From the Fans: Is it a Trap?

00:00:19
Speaker 1: Guys, we are back with voice memos. We didn't have writer last time, so I figured now is the moment to reiterate the situation. We have a very dramatic reason to be talking to fans this week. And what we did is we put out a call on Instagram and we said, if you feel the same sort of passion as our host did regarding whether or not Topanga set a trap for send us a voice memo under one minute, which is a very tight place to be put in. A lot of people talk like the micromine a micromachine man in order to get.

00:00:56
Speaker 2: At the f Oh jeez, I remember he was the best.

00:00:59
Speaker 1: And so yeah, we have clips from people who believe it was a trap, clips from people who think it wasn't a trap, and some people who just have thoughts.

00:01:08
Speaker 2: Wow, okay, all right.

00:01:10
Speaker 3: We know which team I'm on. I have not changed my mind at all.

00:01:13
Speaker 2: I have not either. I'm still tea trapped them.

00:01:17
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:01:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think if anything, I'm confused because I feel like Danielle's position is actually that it was a trap. It's just that that to Panga didn't well I don't know.

00:01:35
Speaker 3: Was that it was the way to Panga The way she said it and set it up in the opener is clear to me. It was never intended to be a trap. At the end of the episode, they threw her under the bus and made it.

00:01:48
Speaker 4: They threw under the bus part, because that's the part that throws me off, like what you're saying, because I feel like you're coming at this from a defensive position to begin with, that you already thought to Panga set it up because you had been told by fans to set up Corey, so that when you heard the line, you're like, well, that's not actually what she said. But the end of the episode is her saying you failed my test.

00:02:10
Speaker 3: He said, he said. He says something like no, because you told me too. He says that he puts those words in her mouth, and she then doesn't say no, I didn't. She and yeah, you listened, which.

00:02:25
Speaker 2: Was lame by the writer's.

00:02:28
Speaker 3: Super lame and doesn't even doesn't correlate, like that's not that's no, not you listened. I didn't set you. I didn't give you a test. You're if I gave you a test, your test was failed the moment you let you stayed. So it wasn't a test about whether or not you were going to go on the day with her. It was about whether or not you were ready to say, I'm walking out of here with you. You're the only person I need to Panga, I don't need her. Let's get out of here together.

00:02:54
Speaker 2: That's what I think too.

00:02:55
Speaker 5: I think essentially to Panga was done with the relationship the second he didn't leave her. Correct, that's what I think too.

00:03:02
Speaker 4: And why did she say you listened?

00:03:03
Speaker 2: Because writers through under the bus.

00:03:06
Speaker 4: But that's that is the reality of the show. So we're not talking. I mean, I'm agree it.

00:03:10
Speaker 3: Wasn't wasn't a test. The setup wasn't a test.

00:03:14
Speaker 4: But the result is a test.

00:03:16
Speaker 3: Well, listen, she said, you listened to me. But I that could just be bad writing, bad bad writing. That's totally under But I.

00:03:25
Speaker 4: Mean, we could say it's bad writing, but that's the it was a trap. Like the intention of that is you listened. I mean, i I'm I'm I'm just saying like that is the storyline, right, You can say it's bad writing, but you're choosing which side of the equation you're going to.

00:03:42
Speaker 3: Wasn't set up. She did set up a trap. She didn't set up a trap at the end, Corey tried to say you you set up a trap, and Ta Penga didn't tell him she didn't, which she should have, but it doesn't It doesn't change the fact that she was never setting up a trap.

00:03:55
Speaker 1: He as someone who listened to hundreds of lips from listeners. If the decision was made at the time that she said you can stay with Lauren, like if she's saying you have to be one hundred percent with me, but then he stays with Lauren and she made her decision there, it can't physically be a trap because she's already made her decision, right.

00:04:19
Speaker 5: I also think the next episode went out of its way, or the episode after whenever it was, went out of its way to have to Panga say yes, trap trap, trap trap or whatever.

00:04:29
Speaker 4: Test test test, test, test, test test, the biggest test.

00:04:32
Speaker 5: The biggest yeah, because they wanted to make sure that everyone knew that at that point she's testing Corey, whereas I don't think the first.

00:04:40
Speaker 2: One, and again I think it does.

00:04:43
Speaker 5: They try. Here's what I would say. They tried to write it as if it were a trap the way that it was set up in Chubbies. It did not come off to me that Tapanga was trapping her, and if you just cut the line you listened, yes, it.

00:04:59
Speaker 3: Wouldn't been t The idea that Sean from the very beginning is picking up on exactly what Tapanga is saying, and he's saying, it's a trap. Go with her, Go with her right now, whatever happens here, go you You're the right thing to do is go with Tapanga. And Corey doesn't.

