Boy Meets World has a lot of emotional storylines that fans still talk about. One such storyline is that of Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) and his father. Throughout the series, Shawn ends up at Cory Matthews’ (Ben Savage) home more often than not, because his home life wasn’t the best. Some of the more emotional episodes consisted of Shawn and his brother, Jack (Matthew Lawrence), having to deal with their father, Chet (Blake Clark). Now, on a new episode of Pod Meets World, Strong spoke with co-stars Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle about the episode “Getting Hitched” and why he had a “breakdown” while filming it.
The 1999 episode featured Jack and Shawn going through Chet’s trailer after he passed away. The two brothers have to unpack their father’s belongings along with their feelings about his death. According to Strong, the episode was an emotional one because of Shawn’s relationship with his father. “Shawn’s emotional story is that his dad is never there for him,” Strong said. “But if his dad was actually paying for his college in Shawn’s story – I believe that the denial is possible. But his dad was taking care of him then, in Shawn’s mind.”
Friedle told Strong that he thought the way the scene worked out was really nice, saying that Shawn didn’t leave, but stayed for the conversation he needed to have. It was a better way for the scene to play out rather than “Shawn just leaving again.” Eventually, that does happen, though, and Strong revealed that it was a breaking point for him. “This is where I had my breakdown,” because he “was really bored by my character.”
The Great Shawn Episode Weighed on Rider Strong
Strong admitted that this was a “well-written episode for Shawn” because he was “finally expressing something.” However, he continued to explain that it was the breaking point for him and his frustration with the character. “But I remember during rehearsal, I just lost it. I was like, ‘I feel like I’m saying the same thing every week.'” He went on to say that he now views the scene differently. “It’s interesting because now that I look at it, I’m like, ‘Actually, my character is finally expressing himself. This is good.’ But I don’t know. Maybe I was just tired of being on the show.”
At the time, he said that he didn’t understand why Shawn was getting these more dramatic storylines. “I was like, ‘Why [do] they keep throwing drama at me?’ ” Strong said. “Now looking at it, this is on the heels of an episode where they killed my father and really put a lot of pressure on us as actors – pressure on Blake and Matt and me.”
You can see Strong in Boy Meets World, streaming on Disney+.
Source: Pod Meets World