Cory Matthews' older brother Eric began Boy Meets World as a somewhat unremarkable character, only to suddenly drop in intelligence and lose all sense of normalcy. Of course, that is not to suggest that Eric's character change was necessarily a bad thing, or that most viewers disliked it. Boy Meets World was a comedy after all, and Eric's wild antics often led to hilarious bouts of insanity. Still, when looking back at the early seasons it becomes clear just how different Eric became.
When Boy Meets World started, Eric was a fairly typical sitcom older brother. He often picked on Cory and was annoyed by Cory's constant desire to be around him - Cory took a bit to become obsessed with the oddly named Topanga - but at the end of the day he did care about his brother and did not allow him to be mistreated by others. Eric appeared to be of average intelligence, athletic, popular with girls and a social butterfly. Most of those were qualities Cory admired about Eric and somewhat aspired to emulate at times.
That all changed during Boy Meets World season 4, and as pointed out by Redditor KingNick, Eric's loss of intelligence oddly coincides with the character receiving serious head trauma. It is only after this event that Eric starts to become the wackiest member of Boy Meets World's cast of characters. In season 4, episode 12, titled "Easy Street," Eric gets trapped inside a car with his then crush Loni during a blizzard, and while trying to escape, accidentally smashes his head into the window. Eric is knocked unconscious and his strange behavior right afterward suggests he sustained a concussion, at the very least. Being a sitcom, the whole thing is played for laughs, but concussions are a very serious brain injury. This could be the cause of his dramatic personality change as Boy Meets World developed.
What Girl Meets World Reveals About Eric's Adult Life
By the final season Boy Meets World episode "Seven the Hard Way," Eric is shown having taken on a Jesus-esque look and referring to himself as Plays with Squirrels. While this is part of a hypothetical flashforward episode and could otherwise be dismissed as a close to cancellation Boy Meets World playing around with its reality, Girl Meets World confirms that the personality now dubbed Mr. Squirrels is still a part of Eric's psyche. Yet, perhaps fittingly, Eric's dumb behavior and flights of craziness do nothing to hold him back in life. In fact, it is arguable they help him succeed.
Girl Meets World, Disney Channel's sequel to Boy Meets World, reveals that Eric entered politics, becoming mayor of an upstate New York town unsubtly dubbed St. Upidtown. While Eric is not married and has no children, he does manage to improbably become a U.S. senator by the end of Girl Meets World, a show that also surprised fans by reuniting Shawn and Angela. Eric was recruited by the staff of an unpopular incumbent to provide him an easy opponent, but Eric's kindness and empathy win over the electorate. While being smart is nice, Eric Matthews ultimately proved intelligence is not everything.