I think I literally smiled the entire duration of this episode. This was a funny, kind of heartwarming, kind of dark, utter blast of an episode. Kevin, Paul, and their motley crew of untalented comrades form the black sheep of RFK Junior High’s singing landscape. They’re okay with that, and their teacher is perfectly content…
After a couple of episodes of The Wonder Years at its worst, the show rebounds with an excellent outing. The Tree House works for a few reasons. One is that it focuses on Dan Lauria (third time this season!), who is maybe the show’s most reliable presence (aww, who am I kidding, Josh Saviano is…
There are two points of discussion following St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. First is the outcome of the episode and what it means for the show; I’ll get to that at the end of the recap. Second is the quality of the episode itself, to which I say: Meh. Color me disappointed. I’ve described a few…
She, My Friend, and I started out pretty excellently, but became steadily less enjoyable as the half hour wore on. It is only the first half of a two-parter (as indicated by the “To be continued”), but, as a standalone, I walked away from She, My Friend, and I feeling… what’s the technical term… icky.…
We lucked out — two Dan Lauria showcases in one season. The Powers That Be gives one of the show’s best actors another chance to show off his impressive chops when his own dad comes to town. Grampa Arnold, played by David Huddleston, throws a wrench in the Arnold family dynamic when he’s around; suddenly,…
Damn it, Wonder Years! How could you do that to me? You pulled the fleece over my eyes and hit me in the gut at the last possible moment. I loved that ending. Loved loved loved it. I had wondered why Winnie was absent and had never been brought up as a potential date for…
There are comedy episodes like The Pimple — which strain to milk comedy out of narrow topic — and then episodes like Rock ‘n’ Roll, which take advantage of having such a broad topic to focus on. The writers are firing on all cylinders during Rock ‘n’ Roll, which is aptly named because it takes…
I really enjoyed Math Class, the first episode centered around Mr. Collins’ algebra class, and I enjoyed Math Class Squared, its sequel, even more. The first half of this episode puts Kevin in a believable, morally complex conflict: Should he rat out the his cheating classmates? It’s a tough question that has been answered a…
The pimple story is probably the default coming-of-age story (assuming you exclude boyfriend-girlfriend troubles). I can’t count how many times I’ve seen some iteration of this story. In many ways, it’s also the most idiotic, because teens on TV and in the movies almost never have acne unless it’s the focus of a plot. It’s actually…
Although these changes have come With your chrome heart riding in the sun Long may you run -Neil Young The Family Car would not have been nearly as successful if the setting of The Wonder Years didn’t line up with The Greatest Generation fading out and the dawn of Generation X. But because it does,…