farkle minkus | [regulus] (
farkle) wrote in
peoplechangepeople2016-07-04 12:09 am
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Name: Kisa
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creatively
E-Mail: earnestwind@gmail.com
IM: AIM: Kelpforbrains SKYPE: thewarriormaiden
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Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Farkle Minkus
Series: Girl Meets World
Timeline: 3x4: Girl Meets Permanent Record
Canon Resource Link: Please provide a resource link for your character and/or your character's series. Wikipedia, fanshrines, tc, REGARDLESS of how popular or how obscure the series is. Do NOT give us keywords to Google or wiki for ourselves.
Character History:
Farkle Minkus' character arc from the first day he was revealed to us has been one simple thing: Science versus Emotion. His first introduction was as a particularly immature twelve-year-old who overreacted and often thought only for himself. Now, at the point he comes from he's beginning to question the meaning of science to him and if his emotions mean something and are more powerful. His part in the story, for the longest time, was miniscule regarding impact. Within the last year he became a more major story player and that was (in large) that he began to take control over what his feelings might mean.
There's several reasons for this. Farkle was born to former schoolmates of Riley's parents. Stuart Minkus was a genius, concentrated, and very confident. Jennifer Basset-Minkus was a young lady who was known for manipulation and control, and tried to destroy a strong friendship. Jennifer meets Stuart and tells him to marry her. This incident is told very loosely in the series, but it's obvious there's some control and anger issues there. Especially as Farkle just casually admits his parents are always fighting and throwing things, specifically the wedding band his mother has. He's used to that.
Furthering still, it's evident early on that Stuart puts a great deal of pressure on Farkle while not being around. Farkle's first forefront episode Stuart appears and discusses how his son exhales and then puts him up next to Riley and has a competition with Topanga about which child was superior. This continued far later into season two when Farkle confronts him about not being around and even in the season finale. There, Farkle reveals he doesn't care about going to an IVY League school, but wants to go wherever his friends go. Stuart Minkus was less than pleased with that answer.
While rarely in the forefront, Farkle's homelife has always been less than ideal. His father has a lot of money and ensures he buys whatever the boy needs, but Farkle rarely talks about his home life and is invariably ashamed of people seeing where he lives. He pushes himself to be the "brightest star" because that's what his father taught him to do. Meanwhile he doesn't understand social or emotional boundaries which reflects on the lack of people often in his own home. But, in spite of that, his life isn't terrible.
When he was around seven he went to a Halloween party that would mark a very big change: He met Riley and Maya. He was confused at the girl who didn't know how to lift her head when diving for apples. He saved her and then happily declared to love both of the girls the same. At the same time he was uncomfortable introducing himself due to an apparent fear of people laughing at it (they even did as much themselves). Even so something about them made him pursue on: He would love them and he was willing to be used in whatever way they might need.
The rest was history. Until seventh grade it was always Riley/Maya and Farkle. The three of them were best friends and did almost everything together. The girls were with each other more often, but any chance he had Farkle would tag along. There were times they didn't want him there or rebuffed his "I'm in love with you" moments but he never failed to continue being by their side. That is until Lucas Friar enters the picture and Maya pushes Riley into his lap. Eventually he had to learn to accept his position and put space between them.
That much wouldn't happen until much later, Farkle Minkus was considered a "minor character" in the initial season although he had far more episodes than the love interest. He spent a majority of his time ensuring that he was superior to his friends. He kept his grades up, lied to people, and used manipulation to try and become president of the student council. There was a time when he and Riley worked together in a project and when Riley said they had to be honest and have similar products as Maya and Lucas the boy nodded and pretended to go along... Only to make cupcakes made of literal sugar and demeaning Riley during the project.
The strange thing is this wasn't really with any particular malice. As was his student council run when he attempted to blackmail Riley and ruin her campaign. Farkle doesn't quite understand what was wrong with other subjects because it was competition, it was about winning or making the most money. Both times Farkle had to be told he was wrong about it and why he was and he still didn't quite understand. At the time it was still the only thing he really knew and the two confrontations were the starting point of his progression to understanding his ideas were wrong.
