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“This is a continuation of a particular story, but it’s in a different world. The original series was in the 90’s and you would think that this was an extraordinarily advanced time, technologically, but it wasn’t. There were no cell phones yet. You would think that this minor difference shouldn’t make for a different growing up experience, but it has colored everything, because the access that kids have to what let’s call the three main screens – the screen in their pocket, the television screen, and the movie screen – and that inclusive of the screen in their pocket is their computer screen – these are the screens that I think the kids are looking at technologically that are different. The content on them is different. What they have access to is different…In our second episode, after the pilot, which was about cell phones in our pockets and how it wiped the true emotionality of looking into one other’s eyes… we live in a world of texting and not in a world two voices and four eyes making contact. I wrote that episode with the feeling that if I can start the series out letting the broad-based audience understand that we have been hampered by this – that we would have a better series.” –http://www.ksitetv.com/interviews-2/ksitetv-interview-michael-jacobs-of-the-emmy-nominated-girl-meets-world/74019/3/

How to recognize what’s real, according to Jacobs & Co via Tales of Human Interaction:

“Not until we put down our phones, switch off our computers and look in each other’s eyes will we be able to touch each other’s hearts.”

“Because it’s not until you really looked at each other and made a human connection that you can even begin to know each other.”

“There is no connection you can make with any screen that compares to the moment you understand only human beings have souls.”

From what we know, it sounds like GM Jexica is a bit of a redux on this lesson, likely to demonstrate that no, the kids didn’t fully learn it the first time. (It’s probably important to note that Riley and Lucas have an online interaction that some folks have taken as “proof” of how “in love” they are…but it was entirely through a screen, so 👀.) In GM Boy, the kids started to get in touch with the fact that they’ve got feelings to begin with, but as of Ski Lodge 2 it’s pretty clear that none of the kids is even remotely close to truly understanding what those feelings ARE; or what they truly mean.

Now that these kids are about to embark on REAL relationships instead of just kinda dipping their toes in the water within the middle school bubble, they’re going to TRULY discover what their feelings are beyond “like” or “really like.” And you best believe that those discoveries won’t be happening through a screen or through written communication, and any discovery that SEEMS to happen that way ain’t reliable. It’s gotta be two voices and four eyes making contact.

The romance arcs on GMW are not about couples who find and recognize true love young right out of the gate in seventh grade and then go through ups and downs in order to stay together forever. These writers already told that story and they aren’t telling it again. The romance arcs on GMW are exploring the way “kids these days” are hampered by screens and not truly in touch with their emotions because they can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s just perception. (**cough**pushed versus fell**cough**actually TALKING ABOUT IMPORTANT THINGS versus talking about thinking about talking about important things**cough). Now that they’re applying the “real life approach” to the romance arcs, get ready for perceptions give way to reality as these kids journey towards an understanding of what’s real and what’s just sugar wrapped up all pretty when it comes to love. They’re about to finally start discovering the difference between what they think they feel (or should feel) versus what they actually feel.

Jacobs reiterated the whole “the world is different now” thing back in March, and he expanded on the idea of what’s real versus what’s not:

“The thing that intrigued me about it is that the world is so different. There are so many fundamental changes to the world that Cory and Topanga’s children live in. Social media, the political state of the world, what kids know by looking at the screen that they have immediate access to. It made, for me, a very interesting landscape to do a new series about a person discovering the world that they live in, just as Cory Matthews did.