00:05:14
Speaker 4: So I know, but you guys are making it out that that I mean, I don't know. I'm not sure quite what you're defending. I guess if if if the idea is that there's a binary trap or no trap, then clear and you want to you want to say Topanga clearly did not intend it to be a trap. You're looking at the word and you're saying, yes, okay, and then we're just gonna ex we're just gonna take away that I listened, because that implies it isn't. But it's like, but actually, if you look at the whole thing, it's clearly not a binary. It's somewhat messy, it's signed in between, and I think Topega is smart enough to know it's kind of in between. So ultimately, like she's she's she's got her release valve, she's got her escape patch. It wasn't really a trap if you look at what I actually said. But that's manipulative to a degree, clearly. But she, oh, she's not super clear.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: It's so clear to me.

00:06:03
Speaker 4: If she was clear, she would say, walk out, if you're right now, if you need to.

00:06:06
Speaker 3: Go, do she doesn't want to give him an ultimatum. I don't. An ultimatum is also putting somebody in a situation. Wow, I'm going to put you in a situation where you have to decide it's me or her. No, why don't you figure out who you want to be with. I'm not going to force you into a situation. You either want to be with me or you don't want to be with me, And if you're not sure, then figure that out. But I don't want to be with somebody who isn't sure. So I'm leaving right now.

00:06:34
Speaker 4: And that's the part I leave, she leaves, she goes.

00:06:39
Speaker 3: Then you should go figure that out.

00:06:41
Speaker 4: I think, And I think she could be very clear, and I think it could you could be very clear without giving an ultimatum and just be like this is this is the situation we're in, which is not what happens. She she says, just the right wording, and then they'll and you listen. So therefore now I know you did. You failed the test. I still think it's it's I mean, my character says it's a trap. It is. It's a trap.

00:07:04
Speaker 3: And yet you pick up on exactly what it is that she's saying, which is you should know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm the person you want to be with. So this should be really easy for you. You should be one hundred percent sure, and if you're not, then stay and figure that out. But I cannot be with someone who needs to stay and figure it out. Bye, and she leaves, Well.

00:07:25
Speaker 4: So we have to add that extra sentence. That extra sentence is very good. That's not the line. That's not what depics on.

00:07:32
Speaker 3: She walks out. It's exactly what she says.

00:07:35
Speaker 5: I feel like we're not going to be I'm sorry, I feel like we're not going to be this in depth and philosophical.

00:07:39
Speaker 2: When it comes to why Eric's in the couch, well.

00:07:42
Speaker 5: I just don't think it's going to get at It's going to get the same amount of response, right.

00:07:47
Speaker 1: Well, it doesn't sound like we're going in any new direction. So let's go to the audience again. Worth noting we received hundreds of emails with voice memos. This time we had a quicker turnaround deadline also, so people got really into these with notes and all sorts of things. I think we basically found our subruer film. Do you guys want to hear a trap or a non trap?

00:08:08
Speaker 2: First surprise us?

00:08:10
Speaker 3: Yep?

00:08:10
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, let's listen to Hillary. Hillary believes it is a trap.

00:08:17
Speaker 3: Of course it's a trap.

00:08:19
Speaker 6: That's why Sean calls it a trap right from Jump Street. That's why there is a runner about what girls really mean. It wasn't even Corey's idea to stay and talk to Lauren. That's why he says to Panga told him to go out with her, and that's why she says, and you listened, Panga, being clear, would have been saying, talk to her and we're done, stay here and we're breaking up. But then the episode would have no stakes. Telling Corey to talk to Lauren if he needs to, that she couldn't be with him if he's unsure, is to say, I don't want us to be together. If you have doubts or wondering if you're still thinking of her, So go find out if you're sure, and he does, he listens one hundred percent a trap there.

00:09:04
Speaker 3: I agree with that one sentence of I could not be with someone who is unsure, but that is answered the minute he doesn't leave with her. Topeka's shocked. This is even still a consideration. Oh, this woman felt so strongly about you. She had to come here for four hours. She had to come here four hours to see if there's something else. If you feel the same way, Bud, we've got a bigger problem.

00:09:25
Speaker 4: But it's either a test in the moment then or a test later. And the fact that it's a test later it means that the whole thing was a trap, right like because Tobenga could be very clear in that moment, and it doesn't have to be an ultimatum. She could just say I'm leaving, I'm breaking up with you, I'm walking out of here. Right She can be the proactive one saying I don't want to be with you because you are one hundred percent not sure.