In spite of this behavior, Farkle was simultaneously loyal to his friends. This was shown on multiple occasions: He offered to teach Riley how to flirt while he still insisted he was in love with her, he willingly went to detention to be with them, more so when he saw the girls fighting over him Farkle stepped back and decided it wasn't worth it to him. In school work and competitions Farkle has a no-hold's bar to ensuring his success. But at the same time it's not worth it to him if he thinks he'll lose his friends. So when he realized that his behavior in the presidential campaign Farkle backed off. He says there was no point in having power if his friends hated him. This was the first major pointer to where his arc was heading.
For Farkle this is how the first season went for him. He would be abrasive, rude, or even cruel, learn that he was wrong and then try to do the right thing. There were several instances where things changed and they're also important: Once, he was bullied. And a second time it's revealed that he spends far too much time outside of the Matthews window. Even further, we saw his fears about his friend Lucas.
First and foremost, however, is his being bullied. Towards the end of the season Farkle suddenly stopped coming to class. He's never missed a day, but suddenly he was absent and refusing to come back. Instead he left a robotic camera on his desk and hid in the janitor's closet. With this method he could attend class, but it was unacceptable to his teacher and friends. Riley eventually goes to hunt him down saying it was the world's way of telling her to act.
When she approaches Farkle he at first tells her it's fine and not important. She pushes him because she's Riley and Farkle breaks: He's nothing, he acts too confident when he's not worth anything, and he acts so big with friends he doesn't deserve, even his turtle necks were weird. The bully had told him all of this which Riley denied, all of them did, and while Farkle pretended to listen and understand he still refused to come back to class the next day.
For the first real time Farkle realizes that maybe something is wrong with him. He believed his bully, now revealed as Billy Ross, was correct. He avoided him and his friends, but that didn't quite work the way he wanted to. Farkle had a literal bird's eye view of Lucas threatening Billy and telling him off. Specifically that Farkle was the most loyal best friend he could ever have and he supported him taking over the world (as he wanted to see what he'd do with it). It's only then that Farkle believes his friends and once Billy is out of the room goes to join them.
Furthering still, just past this time and towards the end we begin to learn that Farkle does spend a deal of time hanging out on the Matthews fire escape and this is normal and unexpected. This included on Christmas Eve which makes it particularly peculiar. It is, however, also at this time that we learn that he stalks both of the girls and records both of them. So while that is certainly part of it, it's also likely how his home is as well. Whatever the reasoning, Farkle doesn't stop this behavior for a few more months.
This awkward and stalkerish behavior continues even to First Date where he assumes he can buy Riley from Cory with livestock (which almost worked). He tries to get one of the girls to go out with him and ultimately fails before admitting to Lucas the other boy kept him up at night. Farkle was afraid of losing the two girls and felt that Lucas would take both of them away from him and said that if he chose he'd take the other... But this isn't the last time Farkle will admit that he fears his best friend's good looks. Even though he does score a date with Maya that day (and even kissed her hand).
Farkle continues the same way through the first few episodes of season two. He remains obsessed with learning about Belgium in 1831, demands the girls to marry him and have kids, and proclaims that he'll never live up to Lucas. At the same time we see him questioning some ideas politically: He realizes that they should be looking out for people and their futures. He even helps in the campaign for Eric Matthews to become senator and it certainly wouldn't have been something he'd agree to much earlier. Subsequently he does say how having Eric there makes him feel superior, but he doesn't seem to plan his demise in order to take over.
Another time the others make him question his religious beliefs. Farkle makes himself out as an atheist (with, as the writers have informed, a Jewish background). He admits that he can't believe in something he can't see and therefore he doesn't believe in God. The kids and even Cory, their teacher, try to convince him otherwise. They tell him that because he can't be seen it doesn't mean he isn't real, just as things such as the world around them may also not be seen. While he begrudgingly agrees at that statement as the end he still says he doesn't believe in God-- but he does believe he has the friends he has for a reason.
