Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 3.1 “Father Figure: Part One”

Posted on July 12, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, we start season 3!

Episode 3.1 “Father Figure: Part 1”

(Dir by Bruce MacDonald, originally aired on September 17th, 2003)

The third and fourth seasons of Degrassi: The Next Generation were Degrassi at its best so, over the upcoming year, we’ve got a lot to look forward to. Unfortunately, though, we have to start things off with some Emma drama.

The season premiere finds Emma in a bad mood. Yeah, that’s a shock, right? Emma was always in a bad mood. This time, she does have a somewhat legitimate grievance, even if, as usual, she seems to be totally unaware that other people have lives that don’t necessarily revolve around whatever she’s upset about at the moment. Her mother has always refused to tell Emma much about Shane McKay. Emma’s only memory of her father is visiting him in a clinic and Spike telling him that he couldn’t be a part of Emma’s life. Emma thinks that Shane was a doctor. Of course, all of us veteran Degrassi watchers know the truth. Shane McKay was a flakey high school student who suffered brain damage when he dropped acid and fell off a bridge.

Sean, quite sensibly, says that maybe Emma should just let it go for a bit, seeing as how she actually has a nice home and mother and stepfather who love her. (Emma often seems to forget that Sean has essentially been abandoned by his entire family.) Sean also points out that Spike is pregnant and doesn’t need the extra pressure of Emma constantly losing her temper. Realizing that Sean is making too much sense, Emma instead partners up with Craig and tracks down Shane. As the episode ends, she discovers that Shane (played by Jonathan Torrens) is living in an assisted living facility,

While all of that is going on, Paige is freaking out because of the location of her locker. Spinner makes a series of deals which leads to him eventually convincing new student Chris Sharpe (Daniel Keith Morrison) to trade lockers. Chris’s locker is located in Degrassi’s best hallway. Paige is happy about that. But the locker still looks old and dingy. Paige would rather have Jimmy’s locker. Good luck with that, Paige. Despite agreeing to set aside their differences at the last school dance, Jimmy is back to hating Spinner.

This episode also features the return of Caitlin Ryan, who comes back Toronto for Spike’s baby shower. (The creepy Farrell twins show up too. AGCK!) Caitlin meets Joey’s new girlfriend, realtor Sydney (Elisa Moolecherry). Before realizing who Sydney is, Caitlin rambles on about how she and Joey have such a complicated romantic history. This was the episode in which Caitlin was suddenly changed from being a level-headed professional woman to a neurotic klutz who continually got into awkward situations.

This is a two-part episode. We’ll conclude the story of Shane McKay next week!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.22 “Tears Are Not Enough: Part Two”

Posted on June 28, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the second season comes to an end.

Episode 2.22 “Tears Are Not Enough: Part Two”

(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on February 23rd, 2003)

As would become a tradition on Degrassi, the season ends with a dance and a character having a breakdown.

In this case, the dance is Hawaiian-themed. And Craig is the one who has the breakdown, shortly after he and Ashley are named the King and Queen of Degrassi. When he thinks he spots his dead father in the back of the gym, Craig tries to talk to him. Unfortunately, the man turns out to just be a teacher and not the ghost of Craig’s abusive dad. Soon, Craig is ripping down streamers. Finally, Terri talks to Craig. She lost her mother so she understands what he’s going through. So, if nothing else, at least Terri finally got to do something this season.

Meanwhile, Spinner and Jimmy finally get over being mad at each other. They bond over getting defeated by Craig. Paige and Hazel are also dissappointed about not winning Queen of the Dance. The lesson here is that the sympathy vote rules and everyone felt sorry for Craig. Ashley was just along for the ride.

For a Degrassi season finale, this was something of a low-key affair. I get that the season began with Craig so it also had to end with him but it’s still hard not to feel a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing. Craig spends this episode going from one extreme to another. First, he acts like he doesn’t care that his father is dead. Then, he starts to laugh like a maniac at his father’s funeral. And then he ends up begging a stranger for his approval. Jake Epstein got a chance to show off what a good actor he is but still, it didn’t reveal much that we didn’t already know about Craig. Fortunately, us Degrassi fans know what’s waiting for everyone during seasons 3 and 4. We’re about to start peak Degrassi!

I’m taking next week off for the 4th of July so we will start on season 3 of Degrassi on July 12th.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.21 “Tears Are Not Enough: Part One”

Posted on June 21, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we’ve got the first part of the second season finale!

