kromm

[FrumiusManxome]

This episode was confusing.

The premise was interesting. Riley's little bubble is finally shattered. Her relentless optimism wouldn't be much of a problem if she actually was allowed to be wrong or if she had ever faced hard truths. But, they've often put her at the level of a 2nd grader. However, this episode really failed to deliver on a couple different fronts. 

Riley insisted that *her* beliefs were more important than anyone else's and that people are inherently good and evil. The first segment of the episode was actually pretty decent because Cory spun that entirely on her. The assignment was to argue a point, not your beliefs. And just because you believe it doesn't make it right or a 'fact'. The episode spiralled out from there though. 

For one thing, Zay is still treated as a second class friend. They never would have let Riley do something like eat the one and only cookie Zay will (possibly) ever have from his grandmother and not immediately feel like crap with anyone else. Zay and Riley, not being close would have been much more fun to explore. One of my favorite BMW arcs (even though it's in the College years) is when Cory realizes that he and Angela aren't really 'friends' like he thinks and he strives to correct that. Instead, there's a forced reconciliation and the entire situation though fairly serious on the outside is played completely for laughs. I hate that this show isn't allowed to have lingering repercussions. Zay shouldn't have forgiven her. It would have been better to leave it at Zay endeavoring to forgive her in the future because you are not guaranteed forgiveness just because you or the other person is a 'good' person. Good people do 'evil' things, but not all mistakes are forgivable is a much better lesson. Especially on this show where they act as if Riley could murder someone and everyone should still support her. I hated her line 'I know you're going to forgive me because you're a good person'. That was total BS and emotional manipulation. You don't apologize to be forgiven, you apologize because you're acknowledging what you did was wrong. Riley was totally glossing over that part of the equation. 

Riley was written much too broad for this to work, anyways. Let's just use Two Shoes Louie as an example. She gives this homeless or just really down on his luck man a dollar everyday, however, she has never once wondered about how he got in this situation? Or even considered the types of things that could cause that to happen? Sugar sweet Riley has never even *asked*? That was ridiculous. They wrote Riley as if anything worse than a paper cut is foreign to her. There is no way a 15 year old could be this removed from the world when her best friend is supposed to be the spokeswoman for Poor Teens USA. Heck, the Internet and Social Media means you're often exposed even if you don't want to be. Riley can find the best in the world, but she doesn't need to be written like a kindergartener to do it. 

All of that, and I still don't understand the lesson in the end. What was the point? Riley still got to be right. She expanded it a little, sure, but she still was 'right' since Cory basically just gave her the debate in the end when he had her switch sides. He had her argue against her beliefs to gain a little perspective only to let her sink back into her comfort zone immediately afterwards. 

LONG story short, Riley annoys me. I hate this show. Why am I still watching? 

Shallow note, I hated the outfits Riley and Maya wore this episode. They were not flattering at all. Smackle's little flirtation thing with Lucas was funny at first, but now they're running it into the ground. She's starting to come off as kind of inconsiderate. Lucas usually responds like he's amused, but this episode he and Farkle both seemed more exasperated. 

Edited August 20, 2016 by FrumiusManxome

[TDT]

Zay shouldve told Riley not to ever come near him again after the whole cookie incident IMO..

The way how she acts now im wondering if there will be a episode where she is diagnosed with some kind of mental illness..

[Luckylyn]

1 hour ago, FrumiusManxome said:

For one thing, Zay is still treated as a second class friend. They never would have let Riley do something like eat the one and only cookie Zay will (possibly) ever have from his grandmother and not immediately feel like crap with anyone else. Zay and Riley, not being close would have been much more fun to explore. One of my favorite BMW arcs (even though it's in the College years) is when Cory realizes that he and Angela aren't really 'friends' like he thinks and he strives to correct that. Instead, there's a forced reconciliation and the entire situation though fairly serious on the outside is played completely for laughs. I hate that this show isn't allowed to have lingering repercussions. Zay shouldn't have forgiven her. It would have been better to leave it at Zay endeavoring to forgive her in the future because you are not guaranteed forgiveness just because you or the other person is a 'good' person. Good people do 'evil' things, but not all mistakes are forgivable is a much better lesson. Especially on this show where they act as if Riley could murder someone and everyone should still support her. I hated her line 'I know you're going to forgive me because you're a good person'. That was total BS and emotional manipulation. You don't apologize to be forgiven, you apologize because you're acknowledging what you did was wrong. Riley was totally glossing over that part of the equation.

