S03.E13: Girl Meets the Great Lady of New York

[AmandaPanda]

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Some students learn surprises about their diverse heritage during Cultural Week.

[Primetimer]

It's Culture Week at Abigail Adams, but that doesn't mean the Disney Channel will allow Riley to really learn anything.

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[Aliconehead]

I too was bothered by the whitewashing of the Khmer Rouge regime. This is a government that killed over 2 million people, and most of those the inteligencia. 75% of the population of cambodia were born post thus regime. A huge chunk of intelligence and with that progress were destroyed by that government.

 

My problem is they went for the drama and the seriousness without really being an honest storytelling. Most people know about the holocaust and slavery (it should be everyone but many are sheltered from these things) but this was a perfect opportunity to present these facts of history an appropriate way.  They should have gone for laughs if they could not address these times in history with truth, honesty, and respect  

[TDT]

Only "funny" thing about this episode was the ending..speaking of which,wtf..

RE: Next week's episode..i wonder if that girl is a new recurring(or permanent) addition to the group,or another one-off character

[madfortv]

The story wasn't as well written as it could of been.  I like the idea of it but think I was put off by Riley's story/non-story and Maya's attitude. The boys and adults were fine. Zay, Farkle and Lucas were good.  I expected to dislike the Texas shtick but it turned out to be kind of fun.

I really disliked Augie's and Ava's characters.

[Mabinogia]

It would have been really interesting if Farkle had found out his family descended from the other side of the Holocaust and he actually had a Nazi in his family history, that would have been a good reason for him to be so quiet and not grateful for this assignment. Then I remembered what show I was watching and would have cringed at them trying to write that with any sensitivity. They should have just made his ancestor an orphan, for any reason, didn't have to be the Holocaust. That felt thrown in just because it's a well known historic point.

I will admit the Cambodian grandmothers story broke my heart, but moreso because I know all the stuff that was pretty much unsaid rather than because of what the show actually put out there.

This show should never, ever EVER try to do a serious topic. They don't have what it takes. (Though I will say I think the kids could act the hell out of it, they are or have gotten really good (except Auggie and Ava who really should just run off and elope somewhere far away and never come back).

[txhorns79]

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to say nothing of the fact that it was written by a woman before women could even vote.

But that's not true.  If you want to say there wasn't universal suffrage in the United States at the time for women, that would be true.  Otherwise, by the time the the poem was written, women were voting in the United States, not everywhere, but there was certainly voting by women in a few different states.

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Pol Pot and Hitler were monsters, and while it can be argued that the show's target demographic is too young to learn about them, it's a little ridiculous when you consider that these times of ours are ones in which kids all over the country come home wondering if their parents will be deported any given afternoon AND that Cory, as a teacher, has the perfect platform to educate on these topics.

Pol Pot and Hitler had millions of people systematically executed and tortured.  I have no idea what that has to do with someone who enters the country through illegal means being deported back to their home country, or why the topics are being conflated.     

I don't pretend it was the best episode, but I also recognize the time limitations the show has, the network and the age of the person to whom this show is nominally aimed.  I think you can say it would be better for the show to stay away from these topics if they can't be handled correctly, but I give them credit for trying.      

[blugirlami21]

The episode was ok. I wish that Riley didn't have to be told a hundred times to go beyond the surface to learn anything new. And when she does its usually grandiose and overly sentimental. I see very little evidence that she is Topanga's child and it's disappointing to say the least.

I don't like how stupid Maya is now. I don't need her to be the comic relief when we gave Lucas and Zay who do a much better job.  I'm satisfied when she finally gets it but it takes too long for her toget there imo.

I wanted to know a lot more about Zay and Lucas' roots. We got some of Zays but none of Lucas' which seems to be standard for his character for some god awful reason. 

I hate that they were so heavy handed with Farkle's upset at learning that his family was a part of the holocaust. Was he unaware that he was jewish? Is this something not talked about or practiced in his family? I didn't make any sense. Yes the holocaust was and is horrible but that's not a representation of who survivors of it are. 

I just don't understand why this show is so heavy handed with everything. Everything does not need to be a life lesson.

