During last week’s episode of “Pod Meets World,” “Boy Meets World” cast mates Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle discussed their disappointment with how an episode from the hit ABC series failed to center the experience of Topanga Lawrence’s (Fishel) after she was hit on by her college professor and instead spotlighted Cory Matthews’ (Ben Savage) response to it.
“I felt like this thing that happened to Topanga became about: ‘How is the man in her life going to feel about it, and what’s he going to do about it?’” Fishel said, mentioning that her character’s “agency was completely taken away.”
The scene happened in Season 6, Episode 7 of “Boy Meets World”: “Everybody Loves Stuart,” during which college couple Topanga and Cory begin to fancy their new professor, Stuart (Fred Savage). But when Stuart visits Topanga in her dorm room where he makes her uncomfortable with aggressive and unwelcome sexual advances, the pair learn Stuart isn’t who they thought he was. Ultimately, Topango tells Cory what happened and he gets into a physical altercation with Stuart, which leaves him at risk of being expelled.
Friedle pointed out that once Topanga informs Cory about what happened, the episode completely pivots to focus on Cory.
“Corey’s taken over the story, and it’s about how he’s gonna deal with what happened to Topanga,” Friedle said. “And I thought that they should have stayed with the Topanga storyline, which to me is much more interesting.”
Strong chimed in, agreeing with Friedle, adding that the scene was “painful to watch.”
“The concern is not how Topanga feels,” Strong added. “It’s about how the violation of Topanga is reflected through how it violates Cory’s rights.”
Finding common ground, Fishel noted that the show itself is based around Cory.
“Granted, it is ‘Boy Meets World,’” Fishel said. “So, it’s gonna be through the boy’s POV.” But the actress followed her thoughts up, suggesting that Topanga could have received more attention within the storyline.
“Topanga becomes unimportant,” Fishel said.
The episode aired on Nov. 6, 1998.
