They sit, and Cory begins. It all started the day she was nagging me by the llama pen. Topanga smacks him on the knee. I don't nag. They plead their cases to Feeny as we fade to black. -Daniele

Like they could have done the whole, this could have been like the second scene of the episode and then the whole episode is just us retaking the flashback and redoing it in different versions. -Rider

I love the idea of, in each of our memory what we look like in the other one's memory. -Danielle

Both boys gasp and iconic line alert. They dramatically gasp Topanga in unison. -Danielle

That's the first time right? -Will

I I, I don't know. Do we say this a bunch? I know it's an iconic line, but I don't know if it's just because we did this once or this is an ongoing thing. -Rider

You do it again later. I I know for sure in like the college scene, in the college stuff. -Danielle

Matt and I do it, a bunch of people do it. It's like the way to say her name now. -Will

Yeah. It becomes a thing. -Danielle

Which again is just riffing on an affair to forget when Topanga arranges for the scene and she. -Rider

I thought, I thought the thing about the, the exchange that he and I had together of, it's an open paper. You could do whatever you like's the easiest assignment ever. He is like, you're kidding. Right? Like, that was funny to me..But the rest of it is just to get Jack and Feeny on screen together for the first time ever, which has never happened. I think that's the whole reason why this happened. -Will

I know I said that the Feeny call hasn't happened, but I I I will say after watching this, I'm like, yeah it's enough of a thing now. -Rider

It was the thing that before he ever did the escalation with dragging it out. This had been the previous Feeny call. Once he does the dragged out one. That's like the peak Pinnacle. That's the pinnacle of it all. But this was the Feeny call up until the point that he found even a funnier way of doing it. -Danielle

Now had had this scene right here, been the only time they took it to that level of its lovers breaking up... -Will

Funny. -Rider

Howling. -Will

I know you're right. -Danielle

This would've been hysterical. -Will

 It's all about modulation. I think you're right. This whole episode is just not modulated...The lines are actually pretty funny. The writing's pretty good. I think the script could've, you know, well it's, it's, it's the same scene over and over. It's just, it it's a sketch. It's a, it's one joke, one scene. And they just kept riffing on it and having fun. -Rider 

I love this joke that like Shawn's surrounded by leather jacket wearing guys. And I I also kind of love the low key joke that Lionel is kind of like another Cory. It would've been such a good way to go where like, you see us hanging out and like, the fact that we find other people just like us doesn't work, like that we're like miserable. Like that I'm surrounded by Shawn's and I'm suddenly like, I miss, I miss my Cory. That would've been a joke built on our actual characters and our personalities.  Instead it's just this visual gag. And then it's like, yeah, if Lionel was like super dorky and anxious and neurotic and Cory was like..and he could see himself how he is and then be like, I need a Shawn.... I'm wearing, I I had the same, I had the same thought because later at the party at the house, I'm wearing the same outfit I was in the morning so this is all on day.... -Rider

...And Rider Did you think you look like you were about to break? I was wondering if Ben was making a funny face. -Danielle

Yes. Yeah, I was. This was the, yeah, I didn't, in the rest of the episode, I was surprised by. This was like where I actually look like Ben and I are having fun, for the first time. Because we're not being tortured into line readings and screaming at each other... Well, it was probably the only time we got to throw water. 'cause we had been rehearsing without throwing water. So this was like, oh, we have to do it now. So I'm sure that there was a level of like real like looking  at each other. -Rider

You wipe your nose at some point so I think water really had gone up your nose. And I think the only way to like recover from it was you had to wipe your nose. -Danielle

That's the only honest moment in the whole episode. -Rider

She stands between his legs on a stool and kisses him in an attempt to ensorcel him. She asks, did you enjoy that? Cory smiles. Yes ma'am. Topanga is relieved. Okay, good. -Danielle 

Thank God he's straight. -Rider

Thank God my boyfriend still likes it when I kiss him. Very benignly. -Danielle 

Well, Danielle, in all fairness, you've got a history. I'm just saying just a history of your boyfriend's turning out to be gay. -Will

Jack Pleads. I just wanna go to college. I just wanna do the work. Eric shakes him. I like you too much to let you do that. The dean who is not Bonnie Bartlett...-Danielle

Yeah. See, like why Jack wants to do the work. Just go do it. -Rider

So this becomes an on running thing though. This becomes, 'cause he says it again when, when during the plays with squirrels episode, he's like, what is it about you? Like, why can I not just get away from you and not listen to what you have to say? So they're, they build it up to where Jack is like sucked into Eric's orbit and his craziness. And for some reason, Eric, he, he says, why do you have this power over me in the, in the  plays will squirrels episode. -Will 

That's like cop out come up with a reason that he has a, like that's.. -Rider

I, that's what's what they're doing is that Eric is magnetic and is like, can, can talk people into everything. I think that's the point. I don't think it lands, but I think that's the point. -Will

You got a haircut this episode we haven't talked about that. -Rider

I got what? -Will

A haircut. -Danielle

A haircut? -Rider

I did. Yes I did. -Wll

And it's so obvious that they were like, either you or they were like, we have three guy, three floppy haired guys, white guys with the exact, and it's like, which you can't all be the same. -Rider

And I also have that like a curl in The middle. -Will

 I know you've got like a Clark Kent line. -Danielle

And then he sits behind Lionel and glances right at Shawn. I'm taking another boy's grapes. -Danielle

It's a pretty funny line. I mean, you know. -Rider

But this joke, right? This like Shawn and Cory are really lovers. Isn't it funny? They're, they're not gay, but they act like it. That was like such a big part. I remember in Girl Meets World, that was like the joke when I came on the show. And so I'm wondering, do we drop it after this?...-Rider

