The week long celebration of Girl Meets World has us reminiscing on the good ole days. With the trio’s reunion with Mr. Feeny last night and the sure-to-be epic return of Eric Plays With Squirrels tonight, we can’t help but feel nostalgic for the original perfection that was Boy Meets World.
Here’s twenty-five episodes of Boy Meets World milestones that remind us why fifteen years later, we’re still holding on.
S1 E4 — ‘Cory’s Alternative Friends’
Cory: What do you think about my hair? Do you think it looks good?
Topanga: It’s beautiful. Like a desert tumbleweed.”
No list of Boy Meets World episodes is complete without the debut of Miss Topanga Lawrence. With her kooky but kind personality, she swept in and cemented herself as an essential part of Cory’s life. Unlike in later seasons when Cory remains the stable force amidst everyone else’s changing lives, in season one, he’s still trying to figure himself out. He’s malleable, fluid, and always trying fit in with the status quo, but Topanga’s influence encourages him to embrace his uniqueness and see his originality as beautiful. This episode is littered with iconic Boy Meets World moments, including Cory and Topanga’s first kiss (“Because it would be interesting if all your life you remembered your first kiss happened when you thought you looked weird. Wouldn’t it?”) and of course, Topanga’s interpretive dance in the Matthews’ kitchen where she smears makeup all over her face (“Use a mirror, babe.”). In season six she would go on to admit that this was the moment she always thought Cory fell in love with her.
More Boy Meets World: TV Sweethearts: 21 of the cutest couples on screen
S1 E17 – ‘The Fugitive’
Topanga: I think Shawn was making a daring political statement.
Minkus: And what statement was that? Build more prisons?
When Shawn blows up the mailbox outside of Cory’s dad’s store, he goes on the run from his teachers and family, hiding out in Cory’s bedroom. In the long run, the mailbox incident becomes the first of many of Shawn’s crossroads where he has to choose whether he’s going to give in to his propensity for trouble. It makes us realize that Cory’s friendship and inherent goodness are really what keeps Shawn striving to defy his nature, and stay in the light.
S2 E7 — ‘Wake Up, Little Cory’
Topanga: You know what I want? I want my good name back.
Cory: Some people would argue that Topanga’s not the best name to begin with.
When Mr. Turner assigns the class a video project on love and sex, Cory and Topanga team up to find out how their friends feel about intimacy. But when Mr. Feeny finds the two kids canoodling on school property the next morning, everyone at school assumes the two crazy kids did the deed, propelling Cory to insta-fame, and Topanga to be furious that her reputation is ruined because Cory refuses to tell the truth. In a sweet gesture, Cory makes it up to his friend by apologizing to Topanga publicly in their video and clearing up the rumors he helped spread. But of course, the best part of the episode is when the ever-perceptive cameraman, Shawn Hunter, makes kissy noises during Cory’s apology and declares, “Okay, now tell her how much you love her.”
S3 E3 — ‘What I Meant to Say’
Topanga: I was scared. I mean, we’re only fourteen years old. These feelings… When did you know?
Cory: Promise you won’t laugh? Do you remember that time when we were in my backyard chasing fireflies? And you had like twenty in your jar? And I had one with a broken bulb? And then Eric came outside and started teasing us…
Topanga: He said, “Cory loves Topanga!” and you said, “Yuck! I hate her!”
Cory: That’s when I knew.
When Cory blurts out to Topanga that he loves her after they’ve only been dating a couple of weeks, she freaks out and breaks up with him, afraid that they’re moving too fast. Shawn and Eric think that Cory’s an idiot for giving up his power in the relationship by telling Topanga he loves her, but Cory’s his own quirky kid, and he thinks it’s fine to say how he feels because Topanga’s the only girl for him. Yes, they are young, but Cory and Topanga’s relationship was always different from most because from the beginning, they were both willing to go all-in and give up power in exchange for honesty. And in the end, after Cory explains his definition of love, Topanga decides that she loves him too.
S3 E21 — ‘The Happiest Show on Earth’
Cory: So, Amber, you’re separated from your mate, huh? I know how you feel. Not that Toanga’s my mate or anything, I just believe she is. It’s funny though, you know, when people tell you to get on with your life, go date, there’s plenty of other fish in the sea… Like I need to tell you. But, you see, we know that once you’ve met that special person, it’s hard to live, knowing they’re out there, and they’re the only one you care about. All those things I did, I wasn’t just trying to impress her. I just didn’t know how to express my feelings. Well, at least I tried, you know? And now, I’m talking to a fish.