It's a few more random, quirky incidents before Farkle does something that truly instates he's no longer a minor character: When the school yearbooks are given out and a page reads "Most Likely to be Farkle" he decides to put everything everyone thought he was away. He becomes someone named "Donnie Barnes" who was cool, suave, and regular. Emphasis on the regular. He talked out in class and blew off his friends, reaffirming each time that Farkle didn't deserve to exist. When Riley inevitably joins him in his attempt at 360ing his behavior, "Donnie" already expects it and immediately goes to see her... Which proves that more than anything Farkle was still in there.
Riley goes back to normal encouraged by her friends, but when they attempt the same for Farkle he denies it. He tells them that he's growing up and that change isn't a bad thing, they just have to get used to it. This is the first official day that "science" is really thrown out the window but "emotion" still hasn't reached its peak. It's also the first day where almost all of his quirks from the previous season are just scrubbed off the board.
Except, they had to put it out there one more time. In "I am Farkle" several things happen to change the game plan. Farkle is excited that he has officially been proclaimed a genius through an IQ test (though he had no lack of faith in it saying anything else). The school councilor is the one to proudly proclaim it before shortly reappearing to pull him aside. Farkle's informed they believe he is different and that he has autism. While he dislikes the idea he's not exactly stunned by it and, in fact, it makes all too much sense to him as he matches "the check list".
"Please don't ever let me not understand love," is the first pivotal thing Farkle says that season. Suddenly he realizes that there was something wrong with him, they he doesn't feel, and he needs his friends to help him. Of course, each of the kids try to encourage him in finding love this includes when his arch-nemesis, Isadora Smackle, appears and flirts with him. They push the two together and as Farkle tries to explain what he learned she immediately says she doesn't care and accepts him anyway he is.
He decides since he's not normal he should go to a school like Isadora, where geniuses are and questions whether his friends will still be his friends (they call him an idiot for that thought process). It's almost immediately after that Farkle is told that he isn't autistic and through that begins to realize he does have feelings-- He also realizes something else, that Smackle was autistic. He approaches her and supports her. He divorces both Riley and Maya before offering to be Smackle's boyfriend. With that they both settle into a rather competitive relationship.
Farkle's character arc continues to realize that his views of science and people might be wrong. He begins to understand why people are getting upset and paying attention to their more emotional states. This is usually shown with Riley, who he partners with in a chemistry class where he doesn't understand why she's upset about him taking over the project. When Riley fully confronts him on it being that she was a girl, Farkle shoots her down by saying she didn't care and even apologizes for it. He even confronts Riley multiple times on her feelings for Lucas-- Once, into admitting that she still liked him after pretending she didn't. He tells her she'll tell everyone if she doesn't and ultimately does as he feels it's best for everyone. Of course, after that everything gets turned upside down and what he thought was the right thing ended up being a mess. He did try, however, and that's a fresh start for him.
The last pivotal moments for Farkle in season two are confrontations with his father: In the first he gets upset at the amount of money they have when so many others suffer. Farkle's forced to realized he's blessed and wrong when the possibility arises they might lose all of it. He admits that he's embarrassed as Cory presses the issue before storming out of the room. When Stuart comes home and questions why Farkle wasn't at home, Farkle shoots back that they didn't deserve everything they had. In the end he begins questioning what good they did and that he didn't know how to be. So he tried to put Maya, a person he knew understood better than he did, in a position where she could help people.
His final confrontation with his father was the confrontation after his middle school graduation. His father discusses his plans for Farkle, but Farkle says he doesn't care about them and you can watch as Stuart's face falls. This comes in play due to the fact that earlier in the day Farkle pulls aside his science teacher, Mr. Norton, as a man he looks up to in science. When Farkle asks if emotions were more powerful than science the man smiles and tells him to keep exploring. Then he and his friends decide that to leave a legacy behind with a friendship bench. That seems to be in part where he decides to go against his father's plans as friendship had become the most important thing to him.