00:09:51
Speaker 3: But she doesn't know if he's unsure what she heard him say, I don't want to know. She's saying, here's your moment. Are you sure or are you not one hundred percent sure? Because if you're not one hundred percent sure, I couldn't be with you anymore.

00:10:07
Speaker 4: And so then she leaves that that's like, but that's the kind of thing that she should say, but she doesn't say that, And she said that. He says, but if she said that, what would Corey do?

00:10:16
Speaker 3: I just he say, he stays to figure it out. That's the whole point.

00:10:23
Speaker 4: If she said the sentence that you just said, I think he would have said, Okay, yeah, obviously I'm going with you to Panka.

00:10:29
Speaker 3: Then what was the point of the arc? The whole point of him meeting her was, I can't believe I want to talk to this woman who is in Topanga. I like her. I enjoyed spending all night with her. I could have gone on the ski slopes with Tapanga, and I didn't. I said my I lied and said my ankle still hurt, all because I had feelings for this other woman. Then she shows up to see if they need to pursue that, and Topenga goes, wow, she not so sure your story is over. If you're not sure your story is over, then you should figure that out. I could never be with someone who wasn't one hundred percent sure. And then she leaves him. Not leaving with her is him saying I'm not one hundred percent sure.

00:11:23
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's important. Note now I will give you not a trap person again. This says nothing about anything, but I will say that more people emailed that it was not a trap. Again, was not a competition, but at least it's worth knowing. And here's our first one. This is Barsha not a trap.

00:11:40
Speaker 7: It was clear that the writers couldn't have Corey be a villain or a bad guy, so they had to set the scene up as a trap that tippeninga places to draw us away from the fact that he literally cheated on her and then lied to her about it all. Yes, she does ask him to take the time to figure his feelings out, but that was because she didn't want to force or beg him to choose her. After all, they'd been in a relationship for years. To Penga left her family to be with him, and so the least a peg it deserved was that Corey would choose her. Onspot in Chubbies, but he had to question the whole relationship based on one night of talking to a random girl. She never had to question her feelings for him, so she was extremely clear that she wanted a guy who was one hundred percent sure about her as well, which he wasn't. So later when he did choose her and she said that she can't be in the relationship, it wasn't because she wanted to trap him, but because he had to weigh a long term relationship to a few hours old infatuation.

00:12:38
Speaker 4: That's it, But the irony is to Peggott does end up having to test her love for Corey by going out with another guy.

00:12:47
Speaker 2: We don't know that yet.

00:12:48
Speaker 4: That's not what I'm saying. Like, but the in the air she comes back says, I'm in love with Corey.

00:12:56
Speaker 3: Feelings not about feelings for Corey. Yes, because she tells Corey, I didn't understand how someone could kiss you and not have it mean anything. So she then went on a date with somebody who on paper has everything she could possibly want, a guy. He kisses her and she goes, Wow, it is possible to physically be intimate with somebody with a kiss and not have it mean anything. I now feel like I could understand Corey, how his Corey, how his kiss with Lauren didn't change anything in the way he felt about me. That's what she That's what she ends up realizing is Wow, you can actually physically be intimate with somebody, like having a kiss with someone, and have it truly not mean anything because he kissed me this perfect man on paper and I felt nothing.

00:13:49
Speaker 4: So how does that reflect on this moment?

00:13:51
Speaker 8: Then?

00:13:51
Speaker 4: Do you think for to think.

00:13:54
Speaker 3: On what moment?

00:13:55
Speaker 4: Well, she says I can't be with it. That she changes her idea. She changes her because because Corey. If if Corey says I'm not one hundred percent sure I need to go spend this day with Lauren, right, she ultimately forgives him for that, I mean to be with him, right because she also says, oh, you weren't one hundred percent sure, and I'm still in love with you, because you know, even if if like you're saying, it wasn't an experience, I had to go out. I just had to have the physical kiss either way. She comes around to say, to change her mind after this, right.

00:14:25
Speaker 3: Yes, which she shouldn't have, but she she does because she's decided that she's gonna over and over again, forgive him cheating on her. She's shown that, so I think for her it was more a matter of being able to have true empathy. For Oh, someone can kiss you and it really cannot mean anything. You could feel nothing, as opposed to them being worried that like, not only did you emotionally have a connection to this girl, you stayed up all night with and lied to me about you kissed her, and that would obviously have to mean something. It's a bit of a we talked about the way they wrote Toga. It's a little bit of like a changing of the situation because later she makes it all about the kiss when it wasn't really about the kiss.

00:15:06
Speaker 9: Well.

00:15:06
Speaker 5: They also they did something kind of interesting in that episode because they were trying to obviously mirror what happened in the ski lodge where she looks down is like, oh my god, I spent the whole day talking to you in an art museum.