When Topanga wins a trip to DisneyWorld, Cory and Shawn hop on a plane to try and win her back! The hijinks ensue as they tramp around the parks, with several Disney icons making cameo appearances, including an excessively long churro line, and a morning shower on Splash Mountain. Finally, Cory gets his girl back, and after several near misses and misunderstandings, they get their romantic Disney kiss as they bask in the mist of pre-World of Color. And of course, this is the beginning of Eric’s manic decline into weirdom when he successfully covers for Cory’s absence with a very creepy dummy.
S4 E2 — ‘Hair Today, Goon Tomorrow’
Shawn: No Cory, we’ve known Topanga all her life, okay. She doesn’t wear makeup. She’s never been to a beauty parlor. She’s completely natural.
Cory: So what’s the big deal?
Shawn: The big deal is: she was beautiful before without anybody’s help. Now she’s got professional help, she’s gonna be mega-beautiful. We’re not even gonna be able to look at her directly without burning our retinas.
When Cory suddenly feels insecure about his looks, Topanga chops off her locks in a grand, romantic gesture, only to find that she’s even hotter with her new haircut. Despite Cory’s insecurities being at the center of the episode, the shining moments come from Shawn and Topanga’s friendship, from him freaking out over her beautiful makeover, to eventually reminding her that beauty really comes from the inside. Meanwhile, in the B-story, it’s the birth of Eric’s theme song! “Here comes the good-looking guy!”
S4 E13 — ‘B & B’s B ‘N’ B’
Eric: Maybe you and me can hit the town.
Mr. Feeny: You mean, cruise for chicks?
Eric: And their mothers.
When Feeny asks the Matthews’ to house sit while he’s away for the weekend, Shawn hatches a scheme to start a bed and breakfast inside Feeny’s house. As it turns out, Shawn is pretty business savvy and has a knack for people skills, so the bed and breakfast booms, but Cory’s neuroticism demands that they get caught to bring the universe back into order. Meanwhile, Feeny and Eric’s epic bromance begins to bloom when they both find themselves staying at the same hotel, and when Mr. Feeny talks about his doomed romance, Eric finally sees his mentor as a friend.
More Boy Meets World: Epic TV bromances
Turn to page 2 for ‘Boy Meets World’s season 5 fun!
S4 E15 — ‘Chick Like Me’
Cory: Well Shawn, I don’t want you take this the wrong way, but… you’re kind of a babe.
When Cory decides he wants to be a hard-hitting journalist and write about life from the perspective of a woman, it’s up to Shawn to pretty-it-up and go on his first date as a lady. This episode is laugh out loud funny as Cory remains his dorky self in a dress, and Shawn pulls off the part of demure yet sexy Veronica with ease. What’s hilarious is that this episode is basically all of Cory’s fantasies come true: Shawnie as a hot girl? What a babe.
S4 E21 — ‘Cult Fiction’
Shawn: If I was an empty person who didn’t have anything to believe in, I might go with you, because that would be easy. Well, I’m done with easy. And I’m done with empty. I’m done with you.
Poor Shawn has always been a kid without a solid support system, and Cory’s seemingly perfect life is a reminder of everything he doesn’t have. He’s the perfect target for a cult looking for lost souls, and after drinking the Kool Aid for a hot minute, Shawn snaps back to reality when his former foster parent, Mr. Turner, ends up in the hospital in critical condition. This episode is really powerful in showing how easy it is to get caught up in a cult crowd, and the leader, Mr. Mack, manages to seem terrifying, despite never actually saying anything too troublesome. The ending itself is a tearjerker, as Cory forces Shawn into a hug to remind him that genuine love can’t come from empty gestures, and overwhelmed with fear in losing Mr. Turner, Shawn finally breaks down and prays.
S5 E7 — ‘I Love You, Donna Karan (Part 1)’ and S5 E8 — ‘Chasing Angela (Part 2)’
Topanga: Stop it! You’re afraid of getting to know someone, and you’re afraid of someone getting to know you, and unless you get over this you’re going to go through life all alone! Except for Cory, who will bring you magazines and pudding.
This is the episode where Shawn falls in love with a purse! After keeping a strict two-week dating rule so that he never has to get hurt, Shawn finds the purse of his “perfect girl,” and immediately falls in love, even though Cory and Topanga insist that his infatuation can’t be real because he’s fallen in love with an idea, instead of a person. When it turns out that the purse belongs to Angela though, Shawn knows that he has to swing for the fences if he’s going to have a shot with the girl of his dreams. Angela’s introduction in these two episodes is a real delight, as she both fits in with the group right away, and brings a blunt, practical charm that’s different than what they’re used to. She’s so breezy and effortlessly cool! She also inadvertently turns Shawn on into poetry and writing when he finds her book of sonnets! Angela teaches Shawn about the importance of getting to know a girl for who she is first, instead of just focusing on the superficial.
