Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.3 “Loyalties”

Posted on May 4, 2025 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 High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1989 to 1991! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi

In yourself, you must believe….

Episode 2.3 “Loyalties”

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on November 19th, 1990)

Oh look, more Caitlin drama.

Seriously, if I was a student at Degrassi High, I would warn any new enrollees about becoming friends with Caitlin. Caitlin may be nice and she may be sincere in her desire to be friendly with the new students but, ultimately, everything with Caitlin is a drama and being her friend means being a part of the drama, whether you want to be or not. Last season, Caitlin had to go to court after he got caught vandalizing the nuclear plant and she immediately expected all of her friends to skip school and go with her. This episode, Caitlin spots her father having a romantic lunch with someone who is not Caitlin’s mother and, of course, Caitlin’s friends are expected to forget about the own problems so they can listen to her obsess about it. And while Caitlin did not tell her mom, she did suggest that her dad take her mom to the restaurant where she previously spotted him.

Caitlin wasn’t the only person with drama this week. Michelle is struggling to deal with having gotten dumped by BLT. When she discovers that Alexa and Simon are still hanging out with BLT and his new girlfriend, Cindy, she’s not happy. Alexa and Simon, meanwhile, are tired of Michelle being such a downer. And while I had sympathy for Michelle, I also had sympathy for Alexa. It’s not easy when your friends break up and you find yourself expected to pick a side. Snake has a crush on Michelle and they go out on a date but Michelle starts crying ten minutes in. Later, Michelle apologize to Snake and says she’s not ready to date. Snake, being the perfect guy despite (or maybe because of) his nickname, is totally understanding and says he’ll wait until she’s ready.

Awwwwww!

Compared to last week’s episode, Loyalties was not quite as memorable. No one discovered they were HIV+. Still, it was a nicely done episode and I appreciated the effort to try to realistically deal with Michelle’s feelings. I’m not looking forward to the inevitable episode in which Caitlin confronts her father but I know it’ll happen. That’s Degrassi!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.1 “Bad Blood: Part 1”

Posted on April 13, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for another school year!

Episode 2.1 “Bad Blood: Part 1”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on November 5th, 1990)

It’s time to start another year at Degrassi High! There’s a lot going on:

Michelle spent the summer on a trip, which gave BLT time to find a new girlfriend. He hasn’t told Michelle yet. BLT says, “Michelle is so sensitive,” as if that’s a bad thing. Remember when BLT was like the perfect boyfriend last season? I guess that’s all gone out the window.
L.D.’s cancer is in remission! However, she’s not back at school. Her father sold his garage, bought a sailboat, and now he and L.D. are circling the globe. So, I guess L.D. is just going to be a high school dropout? Lucy films a video for L.D. Good luck delivering it to the middle of the ocean.
Condom machines have been installed in the bathrooms! The Farrell twin who keeps getting pregnant is super excited.
School bully Dwayne also loves the condom machines because he can fill the condoms with water and drop them on his longtime nemesis, Joey Jeremiah.
Joey is upset that Dwayne and his gang are in Joey’s special ed class. However, Joey does have one good thing happening in his life. He finally got his license! Now, he just needs a car.
Hey, here’s a car that’s for sale! But it costs …. $3,000! And Joey only has $75. Ha. Loser.
How can Joey raise money? What if he asks everyone to pay him to walk naked through the cafeteria? All of the teachers are going to be in a staff meeting so there’s no way Joey’s going to get caught!
Joey goes through with it, walking into cafe naked while holding his fedora over his …. well, you know. Joey’s embarrassed but he’s going to get a car!
Except …. OH NO! IT’S RADITCH!
Who snitched on Joey? That’s right, it was Dwayne! Joey gets dragged to the office and he doesn’t get any of the money that he needed for his car.
Dwayne is still laughing about it when he arrives home. His father tells him that “some chick” called for you.
Dwayne calls Penny, his summer girlfriend. Penny tells him that her ex-boyfriend has tested positive for HIV and that’s she tested positive for HIV and maybe Dwayne should get tested….
To be continued….

