im not sponsored by Bass Pro Shops lmao i just think they're really crazy and thought i'd mention it lol

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the episode he snapped on Corey for not treating him like a brother anymore. In that episode he revealed how isolated he was in his own family for years.

I remember the last episode Cory’s parents were in tears about Cory moving to NYC but barely acknowledged Eric moving there too. So sad

Eric went from a lazy guy with a good heart, to someone who would feel right at home in “”It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.

Got to meet Marsden in person last year. He's a genuinely nice guy. He actually doesn't know why he was written off the show other than they just opted to not continue developing his character. He was and still is the best of friends with Will and was on set nearly everyday even after being written off just to hang out with the cast.

I cried my eyes out at that GMW episode where Tommy tells Eric he was thankful and understood why he did what he did by not adopting him.

Another big Eric episode everyone sleeps on is the cleaning the garage with Cory and why Eric was so angry and broken hearted by Cory. It never really gets resolved either which is more heart breaking.

"Loose one friend..... loose all friends.... Loose your self..... Nothing else seemed to matter" I feel that to this day.

I met Will Friedel at a comic con. I made a Eric doll (like the one Eric made for Feeney). He thought it was great. Easily my favorite celebrity interaction.

That scene with Tommy is so heartbreaking. A gut punch to the inner child in all of us

Man the phrase “bozo who doesn’t take anything seriously because he’s depressed about his life” hits close to home

That Tommy storyline broke my heart! Even when I was young I noticed he changed immensely following the storyline.

As someone with mental health issues, I see "loopy Eric" as a long manic episode. It's not unheard of, and I hope Eric got help

I didn't even realise the falling out with Eric is the last time Jason is ever seen! I've seen every episode....HOW did I not realise that?!

Jason Marsden and Will Friedle would independently go on to be some of the most recognizable voice actors for decades. I had no idea Jason was on Boy Meets World.

Dude, this is the type of deep dive on Eric that I never knew I wanted. It always bugged me how his character changed so much, particularly in the final season, but I haven't been able to express the reasons why. Your video summed everything up perfectly.

Actually, you really do make a good point. It’s weird how he went from the handsome, popular guy to kinda a crazy, lunatic at the end. I never really thought about that. Maybe the writers didn’t really think about his overall story and development and just used him as comedic relief during a lot of heavy topics like you mentioned at a part in the video.

I thought the title was referencing Will Friedle as a person not Eric as a character and I was heartbroken (it's cool yall Will irl is doing well :). Poor Eric, no one protected our vulnerable himbo

Ngl Eric’s life trajectory was honestly HUGELY impactful in my own understanding of how you have to work in school to escape your circumstances. I really appreciated that he was rejected from college rather than just got through.

I think the modern take for Eric could be untreated ADHD. He constantly seeks stimulation, he's impulsive, he struggles with structured and "boring" activities but thrives in preferred activities...the surreal moments could even be a reflection of a super active imagination and internalized world building. Since it's really a show from Cory's pov his portrayal could be an exaggeration of how the world sees him

Recently on Pod Meets World(Watch along Podcast feat Topanga, Eric, and Shawn), Will talked about what happened with Eric, why he became a goof. He said that after a couple seasons Michael and the writers allowed Will to freelance more, particularly they really liked it when he went off script when Feeny's niece was in town, and wanted to see more of it. So Will started doing crazier and crazier things til it got to a point where it became a challenge between him and the writers on who can make Eric the goofiest.

WHOA I just realized I grew up to be Eric, seems like the natural progression of someone who didn't get diagnosed as ADHD/Autistic until adulthood because I relate to this SOoOo much

10:00 this hits me deep. Eric needed guidance and received little. When he hit maturity enough to realize his circumstance it was too late. I really wanted to go to college too. I went, but my parents got sick and i was was forced to drop out in year one. There are things i could have done to prevent the downfall but I was a child and my support was struggling on their own. The show seems to pose this moment as a learning moment to not slack off in school, but honestly I think it shows that there needs to be more support for young people during this critical time in their development. Not sure where the support should come from but recognizing the need is a start.

I remember fawning over Eric but as his character went on, I just couldn't help feeling heartbroken bit by bit

I always found him as a sad guy who never could find the girl he wanted though it's all he thought about. Even worse than Shawn's situation because he's younger than Shawn and he could still find a girlfriend longer than him. Also I feel like his own parents never cared about him as much as his siblings like you said which is probably the main reason why he pushed himself to be a stronger (mentally) person. And even though he moved in with Jack later he still seemed to not care about him as much as Eric cared about him. Bottomline is Eric never had someone to truly care about him and help him with life. He's just a poor guy with barely any true family to care for him. Although when Morgan was on the show she really noticed when he was gone and cared for him.