S5 E13 — ‘The Eskimo’
Mr. Feeny: I’m talking about the boy in the crowd. Look at the one holding up the sign!
Alan: Which one?
Cory: The one that says, “Hey Feeny. Nothing’s impossible.”
Fed up with the trio’s antics, Feeny gives them an assignment they’re all destined to fail at: Shawn has to get Superbowl tickets, Topanga has to butt out, and Cory has to help them both. Deeming the assignment impossible, they all decide that they’ve figured out the week’s lesson: to try. But Mr. Feeny doesn’t want them to just try — he wants them to succeed. And on his path to success, Shawn realizes that he’s always been his own worst Eskimo — he has to believe in himself to make it, it’s not enough for other people to believe for him.
S5 E17 — ‘And Then There Was Shawn’
Angela: Well is anyone of us safe?
Shawn: Yeah, virgins! Virgins never die!
Cory (to Topanga): All right! Thanks for saving me.
Eric: I’m dead.
Jack: I’m dead.
Shawn: I’ll get as sick as you can get without actually dying.
Simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, Shawn’s horror-comedy dream has fun with every cliché from the teen horror genre—including a special guest stint from Jennifer Love Hewitt as Feffy! A wonderfully original Halloween episode, “And Then There Was Shawn” is always one of the most memorable Boy Meets World episodes.
S5 E19 — ‘Eric Hollywood’
Shawn: Cory’s my best friend… but I want to tell you to your face that if I knew that you and I weren’t friends anymore, it’d break my heart too.
While Eric and Mr. Feeny journey to a weird alt-version parody of Boy Meets World called Kid Gets Acquainted with the Universe, Topanga tries to salvage her friendship with Shawn amidst her and Cory’s breakup by nursing him through the chickenpox. The Eric scenes are delightfully self-aware as the cast plays extreme versions of themselves, but the Philly scenes with Shawn and Topanga remain genuinely sweet as they show the struggle of picking sides with friends amidst a breakup.
S5 E24 — ‘Graduation’
Shawn: I could’ve done better. That’s what I wrote. That’s how I feel. I’m sorry. I could’ve done better. Congratulations to those who did.
A celebration of Boy Meets World’s five previous seasons, the season 5 finale brought back the classics while also propelling us in the future. Frankie and Joey, the Cory and Shawn of the underworld were back! Minkus was competing with Topenga for Valedictorian! Mr. Turner got a shout out! And meanwhile, we got to be excited about where our regulars were going to be headed into season 6 as well. Eric was his full-on crazy self in trying to stop Mr. Feeny from retiring, and Jack was in quintessential older sibling mode trying to force Shawn to be excited for graduation (“Why don’t you appreciate my caricature of you with a big head and tiny body and you’re riding the big diploma like it’s a magic carpet ride to your future?”) And Shawn, despite five years of academic apathy, finally gets his head in the game with his beautiful graduation speech — it’s a sign of his beginnings on the path towards becoming a writer, and how in college he evolves into an academically competent student once he starts caring. And of course, in the final shocking minute, academically-driven Topanga risks it all to propose to Cory, the love of her life.
Turn to page 3 for ‘Boy Meets World’s college years!
S6 E6 — ‘Hogs and Kisses’
Cory: UNDAH-PANTS!
One of Boy Meets World’s silliest episodes, “Hogs and Kisses” finally addresses the elephant in the room: Shawn and Topanga’s incredibly natural and occasionally uncomfortable chemistry. It’s just that they’re both such beautiful people with really great hair! When Cory forces them to go on a date, his two favorite people turn the tables by enacting a live action play exposing their long hidden “passions.” Meanwhile, Eric and Jack are still getting used to having Rachel around, and after days of working hard to be on their best, most cleanliest behavior to impress her, the trio ends up in a giant food fight.
S6 E9 — Poetic License: An Ode to Holden Caulfied
Topanga: Oh Shawn, you do still love her!
Shawn: I miss her. I miss the way she made me feel. I miss the fact that I could tell her things that no one else understands, not even Cory.
As a kid, this episode really stood out because of all the finals antics going on with Eric, Jack, and Rachel, but looking back as an adult, Shawn’s A-story and evolution as a writer is really powerful. In this episode, we find out that he’s secretly been writing poetry — really good poetry, and even though Cory’s astonished by his best friend’s newfound talent, Angela knew that Shawn had it in him all along. This episode is one of the few where we really get to see just how different Cory and Shawn really are. Cory can’t understand Shawn’s poetry, or even why he feels the need to keep it private, but it’s sweet to see how he wants to support his best friend anyway. The episode also really subtly shows us the reasons why Shawn and Angela worked so well together: they understood each other. They’re both intellectuals — they want to discover beauty in the world.
