Boy Meets Wine

This week we had La Marca Prosecco and watched season 2 episode 18 titled “By Hook or By Crook.” Eric‘s the main character of this one! Cory’s sick (with mono)—Ben Savage probably had some time off—and Eric (a *sophomore in high school*) has to get his grades up so his parents will let him *backpack around Europe*… totally reasonable and realistic for a fifteen-year-old. The senior girl Feeney assigns to tutor Eric writes him off as a pretty face with no academic potential, and she ends up helping him cheat instead of actually teaching him the material. This one got Brie a little choked up… Nothing sadder than when a kid genuinely wants to learn, and a person in a power position snuffs out that spark. Not cool, Tori.

This week we sipped ‘Bread & Butter’ Pinot Noir and watched season 2 episode 17: “On the Air.” This is the one where Shawn and Cory take over the school radio station and turn it into the 90s version of a dating app. Oh, and Eric gets scammed by Publishers Clearing House (notorious for a magazine subscription sweepstakes scam). We had a realization in this one: as the boys are learning in school about the responsibilities that come with the right to free speech, the PCH scam shows us that unchecked freedom can lead to rampant exploitation of vulnerable populations. Like Eric. And the elderly. Cheers!

This week we sipped Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay and watched Season 2, Episode 16: “Danger Boy.” That’s right! We’re back to the “[Fill-in-the-Blank] Boy” motif! This was a silly one, but it features probably the most iconic shot from the early days of this series: Cory and Mr. Feeny on a roller coaster, mouths agape, Feeny’s glasses askew. Both Cory and Mr. Feeny find themselves being underestimated by their friends, so they take a death ride on a dangerous new coaster to prove to everyone they’re tough. It’s giving “Weenie Hut Jr.,” and we’re here for it.

This week, we tried The Pinot Project and watched Season 2, Episode 15: “Breaking Up Is Really, Really Hard to Do.” Cory invites Wendy to a “couples only” party, and they end up on very different pages about how serious the “relationship” is (Wendy sees Cory as endgame; Cory just wanted a date). We consider this the episode where Cory determines what “committed love” means to him: commitment looks like “wearing the socks.” In other words, you just decide to stick around, and you make it work. Series Spoiler Alert: We all know he doesn’t end up with Wendy, but she certainly helps Cory figure some important stuff out before he ends up with Topanga! Oh, and remember: They WANT you to take the rolls!

This week we tried Uno, an Argentinian Malbec, as we chatted about Season 2 Episode 14: “I Am Not a Crook.” This episode was shockingly topical. Cory runs for class president, Shawn acts as his campaign manager, and hijinks ensue as the youth play out all the unfortunately typical patterns of the democratic process. As the kids engage in dirty politics and smear campaigns, Feeny holds back the urge to intervene so Turner can once again prove that kids (and people) learn best through the experiential process of trial and error. Unfortunately, based on how things are going in 2026, Feeny might have a point that we don’t always learn what’s best when we’re left to our own devices…

This week we sipped St. Francis cabernet while we unpacked Season 2 Episode 13: “Cyrano.” Ever see an episode of a TV show where a conventionally attractive (but less intellectual) character gets help wooing a sophisticated lover from a less popular (but more eloquent) friend? Well that (arguably overused) plotline is inspired by a late nineteenth century play called “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand. Much respect to Susan Estelle Jansen for being explicit with the reference! Cory and Shawn read the play in Turner’s class while accidentally helping Frankie woo Harley Keiner’s girlfriend. Oh, and Alan learns that a trash compactor is not a gift for an anniversary, but rather, for a Tuesday. Cheers!

This week we sipped A to Z Wineworks Pinot Noir and watched Season 2 Episode 12: “Turnaround”. Cory learns “you dance with the one that brought you” in this Pygmalion-inspired episode about a Sadie Hawkins-style “Turnaround” school dance. This is the one where Shawn and Cory give a Swedish-American girl a makeover (a la “She’s All That” or “Pretty Woman” or “My Fair Lady”) to make her “cool” so Cory, her date, can be cool-by-association—because according to Eric, the caliber of girl who asks you to the Turnaround determines who you are forever. We laughed, we unpacked gender norms, and we learned that “smorgasbord” is a Swedish word. Skol!

Cory and Sean are definitely NOT the good guys in Season 2 Episode 11: “The Beard”. Sean can’t choose between two girls, so he asks Cory to keep one of them “off the market” by dating her until Sean decides whether or not he wants her. We unpack Cory’s famous line, “What am I Tupperware?” and determine that: the girls are reduced to “meat”, Cory’s reduced to “Tupperware”, and Sean sits at the top of this pyramid of dehumanization. Don’t worry, the whole cast “boos” them both, making for a surprisingly satisfying ending to this episode packed with important lessons for adolescents! Oh, and we had Imagery Sauv Blanc in this one. Cheers!

When you remember you have free will, you pick up a bottle of Moët and Chandon just to talk to your sister about Season 2 Episode 10 of Boy Meets World titled, “Sister Theresa”! “Politeness kills,” according to Cory, and, honestly? He’s not wrong. When politeness requires dishonesty, it can be detrimental, especially in relationships. We loved the way the writers made a distinction between “politeness” and “generosity”: Cory’s politeness only masks his selfishness, but TK, a decidedly impolite character, is almost too generous. But Cory’s redeeming quality is his emotional intelligence, which allows him to see past TK’s rough facade and recognize the goodness in her heart. That’s why we love you, Cory!