I really hated Riley demanding Zay forgive her on her timetable.  When you apologize it means accepting the wronged person may or may not forgive.   Riley is not entitled to forgiveness and shouldn't act that way.   Plus she didn't even really apologize.  She just said she felt bad and then emotionally pressured Zay into saying he forgave her.  She never for a second seemed to show any consideration of his feelings at all.  It came off as being all about making Zay forgive her so she could feel better.  I don't understand these writers.  They are trying to betray Riley as good, but she's comes off as stupid,narrow minded, and entitled. 

I loved that BMW episode when Cory realizes he needs to make an effort to really be Angela's friend.   The original show wasn't perfect but it explored nuances that GMW doesn't seem capable of.  Everything on GMW is so dramatic, black & white, and ridiculous.  There is way to much telling instead of showing from these writers. 

[SweetDee]

Riley seems to be getting worse every episode. It's pretty ridiculous she was just seeing serious news headlines for the first time in her life. I mean, really.

I started watching this show a few months ago with my niece, and I enjoyed it at first, but I'm not liking how more and more stunted Riley is portrayed by the writers. Last season they had that great episode where the bakery owner, played by Cloris Leachman, died. Riley narrated the episode, and she was supposed to have realized the world doesn't revolve around her, but I guess that didn't stick.

[Kromm]

Okay, here's my take in a little more detail than "Wow, Riley really is portrayed as if she's five years old, isn't she?"

I DO think there is a possible mode in comedies where a character can regress and act broader (and thus stupider) in some episodes compared to others. 

In theory this kind of logic applies to this show. It is a show that's shown on many occasions that it's not inherently realistic, that continuity can sometimes take a backseat to humor or convenience, etc.

The problem we have here is that the show applies this too often in the exact same areas. Rather than exploiting the brickbat that Riley turns dumber and naive on many occasions to a variety of situations, they instead keep applying it to situations that while very different in terms of plot, all try to teach the exact same life lessons. They don't seem to be truly clever enough to take these tendencies and spread them around in ways that feels fresh. There are different modes and levels of naivity that could be peeled back, but this keeps going to the basic "Stage 1" level (which reminds many of us of what a five year old might learn) each time.

For example, the whole Lucas storyline really screwed the show out of an opportunity to show her romantic idealism dented. That's a natural teenage thing that's on an emotional level slightly greater than kindergarten, but because of their stupid direction they can't show Riley having actual teenaged problems in this sense. Sure, that kind of story opens up its own series of cliches to deal with, but it's better than the show just leaving Riley at the emotional level of a young child eternally.

[Mabinogia]

I actually wish Zay's grandma had died. Not because I want Zay to suffer but because I think Riley gets to still think of herself as good because Grandma can just make another cookie for Zay. But what if she couldn't? What if that really was the last thing he ever got from his beloved grandmother and Riley took it from him?

I loved the idea of forcing Riley to see the world as it is. If she is going to survive in this world she needs to know what's really going on outside of her bubble. I always hated the Riley Protection Committee or whatever. If you were truly her friends you would want her to be able to take care of herself. When her 6-7 year old brother is more socially aware than she is, that's a bad thing.

Thing is, has she never cracked a history book? She's surprised there's war? Poverty? etc? Oh, right, Corey was her history teacher, right? So no, she has no clue what the world has been through.

I actually liked the episode, thought it was enjoyable to watch, I just hate that Riley is so fucking stupid and that her family and friends keep her so sheltered. It is harmful to her.

[KaveDweller]

Usually, current events are taught as part of history. In middle school we always had current event days where we had to bring it something from the newspaper and discuss it.  But even without that, there's no way a 14 year-old doesn't know there are war and poverty in the world. There's not reading the news everyday, and then there's being completely clueless and idiotic. 

[Luckylyn]

3 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I actually wish Zay's grandma had died. Not because I want Zay to suffer but because I think Riley gets to still think of herself as good because Grandma can just make another cookie for Zay. But what if she couldn't? What if that really was the last thing he ever got from his beloved grandmother and Riley took it from him?.

That would have been an interesting twist if Riley realized she did something that she could not take back.  I don't like the idea of Zay losing someone and being sad, but I think that would have been a solid way to end the episode.   Imagine Riley showing up for the debate and Zay's not there because he had to return to Texas because his grandmother was either sick or dying.  Then, she couldn't just pressure him for forgiveness but would have to live with doing something mean that Zay wouldn't get over quickly.  I hate that he forgave her when she was being a jerk about the way she was demanding forgiveness.  Her "I want forgiveness now cause you are a good person" attitude was really awful. 

She ate what could be the last cookie ever from his grandmother, seeing him visibly upset about what she did then criticized it's taste, gloated about how she wasn't going to apologize because what she did to him felt good, not once showed any empathy for how he might feel, and then insisted he forgive her immediately so she could feel good about herself.   Nothing, I saw made Zay forgiving her after all that make sense.  She was obnoxious to him from beginning to end.  The friendship should have been strained and Riley should have learned actions have lasting consequences.

[BigDave]

Riley does not know about evil, but was cyber bullied in a previous episode. She must have forgotten that, or maybe forgave her bully on the spot because apparently it's easy to forgive stuff in the GMW universe.

Absolutely terrible episode. I agree with the sentiments here; the issue with Zay was infuriating to watch. It could have been an interesting side story. It could have been similar to Cory/Angela in that Zay starts to question whether he's really friends with anyone in the group besides Lucas, and they could have explored that a bit more. Instead, he forgives a clearly insincere Riley so she can sing and dance at the end of the episode and everyone laughs while the credits roll. Baffling.

Edited August 20, 2016 by BigDave

[Mabinogia]

6 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

That would have been an interesting twist if Riley realized she did something that she could not take back.

Exactly. Because of course Riley gets her happy ending. Of course Zay forgives her and everyone skips off hand in hand and the bum gives her two dollars to give back to him because he wants her to be the one to give him the money to get his new shoes (THE FUCK?) But what if that really was the last thing Zay's grandmother ever gave him and Riley took that from him, and that is the memory he would be stuck with. Would Riley still think she deserved to be forgiven so easily because she's a "good person" Would Zay be as willing to forgive her? I know, it's a kids show, they are never going to get into actual moral issues, but it would have been interesting to see how Riley would reach knowing that she took something truly precious away from Zay that he can never get back. And how Zay and their group of friends would handle it as well. Would they side with Riley or Zay?

We know that Riley acted spontaneously, that had she thought about it she wouldn't have done it, but I do think there is a very valuble lesson to be taught about even the smallest acts can actually have consequences. I kind of hate that a show for kids makes it seem like nothing you do is that bad because people will just forgive you. That's not how life works. Actions have consequences people! Kids need to know this.

[WhosThatGirl]

You know, I want to like this show, but I can't? I get that I'm not the age for it, but BMW felt so smart to me as a kid. I just.. don't know why this doesn't. Riley is too much of a Mary-Sue and it makes me kind of sad. I agree with the person who said that Riley talks and acts like she's younger than she is and it's terrible.

[Pallida]

Riley saying she felt terrible about doing something unkind came off to me as closer to "I feel terrible that I enjoyed being mean" than "I feel terrible that my actions made you feel bad."  It would still be a crap apology, but acknowledging the impacts of her actions would have had far better impact.

I think the scariest part of the episode was Riley saying that she doesn't care about facts - that what she believes matters more than facts.  

[WildFlower87]

Smackle's flirting with Lucas is really starting to irritate me. Are they going somewhere with this? They've been doing it since Girl Meets I Am Farkle.

[Dee]

The episode would've flowed infinitely better if it had been a piece of cake or pie that Zay's grandma had sent him, which Riley casually knocks to the ground ala Chandler & Rachel in 'The One With All The Cheesecake,' BEFORE Zay could tell all his non-Lucas friends the significance of the aforementioned cake/pie leaving him to storm off with a very concerned Lucas immediately going to comfort his best friend for a change.

Once Zay and Lucas leave, Maya/Farkle/Smackle would admit they find Riley's 'turn to the darkside,' somewhat amusing given all of their own past 'walks on the wildsides,' UNTIL the gang's bay window scene when even they become disillusioned with Riley when she refuses to apologize to a genuinely hurt Zay.

