S03.E15: Girl Meets World of Terror 3

[AmandaPanda]

Quote

Auggie narrates a scary Halloween story about what the world would be like if Maya and Riley had never met.

[Fostersmom]

And this is different from like 7 other episodes how? 

[Primetimer]

The ghost of Halloween-themed Auggie returns to teach us what life would be like if Riley and Maya weren't friends.

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[augmentedfourth]

And thus continues a tradition of horrendously awful Halloween episodes? I cut this show waaaaaaay too much slack, but we might have a new contender for Worst of All Time.

[RedFire2000]

That's why I didn't waste my time watching this. I knew it would be awful just like the other two crappy Halloween episodes.

[Mabinogia]

That was absolutely terrible! WTF?

I would much rather have seen the recappers suggestion that without befriending Maya Riley became prey to a truly bad influence and became a troubled kid instead of just more Riley than she is now. Hey, why not go a step farther and have Maya end up friends with some other kid who influenced her to be a nerd or a goody good but because each of them aren't who they are meant to be they are both unhappy. Maya isn't into art because she's a happy kid who goes to pep rallies and is wrapped up in boy bands or something and Riley is in detention all the time because she became friends with a truly troubled girl who steals from department stores and vandalizes stuff and Riley is in over her head. They find a less forced way to talk (Corey makes them partners in an assignment about identity because he can see the positive influence they could have on each other) and realize they are both going down a path they don't feel is right for them, become friends and everything ends up back to normal.

I missed Zay, but cracked up at the fact that they threw some random black extra in the seat behind Lucas. Did they hope we wouldn't notice it wasn't actually Zay?

[Fostersmom]

I couldn't believe they just put some random black extra behind Lucas when I saw it! Hi, random extra that we were supposed to maybe think was Zay! Your elbow made it's big screen debut! 

I didn't think it was even humanly possible, but somehow this version of Riley managed to be even more ridiculously stupid than the normal Riley. And let's be honest, normal Riley seems to have been dropped on her head repeatedly as a child and possibly fed a steady diet of drugs/paint chips. Between the skipping and the crayons, I had to just assume Halloween version was really in preschool and Corey and Topenga just didn't have childcare and the school let Corey take her to work with him. Halloween Farkle and Smackle were pretty bad too, although they didn't seem mentally challenged like Riley did. I did like Halloween Lucas though. And special shout out goes to Halloween fake Zay's elbow. 

[WhosThatGirl]

Yeah, I agree with the recap: Riley not being friends with Maya-or anyone- wouldn't change how Cory teaches. Also, who Cory is himself. I.. mean.. what? This episode was stupid. Why does this show feel the need to make a halloween episode every October? Also, sadly.. this could never measure up to it's predecessor of seven the hard way/the war. I know, different shows, but still..

[MostlyC]

Still shipping Maya and Lucas- thought I saw a gleam in the episode.  

Also, Lucas should have been more of a bully with anger issues, if this was all "what if they never met each other and changed each other?"

[Kromm]

I kind of like Bully Maya's look. It's a cliche, but it was attractive.

In loosely related news, Sabrina was guest judge on Project Runway this week.

[timimouse]

The thing that is so frustrating with this show is that watching it is COMPLETELY POINTLESS. There has been NO character development for the past season.
"People Change People" - we get it. 
Maya sneaked through Riley's window when they were young and they became BFFs - we get it!
Corey doesn't actually teach history in his history class - we get IT!
Topagna doesn't have a life and just entertains the 6-year-olds' problems - we GET IT!
Riley is extremely immature and for some reason we are expected to believe that her and Lucas are in a relationship - WE GET IT!

I would really like to see something more happen with these characters. I saw potential in this show in the second season, but now I think all that hope is lost.

Edited October 17, 2016 by timimouse

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, timimouse said:

"People Change People" - we get it.

I think the problem is, none of them have really changed since we met them and that is a byproduct of them not actually spending any time at all with anyone but their own little clique. They will never grow as characters/people if they never actually meet anyone new. The show has become too bottled. They are in a new school surrounded by new people and opportunities and they are still doing the same thing they always do, ignoring the entire world and living in their own little fish bowl. It gets boring to watch when it's the same shit, different day.

Have Maya or Riley make a new friend in high school. Shake things up a bit. Have Riley and Lucas decide they want to see someone else, someone not in their core group. Have Farkle join some kind of science club or computer club, something that teaches him something about other people outside of this group.

[BigDave]

The issue is the show is so unrealistic and contrived that it's hard to sink your teeth into as a viewer. Jacobs thinks that by being meta and cute about the show's inconsistencies that it makes up for them, but it really doesn't. 

I really think canceling the show and retconning everything that happened on it would be the best thing to happen to it at this point. Maybe have the final episode be 20 year old Cory waking up next to Topanga and telling her that he had a horrible dream. Riley, Auggie, and the entire show's narrative ceases to exist.

[Mabinogia]

Considering how much they like Maya, I say have Maya wake up from a dream where she imagined this crazy character named Riley who stood for all that she thought she wanted, stable family, innocence, whatever, but after that nightmare she is happy with what she has. Thus beings Maya's World, where Maya Hart, whose mother died tragically, is now travelling the globe with her photographer step-dad Shawn Hunter. (hey, I'd watch it!)

[jade.black]

Remember the BMW episode where they went back to the 50s? Shawn and Cory did this whole "don't know we're best friends" angle so much better. This was just a waste of an episode.

I know picking at details here is ridiculous to do for a ridiculous show as well, but what does Maya and Riley's friendship have to do with Cory being a laid-back teacher? Cory was never a square, fact-based guy. There's no way his teacher persona would have reverted to that. Also, why does Smackle suddenly needed a retainer?! Two people who she only started interacting with a season ago (when she, by the way, was already cute) never became friends as kids and so suddenly her dental health is at stake? Huh?