‘Girl Meets World’ season 3, episode 17 review: ‘Girl Meets Hollyworld’ takes on stardom with silliness
Do we have a new contender for funniest “Girl Meets World” episode this season? After making it through “Girl Meets Hollyworld,” we’re starting to think that way. While there were a few meaningful moments throughout this episode and also an important message at the end of it, we would say that pound for pound, this was the ridiculous and most-humorous episode produced by the Disney Channel in a rather long span of time.
Let’s start things off here by sharing the premise, which is utterly ridiculous in the first place: Maya kidnapped a famous movie star, and then cuffed her to a radiator in order to keep her from leaving. If the show didn’t go in the precise direction it did, this could’ve had a dangerous twist! This movie star was named Anastasia, and she happened to be up for a role as a waitress / mother for a film being directed by the father of one of Riley and Maya’s classmates. This role was also one that that Maya’s mother Katy was perfect for and wanted to have.
Sure, there are a million questions we could ask about how Maya made said kidnapping happen, why she had handcuffs, and why nobody tried to stop her, but that’d probably take up a good half of the episode to explain. This is just one of those storylines where you just have to accept what is being told to you and move forward; don’t think about it too much.
The big twist that was present here is that it just so turned out that Anastasia was actually a fake name, and she was really one of the former classmates of Katy growing up. The two were even best friends! Unfortunately, over time they fell out of touch with each other, and “Anastasia” found herself dramatically changed by her fame. As the revelations came out, this proved to be a great chance to explore some of Katy’s history with her friend, and the two of them reliving these memories proved to be hilarious — and the same goes for Maya’s reactions to them. Cheryl Texiera surely loved the opportunity to let loose and have a little bit of fun after spending so much time on this show playing the mother character and not getting to do anything like this.
Despite some initial resistance to the idea, eventually Katy’s movie-star friend was nice enough to help her land the role, and also not charge Maya in the process for kidnapping her. The entire episode was pie-in-the-sky idealism, but in the current climate, we probably need a little of that can-do, all-dreams-are-possible sort of thinking. We didn’t mind that here.
To us, what truly made this episode funny was seeing that this entire movie was basically based on our main characters’ lives, and despite the close similarities they had to each one of the characters, they repeatedly failed in terms of passing the auditions. The closing tag was especially brilliant in that regard, as was Riley learning that her name in the movie was “Smiley” as opposed to Maya being “banana.” It feels pretty clear who won out here!
Overall – “Girl Meets Hollyworld” may not have made a single ounce of sense logically, but it was a hoot and something families will probably love watching together. After all, there was a good message buried within here about staying true to oneself and not letting the world change who you are. This is “Girl Meets World” at its best, even if it wasn’t particularly profound this time. Grade: A-.
For more on the future of “Girl Meets World” this season, be sure to head over to the link here without delay! (Photo: Disney Channel.)