Season three started bringing a triangle between the girls and Lucas to the forefront. The focus remains largely with them, but there are a few moments between the kids. As he and Smackle are introduced to High School they begin to realize that they're no longer the smartest kids in the school. It creates an identity crisis where they're not sure what that makes of them. This is furthered for Farkle when he realizes that Smackle is even smarter than he thought she was. He now admits he no longer is the brightest star in the sky even as his girlfriend tells him otherwise. So now he has to get even better.
At the same time, Farkle leaves the girls for the first time. Riley, being convinced that a "hole" was a good thing tries to get them all to stay there. Naturally, everyone but Riley disagrees and wants to experience high school. Farkle goes to Science club with Smackle and later goes to break the news that the others thought they shouldn't be together. Riley fights back, but Farkle says maybe she'd learn not to believe everyone she meets... Farkle certainly feels wrong and unworthy quickly after saying that. Instead of apologizing, however, he keeps away saying he doesn't deserve to get them back (a feeling Lucas agrees with).
The episode he comes from, Permanent Record, continues on the track of "no longer being good enough". Farkle becomes more aware of Smackle's intelligence, Lucas learns he can't always be a superstar, and Riley gets her first D. When no one else can get through to her Farkle comes to the window and they talk. She asks him what he's going to do about Smackle, which he quickly responds that life is nothing without a few Smackle's to his face-- So he has to elevate himself. She agrees but goes onto say she has to do the same thing. As she puts herself down Farkle cuts in to say that everything she said was her permanent record: She was Riley and she was always going to try.
Farkle has reached the emotional crux of arc, but he's still learning everything about what's going on. And he has a lot more to learn about everything.
Abilities/Special Powers:
Farkle doesn't have any special powers as a normal kid. He is considered to be a "robot", however, as he has the ability to recite anything he's ever read. Farkle is a genius, that's something he's loud and proud about. His intelligence is all he's ever felt he had so he puts all of his power into it. He's capable of figuring out people's behaviors quickly and how to use them (if he wants, anyway) and is known to be so quick to figure out problems and plotlines that he can ruin entire movies in the first five minutes.
Beyond that he's a tap dancer and an ambitious business man.
Third-Person Sample:
Farkle Minkus will always insist that all things are logical, reasonable, and scientific. The only thing he could never reason out were his feelings for Smackle which always ended up in a verbal keysmash. He could tell himself a million times he understood it, but then he'd faint when she said a particularly nice word to him. And he definitely couldn't explain that. Farkle would end up grinning goofily and unable to speak.
...Which is exactly what he feels as he finds himself in an unfamiliar setting. Except looking around didn't give him the same butterflies Smackle did. It seems nice enough with the the bright colors and the majesty of everything. If he could force logic into every magical thing he saw it would be even better (or better yet if he could learn about it then that would work as well). The thing that saved it all was that the girls were there and he could keep his promise to never leave their side.
Well, except right not as he was making his way to the library. It looked rather small and disappointing on the outside, but the inside was more beautiful than he could ever imagine. He stood awestruck at the height and vast amount of books: He could certainly spend his entire life here and maybe never leave. A small 'wow' escapes his lips before he takes another small step in.
Any thoughts of trying to find out what information he could at the time are last as his eyes quickly find a particularly interesting title. He pulls it from it's place, eyes the binding, and then promptly sits in front of the bookshelf to continue his pursuit. It would be a while before he even decides to look up. Afterall, this was a book about Belgium's history.
First-Person Sample:
Hi, I'm Farkle. [It's such a simple statement, but the boy on the other sides seems proud of it. Spoilers: He's very proud of it. It doesn't take much more for him to continue on.] The first place I went to see here was the library. Libraries usually have answers, it's the best place to start. Then it's people, but a lot of the ones I'm coming across aren't really good at straight-forward answers. It's getting annoying.
[He shrugs his shoulders before continuing.] So if any of you could possibly add something useful in that'd be great. I don't know like how many people don't leave or where can you find a teacher. 'Cause I'm not about to start not getting grades now. [He seems greatly offended about the idea.]
Yeah-- Yeah, anything would be great. I'll keep up and I can help you, too. [He seems amazingly confident at being able to without knowing what anyone might want. He just offers a grin and a two-fingered salute before cutting out. Huh.]
DW username:
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E-Mail: earnestwind@gmail.com
IM: AIM: Kelpforbrains SKYPE: thewarriormaiden
Plurk:
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Farkle Minkus
Series: Girl Meets World
Timeline: 3x4: Girl Meets Permanent Record
Canon Resource Link: Please provide a resource link for your character and/or your character's series. Wikipedia, fanshrines, tc, REGARDLESS of how popular or how obscure the series is. Do NOT give us keywords to Google or wiki for ourselves.
Character History:
Farkle Minkus' character arc from the first day he was revealed to us has been one simple thing: Science versus Emotion. His first introduction was as a particularly immature twelve-year-old who overreacted and often thought only for himself. Now, at the point he comes from he's beginning to question the meaning of science to him and if his emotions mean something and are more powerful. His part in the story, for the longest time, was miniscule regarding impact. Within the last year he became a more major story player and that was (in large) that he began to take control over what his feelings might mean.
There's several reasons for this. Farkle was born to former schoolmates of Riley's parents. Stuart Minkus was a genius, concentrated, and very confident. Jennifer Basset-Minkus was a young lady who was known for manipulation and control, and tried to destroy a strong friendship. Jennifer meets Stuart and tells him to marry her. This incident is told very loosely in the series, but it's obvious there's some control and anger issues there. Especially as Farkle just casually admits his parents are always fighting and throwing things, specifically the wedding band his mother has. He's used to that.
Furthering still, it's evident early on that Stuart puts a great deal of pressure on Farkle while not being around. Farkle's first forefront episode Stuart appears and discusses how his son exhales and then puts him up next to Riley and has a competition with Topanga about which child was superior. This continued far later into season two when Farkle confronts him about not being around and even in the season finale. There, Farkle reveals he doesn't care about going to an IVY League school, but wants to go wherever his friends go. Stuart Minkus was less than pleased with that answer.
While rarely in the forefront, Farkle's homelife has always been less than ideal. His father has a lot of money and ensures he buys whatever the boy needs, but Farkle rarely talks about his home life and is invariably ashamed of people seeing where he lives. He pushes himself to be the "brightest star" because that's what his father taught him to do. Meanwhile he doesn't understand social or emotional boundaries which reflects on the lack of people often in his own home. But, in spite of that, his life isn't terrible.
When he was around seven he went to a Halloween party that would mark a very big change: He met Riley and Maya. He was confused at the girl who didn't know how to lift her head when diving for apples. He saved her and then happily declared to love both of the girls the same. At the same time he was uncomfortable introducing himself due to an apparent fear of people laughing at it (they even did as much themselves). Even so something about them made him pursue on: He would love them and he was willing to be used in whatever way they might need.
The rest was history. Until seventh grade it was always Riley/Maya and Farkle. The three of them were best friends and did almost everything together. The girls were with each other more often, but any chance he had Farkle would tag along. There were times they didn't want him there or rebuffed his "I'm in love with you" moments but he never failed to continue being by their side. That is until Lucas Friar enters the picture and Maya pushes Riley into his lap. Eventually he had to learn to accept his position and put space between them.
That much wouldn't happen until much later, Farkle Minkus was considered a "minor character" in the initial season although he had far more episodes than the love interest. He spent a majority of his time ensuring that he was superior to his friends. He kept his grades up, lied to people, and used manipulation to try and become president of the student council. There was a time when he and Riley worked together in a project and when Riley said they had to be honest and have similar products as Maya and Lucas the boy nodded and pretended to go along... Only to make cupcakes made of literal sugar and demeaning Riley during the project.
The strange thing is this wasn't really with any particular malice. As was his student council run when he attempted to blackmail Riley and ruin her campaign. Farkle doesn't quite understand what was wrong with other subjects because it was competition, it was about winning or making the most money. Both times Farkle had to be told he was wrong about it and why he was and he still didn't quite understand. At the time it was still the only thing he really knew and the two confrontations were the starting point of his progression to understanding his ideas were wrong.
