MovieChat Forums > Boy Meets World (1993) Discussion > Lack of bonding between Jack and Shawn?

Lack of bonding between Jack and Shawn?

posted 9 years ago by Jupiter555555
18 replies | jump to latest

Is it just me or did that storyline go no where? He was intended to be brought on to get closer to his brother, but there were very little scenes with them once Jack got settled. In fact, Jack was completely pointless as an addition to the cast. First of all, there were already too many cooks in the kitchen. Cory was obviously the star, and I always felt the attention was a little divided between Shawn and Eric to begin with. It seemed to be a constant conflict of which one was more important to him this week, his brother or his lifelong best friend... Then Jack was added and truthfully Shawn was never a large enough character to carry a storyline sans Cory (so with he and Jack)..so really their brotherly bonding never happened, and then it just seemed even sadder upon reflection.

Am I right?

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jupiter555555 9 years ago

You do know that not all brothers have a close bond.

Of course. But
a) This is TV, you sort of expect it
b) Them not forming a close bond makes his whole entry into the series completely pointless

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Moonlighty 9 years ago

I don't expect brothers to automatically be close just because it's TV. You are acting like your preferences are universally true.

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Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that I'll be over here looking through your stuff.

[–] Jupiter555555 9 years ago

I don't expect brothers to automatically be close just because it's TV. You are acting like your preferences are universally true.

Then what was the point of his addition to the cast??? To be a friend for Eric?

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] deem_bastille 9 years ago

a: yeah, he needed a friend. he was a good asset to the show and was hysterical so they needed a way to segue him into the group more.

b: he needed to move out of that house. he was in college and amy needed to cut the apron strings.

where is it written that brothers/sisters/half siblings HAVE to bond and be buddy-buddy? Shawn always resented jack having the better life and whatnot and disliked how jack had fallen in a tub of butter. shawn was also too young and immature to realize that if you want things in life you have to work for them and you have to accept people being NICE as just that. people being nice.

shawn was always cynical about the world to the point where he needed a social worker.

Reading the paper can really be depressing. Mr. Dithers fired Dagwood again.

[–] Moonlighty 9 years ago

Yeah I don't see the problem with that. Jack sort of crested a link between Cory and Shawn to Eric. In earlier seasons Eric didn't hang out with his little brother. If they kept in his original friend, he'd still have no reason to hang out with the main characters much

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Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that I'll be over here looking through your stuff.

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 9 years ago

I only vaguely remember the episodes with Jack. I didn't watch the show enough though to know he was Shawn's brother. I only seem to remember him being Eric's room mate.

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

[–] jtmovies 9 years ago

In real life, someone like Jack would've branched off the main group and gotten his own friends. Someone like Jack would've wanted to be the 'central' guy in his own friend circle like Cory.

[–] pypsqweek 9 years ago

I liked Jack and no he wasn't a favorite after he was introduced to the show. I wouldn't say he was pointless. Otherwise no one would care about him. Plus, I remember when Jack came onto the show. He was a new character after seasons with just the original cast. It was new and fresh and the execs wanted to explore Shawns side of his relationship without Chet at the time. True, Shawn and Jack weren't initially close but that's not without reason. First, Jack and Shawn weren't raised together and Jack was raised by his stepfather so Jack's bond with Chet and Shawn would have to grow and it did. I think Jack and Shawn's relationship was pretty original in the sense that just because you're siblings doesn't mean you automatically have a close bond when you meet. You may never but you are family. A lot of shows did close bond thing but BMW didn't always do the same thing as other shows. Of course, it was hardly consistent either. Nevertheless, Shawn's character always struggled with relationships,especially with his family. If you watched it you'd see episodes where Shawn struggled with his relationship with Jack and who jack was to him and the family. The point is Shawn relationship were suppose to show the side of families that were in a sense good but hard, which was unlike families tat Cory had to a point.

[–] blaque108 9 years ago

I think it was great seeing Jack on the show. It was funny watching Eric and Jack friendship.

[–] dylanmcmahon820 9 years ago

I think jacks point was so Eric had a circle of friends like Cory. Jack is his Sean Rachael is his topanga kinda of without the love interest

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 9 years ago

They lived together for a year or so, they bonded when their dad died too. I thought they tried to make up for lost time pretty well, it was clear they got closer as brothers but also clear that they weren't going to be close as friends though.

When theres no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.

[–] tmm_8705 9 years ago

I think what Jack was intended to work as a character was ultimately morphed into something else, which happened a lot on this show. Instead of seeing a bond between Shawn and Jack, it became a bonding between Eric and Jack which I thought worked more naturally. Notice how after Jack settled in, the formula of the show changed.

From that point on, there would be the A-plot with Cory, Shawn and Topanga, and then there would be the B-plot with Eric and Shawn. For the most part, the show stuck with that dynamic, with a few adjustments along the way like adding Angela to the Cory/Shawn/Topanga set and adding Rachel to the Eric/Shawn set.

[–] Jupiter555555 9 years ago

I think what Jack was intended to work as a character was ultimately morphed into something else, which happened a lot on this show. Instead of seeing a bond between Shawn and Jack, it became a bonding between Eric and Jack which I thought worked more naturally. Notice how after Jack settled in, the formula of the show changed.

From that point on, there would be the A-plot with Cory, Shawn and Topanga, and then there would be the B-plot with Eric and Shawn. For the most part, the show stuck with that dynamic, with a few adjustments along the way like adding Angela to the Cory/Shawn/Topanga set and adding Rachel to the Eric/Shawn set

I agree, my friend. I think the show had too many cooks in the kitchen, to be honest. They didn't know how to juggle them all. For instance, Cory was the main guy and I think the show struggled to show the bond between his best friend and older brother. Many will probably disagree but to me it seemed like they often weren't sure which one should be viewed as more important in his life. Adding Jack just complicated it even more--it was just one more guy tossed in. But in retrospect, that's probably why they did it--so Eric could be very important to Cory, but Sean wouldn't be excluded from the plots, for he'd have Jack...but then, as you said, they decided to pair Jack with Eric which also worked because it was a way of incorporating Eric into storylines without mixing him up with Cory and Sean's bromance.

[–] Samuraibro 9 years ago

It's really annoying and irritating how people are telling you to stop talking about this writing fumble because "it's not always realistic for siblings to get along" or "it's been 15 years get over it".

Like JFC these people are so defensive over this show. You can't criticize anything without its delusional fans jumping down your throat and deflecting any sort of criticism because, guess what, the writing WAS really weak and nonsensical at times, and the relationship between Jack and Shawn is no exception.

[–] Jupiter555555 9 years ago

It's really annoying and irritating how people are telling you to stop talking about this writing fumble because "it's not always realistic for siblings to get along" or "it's been 15 years get over it".

Like JFC these people are so defensive over this show. You can't criticize anything without its delusional fans jumping down your throat and deflecting any sort of criticism because, guess what, the writing WAS really weak and nonsensical at times, and the relationship between Jack and Shawn is no exception.

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