Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Maybe I’m blinded by my age or maybe it’s because I will always be enchanted by Rider Strong’s perfectly ‘90s hair flip, but I’ve always considered Boy Meets World to be one of the most charming shows ever to exist on TV. Sure, some of the special episodes could be a bit heavy-handed, but when they were delivered by the ever-wise Mr. Feeny (William Daniels), who could complain? However, there’s always been one element of Boy Meets World that’s always bothered me.
When did Eric Matthews (Will Friedle) become so dumb?
It’s a question that’s haunted me every time I’ve caught re-runs of the series, but now that all of Boy Meets World is on Hulu, it’s become a pop culture question I can’t escape. Eric’s progressive stupidity isn’t anything new in the history of sitcoms. As a show gets older and starts to figure out what its audience likes, it’s not uncommon to see characters become caricatures of themselves. It happened to Homer in The Simpsons, Barney on How I Met Your Mother, and basically every single character once Michael Scott left The Office. Capitalizing on the elements of a character audiences like while still trying to make them somewhat human is a struggle for all sitcoms. However, it’s a divide that’s aggressively pronounced in Eric Matthews case.
Eric was never the smartest character on the show or even in his own household, but he used to be smart enough to teach Cory (Ben Savage) a life lesson or two. In early seasons, Eric may have had a hard time programming his watch, but he could probably show up to places on time and recall basic facts. By the end of the series he was dressing as couches and hiding in bakery cases to get revenge on Topanga (Danielle Fishel). That’s a sharp spike in zaniness. What makes Eric’s dumbing down especially remarkable is that he’s the only character who went through this transformation. While everyone around him becomes progressively wiser, Eric’s intelligence drastically shrinks.
So what happened? How and why did Eric become so dumb? In my quest for an answer I found two answers that come as close to plausible as I could hope.
The first relies on an actual tragedy as theorized by Reddit user KingNick. In Episode 79, “Easy Street,” Eric takes his wilderness-loving girlfriend on a camping trip. However, a fun weekend turns to terror once a blizzard traps Eric and Loni (Jen Campbell) in the car. Desperate to escape and impress his date, Eric furiously beats on his window using his shoulders and head. That’s how Eric blacks out.
The episode ends with Loni carrying the dazed Eric back to his house, which is played for laughs. However, KingNick argues that Eric is never the same again after this Season 4 episode. By that logic, this brain injury could have affected Eric more than the show lets on. Eric’s later season antics may actually be a sad reminder about how this injury changed him.
The other theory comes from a Reddit user who has since deleted their account. This theory argues that Boy Meets World is actually a show that takes place from Cory’s perspective. Because of this, Eric looks incredibly cool and suave in early seasons, but as Cory grows up and becomes more mature, he starts to see Eric as ridiculous. Cory’s increasingly wisdom can also be applied to how he sees Shawn (Rider Strong). Initially, Shawn is portrayed as the cool friend who has a life just like Cory’s, but as the show goes on, it’s revealed that several “cool” parts of Shawn’s personality are connected to his difficult home life. Of course we didn’t initially understand that. Cory didn’t understand.
Or maybe Michael Jacobs and April Kelly created a largely inoffensive coming-of-age sitcom that floundered through character development as the show got older. That’s likely the cause of Eric’s sudden stupidity — a show playing with its characters during a time when continuity wasn’t closely watched. How else can you describe the disappearing roles of Mr. Turner and Minkus? But I like to think there’s a little more to this shift than meets the eye. Regardless of what you believe, you should absolutely binge Boy Meets World now that it’s on Hulu. I can promise it’s a delightful experience.
