The Wonder Years – How I Miss ‘Em!

by

Another of my past writings – this is another of my favorites because of its nostalgia value.
Originally written August 2005

There comes a time in your life when you need to stop, take your time, look back and relive all your memories left behind. Its also a time when you realize some things remain the same, some things change, but most of all, bitter sweet memories of an era gone by remain with you forever.

Kevin Arnold and I share the same problem – the way we look at life and our incapacity to let go of some memories and the past. Kevin Arnold recalls his memories of childhood, twenty years hence they have happened, and immediately its clear to us that he has not left his past or memories back along. He is very much there, wanting and wishing he could go back in there and reset all things wrong and make all things just the way he wanted them to be; something everyone of us want to do – go back in time and reset events that shaped us, that made us into what we are today.

The reason I related so much to The Wonder Years was the my life played out which was in many ways similar to the way Kevin
Arnold leads his life – broken hearted love, love lost, friends, the frustrations of adolescence and self discovery which Kevin goes through his life, almost entirely mirror my life. Looking back, when I watched Wonder Years for the first time on Star Plus (or Star whatever it was called!) I watched it as a teenager, I related to the teenager within. When I watched it again entirely 10 years later, I think I looked at the broader perspective of the whole series and what made it so special – somehow it was not Kevin’s teenage escapades and loves that stuck a chord with me this time, but it is the relationships he develops and learns from his family – his relation between his sister Karen, his mother Norma, his brother Wayne, but most of all his father Jack.

Kevin as I see him is not the perfect kid or teenager in the world – he is not the best, and he is not the worst. He is selfish, and at most times sees himself above everything else. His reputation and his feelings matter most to him before anyone else’s – however beneath that Kevin lays another Kevin who sees life as it is and begins to grow up as an individual. The series success lies in the way Kevin sees meaning to life even in the most mundane incidents that could have happened in real life – events that shape him to be what he is eventually – young, rebellious and searching for himself.

A few of the episodes which really left an inedible impression on me were the ones that mostly involved with his family or his broken heart.

  • The first that comes to mind is the day when Kevin visits his dad’s office. All of us at one point in our lives have wished to know what exactly does our father do for a living; Kevin’s inquisitiveness and questions deeply reflect the general psyche of a 12 year old who wants to know what is it that exactly work is. Though like everyone of us, he never understands it, but he knows that his father does something for a living.