Leading to a later one on one Zay and Riley scene where he'd explain the significance of the cake/pie (his grandmother's illness) and she'd later surprise him with a piece of cake/pie she personally baked after winning the class debate, with Zay acknowledging while it wasn't as good his grandmother's, he appreciated the intent behind her effort and forgives her.

The B story would be Auggie and Topanga feeding the homeless from the bakery, with a cynical Riley mocking Auggie's earnestness. Topanga would gently explain to her son that though they'd never cure world hunger, even their relatively small effort affords positive change, with the camera panning out to several happy homeless families eating in the bakery. 

Thus everyone remains in character, Riley and Zay are allowed much needed character growth and Topanga and Auggie's B plot is relevant instead of an excuse to shoehorn them into the episode.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Dee

[SmithW6079]

On 8/19/2016 at 10:35 PM, FrumiusManxome said:

Riley insisted that *her* beliefs were more important than anyone else's

 

8 hours ago, Pallida said:

I think the scariest part of the episode was Riley saying that she doesn't care about facts - that what she believes matters more than facts.  

Well, that's a social justice warrior for you. Despite the insistence on telling viewers that Riley is sweetness and goodness and that her naiveté is charmingly innocent, she's quite rigid in her orthodoxy and draconian in her insistence that her friends adhere to her beliefs.

 

On 8/19/2016 at 10:35 PM, FrumiusManxome said:

All of that, and I still don't understand the lesson in the end. What was the point? Riley still got to be right. She expanded it a little, sure, but she still was 'right' since Cory basically just gave her the debate in the end when he had her switch sides.

 

17 hours ago, BigDave said:

Instead, he forgives a clearly insincere Riley so she can sing and dance at the end of the episode and everyone laughs while the credits roll. Baffling.

It's not so baffling to me, because it advances a theory I've had for a while. Riley is really the daughter or granddaughter of Anthony Fremont, from "The Twilight Zone" episode "It's a Good Life." This sums up the characters' interactions with Riley:

Quote

The children and adults, including his own parents, tiptoe nervously around him, constantly telling him how everything he does is "good," since displeasing him can get them wished away into a mystical "cornfield", an unknown place, from which there is no return. 

 That quality of this video isn't good, but it pretty much sums up almost every episode of "Girl Meets World." 

 

[KerleyQ]

On 8/19/2016 at 9:14 PM, Kromm said:

Wow, Riley really is portrayed as if she's five years old, isn't she?

Also, this version of New York has bizarre homelesss people just like everything else is kind of bizarre there.  Who apparently pay Fifth Avenue prices for his new Two Shoes, since if Riley was giving him a dollar EVERY day, even if we only count school days, what should it take for like discount store prices?  Two months at the very outside?

Well, you also have to consider that the guy needs money for other things than his saving up for shoes fund.  He has to eat.  He likely has some other things he sometimes needs to spend money on.  So if he's been saving up for new shoes, that's likely meant putting some portion of what he is given each day aside to build up to pay for the shoes.  

I think a better resolution to this would have been to see Riley put in the work to earn forgiveness.  We could have seen her telling Lucas she needs his help, without us seeing what that help is in that moment.  Meanwhile, we could maybe see Zay talking to someone else, most likely Lucas, but maybe also Farkle, or, maybe instead of them, he talks to Smackle, who can somewhat relate, as an "outsider" to their original group of four.  He can talk about how he feels like Riley wouldn't have done something this deliberately cruel to Maya, Lucas, or Farkle, and that it's an example of how he's not fully a part of their group. Then, towards the end of the episode, Riley presents Zay with a cookie.  Turns out the help she needed was for Lucas to help her get in contact with Zay's grandmother.  She either asked her to send a new cookie, or asked her for the recipe so she could make him a cookie.  The cookie in itself, however, shouldn't have been the whole deal.  Maybe, in addition to the cookie, she had a conversation with his grandmother, and she learned more about him.  With the information from that conversation, she does something that would mean something to him.  It doesn't even have to be anything big.  Maybe she finds out that, when Zay lived near his grandmother, once a week, he went over to her house, she made cookies, and they sat at the kitchen table, having a cookie and doing a puzzle.  So, along with the cookie, she bought a puzzle, and she and Zay sit down, work on it together, and actually talk, just the two of them.  

