#gmw2x13

[rileymaya]

GMWWriters: It's all over the front of our notebook, "Riley and Maya are the absolute best of friends."

Me: What's on the back of your notebook?

GMWWriters: "Riley

[rileymaya]

What is your interpretation of the reasoning of Maya not telling Riley about how Riley really felt about Lucas? Do you think it is because of Maya wanting to protect Riley from being sad or Maya likes Lucas?

Well, it’s certainly not the first time Maya’s actions and reactions could be read as supporting either Rilaya or Lucaya.There are multiple ways to look at it, but I’m Rilaya trash so definitely the former. They have a history of trying to protect each other’s hearts.

Realistically, no matter the interpretation, Maya is being extremely considerate of Riley’s feelings and letting her arrive at her own conclusions in her own time. Even if Rilaya is only ever platonic, I still think that’s beautiful.

[rileymaya]

2x13 Thoughts

I liked it. Nice call back with the filmstrip. It was good to see Jack again, but I hope he'll be back for more because I feel like they kind of under-utilized him. The Jack and Eric reunion was nice, but what about Jack and Shawn? And wouldn't Maya be interested in getting to know Jack a bit? I was honestly expecting Jack to maybe say his name when he shook Riley's hand and for her to react to it in some way. Maybe she's seen him in pictures or something so she already knew who he was even though he's never met her.

I knew more about this episode going into it than I wanted to. For one thing, I did know about the Jack and Eric reunion. But I also couldn't avoid seeing Charlie's name several times here on Tumblr. I knew he was going to be here, I knew he was going to ask Riley to the dance, and I even knew he would be looking at her in at least one of the flashbacks.

I came out of all this kind of shipping Charlie/Lucas (and Jack/Eric, but that's not exactly a new thing.) Although the Farcas (Larkle?) was there too. Plenty of Rilaya hand-holding that warmed my heart. And ultimately "we're all dancing and we're all friends" was good enough for me.

The Sheppard scene reminded me just how far outside the target demographic I am. I could have lived with less time spent on that and more time spent on Jack, but I'm sure that was probably really fun for people who like that band. And that song was definitely an earworm because it's still stuck in my head.

It made me smile when Eric said he still keeps in touch with Rachel. I always liked her. And I like that Eric knows what all of his friends are up to. In general, I was just more satisfied with Eric this time. They've been working in more of that heart that I liked about him in BMW. Although I do feel like they're really milking that "niche" reference for all its worth.

All in all, a very fine episode. I'm sure it's difficult to balance a somewhat momentous GMW story, returning BMW characters, and a musical guest, but they did a pretty good job of it.