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!

This week, the third season of Degrassi Junior High beings with tragedy!

Episode 3.1 “Can’t Live With ‘Em: Part One”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on November 28th, 1988)

This is one of the most important episodes in the history of the Degrassi franchise.  Along with starting the show’s third season, this is the episode that sees the beginning on the long and tragic decline of Derek “Wheels” Wheeler.  If you’re a fan of Degrassi: The Next Generation and you’ve always wondered how Wheels eventually ended up becoming a suicidal ex-con who is treated like a pariah by his former friend Snake, this episode is where it all began.

There’s actually a lot going on in this episode, though it’s the Wheels storyline that dominates.  With the start of a new school year, everyone at Degrassi is eager to catch up after the summer break.  Among the new developments:

Stephanie is no longer a Degrassi student and is instead going to private school.  Her brother Arthur and his best friend Yick Yu both apparently hit a growth spurt over the summer.  (Yick, in particular, is suddenly surprisingly tall for his age.)  Yick notices that Arthur seems to be dressing better and that he’s also taken to reading the business section of the newspaper.  Arthur insists that he’s not secretly rich, which is not something you say unless you actually are secretly rich.

Yick and Arthur also play a prank on new 7th grader, Bartholomew Bond (Trevor Cummings), first locking him in the janitor’s closet and then, after letting him out, directing the poor kid to the wrong homeroom.  It’s the same joke that Joey played on Arthur, way back in the first episode.  The only difference is that Yick and Arthur feel bad about it afterwards.

Having been held back, Joey is repeating the 8th Grade.  “Hey,” he asks Snake, “what do you think about Caitlin?”  Snake replies that Caitlin is not Joey’s type.  Of course, fans of Degrassi: The Next Generation know that Joey and Caitlin are destined to spend the next 20 years falling in and out and back in love with each other.

Spike is back at school.  This episode features the first appearance — albeit in polaroid form — of baby Emma.  Shane tries to approach Spike, saying that he wants to meet his daughter.  Spike tells him to stay away.  (Apparently, Shane’s parents sent him to summer camp to keep him away from Spike and Emma.)

With Stephanie gone, both Kathleen Mead and Nancy Kramer (Arlene Lott) are running for president of the student council.

The 9th Graders are spending half the day at Degrassi Junior High and half at Borden High.  Lucy notices a cute high school guy and smiles at him, even though the guy’s friend dismisses her as being a “minor niner.”

Ultimately, though, this episode is dominated by Wheels and his family.  Wheels wants to hang out with Joey.  His parents tells him that they think Joey is a bad influence.  His parents don’t care that Joey, Wheels, and Snake have their own band and are working on a demo tape of their only song.

“Parents,” Snake says, “can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.”

Wheels replies that he would be happy to live without them.

Well, Wheels is going to get his wish.  When his parents go to the movies, Wheels sneaks out and goes to Joey’s house.  He, Joey, and Snake record their demo tape.  Wheels then heads home and is stunned to see a police car sitting outside of his house.

They called the cops? Wheels wonders.

No, they’re dead.  The police have accompanied Wheels’s grandmother so that she can tell him that his parents were killed by a drunk driver who ran a red light.  The end credits roll over a freeze frame of a stunned Wheels being hugged by his grandmother.

OH MY GOD!  I mean, seriously, who would have guessed that Wheels’s parents would die right at the same time that Wheels was saying he was sick of dealing with them?  As tragic as all that is, it’s even worse if you know what waits for Wheels in the future.

This episode of Degrassi Junior High did everything that a season premiere should.  It reintroduced us to the characters and set up the season’s main storyline, the downfall of Wheels.  This was classic Degrassi.  Next week, things get even worse for Wheels.  Poor Wheels.