Girl Meets World Review: Maya’s Okay Now

For the past few Girl Meets World episodes we’ve been on the topic of Maya’s identity. It’s typical for kids to figure out, and sometimes change, who they are during high school. That process is all about exploring the world around you and figuring out where you fit in it. For Maya in particular it has recently become somewhat unnerving to her that she could have changed so drastically without realizing it. This week we wrap it up by pushing Maya into a drastic circumstances so she can once and for all know who she is.

Now we know Riley knows who she is. Riley is silly, Riley is quirky, Riley will never stop seeing the bright side of things in her shiny world filled with rainbows and puppies. Farkle, even though he went through changes in wardrobe and elocution, is still brilliant and adorably devoted to both Maya and Riley. Lucas “The Face” figured out a long time ago that he didn’t have to give into the tough guy persona, instead opting for the silly (and getting sillier at times) heart of gold. It’s now Maya’s turn to figure out who she is.

To Maya, that means erupting like Mount Vesuvius in an explosion of big, bad behavior. Riley is eager to get this process over with, thinking that the explosion could be bigger the longer Maya keeps it in. Maya doesn’t really feel like exploding, just doing something that makes her feel like herself again. She takes a trip to her past, long before she met Riley. There she reunites with two girls who were once her friends but have since taken being bad to a criminal level. They challenge Maya to smash up a statue in the park. Maya can do it, she does have the brick and hammer to do serious damage with. In the end she chooses not to, instead opting to show her strength by protecting the statue, and putting the Riley part of the statue’s head back on that her former friends knocked in! A good cop, played by Family Matters and Hart of Dixie‘s Reginald VelJohnson, finds Maya and chooses to give her a break. He knows that Maya has good influences in her life, and more importantly Maya is choosing to listen to them.

If anything, little Dew’s (DOY, as he likes to be called) actions are actually worse than Riley’s since he has been unknowingly shoplifting candy from the convenience store for a year. But he’s a child who hasn’t been taught about money yet, so him not knowing is a good enough reason not to be blameworthy of wrongdoing. In the end it’s the conscience that sets you apart. If you know that something is wrong, choose not to do it, or feel guilty if you did do something wrong, then you are on the right path. In this mess of a world that we’ve been living in, we even get the “sometimes the system works” message. Argue that amongst yourselves, but take away the message to have hope.

So who is Maya? She’s who she’s always been. Maya has a tough exterior with a beautiful heart. She appreciates the silly, makes fun of those she cares about, and will defend those she loves with everything she’s got. Maya is still the same person, she just got lost for awhile. Now she’s back, is on the verge of finally getting the family she’s always dreamed of, and maybe a new relationship as well?

Now that the real Maya has returned, will Lucas choose her? Or will next week’s pivotal “Girl Meets Ski Lodge” end with a Riley-Lucas pairing? Tune in next week, when a trip to the ski lodge that was nearly the end of Cory and Topanga changes the Girl Meets World triangle forever.