The sisters sip Juggernaut Cabernet Sauvignon (and talk about their first kisses — Ooh! Aah! ) in Season 2 Episode 9: “Fear Strikes Out”! Cory goes to a makeout party and learns that no one actually knows what they’re doing… except maybe Shawn. Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!

This week we tried Gerard Bertrand Côtes de Roses Rosé and discussed Season 2 Episode 8: “Band on the Run”. Cory and Sean form a fake band to impress girls, and Alan learns that he was never actually that good at playing guitar… Cory has to relearn the importance of being true to himself, and when Topanga expresses that she doesn’t mind Cory’s lack of guitar skills, we can’t help but notice she sounds a whole lot like Amy. This episode surprisingly lays some major foundations for the future of Cory and Topanga’s legendary partnership—and it happens to feature some awesome musicians, including Rembrandt (RIP), and Micky Dolenz…of Monkees fame! Cheers.

Now we know why the blurb for this one is just, “Literature comes alive for little Cory...” Sex, lies, and videotape are the topics addressed in this scandalous episode in which Turner takes his progressive teaching moves a bit too far… We sipped Ruza Rose and talked at length about S-E-X in Season 2 Episode 7: “Wake Up, Little Cory!”

Where have WE been? Where have YOU been!? This week, we sipped another Winc wine as we discussed Season 2 Episode 6: “Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf?” A red blend called “Illusion” paired perfectly with an episode we…sort of wish was just an illusion. If you don’t want this one to go right over your head, we recommend watching the 1941 black-and-white film, “The Wolf Man”. Having seen Edward Albee’s 1962 play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” won’t help—and neither will having read William Golding’s 1954 novel, The Lord of the Flies, though both are superficially referenced in this bewildering episode in which Cory believes he’s turning into a werewolf. While it’s obvious to viewers that it’s all an allegory for puberty, no one in the BMW-universe seems to pick up on that… Grab the remote and get ready to be…a little confused!

Do you think Cory Matthews is “cool”? This week we tried the next bottle in our Winc subscription box: Finke’s Sparkling Brut from Italy, and we paired it with Season 2 Episode 5: “The Uninvited”—Cory tries to fit in with the popular crowd. Pop a bottle of bubbly and join us as we discuss what it means to be COOL. Spoiler: trying to be cool is super uncool.

Welcome to our first ‘Chaser’! In this episode, Brie invited her coworker (and fellow English teacher) Brian on the pod to further discuss Season 2 Episode 4: “Me and Mr. Joad”. We dropped a hint at the end of the blurb for our last episode, and if you guessed ‘Mike’s Hard Lemonade’, ding ding ding! Indeed, in this, our first ‘Chaser’ episode, Brie and Brian sipped Mike’s Hard Black Cherry Lemonade and discussed the pedagogical differences between young, progressive teachers (like Turner) and old, conservative ones (like Feeny). Spoiler: a happy medium is the way to go.

This week we tried ‘Wonders Vin de France’ from our Winc subscription box: a white blend made with no sugar and organic grapes! Speaking of grapes, Cory reads “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck in Season 2 Episode 4: “Me and Mr. Joad”. Cory and Shawn decide to unionize and walk out of school when they are forced to take a test… Brie had so much to say about this episode, she recorded a bonus interview with her coworker, Brian (a fellow English teacher). Stay tuned for Boy Meets Wine’s first “Chaser” episode! I bet you can’t guess what Brie and Brian drank… We’ll give you a hint: Drink on the bright side.

Today we discuss the (Porter and) ‘Plot’ of Season 2 Episode 3: “Notorious”. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” lays a (vague) moral framework for Cory’s struggle to decide whether or not to turn Shawn in for playing a prank on Feeny. “Porter and Plot” is the name of this week’s smooth, misty Cab Sauv from the cozy coasts of Mendocino, CA!

We may have loved this week’s bottle of Piu Gioia Pinot Grigio, but Cory feels anything but ‘pure joy’ in Season 2 Episode 2: “Pairing Off”. Cory and Shawn attend their first “make-out party”, Amy is surprisingly stoked about it, and the entire cast attends a poetry slam that makes peaches seem…sexy? Anyway…Cin cin!

Season 2, baby! We uncorked this fresh new season with a bottle of Ruffino Chianti (delicious, a bit peppery, tastes like Italy)! Made with grapes named after “The Blood of Jupiter”, this ‘Sangiovese’ was the perfect pairing with an episode about Homer’s ‘Odyssey’—and Cory’s 22-minute odyssey in “Back 2 School” leads him to discover that the best way to navigate high school is to know exactly who you are, and to keep it real. Cheers!

This is it! The last episode of Season 1. We laughed, we cried, and we imbibed great quantities of Purple Power mead—homemade made by Jules’s Nashvillian friend, Roy Black! ‘Twas the perfect beverage for an episode with copious references to Beowulf… So grab a glass of honey-wine and get ready for an episode about guilt, death, and the privilege of education. Dear listener, thank you for sticking with us to this point; we will be taking a hiatus until the spring. For updates, follow us on Instagram at boymeetswinepodcast. Cheers!