In spite of this behavior, Farkle was simultaneously loyal to his friends. This was shown on multiple occasions: He offered to teach Riley how to flirt while he still insisted he was in love with her, he willingly went to detention to be with them, more so when he saw the girls fighting over him Farkle stepped back and decided it wasn't worth it to him. In school work and competitions Farkle has a no-hold's bar to ensuring his success. But at the same time it's not worth it to him if he thinks he'll lose his friends. So when he realized that his behavior in the presidential campaign Farkle backed off. He says there was no point in having power if his friends hated him. This was the first major pointer to where his arc was heading.
For Farkle this is how the first season went for him. He would be abrasive, rude, or even cruel, learn that he was wrong and then try to do the right thing. There were several instances where things changed and they're also important: Once, he was bullied. And a second time it's revealed that he spends far too much time outside of the Matthews window. Even further, we saw his fears about his friend Lucas.
First and foremost, however, is his being bullied. Towards the end of the season Farkle suddenly stopped coming to class. He's never missed a day, but suddenly he was absent and refusing to come back. Instead he left a robotic camera on his desk and hid in the janitor's closet. With this method he could attend class, but it was unacceptable to his teacher and friends. Riley eventually goes to hunt him down saying it was the world's way of telling her to act.
When she approaches Farkle he at first tells her it's fine and not important. She pushes him because she's Riley and Farkle breaks: He's nothing, he acts too confident when he's not worth anything, and he acts so big with friends he doesn't deserve, even his turtle necks were weird. The bully had told him all of this which Riley denied, all of them did, and while Farkle pretended to listen and understand he still refused to come back to class the next day.
For the first real time Farkle realizes that maybe something is wrong with him. He believed his bully, now revealed as Billy Ross, was correct. He avoided him and his friends, but that didn't quite work the way he wanted to. Farkle had a literal bird's eye view of Lucas threatening Billy and telling him off. Specifically that Farkle was the most loyal best friend he could ever have and he supported him taking over the world (as he wanted to see what he'd do with it). It's only then that Farkle believes his friends and once Billy is out of the room goes to join them.
Furthering still, just past this time and towards the end we begin to learn that Farkle does spend a deal of time hanging out on the Matthews fire escape and this is normal and unexpected. This included on Christmas Eve which makes it particularly peculiar. It is, however, also at this time that we learn that he stalks both of the girls and records both of them. So while that is certainly part of it, it's also likely how his home is as well. Whatever the reasoning, Farkle doesn't stop this behavior for a few more months.
This awkward and stalkerish behavior continues even to First Date where he assumes he can buy Riley from Cory with livestock (which almost worked). He tries to get one of the girls to go out with him and ultimately fails before admitting to Lucas the other boy kept him up at night. Farkle was afraid of losing the two girls and felt that Lucas would take both of them away from him and said that if he chose he'd take the other... But this isn't the last time Farkle will admit that he fears his best friend's good looks. Even though he does score a date with Maya that day (and even kissed her hand).
Farkle continues the same way through the first few episodes of season two. He remains obsessed with learning about Belgium in 1831, demands the girls to marry him and have kids, and proclaims that he'll never live up to Lucas. At the same time we see him questioning some ideas politically: He realizes that they should be looking out for people and their futures. He even helps in the campaign for Eric Matthews to become senator and it certainly wouldn't have been something he'd agree to much earlier. Subsequently he does say how having Eric there makes him feel superior, but he doesn't seem to plan his demise in order to take over.
Another time the others make him question his religious beliefs. Farkle makes himself out as an atheist (with, as the writers have informed, a Jewish background). He admits that he can't believe in something he can't see and therefore he doesn't believe in God. The kids and even Cory, their teacher, try to convince him otherwise. They tell him that because he can't be seen it doesn't mean he isn't real, just as things such as the world around them may also not be seen. While he begrudgingly agrees at that statement as the end he still says he doesn't believe in God-- but he does believe he has the friends he has for a reason.
