The Wonder Years

The Wonder Years

Episode 2: Swingers

By: Carlos Uribe

The Wonder Years is a show about Kevin who is coming to age in the early sixties and late seventies. It ran from 1988 until 1993.

Spoilers Ahoy!

One of the things about the pilot of Awake was that it was like a short film. It was an episode that set up the series but the ending of the pilot was like the perfect ending to the series. One of the reasons that Awake might have had trouble keeping it's audience was that the story in the pilot had a natural ending. It was emotionally powerful and if we had seen just that episode, then I wouldn't have missed not seeing the rest of the series. I'm not stating that the season that came after was bad: Awake never had a bad episode. It's just that the rest of the episodes felt like extensions to the pilot because the first episode had ended so perfectly. One of the problems that the Wonder Years could have faced was the perfect ending of the pilot. It doesn't just end with the literal of Kevin's childhood model but also the metaphorical death of innocence. It ended with Kevin kissing Winnie in one of the best moments on television. In other words, the first episode of the Wonder Years was also like a short film and it wouldn't have been surprising to see each episode since then to feel like extensions rather than a cohesive whole. It's to the credit of the producers and the writers that not only is the second episode a natural progression from where the pilot ended, but one that was almost as amazing. This is some pretty great television.

Swingers begins the episode where the last one had ended: with Brian's death in the focus. It began with Brian's funeral, and the song that was playing over the graveyard was haunting and simply perfect. It was “For What It's Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. One of the reasons that the series took so long to get online was because of the music rights-this series wouldn't work so well without the right music. Having the song open the episode must have been expensive but it made that shot work so well-it managed to convey the feeling of the period. The episode moves on to Brian's wake, and here is where our main character's central conflict in those scenes occurred. He's not just reeling from losing the man he looked up to, but also from his feelings towards Winnie. As he notes in his narration, the feelings of love and death were tearing him apart. When he's with her at the wake, it takes a lot of self-control from trying to advance their relationship from that first kiss. It isn't until he sees the ghost of Brian telling him to wait that he choses to merely sit there and be with Winnie. He does wait until the end of episode, when the two walk to the park together. It's clear they both want to kiss more but neither are really able to get there. They merely get on the swing and the episode ends with another great visual and moment.

That's surprisingly not the best moment of the show. That has to do with the other plot of the show-or everything that happens between Kevin and Winnie's developing and awkward relationship. In this plot, Kevin and Paul are delighted to be taking a sexual education course until they realize it concentrates on the scientific parts of sex and not the parts they're actually interested in learning. This leads to them finding out about a popular book-Everything You Need to Know about Sex (But were Afraid to Ask) from Wayne. The episode has a flaw in that this book technically came out after the year that this episode takes place in. In a series that is so committed to getting every detail right, it's a pretty glaring flaw considering how vital the book is to the plot. It isn't a major flaw but it's a noticeable stain on the episode. When they learn about the book, Paul actually steals the book because the two were too ashamed to buy it outright. They did leave twenty dollars at the cashier so it's not like they would have been persecuted (I think).

It's when Norma catches the boys in their room with the book that the episode creates a moment so great-it's when she reveals to her son that she has a copy of the book in her bedroom. She believes that's where Kevin got the book from and seeing Fred Savage's face drop as he processed this information was simply golden. It's a moment that is both funny and yet at the same time a reflection of the time. It's not just the kids who were trying to learn about sex, but it's also the adults who were interested. Kevin doesn't get in trouble for reading the book since Norma soon discovers that he wasn't using her book and nobody wants to bring that can of worms up. The moment is the reason that plotline is a stroke of genius: it was great before then especially as Paul is desperate to find out anything interesting about sex. This is ultimately a great episode of the Wonder Years with one emotional moment and one funny moment-and yet both of them aren't just reflective of the period, but even the themes of the show. That is what makes this episode good television.

Next week is an episode ranked #27 by TV Guide on the “Top 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time” list.