Next week looks terrible. A whole episode of Riley trying to force some stranger to be her friend. Not everybody's going to be your friend and that's ok. I wish I could say that will be the lesson but I have a bad feeling that it's going to go completely overboard with the idea that you should keep forcing the issue til you get your way.

Edited September 17, 2016 by blugirlami21

[Fostersmom]

7 hours ago, blugirlami21 said:

I hate that they were so heavy handed with Farkle's upset at learning that his family was a part of the holocaust. Was he unaware that he was jewish? Is this something not talked about or practiced in his family? I didn't make any sense. Yes the holocaust was and is horrible but that's not a representation of who survivors of it are. 

I do think they were trying to clumsily say that yes, Farkle did in fact NOT know his grandfather was Jewish until he started researching. He mentioned his grandfather had been adopted and brought to the United States thru what sounded like a Christian agency. Maybe he was not raised Jewish after that? Given Farkle doesn't even know what his grandfather's real last name was, it would fit the theory.

Zay's story line was just as clumsy, they completely glossed over Zay's family was taken from Africa as slaves and then tried to tie Farkle and Zay's stories together as a way they could talk to each other since both had no real idea if where their greater family ended up, if they survived. 

Of course Riley is once again a total idiot with less intelligence than a water skiing squirrel. I honesty have NO idea what the hell they were trying to do with her I'm American storyline. I have yet to meet anyone who can't tell you at least a little bit about their family culture. Italian, German, Irish, English, dozens of others are always named. I'm truly a mutt of things and while I myself don't really partake in anything tied to my heritage from any  of the variety of things I am, but I can at least name them. I'm supposed to believe Riley, and by extension Corey and Topanga, have no idea about any of their grandparents? 

And was it just me, or were they confusing culture for heritage? 

[Kromm]

It would have been really interesting if Farkle had found out his family descended from the other side of the Holocaust and he actually had a Nazi in his family history, that would have been a good reason for him to be so quiet and not grateful for this assignment. Then I remembered what show I was watching and would have cringed at them trying to write that with any sensitivity. They should have just made his ancestor an orphan, for any reason, didn't have to be the Holocaust. That felt thrown in just because it's a well known historic point.

I will admit the Cambodian grandmothers story broke my heart, but moreso because I know all the stuff that was pretty much unsaid rather than because of what the show actually put out there.

This show should never, ever EVER try to do a serious topic. They don't have what it takes. (Though I will say I think the kids could act the hell out of it, they are or have gotten really good (except Auggie and Ava who really should just run off and elope somewhere far away and never come back).

Nazi family was actually where I assumed the Farkle storyline was going. Because of that I was actually disappointed with the choice they made, because they prefaced it with the wrong reactions from Farkle (seeming embarrassment rather than generationally misplaced anger, which might have been more appropriate).

The Cambodian grandmother part was better done, because I think with a kids' show no matter what they had to hedge about mass murder. Its a shame that simply saying "Cambodia" and "refugee" doesn't communicate a clear story as much as "WWII" and "Jew", but the show stumbled along there enough that it wasn't a complete disaster.

I get that they were also trying for a light touch with Zay's story, but of all of them that's the one that came off as the biggest ball of shit.

I didn't mind Maya's silly Irish stuff that much, because at least they clearly communicated how stupid she was being.

Riley simply being "American" was of course silly as well. Unless she was a Mayflower descendant on all sides, or the family simply lost track of their background (all too common) she's SOMETHING (and even those Mayflower people were English). Did the writers have some kind of problem with simply saying Corey, Topanga, and all of the family back on both sides are Anglo-Saxons? Big deal. Just say it and move on. Perhaps even make a lame joke about crumpets and The Queen. It wouldn't have been any worse than the Leprauchan hat.

[Mabinogia]

10 hours ago, blugirlami21 said:

Was he unaware that he was jewish? Is this something not talked about or practiced in his family?

The impression I got was that his (was it grandfather?), once taken in by the Christian family, was pretty much instructed to not admit he was Jewish lest he probably ended up converting and the whole experience was so traumatic to him that he never spoke of it to his family. So they probably had no idea they were Jewish because, religiously, they are not.

