Topanga is offered promotion at work to run her law firm’s London office. While Topanga tries to make the right decision for The Matthews family, Riley and her friend struggle with what may happen if Riley moves to London. (From imdb.com)

It’s time to say goodbye to Girl Meets World, as Topanga is faced with the difficult decision of moving the family to London for a position in the law firm’s office there.  This episode is a satisfying ending to a satisfying series that, I don’t think, gets the credit it deserves.

We are reintroduced to the Belgium 1831 story, which turns out to be much more important that we had originally realized.  Cory had planned to use this story as a way for our fearless group to off in the world on their own.  It’s just that, with Topanga’s choice, that time is a lot closer on the horizon.  In that this is the series finale, one might assume that Topanga will accept the offer and we will get a tearful goodbye as the family packs up, turns off the lights and off they go.

But what we get instead is a thoughtful consideration of how we interact with each other and with the world.  If I have one complaint about the series as a whole, its that, even thought Smackle and Zay were welcomed into the group, their interactions were so insular that they never had the chance to “meet world.”  But maybe the whole focus of the show was to bring them to the point where our core characters are ready to be Belgium 1831.

I also applaud the writers for not making the series finale about Riley but about Topanga.  This was her decision to make but she called on all of the people who have given her sage advice in her life to help with that decision (for some reason, Minkus never got a chance to share his thoughts and I could do without Eric’s nuttiness).  To see Shawn adopt Maya brought her the family she has always longed for; the adoption also completed Shawn’s quest for a family.  Interesting when Mr. Turner said he wished he had adopted Shawn as well.

And what else can you say about William Daniels.  In some ways, he is the core of the series.  Even after twenty years, he gives the best advice.  He is a teacher in so many ways – and not just in the classroom.

Topanga’s choice makes sense at the end.  While some may argue she did it for her family, she did it for herself.  Identifying “Topanga’s” as her quiet space was an interesting choice.  Furthermore, the parallel with the final episode of Boy Meets World (where Cory states, “boy meets world. I get it.”) is understanding and poignant as well when Riley also concludes “girl meets world. I get it.”

Two laugh out loud moments:

• Having both Morgans on.
• “I’m Kerri Abelson.”

Perhaps GMW will find a new home (apparently it won’t be on Netflix) and perhaps it will fade into the sunset, only to be reborn in fifteen years with Riley and Maya as young women in the world.  I’d argue, though, that GMW should not have been on Disney but Freeform.  The stories the writers told were deep dives into characters, not the typical sitcom fare found on DC.  This was not a Dcom.  It was great storytelling about interesting characters exploring their place in the world.

We will miss you Girl Meets World.