It's a few more random, quirky incidents before Farkle does something that truly instates he's no longer a minor character: When the school yearbooks are given out and a page reads "Most Likely to be Farkle" he decides to put everything everyone thought he was away. He becomes someone named "Donnie Barnes" who was cool, suave, and regular. Emphasis on the regular. He talked out in class and blew off his friends, reaffirming each time that Farkle didn't deserve to exist. When Riley inevitably joins him in his attempt at 360ing his behavior, "Donnie" already expects it and immediately goes to see her... Which proves that more than anything Farkle was still in there.
Riley goes back to normal encouraged by her friends, but when they attempt the same for Farkle he denies it. He tells them that he's growing up and that change isn't a bad thing, they just have to get used to it. This is the first official day that "science" is really thrown out the window but "emotion" still hasn't reached its peak. It's also the first day where almost all of his quirks from the previous season are just scrubbed off the board.
Except, they had to put it out there one more time. In "I am Farkle" several things happen to change the game plan. Farkle is excited that he has officially been proclaimed a genius through an IQ test (though he had no lack of faith in it saying anything else). The school councilor is the one to proudly proclaim it before shortly reappearing to pull him aside. Farkle's informed they believe he is different and that he has autism. While he dislikes the idea he's not exactly stunned by it and, in fact, it makes all too much sense to him as he matches "the check list".
"Please don't ever let me not understand love," is the first pivotal thing Farkle says that season. Suddenly he realizes that there was something wrong with him, they he doesn't feel, and he needs his friends to help him. Of course, each of the kids try to encourage him in finding love this includes when his arch-nemesis, Isadora Smackle, appears and flirts with him. They push the two together and as Farkle tries to explain what he learned she immediately says she doesn't care and accepts him anyway he is.
He decides since he's not normal he should go to a school like Isadora, where geniuses are and questions whether his friends will still be his friends (they call him an idiot for that thought process). It's almost immediately after that Farkle is told that he isn't autistic and through that begins to realize he does have feelings-- He also realizes something else, that Smackle was autistic. He approaches her and supports her. He divorces both Riley and Maya before offering to be Smackle's boyfriend. With that they both settle into a rather competitive relationship.
Farkle's character arc continues to realize that his views of science and people might be wrong. He begins to understand why people are getting upset and paying attention to their more emotional states. This is usually shown with Riley, who he partners with in a chemistry class where he doesn't understand why she's upset about him taking over the project. When Riley fully confronts him on it being that she was a girl, Farkle shoots her down by saying she didn't care and even apologizes for it. He even confronts Riley multiple times on her feelings for Lucas-- Once, into admitting that she still liked him after pretending she didn't. He tells her she'll tell everyone if she doesn't and ultimately does as he feels it's best for everyone. Of course, after that everything gets turned upside down and what he thought was the right thing ended up being a mess. He did try, however, and that's a fresh start for him.
The last pivotal moments for Farkle in season two are confrontations with his father: In the first he gets upset at the amount of money they have when so many others suffer. Farkle's forced to realized he's blessed and wrong when the possibility arises they might lose all of it. He admits that he's embarrassed as Cory presses the issue before storming out of the room. When Stuart comes home and questions why Farkle wasn't at home, Farkle shoots back that they didn't deserve everything they had. In the end he begins questioning what good they did and that he didn't know how to be. So he tried to put Maya, a person he knew understood better than he did, in a position where she could help people.
His final confrontation with his father was the confrontation after his middle school graduation. His father discusses his plans for Farkle, but Farkle says he doesn't care about them and you can watch as Stuart's face falls. This comes in play due to the fact that earlier in the day Farkle pulls aside his science teacher, Mr. Norton, as a man he looks up to in science. When Farkle asks if emotions were more powerful than science the man smiles and tells him to keep exploring. Then he and his friends decide that to leave a legacy behind with a friendship bench. That seems to be in part where he decides to go against his father's plans as friendship had become the most important thing to him.