Ultimately, this should have been about Riley understanding how what she did affected Zay and making a sincere effort to show him that she cares about him, as a friend, on his own, and not just as her boyfriend's friend.  It should not have been about Zay understanding how taking his cookie affected Riley.  If we're going to teach the kids about the consequences of listening to the devil on our shoulders, then don't show them that easily forgiving someone for hurting you is a requirement to being a good person.  Show them that thinking about how your actions hurt someone is the first step in apologizing, and that an apology does not require forgiveness.  

I'm not someone who typically has a problem with Riley.  Is she naive and immature?  Of course.  But, it's not entirely unrealistic, at her age.  She's still in that age range where maturity levels can vary greatly from one kid to the next.  She's a girl who has been raised by two parents who dote on her.  She has been very sheltered, with no real experience with anything bad happening.  Most of her naivete comes from a place of wanting to see the best in everybody.  A lot of people don't lose that mentality until they've experienced or witnessed things that make them question it.  I've always thought that she's pretty believable as Cory's kid.  Cory was always kind of behind the curve, maturity-wise.  Much like Riley/Maya, Cory/Shawn displayed a big difference in maturity levels, as Cory and Riley had pretty sheltered childhoods, and Maya and Shawn had more experience with some of the cruelties of life (Shawn to a greater extent).  This episode, though?  They got it ALL wrong.  

[Luckylyn]

The thing that was lacking was Riley showing she cared about Zay's feelings through conversation and/or some sort of gesture.  The writers acted like the important thing was about the how stealing the cookie affected Riley when Zay was the one who was hurt.  Riley barely apologized and did nothing to reach out to Zay.  All she did was demand forgiveness for herself.  Riley is extremely self-centered and the people around her reinforce it while telling her what a good person she is.

[David-]

3 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

The thing that was lacking was Riley showing she cared about Zay's feelings through conversation and/or some sort of gesture.  The writers acted like the important thing was about the how stealing the cookie affected Riley when Zay was the one who was hurt.  Riley barely apologized and did nothing to reach out to Zay.  All she did was demand forgiveness for herself.  Riley is extremely self-centered and the people around her reinforce it while telling her what a good person she is.

I watched this 3 times before commenting ;) But this whole Riley protection committee can only backfire in the end as it only serves to reinforce her self centered attitude..

It seems Riley thought she could smile and sing a silly song and pretty much get away with anything. There was no accountability for her actions.

Also the premise Good V Evil was incorrect. It should have been good versus bad, there are a lot of good/ bad people but not as many evil ones..

[Dee]

I thought Topanga went way too easy on Riley during her breakfast tantrum.

If ever a scene called for an Alan Matthews style dressing down, it was definitely that one.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Dee

[Kromm]

15 hours ago, Pallida said:

I think the scariest part of the episode was Riley saying that she doesn't care about facts - that what she believes matters more than facts.  

So funny that GMW stumbled into one of the key problems of our time (the rise of this attitude), and yet didn't realize it (and thus made nothing of it). 

6 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Well, that's a social justice warrior for you. 

That's an unfair generalization, when the far right exudes this attitude just as much as the far left.  It is a problem with all extremists in our current society. Trump Nation just as much as Sanders Nation.  The idea that belief = correctness.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Kromm

[Mabinogia]

Rowan is such a socially and politically aware young woman that I wonder how it feels for her to play such an ignorant, uninformed spoiled brat. I would find it frustrating as hell. I would love it if this was a turning point for Riley and that she now dives into the deep end of social justice. I would love to see her put her stubborn single-mindedness to good use instead of wasting it on being dumb and boy crazy. I could see Riley being the type to become a vegan when she learns about how animals are treated or starting some kind of gay rights group at school when she sees a gay kid being bullied or an after school program for kids who go home to empty houses because their only parent works all the time *cough*Maya*cough*.

And she is definitely the type to take it too far each and every time which would be where the drama comes in. Instead of her friends trying to protect their idiot friend from the big bad world, they could be trying to protect the world from their crazy warrior friend. She could still be all rainbows and unicorns but in a way that is more about making the world full of rainbows and unicorns for everyone than about her living in a pretend world full of rainbows and unicorns that only see can see.

