Why Boy Meets World Fans Can't Stand Cory In The Later Seasons
During the 1990s, on most Friday nights, families nationwide tuned their TVs to ABC's famous TGIF programming block. The slew of family-friendly sitcoms properly began the weekend with some wholesome laughs and a sprinkling of life lessons. From Steve Urkel causing havoc to the Winslows in "Family Matters" to a big family making it in San Francisco in "Full House," TGIF was filled with legendary pop culture heavy hitters.
"Boy Meets World" emerged as one of the network's most beloved and reliable primetime pillars. The series focuses on Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), who grows from a teenager to a young adult along with his best friend Shawn (Ryder Strong) and his love interest Topanga (Danielle Fishel). Looking back, when fans reminisce about the show's seven-season run, they might bring up countless warm and fuzzy memories about specific episodes. Yet, rewatching the series as an adult is often an opportunity to notice things our young minds either didn't comprehend or fully noticed.
"Boy Meets World" certainly had moments that went too far, that much is obvious. But what about a character becoming nearly unbearable as the seasons rolled? Well, for some fans on Reddit, it turns out that while he started so charming and lovable, the Cory of later seasons was the worst.
Cory's lack of personal growth frustrated fans
For the first three seasons of "Boy Meets World," we see Cory juggle life as a middle schooler while often getting sage advice from his neighbor and teacher, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels), or his parents. It's a pretty solid formula as Cory attempts to understand more about growing up. But does Cory grow as a person and truly learn anything by the time the series moves him into his high school and college years?
That's debatable, according to Reddit, as a post by u/ginime called out how unlikable Cory becomes by Season 6, because it feels like he doesn't learn anything. And that's probably the lightest thing said about him by some fans. "He does seem to become more grounded in GMW ["Girl Meets World"], but if I'd known Cory in real life, I'd have punched him more than once, u/Stigweird85 posted.
Like a massive sore thumb, what sticks out so negatively about Cory in later seasons is how often he mistreats his family and friends, despite supposedly knowing better from earlier seasons. One example is the Season 7 Episode, "Brotherly Shove," where Cory decides to clean out his family's garage with Topanga and Shawn instead of with his brother Eric (Will Friedle). Cory doesn't realize that it hurt his brother's feelings because it feels like a reminder that Cory never wants to spend time with him. This contrasts the Season 3 Episode, "Brother Brother," where Cory expresses similar feelings when Eric is about to leave for a summer road trip. We would have thought that Cory would have initially understood Eric's feelings immediately in "Brotherly Shove." Instead, it takes a verbal blow-up in a hospital, and an explanation from Topanga, before Cory finally gets it.
Ben Savage is aware of how fans feel about Cory and Topanga being together
Speaking of Topanga, it seems that rather than serving as his better half, some fans would have preferred if the two hadn't remained together at all. As one Redditor expressed, "I feel like they really brought out the worst qualities in each other."
Shockingly, this sharp criticism of the couple isn't lost on actor Ben Savage, especially concerning a pivotal moment for his character and Topanga in the series. Much of the latter half of Season 5 of "Boy Meets World," deals with Cory and Topanga possibly splitting after graduation because Topanga has been accepted into Yale. However, during the Season 5 finale, Topanga changes her mind about the Ivy League School and proposes to Cory. The moment was meant to serve as an example of the young couple's love winning in the end, and keeping them together. Instead, some fans see it as a glaring mistake of the two rushing into a huge decision and one person unnecessarily giving up a dream. And as Savage told US Weekly Magazine, some fans have let him know that they think Topanga made the wrong fateful decision.
Yet, in the same interview, Savage has no ill feelings in response to these opinions. Rather, as he puts it, "I think Fred [Savage] and I are both just very happy that people are so emotionally invested in the show that they care that much. That's the most important and flattering part of this whole thing."