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

Posted on May 31, 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.

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.

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 2.16 “Message In A Bottle”

Posted on May 10, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we have a very special episode of everyone’s favorite Canadian show. Degrassi goes there!

Episode 2.16 “Message In A Bottle”

(Dir by Bruce McDonald, originally aired on August 1st, 2003)

The school’s basketball team is finally doing well and Jimmy decides to throw a party at his apartment to celebrate. (As usual, Jimmy’s parents are out of town.) Paige is having a spa weekend so she doesn’t come. Ellie is too busy pretending to be Marco’s girlfriend to come. J.T. and Toby? Forget it. This is so not their scene that they’re not even in this episode!

Ashley come to the party with Terri. If nothing else, this reminds us that Terri is still a character on the show and she hasn’t suffered any school-ending brain damage at the hands of Rick Murray …. not yet, at least. Jimmy is excited to Ashley. However, romance will have to wait because Sean shows up drunk and accidentally breaks a liquor bottle. Jimmy throws a fit. That’s not a surprise. Jimmy’s always upset about something.

For that matter, so is Sean. Sean, however, has more reasons to be upset than Jimmy. His parents are drunks. His older brother, Tracker, cannot hold down a job, despite having a supercool name like Tracker. In this episode, Emma tells Spike and Snake that Sean will be joining them for dinner without bothering to ask Sean beforehand. Sean actually handles the first part of the dinner fairly well. But then, during the second half of the dinner, he sneaks some alcohol and becomes convinced that Spike is talking down to him. Myself, I’m more concerned about the fact that they ate a sushi dinner despite the fact that Spike is pregnant.

Emma comes to Jimmy’s party, looking for Sean after Sean storms out of dinner. Emma assumes that it’s all her mom’s fault but Sean admits that he’s been drinking and he overreacted. Sean is stunned when Emma calls her mom for a ride home. Sean can’t imagine living with a parent who isn’t abusive. That’s actually really, really sad. Daniel Clark always did a great job as Sean and that’s certainly the case here. Clark elevates this episode above being a typical anti-drinking episode. I appreciated that the episode didn’t judge Sean and that it didn’t lecture him. It’s as if the show understood that Sean felt bad enough without having every other character go off on him. At least during the early seasons, that’s one thing that set Degrassi apart from other high school shows.

The episode ends with forgiveness, which was sweet. Sean thinks Emma is going to dump him. Emma tells him that everyone makes mistakes. And that’s true! This was a good episode.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.15 “Hot For Teacher”

Posted on May 3, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, JT is still alive.

Episode 2.15 “Hot For Teacher”

(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on July 25th, 2003)

Class clown J.T. is given a week of after school detention with Ms. Hatzilakos. J.T. discovers that Hatzilakos is more than just a hot teacher and Ms. Hatzilakos tells J.T. that he’s capable of being more than just an obnoxious kid. They bond while taking care of a pregnant gerbil. But then, during class, JT stuffs some balloons up his shirt and pretends to be Ms. Hatzilakos. It gets a laugh from Jimmy but, when Ms. Hatzilakos catches him, she is not amused.

These early JT stories are always rather childish, largely because JT himself was a rather immature character. Eventually, by the time season 5 rolled around, JT would have a pregnant girlfriend and a side hustle selling drugs and he would become a much more interesting character. And, of course, he would eventually end up getting stabbed to death outside of Emma’s house. But that’s all far in the future….

Seriously, though, it’s impossible to watch a JT episode without thinking, “Hey, that kid is going to die in a scene that was probably too graphic for a high school show.”

As for the B-plot of this adequate but not particularly memorable episode, Spinner and Jimmy decide to always be brutally honest with each other. It doesn’t last for long. They should have tried to get Marco in on the pledge. Now, that would have been some drama!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.12 and 2.13 “White Wedding”

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s a nice day for a white wedding!

Episodes 2.12 and 2.13 “White Wedding”

(Dir by Bruce McDonald, originally aired on January 6th, 2003)

Snake and Spike get married!

Of course, there’s some drama on the way. How much drama? Let’s count.

Spike discovers that she’s pregnant and doesn’t tell Snake because she’s not sure if she wants to keep the baby.
Emma is upset when she finds out that Spike is thinking about getting an abortion. She’s even more upset when her perm goes terrible wrong and she ends up looking like Harpo Marx.
Lucy and Caitlin show up to help Spike get ready for the wedding.
Joey throws a bachelor party for Snake. Craig suggests that Joey should hire a stripper, despite Snake not wanting a stripper. Joey agrees because he thinks it will be funny.
Why did Craig suggest that Joey hire a stripper? Because JT and Toby begged him to. However, when JT and Toby dress up like they’re on Miami Vice and show up for the bachelor party, Joey tells them to go home.
Mr. Raditch shows up for the bachelor party. “Oh, cheese balls!” he says when he looks at the food that’s been laid out.
Emma tells Snake that Spike is pregnant. Snake gets mad that Spike didn’t tell him.
Spike tells Emma that it’s her right to get an abortion if she chooses and then says that she’s not going to make the same mistake twice. Uhmmm …. wow, Spike. That’s a really stupid thing to say to your daughter.
Emma eventually forgives Spike. I would not.
Eventually, with everyone at the church waiting, Spike and Snake talk and decide to keep the baby. Then, they get married!
Manny invites Sean to the wedding. Emma freaks out and Manny has to retract the invitation. But then Emma eventually invites Sean herself. At the end of the episode, at the reception, Emma and Sean have their first kiss. Apparently, it was Miriam McDonald’s first kiss as well. Awwww!