[Kromm]

21 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Rowan is such a socially and politically aware young woman that I wonder how it feels for her to play such an ignorant, uninformed spoiled brat.

I dunno. As much as I disagree with @SmithW6079's generalization of ALL "social justice warriors" as stubborn victims of their own tunnel vision, there's enough truth to the stereotype that I can certainly see aspects of Riley's attitude matching up with hers. I mean it was fairly cringeworthy, for example, when Rowan insisted she was "queer" simply because she was idealistic about the possibility of being gay or bisexual... but "only ever liked boys" so far in her life.  I know a lot of people disagreed with me last time I spoke about this, but it just seemed like a typical case of appropriation from someone privileged who wanted to highlight to anyone who'd listen how open minded she wanted to inform everyone she was. 

[AmandaPanda]

Topic, please.

[Fostersmom]

On August 20, 2016 at 0:44 PM, KaveDweller said:

There's not reading the news everyday, and then there's being completely clueless and idiotic. 

And that basically sums up Riley as a whole.

[TDT]

21 hours ago, NickDisnCart said:

Smackle's flirting with Lucas is really starting to irritate me. Are they going somewhere with this? They've been doing it since Girl Meets I Am Farkle.

A stalking storyline where Farkle has to talk some sense into her.. nah that would be taking the easy way out IMO

[timimouse]

I know people mature faster than others due to varying personal experiences and I understood that's why Riley was so much more immature than the rest of the cast. That excuse worked for the first 2 seasons. Now it feels like they are regressing with her character instead of allowing growth. She comes off a LOT younger than the rest of them and it isn't realistic. She has been friends with Maya for years. There's no way she could be so sheltered from the realities of life. I get the impression the writers are using extreme personality differences to make their point but the world isn't so black and white and that was the beauty of the original BMW. While I understand this isn't BMW and should be judged on it's own merits, they're missing to the opportunity to get young people talking about real life. In the real world, you don't do some nasty to your friend, fake an apology and go off skipping hand in hand. I'd love to see them at least bring back the essence of what BMW did for my generation because I think this new generation does need a good does of reality.

[Mabinogia]

I think what I find hardest to believe is that Riley is Topanga's daughter. Topanga was very aware of the world and I would think she would want her daughter to be prepared to face the challenges life has. When you are prepared life is pretty freaking hard, but when you don't even know that people can be cruel, damn, Riley is a walking target for every predator of every kind. And she lives in NYC! Shouldn't her parents have prepared her in some way for the world?

[SmithW6079]

5 hours ago, timimouse said:

I know people mature faster than others due to varying personal experiences and I understood that's why Riley was so much more immature than the rest of the cast. That excuse worked for the first 2 seasons. Now it feels like they are regressing with her character instead of allowing growth. She comes off a LOT younger than the rest of them and it isn't realistic. She has been friends with Maya for years. There's no way she could be so sheltered from the realities of life. I get the impression the writers are using extreme personality differences to make their point but the world isn't so black and white and that was the beauty of the original BMW. While I understand this isn't BMW and should be judged on it's own merits, they're missing to the opportunity to get young people talking about real life. In the real world, you don't do some nasty to your friend, fake an apology and go off skipping hand in hand. I'd love to see them at least bring back the essence of what BMW did for my generation because I think this new generation does need a good does of reality.

The thing with BMW is that Cory may have been socially awkward and clueless sometimes -- Shawn was the worldly one -- but he was never stupid. Riley is stupid. She could easily be one of the "good people of Stupidtown." I stand corrected: St. Upid Town.

[Pallida]

I completely agree with @David- that the use of "evil" in this episode was inaccurate.  Serial killers are evil.  Cookie stealers are cruel and bad, but not evil.

I don't want to dive too far into the social justice warrior side of things (especially as a person who is passionate about social justice situated in facts - and highly trained in collection of data and analysis of data), but I think there's an important distinction between "belief" and "interpretation."  The show almost started going there when Farkle began talking about time and "day" and "night" being human constructs that help explain experience.  The intersection of objective facts and subjective experience was the root to that debate.  (And I like that Farkle, who has in the past seemed rigid in objectivity, was the one to bring it up.)  Of course, that debate was crap since there was no actual rebuttal phase