Eric actually was enlightened like the buddha in the last season, he realized was the his life as well as everyone's is actually inconsequential and every one takes things far to seriously. he no longer has expectations for himself or the world to change, he accepts the joys that he is able to experience, and the evils that come to him are nothing more then a cosmic joke to be laughed at. He has rid himself of all obligations and criticism so he can do things on a whim, the journey is more important then the outcome or the goal.

This is like when I realized that Ben Katz was severely clinically depressed, and his dad, Dr. Katz Professional Therapist, never realized it either.

The parents on the show were really horrible, especially the dad. He showed more emotion and compassion towards Shawn and Shawn’s friend who was being abused by her dad then he ever did for Eric.

Holy cow that was so deep. I was not expecting such a deep dive into Eric's psyche and how the relationships and events around him led to him becoming what he became. In a show that, as you said, doesn't always follow continuity, the change of Eric really did have a continuity all its own when you break it down the way you did. Everything you said really were good explanations for how he changed the way he did, but didn't grow over the seasons. And yeah, it was really sad. 😔 Awesome work on a great show! 👍

I really loved your breakdown of his arc. High schooler who is a naïve ladies man and ends up in toxic relationships and has a mental breakdown about finishing high school and failing to get into college. He becomes disconnected from reality but is supported by a job from his father, eventually his father pushes him out and he gets series and gets into college. College is challenging but he starts to thrive and discovers passions and talents. He has an emotional and traumatic experience and disconnects even harder from life. And it's not a happy arch but boy meets world never really strayed from the unhappy ending and his experiences are relatable to people and his performance is amazing comedy acting. I know this is just a recap of your video i just enjoyed it so much i wanted to summarize it Also the girl meets world arch has him as a presumable successful mayor of a small town do to his ability to listen to people. It is so nice to have the tommy story come back around to a happy ending. (just hearing you recap the plot points makes me tear up)

Eric and Jack's friendships is one of the cutest, most wholesome friendships I have ever seen though:)

I always felt bad for Eric. He was well not the brightest but he had the biggest heart. A great brother. Yet he got less love because the whole older brother syndrome. Which unfortunately happens to a lot of older siblings. They went with Cory when he went off to college. But when Cory mention that they didn’t do the same with Eric they said what don’t tell him we were here. Most parents are the most excited sending their oldest off to college. They were good parents, to Cory. They weren’t great with Eric. Heck I feel like they cared for Shawn more who wasn’t their actual son.

As a person who had ADHD discovered as an adult. This is the kind of story arc of a person with an undiagnosed neurodivergence.

Man, finding out that Tommy came back in the sequel series to support Eric has legit got me teary-eyed. I'm also glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks Eric's arc in the show is the saddest one of all.

A Boy Meets World channel isn't the worst idea in the world...

Eric, personally, is one of the most relatable characters I ever come to witness.

Eric was all so precious to me 😭 Favorite character throughout the whole series

I love that he doesn't really realize how smart he is in certain things (as opposed to those around him)

That specific scene when Eric gets into college really gives me goosebumps hearing the studio audience lose their shit always cheers me up.

“You were the first born so I let you get away with more.” In my experience, that’s totally backwards. My parents were much stricter with me than with my little brother, and I’ve seen other people say the same thing.

Eric started out as a Zach Morris type swagged out playboy. As the show went on he began to develop into a goofball. That trip Eric took with Corey to Pottstown is when his character started to change. This was the first time he felt accepted and not judged. He was using Pottstown as an escape because he didn't want to face reality back home in Philly. Eric's character suffered from having "tears of a sad clown". He would mask his true feelings of loneliness & self doubt with humor in order to avoid reality.

I think this is why Eric became my favourite character. He had the most character development in the show

Eric was and still is my favorite character on BMW. Aside from his relationship with the family and Jack, I think one of the core relationships is Eric and Mr. Feeny. There are many moments that showed Feeny and Eric being genuine friends; even with his goofy antics I think Feeny appreciated Eric's uniqueness over Cory/Topanga/Shawn. I also hate that they abandoned the plot him being a weatherman, something Eric was good at and liked doing.

I swear Tommy showing up in GMW will NEVER fail to make me cry

Interestingly enough, My wife, who has never seen BMW due to her being raised in India; actually noted the same thing. We watched all the seasons, and by the end of it, she mentioned how disappointed she was in Erics story.

