The 7 Best And 7 Worst Episodes Of Girl Meets World

Debuting in 2014, nearly 14 years after its predecessor ended, "Girl Meets World" is a spinoff and continuation of the popular '90s sitcom "Boy Meets World." While the show never quite reached the level of success achieved by "Boy Meets World," it nevertheless won over fans thanks to its refreshing humor and nuanced storylines, in addition to a stellar cast that included Ben Savage reprising his role as Cory Matthews and Rowan Blanchard as Cory's daughter Riley.

Much like the best and worst episodes of "Boy Meets World," the quality of "Girl Meets World" episodes can vary pretty dramatically. Looking at the IMDb ratings of "Girl Meets World's" individual episodes, scores can be anywhere from an impressive 9.3/10 to a lackluster 6.1/10. Several factors affect how well the episodes are received by viewers, such as whether or not they feature cameos by cast members from the original series. If you've been wondering which episodes of the show are a must-watch and which episodes to skip, look no further. Here are the best and worst episodes of "Girl Meets World."

Longtime "Boy Meets World" fans will likely remember that Plays With Squirrels or Mr. Squirrels was the name Eric Matthews used while living as a hermit in the alternate universe shown in the episode "Seven the Hard Way." As the title of the episode suggests, "Girl Meets Mr. Squirrels Goes to Washington" focuses heavily on Eric, who is running for senator against widely disliked incumbent Jefferson Davis Graham.

While Eric first believes he was recruited to run because his unnamed political party thought he could beat Graham, he later learns that he was really asked to run because the party believed he was the only person Graham could defeat. This initially prompts Eric to leave the race, but with the help of his friends and the surprise return of Tommy, who Eric almost adopted in "Boy Meets World," Eric is able to push his way into the lead. Seeing Tommy reunite with Eric for the first time since he was adopted by a California family in "Boy Meets World" makes for a powerful and emotional moment, and makes the episode one of the show's most memorable.

It may seem a bit surprising to see the show's pilot episode listed as one of its worst. After all, most shows are either greenlit or scrapped based on the strength of the pilot, so it would stand to reason that showrunners would want to make a great first impression. Sadly, that's not the case for "Girl Meets World," and the episode sharing the show's title ends up being barely watchable.

The biggest problem with the episode is how much it revolves around a meta joke where Riley asks Cory how long she has to live in "his world," to which he replies, "until you make it yours." The joke is a clear reference to the show's title; it indicates that the show wants Riley's journey to be her own, and not just a rehashed version of Cory's, but everything else in the episode suggests otherwise. It does little to establish Riley's relationships with her friends or classmates, and the main plot, which involves Riley starting a revolution in class against her dad (who is also her teacher) is too tied to what came before.

"Girl Meets the Forgiveness Project" is a Season 2 episode that starts with Cory Matthews' creation of the Forgiveness Project in class, which tasks each student with forgiving someone toward whom they've been harboring anger. Riley, who's inherited her father's divisive need to interfere in other people's business, encourages her best friend Maya to write a letter of forgiveness to her own father, who walked out on her and her mom when she was just a child. Maya reluctantly writes the letter, which prompts her father to come pay her a visit for the first time since he left.

In the end, Maya realizes that she can't forgive her father for what he did, and that his actions didn't warrant her forgiveness. The message of the episode is nuanced, both encouraging people to be forgiving but also acknowledging that not everyone deserves to be forgiven, and that only you can be the judge of that. The episode also showcases an impressive dramatic performance from Sabrina Carpenter, whose character has to deal with a wide range of difficult emotions and decisions.

"Girl Meets Hollyworld" starts with Maya making some jokes about kidnapping before revealing to Riley that she's kidnapped a famous French actor named Anastasia Boulangerie and cuffed her to the radiator in Riley's room. While this felony starts the episode out on a strange and barely believable note, the episode only gets more absurd from there. Maya tells Riley that she has to keep her locked up long enough for her mom, who is a struggling actor, to land a part that both women are auditioning for.

However, it turns out that Anastasia Boulangerie is actually an American named Bobbie Jo Thibodeaux and is a childhood friend of Maya's mom, Katy. The two are able to rekindle their childhood friendship, and in the end, she lets Katy have the part by pulling out of the project, which is revealed to have been based on Katy's life. The episode really stretches the believability of the typically grounded show, and often seems more preoccupied with surprise twists than solid character building.

