Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

It’s time to start the second term!

Episode 2.1 “Eggbert”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on January 4th, 1988)

It’s time to start the second term at Degrassi Junior High and a few things have changed.

For instance, both Voula and Rick are no longer enrolled at the school, though they still appear in the opening credits.  Two new students have enrolled at the school.  Scooter Webster (Christopher Charlesworth) is a young genius who has skipped ahead a few grades.  Meanwhile, the enigmatic Simon Dexter (Michael Carry) is blonde, handsome, and apparently is already working as a male model.  Stephanie and the Farrell twins are excited when Simon joins their class.  Yick and Arthur, meanwhile, are excited that Scooter’s presence means that they are no longer the nerdiest kids at school.

Lucy is still on probation as a result of getting arrested for shoplifting and she has decided to tone things down until she’s finished her sentence.  She still wants to throw a party at her house but she now has very firm rules about what her classmates can do — i.e., no drinking and no breaking the furniture.

Stephanie has given up her trampy look and is now determined to be the best school president that she can be.  She gives all of her old school clothes to Alexa (Irene Courakos), just to then watch as Simon starts flirting with Alexa because, as he tells Snake, “I love the way she dresses.”  When Stephanie later asks Alexa to return her clothes, Alexa refuses.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that Spike is pregnant and still trying to decide whether she wants to keep her baby or not.  The counselor at her support group suggests that Spike carry around and take care of an egg for two weeks so that she can experience what it would be like to have to spend all of her time taking care of a baby.  Spike agrees.  At school, Alexa takes the egg, draws a face on it, and names it Eggbert.

Shane, who has still not even told his parents that Spike is pregnant, begs Spike to forgive him and to let him be a part of her life again.  Spike tells Shane that if he really wants to be a part of her life, he needs to spend a week taking care of Eggbert.  Shane is hesitant but agrees.  And while all the girls thought it was cute when Spike had the egg, all of the boys are quick to make fun of Shane when they see him carrying around Eggbert.

Lucy throws the first party of the term and everyone’s miserable because she won’t allow them to have any fun.  To Spike’s surprise, Shane shows up at the party and he brings Eggbert with him.  Soon, Eggbert is getting tossed from person to person.  Even Shane tosses Eggbert to Joey.  Somehow, Eggbert survives.  However, when Spike and Shane have an argument outside about Shane not being responsible, the egg falls to the ground and breaks.

YIKES!

I swear, I nearly cried when that egg hit the sidewalk.  It was a powerful symbol of the fact that neither Spike nor Shane was ready to be a parent.  While it was irresponsible for Shane to bring Eggbert to the party, it was also irresponsible for Spike to leave the egg with someone who she knew would not be able to properly take care of it.  At the end of the episode, Shane finally tells his parents about Spike but it really does feel like a case of too little too late.  Shane had his chance to step up and he failed.

What a sad episode!  Still, this episode is an example of what set the Degrassi franchise apart from other teen shows.  Whereas other teen shows would have resolved this storyline as quickly and as patly as possible, Degrassi Junior High portrays the subject matter with realism and sensitivity.  There are no easy solutions in Toronto and it doesn’t matter how well-intentioned or optimistic everyone tries to be.  Sometimes, you just end up with a broke egg on a frozen sidewalk.