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, everyone’s thinking about food.

Episode 3.9 “Food For Thought”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo and Kit Hood, originally aired on January 30th, 1989)

The science fair is coming up and the Farrell twins are doing their project on eating disorders.  One of them, I think it’s Heather, is convinced that everyone at Degrassi has an eating disorder.  She even speculates that Lucy has an eating disorder, even though Lucy explains that it’s a combination of exercise and her metabolism that allow her to remain thin.  “Some people are just thin,” the other twin says and that’s an important thing to remember.  Not every skinny girl has an eating disorder and assuming that they do can be very harmful to their self-image.

Alexa worries that she’s fat.  After she asks Simon if she’s fat, Simon stupidly says, “I don’t know.”  (Simon isn’t very smart.)  Alexa asks the Farrell twins if it’s possible to just be anorexic for a week.  To Alexa, that sounds like a much better way to lose weight than to exercise.

Meanwhile, the person who actually does have an eating disorder — Kathleen — is left to struggle alone.  Kathleen is the girl who always has to be the first to raise her hand with the answer in class.  She has to be the first to get involved with every school project  She always has to be the first to tell everyone else why they’re wrong.  Kathleen is a bossy perfectionist who insists that she doesn’t need anyone’s help.  As a result, Kathleen is not particularly popular.  Melanie is Kathleen’s only friend, largely because Melanie is one of the few people to understand that Kathleen’s home life sucks.  Her father is always working and her mother is an alcoholic.  Kathleen wants to win the science fair so her parents will be proud of her and maybe they’ll stop fighting for a few minutes.

Along with everything else, Kathleen is bulimic.  Despite already being thin, Kathleen is skipping meals and throwing up whatever she eats during the day.  She’s also taking laxatives.  (Ew!)  Melanie, sensing that something is wrong with Kathleen, takes a look at Kathleen’s diary while Kathleen is busy throwing up.  Melanie discovers that Kathleen is obsessed with losing ten pounds by the end of the week.

Needless to say, it all catches up with Kathleen.  After only receiving honorable mention in the science fair, Kathleen faints in the school hallway.  (It’s really not a show about an eating disorder until someone faints.)  What sets this episode apart from the typical episode about an eating disorder is that, even after she faints, Kathleen refuses to admit that she has a problem.  The episode ends with Kathleen refusing to listen as Melania tries to convince her that she needs to get help.  It’s a dark ending but it’s also a realistic one.  Problems are never as easily solved as television would have you believe.

This episode was an example of what Degrassi does so well.  Kathleen, a character who most shows would simply portray as being a one-dimensional bitch, is revealed to be suffering more than perhaps any of the other regular characters.  Instead of treating her like a joke or a stereotype, this episode invites us to consider why Kathleen acts the way that she does.  For all the well-intentioned students at Degrassi, the classmate who needs them the most is left to suffer in isolation.