One of the best aspects of "Girl Meets World" is the friendship between Riley Matthews and Maya Hart, and "Girl Meets Rileytown" centers around a rift that forms between the best friends when Riley gets upset at Maya for using the term "Rileytown" to describe when Riley acts silly or goes into her own imaginary world. Riley accuses Maya of bullying her, which shocks Maya because she never meant it as an insult.

After doing some digging, Maya, along with Riley's other friends, discover that another student at school has been bullying Riley, using some of her personality quirks as a way of tearing down her self-esteem. When Maya discovers this, she helps Riley to love her unique personality and use it as a source of strength. The episode never reveals the identity of the bully, instead focusing on how Riley deals with the situation, making it a fantastic character piece for the show's lead. It also shows the strength of Riley and Maya's bond, and how their friendship can lift each of them up when they're feeling down.

"Girl Meets World: Of Terror" is a Season 1 episode that began a tradition of doing a Halloween-themed episode each season. Based on the IMDb ratings, however, these episodes are consistently among the most disliked of the series. This episode is hosted by Riley's younger brother Auggie, who is parodying several classic horror hosts, such as Bob Wilkins and Alfred Hitchcock. He introduces the audience to three separate spooky stories, which include Farkle being scared of a softball, Riley being scared to sleep over at Maya's house, and Auggie being afraid of a monster under the bed.

While it's not the worst of "Girl Meets World's" Halloween-themed episodes, "Girl Meets World: Of Terror" fails to deliver either terror or laughs. Much of the problems are due to the episode's strong focus on Auggie, who is consistently one of the show's most poorly written characters. His dialogue never comes off as authentic, and his role as host and narrator of the episode casts a poor shadow over the rest of the stories. Additionally, none of the three stories really capitalize on the spooky premise, with only one (Auggie's fear of a monster under the bed) actually using the Halloween theme to its full extent.

Like many of "Girl Meets World's" best episodes, "Girl Meets Upstate" features another returning character from "Boy Meets World." This time it's Shawn Hunter, played by Rider Strong. "Girl Meets Upstate" isn't Shawn's first episode in the series, but his character arc here pulls from his strong dynamic with Cory in the original show, and relates it to Riley and Maya's friendship. The episode begins with Riley and Maya jumping on the subway and running away from home after realizing they both have feelings for their classmate Lucas Friar. Riley, believing that Maya's feelings were caused by her personality changing to be more similar to Riley's, takes Maya to see Shawn so she can get back in touch with her cool and rebellious side.

This episode is all about the relationships of its characters, and plays into the show's best aspects. Shawn, who has been dating Maya's mom, Katy, begins to realize how much he's grown to care for Maya, seeing her as the daughter he never had. Later, Cory arrives at the cabin, and Shawn accuses Cory of trying to make him more like Cory, just like Riley did to Maya. However, both Shawn and Maya come to see that it's okay to grow and change over time, as long as you don't lose your sense of self in the process.

"Girl Meets World: Of Terror 3" continues the show's tradition of Halloween-themed episodes hosted by Riley's younger brother Auggie. Unlike the first season episode, "Girl Meets World: Of Terror 3" focuses on just one story. Auggie kicks off the episode by barging into Riley's class and telling everyone that it's time for more "Halloween Spookytime Theater," to which the class replies with an exasperated moan, unintentionally mimicking the feelings of many viewers at home.

Auggie introduces a "what if"-style scenario where Riley and Maya never became friends, altering everyone's personality. Riley has become more childlike, taking her stuffed bear to school every day and treating it like her best friend, while Maya has become more angry and jaded, struggling to make friends herself. Things go even further south when Auggie discovers that he was never born in this scenario due to Riley being more challenging to raise, so he sets out to make things right by repairing Riley and Maya's friendship. Once again, this episode focuses too heavily on Auggie's character, and the alternate universe versions of Riley and Maya feel too underdeveloped to root for.

"Girl Meets New Teacher" not only features the return of Jonathan Turner, who disappeared from "Boy Meets World" after a near-death accident, but also introduces a cool new teacher, Harper Burgess, whom Riley's class take an immediate liking to. She comes in wearing a motorcycle jacket, similar to how Mr. Turner first arrived in "Boy Meets World."

While the students love their new teacher, she finds herself at odds with Principal Yancy, who is upset that she lets the kids call her by her first name and assigned a graphic novel, "The Dark Knight Returns," as homework. When Yancy tries to fire her, Cory brings in Jonathan Turner, who is now the school's superintendent, to assist. The episode draws a lot of excellent comparisons between how Harper is teaching and how Mr. Turner began his teaching career, and seeing the overly judgmental principal lose his position after trying to unfairly fire Harper is poetic justice at its finest.