Episode 2.21 “Tears Are Not Enough, Part One”

(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on February 16th, 2003)

Another school year is coming to an end. It’s time for the final school dance! But first, JT needs to pass his final exams. Liberty agrees to tutor JT on the condition that he take her to the dance. JT accepts and, in the end, he resists the temptation to ask Paige to the dance because “Liberty’s my date.”

Well, that’s good. This episode allows us to see how the JT/Liberty romance started. Of course, we all know that JT will eventually get Liberty pregnant and then get hooked on pills. Fortunately, JT will survive the inevitable overdose. Unfortunately, two seasons after that overdose, JT will be murdered outside of Liberty’s birthday party.

Hmmm …. maybe JT should have asked Paige to the dance.

However, all of this is just the B-plot. The main plot of this episode features Craig’s father (Hugh Dillon) trying to reeneter his life. Craig’s father swears that he’s learned the error of his ways. He’s taken classes to learn how to control his temper. He wants Craig to come and live with him and, with Joey struggling with money, Craig is tempted. Or, at least, Craig is tempted until he shows up late for dinner with his father and his father responds by hitting Craig in the face and then speeding off in his car.

Craig returns home and tells Joey that he wants Joey to adopt him. Then the police show up. Craig thinks that his father called them but it turns out that they are there to let Joey know that Craig’s father died in an auto accident. Given how abusive Craig’s father was, you might think this is good news. However, those of us who have binged this show more than once know that this is going to lead to Craig having a breakdown in two seasons and a cocaine addiction in three.

Seriously, things got dark!

Despite the Liberty/JT subplot, I like this episode. To be honest, I like almost all of the Craig episodes. He was an interesting character and Jake Epstein was one of the better actors on the show. Even though I already know what waits in the future, I’m still looking forward to watching the second part of Tears Are Not Enough.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.20 “How Soon Is Now?”

Posted on June 14, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Degrassi goes there.

Episode 2.20 “How Soon Is Now?”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on February 9th, 2003)

After intensive therapy with the school’s counselor, Ms. Sauve (Jennifer Podemski), Paige convinces herself that she’s emotionally recovered from being raped by Dean. Paige says she doesn’t need any more therapy and she just wants to get on her with her life. However, when she discovers that Dean’s school will be coming to Degrassi for a basketball game, she starts to spiral.

Paige’s rape was one of Degrassi’s first “mature” storylines, in that it dealt with a controversial issue and it did so in a realistic way. Instead of simply wrapping things up after an episode or two, Degrassi stretched this storyline over several seasons and let it play out with an honesty that is rarely seen on television.. Instead of having Paige magically go back to being who she was before she was raped, Degrassi portrayed how Paige changed as a result of both the rape and her struggle to get justice. That the show did so realistically is a credit to both Degrassi and Lauren Collins’s portrayal of Paige.

One of the things that makes this episode difficult to watch is that Paige largely suffers alone. Only a few people know about the rape. A bitter Spinner still thinks that the encounter between Paige and Dean was consensual. When Dean does show up at Degrassi, it’s obvious that he feels no guilt about what happened and, soon, he’s even hitting on Manny. When Paige tries to warn Manny, Manny replies that Dean told her all about how crazy Paige is. It’s only when Paige tells JT about what happened that someone finally stands up for her. JT may just be the mascot but he doesn’t hold back when he attacks Dean on the court. Of course, JT is still JT so it’s not like he really does that much physical damage to Dean but it’s still gratifying to see. In fact, this is the first episode in which JT actually reveals himself to be something other than just the annoying class clown.

At the end of the episode, Paige tells Ms. Suave that she wants to press charges against Dean. Ms. Suave warns her that, with the amount of time that has passed, it’s going to be Paige’s word against his. Paige says she understands. I always want to applaud at the end of this episode, even though I know how things are going to develop.

As for the B-plot, Marco’s being a jerk. He and Ellie are working on a class project. They have to create an ad campaign for a fake cologne. Marco wants to do a “Bollywood thing.” Ellie wants to turn Marco into a sex symbol. Marco gets annoyed because Ellie hasn’t fully accepted that he’s gay and not romantically attracted to her. Hey, Marco — you’re the one who asked her to pretend to be your girlfriend so that you could stay in the closet so instead of getting mad at her, maybe think about what you’re putting her through!

Seriously, I get that Marco was a ground-breaking character at the time and I respect that, just as with Paige’s storyline, the show attempted to be realistic in its portrayal of Marco slowly finding the confidence to be his true self. That said, Marco could be really self-righteous.

