Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.19 “Fight For Your Right”

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: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.

Oh no, Emma’s got a cause!

Episode 2.19 “Fight For Your Right”

(Dir by Chris Deacon, originally aired on February 2nd, 2003)

This episode is a good example of Emma being the worst.

Emma and Ashley approach Principal Raditch and tell him that they don’t want genetically modified foods in the cafeteria. Raditch tells them to buzz off, which is the right response when you consider that Raditch is probably just following the orders of the school board. Emma responds by standing outside the school and handing out flyers that announce that Sheila the lunch lady is “poisoning” the students with the food she’s serving.

Now, to me, this is the moment that Emma goes from being a young idealist to being arrogant brat. Sheila works for the school. She’s a lunch lady. I doubt she lives in a nice big house like Emma. Sheila probably needs the job. Emma is accusing Sheila of poisoning people. When Ellie sensibly points out that saving money with GM food — as opposed to the expensive organic crap that Emma wants the school to serve — allows Degrassi to give free meals to poor students, Emma accuses Ellie of not caring about the fact that the students might get cancer in 20 years. Principal Raditch finally comes out and tells Emma that she’s not allowed distribute “propaganda” on school property.

And again, it seems to me that Radtich is within his rights. Number one, why isn’t Emma in class? Number two, Emma is accusing a school employee of being a potential murderer. Number three, Emma is causing a disruption on school property.

The show disagrees with me. The show wants me to say, “Yay, Emma!” Even when Emma goes into the cafeteria and accidentally starts a food fight by knocking Toby and JT’s lunch on Jimmy, we are meant to be on Emma’s side. When Emma gets offended at Raditch’s insistence that she apologize to Sheila, we’re meant to be on her side. One thing that we don’t see is who gets stuck cleaning up the cafeteria after the food fight. I’m going to assume that it was probably the same Sheila that Emma accused of poisoning the students.

Emma is suspended for the day so she stands across the street and holds a sign, claiming that her right to free speech has been violated. Raditch tells Emma that if she doesn’t apologize on the next day’s video announcement, she’ll be suspended for a week.

At home, Emma asks Snake what she should do. Snake encourages her to …. NOT APOLOGIZE! Well, he doesn’t directly say that but he doesn’t say that she should apologize either. Snake, in case you had forgotten, is not only Emma’s teacher but also her stepfather. Spike is on a trip so he’s the only parent at home. Snake, at this point, should be saying, “This is a dumb protest and you should at least apologize to Sheila. No matter what else happens, you’re not getting your organic food in the cafeteria so there’s nothing to be accomplished with any of this.”

Instead, the next morning, Snake just sits there with a big dumbass grin on his face when Emma goes on the video announcements and refuses to apologize. Okay, Snake, do you think it’s cool that a school employee has been accused of poisoning the students? Oh, and Snake — are you the one who is going to call Spike to tell her that you got her daughter suspended from school for a week? Spike, who had to fight so hard for the right to go to school when she was pregnant with Emma, will certainly appreciate hearing that!

Seriously, Emma is the worst! But the only she’s the worst is because this show was convinced that she was the best. One gets the feeling that Emma’s character was a case wish-fulfillment for the show’s writers. Imagine a world where you can be obnoxious and self-righteous and everyone loves you for it!

There is a B-plot and, to be honest, it probably should have been the A-plot. Spinner, jealous that Jimmy’s parents buy him everything, steals Jimmy’s CD player and attempts to sell it. When Jimmy finds out, he overturns a trash can. Spinner takes a job at the cafeteria to earn money and gives Jimmy back the CD player.

“You are my best friend!” Spinner says.

“Was,” Jimmy replies.

Oh my God! Spinner and Jimmy, no! Actually, Spinner and Jimmy were always ending their friendship and then eventually restoring it. They’ll be fine. Still, their storyline was a lot more interesting than Emma’s latest crusade.

When in doubt, always focus on Spinner. That’s a lesson the writers should have taken to heart.

My first time watching this version of Degrassi — where to begin?

That intro looks like it belongs in a faith-based show. This is looking awful in a hurry.