S6 E13 — ‘We’ll Have a Good Time Then’
Shawn: Oh my god. I’m you.
Chet: What are you talking about?
Shawn: I’m talking about the fact that I can’t keep a relationship. I drive all my friends away. I hurt everybody that I care about.
In one of Boy Meets World’s most heartbreaking episodes, Shawn and Jack’s father comes back into town only to suffer a heart attack and die the day before Jack’s birthday. A lot of the brothers’ insecurities and relationship issues are brought to the fold as Shawn starts the episode by reminding Jack that he doesn’t want to be his charity case. Shawn and Jack each have their own, deep-seeded issues with their dad, and while Shawn is furious at how the way he was raised is affecting his life, Jack is devastated that he won’t ever have the opportunity to get to know his dad.
S6 E20 — ‘The Truth About Honesty’
Shawn: Oh man. I Cory’d this up, didn’t I?
Angela: You had to get heavy, Shawn.
Shawn: No, I’m not getting heavy Angela. I just think an emotional commitment is proper for — oh my god, I’m both of them!
When Rachel throws her first grown-up dinner party (complete with Cornish hens!) the gang plays an Honesty Game, and issues brewing between the couples finally bubble over when they’re forced to tell the truth. And after Shawn admits that given the opportunity, out of everyone in the world, he’d choose a night with Angela, she offers him the chance — if he can keep it no-strings-attached. But it turns out Shawn isn’t the bad boy he likes to make himself out be! He’s a romantic at heart, and after being influenced by Cory and Topanga for so long, he just can’t keep it together when he feels SO MUCH LOVE. Oh well. At least Cory got to see Topanga’s tooshie?
S7 E3 — Angela’s Men
Sergeant Moore: But she doesn’t seem to like you, son.
Shawn: Oh, she loves me, sir.
This episode is worth it alone for the ridiculous runner of Eric trying to attack Topanga — complete with a tag that ended up as a blooper reel when nobody could keep a straight face while filming. But this episode is also special because after two seasons of having Angela as a part of the gang, when her father shows up in town, we finally get to understand her background. We always knew she was feisty, down-to-earth, and practical — a soothing presence for Shawn’s artistic mind amidst his unstable upbringing. But in this episode, Angela finally gets to be at the center of her own story — we understand not only why Shawn loves her, but maybe for the first time, we come to understand why she feels so connected to Shawn.
S7 E7 — It’s About Time
Shawn: Cory and I have been best friends all our lives. And this wedding’s been kind of hard on me because I know, no matter how much we avoid talking about it, Cory and I aren’t going to be best friends forever. Things are changing between us. Things have always been changing. We’ve had to deal with life, and death, and Feeny, but no matter what we faced, we always faced it together. So then, how can we possibly be upset with each other on his wedding day? Well, it’s because deep down, I think Cory and I both know that we’re not going to be best friends anymore. And that’s the way it should be. So this is to Topanga: Cory’s wife, and new best friend. Take care of him, okay?
It’s Cory and Topanga’s wedding day, and Shawn’s taking it the hardest. When he drops out as Best Man, Eric cons the lovebirds into getting the wedding of their dreams. But of course, Shawn shows up for his own best man in the end, and after a brawl down the middle of the aisle, the two best friends makeup and admit their own insecurities about moving forward in life. Because after growing up with these kids for seven seasons, this wedding is what we’ve all been waiting for.
S7 E8 — ‘The Honeymooners’
Cory: This is so great. I wish Shawn was here.
One of Boy Meets World’s weirdest episodes, “The Honeymooners” saw Cory and Topanga take their tropical honeymoon only to never want to return after finding success in paradise.
S7 E15 — ‘The War (Part 1)’* and S7 E16 — ‘Seven the Hard Way (Part 2)’
Eric: I married a moose. We don’t need counseling.
When a friendly prank war gets out of hand, the friends find themselves torn apart by bitterness, resentment, and a sense of betrayal. The true highlight of the episode though is the flash-forward that presents a grim, lonely outlook for everyone involved — except for the voice of wisdom, of course, Eric Plays With Squirrels. Just in time, everyone remembers that they need to respect each other: lose one friend, lose all friend, lose yourself.
S7 E22-23 — ‘Brave New World’
Mr. Feeny: Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good.
Topanga: Don’t you mean, “Do well.”?
Mr. Feeny: No, I mean, “Do good.”
This episode’s kind of a copout since it’s mostly just flashbacks, but it’s worth it alone for Feeny’s final, beautiful piece of advice. Class dismissed.