00:15:16
Speaker 2: I didn't really.

00:15:17
Speaker 5: But the difference is Corey was struggling with the fact that he found somebody that he really connected with instantly and really liked. They never really got into that with Topenga and French Boy. It was just kind of like he's really cute.

00:15:31
Speaker 2: You should go out with him. It wasn't like, oh my god, I never had.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: Feelings for him. Interesting conversationalists.

00:15:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was where they really set it up with Corey where he was like, oh my god, I could have feelings for somebody other than Topanga, where Topenga is just like, well, I guess I'm here because Corey went out with somebody.

00:15:47
Speaker 4: I mean it was I mean she does, doesn't she have the man's playing moment at the painting and then drag Corey into test his phone.

00:15:52
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, no, no, no, that was ridiculous, all the testing that was clearly a test and oh no, but I'm.

00:15:57
Speaker 4: Saying that it wasn't wasn't that her being affected by this guy, Like she was not a moment she was having a moment with a guy where she was like, I wish Corey, I would to do this it too.

00:16:09
Speaker 5: They set up an intimacy between Corey and Lauren that they never set up between Topanga and I literally don't even remember the character's name.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: Ricky.

00:16:17
Speaker 2: Ricky, right, Ricky, don't lose that number.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: Let's go back to a trap here. This is Anna.

00:16:23
Speaker 10: The amount of screaming I did while only listening to this podcast, this week's podcast, and last week's podcast, Oh my Goodness. For most of the part I was always on Will's side. I definitely agreed with his mindset, his opinions, and then this week's episode talking about the trap, I was definitely agreeing and understood right her side. I'm thirty years old. I've watched this show then and I've watched it now, and it's not until now that I've gotten older that it's like hearing that back was like, No, Tipega.

00:16:58
Speaker 3: Knew what she was doing.

00:17:00
Speaker 10: She knew what she was saying because she is portrayed as a very intelligent, very wise woman, and it just felt as she also knows Corey isn't there, so it fell and sounded like a trap. Oh so much to say, but yeah.

00:17:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, people have feelings. I do wonder too, like does this make it good television that so many people absolutely different ways?

00:17:28
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:17:28
Speaker 3: I mean, I think the only reason they threw her under the bus is to make it is to make it where neither one of them is technically wrong. But you can, you can fudget all you want, you can pretend the kiss is what really ultimately bothered to Panga the most. Corey can say you set a trap, and she can respond with some non non it doesn't make any sense. We can do all of that, but it was the way it was set up is the way it should have finished, and it was to me very clear, I am not going to force you into an ultimatum where I'm begging you to choose me. You should already know and anything after that moment is just them trying to make Corey not a villain and make Tapanga seem like she also understands how this could happen for Corey, but I don't feel I feel like it's completely inexcusable.

00:18:30
Speaker 1: Let's hear another non a trap. This is Marissa.

00:18:34
Speaker 4: Okay.

00:18:35
Speaker 11: When I was younger, I felt torn off Tapanga was being sketchy with this quote trap. But as a grown up woman, I realized that Tapanga has been through more moments of infidelity with Corey than I have fingers. So whatever Tapanga needed to do for herself to get out of the cycle with Corey, I'm in support of.

00:18:51
Speaker 12: It was a.

00:18:52
Speaker 11: Strong moment seeing her walk out of Chubbies as a free woman. With that said, Topanga and Corey forever, I love this show and I will us.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: Well, I mean again, you you talked about it.

00:19:06
Speaker 5: It's a good TV I would instantly go when I think Corey and Topanga, you can you can make the correlation Ross and Rachel where it's like an iconic television couple that has mattered.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: People forget that Ross and Rachel were separated on the show for six seasons. Yeah, and that was some of the best TV they had. Was are they going to get back together? They're not going to get back together? What's going on?

00:19:27
Speaker 5: And they never did that with Corey and Topanga, And they missed so much opportunity with exactly that.

00:19:33
Speaker 1: It also became a verb when you were pitching TV shows, right, it was, Oh, we're going to do what are they going to? Are they not going?

00:19:40
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, well there won't they?

00:19:41
Speaker 1: Well, there won't they?

00:19:42
Speaker 5: Right?

00:19:42
Speaker 1: It became their own form of sitcom.

00:19:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, and yeah, they missed a lot there. They certainly did.

00:19:49
Speaker 1: Uh, let's go to someone named Bess. Bess has a perspective that none of us have currently, that's for sure.

00:19:57
Speaker 10: Hi, this is Bess.

