TV Review: Girl Meets World 1×11 – “Girl Meets World of Terror”

The emcee for Girl Meets World’s very special Halloween episode is vampire Auggie! He has three (supposedly) terrifying tales for us.

Farkle’s Fear of Softball

Farkle holds on to Cory’s desk for dear life, begging his teacher to write him a note to get him out of gym class. “[Maya] throw[s] things at me!” he says, trying to explain his fear. “I’m the pitcher,” Maya explains. Cory refuses, sending the kids on their way.

Gym class: Farkle tries to talk his way out of it with the coach: “I’m afraid of getting hit by the ball! I’m afraid of public humiliation!” The coach is unfazed. Meanwhile, Riley (as a steampunk lion) is asking which hand her mitt goes on. Maya (as a steampunk ringmaster) is confused until she realizes that Riley is playing dumb to get unnecessary help from Lucas, at which point she becomes a little impressed. Oh Disney, PLEASE do not teach young girls to play dumb to get attention from boys. I thought we were past this.

After Maya throws two unsuccessful pitches, Lucas pulls her out of the game—Farkle is in her head. Lucas thinks he knows how to pitch for him. He hits Farkle with the ball to make him realize it wouldn’t hurt that badly. With this, Farkle requests that Maya return as pitcher—he no longer has anything to fear.

Riley’s Fear of Sleeping at Maya’s House

The post trick-or-treating sleepover is supposed to be at Maya’s apartment this year, but Riley is trying to get out of it. “I wake up every morning and you’re not there. It makes me feel bad,” Maya explains. I fear that Riley and Maya are developing a bit of the Cory and Shawn problem where occasionally Cory neglected Shawn’s problems/feelings in favor of his own. With Cory’s insistence, Riley ventures to Maya’s for the sleepover.

Riley screams when she sees Maya’s ferret Ginger. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but your cat is possessed,” she says, fear in her eyes. Maya tells her it’s a ferret. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but your cat is a ferret.” The problems mount: Riley is terrified of the shadows and Maya’s grandmother scares the crap out of her. To be fair, why is Gammy that close to Riley in the dark?

Two shapes appear at the window, scaring Maya. It’s Lucas and Farkle sporting werewolf masks. It doesn’t seem safe that all of these kids surprise their friends at their windows with such ease. Why isn’t anything locked ever? They’re in New York! After the boys take their leave, Riley realizes that Maya’s neighborhood isn’t that scary—in fact, it’s kind of pretty. That was anticlimactic.

Auggie’s Fear of the Monster Under His Bed

It’s time for Auggie to sleep in his own bed. After Cory and Topanga leave, Auggie gets scared and immediately calls Topanga back. “You’re not going to eat all my candy, are you?” he asks, suggesting that he stay up to make sure. She turns him down and takes her leave. Next he calls Cory back in since there’s a monster under his bed! Cory hands over Mr. Googly and exits, not budging.

Mr. Googly is taken, a Mr. Wobbly left in his place. Turns out there IS a monster under the bed, and he wants Wobbly back as much as Auggie wants Googly. When they meet face to face, Auggie is freaked. “You’re the monster under the bed!” Auggie says. “You’re the monster OVER the bed!” the monster yells. They bond and it’s adorable. Apparently, Auggie can only see him because the monster is saying goodbye—he no longer has a purpose there if Auggie isn’t scared of him.

Host Auggie returns to let us know what this week’s lesson is: things aren’t always as scary as they seem. I was slightly disappointed by this episode; since we’re on Disney, I wasn’t expecting the stories to be scary, but they weren’t particularly Halloween-themed either. I was also hoping to escape the lesson of the week. However, the costume game? A++.