Andrew Lewis – Through the Shattered Lens

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, Terri hits her head.

Episode 3.17 “Don’t Dream It’s Over”

(Dir by Allan Eastman, originally aired on February 23rd, 2004)

Ellie and Sean are dating! The only problem is that Ellie has only had one previous relationship and that was Marco, who was just using her to try to keep people from realizing that he was gay. Even though Ellie really has every right to be pissed off with Marco (and Marco, over the past few episodes, has gotten pretty self-righteous and whiny), she still brings him along on her first movie date with Sean. As you can imagine, it’s kind of awkward. That said, Sean also invited Jay and Alex to tag along with him and it’s not like Ellie has anything in common with the two of them. Both Sean and Ellie need to ditch their friends and just learn how to spend time alone with each other.

Anyway, eventually, Marco tells Ellie that he’s tired of being her “security blanket” and that Sean could be really good for her if she’s willing to let down her defenses. Ellie apologizes to Sean for not being “a very good girlfriend” but then adds, “But you haven’t been a very good boyfriend either.” Sean replies that he doesn’t hate Marco but “I’m dating you.” He and Ellie reconcile. Awwwww! They’re such a sweet couple! I’ve never forgiven Degrassi for not keeping them together. But we’ll get to that during season 4.

Ellie and Sean are just the B-plot for this episode. The main plot features Terri and Rick Murray. Remember how Terri swore that, after Rick hit her multiple times, she would never forgive him or take him back? Well, it turns out that was a lie. Rick turns on his nerdy charm and says that he’s been getting therapy and Terri takes him back. Before taking Rick back, Terri was the only one of her friends who was still single. Now, she has a boyfriend but her friends are angry at her. During a weekend road trip, Paige tells Terri that Rick is a psycho. Rick overhears and gets angry. When Rick runs off, Paige yells at Terri to follow him if she likes him so much. Terri does that and discovers that Rick has run off to a field that, for some reason, is full of cinderblocks. Rick is yelling and screaming. Terri tells him to calm down. Rick shoves Terri and Terri falls to the ground and her head hits a cinderblock.

As a result, Terri ends up in a coma. Paige and Spinner blame themselves, with Spinner worrying that he’s going to be abusive, just like Rick. Rick withdraws from school but, as every Degrassi viewer knows, he will return in Season 4. However, Terri will not. This was Terri’s next-to-last appearance on Degrassi. Apparently, the actress who played Terri wanted to focus on her modeling career so the show’s writers put her in a coma. Yikes!

This is not a bad episode. I love Ellie/Sean as a couple and Ephraim Ellis gave a strong performance as Rick quickly switched from being sweet and nerdy to angry and dangerous. The most interesting thing about this episode is how it set up almost all of the major Season 4 storylines, from Rick’s return to Sean’s breakdown to Ellie’s growing confidence.

Next week: it’s the battle of the bands as Craig and Ashley go to war!

This week, Degrassi does detention.

Episode 3.16 “Take On Me”

(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on February 16th, 2004)

One Canadian Saturday, Jimmy, Hazel, Sean, Toby, and Ellie all find themselves serving detention while Mr. Raditch works out in the gym. Sean has detention for talking back to Raditch. Jimmy and Toby have detention for hacking into the school’s computer system to change one of Jimmy’s grades. Hazel was caught looking at porn in her computer class. Ellie says that she has detention because she skipped class, but actually, she’s there because she’s gathering information for a story about the thefts at Degrassi. She has a tape recorder in her backpack and is recording every conversation. By the end of detention, Raditch has realized that he was apparently being too hard on his students (because who hasn’t tried to hack into their school’s system, right?), Hazel and Jimmy are dating, Sean and Ellie are dating, and Toby …. well, Toby doesn’t really get much of anything out of the experience. The show’s writers had obviously run out of things for Toby to do.

This is the famous Breakfast Club episode of Degrassi, and it’s one of those homages that people either love for its sincerity or dislike for how obvious it makes everything. I’ve always liked this episode, and I actually reviewed it a few years ago. My feelings haven’t really changed since I wrote that first review, so I won’t rehash it all here. I will say that, when I rewatched this episode, I did find myself cringing a little more than usual at how thoroughly it rips off The Breakfast Club. The scene where Sean says that he doesn’t join groups is a bit overwritten. That said, Stacey Farber and Daniel Clark had such a natural chemistry that, even after all these years, I still find myself wondering how different Degrassi would have been if the show had made Ellie and Sean into a couple earlier than it did. After all the drama with Manny’s pregnancy and Rick putting Terri into a coma, this episode provided a nice relief and a reminder that serving detention can be fun as long as you have the right attitude.

I still like this episode, even if Mr. Raditch’s decision to let everyone leave early still doesn’t make any sense. Most schools would have expelled Jimmy and Toby for doing what they did. Seriously, they were getting off easy with one day of detention!