5-20 Starry NightSummary by: Laura Orginal Air Date: 1998-04-03 Writer: Barry Safchik Director: Jeff McCracken Capsule Summary: "Starry Night" is the best painting ever and anyone who doesn't like it is a fool. Extendo Summary: Cory, still depressed about the break-up, whines at Shawn. He tells him he camped out overnight to get tickets to a Van Gogh exhibit at the museum for Topanga. Shawn explains that Angela went with Topanga, but Cory wishes he could have gone.
Meanwhile, at the exhibit, Topanga, also depressed about the break-up, whines at Angela. She misses Cory, but she doesn't understand how he could kiss another girl and have it not mean anything. Angela is clearly just as bored of discussing this with Topanga as Shawn is with Cory.
At the exhibit, Topanga and Angela meet an apparently attractive boy named Ricky Ferris who claims that Topanga changed his life forever when they were six by hitting him hard on the ass with a fastball. "You were the one who helped me realize I was more of an artist than an athlete."
Angela wanders off to allow Topanga and Ricky to look at the exhibit together. Ricky tells Topanga his favorite painting is Starry Night (yeesh, how pedestrian--I'd have ditched him right there). When she and Ricky view the painting, Topanga is amazed. "Look at the stars." Ricky, who thinks this is "the most spiritual painting ever created," thinks the stars are like "swirling divine lights from God". Gawd. Ricky spouts some mumbo-jumbo about being able to see right into Van Gogh's soul (ew), and the museum guard tells them the show's closing soon. Topanga is surprised to realize that she and Ricky have talked all day.
Ricky asks Topanga to dinner the next night. Topanga is at first inclined to decline, but Ricky is creepily persistent, and Topanga, mistaking this for charm, agrees. But when Angela emerges from the woodwork, she is again indecisive. If she goes out with him, that means she and Cory are really finished, and she's not sure she wants that. She thinks it wouldn't be right to go out with another guy until she gives Cory a chance to tell her how he feels about Starry Night--because, for some reason, liking Starry Night is now a requirement for Topanga boyfriendship.
The next day she takes Cory to see the painting and, without tipping him off that it's his last-chance pop-quiz, asks him what he feels about it. But, after she explains that she wants to know what would have happened if they had come there together like they were supposed to, Cory figures it out: "So this is a test?" He tells Topanga to STUFF IT! Well, to forget it, which is almost as good. "You're not reducing our relationship to what you think of me based on what I see in this painting. That's not important!" Go Cory! Go logic!
But Topanga just shouts at him again for being able to kiss another girl and still think he loved her (Topanga, not another girl). Cory says that's how it is, and Topanga says that can't be the way it is, and, well, they end up back at the god damn painting. After an uncomfortable pause, Cory says he sees an attack from another world. Topanga doesn't like that. "What about the relationship between God and Man?" she asks. Cory says he thinks it looks like Armageddon. Topanga gives her/Ricky's interpretation--the protection from God one--as if it's Law. Doesn't she know how art works?
Cory tells her again that he thinks they're going to be together forever, whether she thinks so or not (yeee-ikes--stalker anyone?), and leaves.
That night, Topanga goes to dinner with Ricky. He draws her a crappy picture of some flowers. She is charmed. Ricky says you don't just meet someone totally interesting and inspiring and talk for hours for no reason, and Topanga says it happens to teach you something (what?), and Ricky kisses her. After which, Topanga looks at him and smiles.
Back at school the next day, Shawn is angry at Angela for allowing--nay, encouraging--Topanga to go out with another guy. His main goal is and always has been their reunitement, so he thinks it's bad. Angela argues that they're broken up already! They bicker, then kiss, then agree that they both want what's best for Cory and Topanga (and, though they may have different ideas about what that is, their hearts are in the right places).
Topanga tells Angela that the date went amazing, which doesn't bode well for Shawn's plans. Shawn tries to prepare Cory for the bad news with "don't shoot the messenger" type sentiments, then tells Cory about the date. Cory calmly accepts the news--as well as the news that Shawn no longer thinks there's hope for him and Topanga--without allowing it to change his views. He's still hopeful.
Meanwhile, Topanga tells Angela "I love him. I knew it the minute I kissed him." Angela warns her not to rush into things with this new guy. Topanga happily explains what she felt when she kissed Ricky: nothing. She doesn't plan on seeing him again, either. "Because I am in love, Angela. With Cory Matthews... There's nobody else in the world for me and there never will be. I'm taken!" The audience cheers.
That night, Topanga finds Cory at the playground. Cory tells Topanga he's not like her, that he can't understand things like paintings so fast (arrrgh), and he needs her to help him. Topanga tells him that she's not like him that she can't understand about the kiss thing, but she understands now. They kiss. "I felt that, boy," she says creepily. "Are we starting over?" asks Cory. Topanga nods. "Yeah." They kiss again, then look at the stars. Quotes: "I'm not going to kill you, Shawn. It takes too much time to break in a new best friend." --Cory Highlights:
- After Cory explains how he met Topanga at the playground as small children, he sees a tiny girl and cries, "Topanga!" The girl shouts and runs away.
- Cory: "Did you know that I camped out overnight at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to beat the mad rush for tickets? And in the morning, I was the first guy on line."
Shawn: "Cory, you were the only guy on line!"
Cory: "This city is a cultural vaccuum, my friend."
Shawn: "That's why my people settled here."
- Angela is so excited at seeing a hot boy coming towards her and Topanga that she forgets her name. "Hi, my name's Nancy or something," she introduces herself. The boy responds to Angela's companion with a "Hi, is your name Topanga?", which there is no way to say properly, is there?
- Shawn and Angela show a delicious lack of appreciation for art by going around to the paintings, asking, "What does this make you think of?" and then making out. (A scene that is ruined when they break this trend by staring thoughtfully when they come to "Starry Night"--did Van Gogh pay off ABC for this?)
Rant: Topanga's ideas about art need some serious reconsidering. Also, how was Ricky able to make that oil-pastel drawing of flowers out of Crayola crayons?
Fun Facts: The story of Cory and Topanga's first meeting is told here, though how much it can be trusted is suspect considering the extent of the series' penchant for revisionist history. Cory explains, "I was over there on the monkey bars, crying because I didn't know how to get down. But she gave me the courage to jump! I mean, I tore some cartilage, sure, but I knew, Shawnie, that I had found my playground mate for life." Yuh-huh. Episode Themes: Cory and Topanga Trouble Rating: 1. Sheeeeyikes. Neither Cory nor Topanga is likeable in this dull, amusing-subplotless episode. Back | Back to Season 5 Episode Guide | Next | |