 

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

Riley simply being "American" was of course silly as well. Unless she was a Mayflower descendant on all sides, or the family simply lost track of their background (all too common) she's SOMETHING (and even those Mayflower people were English). Did the writers have some kind of problem with simply saying Corey, Topanga, and all of the family back on both sides are Anglo-Saxons? Big deal. Just say it and move on. Perhaps even make a lame joke about crumpets and The Queen. It wouldn't have been any worse than the Leprauchan hat.

This did bother me. Unless she is Native American she has some heritage from some other country. Is it not interesting enough to be from England? I really just didn't get it. Why was Cory pushing her so hard to learn about her roots only to keep telling her she had none? Is he actually trolling his daughter now? I guess her and Lucas are meant to be since neither of them have any actual roots.

Despite the stupid reasoning behind it, I did like the Farkle and Zay scenes. They worked nicely together. I can't say enough how much Zay is a great addition to the show.

[KerleyQ]

1 hour ago, Fostersmom said:

Of course Riley is once again a total idiot with less intelligence than a water skiing squirrel. I honesty have NO idea what the hell they were trying to do with her I'm American storyline. I have yet to meet anyone who can't tell you at least a little bit about their family culture. Italian, German, Irish, English, dozens of others are always named. I'm truly a mutt of things and while I myself don't really partake in anything tied to my heritage from any  of the variety of things I am, but I can at least name them. I'm supposed to believe Riley, and by extension Corey and Topanga, have no idea about any of their grandparents? 

I can buy that Riley had no idea to this point.  I remember doing a similar project in high school, and I had no idea how many nationalities I am before I did it.  (For the record - Native American, Lithuanian, Irish, German, French-Canadian).  I think, before that, I basically knew "German and some other stuff."  So, Riley, I can buy her having no idea, but it definitely struck me as odd that Topanga had no idea.  The only thing I can think of is that their families have been in the U.S. so many generations that somewhere, along the way, someone dropped the ball in passing along their background to the next generation, and it just became lost.  In my case, it was easy to find out, because 7 of my great-grandparents were the first generation born here, and the other great-grandmother was raised on a reservation.  So the history was still relatively new.  But I can see there being some families who go back so many generations in the U.S. that the information got lost at some point.  (Of course, personally, at this point in my life, if I didn't know, I'd take advantage of the resources on-line to try and piece something together, if at all possible.) 

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

Nazi family was actually where I assumed the Farkle storyline was going. Because of that I was actually disappointed with the choice they made, because they prefaced it with the wrong reactions from Farkle (seeming embarrassment rather than generationally misplaced anger, which might have been more appropriate).

When he first seemed upset, I was thinking we would find out his family owned slaves.  Then, when he mentioned Denmark and no birth records, I was thinking he'd turn out to be a Nazi war criminal who escaped here and changed his identity to avoid being caught.  The reveal did seem off with the reactions he was having.  I was really reading "shame" in his demeanor all episode long.  

I agree with those who feel like they went a little light on all of the back stories, in terms of the horrors some of them came from.  I know you have to temper it for the younger audience, but I don't think there would have been any harm in outright stating that Zay's family were brought here as slaves.  I think most kids have some general awareness there.  I mean, if they can mention that Farkle's grandfather was adopted by a Christian family to keep him alive, then I think they can say that Zay's family was brought here, originally, as slaves.  It seemed like they went out of their way to play it down, even while hinting at it ('we were brought," instead of saying "we came"), and there was such a non-reaction to that revelation, but, at the same time, they wanted to have that moment with Zay and Farkle where they both realize that their families went through hell.  Like I said, I get that they have to temper it for younger viewers, but I think they went too far.  Zay's story was the one that felt like it had most of the impact drained out of it because of that.  

In terms of just pure stupid laughs (hey, I enjoy a pointless laugh here and there), I laughed at Cory's "no, I want one," when Riley was throwing cheese, and Lucas and Zay's Texas ensembles.  And I know most dislike Ava (and I can see why), but I do love Topanga's reactions to her most of the time.  

I actually thought Maya was the weak link in this episode.  Other than their moment with the woman from Cambodia, she just seemed to be annoyed and resent having to do anything.  The rest of the kids seemed at least interested in learning their history (even if Riley was obnoxious and helpless in her interest).  Although I did laugh at "I didn't even know you could talk and you speak two languages?" along with "I'm surprised whenever any of those people talk."  

