Let's settle this once and for all: Cory and Topanga or Shawn and Angela?

Literally, the only thing continuity-wise to question with Shawn and Angela is whether they lost their virginity to each other. But if you ever want to talk sitcom “continuity” in the good ol’ days, you’ll probably drive yourself mad. In "Boy Meets World" specifically, that was never more apparent than when talk of Cory and Topanga’s romantic backstory came into play. 

How many times did it change, not even counting the early seasons where Cory barely wanted to associate with her? (Because he loved baseball so much. Can you imagine late-series Cory Matthews loving a sport of any kind?) When the series began, Cory treated Topanga like the weird girl in class — and to be fair, she was. But it was never the kind of relationship that felt like it had any familiarity prior to the series. 

Then, once they were “Cory and Topanga,” the show felt the need to tell us about their love story all the time. Either they fell in love catching fireflies as kids or at a playground as toddlers (the backstory that stuck), and while the show also explains away that the first two seasons were his Cory's “girls are icky” phase, it’s really more of a hand-wave excuse.

The “Romeo and Juliet” Thing

Remember when Topanga's parents decided they would move to Pittsburgh (from Philadelphia), so she ditched them to live with her mean-but-secretly-romantic aunt — played by Olivia Hussey, because "Boy Meets World" decided to insert an additional "Romeo and Juliet" reference that none of us would understand as children — in order to stay near Cory?

(Unrelated: Remember how Topanga had three different actors play her father/two different actresses play her mother? I’m partial to Peter Tork as Jedediah — because you know how much ‘90s kids loved The Monkees — and Marcia Cross as her mother.) 

This is arguably the most romantic moment of Cory and Topanga’s entire relationship, without any wackiness. It’s also the most indicative of how annoying teen romance can be, because the level-headed Topanga chose her boyfriend over her loving family and — in what would become a running theme for the couple — refused to believe that anyone could understand their special love. Yes, this is both the best and the worst.

Shawn’s Trio of Exes vs. Cory’s Lauren

Remember those previously mentioned strong feelings? Try to get into a "Boy Meets World" discussion and see if you can avoid an argument once the Lauren subject comes up. Just try it. Also, you know what math definitely checks out in 2018? One Linda Cardellini is arguably equivalent to a trio of Larisa Oleynik, (the highly underrated) Lindsey McKeon and Kristanna Loken. 

The latter trio reunite — after previous "Boy Meets World" appearances — as Shawn’s vengeful ex-girlfriends in “First Girlfriends Club,” hellbent on breaking Shawn/Angela up on Valentine’s Day, to prevent Angela from going through the same Shawn-caused heartbreak they all did. This was the official confirmation that the old Shawn Hunter — the one who would get these girls to really like him, only to dump them with no warning — was gone, as he’d found the right girl in Angela Moore. They’re a fun detour for the show, but the Cory/Lauren/Topanga triangle shook "Boy Meets World" to its very core.

“I want what they have.”

The fact that Shawn and Angela wanted what Cory and Topanga had — true love, above all else — probably argues right then and there that Cory/Topanga was the better couple. That Shawn and Angela’s relationship was based on this unrealistic, unattainable goal and that they were always reminded it’s what they should want was bound to create some complexes. 

Cory and Topanga went through some rough patches where they questioned what they wanted in a relationship, but they always realized that what they had was one in a million. In fact, despite getting together in the third season, that was also the season in which they realized they were in a rut — as an old-people couple despite their literal youth, which would later become a running joke for their relationship — and broke up for the first time.

“And Then There Was Shawn”

Shawn’s subconscious is so dedicated to getting Cory and Topanga back together post-Lauren that he even lets his girlfriend die in his dream to allow (well, force) it to happen. 

This is something we’ll have to keep remembering: No matter what Shawn thought of his relationship with Angela, he still always believed that Cory/Topanga was the greatest love of all. (Despite the fact that we all know “learning to love yourself” is, in fact, the greatest love all of all. Which was also an integral aspect of Shawn and Angela’s relationship!) 

By the way, the reason I brought up the Shawn/Angela virginity situation earlier is that this is the episode that confirms — at that point — Shawn Hunter had done “everything but.”

"The Jellybean Test"

The jellybean test was Shawn’s idea for Cory’s ultimate dilemma: Topanga or Lauren? While Cory ultimately wound up realizing Topanga truly was the one for him though, that didn’t actually matter when it came to Topanga’s thoughts about the whole thing. The fact that Cory had to weigh his options at all — literally or figuratively — didn’t sit well with Topanga, and the breakup stayed on.

Shawn never did the jellybean test, and instead of weighing his pros and cons (like a better version of Ross Geller), he chose instead to break up with Angela — and she pretended like it was a mutual decision — as they embarked on their freshman year of college. This led to them also pretending to be OK with the fact the other was dating other people and Shawn writing love poetry about Angela after the fact, instead of just telling her how he felt in the first place. 