The first year of the show was a very good introduction to what we wanted to do, and we think the second season really fulfilled — certainly began to fulfill — the potential of a coming-of-age comedy for this generation. We think the third season, which we are working on right now, will show the growth and the feelings that kids have to come in contact with in order to evolve in a world where everybody, unfortunately, I think, has to grow up very fast…

…Everyone will be brought into the equation. [Note: Farkle, Zay, and Smackle are still NOT in the equation as of Ski Lodge 2, so this ain’t over y’all…] To answer this as simply as I can without giving anything away, the “Girl Meets” angle has always been a very important part of the show. Every episode is titled “Girl Meets” something. If we did “Girl Meets Love,” it would not be one episode. It would be a sustained series of episodes in an attempt to explain, for this generation, what the perception of love is, versus what love may actually be, versus are we ready for that at all? Something that is so important cannot be something we tell in one story. But the understanding of how to grow and what’s valuable to these kids will manifest itself over these episodes. We want to do it intelligently, and what we’re not looking to do is a love triangle.”–http://www.thewrap.com/girl-meets-world-creator-on-shows-biggest-storyline-this-could-not-possibly-be-a-love-triangle/

Way back in June of 2015, Jacobs also said this:

“[Fans] took votes! Who does Lucas belong with? Does Lucas belong with Riley or does Lucas belong with Maya? What the overriding concern that I have, the writers have, is ‘what’s real?’. ‘What would happen today and why?’. If the series is called Girl Meets World, what’s the difference between this world and the last? What would that do to relationships? Are Cory and Topanga possible?” –http://www.fanbolt.com/63568/girl-meets-world-star-rowan-blanchard-and-creator-michael-jacobs-talk-riley-and-lucas/

Afterward, the REPORTER added: “A VERY interesting question that Riley and Lucas will answer for us in time.” That quote is not actually a direct quote from Jacobs, although many people mistakenly treat it as such. It is commentary from the reporter, so it’s not gospel here that Riley & Lucas will teach us whether a Corpanga-esque relationship is possible by falling in love forever and ever amen. Even if it was a real Jacobs quote, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that learning whether Cory & Topanga is possible today involves Riley & Lucas getting together forever. Per Jacobs, one of the most important lessons this show is trying to teach is the difference between the perception of love and relationships versus the reality of love and relationships.

Based on everything I know about S3 as well as the series thus far, I firmly believe that Riley and Lucas are going to slowly realize that their perception of their relationship and their feelings for each other has not been the reality. Whether they find themselves in a real romantic relationship together after those goggles come off remains to be seen, but if you’ve been watching this show carefully (like the writers are always telling us to do) and paying attention to the way characters connect when they really look at each other and truly talk about important, deep stuff…I think it’s getting pretty safe to say that Riley & Lucas’s romance is made up, but their friendship is real. It seems to me that in terms of romance arcs, this show is in many ways about how Corpanga-esque love does happen, but you can miss it if your perception of love is out of touch with the reality of love. Even if it’s right under your nose (Canada lesson, anybody?).

It’s really important to note the way Jacobs talks about the pilot:

What you think you see on the subway is not all what Jackee is. Is what you see, is what you’re to going to get? No. Don’t make assumptions based on BMW. What you think you see between Rowan and Peyton [in the pilot], we’re going to grow it but we’re going to grow it real. –https://youtu.be/biplemWf3dY

“Growing it real” does not automatically mean growing into a lifelong endgame romance. What Riley felt on the subway (which she still felt as of Legacy) cannot possibly be real love in the BMW/GMW universe, because Riley did not know Lucas. At all.

[Love] is not the blast of light you were expecting in the beginning.

Riley clearly still believes that “blast of light” she felt on the subway was love, but obviously we know she’s wrong. So what IS real love in the BMW/GMW universe? How do we recognize it? Well, we use the original show as the template. And using Boy Meets World as the template for what’s real versus what’s only perception points you straight to Lucaya and Riarkle. Our personal opinions about love don’t matter; not mine, not yours, not anybody’s. It doesn’t matter that your cousin’s sister’s best friend married her middle school sweetheart and he calls her “princess.” It doesn’t matter if I think people who are a lot alike can have a good relationship. All that matters in terms of what is real and good for you on Girl Meets World romantically is what Jacobs & Co think is real and good for you romantically. And why should Boy Meets World be the template for that?