[ohjoy]

15 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

It would have been really interesting if Farkle had found out his family descended from the other side of the Holocaust and he actually had a Nazi in his family history, that would have been a good reason for him to be so quiet and not grateful for this assignment. Then I remembered what show I was watching and would have cringed at them trying to write that with any sensitivity. They should have just made his ancestor an orphan, for any reason, didn't have to be the Holocaust. That felt thrown in just because it's a well known historic point.

 

42 minutes ago, KerleyQ said:

When he first seemed upset, I was thinking we would find out his family owned slaves.  Then, when he mentioned Denmark and no birth records, I was thinking he'd turn out to be a Nazi war criminal who escaped here and changed his identity to avoid being caught.  The reveal did seem off with the reactions he was having.  I was really reading "shame" in his demeanor all episode long.  

This is the same page that I was on -- Farkle seemed to take "one of my ancestors survived the holocaust and that's why I'm here today" in a way that seemed much more like "one of my ancestors participated in the holocaust and that's why other people aren't here today." But I shouldn't have expected something so deep in the same episode in which Zay Had to be told/reminded that his family hadn't always lived in Texas. I mean, I know it was played for laughs (and I did laugh, because it was late Friday night and I was tired), but how did the first round of this assignment have Maya getting as far as Ireland but Zay not getting any farther than Texas?

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, KerleyQ said:

 I was really reading "shame" in his demeanor all episode long.  

He did seem very shameful when he had no reason at all to be. It is a tragic story, yes, but also one of survival. I'm wondering if it was supposed to look like he thought he might have family on the other side, with all that "I have to keep looking" stuff, but IDK, it all came out wrong.

I wish Zay had been the focus of the episode because it is the more interesting story to me. As a young black American he probably had a pretty good idea that there would be slavery in his family history, which is absolutely tragic. Unless his family arrived in the past 2-3 generations the odds were almost 100%.

I still don't get what Cory was trying to teach Riley (like he bothers teaching any of the others lol). It basically went "Riley, I want you to do a report on your family history" "Mom, Dad, what's our family history?" "Don't know. Doesn't matter." Me: What was the point of all that?

[vanillamountain]

Maybe I have very diminished expectations for this show (the writing has felt very "off" ever since they left middle school,) I enjoyed this episode. I saw it as the writers' attempts to talk about Donald Trump's platform and the 2016 election without referring to it directly, and emphasizing that we are a nation built on acceptance and diversity. (Not trying to go off-topic and start a political discussion - just saying that I think this episode was partly a response to his platform/some of the news headlines from this year.)

Like some of the other posters, I thought it was odd that the writers didn't mention the Holocaust, slavery, or the Pol Pot regime by name. It actually reminded me of how children's programming has changed since I was a kid. For example, I remember when "Saved By The Bell" did an episode where Jessie researched slavery and found out her ancestors were slave owners, and she and Lisa had an honest discussion about that. I wonder if a kid's show would have an honest discussion about those issues today.
 

[Dee]

I usually hate the writing for Maya but Sabrina Carpenter is a great comedienne. I howled when she threatened to river dance on Yogi's head and threw the potato, irish soap and bagpipes across Lucas desk.

I'm surprised the writers went so milquetoast with Riley's family history.

I know the writers wanted to establish Riley's whitebread roots by (over)emphasizing Cory's family's history as average 'all-american' suburbanites, but Topanga's family (pre-Jedidiah/Rhiannon divorce) always seemed pretty colorful.  The writers easily could've imbued Riley's background with little more texture without shortchanging her friends backstories or the overall themes of the episode imo.

Speaking of shortchanged, Lucas character development was abandoned altogether. It's a shame that every other main character has exhibited significant growth in spite of logistical issues (screentime, inconsistent writing, etc) yet Lucas has remained virtually unchanged since the pilot. Peyton isn't a bad actor, in fact he's proven quite adept in the rare opportunities Lucas has had to be something other than 'an idiot with a face,' but the writers seem content to let him and Lucas coast on his looks.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Dee

[timimouse]

On 9/17/2016 at 8:51 AM, Mabinogia said:

It would have been really interesting if Farkle had found out his family descended from the other side of the Holocaust and he actually had a Nazi in his family history, that would have been a good reason for him to be so quiet and not grateful for this assignment.