No, his defining characteristic in the earlier parts of the series is not him being girl-crazy, its him being totally f@cking hot.

The episode of GMW where Eric reunites with Tommy always chokes me up. And you can hear the emotional voice cracking in Will's voice when he says "Tommy?" Sadly, GMW never reached the levels of awesome BMW had. I watched BMW last year in 2021 and it still holds up today because it respected the audience and knew we could handle the realistic topics it threw at us such as domestic abuse, alcoholism, parental death and teachers abusing their power of authority. GMW was too chicken to ever tackle anything like this.

I never thought of Eric's character story like this before. I'm one of those few original viewers who actually liked Girl Meets World and thought Eric's character on their was hilarious. But just when you think there's nothing in his brain, he comes out with an intelligent observation. One of my favorite characters. Thanks for this episode.

This is why he's always been my favorite character. He was so complex. The arc is sad but at least there's a happy ending in Girl Meets World where he reunites with Tommy and gets elected as governor of New York 🥲

I didn't expect to cry from this, having never watched the show, but here we are

I can only speak for myself but I'm all for you making this a Boy Meets World Channel! 😂

Eric telling Tommy he can’t adopt him breaks me till this very day lmao

This *has to* be the saddest arc in sitcom history, this was straight up depressing 😢😢😢

Eric finally seeing Tommy after all those years, turned my eyes into faucets watching that episode. I love Eric Matthews so much, he's one of the first himbos I fell in love with.

Fuck me, you just showed me clips from a show I have never seen before but you explaining the emotional context behind them made me cry. I have a shitty relationship with my dad and Idk why but after having a shitty weekend going home and meeting him once you were the one who really brought me over the edge to cry about it. Thank you so much it was cathartic.

That was a surprisingly eye opening analysis of the effects Eric's psychological scars had on him. Great job, sir!

It’s typically known as Flanderization, I think it’s a term that came from the Simpsons originally about Flanders character where he became more and more Flanders like. Eventually it happened to all the characters and seems to be inevitable to a certain extent as a symptom for when a show is going on too long and the creative well has run dry.

it says on imdb that will and jason are/ were bestfrinds and were each others bestman at their weddings. in like 2004.

My favorite scene of Eric is and will always be the one where he just says to Corey, "We're brothers, we have to love each other, but that doesn't mean we have to like each other"

I was older than the main characters of BMW and I thought Eric was the BEST. Idk what it was about him, but he was so cute.

Eric is my all-time favorite 90s character. I often considered him to be "playing Hamlet," as I call it. The scenes like the art museum and such show that the goofball was a facade that hid the pain. Like Hamlet, he too ended up shifting from feigning insanity to genuine insanity by the end of his story arc.

The Tommy story is very emotional for me for some reason. It shows how great of a person and character Eric is.

I think GMW gave Eric a good ending. One thing you forgot to mention is that at some point, Eric left NYC(maybe right after Shawn did 10 years prior as they were roommates in their NYC apartment). During this time, he came across a small town near the Canadian border called St(Saint) Upidtown. In his first return in GMW, he has already been elected Mayor of St Upidtown due to his ability to listen to people and help them come together to solve problems.Most town mayors in the US do not have term limits for their 4 year terms, so if he left NYC around a decade prior, then he would be on at least his 3rd term as Mayor. Eric mispronounced the name of the town, so his family and friends assumed he was joking when he said he was now the Mayor of "Stupidtown". You also forgot his second appearance in GMW, in which Cory has him come to New York to help resolve a fight between Riley and Maya. If you pay attention to that scene, it mirrors an earlier scene from season 1(or 2) that shows him speaking to Cory's class about the challenges of high school(things like peer pressure). The GMW episode where he helps Riley and Maya understand why they are fighting ends with the teaser for the Senate Primary Episode(eric likely joined the party to get staff and more support for the town). After Eric wins, he returns to meet with Jack, who is now a junior exec in his Stepfather's company and now estranged from Rachel. In this episode, Jack's reply to Eric is indicative of an interesting aspect of his character as he rhetorically asks Eric "Still an Idiot Genius?" indicating that Eric may be autistic, a savant or both(as indicated by his understanding and appreciation of art during the museum scene from BMW that you referenced). While Eric clearly still misses Rachel, he appears to be a much better place in his life as by becoming mayor and then Senator, he has found what he missing: helping those who were unseen the way he was unseen. He mentions being elected Mayor "after the landslide", meaning a literal landslide occurred and he helped encourage people and get them to cooperate, despite what must have been a corrupt city government. Eric, in effect became an accidental activist and then an accidental politician, being elected in an electoral landslide after the literal one. Voters felt he was representing the people and taking actual efforts to address their needs and concerns. In the episode where he reconnects with Jack, Jack is there as a lobbyist from his stepfather's company to choose that company over his more environmentally responsible competitor for a government contract.(Jack's stepfather likely counting on Jack's friendship to get Eric to make a rare exception). Eric likely found St Upidtown as it reminded most of the small town with the diner he and Cory had visited during their summer trip after Eric failed his SAT the first time. Back then he wanted a simpler life away from the stresses of all of his failures and the people he had become disconnected from, either due to circumstances or by choice. After BMW, he left sometime after Shawn did, but does make an effort to stay in touch and visit(we know this because Augie recognizes him and he tells Jack that he makes sure to know what all of his friends are doing, so this would also be the case for his close family). I do wish we could have introduced a love interest for Eric, since Rachel returning was not possible(what happened with Maitland Ward has been well documented by name as she has been in no way shy about sharing her story in recent years).

