This week, Riley confronted a cyberbully in the best way possible.
Warning: Full spoilers from the episode follow.
This week’s Girl Meets World got off to a very weird, almost incoherent start, and it took about half the episode for the storyline to click into place. But once that happened, “Girl Meets Rileytown” turned into one of the most emotional and powerful episodes of Season 2 thus far. In addition to tackling another important issue — cyberbullying — this installment featured one of Rowan Blanchard’s best performances yet, proving her dynamic range as actress once again.
But for awhile, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. The cold open, for example, felt like a non-issue, as Maya insisted to Riley over and over that she loved “Rileytown” and all her friend’s delightful quirks. This continued in subsequent scenes, including a Hamilton/Burr-inspired ice cream duel that, again, didn’t seem necessary. There were hints that something else was going on with Riley, though at first I suspected she was fretting over the inevitable Maya/Lucas pairing.
It wasn’t until Farkle started piecing together the bully angle that “Girl Meets Rileytown” came into its own — even if Farkle had to make some pretty big logic leaps to get there. The ensuing bay window scene was the episode’s first truly great one, as a tear-stricken Riley confessed to Maya what was really going on. You could feel the sting in Riley’s words here, especially when she started quoting her cyberbully’s scathing insults. It was a powerful moment for Girl Meets World, and for Blanchard as a performer.
I also liked how the guys immediately came to Riley’s aid, including Zay who offered good comic relief throughout the episode. (“Yeah, I know how this goes.”) However, the “Texas Lucas” thing never came back around in the way I thought it would. Maybe the writers are saving that for his own episode in the future.
Meanwhile, Cory finally, finally addressed his other students, by name, adding, “I know there are lots of groups of friends in here, and I know you go through stuff too,” followed by a humorous reference to their math teacher being the one who relates algebra to their lives. And while it didn’t really make up for the fact that Cory shouldn’t have been discussing Riley’s private issue in such a public forum (seriously, dude, where were you and Topanga during the bay window scene?), it was nice to hear that Cory did in fact care about all his students.
Finally, Riley’s confrontation with her cyberbully was easily the highlight of the episode, as she put on one of her “award ceremonies” in front of the whole school. I thought it was an interesting choice to never actually show the bully, which in a way I think represented the anonymity that comes with attacking someone from behind a computer or smartphone screen. It was kind of like watching a one-act play or a monologue, with just Riley talking and no one else.
This week’s Girl Meets World tackled one of its most salient issues yet: cyberbullying. While “Girl Meets Rileytown” could have been structured a little differently to make the situation clearer upfront, the second half was very effective and gave Rowan Blanchard some of her best scenes to date.