00:19:59
Speaker 12: I agree with Danielle that the writers did to Panga dirty mainly though this episode stirs up so much in me. I recently developed a crush on someone outside my marriage. I handled it different than Corey. I told my husband right away and we had a really beautiful conversation about trust and the nature of feelings, and now we're even more in love. So when Corey learned that he doesn't need to be afraid of his feelings for another girl, I thought that was really beautiful. The problem is Corey took action with Lauren when he could have just worked on himself and figured out the same thing. So no, I don't think it was a trap. I think Corey trapped himself. And to your point about the writers, it's funny that I've never felt so connected to the storyline as I do now in my thirties. Married. Anyway, Justice for Tapanga and I love this podcast so much.

00:20:55
Speaker 2: Justice Forega. That's great.

00:20:57
Speaker 3: Wow, that is great, And you know that like that idea. That to me is what has bothered me so much more about the Corey's infidelity is that moment where he he had the chance to say, my ankle's better, and I want you to stay off the slopes because I need to talk to you and to have could he heat Now, granted we're talking about teenagers.

00:21:22
Speaker 13: No, the problem is that the the the the criticism of us taking it so seriously, or of us having higher expectations for any of these characters Tapega included for Tapanga, for our even for our expectation for Tapega to.

00:21:40
Speaker 3: Go, listen, lady, make it clear. Are you given him an ultimatum or are you not? Are you testing him or are you not? That's a Those are big. Those are expectations you have of people, of married people, not of teenagers who aren't the best at communicating or or understanding their feelings and all of this. But yet the storyline is such an adult storyline it's hard to it's hard to keep that in perspective.

00:22:08
Speaker 2: Well, we've talked about that.

00:22:09
Speaker 5: We've talked about how the people a lot of people writing the show, and they were going through things like this in their life, and they were using these young characters to act out what was happening in their own world. So it became very adult very quickly. Yeah, that was That's an interesting way to look at it though.

00:22:26
Speaker 4: But I want to throw in another wrinkle here, which is something we talked about a little bit when when we covered the episode. I think this whole moment and all the sort of confusion around it is the confusion is increased by the fact that Linda Cardelini was not there for us to shoot this specific scene. Because if you can't do a wide shot to include Lauren in the scene, or even if she's on the other side of between seeing him watching to Panga leave and deciding to stay, you know, because you guys are isolated, almost feels like she's gone. Like in my mind, I was like, where are we? Is this later it's a commercial break or whatever it is. That jump is so awkward, And what that does is it makes it a Corey to Panga moment where it does seem like Topanga should just be more clear. But if she's in front of Lauren or Lauren.

00:23:18
Speaker 3: Could maybe hear her and Carey with physical body, Lauren Wiga leaves.

00:23:24
Speaker 4: And that also, for me makes a lot more sense of why Topanga wouldn't be like harsh or clear because she also was like, hey, hey, you're having a moment here, because that woman is listening to us talk right now, I'm not going to like be the freaked out psycho girlfriend who's all jealous, you know, And partly because she doesn't want to do that in front of it. You don't even give Lauren that the pleasure, you know, or whatever, just satisfaction. So she says, no, no, no, no, you do your thing. But because I'm I walked in on something, I'm walking out. And here's what me walking out means. I would have totally buy what you're saying. But I think because it feels like a personal private conversation, I'm a little like, screw you to Panga be clear if it was, but I don't know, so I think it was. Yeah, I don't know. I think that it really does come down to like the blocking and the right and in fact that she wasn't there.

00:24:09
Speaker 3: The visualization of who does Corey's body stay next to this scene with the three of them and Sean going, h dude, you gotta go with this, you gotta go with her, and Corey turning back to look at Lauren and choosing to stay would have been like a cringe, Oh my god, Like you're right that that her not then being there for that next scene or at the very least making that moment where Tapega is talking to Cory a wider shot.

00:24:44
Speaker 4: Yes, and just be like, oh, this is because then it's more in the moment still, and it's like Tapanga just being like you have yeah, an awkward and all the things that would make this whole situation.

00:24:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:24:55
Speaker 5: I also think there's something to be said for I wonder how much our thoughts would change either way if we knew it was actually in the letter, because I mean, you know, don't I mean, she just said it's intimate, but how intimate does it get I'm in love with you?

00:25:08
Speaker 4: I mean, you never know.

00:25:09
Speaker 2: It could completely have changed what we think one way or another.

00:25:12
Speaker 5: Chust Panga read it, everybody read it, but us so curious to know what was there.

00:25:18
Speaker 1: Here is Tara. She also in a position different than ours.

00:25:22
Speaker 4: Hi.

