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.
This week, Degrassi goes there!
Episode 3.14 “Accidents Will Happen: Part One”
(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on January 26th, 2004)
Jimmy, Spinner, and JT are planning on going to Buffalo so that they can see DJ Mad Bullets. Toby wants to come as well but Jimmy’s no longer talking to Toby. The official reason is because Toby’s stepsister, Ashley, broke Jimmy’s heart. Another reason is that Toby keeps saying things like, “What up, dawg?” whenever he sees Jimmy.
When Toby overhears Jimmy saying that he won’t get to go to the concert if he doesn’t pass his Algebra midterm, Toby offers to hack into the school’s system and change Jimmy’s grade. Jimmy says that he would be willing to take Toby to the concert in return. Toby attempts to hack the system from his laptop but he accidentally gives Jimmy a grade of 8,888 instead of 88. Toby’s laptop then dies. Jimmy insists that Toby try again from the computer lab’s main console. Of course, Mr. Raditch just happens to step into the lab and sees what Toby is doing. Jimmy and Toby both get Saturday detention. Jimmy tells Toby that, “You’re a fake rap fan. You’re a fake computer hacker. You’re just a fake.” OUCH! Painful …. but probably deserved.
Meanwhile, several students are sick with the stomach flu but that’s not why Manny runs from Ms. Kwan’s classroom so that she can throw up in the girls restroom. Manny has also been in training for an upcoming gymnastics meet but that’s not why her period is several weeks late. Manny asks Paige how she would know if someone used a condom. I’ll admit that I always yell, “OH MY GOD!” whenever I hear Manny ask that question but look at it from Manny’s point of view. She was raised in an extremely traditional household. She was apparently very sheltered. It’s totally believable that no one in her family ever talked to her about sex. Craig was her first and, when Manny eventually asks him point blank if he used a condom, Craig says that he assumed she was on the pill. OH MY GOD! I just yelled it again.
After talking to Spike about what it was like when Spike got pregnant as a teenager, Manny finally takes a pregnancy test and gets a positive result. Manny is scared. Craig is overjoyed. The guy who can’t even handle putting on a condom just can’t wait to be a father!
More than anything, this episode is about the importance of sex education. Both Manny and Craig are about to deal with something that neither knows nothing about. Ironically enough, this episode did not air in America until 2006, a full two years after it aired in Canada. It was considered to be too controversial for America. In America, the people who actually needed to see this episode were not allowed to.
This is a two-parter. We’ll deal with the second part next week!