Agck! That’s quite an ending for what was, otherwise, a fairly light-hearted episode. But that’s one thing that made Degrassi such a good show. It understood how being in high school was often a bizarre mix of comedy and drama. This episode spends a good deal of time portraying Dwayne as being the biggest jerk ever and then it ends with him looking absolutely terrified. It’s a powerful moment.

Next week, the story continues as Dwayne’s life is changed forever.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.15 “Stressed Out”

Posted on April 6, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the first season of Degrassi High comes to a close!

Episode 1.15 “Stressed Out”

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on February 13th, 1990)

The first season of Degrassi High comes to an end with an episode that once again establishes Caitlin as being the worst.

The school year is coming to a close and everyone is stressed about final exams. Michelle is taking speed to stay up and study. Normally, this would be a big deal but this episode only devotes a few scenes to it and we don’t even get a big dramatic meltdown on Michelle’s part. I mean, I guess it’s good that Michelle finally got a plotline that doesn’t revolve everyone being shocked about her dating BLT but why would you do a drug storyline without a meltdown?

The majority of this episode is taken up with Caitlin getting upset because Ms. Avery will not be working at Degrassi anymore. Under the impression that Ms. Avery has been fired, Caitlin passes around a petition. When Ms. Avery says she appreciates the support but that she’s actually the one who decided to quit, Caitlin freaks out (in much the same way that Michelle should have freaked out) and gets all upset and says that she’s not even going to go to the end-of-the-year school party.

Hey, Caitlin — IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

Seriously, Caitlin — Ms. Avery is an adult. She has every right to quit her job. Now, it does turn out that Avery quit because the school board wanted her to become a substitute teacher. Avery wants her own classroom. Caitlin is still upset. How can Ms. Avery be so selfish to abandon the one student who actually cares about whether or not she has a job or not? Avery really should have just told Caitlin to get a life but finally, Ms. Avery takes a job teaching at another school. So, Ms. Avery will get her own classroom and, even more importantly, she won’t have to deal with Caitlin anymore.

Whatever happened to Caitlin’s court case? Shouldn’t she be doing community service or something?

This finale was a bit of a letdown but it happens. Not every school year ends with something exciting happening. Next week, we start the second and final season of Degrassi High!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 4.13 “Testing, One, Two Three”

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, everyone faces a test.

Episode 4.13 “Testing, One, Two, Three”

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on January 30th, 1990)

After being absent for the past few episodes, Joey and Caitlin are finally the center of this week’s story. Both of them are struggling. Joey, despite all of his efforts to study and pay attention in class, is still getting bad grades. The school counselor thinks that Joey has dysgraphia, a learning disability that makes it difficult for him to express his thoughts in an organized fashion. Caitlin, meanwhile, is going to have to appear in court as a result of getting arrested while vandalizing that nuclear plant.

A few thoughts:

Claude — or “Clode” as he wants to be called — once again shows himself to be the worst ever when he says he’s not sure if he can go to court with Caitlin. Claude is the one who convincing Caitlin to vandalize the plant in the first place and, when the cops showed up, he abandoned her. Big-time rebel Claude actually asks his parents for permission to skip school to go to Caitlin’s court date. They say no, just as Claude knew they would. What a putz!
“My parents aren’t liberal like yours!” Claude whines to Caitlin.
Maya actually puts off a doctor’s appointment so she can go to Caitlin’s medical appointment! Good for you, Maya …. except, doctor’s appointments can kind of be important, too.
Actually, now that I think about it, why should anyone be going to court with Caitlin? Caitlin made the decision to spray paint her stupid slogans on her own. Claude shouldn’t have abandoned her but Caitlin shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Caitlin acts as if Claude should take her punishment for her but actually, Claude being a coward doesn’t mean that Caitlin is somehow absolved. She knew she could get in trouble when she climbed over that fence.
This episode is a good example of why Caitlin drives a lot of people crazy. Caitlin has a problem and everyone else is expected to drop everything and spend all of their time worrying about it.
Joey, meanwhile, has a real problem to deal with. He feels stupid. He’s not dumb, not at all. But his grades remain stubbornly bad and he’s just been told that he has a scary-sounding “condition” and that he’s going to have to take a special class to learn how to function. And yes, there’s no shame in having a learning disability. I have ADHD so when Joey talked about struggling to organize his thoughts, I knew exactly what he was saying. But, when you’re the one hearing the words “learning disability,” it’s scary! My heart went out to Joey in this episode.
Evil bully Dwayne made an appearance, harassing Joey after he overhears Joey describing him as being a gorilla. Joey and Dwayne get into yet another fight. Joey gets detention. Dwayne gets suspended.
Caitlin is also in detention, as a result of slapping Claude. Caitlin and Joey are still not getting along but we know that’s going to change.
Finally, there was one other subplot. The students in a difficult biology class were excited to learn that Alex (John Ioannou) had an advanced copy of the big test. Alex’s older brother saved all of his old tests. Alex gives Tessa a copy of the test but makes her promise not to let anyone know. Tessa lets everyone know. Everyone in the class passes! They don’t get caught. But the teacher says its obvious that the test was too easy so he decides to toss out the results and give everyone a new test …. WHAT!? CAN HE DO THAT!? What the heck, Canada!?
Incidentally, I never would have passed Algebra II if my sister hadn’t saved all of her tests. Thank you, Erin Nicole!

And that’s it for the week. Remember — in yourself, you must believe!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.12 “Natural Attraction”

Posted on February 16, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome back to Degrassi Hiiiiiiiiiiiigh!

Episode 1.12 “Natural Attraction”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on January 23rd, 1990)

This week’s episode of Degrassi High centers around the Farrell twins. I always have a bit of an issue with the Farrell twin episodes because I can never remember which one had the abortion and, beyond that, they’re really not that interesting as characters. I know that one is more talkative than other and that the one who didn’t have an abortion ended up making out with Wheels at a party. But again, personality-wise, they’re both kind of boring characters.

Anyway, this week, Erica is dating an 11th grader who reminds her of the boy who impregnated her over the summer. (“Who does he remind me of?” “Kyle, from the summer.” “Oh yeah!”) Heather is concerned that Erica is going to get pregnant again and they’re going to have to take another trip to the abortion clinic and once again run into that old woman with plastic fetus doll. Erica doesn’t think her abortion was that big of a deal but it haunts Heather, who feels that she took part in a murder by accompanying Erica to the clinic.

And I will say this. Particularly when compared to the way Degrassi: The Next Generation and Netflix Degrassi dealt with the issue of abortion, Degrassi High deserved a lot of credit for treating both sides fairly. No one — whether they agree with Erica’s decision or not — is reduced to being a caricature on this show and that’s something that I personally appreciate. That doesn’t necessarily make the Farrell twins any more interesting than they were before but even that feels like a good move on the show’s part. Not everyone who has an abortion is interesting. Sometimes, they’re kind of boring and have a habit of glaring at anyone who talks to their twin.

As for the rest of this episode, I’m going to guess that the show’s “stars” must have been on vacation because it’s pretty much dominated by students who usually don’t get storylines. Dorothy (Annabella Waugh) encourages her friend Tessa Campanelli (Kirsten Bourne) to ask Scooter to the school dance. This is the first episode to give Tessa storyline and, while it’s not much of a story, it is interesting for those of us who know the important role that Tessa is going to eventually play in the history of Degrassi. As for Scooter, he doesn’t know how to slow dance so his friend Bart teaches him.