Organic food isn’t expensive. That’s a peculiar myth that I always find amusing. That principal has no idea how much food costs. Two or three times as much as what they’re currently serving? That’s nonsense. I take it that the principal never studied economics. I take it that the principal has his wife (or someone else) do all the shopping, then doesn’t bother to check the receipts.

The notion that the money saved in the cafeteria allows the school to provide meals for poor students sounds entirely performative. I guarantee you that the hockey team has new jerseys each season. I watched this episode. I saw the intro. There’s Joey Jeremiah with the hockey team! The school can even afford a mascot. A mascot! Where is all this money coming from?

(And please, don’t say Jeremiah’s Motors.)

The school has a big video screen in each classroom — in 2003! As I watched this, I expected a sorry-looking John Hurt to appear and confess to having committed sex crimes.

Mrs Kwan (I think that’s her name) tells the students to watch this Orwellian piece of technology, and does so like it’s perfectly normal, because Kwan is a plant from the CCP.

Speaking of which, Degrassi has Orwell screens in each room, yet the place can’t afford a security camera in the cafeteria, a piece of inexpensive technology that would have exonerated Emma — and remember what I said about the free meals for poor kids being performative? Degrassi could feed all the students if the principal didn’t insist on turning every classroom into North Korea.

Just two scenes after the food fight and immediately after the principal blames Emma for said disturbance, Mrs Kwan tells her students that their essays about Oliver Twist are due Monday.

That was pretty clever. Anyone else catch that?

(Of course, Mrs Kwan would prefer to have her students read The Little Red Book, but that’s another matter.)

Emma was correct: the students have a right to know. I had no sympathy for Sheila after that ad, she came across as thoroughly obnoxious. She’s serving crap and she knows it, yet she tries to convince children (children!) otherwise.

If I were Emma, I would’ve called that great Canadian health inspector Donald Sutherland to have the cafeteria shut down.

(If you know, you know.)

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2 responses to “Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.19 “Fight For Your Right””

Mark says:

June 1, 2026 at 00:21

My first time watching this version of Degrassi — where to begin?

That intro looks like it belongs in a faith-based show. This is looking awful in a hurry.

Organic food isn’t expensive. That’s a peculiar myth that I always find amusing. That principal has no idea how much food costs. Two or three times as much as what they’re currently serving? That’s nonsense. I take it that the principal never studied economics. I take it that the principal has his wife (or someone else) do all the shopping, then doesn’t bother to check the receipts.

The notion that the money saved in the cafeteria allows the school to provide meals for poor students sounds entirely performative. I guarantee you that the hockey team has new jerseys each season. I watched this episode. I saw the intro. There’s Joey Jeremiah with the hockey team! The school can even afford a mascot. A mascot! Where is all this money coming from?

(And please, don’t say Jeremiah’s Motors.)

The school has a big video screen in each classroom — in 2003! As I watched this, I expected a sorry-looking John Hurt to appear and confess to having committed sex crimes.

Mrs Kwan (I think that’s her name) tells the students to watch this Orwellian piece of technology, and does so like it’s perfectly normal, because Kwan is a plant from the CCP.

Speaking of which, Degrassi has Orwell screens in each room, yet the place can’t afford a security camera in the cafeteria, a piece of inexpensive technology that would have exonerated Emma — and remember what I said about the free meals for poor kids being performative? Degrassi could feed all the students if the principal didn’t insist on turning every classroom into North Korea.

Just two scenes after the food fight and immediately after the principal blames Emma for said disturbance, Mrs Kwan tells her students that their essays about Oliver Twist are due Monday.

That was pretty clever. Anyone else catch that?

(Of course, Mrs Kwan would prefer to have her students read The Little Red Book, but that’s another matter.)

Emma was correct: the students have a right to know. I had no sympathy for Sheila after that ad, she came across as thoroughly obnoxious. She’s serving crap and she knows it, yet she tries to convince children (children!) otherwise.

If I were Emma, I would’ve called that great Canadian health inspector Donald Sutherland to have the cafeteria shut down.

(If you know, you know.)

LikeLike

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