4-9 Sixteen Candles and Four-Hundred-Pound MenSummary by: Laura Orginal Air Date: 1996-11-15 Writer: Matthew Nelson Director: Jeff McCracken Capsule Summary: Cory has to be in two places at once. Extendo Summary: Cory and Shawn make an agreement with Frankie whereby he helps them with poetry class and they help him with an unrequited-love problem (sounds familiar...) Frankie takes them to his home to outline the details of his problem, and the boys witness a sad scene in which Frankie's wrestler father expresses his disappointment that Frankie is a poet rather than a fighter. Cory realizes that the person who Frankie loves but who doesn't love him back, (INHALE), is his father.
Meanwhile Topanga's sweet sixteen is coming up, and although Topanga says it doesn't mean a lot to her, it means a lot to her mother. Cory promises on his role as boyfriend to be there.
After Cory gives Frankie a wrestling tip for his dad, the dad tells Frankie he wants him to be ringside to give him more pointers at the next fight. Frankie feels he needs to take advantage of this rare opportunity to spend time with his dad, but he needs Cory to help him with the wrestling tips. Cory agrees.
Realizing the match is on the same night as Topanga's birthday, Cory tries to back out of the party, but this makes Topanga extremely upset. She tells him the party does mean a lot to her, after all, and she only turns sixteen once, and she wants to dance with Cory the way her parents danced together at her mom's sweet sixteen. Cory promises again to be there.
Sigh. Now he has to be in two places at once. Sigh.
Cory--and Shawn, for moral support--run back and forth between the wrestling match and the party. The important thing is to be at the match whenever the wrestler is in trouble and at the party periodically, and in time for the big dance. But Cory leaves the party just before the dance is played, and Topanga ends up standing alone while the other couples dance.
Meanwhile, at the match, Cory runs out of tips, but Frankie manages to save the day anyway--by telling his father, not wrestling information, but that he loves him. This gives Vader enough confidence to win the match.
Back at the party, everyone else has gone, but Topanga is there, looking sad. But, unheinously, she accepts Cory's excuse--that he was helping Frankie get closer with his dad--though she is still sad she didn't get to share a sweet sixteen dance with Cory. Shawn saves the day by pointing out that Frankie owes him a favor now, and instead of help in poetry class as originally planned, Cory cashes in his chips for a sweet sixteen dance with Topanga in the wrestling ring. Highlights:
- Turner looks sharp in his shorter, clean-cut haircut.
- Shawn shows Cory a video of a Flintstones episode with the same two-places-at-once plot. "I remember being very nervous during this one," Cory says. So why are you doing the same thing to us, BMW writers? Spite? Is it spite? It's spite, isn't it?
- Shawn tries to give Cory Flintstones-based tips and ends up throwing a rock through the fourth wall.
Shawn: "Fred never spent more than 75 seconds in one place."
Cory: "But that was a cartoon. This is real, it's real time."
Shawn: "Trust me, it's the same thing."
Oh, for gay! Cory to Shawn: "Sit, darling, have a nap."
Fun Facts: Cory apparently knows a lot about wrestling. Shawn knows very little about wrestling, except when playing twister with the McKlausky triplets. Episode Themes: Cory and Shawn Hijinks Rating: 2. Remarkably non-terrible for a two-places-at-once episode, but it's still a two-place-at-once episode. It just makes me nervous to watch. Back | Back to Season 4 Episode Guide | Next | |