Season three started bringing a triangle between the girls and Lucas to the forefront. The focus remains largely with them, but there are a few moments between the kids. As he and Smackle are introduced to High School they begin to realize that they're no longer the smartest kids in the school. It creates an identity crisis where they're not sure what that makes of them. This is furthered for Farkle when he realizes that Smackle is even smarter than he thought she was. He now admits he no longer is the brightest star in the sky even as his girlfriend tells him otherwise. So now he has to get even better.
At the same time, Farkle leaves the girls for the first time. Riley, being convinced that a "hole" was a good thing tries to get them all to stay there. Naturally, everyone but Riley disagrees and wants to experience high school. Farkle goes to Science club with Smackle and later goes to break the news that the others thought they shouldn't be together. Riley fights back, but Farkle says maybe she'd learn not to believe everyone she meets... Farkle certainly feels wrong and unworthy quickly after saying that. Instead of apologizing, however, he keeps away saying he doesn't deserve to get them back (a feeling Lucas agrees with).
The episode he comes from, Permanent Record, continues on the track of "no longer being good enough". Farkle becomes more aware of Smackle's intelligence, Lucas learns he can't always be a superstar, and Riley gets her first D. When no one else can get through to her Farkle comes to the window and they talk. She asks him what he's going to do about Smackle, which he quickly responds that life is nothing without a few Smackle's to his face-- So he has to elevate himself. She agrees but goes onto say she has to do the same thing. As she puts herself down Farkle cuts in to say that everything she said was her permanent record: She was Riley and she was always going to try.
Farkle has reached the emotional crux of arc, but he's still learning everything about what's going on. And he has a lot more to learn about everything.
Abilities/Special Powers:
Farkle doesn't have any special powers as a normal kid. He is considered to be a "robot", however, as he has the ability to recite anything he's ever read. Farkle is a genius, that's something he's loud and proud about. His intelligence is all he's ever felt he had so he puts all of his power into it. He's capable of figuring out people's behaviors quickly and how to use them (if he wants, anyway) and is known to be so quick to figure out problems and plotlines that he can ruin entire movies in the first five minutes.
Beyond that he's a tap dancer and an ambitious business man.
Third-Person Sample:
Farkle Minkus will always insist that all things are logical, reasonable, and scientific. The only thing he could never reason out were his feelings for Smackle which always ended up in a verbal keysmash. He could tell himself a million times he understood it, but then he'd faint when she said a particularly nice word to him. And he definitely couldn't explain that. Farkle would end up grinning goofily and unable to speak.
...Which is exactly what he feels as he finds himself in an unfamiliar setting. Except looking around didn't give him the same butterflies Smackle did. It seems nice enough with the the bright colors and the majesty of everything. If he could force logic into every magical thing he saw it would be even better (or better yet if he could learn about it then that would work as well). The thing that saved it all was that the girls were there and he could keep his promise to never leave their side.
Well, except right not as he was making his way to the library. It looked rather small and disappointing on the outside, but the inside was more beautiful than he could ever imagine. He stood awestruck at the height and vast amount of books: He could certainly spend his entire life here and maybe never leave. A small 'wow' escapes his lips before he takes another small step in.
Any thoughts of trying to find out what information he could at the time are last as his eyes quickly find a particularly interesting title. He pulls it from it's place, eyes the binding, and then promptly sits in front of the bookshelf to continue his pursuit. It would be a while before he even decides to look up. Afterall, this was a book about Belgium's history.
First-Person Sample:
Hi, I'm Farkle. [It's such a simple statement, but the boy on the other sides seems proud of it. Spoilers: He's very proud of it. It doesn't take much more for him to continue on.] The first place I went to see here was the library. Libraries usually have answers, it's the best place to start. Then it's people, but a lot of the ones I'm coming across aren't really good at straight-forward answers. It's getting annoying.
[He shrugs his shoulders before continuing.] So if any of you could possibly add something useful in that'd be great. I don't know like how many people don't leave or where can you find a teacher. 'Cause I'm not about to start not getting grades now. [He seems greatly offended about the idea.]
Yeah-- Yeah, anything would be great. I'll keep up and I can help you, too. [He seems amazingly confident at being able to without knowing what anyone might want. He just offers a grin and a two-fingered salute before cutting out. Huh.]