But no matter. Even with Marco acting like Marco, this was an important episode. Degrassi went there.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.18 “Dressed in Black”

Posted on May 24, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Ashley is back with Jimmy. But for how long?

Episode 2.18 “Dressed in Black”

(Dir by Gavin Smith, originally aired on January 19th, 2003)

This episode of Degrassi features one of my favorite opening scenes. Ashley, in full goth mode, sings a depressing and rather overwrought song to Jimmy, who she is finally dating again. Jimmy listens and is obviously struggling to appear interested. After Ashley finishes, Jimmy tells her that it was a great song. Ashley asks him if he really understood it. Jimmy nods. Ashley says that she’s going to sing another one. Jimmy gets a panicked look on his face….

While Ellie has always been the character to whom I’ve related (we’re both reheads!), I have to admit that I was probably more like Ashley in high school. I wrote my share of emo poetry and I always made sure to ask my friends whether or not they got what I was truly trying to say. One reason why I would ask was that I really wasn’t sure what I was trying to say.

Anyway, this episode features Ashley and Jimmy back together for a short time. Unfortunately, Jimmy wants to bring back the old Ashley while Ashley wants to be the new Ashley. Ashley also has a pretty obvious crush on Craig, who captures her attention by discussing how Shakespeare was actually a misogynistic creep. For their English class, Jimmy and Hazel and Craig and Ashley are instructed to reinterpret Taming of the Shrew for a modern audience. Jimmy and Hazel come up with a silly love story, complete with Hazel doing a cheer. Craig and Ashley interpret the play as a harrowing portrait of domestic abuse.

At the end of the episode, Ashley gives Jimmy a poem and breaks up with him. I once did the same thing in high school. I still feel kind of bad about it. I worked way too hard to make it rhyme.

Meanwhile, after sitting through a sex ed class, Toby and JT buy condoms. Spinner finds out and, seeing as how Toby is dating Spinner’s adopted sister, he is not amused. Spinner tells Toby that there’s already too much pressure on young women to be sexually active. Wow, that’s a good message but also totally out-of-character for Spinner!

This storyline …. eh. Toby’s storylines were always kind of boring, largely because Toby never got to do much other than try to hide in the hallways. I’m glad he’s no longer pining over Emma but still, he’s not a particularly interesting character and the writers never seemed to really know what to do with either him or Kendra.

This episode is a lot more interesting if you know that Ashley and Craig are eventually going to become a couple and that Craig’s going to end up on the streets after trying to kill Joey during a manic episode. And let’s not even talk about the fact that Ashley is going to eventually steal Jimmy’s music and use it to launch her own career. As a stand-alone episode, it’s a bit blah but it definitely foreshadows the show that Degrassi is going to become.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.17 “Relax”

Posted on May 17, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, it’s all about uniforms and palms.

Episode 2.17 “Relax”

(Dir by Laurie Lynd, originally aired on August 8th, 2003)

Eh, it’s a Liberty episode.

Liberty is upset when she doesn’t make the girls’ hockey team. However, she is appointed to be their equipment manager and, as was always the case with Liberty, she immediately allows the least bit of power and responsibility to go to her head. Realizing that the girls need new uniforms, Liberty goes to Joey Jeremiah and asks him to sponsor them. Joey is willing …. except, he’s already sponsoring the boys’ team and he can’t afford to sponsor both. Liberty challenges the boys’ team to a game. The winner gets Joey’s sponsorship.

Needless to say, Coach Liberty (she puts on a cape to make sure everyone knows that she’s in charge) pushes the girls too hard and forgets that sports should be fun. At halftime, the girls tell Liberty that they’ll only continue playing if Liberty isn’t out on the court. Liberty agrees. The girls don’t win but Joey is so impressed with their determination that he sponsors them anyway. It would be nice to say that Liberty learns a lesson from all this but I’ve binged Degrassi enough times to know that Liberty never learns a lesson from anything.

Meanwhile, Terri freaks out when she misreads Paige’s palm and becomes convinced that Paige is going to die. Paige takes advantage of the situation. Good for Paige. Terri has never been particularly intelligent but this episode takes the proverbial cake.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.11 “Don’t Believe The Hype”

Posted on April 12, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Degrassi goes there!

Episode 2.11 “Don’t Believe The Hype”

(Dir by Anais Granofsky, originally aired on December 23rd, 2002)

“A hate crime has been committed here,” Snake declares in this episode. He declares it very seriously. In fact, he’s a little bit too serious. His voice and his expression are so grim that the line actually has the opposite effect of what it intended. The same can be said of this episode itself. Degrassi was always political but, up until its final seasons, it was usually smart enough to understand that encouraging audiences to look between the lines was preferable to hitting them over the head. Occasionally, though, this show did give us an episode like this one.