 Danielle. Isn't there an episode where you constantly go his Lova? Isn't that a thing where he is like, and then Sean, his lova. Isn't that why, why am I having that? -Will

That does sound familiar. That does sound familiar. -Danielle

I think there's an episode where every time somebody says Cory or Shawn, you go his lova.- Will

And the point of the wedding episode is that it becomes all about Cory and Shawn. Like, unfortunately, we're just gonna stay in this mode. -Rider 

I think, I think that, I think if this was the first time we saw it, it would be one thing. But it's the fact that we've seen this already done better. That made it, that threw it for me.-Will

Riders exactly right. They didn't have to play the comedy. They didn't have to play the but you're not gay right. Cause it was about him dating a woman. If, if this, by the way, if they removed all the boyfriend are they boyfriends? Are they gay stuff from it? I might have enjoyed the episode more if, if if it had been a farce about their friendship. -Danielle

The intensity of a friendship. -Rider

The intensity of a friendship. And guys, come on. Look, even Topanga is gonna go to Miami and Cory and Topanga are gonna be fine. -Danelle

Or like Will pointed out, you could have versions of taking things too seriously that aren't just a gay joke. But you know, like where we act like toddlers or we, we take things too far and we hurt each other's feelings or we start pranking one another, whatever. But instead they just play the one joke, which is Isn't it funny, Cory's acting like a jilted lover.  Yeah. Yeah. They're, they're, they're cheating on each other. They're seeing other, it's just the story of a breakup and that's it. It's one, it's one joke over and over. And how many variations of this can we do? -Rider

And then when you say you paid a skywriter to, to write, Cory, I hate You in the Clouds. This gets a mixed reaction from the audience who isn't sure that this is indeed funny. And they kind of go...There's like a little bit of...-Danielle

The prisoners were confused. They definitely were. -Will

You know, now that you're ta now that we're talking about it, I really do think that that is, that it's, it's pure homophobia because if it was played for reality, then you run the risk that Sean and Corey are actually gay, maybe kind of in love with each other and gay or like, and so I think they, they just pushed us to be like, no, no, no, let's just make a complete joke out of this. So that from the moment it starts, there's never any doubt. So then you can play Cory as gay as possible. Shawn as gay as possible and it's never gonna be threatening to like, actually, you know. You could even make the, like, does he like kissing Topanga jokes? But it's so obvious  like the audience, you know, it's like, there's like, there's this push to make sure it's like, well, this is so ridiculous.  Let's just make it all a big, like telegraph to the audience that it's a complete joke. And you know, that they didn't have that problem with an Affair to Forget because it was literally about being about a woman. That was the impetus for the where in this they have to push so hard because, you know, I think they were afraid that it would be. You know, and it's like, w why, why not? Like why not make that the part of the joke too.Liike, what if they are actually kind of maybe in love with each other and they need to deal with that or whatever. But you can't laugh at that, you know, in the nineties. -Rider

It could also just be, and I don't wanna say just as if I'm minimizing toxic masculinity, but this idea that, well, two platonic friends can't care about each other enough in order to make it...sure my best friend can move across the country. What do I care? I'm still gonna be, I we still, so I talked to him like there could still be this, this element of it that isn't, but yeah, the mixed, I, I don't know. I it's, it's one of the two that you're right, that's probably exactly the reason they had to take it so over the top to make sure there wasn't any questions about the sensitivity of two boys who are platonically in love with each other and, and what that looks like. Nobody wanted to actually just have that. -Danielle 

Think about the word bromance didn't exist yet. Right, right. Like the idea this was, they, they had to make it an over the top joke to to, to like make it palatable to straight America, you know? And to heteronormativity. Like, it's just the only way that they could sort of make it work because yeah otherwise it, it, I don't know. I, it's, it's, it's a bummer because you, I think the script is actually kind of funny. I think there is a version of this where there's nuance and where it builds, you know. -Rider

But we, we saw that version where there's nuance. We saw it. It was an Affair to Forget. -Will 

It's super interesting because I remember all of this, like I remember the run through. And it was a disaster our first run through.  And this, and it's so funny because we are, we are, and I can see it. We are responding to the notes. And it was a shouting match. It was being yelled at and told that we were not playing funny enough. And that it, I mean, it was like this huge big showdown of like, you guys don't get farce, You don't understand comedy. And you have to like, why would you ever take this seriously? Why would you ever play this for real? It this is all just over the top ridiculousness.  This whole episode is a farce. Play it as a joke. And so that's what we're doing. And I remember being yelled at, I remember feeling awful. Like, I remember just sitting there like, Ben and I like, you know, being dressed down after a run through. And so I can I, I mean that's what all I can see is just, I, you, I was watching it going, it's not as bad as, you know. 'Cause in my mind, this was an episode that was a complete failure. But what I was remembering was the failure of the run through, which of course, you know, in retrospect, a failure meant that Michael wasn't happy. And, and, and he let us know and made a big show out of how bad we were doing. And so this is the us responding to that. And yeah, clearly there's no stakes. There's no actual stakes in the episode. So all of it's just us trying to crank up the conflict and crank up the comedy. And so it ends up being very yeah. heightened. It's like a super over the top ridiculous episode. I didn't mind it. Like I, I didn't mind it as much as you did, but it's interesting that you picked up on that. You know, that that's, and you see it as a weakness. 'cause I mean, obviously we had played it probably much more earnestly and had moments that were, you know, probably in my mind, similar to an Affair to Forget in the sense of like, you know, we were gonna go to Vermont and you know, like just playing it for like this rea the reality of it and let it build. And that was, that was yelled out of us. -Rider 

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