Looking back at this, Shawn and Angela clearly would make a great WB will-they-won’t-they pairing. But is that exactly what you want in your sitcom? To compare them to the most popular will-they-won’t-they sitcom pairing, Ross and Rachel from "Friends," the thing with Ross and Rachel is that they started more like a grounded, serious situation before (for better or for worse) letting loose for comedy’s sake. With Shawn and Angela, “letting loose” quickly became less and less of a priority. It’s understandable why anyone would latch on to them for that sake, but it’s kind of tiring in a sitcom setting, you know?

“The Psychotic Episode”

Cory’s subconscious is so dedicated to being happy with Topanga that he has dreams of killing Shawn (then the rest of the gang, but mostly Shawn) in more and more inventive ways. Does that mean Cory/Topanga are the better couple? Not necessarily, but it means I really have to watch my back after possibly arguing otherwise.

They’ve Got Issues

From the moment Angela joined the series in season five, her and Shawn’s main problem was always that they couldn’t commit to each other for one reason or another; and these reasons were all tied to their individual abandonment issues and possibly a real need to have intense therapy. Not even couples therapy — legitimate one-on-one therapy for the both of them. 

If you remember, one of the Very Special Episodes of "Boy Meets World" involved Shawn coming to grips with alcoholism running in his family and drunkenly getting physical with Angela. Considering how much Shawn internalizes everything, if he were to ever do anything like that again or even come close, he’d never forgive himself. You know — fun sitcom stuff. 

Shawn and Angela were arguably perfect for each other because of this common personality hurdle (as well as their general interests), but by the time they got it together at the end of the series, they also decided to do the mature thing of taking a break so Angela could spend time with her father in Europe. The assumption for the "Boy Meets World" audience would be that they’d get back together when the time was right, but…

"Girl Meets World"

Disney Channel’s spin-off "Girls Meets World" seemingly answered the Cory/Topanga or Shawn/Angela question: Cory and Topanga ended up together, married, with children. Shawn and Angela emphatically did not, and both found other people with whom they could pursue possible everlasting love. 

This is technically the canon. 

But this is also definitely not part of the seven seasons that we’re celebrating here, so it doesn’t count. At least, it doesn’t count in comparing the past event between either of these couple’s relationships.

Michael Jacobs Is Wrong

All right, so it’s not fair to expect two pairs of high school sweethearts are going to end up together in either real or sitcom life, so of course the one that was literally built to last ends up lasting. Cory and Topanga succeeding as a couple doesn’t make Shawn and Angela individual failures, and "Girl Meets World" — as much as it doesn’t count here — at least acknowledged that. But in discussing this situation, "Boy Meets World" and "Girl Meets World" creator Michael Jacobs speaks about Shawn/Angela, comes across as someone who “missed the point” on his own creation.

As Jacobs told Page Six, “There can only be one Cory and Topanga, and if Cory and Topanga and Shawn and Angela succeed, it lessens what I always thought was the mantra of the core show.” But as you can see by looking back at all of this, what worked about Shawn and Angela is — despite their original attempts to be like Cory and Topanga — their differences from that couple were actually what worked for them.

There’s also Jacobs’ perspective on the often-praised interracial relationship aspect of Shawn and Angela, which are just kind of confusing:

“It was one of the early interracial relationships on television where we never mentioned that aspect of it. We just never thought anything of that. And to be called forward-thinking [by press] for doing that, it’s terrible. So the opposite spectrum of that was, well it was an interracial relationship. What is the responsibility of saying they did not end up together? That to me is an example of backwards thinking as well. Forget the color. They never meshed. Every episode was about why Shawn and Angela would not sustain.”

And not even addressing his attitude toward the show being considered forward-thinking because of Shawn/Angela — and seriously, the show was considered forward-thinking because it didn’t make it a big deal, so Jacob’s worry about making it a big deal seems to come out of nowhere — to see them in the series run and think the show was actively saying their relationship would never make it, you’d have to be watching a completely different show. 

Again, they weren’t Cory/Topanga, but literally no one else could have been or even should have been. There are more real, lasting couples that look like Shawn/Angela than there are ones that look like Cory/Topanga.

The Verdict

Here’s the thing: The fact that they weren’t perfect, that they didn’t actually have what Cory and Topanga had is what made them the better bet as a couple. Because of how patronizing the perfect couple could be or how ridiculous — in a show that got really ridiculous — the opposite was the charm. Shawn and Angela were the Pacey and Joey of "Boy Meets World," though I hesitate to call Cory and Topanga the equivalent of the Dawson and Joey. (Both women are Joey just because this is more about the realistic vs. unattainable expectations characters of the relationships, not comparing the characters themselves.) 

And in comparing it once more to "Dawson’s Creek," series creator Kevin Williamson infamously wanted to end the series with Joey choosing Dawson, and he was steered away from that because that was not the right story to tell overall or the best choice for the characters. Cory and Topanga didn’t have to fail to have Shawn and Angela succeed, but for a show that turned Eric Matthews into a complete dunce, Shawn and Angela making it through — still having their own different definition of true love — wouldn’t betray any mission statement or core values of the show.

Cory and Topanga may be the ideal sitcom romance in terms of being soulmates who are destined to be together, but Shawn and Angela — both as a couple and as individuals — were always the ones who had the more real relationship you just hoped would work out. Because if they had gotten their relationship straight, they would have been epic. 

And in a lot of ways, they still were.