With only 22 minutes to use each week, half-hour network shows have to be very selective about how they tell their stories. Walk Out chooses to be a meditation on the general concept of protest by youth. It considers why political protest by youth is at once hypocritical — how can a 12-year-old have proper…

More than anything, though, it’s hard to imagine being twelve years old — and not having a best-friend like Paul Pfeiffer. -Kevin Now that’s more like it. After an episode that felt a bit lacking in its exploration of a secondary character, Loosiers sticks the landing. It’s not a perfect episode — in particular, Coach…

I had been looking forward to the inevitable Wayne-centric episode, eager to see what the writers would do with a character who has been entertaining but largely a source of comic relief. While I really liked a few of the ways the this episode fleshed out Wayne and his relationship to Kevin, I still thought…

Fan. Freaking. Tastic. The Wonder Years is most fundamentally about loss, and Coda explores the bittersweet nature of losing those childhood activities. Here, the piano isn’t just an afterschool activity for Kevin, but a symbol of youthful passion and potential, something largely shed by grown-ups. Norma has her pottery and Jack has his stargazing, but…

After a couple of plot-heavy (and exhausting) episodes focused on Kevin’s romantic life, Pottery Will Get You Nowhere is a welcome change-of-pace that reminded me of My Dad’s Office or The Phone Call from the first season: Centered on a single small conflict, deeply mining it for great character growth. What I most loved about…

Just Between Me And You… was at moments as tiring as its absurd title (cited in its entirety above). The whole Kirk-Winnie drama was overplayed going into this episode, so I was completely bored of it by the end of the episode. I honestly would have preferred a few episodes of Kevin and Becky going…

Highs and lows. -Kevin A handful of The Wonder Years episodes so far have probed deep into the political and cultural currents of the late 1960s. Our Miss White and Angel come to mind. Steady as She Goes is not one of those episodes. It’s the most fun, raucous episode of the series yet, again…

Christmas-themed episodes for sitcoms usually stand out from other episodes of the series by wrapping up in a warm, sentimental, often treacly way. The Wonder Years, however, consistently wraps its episodes up poignantly. Thus, “Christmas” (I’ll put it in quotes when I mean the episode name, not the holiday) feels very consistent within the series…

Our Miss White somehow manages to parallel Kevin’s crush on his teacher with the civil rights movement. It does so with a straight face and without in any way degrading or mocking the civil rights movement. On the contrary, Our Miss White is a testament to the complex and passionate cultural and political landscape of…

“You know what it is? It’s the contacts. Ever since she got contacts, she thinks she’s so cool. She’s turned into a real snob.  You know when my mother took me to get contacts and we found out I’m allergic to them? Well now I’m glad. I’d much rather wear glasses and be a nice…