Meanwhile, Alison (Sara Holmes) and Amy (Jacy Hunter) get into a fight over the fact that Amy is going to the dance with Snake, despite the fact that Alison used to like Snake. They end up getting into a big argument and throwing all of the clothes that they’ve borrowed from each other all over the girl’s restroom. I could relate because, going to high school with my sister one grade above me, we certainly had our fights and arguments about …. well, exactly the same thing that Alison and Amy were fighting about. But, at the same time, this is really the first episode in which Alison and Amy have been major characters. I like that Degrassi High was an ensemble show but there were definitely times when the show would suddenly push a character into the spotlight without giving the audience any opportunities to get to know the character ahead of time. For instance, I had totally forgotten that Alison liked Snake. Doesn’t she knows that Snake is destined to marry Spike?

Next week, Joey discovers he has a learning disability!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.11 “All In A Good Cause:

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Claude shows that in yourself, you must believe.

Episode 1.11 “All In A Good Cause”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on January 16th, 1990)

There’s a wonderful moment in this week’s episode in which Claude tells Caitlin that they have a moral obligation to vandalize a factory that is being used to make nuclear weapons. (Yikes! In downtown Toronto!? Really, Canada!?) Claude says that Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t let the law stop him.

Caitlin agrees.

The Chicago Seven, Claude continues, didn’t let the law stop them from protesting for what was right.

“Who are the Chicago Seven?” Caitlin asks.

Claude gets frustrated. “They were seven guys from Chicago.”

“What did they do?”

Claude, after a pause, “They were totally radical!”

Of course, Claude is incorrect. The Chicago Seven were not seven guys from Chicago. They were seven (originally eight) guys who came to Chicago from all over the country and they were arrested during the 1968 Democratic Convention. As for whether or not they were totally radical …. well, it depends on who you ask. Abbie Hoffman thought they were radical. Bobby Seale thought all of them were poseurs with the exception of himself. Jerry Rubin went on to become a businessman. Tom Hayden went into state politics and married an Oscar winner. As for the other members …. well, who cares? There’s a movie about them if you really want to subject yourself to it.

Claude is like a lot of young activists. He’s passionate and he’s convinced he’s going to save the world but he’s also totally shallow and given to hyperbole. Claude’s plan to vandalize the factory amounts to spray painting one anodyne anti-nuke message on a wall in the middle of the night. Caitlin serves as his lookout. When the cops arrive, Claude runs and leaves Caitlin behind. That stupid hippie!

Catilin does the right thing She dumps that pretentious douchebag! Good for her. Don’t get me wrong. I get it. I went through a period of time where I had a weakness for passionate activists as well. It was between my first bad boy phase and my second bad boy phase. But Claude was just so annoying and, even worse, Caitlin dumped Joey for this loser. Joey may not have known much about politics but Joey also would never have abandoned Caitlin to the cops.

This was a really good episode. Along with the Caitlin/Claude fiasco, this episode also features Kathleen finally reporting her abusive ex-turned-stalker Scott to the police and getting a restraining order against him. Good for Kathleen! (Rebecca Haines really did a good job portraying Kathleen’s ordeal with Scott and, in the best Degrassi tradition, she showed the audience that there was more to Kathleen than they may have originally assumed.) Even Arthur got a decent storyline this episode. Eager to show that he could be just as dangerous and daring as Yick, he and Yick toilet-papered Raditch’s house. What was funny about this plotline is that Arthur wanted to impress Luke. This is the same Luke who gave Shane the PCP that caused him to fall off a bridge. Get better heroes, Arthur!

This was an excellent episode. It’s tempting to hope that Caitlin learned a lesson from this experience but those of us who have watched Degrassi: The Next Generation know better.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.9 & 1.10 “Sixteen”

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we have a special one-hour episode of Degrassi High!

Episode 1.9 and 1.10 “Sixteen”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on January 9th, 1990)

Everyone’s turning sixteen at Degrassi High and they’re all dealing with in their own different ways.