“One thing hasn’t changed since “Boy Meets World.” I still look at the world with the same belief system. I’m a funny optimist, which means I believe the best things will happen, but there’s always a funny road to get there. The beginning and end of the story is never as interesting to me as the middle. All good television shows – all good storytellers – can come up with a beginning and an end. The struggle is the center.” –http://www.signature-reads.com/2014/06/in-conversation-creator-cast-girl-meets-world/

As for why it’s got to take so long, it’s easy for those of us who grew up with the original series and truly understood it to discern what is real and what is not in terms of the universe of the two shows. It’s also easy for the younger folks who watched BMW in syndication and truly understood it. There are plenty of grown folks who apparently didn’t understand BMW the first time around and there are younger kids who DO get it even if they didn’t grow up watching BMW as it aired. So take “adult” to mean people who really learned from BMW and “younger” to mean people who didn’t actually understand BMW, regardless of age:

“What is important to realize…the show is bi-modal; we have two audiences. And I would ask for patience from our adult audience to understand that the really, vastly important service that the show performs is an illumination of what this work is for the younger audience. And it is necessary. You’re cooked. The very young people that we are doing this for as well are still in the pot. And I think that it’s very important to influence them positively and correctly.” –http://www.tv.com/shows/girl-meets-world/community/post/girl-meets-atx-festival-1439326840/

More on why it’s got to take so long:

“Yes, chase love. If there is anything, chase love. It’s the most important decision you’ll make in your life, who to go through it with. Hold on tight, I guarantee you, you will be dragged in the road, but if you get up you’re fine. The thing about anything worth having is it takes a lot time to get there.” –https://youtu.be/biplemWf3dY

Love doesn’t just fall (**cough**get pushed**cough**) into your lap on the subway. You have to WORK for it, and you have to be able to recognize what’s real and what’s not in the first place instead of chasing concepts and unrealistic ideals based on faulty perception.

Even MORE on why it has to take so long:

“There will be complications. Josh will be the center of some of those complications. Josh’s inclusion in Season 3 will really be what we wanted to do in Season 2, which is nothing is easy. Nothing in life that is valuable is an easy road. We’re going to use Josh to just add what we think is texture and growth to the other characters.” –http://www.thewrap.com/girl-meets-world-creator-previews-season-3-high-school-will-not-be-an-easy-adjustment/

Josh is a complication. He complicates things. He’s a pinch point, not an endpoint. Girl Meets Ski Lodge is not the series finale, and only one thing is made truly permanent at the end of the episode. The Rucaya “non-triangle” arc was not about finally sorting out the perception vs. reality issue and who really loves who. It was a test for the girls’ friendship, not the potential romances. That’s part of why it “wasn’t a triangle.” The perception vs reality exploration is only just now getting off the ground in earnest, and you’re going to want to keep alllll those lessons from S1-2 in mind as it unfolds. The shortest distance between two points might be a straight line, but if you’re playing baseball you gotta run the bases to get home.

One final thought:

But what exactly those feelings actually ARE and will ultimately be in the end remains to be seen. The kids don’t KNOW yet. They’ve never known for sure. (I used to go back and forth on that, but now I’m solidly on the side of they’ve never been entirely sure what exactly their feelings are–although I think Maya “I’m the only one without a smartphone” Hart got closer than any of the rest before the chance to find out for sure was snatched away from her…). Ski Lodge makes it pret-ty darn clear that they’re all still stuck in perception mode as this new arc begins. Not all feelings are truly romantic in terms of being a basis for a lifelong relationship. Even if you perceive your feelings that way all through middle school, you may discover that’s not the reality once you try it out for real in high school.

Brace yourselves for the real life approach everybody…

Some further reading:

BMW was about finding your true love young and holding on to it. Girl Meets World is about how kids today are out of touch with their feelings and cannot recognize what’s real the way Cory (and later Topanga) could.

The Square Dance/Other Side of the Story Theory

Pilot + GM Boy as a “mission statement” for GMW

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