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 High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991!  The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

It’s time for another school year!

Episode 2.1 “Bad Blood: Part 1”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on November 5th, 1990)

It’s time to start another year at Degrassi High!  There’s a lot going on:

• Michelle spent the summer on a trip, which gave BLT time to find a new girlfriend.  He hasn’t told Michelle yet.  BLT says, “Michelle is so sensitive,” as if that’s a bad thing.  Remember when BLT was like the perfect boyfriend last season?  I guess that’s all gone out the window.
• L.D.’s cancer is in remission!  However, she’s not back at school.  Her father sold his garage, bought a sailboat, and now he and L.D. are circling the globe.  So, I guess L.D. is just going to be a high school dropout?  Lucy films a video for L.D.  Good luck delivering it to the middle of the ocean.
• Condom machines have been installed in the bathrooms!  The Farrell twin who keeps getting pregnant is super excited.
• School bully Dwayne also loves the condom machines because he can fill the condoms with water and drop them on his longtime nemesis, Joey Jeremiah.
• Joey is upset that Dwayne and his gang are in Joey’s special ed class.  However, Joey does have one good thing happening in his life.  He finally got his license!  Now, he just needs a car.
• Hey, here’s a car that’s for sale!  But it costs …. $3,000!  And Joey only has $75.  Ha.  Loser.
• How can Joey raise money?  What if he asks everyone to pay him to walk naked through the cafeteria?  All of the teachers are going to be in a staff meeting so there’s no way Joey’s going to get caught!
• Joey goes through with it, walking into cafe naked while holding his fedora over his …. well, you know.  Joey’s embarrassed but he’s going to get a car!
• Except …. OH NO!  IT’S RADITCH!
• Who snitched on Joey?  That’s right, it was Dwayne!  Joey gets dragged to the office and he doesn’t get any of the money that he needed for his car.
• Dwayne is still laughing about it when he arrives home.  His father tells him that “some chick” called for you.
• Dwayne calls Penny, his summer girlfriend.  Penny tells him that her ex-boyfriend has tested positive for HIV and that’s she tested positive for HIV and maybe Dwayne should get tested….
• To be continued….

Agck!  That’s quite an ending for what was, otherwise, a fairly light-hearted episode.  But that’s one thing that made Degrassi such a good show.  It understood how being in high school was often a bizarre mix of comedy and drama.  This episode spends a good deal of time portraying Dwayne as being the biggest jerk ever and then it ends with him looking absolutely terrified.  It’s a powerful moment.

Next week, the story continues as Dwayne’s life is changed forever.