Snake and Joey, for instance, are old enough now to take Driver’s Education. Snake is nervous. Joey says that he’s been driving since he was twelve. Both of them end up failing their driving test. Don’t feel bad, guys! It took me a few tries too! Snake actually turns out to be an even worse driver than Joey and even takes out a cardboard family at one point. Thanks to Joey and Snake’s bad driving, their poor driving instructor ends up with two black eyes and wearing a neck brace. Nancy (Arlene Lott) finally get her first storyline in forever as she easily shows up Joey and Snake and gets her license on the first try.

(When I was learning how to drive, the instructor claimed that I had a lazy eye and yelled at me so much that I went home in tears. My mom went to the driving school and raised Hell. I never had to drive with that instructor again.)

Michelle, meanwhile, celebrates her birthday by moving out of her house. Apparently, in Toronto, you only have to be sixteen to leave your parents and live on your own. Michelle moves out because her racist father (Richard Krovsky) is upset with her for dating BLT. Michelle gets her own apartment but she also has to take a job to pay the rent and she soon finds herself exhausted and sleeping through school. Concerned with his physical and academic well-being, BLT sets aside his differences with Michelle’s father and tells him where to find her. Michelle and her dad have a conversation. Michelle is going to continue to live on her own but her father is going to help with the rent. So …. okay. I mean, Michelle left him because she didn’t want to live under her father’s rules and that was understandable because Michelle’s father really is a jerk. But now that she’s on her own, Michelle’s father is going to pay her rent. So, presumably, Michelle is once again in a position where her Dad can make the rules. What if he tells her that he won’t pay her rent if she keeps seeing BLT?

While that’s going on, Lucy shoots a video for LD’s 16th birthday. LD is still in the hospital, battling Leukemia. LD doesn’t want anyone to know that she’s sick or that she’s lost all of her hair. Still, Lucy does tell the Farrell twins about what’s going on. Anyway, there’s a sweet scene in which Lucy, the twins, and Alexa visit LD in the hospital and bring her a birthday cake. It was a nice scene and well-acted by Anais Granofsky (who plays Lucy) and Amanda Cook (who plays LD). This episode was LD’s final appearance on Degrassi High which …. well, that’s kind of ominous, isn’t it?

Finally, Alexa can only watch helplessly as everyone announces that they will be missing her sweet sixteen birthday party. Even her boyfriend, Simon, is going to be busy filming a commercial on Alexa’s birthday. “Fine!” Alexa shouts, after cancelling her part, “I’ll be fifteen forever!” In fact, the cake that Alexa brings to the hospital for LD was actually supposed to be for Alexa’s party. “I’ll just have my mother bake another,” Alexa says. Good for you, Alexa!

This was a bit of an uneven episode. I actually preferred the driving class scenes to all of the birthday drama. Of course, as a longtime Degrassi fan, I know that Joey is going to grow up to be a used car salesman. Watching him struggle to drive made me smile.

Next week: Caitlin discovers that Claude is no good! It’s about time!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.8 “Little White Lies”

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, it’s time for another party!

Episode 1.8 “Little White Lies”

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on December 19th, 1989)

There’s yet another party being held and Diana (Chrisa Erodotu) desperately wants to attend!

Who?

Diana has been on the show for a while but this is the first episode to feature her at the center of a story. She’s a friend of Kathleen’s and she wears glasses and …. well, that’s pretty much all we’ve learned about her in the past. In this episode, it’s revealed that she’s Greek, her parents are dead, and she lives with her overprotective brother (Nick Stamiris). Her brother doesn’t want Diana to go to a party. In fact, when he catches her smoking, he throws a fit and he ground her. He may seem a bit harsh but I had some sympathy for the character. He’s barely an adult himself but he has to keep an eye on and take care of Diana. I think he’s being too overprotective but I get where his mind is at.

