Girls Meets A Different Spectrum

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This week's episode doesn't so much shift the perspectives of its characters as help us understand them.

It's not exactly a secret that Disney likes its lessons. After all, they've been churning out entertaining properties that end with a lesson for characters and audiences alike for nearly a century. The secret, then, is that they've tiptoed outside of their plush comfort zone and started applying their tried and true lessons to the modern lives of viewers. The endings might be tidy -- most of the time, viewers can seem them from a mile away -- but that doesn't make them any less affecting.

No, this isn't about Pixar's elaborately orchestrated and game-changing summer hit Inside Out, a film that dealt with the complex emotions inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley. This is about the story of a different Riley in the House of Mouse, one that's being told on a smaller, more modest scale in the form of Girl Meets World the Disney reboot built around Rowan Blanchard's Riley Matthews, that's just as affecting as a full-length feature birthed over years and millions of dollars, and maybe even more disarming as a result.

This week's episode takes a surprisingly poignant turn as the students at John Quincy Adams Middle School receive the results of their aptitude tests, with one student in particular -- Corey Fogelmanis's Farkle -- exceeding expectations. Let's break it down:

Genius Versus Personality

The beginning of this episode is clever -- if misleading. What begins as another lesson in the form of a history lesson via Ben Savage's Mr. Matthews unfolds into something far richer by the episode's end. But in the meantime, points for trying.

Talking about the relativity and differences between personality and genius, the lesson's interrupted by an outburst by Farkle about 1831 Belgium that's -- thankfully -- interrupted by both the bell and the appearance of a guidance counselor who's come to talk to Farkle about his exceptionally high test score. Turns out he scored in the superior range and should be ruling the world; they'd like him to take a couple more tests to confirm his score and explore his options.

"In The Meantime, Don't Alienate Your Friends"

So says the guidance counselor, who doesn't want Farkle's score to go to his or his friends' heads. He tells her he'd never leave his friends behind and in the next scene -- a party thrown at Topanga's by his parents to celebrate his genius, which is interrupted by Isadora Smackle, who's heard about his scores and has come to try to get him to transfer to Einstein Academy.

By now, one might expect -- as I did -- for the news to go to Farkle's head and all the talk of power building up to some elevated jerkiness and alienation of friends. Nope.

Are You Listening, BuzzFeed?

The next day, Mr. Matthews tells his students that whatever the aptitude test labeled them is only a fraction of who they really are. That in fact, labels aren't always right and that they shouldn't be so ready to accept them, even if they do come from a test. Mr. Matthews caps his lesson off with the idea that everyone in the class has the potential to positively impact the world through their positive actions.

At the end of class, the guidance counselor returns for Farkle.

A Spectrum of Spectrums

Here's where the episode subverts expectations. Back at the Matthews household, the adults -- Corey/Topanga and Stuart/Jennifer -- set the stage for Farkle to tell his friends that his exceptional scores might be the result of a different, or, "more specific type" of genius that falls on the autism spectrum: Asperger's Syndrome. Initially, Farkle's friends can't believe it. But a few beats later, they're hugging him and telling him that even though they can't believe it, they're more than ready to accept it and him.

In Riley's room, the kids Google Asperger's and take a closer look at its characteristics (social awkwardness; narrowed interested; struggling to understand emotions and love; dislike being touched; etc.) that fall in line with Farkle's personality. The scene ends with another in a line of many disarming moments in which Farkle makes his friends promise to never let him not understand love.

Twee(n) Romance

At Topanga's, the kids continue to discuss the news and Farkle asks whether they'd be mad if he transferred schools, when Smackle drops by with the Einstein Academy blazer in tow. Turns out Farkle went on a tour and kind of liked it. It also turns out the tour wasn't the only thing he kind of liked there.

Like the episode's setup, the character of Smackle and her introduction is initially worrisome. Exhibiting spectrum-like qualities herself, she tells Peyton Meyer's Lucas to stop flirting with her when he isn't, talks like a robot, and later, manically vamps for a little before excusing herself from the scene to grab a table outside for her and Farkle.

Luckily her character -- like the episode itself -- rights itself as she and Farkle share a touching scene at their outdoor table. Talking about all the sudden changes, he tells her that he might have Asperger's and she tells him that she's fine with it and that it doesn't change the way she thinks of him. Then, wearing his new blazer, he takes the miniature Lisa Loeb's hand set to the Lisa Loeb-approved strings that accompany the scene, and it's suddenly less about two distinctive outsiders looking in and more about two people seeing each other completely for the first time. It's pretty cute.

A Second Opinion

Back at school, Smackle's come to observe for the day. As the kids are filing into Mr. Matthews's room, the guidance counselor asks to speak to Farkle again. Once he returns to the room, Mr. Matthews gives him the floor and he makes a speech about Asperger's, letting his classmates know exactly what it is. Then he tells them they were wrong, he doesn't have it. Cut to a crestfallen Smackle.

Window Seat Revelations

Hanging out with Maya and Riley, Smackle says she doesn't think it will work out between her and Farkle and that they shouldn't be together. The girls ask why, because she has Asperger's? Nonsense! She asks how they knew and they say they studied up following Farkle's diagnosis.

At first adamant, she begins to see that she's being rash after the girls break it down for her in terms she understands, namely that because opposites attract science dictates they actually can be together.

Then Farkle appears. At first Smackle's nervous and tries telling him she has Asperger's. But he stops her, and tells her that she doesn't have to explain. That he knows and has for quite some time. And that it changes nothing. Then, hugging her, he asks if she's uncomfortable. She says she is, but tells him not to stop. Aw!!!!

Who Here Is Normal?

In the episode's tender final moments, the group once again meets at Topanga's and tells Smackle to change schools. She says she can't, that she belongs at Einstein and that Farkle belongs with them. At Einstein she can continue to learn lessons from books, and he and the others can continue to learn lessons from one another and life experiences.

But the group points out that people are capable of change and that the life experiences found at John Quincy Adams can be studied and learned like the ones in books. Smackle seems to come around to this when the question "who here is normal?" is posed aloud. Nobody raises his or her hand. Then, the question becomes "who here wants to be normal?" Smackle raises her hand and the group looks on with sad smiles.

Personally, I hope Smackle transfers. But, if she doesn't, I'm glad she at least tried something new. After all, Disney did, and the result was a series best. Great things can happen when chances are taken.'