This episode is classic Degrassi. It’s also one of the best-known episodes because Nickelodeon used to repeat it constantly. Yay for Snake and Spike! And yay for Emma! Who wouldn’t want their single mother to marry one of their teachers?

Okay, I don’t think anyone would want that. Still, it worked out well for the show.

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 2.9 “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!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi: The Next Generation 2.4 “Karma Chameleon”

Posted on February 1, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, several important characters make their first appearances!

Episode 2.4 “Karma Chameleon”

(Dir by Stefan Sciani, originally aired on October 21st, 2002)

This week, Ellie makes her first appearance!

Though she doesn’t do much in this episode, Ellie Nash (Stacey Farber) would go on to become one of the most important characters on Degrassi: The Next Generation. (And Farber herself would go on to have one of the more-successful post-Degrassi careers of the show’s regulars.) When I first watched Degrassi, I related to Ellie, largely because we both had red hair, we both tended to wear black, and we both had a weakness for Craig Manning. (There was another reason why I related to Ellie but I won’t go into that until we reach season 3.) Now that I’ve gotten older, I can see that, in high school, I actually had more in common with the overly dramatic Ashley Kerwin than I did with Ellie but still, Ellie is one of Degrassi’s best characters.

In her first appearance, Ellie refuses to move to another computer, despite Paige ordering her to so that Paige can sit next to Hazel. Later, she provides some sarcastic comfort to Ashley after Ashley’s latest poorly conceived plan blows up in her face. “That went well,” Ellie says and yes, it’s a little bit snarky but that’s what made Ellie so cool. As I said, Ellie doesn’t do much in this episode. (Stacey Farber wouldn’t become a regular until the third season.) But she definitely makes an impression.

As for Ashley, she spends this episode trying to get back into everyone’s good graces. Following Terri’s suggestion, Ashley swallows her pride and apologizes to Paige, Jimmy, and Sean. Everyone seems to be willing to forgive Ashley, except for Paige. Paige continually warns everyone that Ashley is just being manipulative. Jimmy, however, wants to restart his romantic relationship with Ashley. But when Sean calls Ashley and asks her on a date, Ashley happily accepts. Terri says that Ashley is going to hurt Jimmy if she goes out with Sean because Jimmy thinks that he and Ashley are about to get back together.

Ashley rolls her eyes, explains that she’s single, and then tells Terri that “Ter, one day when a guy likes you, you’ll understand how this works.”

AGCK!

I mean, actually, Ashley’s right. She didn’t tell Jimmy that she wanted to get back together again. (She did say that she missed having Jimmy around and I would say that Ashley should have been able to guess how Jimmy would interpret that, given their past relationship.) And there’s no reason why she shouldn’t date Sean Cameron if she wants to. And, for that matter, no one likes Terri.

(At least not yet. Eventually, Terri’s first boyfriend will end putting her in a coma and then shooting up the school but that’s a while off….)

But Ashley definitely could have put things a bit more diplomatically. One reason why I cringe so much watching this is because I can remember saying similar stuff when I was a teenage and not understanding why people got offended until many years later. Ellie never would have said something like that.

Meanwhile, Toby has a girlfriend! Kendra Mason (Katie Lai) loves anime even more than Toby! The only problem is that …. KENDRA IS SPINNER’S ADOPTED SISTER! At first, Toby is terrified to talk to Kendra because of Spinner. But Toby finally finds the courage to stand up to Spinner and tell him that he’s going to talk to Kendra whether Spinner likes it or not. Spinner says that he will disembowel Toby is Toby hurts his sister. Toby says he’s prepared for that. (Toby, never prepare for something like that.) It’s nice that Toby has a girlfriend and can presumably stop whining about Emma liking Seasn. It’s just too bad that Kendra’s going to vanish after this season and never be mentioned again, not even by her protective older brother.

Also, all the boys in school are in love with the new science teacher, Ms. Hatzilakos (Melissa DiMarco). This was Hatzilakos’s first appearance. It’s only one scene of Spinner and Jimmy drooling at their desks. Of course, Ms. Hatzilakos is destined to eventually become principal of Degrassi and her son Peter will eventually enroll as a student, break a lot of hearts and law, and write the deathless song House Arrest.

Anyway, Jimmy gets mad at Ashley. Sean gets mad at Ashley and calls off their date. Paige tells Terri that she has to make a choice between four years of being popular or four years of being an outcast and Terri decides to be popular. Ashley breaks down crying as her school picture is taken. So ends another happy episode of Degrassi!

Oh, this episode. It’s actually pretty good for an Ashley episode. And the freeze frame of Ashley getting her school picture taken as a tear sloppily rolls down her face? That’s image pretty much sums up Degrassi perfectly.

Next week, Spinner is a part of a science experiment and …. well, this would never happen on American television.