Diana, however, decides to sneak out of the house and go the party on her own. She has a crush on Yick and he might be there! When she arrives, she has a drink and sits on the couch while holding a bottle of alcohol. How could this go wrong …. oh wait, who just walked into the party and spotted Diana sitting there with the alcohol? It’s her brother! Diana gets dragged home and has a big fight with her brother.

Poor Diana! That said, this is something that happened to a lot of Degrassi students over the course of the series, most of whom I felt I knew a lot better than Diana. Diana’s just kind of been a nonentity up until this episode so it’s hard for me to get worked up, one way or another, over her situation. It doesn’t help that Diana continually compares herself and her friends to The Outsiders and yes, I do mean the book about the juvenile delinquents in Oklahoma. Degrassi High deserves some credit for giving the less-cool students just as much attention as Joey, Caitlin, and the main stars but the whole Outsiders is just a bridge too far for me.

Speaking of Joey, he, Snake, and Wheels decide to go a strip club! It doesn’t work out, even with the use of fake IDs. First off, when they arrive at the club, they discover that two of the fake IDs have Joey’s name on them. Joey is sure the bouncer won’t notice. Then, they discover that they’ll only have enough money to pay the cover charge if they pool all their money together. Unfortunately, since they’ll also have to order drinks inside the club, they still only have enough money for two of them to go in. Snake and Wheels head in to the club, deserting their friend Joey. A prostitute approaches Joey and asks if he would like to have a good time but the clueless Joey says that he has to get home. Meanwhile, Snake and Wheels pay $8 for two Cokes and are then kicked out when they say they can’t afford anything else. Who would have guessed life in Canada could be so difficult!

This episode felt a bit too familiar for its own good. Diana’s story is one that we’ve seen dozens of times on Degrassi. And Snake, Joey, and Wheels are always doing something stupid and getting kicked out of places. This episode wasn’t bad but it wasn’t particularly memorable either.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 1.7 “Just Friends”

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Wheels breaks another heart.

Episode 1.7 “Just Friends”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on December 12th, 1989)

Heather Farrell has a crush on Wheels so Erica Farrell helps her throw a party so she can invite Wheels to their house and share a dance with him and maybe discover if he feels the same way about her that she does about him. Of course, Wheels doesn’t feel that way about Heather and is surprised when Snake informs him that Heather obviously has a crush on him. Still, that doesn’t stop Wheels from making out with Heather on her front porch while all of the party guests watch through the front window.

Heather has a boyfriend!

Well, no. Actually, Wheels tells Snake that he still doesn’t like Heather like that and that making out with her is just something that happened. He’s only interested in her as a friend. (AGCK! I mean, don’t get me wrong. This is actually a lot more realistic than what happens on most high school shows but poor Heather!) Wheels is supposed to call Heather when he gets home so that they can talk. Of course, Wheels doesn’t call Heather and he ends up with not one but both of the Farrell twins mad at him and giving him their trademark evil eye.

(Of course, as we all know, Wheels is eventually going to be sent for prison after he runs over a kid while driving drunk so, really, the Farrell twins kind of lucked out here.)

The main problem with any episode that centers around the Farrell twins is that it’s difficult to remember which is which and neither one of them is really that interesting of a character. I spent most of this episode trying to remember whether it was Erica or Heather who had the abortion. I’m pretty sure it was Erica, which explains why Erica freaked out when she saw Heather making out with Wheels. Erica doesn’t want the same thing that happened to her to happen to Heather. But, aside from that, the Farrells have always kind of been boring characters and their party looked kind of lame as well.

Lucy was invited to the party but, instead of going, she instead went to the hospital to visit with L.D., who had just been told that she had Leukemia. Good for Lucy! One of the best parts of Degrassi High has been watching Lucy go from being self-centered and kind of mean to being one of the show’s most genuinely nice characters. To the show’s credit, it’s shown her slowly becoming more emotionally mature as opposed to just having her change overnight. It’s another example of how Degrassi High was realistic in the way that most teen shows were not and still aren’t.

