School hallway: Riley and Maya notice that their classmates are being a tad bit dramatic today, with heaps of crying and breakup texting. A girl named Sage explains that it’s Breakup Monday–i.e., the Monday where everyone breaks up after their Friday parties, so that they have enough drama to last them until the following Friday. Upon discovering that Riley and Maya both like Lucas, Sage declares that their friendship is over. Zay and Farkle have a similar conversation with Lucas, where they point out that he has to make a choice. “Farkle and I have let this go too long, mostly because your pain is hilarious to us,” Zay explains.
Art class: in typical fashion, Riley is drawing a purple cat and threatening that she’ll cut her own ear off to their art teacher, Mr. Jackson. Maya Jackson Pollocks a piece that causes Mr. Jackson to say that he has no idea what she’s trying to say with her art, inspiring doubt in Maya’s artistic talents. He warns Maya not to let her influences become who she is and gives her an incomplete on the assignment.
Bay window: Riley worries about Maya’s new timid identity. She attempts to bait her by saying she’s going to claim Lucas for herself because he was her boyfriend first. Maya merely worries that Riley thought she was selfish for liking Lucas. Riley becomes more concerned.
Topanga’s Cafe: Zay doesn’t understand why Lucas is having such a hard time deciding–after all, if it were him, he’d know exactly who to choose! Only, he ends up choosing both options as well. This looks like a job for the jelly beans and the scale. Lucas determines that it should be Riley, as it was clearly fate that had her crash into him on the subway. However, he realizes that it was Maya who pushed them together in the first place, not fate. In sum: the jelly beans are not as decisive as they were in Boy Meets World.
The Matthews’ Apartment: Riley brings Maya to her parents and demands that they fix her–she’s getting good grades, the horror! They bring Katie in, who provides some meta commentary. “I shouldn’t be here, this is about my daughter. See you in a month, don’t forget to eat,” she says, attempting to leave. It’s moments like these that let us all know that Girl Meets World knows that it can be slightly ridiculous and is willing to poke fun at itself. Katie gets serious when she finds out that Maya is having problems in art and is dressing like Riley.
Art class: the kids are studying Monet’s Water Lilies. “A painting can sometimes be recognized for what it truly is by changing perspective. The same can also be said about people,” Mr. Jackson says. He apologizes to Maya and shows her that there was a hidden purple cat in her painting. “You haven’t lost your voice. You’ve been screaming, Ms. Hart,” he says.
The Matthews’ Apartment: they all share blame over Maya turning into Riley. In order to fix the situation, Riley makes Maya “sneak out,” something that they inform their parents of. Lucas jumps in, declaring that he’s finally made a decision. The parents explain that the girls are gone, but try to get Lucas to tell them his decision while they wait. He agrees, but CHECK. THAT. CLIFFHANGER! I guess we have to wait until next week!
Another episode of Girl Meets World dealing with Maya and Riley’s self identity. Of course these episodes are necessary, though I wish in the case of “Girl Meets Triangle,” they were slightly more clear about their messaging. Did I just ask Girl Meets World to be more obvious about something? Yes, yes I did. The stronger part of the episode was the humor surrounding Lucas having to make a decision…which will be severely undercut if the next episode doesn’t actually have a decision.
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Boy Meets World Throwback factor: MEDIUM. Fans of Boy Meets World will recognize the jelly bean tactic as the very same one Shawn had Cory use to decide between Topanga and Lauren after the ski trip.
Episode Rating: 7/10.
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