  • The next one that is immediately close to my heart is the episodes of heartbreak and denial, two of the most exquisitely shot episodes of Kevin’s first heartbreak with Winnie. It was not the heartbreak per se which held me, but it was his father’s comfort that touched a chord within me. Notice that Kevin does an incredible job of portraying child who has lost something. When his father says – “ I wish I could say take it easier” – Kevin realizes that his father is there with him always, anywhere, and hugs him to cry.
  • Kevin shares a beautiful relationship with his math teacher. However when his math teacher refuses to stay and teach him after school, Kevin is furious and says – “I thought you were my friend”. The math teacher replies – “Kevin, I am your teacher, not your friend”. In the test, as if to take his vengeance, all Kevin turns in is a load of rubbish images on his test paper. Monday morning, he comes to know that his math teacher passed away during the weekend; and that his math teacher corrected all the papers but his paper was missing. Hence he did have to write test again – a priceless moment in this series when Kevin realizes that his math teacher, a teacher he learns so much from, is no longer in his life. He writes the test again and mentions it to his surrogate teacher – ‘don’t bother correcting it. Its an A”.
  • Kevin and his brother Wayne fight over almost everything under the sun. A time comes when they both have to fight over their own room and each of the needs to grow in a different room. They eventually do fight, and end up patching up, and Wayne takes the other room, do they both realize that they needed each other as badly. Kevin realizes perhaps he and his brother have probably grown up a bit too.
  • Kevin’s dog Buster isn’t really the favorite of anybody in the house; its more of an liability in the house. Yet when it runs away from home, his family comes together to search for it; they realize, and most of all Kevin realizes that his dog too was a part of the family and even if he didn’t speak a word, he was always there.
  • Kevin quits his hardware store job for a job in fast food restaurant at a mall because he could ogle at girls. Yet he realizes that the knowledge he gained at the hardware store about hardware was more useful than the mall job. Kevin says
    – “I didn’t how much I learnt, but I definitely had no measure of how much I lost”. – Beautiful moment this in the serial.
  • Wayne wants to join the army knowing fully well she would shipped to Vietnam. Yet, he goes against his father and goes for his physical examination. At the end of the day, Jack (his father) realizes that he had not prepared his son for anything in life and he was missing and tries to tell this to Wayne, when Wayne says – “I failed my physical – I couldn’t even get this right”. Again, a father hugs his child to support him; Kevin observes brilliantly in that one scene – “Love is never easy; not between fathers and sons”.
  • Wayne’s friend comes back from Vietnam war, a changed man – the big goofy kid is back to town he once knew, but everything has changed around him from within. At a football game, after being cheered as Murderer he goes for a walk in the park. Kevin and Wayne find him sitting in the park in his underwear and his clothes neatly folded aside. Surprised Wayne asks him about it to which he gets reply – “ I dunno man – nothing seems to fit anymore”. Wayne removes his shirt and gives it to him – “here try this. This one will fit”. Kevin looks on to this exchange, mute to this exchange to realize that sometimes men were children, but sometimes children could be men too. A beautiful moment this, this highly emotional moment brings the futility of war, and the futility of the one involved in it superbly. But its Kevin’s realization that the world was not as small as he imagined which really stands out in the end.
  • Kevin calls Winnie to his house for a study night, though he has other intentions. Eventually they both doze off with nothing happening between them. However, next day, Kevin brags about the night in the wrong sense with his friends; unfortunately in trying to impress his friends, he loses his love that doesn’t stand the humiliation. A very well shot episode which brought about the way guys are and the way girls are and how they react to situations. Of course its his father Jack who gives the best reaction – “go over to her place and apologize right now” Kevin – “Will she forgive me?” Jack – “I wouldn’t”.
  • Kevin, Wayne and Jack go to their last fishing trip; however Kevin and Wayne are both growing with other interests between them and don’t find fishing exciting as their father does. Kevin, the adolescences is beginning to get frustrated with everything his father does and ridicules him for spinning stories about what he wants to do ahead in life – like have a factory and leave Norcom. Later Kevin recalls, this was the dream his father had been chasing for years, and he felt good talking about it; Kevin realizes sometimes his father felt good talking about it and he could have helped made him feel happy. Touching episode this.
  • Karen’s marriage night was again a beautiful moment in Kevin’s life. While Karen wants to go away to Alaska with her boyfriend, and asks her parents to let go off her, her mom replies – “We are your parents Karen. You can go wherever you want to in this world, but we won’t let go of you”.

And many more – perhaps that was the beauty of this serial – I could relate to incidents in this serial as they happened in my life, and I am sure for everyone else too. There are actually dialogues between Kevin and jack which actually happened the way between me and my dad – making it even more special for me.

What further made this serial beyond greatness was the selection of the songs they used in each episode. From Romeo and Juliet’s theme song to Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix to Turtles, 115 episodes of TWY contained some of classics of 60s and 70s – their song selection was incredible and always appropriate. A personal favorite ‘you are everything’ (the stylistists) plays when Kevin and Winnie break up in heartbreak episode.

The only people who really screwed the series were the people at ABC who didn’t grow beyond the family of Kevin. As Kevin grew, so did his personal exploration of himself and his sexual awakening take frontstage. Suddenly ABC didn’t want this to happen, and eventually creative differences, sagging ratings, rising shooting costs eventually prompted the producer to end the series in sixth season. In its original, it should have lasted at least one more season till Kevin’s graduation, but ends up with Kevin and Winnies Barn; However this series boasts of what very few series had – a beautiful finale, and tying up all loose ends to give it a complete picture.

True to its core, wonder years ends very emotionally with Kevin reciting what happened to everyone ahead in their lives; but what really stuns you is Jack’s death and Kevin and Winnie not ending up together eventually. Its perhaps that last monologue of Kevin which really hurts the most in this series when you realize what he says is completely true – “Life never turns out the way you want it to be”.

Perhaps, one of the reasons why The Wonder Years remains so close to my heart – it’s the inevitable quality of life being so unpredictable that made it into such a classic. For years to come ahead, I don’t think there will be a series, as good as this. And for the life ahead, there won’t be another wonder years in my life too – I do look at them as Kevin does, with Wonder.

Some excellent links on Wonder Years:
The imdb site for wonder years is here
The excellent soundtrack and a few chat with writers of the series is documented here: http://home.tiscalinet.ch/mpuppis/episodesmusic/musicguide.shtml
One of the best fan based website for the show is http://mytwyyearbook.tripod.com/ – has a lot of interesting stuff, trivia and interviews. Very well done site.