00:25:22
Speaker 8: There, this is Tara from Eastport, Maine. I'm actually a school counselor. So let me tell you if I was the school counselor at John Adams High School. Because let's be real, ms Collins was terrible at a job, I would be encouraging to Panga to say was she actually means to Corey? Because she totally trapped him. All she had to do was say I can't be with someone who's on one hundred percent sure about me and you are obviously conflicted, so I am out. But instead she made it seem like there was still a chance for them to stay together because she was letting Corey go figure out if he was one hundred percent sure about her. The whole exchange is so frustrating, and I totally blame the writers for this, and I agree with Danielle that the writers totally through Topanga under the bus. It's a total disservice to your character and it drives me bananas.

00:26:10
Speaker 2: It's always the school counselor.

00:26:15
Speaker 3: It's funny because Topanga doesn't know that Corey is conflicted. All Topega hears is I need you to go because I don't want her to see us together. That's what she hears. Yeah, you need to get out of here because Toga Topanga is coming and I don't want her to see us together. And Topega then is like, you know, you don't always get what you want or something you can't always That's like what she says, like, woo, can't always get what you want and that's why. Then to me, it's even more clear that Tapanga is saying, if you need to stay, then you should do that. But I'm out, and I don't know it is it's it is.

00:27:00
Speaker 2: I mean, it's muddled.

00:27:01
Speaker 4: They wanted to be muddled, so we have an episode they wanted to thirty years later, they were looking for a podcast episode and here it.

00:27:08
Speaker 3: Is, and here it is.

00:27:08
Speaker 2: We got it.

00:27:09
Speaker 5: Do you think there would be this much discussion over whether or not Corey cheated. There's a ton of discussion about what Tapanga did. But do you think we would have the same whether or not him kissing him and just staying up and talking all night. Do you think there would be that it would be as divided over did he cheat or did he not?

00:27:28
Speaker 3: I mean, what do you guys think? Do you think he did?

00:27:30
Speaker 12: Well?

00:27:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you mean.

00:27:32
Speaker 5: Some people that say like, oh, well he you know she kissed him, You know, they were just.

00:27:37
Speaker 3: To the episode himself, right, I think at the moment.

00:27:41
Speaker 4: That she kissed him it was cheating. Well from that, it's the reaction to it, right, Like he could have just been like whoa, whoa, whoa, that's inappropriate, gone and told Tapanga like stay up all night talking to this girl. She kissed me. Wow, it went too far. What a mistake, and then it's over. But the fact that he lies and continues to the fact, you know that's the yeah. I mean, I do think that there is a version of Corey being someone innocent until the moment post the kiss, or at the moment of the kiss, because he could just put his hands up and stop it yet or.

00:28:13
Speaker 3: Couldn't do anything about it. He's irresistible to the ladies.

00:28:19
Speaker 1: Let's go to a lady in Australia. This is Sofia Hi from Australia.

00:28:23
Speaker 14: You guys, I just want to quickly start this by saying that I started watching Boy Me as Well at the age of forty one.

00:28:30
Speaker 3: I am now forty three.

00:28:32
Speaker 14: I have been the entire series about three or four times over. Love Love, Love the show and the podcast of course. Now, mister Panga, was it a trap? Hell No, it wasn't a damn trap.

00:28:44
Speaker 3: Please Okay.

00:28:46
Speaker 14: There could have been one word that changed which I felt was a little bit misleading, and it was when Tapanga says I couldn't be with someone. Had she had said I cannot be with someone, that would have been completely different. So I can see the misunderstanding with viewers.

00:29:11
Speaker 3: Anyway, I love you guys.

00:29:13
Speaker 14: Topanga was not wrongdition.

00:29:16
Speaker 2: Another relationship ended by grammar.

00:29:21
Speaker 1: The only one we got. That's not the only voice number we got about could not, I cannot it came up.

00:29:26
Speaker 4: It's a good call.

00:29:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a great call.

00:29:29
Speaker 1: I guess you guys didn't know what her opinion was, just so you remember it's this hell.

00:29:34
Speaker 3: No, it wasn't a damn trap.

00:29:36
Speaker 2: That is not what Admiral Akbar says during the Return of the Jedi. No, it's not a trap.

00:29:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, it's it's interesting to Yeah, but again that's what life is is Again, had Topanga come in and heard anything other.

00:29:54
Speaker 2: Than I don't want us to see us together?

00:29:58
Speaker 1: You know?

00:29:58
Speaker 5: Like that shows how much words matter. One word here, one word there, The entire thing is different. So yeah, super interesting. Cannot and could not two different meanings.

00:30:08
Speaker 15: Mm hmm. Yeah.

00:30:21
Speaker 1: This year is Khalid from Egypt. He's got his own opinions falling somewhere in the middle.

00:30:26
Speaker 16: Hey, guys, I got a lot of thoughts, so I'm going to try to get through as quickly as possible. Basically, I don't think she set a trap. I think it's more failure on the writer's parts to honor Japang as a character. I agree completely that they threw her under the bus with the and you listened line, But I actually think it happened earlier, like her dialogue and that whole scene is so vague and open to interpretation, and I think a really terrible way, because as the show goes on, the importance of their relationship becomes the focus of the whole show to an almost psychotic degree. Frank, you know, we accept how important it is to them, and it becomes important to us. So it's such a betrayal to have Topanga be so vague and not explicitly say exactly what she means when the stakes are this high, Like it's just not in character. She's normally very articulate. And I think therein lies the sometimes tragic flaw of this great show because it asks you to take these characters seriously, requires you to pay attention, and then it punishes you for doing so, like it flattens them, changes them, you know, as a way to create melodrama. And I think that's what happened in this episode. So it was a bit of a trap setting up by Tapanga, but by the writers.

00:31:29
Speaker 4: I was really well put. Really the way the show punishes you for taking this seriously by flattening. Oh my gosh, it was really true, though.

00:31:38
Speaker 2: I mean, I know, I know.

00:31:40
Speaker 1: Well, here's Shannon with her own thoughts as well.

00:31:44
Speaker 17: Okay, my name is Shannon, and I fear that the word trap is becoming more meaningless the longer this debate. Yeah, in this context, as far as I'm concerned, is when one person manufactures a situation to see how the other person will react. If Tapanga had said me at Chubby's and then arranged for Lauren to be there to see what Corey did, that would be a trap. If she had read the letter first to them, pretended she hadn't, and asked Corey if he and Lauren kissed to see if he would lie, that would be a trap. You know who created this whole situation, Not to Panga, Corey. This whole plotline was driven by choices he made. So Tapanga is in a situation not of her own making, trying to communicate her feelings and needs. Did she communicate them exactly, perfectly and clearly? No, But she is also seventeen years old. When I was seventeen, do you know how I would break up with someone? I would literally just stop talking to them, like on this memo.

00:32:38
Speaker 4: I mean that's so true. No, I'm not big picture, big picture. I mean Corey's pretty awful, right, I mean, like, no think any of us are debating that it's not like Topanga is a bat like in any way Topega's actions are not equivalent to the crap, right, Like, there's no equivalent in my mind. Yeah, it's it's just and I do think that a trap probably is not a great term. It's more like test right, It's like it's more like just in a moment, and it's it's just that the writers wanted to have it both ways. Yeah, just they wanted to have it both ways. But I agree, like in general, to Panga's pretty blameless and really really should have gone with Ricky.

00:33:23
Speaker 3: But somebody else, somebody Y could have been a great little distraction. I would have loved to have seen t Pega's been a summer in Paris.

00:33:30
Speaker 1: Through Paris personally, someone who's never seen the show before, do you think that people thought that maybe to Panga would end up with Sean after the episode where she takes care of him when he's sick with Sean, Yes.

00:33:47
Speaker 4: No, because I think the whole point of that is, like, can we be you thought you think that would have been So I just feel like the show, it was so locked into the show that there was.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: Never once we get tasted it. I'm about me who has who has not seen the rest of the show. There was a part of me that watched that episode and thought, are they setting them up? Because Dawson's Creek We talked abou Dawson's Creek a lot, and and they did that sort of like Pacey and uh, you know, like there was some friendship talked there in different obviously, like a lot of shows.

00:34:18
Speaker 3: I think we had done. I think Boy Meets World had done so much work setting up the bromance between Corey and Sean. The funny thing is Sean would never cheat on Corey the way Corey cheats Ontoga. That's very true that it would never happen.

00:34:38
Speaker 4: So yeah, I feel like like in actual storytelling, bro code and you know, the homosocial love between Corey and Sean is way stronger correct, way clearly, more clearly like extrapolated and testiny relationship until basically now like now the love and romance it's like part of Corey's maturation to move from that. But in terms of like iron clad friendship testing like we've seen their relationship come through it all. Yeah, and there's almost no doubt every time. At the end of every episode with Corey and Shawn, you're like, well, these two are the best things for each other possible.

00:35:20
Speaker 18: Right.

00:35:21
Speaker 5: It's also kind of amazing when you talk about our writers though, because when you think about how little they actually use Tapanga up until what halfway through season five, and then in four or five episodes, all of a sudden, she's now the core of the show. It's now all Corey and Topanga. That switched really quick. Yeah, because we went episode after episode going like, well.

00:35:40
Speaker 4: Where the show are you?