Finally, Kathleen, Melanie, and Diana went to a movie but they didn’t invite their friend Maya (Kyra Levy) because Maya is in a wheelchair. They didn’t think Maya would have been able to take the “streetcar” to the movie and the theater was not wheelchair accessible. The next day, an angry Maya tells them that she could have gotten a ride from her mom and that they could have gone to a different theater that was accessible. Maya angrily tells them not to assume that she can’t do things just because she’s in a wheelchair. Good for Maya! Myself, I’m just happy to see that Kathleen has apparently dumped the abusive Scott and is refusing to speak to him. Good for for Kathleen!

This episode was a good example of how Degrassi High dealt realistically with being a teenager. The Farrell twins are kind of boring but the L.D. and Maya subplots were well-handled. This was a good episode, even if both Joey and Caitlin were noticeably absent.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 4.6 “Nobody’s Perfect”

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh Romeo, Romeo….

Episode 4.6 “Nobody’s Perfect”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired on December 5th, 1989)

This week’s episode is all about relationships, good and bad.

Patrick (Vincent Walsh), a student from Ireland, sees that Spike is wearing a Pogues t-shirt and asks her out. Spike replies that she wants to but she can’t because she has to take care of baby Emma at night. Patrick suggests a day date instead. Spike agrees, even if she’s still struggling to deal with her feelings about Shane.

(Shane, having suffered brain damage after a bad LSD trip, is not enrolled at Degrassi High. We won’t see him again until the third season premiere of Degrassi: The Next Generation.)

Meanwhile, despite having broken up with him so that she can date “Clode,” Caitlin still volunteers to be Joey’s scene partner for home room. They’re supposed to perform a scene from Romeo and Juliet and …. yeah, there’s no way that’s going to be awkward, right? Caitlin tells Joey that, even though they’ve broken up, she hopes they can still be friends. Joey awkwardly says, “Yeah.” They talk about why they broke up. Caitlin even says, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Those of us who know our Degrassi history know that this is a scene that’s going to be frequently repeated over the next twenty years or so.

Finally, Kathleen has convinced herself that she’s totally in love with Scott. Afterall, Scott is always telling Kathleen how much he loves her. He gives her jewelry. He sends her flowers. He wants her to spend all of her free time with him. Of course, when Scott isn’t doing all of that, he’s beating on her and telling her that she’s stupid for wanting to have any interests outside of being his girlfriend. When Kathleen is disappointed to discover that she hasn’t been cast in the school play, Scott informs her that she’s just not a very good actress and she shouldn’t worry about it. When Kathleen says that she wants to try out for a play at the community center, Scott tells her that she needs to make time for him. When Kathleen tries to have lunch with her friends, Scott drags her away so that she can have lunch with him. When Kathleen stays after school to practice a scene with her scene partner (who happens to be Luke, the guy who gave Shane the acid), Scott goes absolutely crazy and beats her up in the classroom.

“Kathleen,” Scott insists as Kathleen finally walks away from him, “I love you!”

Kathleen turns to look at him. We get a freeze frame of her bruised face and then the insanely cheerful Degrassi theme music starts playing. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition. (Combining cheerful music with depressing freeze frames was a Degrassi tradition.)

This episode deserves a lot of credit for realistically portraying Kathleen and Scott’s relationship and Scott’s abusive personality. Everything that an abuser does — from the gaslighting to the subtle insults and the sudden accusations to the desperate begging for forgiveness — is present in this episode and Kathleen’s reactions (“I can change him!”) are all too real. Degrassi High was a show that dealt with real issues and it usually managed to do it without resorting to melodrama or false hope. The thing that makes this episode so powerful is that we don’t know if Kathleen had the courage to reject Scott after that freeze frame or, if like so many other girls and women in the same situation, she once again forgave her abuser. Rebecca Haines deserves a lot of credit for her performance here, as does Byrd Dickens, who is terrifying as Scott. This episode was Degrassi High at its best and most important.