‘Girl Meets World’ episode 8 review: Farkle and the appearance debate

After a hiatus of a few weeks, “Girl Meets World” came back to the Disney Channel tonight. Did you even know? The hard thing about the way these schedules are is that unless you are an avid viewer of the channel, it is very easy to forget that the show is still on.

Tonight’s episode is entitled “Girl Meets Smackle,” and was all about whether or not appearances mean anything compared to what is on the inside. We met Farkle’s debate rival Smackle, who claimed that she wanted a makeover in order to get to know the guy that she supposedly had a crush on. This all turned out to be research to completely demolish him later, but Riley and Maya fell for it completely.

There were some improvements abound in this episode from the first seven, and we begin with the simple fact that Lucas actually had some character development in here! They allowed him to be slightly more than just a good-looking guy who Riley was obsessed with … even though that was still there to a certain extent. He had some funny dialogue, and made it clear that he’s not about sports nearly as much as academics.

What surprised us was simply how little Cory and Topanga were actually in this, save for a really great line from Danielle Fishel about how her character’s romance probably destroyed many with high expectations for love. That was a classic callback, but the rest of this episode felt catered a little more towards the younger generation, and that’s for the most part okay.

The only flaw in this strategy is that “Girl Meets World” is becoming less about nostalgia, and more about reaching young viewers now. Whether or not you appreciate that is probably going to depend heavily on who you are. Grade: B.

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Photo: Disney Channel