I'll get to something longer and with more substance tomorrow, but right now I'm in the mood for a simple sitcom episode. Boy Meets World it is-- a sitcom best described as sweet but mildly surreal.
Topanga's spending Christmas with Cory's family for the first time. Cory has a promise ring to give to her, because they're going to be together forever. And the way this show always presented their eternal love as a fact is the only thing that most bothers me about this show. It could have been a chaotic, confusing, Kevin-and-Winnie kind of deal-- more people would have related to that. But instead it was a predestined "we've been in love since we were two!" kind of a thing, which leads to a whole separate problem with continuity, since in season one Cory could barely stand the sight of Topanga. And at that point she was an outspoken hippie whose dad was played by Peter Tork, but sadly all of that went away. I think she had four or five dads over the years. And she had a sister at one point, named Nebula Stopthewar Lawrence, but then she vanished off the face of the Earth.
ANYWAY. The theme of this episode is that when families mesh, traditions don't always.
Matthews family traditions:
eggnog
aluminum tree
opening gifts on Christmas morning
cardboard noodle star on top of the tree
Topanga traditions:
hot mulled cider
real tree carefully selected from a tree farm
opening gifts on Christmas Eve
angel on top of the tree
I prefer cider to eggnog, but I don't think I've ever had cider on Christmas. I am indifferent about what kind of tree-- my family uses a fake tree, but a green one. Gifts can be opened whenever, why not compromise and spread them out? But one thing I am weird about-- I much prefer having a star on top of the tree. Couldn't tell you why, really, it just makes more sense to me, visually and symbolically.
HOWEVER, if I were spending Christmas with someone else's family (something I have never done, and I'll be thirty in May), I would anticipate that their traditions and preferences would differ from my own. I would either grin and bear it, or find a way to blend the traditions, such as spreading present opening out, or having cider AND eggnog. Topanga, on the other hand, expects the Matthews family to adapt HER traditions, and love them. Maybe this is why it's hazardous to get into serious relationships so young.
Another Matthews family tradition is that Mr. Feeny comes over and reads A Christmas Carol to the family. To the show's credit, they acknowledge that this particular tradition is a bit odd. It's a short novel, but I think it would still take a while to read out loud in one sitting. Topanga's suggestion to alter this tradition is that they act out the parts, and Mr. Feeny is freaked out, for some reason. I guess he likes to hear himself read.
In the middle of the night, Topanga is freaking out about their traditions not meshing. But by morning, she is happy and making pancakes shaped like Christmas trees. Now it's Cory's turn to be the snot and reject her pancakes because they don't fit with his vision of the day, or something, and he likes his family's traditions the way they are. Oh, and she squeezed grapefruit juice into his orange juice, and what kind of person does that, oh no, the world is ending...He snots all the way to his best friend Shawn's apartment, where Shawn is spending his first Christmas with his half brother. Shawn compares Cory and Topanga to the grapefruit juice and orange juice: "You shouldn't be together. And yet somehow you are." That... doesn't sound very encouraging.
Topanga stops by to apologize, even though Cory was the one who ran off in a snit. Cory proceeds to fall asleep watching A Christmas Carol on TV, and then have a rather contrived dream that Feeny shows up and shows Cory his future in which Cory is... fat. Because all he eats, for every meal, is pancakes shaped like Christmas trees. Then Cory goes to see Topanga in the future, and she's married to Shawn's half brother. They have three children and *gasp* an aluminum tree! Because love brings compromise, and when people are in love, they create their own traditions. Um... duh. Again, this is why they're too immature for the intensity of this relationship.
Needless to say, Cory goes running back to Topanga and gives her the promise ring. She doesn't point out to him that he was the one who ran away in a snit. She just gives him a promise ring of his own.
For the tag scene, everyone gathers around to listen to Mr. Feeny read A Christmas Carol after all, because that is SERIOUS BUSINESS.
Visuals: 1 out of 5
Spirit: 3 out of 5
Nostalgia: 3 out of 5
Humor: 2 out of 5
Music: 0 out of 5
Overall: 2.5 out of 5
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