"Girl Meets Fish" is an Auggie-focused episode whose plot revolves around the mysterious death of Cory Matthews' class pet fish, Chelsea, who died moments after Riley took possession of it. Auggie, who was present in the class when the incident happened, takes it upon himself to solve the case. For the remainder of the episode, Auggie mimics a film noir detective, and goes about interrogating each student in the class.

The humor in this episode is particularly grating. Auggie tries annoying Riley's classmates into confessing, trying tactics such as loudly crunching on graham crackers. While these are meant to be funny, they end up proving just as obnoxious to the viewer at home as they are to the student being interrogated. Additionally, after Auggie discovers that each classmate (including him) has killed Chelsea multiple times, the episode tries to make a point of how all life is precious and needs to be preserved, but it's hard to take that message seriously when every few seconds the show cracks another joke about one of the many Chelseas' deaths.

The final episode of the series, "Girl Meets Goodbye" pulls out all the stops to ensure that the finale is special and emotionally satisfying. The episode begins as Topanga has a difficult decision to make: She was offered an incredible job in London, but that would mean moving her family away from all of their jobs, friends, and school. Cory and Riley don't want to leave, but they know only Topanga can make that decision. In order to help her think of the best solution possible, Topanga invites everyone's friends and family to discuss how the move would affect them.

This means that the episode is filled with cameos from both "Boy Meets World" and "Girl Meets World." Everyone offers their advice to Topanga, though it's Maya, and her love for her best friend Riley, that really helps to convince her not leave, and to let Riley stay in school with her friends. The ending comes as a bit of a surprise, as moving the family to London to start a new life fits very much in line with how many sitcoms end, but the show chooses the more emotionally satisfying ending, and gives viewers a feel-good experience that will have them missing the show long after the final episode ends.

"Girl Meets Commonism" follows Riley's brief adoption of various communist ideals after a dispute with her father. When it's discovered that Maya cheated off Farkle's exam to get a good grade, Cory wants to see her punished by the School Honor Board. Riley, who is on the Honor Board, pushes back, not wanting to see her friend in trouble. She even notices that Maya has become more interested in learning after the incident, arguing that it may have been good for her. Cory pushes back, saying each student needs to stand by their individuality in their testing, and that everyone helping everyone would be communist, prompting Riley to adopt communism so she can help Maya.

While the ideas behind the episode are interesting, the execution unfortunately falls flat. Most of the major players feel really out of character here, making decisions that only serve the plot, and aren't backed by their typical thoughts or actions. Neither side of the debate is well represented either, and while it makes sense for Riley to understand very little about communism, Cory's arguments against it should have been more compelling than "that's not how it's done in America" in order to make the conflict meaningful.

"Girl Meets Home for the Holidays" marks the first return of "Boy Meets World" character Shawn Hunter. It also brings back Cory's parents, the fan favorite couple Alan and Amy Matthews, as well as their youngest son, Josh Matthews. Riley tells Maya that she doesn't think Shawn likes her very much, because whenever he comes over he avoids her. Maya assures Riley that Shawn doesn't hate her, but becomes suspicious after she notices the trend as well. Maya, always ready to defend her best friend, calls Shawn out on his behavior.

Shawn finally admits that the reason he avoids Riley is because she reminds him of all the things he doesn't have, mainly a family and kids of his own. Riley, realizing that Shawn is very similar to Maya, and knowing that Maya has been wanting a father figure, encourages the two to become friends (which pays off in the finale episode, when Shawn officially adopts Maya). The episode succeeds in really bringing the two generations of stars together and is packed with powerful, emotional moments.

This manages to be the worst installment in a trilogy of bad Halloween-themed episodes. In "Girl Meets World: Of Terror 2," Riley and Maya are visited by the ghost of a flapper from the 1920s. She forces them to do dance routines, so they try to help the ghost find her old friend in a different house. The episode is also a crossover with the show "Austin & Ally," and the two protagonists of that series join Riley and Maya in their quest to help the ghost.

The entire episode lacks a compelling plot or anything interesting for the characters to do. Instead, it fills time with multiple, overlong dance numbers that are meant to elicit laughs due to their ridiculousness. While the dance sequence is fun the first time, its repeated use grows old pretty quickly, and the attempt to liven things up by introducing a crossover cameo with one of Disney's other shows further cheapens the episode's appeal.