“If you only try 9,000 times, you just end up sitting in the dark.”
Warning: Full spoilers from the episode follow.
After last week’s subpar Halloween special, almost any episode of Girl Meets World would have been an improvement. “Girl Meets Rah Rah” was definitely a step up from last week’s episode, but it wasn’t quite the comeback I was hoping for. In addition to featuring a lackluster storyline, it didn’t help that the week before last gave us the surprisingly emotional “Girl Meets Rileytown,” which made this week’s Riley-centric episode pale by comparison.
That said, “Girl Meets Rah Rah” did have its moments. For example, it was nice to see Riley’s self-confidence fully restored, as she beamed her way through the school’s rigorous cheerleader tryouts. I especially liked how she made two new cheerleader friends along the way, despite the impossible standards set by Coach Kelly — who was more than a little Sue Sylvester-esque. (Maybe Jane Lynch should have guest starred on this episode instead of “Girl Meets Farkle’s Choice.”)
Meanwhile, Cory’s Thomas Edison lesson felt somewhat unnecessary, although it did give us a better look at the difference between Cory the father and Cory the teacher. And while Lucas, Maya, Farkle and Zay’s support for Riley was in keeping with their characters, their mushy encouragement got pretty repetitive by episode’s end. As a result, this storyline felt formulaic, with not much going for anyone. (Though I am curious to see if Zay’s love interest Jessica pops up in the upcoming “Girl Meets Texas” episodes.)
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy “Girl Meets Rah Rah.” For a 22-minute episode, it was enjoyable enough, and thankfully it didn’t include too many “Disney Channely” moments. (However, I was not a fan of Perez Hilton’s weird, random cameo at the end. Seriously, what was that about?) But ultimately, Season 2 has seen stronger episodes in recent weeks — “Girl Meets World: Of Terror 2” notwithstanding — especially for Riley. Hopefully the “Texas” episodes will be more engaging.
“Girl Meets Rah Rah” was hardly a must-watch, but it was nice to see Riley back to her usual cheery self. It would have been nice to see something more substantial come out of this episode, but the humor at least was mostly on-point.