I really thought that's where it was going and I think that would've been a better turn to take than the way they went. Unfortunately it made his story fall flat imo.

On 9/17/2016 at 9:14 PM, Fostersmom said:

Zay's story line was just as clumsy, they completely glossed over Zay's family was taken from Africa as slaves and then tried to tie Farkle and Zay's stories together as a way they could talk to each other since both had no real idea if where their greater family ended up, if they survived. 

I wondered if anyone else picked up on the fact that he didn't say they moved from Ghana to the USA, but were first to Jamaica; the implication being that they were slaves. It was far too subtle I thought, and again, could've been a much better story than what was told.

On 9/18/2016 at 4:03 PM, vanillamountain said:

Maybe I have very diminished expectations for this show (the writing has felt very "off" ever since they left middle school,) I enjoyed this episode. I saw it as the writers' attempts to talk about Donald Trump's platform and the 2016 election without referring to it directly, and emphasizing that we are a nation built on acceptance and diversity. (Not trying to go off-topic and start a political discussion - just saying that I think this episode was partly a response to his platform/some of the news headlines from this year.)

Like some of the other posters, I thought it was odd that the writers didn't mention the Holocaust, slavery, or the Pol Pot regime by name. It actually reminded me of how children's programming has changed since I was a kid. For example, I remember when "Saved By The Bell" did an episode where Jessie researched slavery and found out her ancestors were slave owners, and she and Lisa had an honest discussion about that. I wonder if a kid's show would have an honest discussion about those issues today.
 

Agreed 100%. I too enjoyed this episode. Honestly, I really think it was far better than some of the ones we got this season. Not amazing, as they could've dug deeper into the heritages but I also understand that they didn't want to make it too serious in the 20 min window that they have. Which is why I understood the comedy they gave to Maya, although I thought it was a bit over the top.

[Anisky]

On 9/17/2016 at 11:40 PM, KerleyQ said:

When he first seemed upset, I was thinking we would find out his family owned slaves.  Then, when he mentioned Denmark and no birth records, I was thinking he'd turn out to be a Nazi war criminal who escaped here and changed his identity to avoid being caught.  The reveal did seem off with the reactions he was having.  I was really reading "shame" in his demeanor all episode long.  

You know what's funny, I thought those exact two same things at those exact two same points of the episode. I wonder if that's what they were originally going to have, and then changed it because someone thought it was too dark or something?  It seems like everyone read Farkle's behavior the same way.

 

On 9/18/2016 at 11:23 AM, Mabinogia said:

I still don't get what Cory was trying to teach Riley (like he bothers teaching any of the others lol). It basically went "Riley, I want you to do a report on your family history" "Mom, Dad, what's our family history?" "Don't know. Doesn't matter." Me: What was the point of all that?

Even worse than that! It went "Riley, I want you to do a report on your family history" "Mom, Dad, what's our family history?" "Don't know. Doesn't matter." and then continued:
Riley: "My report on my family heritage is that I don't have one!" 
Corey: "Riley, this is a terrible report! I'm disappointed in you! You need to find out more about your family history!"
"Mom, Dad, what's our family history?"
"Don't know. Doesn't matter."

It wasn't just pointless, it was scolding Riley for Corey's pointlessness. 

EDIT: Though of course, in this day and age, Riley could do a lot more than just ask her parents. If she just Googled "genealogy" she'd find plenty of web sites where, using her parents' and/or her grandparents' names, she undoubtedly could have found something interesting from some branch of the family. 

Like most of you, I was pretty annoyed with Riley's whole "I'm just American!" "There doesn't need to be any American booth!" when, no Riley, unless you are Native American then you are from somewhere else, and also, if there were Native American children at the school then there would be tons of reason to have a [Native] American booth.

Also, in the very beginning of the episode, when Corey claimed that everyone coming from different places makes America "so unique." Er, Corey, you're a Social Studies teacher, right? You're familiar with geography? Have you ever heard of this country called "Canada"? It's actually kinda close by... 

(Though to be fair, I guess when he says "America" he could be referring to "the Americas", rather than the United States.)

Edited October 7, 2016 by Anisky