As for the hate crime, it’s the vandalization of a display about Iraq. It’s International Day and Fareeza (Jessica Rose) made the display to inform people about her home country. Fareeza is sure that her display was vandalized by Hazel because, earlier, Hazel give Fareeza a fashion ticket because her hijab was judged to be “terrorist chic.” Hazel also said that Fareeza needed to back off before “Jamaica declared war on Iraq.”

Fareeza replies that Hazel’s last name — Aden — doesn’t sound Jamaican. (It doesn’t? Really?) “You look Somalian,” Fareeza says.

Anyway, it turns out that the displays was vandalized by two unnamed students. But Mr. Raditch still tells Hazel that she committed a hate crime by joking about declaring war on Iraq. At first, Hazel is defensive but then she becomes so overwhelmed with guilt that she admits that she isn’t Jamaican. She actually is Somalian! Of course, I think one could argue that Fareeza committed a hate crime with her “You look Somalian” comment. I mean, talk about stereotyping! It’s like telling me I look Irish just because I have red hair and I’m half-Irish.

(At this point, I should mention that Andea Lewis, who played Hazel, was not Somalian. In fact, in real life, she’s half-Jamaican. But then again, Jessica Rose, who played Fareeza, was not from Iraq.)

Now, needless to say, Hazel being a Somalian refugee is one of those plot points that will hardly ever be mentioned again. And Fareeza will never appear in another episode of Degrassi. Fareeza showed up. She taught everyone a lesson. Having fulfilled her plot obligations, her character is never seen again.

Hazel later gives a presentation about her Somalian heritage and the school loves her. (We don’t see the presentation that Fareeza gave about Iraq. Sorry, Fareeza, this is Hazel’s episode.) Meanwhile, JT’s friends discover that he’s good at sewing and everyone, except for Liberty, makes fun of him. It’s easy to roll one’s eyes at Liberty’s crush on JT until you remember that JT is destined to end dying on Liberty’s birthday. But that’s far in the future. For now, JT is an adorable scamp who has no idea that he’s going to be literally stabbed in the back.

There’s nothing subtle about this episode and the end result is that it feels almost more like a parody of Degrassi than anything else.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.10 “Take My Breath Away”

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through….

Episode 2.10 “Take My Breath Away”

(Dir by Stefan Scaini, originally aired on December 9th, 2002)

How you respond to this episode depends on how much you know about what’s eventually going to happen to the students at Toronto’s Degrassi Learning Center.

When watched for the first time, it seems like a sweet episode about how crushes can hurt and how they can also pay off. Ellie has a crush on Marco and, after discovering that he likes Edward Gorey just as much as she does, Ellie starts to send him anonymous rhyming emails. However, Hazel also likes Marco and Marco thinks that Hazel is the one sending him the emails. Marco thinks this despite Hazel having never shown any poetic ability and also despite the fact that he just sat down at lunch and discussed Edward Gorey with Ellie!

When Marco receives an anonymous email telling him to meet his crush at the Zen Garden, Marco is shocked to discover Ellie waiting for him. Ellie assumes Marco is disappointed and runs away. Marco later tracks Ellie down and reveals that he wasn’t disappointed at all. Marco and Ellie are now a couple!

Meanwhile, Craig and Manny go on their first date. Craig wants to see a movie. Manny gets excited when she sees a rather childish carnival. Manny later tells Emma and Liberty that the date was wonderful and that she and Craig are totally in love. Craig tells Spinner and Jimmy that the date was awkward and that Manny is still too immature for him. Craig says that Manny reminds him of his five year-old half-sister, Angela. (Angela was played by Alexa Steele, Cassie Steele’s real-life sister.)

The episode ends with Manny telling Craig that he shouldn’t talk to Ashley and asking him what they’re doing on Friday night. Craig replies that they’re not doing anything because he doesn’t like Manny. AGCK!

Again, it’s a good episode. The contrast between Craig’s recollection of the date and Manny’s version is genuinely amusing. Meanwhile, Ellie finally gets a boyfriend….

Of course, veteran Degrassi watchers know that Marco is both gay and deeply closeted and that he’s destined to hurt Ellie before becoming her best friend. (Ellie was always way too forgiving.) Meanwhile, Craig and Manny are going to end up together, with Craig first getting Manny pregnant and then, several seasons later, introducing her to cocaine. Craig is also going to nearly kill Joey while having a manic episode before breaking Ashley’s heart and nearly driving Ellie to suicide in Los Angeles. Yikes!