00:35:41
Speaker 2: Like, what the hell is going on? And now all of a sudden, boom, most important part of the show. It happened like that.

00:35:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. Crazy, We're rounding now to the end. Here here's Leah. She does believe it's a trap.

00:35:52
Speaker 9: Hi, this is Lea from Pennsylvania.

00:35:54
Speaker 3: Love the Pod.

00:35:55
Speaker 9: I'm going to try real hard to fit this under one minute, because boy do I have a lot to say. I don't want to tell in that for the they are wrong about their character, but Danielle, you are wrong about to Panga.

00:36:04
Speaker 3: I may notes let me try to get through this.

00:36:05
Speaker 4: It was a trap.

00:36:06
Speaker 9: Corey cannot read minds. She knows he cannot read minds. She said that if he's not one hundred percent sure, then he should go and talk to Lauren. Now, if she knew that she was going to break up with him, if he talks to Lauren, she should have come out and explicitly said that, and she did not do that. So he goes to talk to Lauren and he becomes one hundred percent shore and he tells Topanga he is now one hundred percent short, but then she breaks up with him.

00:36:30
Speaker 3: That is a trap.

00:36:31
Speaker 9: However, the only thing I would say in to Panga's defense is that it would make sense if she broke up with him, because Tapanga never said to date Lauren, and he went on a date with Lauren.

00:36:40
Speaker 3: He went the ball in her jacket.

00:36:41
Speaker 4: It was a full blown.

00:36:42
Speaker 9: Date that might be going to breaking up. I am done, Thank you have a good one.

00:36:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's actually an easy fixed.

00:36:49
Speaker 1: Gave us a couple of times. He glis right.

00:36:51
Speaker 4: If the difference is to Panga expects him to just sit at Chubby's and talk to her for a couple of minutes, and instead it takes him a day and a half and he goes on this whole that is that is you know, And that's an easy thing that she could have said in that final scene. It's like, Yeah, I thought you needed to like talk to her. I didn't realize it to go on a date with her and beat you or whatever and.

00:37:10
Speaker 3: Talk about whether or not you want the same type of house and how many kids you want to have.

00:37:13
Speaker 1: Yea god, Well, let's wrap it up with Casey, who gives us a good feeling that you know, maybe it's not necessarily that important to figure out if it is or not.

00:37:24
Speaker 18: Hey guys, my name is Casey. I love the pod, but not as much as I loved Writer when I was in elementary school.

00:37:32
Speaker 6: But that's another story.

00:37:34
Speaker 18: So I actually don't think it matters if Topanga said a trap or not. Regardless of what her intention was when she told Corey to explore his feelings, she's allowed to sit on it and reflect and decide that she's been too hurt and it's over. Let's not forget that this isn't the first time Corey has done something like this.

00:37:50
Speaker 2: There you go, Yeah, let's shoot, it's another good take.

00:37:54
Speaker 3: You're right, doesn't matter. I can change my mind, but it is for me, the big, the big moment that sucks is and you.

00:38:00
Speaker 5: I was just about to say, those three words changed the entire thing.

00:38:03
Speaker 2: And it's those three words.

00:38:04
Speaker 4: Because the point of those words is that that the end, that it's a tragedy that Corey has walked into.

00:38:10
Speaker 3: How dare you take my bait?

00:38:12
Speaker 2: Right?

00:38:12
Speaker 10: Yeah?

00:38:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, I handed you this knife and you and told you to plunge it in your heart and you did.

00:38:17
Speaker 3: And you did it and yeah, I know, but it was but it's so so soap opera.

00:38:27
Speaker 2: No, no, you do this shit happened.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: We have some of the smartest and most thoughtful listeners we did oh yeah, all the I picked some of the best ones, but really literally all the clips felt like it had that much research involved and that much actual feelings. And so we appreciate you guys sending in your voice memos and we will continue to do this when there's sort of big topics that we want to tackle.

00:38:54
Speaker 3: Right, yes, hot button issues. Yes, Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your emails Podmeets World Show at gmail dot com, and we have merch it's a.

00:39:09
Speaker 2: Trap or it's not a trap, or just blow up the dusk.

00:39:12
Speaker 3: Star Podmeetsworldshow dot com will send us out.

00:39:18
Speaker 2: We love you all.

00:39:19
Speaker 4: POD dismissed.

00:39:20
Speaker 3: Hell No, it wasn't a damn trap.

00:39:23
Speaker 18: Please.

00:39:25
Speaker 5: Podmets World is Niheart podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong executive producers, Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sudbaksh producer, Maddie Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon and you can follow us on Instagram at Podmeets World Show or email us at Podmets Worldshow at gmail dot com