Since Ben Savage directed last week’s Girl Meets World episode, it seems fitting that Rider Strong took the reins on this one. Cory tries to get the class excited about the 1960s, but they’re not interested. “Dad, no one cares about when you were our age,” Riley argues to her not-sixty-year-old father. “History is all about missed opportunities,” Cory says, which isn’t the lesson I was expecting. Their assignment: time travel to the 1960s by talking to their grandparents or great-grandparents. This is an awesome assignment, but what the hell kind of history class is Cory running? Last week’s lesson was about the Trojan Horse—we seem to have lost thousands of years worth of history between then and now.
1961: Rosie McGee (i.e., Riley dressed as Audrey Hepburn) strolls into a café and meets Ginsberg (Farkle dressed as a beat poet). Rosie is there to meet new friends, so Ginsberg points her in the direction of a flower child that looks a lot like Maya. “Are you as interesting as you look?” Riley asks. “Are you as weird as you talk?” Flower child responds. Obviously we’re looking at Riley’s and Maya’s relatives here.
Present day: Riley, Lucas, and Farkle are discussing their projects at a café while Maya reads an art book. Maya finds the art book intimidating; everyone in there had something to say and she feels like a hack. She ditches the book and art all together.
1961: Flower Child Maya is actually May Clutterbucket, a singer-songwriter on her way to Topanga Canyon. Rosie writes “Topanga” down—it’s a good name for something you want to love (HINT, HINT). In walks Merlin Scarlin (Lucas, dressed like Johnny Cash with a cowboy hat), a country singer with something to say. May is insecure about her ability to make an impact, just as Maya is in the present. Merlin attempts encouragement: “You only know my thoughts because I said them.” Alas, his advice fell on deaf ears: May leaves her guitar with Rosie, falsely promising she’ll be right back. Rosie McGee never saw her friends again.
Present day: Riley continues great-grandmother Rosie’s poem about the girl with the long blonde hair, giving Maya May’s guitar to convince her not to give up on her dreams. Maya returns to the café in the Village to retrieve her book.
The next day Farkle gives his presentation, asking his friends about their relatives’ visit to the café. Maya claims her mother wouldn’t tell her about her relatives, but Farkle knows her well enough to know she snooped anyway. She admits that she comes from a long line of… wait for it… Clutterbuckets. Lucas exclaims, “This is the best day of my life!” Maya grits her teeth, turning her attention back to Farkle and Riley. She’s not happy that she comes from a long line of quitters, but she knows now that she has the power to change that trend.
The episode closes with the kids arriving early for History class—after the project, they understand the importance of history. Cory arrives and delivers the introduction to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. I guess they’re not skipping thousands of years worth of history between lessons this time around. Class dismissed.
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Here’s the thing about episodes that take place in a different time period: there needs to be a reason. Whether that reason is a witch’s familiar swallowing a magical time ball and throwing his companions into other time periods (Sabrina the Teenage Witch AND Boy Meets World), or having a former soldier tell you what happened when the government tried to cover up an alien crash landing in the 1940s (Roswell), there’s a purpose. The purpose in this episode appeared to be “because we can,” which might have worked had the plot been stronger. Not a favorite.
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