The Season

Boy Meets World, for those of us lucky enough to grow up in the 90s (yea, I said lucky) was one of the shows in the Friday night lineup.  It was one of the last shows about teenagers to hit the airwaves before the entertainment world became a mockery of life, with 16 year olds getting wasted in swanky New York bars and speaking with all the wisdom and experience of 80-year-olds.  It was wholesome, funny and real enough that we could relate.  When the fiction hit too obviously, they poked fun at themselves, like when the actor who played Morgan changed between seasons to “new Morgan” or the fact that one teacher had the teaching credentials to instruct them every single year.   Plus, it had the gorgeous Danielle Fishel as Topanga – what wasn’t there to love?  In The Complete Fourth Season, the BMW gang continues their exploits in good ol’ Philadelphia, learning about life, love and the enigma that is Feeny.

Cory (Ben Savage – Chuck, Party of Five) and Topanga’s relationship really takes off, Shawn (Rider Strong – Cabin Fever) becomes an ignorant teenage playboy and Eric (Will Friedle – voice of Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond) begins his slow descent into madness – this is what season four is about.   There are several guest stars in this season, including Blake Clark (Home Improvement, 50 First Dates) as Shawn’s dad Chet and Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl) as bully-turned-poet Frankie Stechino.  The gang deals with the sensitive issues of sex and broken families, along with SATs and the drama of being license-bearing teens trying to exert their independence and getting shut down every time by parents who love them enough to be parents, not friends.  How dare they!

I have enjoyed this show from beginning to end and still love watching reruns.  I feel as though I would love all of these characters in real life, though I will always be confused by William Daniel’s posh English-sounding accent in his portrayal of Professor George Feeny, though the actor was born and raised in New York.  Trivia calls it a variation of a Bostonian accent but it doesn’t really matter; his insight and grace are unmatched and I want a Feeny in my life, darn it!  I don’t know one girl who didn’t want to have Topanga’s hair or one guy who didn’t want to be Topanga’s curly-headed love.  Cory has such an innocence in the first few seasons, but with Topanga’s brief departure in this season comes an older, more mature guy. How will this year turn out?  Here are some of the highlights:

Hair Today, Goon Tomorrow – Topanga has always an unusual beauty.  In this episode, in an effort to show Cory that looks aren’t as important as what’s inside, she cuts off a chunk of her beautiful long hair. However, what could have been a disaster quickly proves otherwise as a stylist fixes her into an even more gorgeous version of who she was before.  Topanga’s new hairstyle is one I would attempt to copy for the next couple of years without much success.

An Affair to Forget – there is nothing of particular note in this episode except for it houses the invention of Eric’s “Feeny Call”.

Chick Like Me – We see how oddly attractive Shawn looks as a female in this episode where he and Cory, to write an article for the school paper, dress up like girls in an imitation of the book they’re reading in class: “Black Like Me” by John Howard Griffin.  Shawn quickly learns that what a girl says to a guy and what he hears isn’t always the same thing and gains a newfound respect for the women he dates.  I also feel like this episode marks the beginning of Shawn’s later seasons as a brooding, sensitive somewhat goth-like persona.

“What’s wrong?”  “My hosiery is bunching.”

 

A Long Walk to Pittsburgh, Parts 1 and 2 – I think, out of all the episodes in the seven seasons that this show ran, these two episodes are in the top five most memorable.  Topanga’s parents move her to Pittsburgh, 300 miles away from Cory and everything she knows.   What is really surprising in these episodes is the amount of sensitivity and protection Eric shows to his younger brother.   “Cory, I know I’m your big brother and all…but I don’t know how to protect you from this.” Eric says as Cory stands brokenhearted in his backyard after Topanga drives away.  It really just breaks your heart.  This season seems to be when Eric and Cory become friends as well as brothers, which is hilarious and heartwarming at once and continues to be for the rest of the series.

Cult Fiction – possibly the most intense episode of the season.  Shawn starts hanging out with a new group of people at a place called “The Center”.  Mr. Mac, a dangerously manipulative leader, convinces Shawn that no one but those in The Center care about him.  When Mr. Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn – Melrose Place, Party of Five), Shawn’s guardian, gets into an awful motorcycle accident, it forces Shawn to look at his life and those in it and realize how much love and support he has from everyone in the BMW universe.  The normally mild-mannered Mr. Matthews’s (William Russ – Boston Legal, The Event) defense of Shawn is what opens his eyes that maybe he isn’t as “lost” as he thought he was.

Special Features

Unfortunately, there are no special features to this season, not even a blooper reel.

Audio/Video

There’s not much to this portion of the review.  Video is in full frame and audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Digital with closed captioning thrown in.  There were a couple of times where I felt the audio was a bit off, but nothing that really detracts from the show.

Overall

Fans of the series have been waiting for several years for ABC Studios and Disney to release these episodes on DVD.  Now that they have, we can only hope that they will continue with seasons five through seven in the upcoming year.  Boy Meets World: The Complete Fourth Season is a solid collection of one of the most beloved teen sitcoms to grace our televisions and a great Christmas gift for the friend who wants to take a walk down pre-teen memory lane.

ComicsOnline gives Boy Meets World: The Complete Fourth Season 4.5 out of 5 curly-headed virgins

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