He is the dictionary definition of *peaked in high school* . Also Eric is probably a GenXer and his dad’s lack of mentorship is typical of most GenXers I’ve met. Forgotten all around.

Morgan barely being in the show was hilarious because there was actually two of them

Maaann, I've been talking to my friends about this for YEARS!!!! I actually didn't watch GMW because of Eric. It really made me sad. I didn't know they brought Tommy back. I had to pause the video and cry for like 7 mins. fr. it's like that time Mr. Rogers jumped on stage because he saw the little kid from waay back and forgot about the cameras... This started years ago when one of my friends asked "what show do you watch even though you hate it?" My answer was that boy meets world was not funny and it made me sad.. i even felt bad for the bad guys. everybody just seems.. trapped. it's like the characters know that they are characters and have only limited agency. like Eric was CHOSEN to be the fool. Even if he rap is ass off, blast off, and had outstanding qualities, he can never have.. it. Whatever it is. Money, success, family, friends,.. hope. so you act out, or act in, only showing your potential when you forget that you're predestined to fail, only for the failure to remind you, with the familiar look of disgust, dissapointment, and disproval, that your lot in life has been chose. The "happy" ending, is knowing that just one, anyone, remembers you with kindness, and fondness. To be seen for what you could be, or should be, if we weren't trapped in the characters that were forced to play. "All the world's a stage, where's the trap door, slackjaw"-MF DOOM (paraphrasing Willie Shakespeare)

Watching this show as a kid really scared me about college. I'm from canada and there's not as great a push for kids to go to college. No SATs no sororities or fraternities so seeing that anxieties of american kids in school was really eye opening to me. I really feel for the young people trying to discover themselves.

Jokes aside, I'm glad you took a serious look at the character. Boy Meets World in general is actually a pretty deep show, they dealt with some heavy stuff. I cried when he closed the door, man, that look in his eyes tore me up when I first saw it.

"reactivated my world of warcraft account" you can't just put this evil in my head right at the end of a great video.

I thought the change was originally made to emulate other sitcoms, like Family Matters, which became known for their comedic relief character, Steve Urkel. Also... no one can mention Boy Meets World without me remembering my first television crush as a child... Danielle Fishel. I mostly watched the show to yell at Cory Matthews and all the stupid mistakes he kept making concerning his relationship with Topanga.

I'm so glad you mentioned the GMW episode where he reconnects with Tommy -- I cried so much during that episode, and again just now watching the clip (thanks a lot! 😉)

The character of Eric feels like about how we would’ve approached mental health challenges in the 90s. No diagnostic language or buzz words, just a family trying there best to love someone who was challenging an different through their joys and mistakes.

Man I forgot about how much I loved this show. I was super annoyed* that he regressed after Tommy, I was really rooting for him by that point. It made the last season something I didn’t watch as much. *I wasn’t thinking about it from a story perspective, but a writing choice. I was big on writing at that point in my childhood

Jason was doing Step by Step and Boy Meets World at the same time, my guess is Step by Step was willing to pay him more and give him more screen time.

That scene where he meets Tommy again after all those years seriously hit me in the feels.

Thank you for this video. I was specifically searching KZfaq for Eric’s arc because I always thought it was weird how he spiraled. He’s always been my favorite because he’s funny and I can relate to him.

The thumbnail made me think it was about a werewolf. Turns out I was very wrong

Eric, again, he had one of the most realistic progressions of his type of character, you're right, he didn't have direction in his life, and so he suffered because of it, when he did set his mind to something he could accomplish it, but people around him pigeonholed him And eventually he just gave into his place in the pecking order so to speak, someone in another comment made the statement that this seems like the natural progression of someone who is undiagnosed, ADHD and autistic, and I could definitely see that, thank you for doing this, and thank you for giving a different look at Erik.

