Win A Date With Tad Hamilton: Riarkle the movie

Because The Longest Ride had so many parallels to Lucaya, I want to bring up a film that mirrors what I believe will happen in Riley and Farkle's storylines. 

Win A Date With Tad Hamlton is all about the perception of love versus what love actually is. I think the narrative of this film parallels with the relationship between Farkle and Riley quite nicely. 

Pete's character is very similar to Farkle in terms of his cynical view and his caring personality. Pete will do anything for Rosalee. 

Rosalee is very similar to Riley with her sweet personality, positive outlook on life and her tendency to not look past the surface of things. 

When Tad Hamilton enters Rosalee's life, Pete is thrown off course and he begins to see that he is losing the girl of his dreams to an idealistic concept. 

Tad Hamilton is a movie star. Good looking, with the ability to do almost anything that Pete cannot do.

This film is very clever in terms of the dialogue, the symbolism and the overall dynamic that Pete faces while Rosalee is blind to his struggle. But the audience can easily see his behavior. 

This dynamic is continuously displayed in Girl Meets World as Farkle gazes at Riley during class. 

Another obvious plot point in the film is perception versus reality. What does that remind me of?

Farkle continues to call Lucas a "face" throughout the show, and that's no accident. 

When Shawn tells the girls about Angela, Riley says, "So he fell in love with a concept. It was doomed from the start." 

When Riley and Lucas first meet, he tells her his name, and she says. "I love it." 

This event is repeated throughout the show and it has no real depth other than those lines. 

Riley does not see Lucas for who he is, and she continues to ignore his "Texas" personality. In Riley's fantasy, Lucas appears to be a cookie cutter cowboy and the picture of a "western hero." 

In the film, Pete repeatedly tells Rosalee that she has not fallen in love with who Tad Hamilton actually is. What she likes about him (his roles in romantic films) is not real. 

While Rosalee continues her relationship with Tad Hamilton, something pushes Pete to finally tell her how he feels. The moment when he realizes that he's losing Rosalee for good. 

This moment reminded me of two scenes in Girl Meets World, and both are at a moment where it appears Riley and Farkle are losing eachother. 

The first scene would be Girl Meets Texas part 3 where Farkle tries so hard to get Riley to admit she is hiding her feelings. 

Both Riley and Farkle say "I love you" here and it's a meaningful moment for the story. 

The second moment is the rooftop conversation they have in Girl Meets the New Year. Farkle clearly expresses his feelings here, but they are said in a platonic way. 

When Lucas finally chooses in Girl Meets Triangle, and the girls decide that he pickes Riley, Farkle looks crushed, and angry. From then on, Farkle's behavior changes and he drifts further from Riley. He tells her quite blatantly in Girl Meets Ski Lodge:

but she is still blind to his pain. 

This happens in Win A Date With Tad Hamilton when Rosalee chooses to go with Tad Hamilton to California, leaving everyone behind. Pete continues to get more and more angry and frustrated until he finally confronts Tad Hamilton. 

Pete basically tells Tad that he knows nothing about Rosalee, while Pete knows who she truly is. Now Farkle knows Riley more than anyone. He can tell when something's wrong, and he remembers things about her. (Pete has a great line in the film about a starfish necklace) 

The point of this scene is that Tad and Rosalee don't know eachother at all, just like Riley and Lucas don't know who they truly are. 

Lucas and Riley get together at the end of Ski Lodge part 2, but they base their relationship on a concept that they will have important talks, and they'll have a sandwhich. Lucas gives Riley a jellybean- sugar which was referenced earlier in the show to be bad and fake. 

In Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, Rosalee realizes that the concept she believed she wanted is not what she cares about at all. She also realizes that Tad fell for the concept of her, and not who she truly is. She realizes that Pete is who she truly cares for, and she hurries back to him. 

Only to find him gone. This is where I believe the Girl Meets Bear narrative comes into play for Riley and Farkle. Now that Farkle has watched Riley choose Lucas, he's heartbroken and he's lost who he is. 

As Farkle talks with Topanga about how to know who you are, he connects his previous identities to Beary the stuffed teddy bear, that Riley has lost. It is implied that Beary left because he knew it was time, and that Riley didn't need him anymore. 

Right before Rosalee finds Pete, she runs into the bartender, Angelica who had a crush on Pete. She tells Rosalee that "when great love is rejected . . . something inside a man dies." 

Farkle's lost who he is, but I'm sure he'll find that again, because this isn't the end of his story or Riley's. 

At the end of Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, Rosalee and Pete create their own movie. And Pete takes the place of Tad Hamilton in the movie they watched at the beginning of the film. It's a wonderful scene that expresses what real love is versus the concept of it. 

Riley and Lucas are in a relationship based on a concept, but Riley's relationship with Farkle is real. Riley doesn't see that yet, because she is blinded by the idea that she has to be Cory and Topanga. 

Farkle is blinded by the idea that he is not part of Riley's story, but that will change once Riley sees the reality and stops falling for the concept. 

Once Farkle and Riley see who they truly are, then their real story begins. :) 

We already know how it ends: