There isn’t always going to be Girl Meets World
news. Does that mean that I let the blog
sit stale? No. It means that we have fun remembering why the
original Boy Meets World rocked. One
idea I have is to occasionally rank episodes by category, and I’m kicking this
feature off with the Top Shawn episodes.
Why Shawn? You
mean, besides the fact he’s America’s bad boy?
I identify deeply with Shawn. I
was a trailer park kid, and while Boy Meets World was on the air, my life was
hitting some turbulence. By the time the
show ended, I was more or less settled and living in a house, la dee dah, but I’m
always going to be Shawn. Let’s just say
that between September 24, 1993 and May 5, 2000, my life changed a lot, and I
don’t mean the way life normally changes between fifth grade and eleventh grade. I needed Shawn, so he gets first honors.
These are ranked by me and only by me. No one else influenced my choices. If you want to fight about it, tell me why I’m
wrong in the comments and maybe one day I’ll do a ranking by you guys. You know, when I need more filler. Anyway, in an order I decided was super
important:
10. Wrong Side of
the Tracks
When Suzee from Space Cases tells Shawn she can’t date
him because of his social status, Shawn decides to live up to his
reputation. Truth is, Shawn has always
been better than his social status. It’s
not like he could help the conditions he was born in. Luckily, Cory and Mr. Turner stayed by Shawn’s
side and reminded him of this. He lost
himself for just a second, but in the end he learned that he is not just a
social status. As an actress, I adore
Becky Herbst, but her characters are always wrecking things – never trust her
characters.
9. Janitor Dad
To provide for his freshly reunited family, Chet becomes
the new janitor at John Adams High, much to the dismay of Shawn. Though he’s humiliated by his classmates, he
learns that when it comes to providing for your family, there is no job too
shameful and he comes to accept his dad’s occupation and not let the teasing
get to him. I actually grew up with the
janitor’s kids when I was in elementary school, and I was so jealous because
their trailer was right next to the school and they could sleep in late and
walk to school in five minutes – sitcom kids are never able to see the silver
lining.
8. The Heart is a
Lonely Hunter
Dana Pruitt is the first girl that Shawn ever truly had
feelings for, and she didn’t make it easy for him. Dana taught Shawn to go that extra step for
someone he cares about, which is an important lesson. It’s a shame that she didn’t stick around
longer, but this was the height of Larissa Oleynik’s career as a child star and
she probably was constantly maxing out the amount of hours she was allowed to
work. Dana will always be my favorite
Shawn girlfriend just because she was the first (and I apologize to fans of
Angela).
7. Brothers
Jack comes to town to go to college, looking for
roommates, and he wants one of them to be his brother Shawn. Even though it’s another episode in which we
find out why Shawn rebuffs Jack so hard, Shawn does recognize that Chet wants
better for Shawn in making him move in with his brother, and it’s the beginning
of a happy family that can never truly be happy. Dude, it totally sucks to be a Hunter. But they’re sitcom characters, so they can
take it.
6. Chick Like Me
In many ways, Veronica Wasboyski helped Shawn find a side
of himself he never knew. Nobody ever
looks too deeply into why Shawn knew he wanted his name to be Veronica if he
was a girl, and that’s okay because it was a wacky 90s sitcom, but as a girl,
Shawn learned just how horrible guys can be which made him vow to be
better. The reason everyone loves Shawn
with Angela is because of these experiences that made him see how he should
treat girls made him a much better boyfriend.
5. Dangerous
Secret
I love that Cory’s reaction to a girl staying in Shawn’s
trailer is that he’s banging her, even though we learn a year later that Shawn
had yet to slide into home at this point.
Poor kid, having such a tainted reputation that his own best friend is quick to judge. However, Shawn
obviously cares a lot about Claire, and I’m surprised that they weren’t
dating. They had excellent
chemistry. However, hiding Claire’s
actual secret was a job that was much too big for him, even though coming from
a dysfunctional family, I can see why he thought he had to try. As a character, this is Shawn at his absolute
best – at least in high school. It can
be argued that he’s a much better man by the end of the series.
4. Angela’s Men
Shawn working so hard to join the military was kind of
hot. Also, the fact that he wasn’t
trying to impress anyone was, in its own way, impressive. At least, Angela’s father agreed as he
convinced Angela to get back together with him.
Sure, Shawn didn’t join the military, but the perceived selflessness
showed us that Shawn was all grown up.
3. We’ll Have a
Good Time Then
Oh my gosh, we all give Joss Whedon shit for the way he
kills off characters, and with the exception of Buffy’s mom, none of his deaths
stings anywhere near as bad as when Chet promises to be there for his boys and
then dies. It’s just not fair. This is possibly the only episode I’m ranking
that has the least immediate effect on Shawn’s character, but it’s definitely
the episode we (should) think of when Michael Jacobs says Shawn can never be happy. He freaking means it.
2. Cult Fiction
Nobody knew how badly Shawn was broken until this
episode. They all loved Shawn, but they
were at a loss as to how to help him.
And because Shawn is the kind of guy who would scrape his knee and then
die from botulism, Turner gets into that gnarly motorcycle accident. It’s too much for such a broken boy! Cory gives the angriest hug I have ever seen
in my life, but Shawn allegedly learns how to cope. Yeah, I’m a fan of Boy Meets World – I don’t
think Shawn ever learns to cope, he just learns that he can’t run away, either.
1. The Fugitive
This is the episode that defines Shawn as a
character. Before this episode, he was
Cory’s best friend who lived in a trailer park, didn’t have a lot of money, and
got to watch all the good shows that came on after most of us had to go to
bed. Then Shawn blew up a mailbox with a
cherry bomb, and it defined him. Shawn
was America’s bad boy. He wasn’t so bad
that he could never be redeemed, but he was just bad enough you knew trouble
was coming for him. And in case you
couldn’t see by the other episodes on this list, trouble came for Shawn many
times over.
I apologize for the quality of some of the caps; I worked with what could be found on YouTube. I know there are episodes you think I should have
included in this list, but I’m saving them for another list (one in particular
is definitely a Cory/Shawn episode).
But, you know, like I said, arguments are welcome in the comments. Let me know what you think.
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