Just stumbled onto your content. This was such a great breakdown of one of my favorite characters. As a kid I remember seeing these drastic changes in him and never understood why. Thanks for bringing a lot of clarity!

What an insightful analysis into one of my favorite characters from one of my all time favorite shows as a child. I couldn't agree more, Eric's family really just pushed him into the background while putting all their energy into Cory and Topanga. Two thumbs up👍👍

Wow, this was incredible! I always disliked that they made Eric into a total clown (and to me the Season 7 antics never really landed because they were SO over the top). But this reading of it really make me see it in a new light. Definitely vote YES to more Boy Meets World videos :)

I used to be a Nickelodeon child, so this whole arc reminds me of how the character of Spencer Shay was treated on iCarly. Also both of them are very neurodivergent-coded (I see my own ADHD & my autistic friends in their character traits)

For several reasons, I have always head cannoned Eric as having undiagnosed autism and ADHD. I think the anxiety angle fits quite squarely into that. He did fine in early schooling, but had trouble functioning when things got more complicated, which caused him to lose self-esteem, which caused anxiety, which caused avoidance, which caused loss of self-esteem, and so on so forth in a depressing feedback loop. Eric is one of my favorite characters and it was sad to see him struggle more and more over time, but at least he ended up relatively happy as senator of New York.

Eric carried the show in the later years with his comedy when they tried to make everyone else to serious (and lame) He was hysterical.

Highly encourage people to listen to Pod Meets World. Will, himself, essentially agrees with your take on his character early years.

Will Freidle had an amazing Are You Afraid of the Dark episode. He outshone every other actor on that show. Also enjoyed when he joined a miniature painting tutorial series on KZfaq.

I'm obsessed with your review. I saw these episodes... as they aired. And it's been st lease 25 years since. Thank you for bringing them back and then pointing out all of the details as you do. Thank you!!!

As someone who didnt watch Girl Meets World, that Tommy bit at the end really tugged at my heart strings 🥹

I have a lot of hate for Girl Meets World but when Tommy showed up... 😭😭😭

makes me think about this gabor mate clip going around twitter a couple weeks back about how no two children from the same family actually grew up in the same family. just radically different experiences for so many reasons. thinking about this stuff always makes me feel a lil more at ease with stuff and also a more uncomfortable with other things haha. it also makes me way more curious about what it's like bein the only child

This was so amazing that I actually signed up for nebula just to see more of your work. I really liked how you put together a the story of Eric

Great Video man. Really enjoyed. As a fan who grew up with this show, I was always sadden how Eric arc ended in the show. He deserved many great things.

This was my favorite show growing up, I’ve probably seen every episode at least twice, and I’m so happy I somehow stumbled on this video and your channel. Excellently done, subbed!

This is what made this show great, it was never afraid to tackle certain things, taught a lot of lessons

As someone who grew up watching Girl Meets World it was amazing to know that there was a whole other show about Riley's parents, family and their friends. When I started watching Boy Meets World just recently I saw Eric as undiagnosed neurodivergant which could explain why Cory viewed him as getting "dumber" as the seasons went on. Amy once said (I can't remember which Episode) that they took Eric to a doctor once (possibly a pychologist?). Also he might have started to suffer from depression after not getting into college and losing Tommy just made that worse.

First time watching. Thank you T1J always love meeting a fellow Boy meets World fan. This breakdown of Eric was both amazing and heartbreaking. Great video.

I just loved his hair back then.

This is my first time checking your channel out and it couldn’t have been a better video man. I’ve been searching for quality content on this series cause it’s one that I’ve loved so much since my childhood and this was honestly amazing man keep up the good work

I'm currently listening to Pod Meets World, where they talk about these issues all the time. My favorite Eric stories were between seasons 4 and 6, because it seemed like they wanted to get away from the whole "good looking, girl obsessed" older brother trope that we see in so many sitcoms. Which I commend them for, however, by season 7 they had no where to get with his character, and basically wrote him as nothing but comic relief to the extreme. And it's really unfortunate because Will proved time and again he had great dramatic acting chops with stories like Tommy, and the fight between him and Cory about how little they spend time together.

Eric was my favorite character on BMW growing up. Now that you break down how isolated and lonely Eric's character is in the show, I can see why I related to him so much as a kid. I myself was usually ignored and passed over for my sibling and would use humor to mask the pain I felt and to get attention once in a while.