This is a cute episode that, for veteran Degrassi watchers, is decorated with red flags.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.9 “Mirror In The Bathroom”

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Don’t watch this episode if you have a weak stomach.

Episode 2.9 “Mirror In The Bathroom”

(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on July 18th, 2003)

This is the one where Toby decides that the only way to get people to notice him in school is to join the wrestling team. However, when he discovers that he and Sean are in the same weight class (and there’s no way that Toby could ever beat Sean), Toby decides to lose a lot of weight in a very short amount of time.

Yep, this is the episode were Toby starts taking laxatives and throwing up his lunch.

Ugh. Yes, I know that eating disorders are serious. It’s nice that Degrassi did an episode about a guy doing something stupid instead of a girl. If there’s anything I get sick of, it’s the assumption that some people have that any woman who isn’t fat must have an eating disorder. Seriously, you can’t win. If you gain weight, you endanger your health. If you don’t gain weight, everyone assumes you’re throwing up everything you eat. This episode featured a guy struggling with body issues and I appreciated the change of pace.

That said …. ugh! Toby using laxatives! Ugh, ugh, ugh!

While Toby is losing weight, Terri is using her weight to get rich as a plus-sized model. Good for her, I guess. Terri’s kind of a boring character so, for now, it’s difficult to really care about her storylines. In season 3, she’ll start dating Rick Murray and everything will change. But we’ve still got a while to go.

Anyway, as always happens when someone gets an eating disorder, Toby ends up fainting in front of the entire school. He’s off the wrestling team but at least he’ll never take another laxative.

Seriously, ugh!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.5 “Weird Science”

Posted on February 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Emma is annoyed about something.

Episode 2.5 “Weird Science”

(Dir by Bruce McDonald, originally aired on November 11th, 2002)

Emma is still upset that Mr. Simpson is dating her mother. This episode opens with an extremely awkward “family” dinner, in which Mr. Simpson asks that Emma call him “Archie” at home and Emma responds by calling him “Mr. Simpson.” (At least he didn’t ask her to call him Snake.) I could actually relate to Emma in this scene, if just because, when I was Emma’s age, I was an absolute brat towards anyone who tried to date my mom. If anything, Mr. Simpson should be happy that all he has to deal with is Emma glaring at him. He wouldn’t have been able to survive me and my sisters.

It’s science fair time! Emma’s experiment takes a look at whether or not having a healthy breakfast can be help someone perform better at school. She takes first prize but, because Mr. Simpson is one of the judges, she’s not sure that she earned it. And, after Manny accidentally sends an email to the entire school in which she mentions that “Mr. Simpson loves Emma’s mom,” second-place finisher Liberty isn’t so sure that Emma deserves the prize either.

Liberty says that Emma should withdraw her experiment and give the first prize trophy to Liberty. Liberty, as I’ve mentioned in the past, is the absolute worst. Emma confronts Mr. Simpson and he explains to her that all of the judges voted for Emma to get first prize. Emma apologizes and promises to be nicer to Mr. Simpson.

(This, of course, frees Mr. Simpson to later knock up and marry Spike before cheating on her with Ms. Hatzilakos but that’s an entire season away.)

Meanwhile, Spinner is freaking out because he keeps getting erections at awkward moments — hey, Degrassi goes there! (Seriously, that was Degrassi’s slogan for a while.) Spinner blames it on Emma forcing him to eat bananas as a part of her experiment. Jimmy thinks that Spinner is crazy and eventually they ask Sheila the Cafeteria Lady if certain foods could be to blame for Spinner being perpetually at attention. Sheila says that it’s just a part of growing up. Spinner and Jimmy are relieved but I’m concerned that, in Canada, it’s apparently left to the cafeteria workers to explain these things.

This episode is largely remembered for the Spinner subplot, with Spinner panicking and getting embarrassed in Ms. Kwan’s class, so much so that I’m always surprised to discover that it’s mostly about Emma getting mad at Mr. Simpson. Emma, of course, is destined to eventually marry Spinner at the end of Degrassi Takes Manhattan. The Spinner/Emma marriage has often been criticized because Spinner and Emma hardly ever interacted in the seasons leading up to their sudden decision to get married. But this episode shows that Emma apparently felt close enough to Spinner to experiment on him.

Next week: Craig and the gang get into trouble!