Girl Meets World has had quite a bit of fun bringing back characters from the mothership series in its two seasons on the air, but few have been as anticipated as that of Angela Moore (Trina McGee), former flame of dreamy Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong.)
In Friday's episode of the series, Angela returned in an episode that had Shawn contemplating his future with Katy Hart (Cheryl Texiera), mother to Maya (Sabrina Carpenter), whom he'd yet to officially go on a date with despite mounting chemistry.
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Word of Angela's return would normally get fans thinking: Could she be returning to reunite with her ex-love, shattering the potential of Katy and Shawn pairing? But expectations were adjusted weeks ago, when creator Michael Jacobs warned that a controversial move was coming.
"We're going to get a lot of response to this," he told Mashable a few weeks ago, during the ATX Television Festival. "I would say half of it is going to be negative and half of it is going to be positive."
And controversial it was: Angela revealed she was married.
The man, like her now deceased father, was a military man, with whom she was considering starting a family. But she wasn't entirely sold on the idea of children.
Seeking advice, she tracked down Shawn, hoping a fellow motherless friend could tell her what to do.
At first, Shawn was hurt that Angela had seemingly moved on so easily. (She'd been married for four years.) But Angela didn't see it that way.
"Life goes on, Shawn," she said. "You know, I think life puts people in front of us so we can be ready for what comes next. I was ready [for marriage] because of you."
Jacobs said the writers saw this move as the most realistic one to make.
"We went back and looked at the old series and we had to make a decision: Do we write a television ending or do we write what we think is real?" he said. "We wrote what we believe is real in a real relationship with human beings who grow up."
The marriage bombshell didn't go over too well with fans of the pairing, who'd been holding out hope despite warnings.
If that's what they brought Angela back for she could have stayed gone tbh. #girlmeetsworld— Katrina, RN (@SoKattastic) June 20, 2015
#girlmeetsworld just ruined my childhood— CiCi (@ClassicICandI) June 20, 2015
what the FCUK angela from boy meets world is married and it's not to shawn Im gonna pretend like i never watched this ep of girl meets world— kendall (@louvedinshades) June 20, 2015
Others, as Jacobs had promised, saw the move as authentic.
Shawn & Angela still have such a beautiful bond no matter what @realtrinamcgee @RiderStrong #Shawngela #GirlMeetsWorld #GirlMeetsHurricane— Cicely81 (@cicely81) June 20, 2015
There a reason why Angela went to Shawn out of all people. Trust & love. #GirlMeetsHurricane #Shawngela— Kierra (@JemmaOTP_) June 20, 2015
Life knows what it's doing #GirlMeetsHurricane #GirlMeetsWorld— Adam Hohn (@adamhohn13) June 20, 2015
Great episode of GMW, everything was done in a good way and was very real @GMWWriters #girlmeetsworld— Leah (@leaaahlove) June 20, 2015
The episode ended with Katy asking Shawn out on their first official date, which Shawn accepted after a little chat with the spirit of his dead father Chet, who assured Shawn that it was time for him to take his next step in life.
Yes, the episode had a double dose of reunion goodness.
But a happy ending? That's up for debate.
Weigh in by voting in our poll.