Retro Television Review: Degrassi High “School’s Out”

Posted on August 10, 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

School’s out! What does the future hold for the students of Degrassi High?

“School’s Out”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on January 5th, 1992)

The series finale of Degrassi High left viewers with a few unanswered questions, particularly concerning the future of Joey and Caitlin’s relationship. Indeed, when the series ended, the majority of the characters still had another year left in high school.

School’s Out, a television movie that aired on CBC Television in 1992, was an attempt to bring closure to the Degrassi story. Starting with everyone but the perennially academically challenged Joey Jeremiah graduating, School’s Out deals with the final summer before everyone leaves for college or adulthood. Joey asks Caitlin to marry him and, when she says she’s not sure that she’s ready, he instead cheats on her with Tessa Campanelli. Joey loses his virginity to Tessa. Caitilin eventually loses her virginity to Joey (and, at the time, assumes that she’s his first as well). Snake does not lose his virginity over the summer and spends almost the entire film in a funk about it. Wheels becomes an alcoholic and ends up in prison after he crashes his car and kills a kid. Lucy, who was Wheels’s passenger, ends up blind and crippled. Simon and Alexa finally get married. Snake, meanwhile, drops the first F-bomb ever heard on Canadian television. Caitlin drops the second. “You were fucking Tessa Campanelli!?” As for Tessa, she ends up pregnant, has an abortion, and then apparently hops on a bus and vanishes.

Things got dark!

I’ve already reviewed School’s Out once. It’s not only a classic Degrassi film but it’s a great teen film period. Rewatching it, I truly was struck by just how incredibly dark things got in School’s Out. Degrassi High had its share of dark moments but never to the extent as seen in School’s Out. I mean, Wheels’s goes to prison! Watching Degrassi High over the past few months, it was easy to see that Wheels was destined to eventually end up in some sort of trouble. He was too angry and too self-centered and not willing to take responsibility for his actions. There was a reason why, even before the events in School’s Out, Snake was distancing himself from his former friend. Still, Wheels is a character who grew up over the course of the show. It’s still strange to think that the quiet “good kid” from Degrassi Junior High eventually grew up, developed a drinking problem, killed a child, and was sentenced to prison. As easy as it is to dislike Wheels, it’s still hard not to mourn who he could have been if a few things had just gone differently in his life.

That actions have consequences has always been one of the main themes of Degrassi. By lying and cheating on Caitlin, Joey not only loses the love of his life (albeit temporarily) but Tessa herself is left to suffer alone. Lucy, with a brilliant future ahead of her, makes the decision to get into a car being driven by the drunk Wheels and, when we last see her, she’s in a hospital bed and unable to see. School’s out and sadly, the students at Degrassi High can no longer escape the real world consequences of their actions.

School’s Out was meant to bring closure to Degrassi. And it did, for nearly ten years. Of course, all good things come back to life. Degrassi: The Next Generation would premiere in 2001. We’ll start looking at it next week.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.13 “One Last Dance”

Posted on August 3, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Degrassi High comes to a close. Here’s the final time we’ll be hearing this theme song.

Episode 2.13 “One Last Dance”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on February 11th, 1991)

With the end of term approaching, the students of Degrassi High are shocked to hear that their school will be closing. The next year, everyone will be split up and going to different schools. Lucy may have just been elected president of the student council but she’s never going to take office.

It’s sad news but at least the students get one last dance.

Joey and Caitlin finally get back together as the series come to a close, dancing in Degrassi’s gym. Upon hearing some students discussing the rumor that one of their classmates is HIV+, an angry Dwayne finally admits that it’s him. His “friend” Nick (George Chaker) refuses to speak to him. His other friend, Tabby (Michele Johnson-Murray), finally gets over her fear and shares a dance with him. Snake dances with Michelle. Wheels shows up to the dance and I’m going to assume that he’s no longer homeless. Arthur — remember when this show was all about Arthur? — is spotted dancing with someone. The camera pans over all of the students in the school’s gym, sharing some final moments as they prepare to end one chapter of their life and start another. It’s a low-key but effective ending for the show. It helps that the we’ve gotten to know the characters so well. Degrassi High didn’t need to burn down the school to have an effective ending. It just needed to get everyone together in the gym.

However, it was not the end of the franchise, not hardly. A year after Degrassi High ended, School’s Out would air and our characters would be given temporary (and, in some cases, rather tragic) closure. I’ll take a second look at School’s Out next Sunday. And then, a decade or so later, a new generation would become students at Toronto’s most famous learning center. Degrassi: The Next Generation is coming soon!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.12 “Three’s a Crowd”

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the formal is approaching, Spike needs a date and so does Snake.

Episode 2.12 “Three’s A Crowd”

(Dir by Philip Earnshaw, originally aired on February 4th, 1991)

The graduation formal is approaching! Spike has got a crush on Snake (who has finally returned to school after finding Claude’s body). When Spike asks Snake out, he says yes. Yay! But then Spike overhears Michelle asking out Snake and Snake explaining that he would love to go with her but he already said yes to Spike (who he considers to be just a friend). Spike makes up a lie about having “a family thing” the same night as the dance so that Snake can go with Michelle.

How sad!

This is a minor episode of Degrassi High but it’s significant to those of us who discovered Degrassi by watching The Next Generation. We know that Spike and Snake are eventually going to get married and Snake is going to become Emma’s stepfather. (Three year-old Emma makes an appearance in this episode, encouraging her mom to not be depressed.) As sad as it is to see Spike overhear Snake talking about how much he likes Michelle, we know that Spike and Snake are eventually going to end up together as adults. Of course, by that point, Spike will be known as Christine and Snake will be known as Archie.

While Snake and Spike were dealing with the realities of high school attraction, Tessa was falling for Yick Yu despite the fact that she was already dating Alex. Dorothy (Annabelle Waugh) told Tessa that she had to tell Alex the truth. Tessa couldn’t bring herself to do it but Yick, thinking that Tessa and Alex were broken up, told Alex that he didn’t mean to make Tessa dump him. Alex confronts Tessa. Tessa says, “I hope we can still be friends.” “I don’t see how,” Alex replies. OUCH!

And again, this is a storyline that means a lot more if you know what’s going to happen in the future. Tessa may like Alex now but, in just a year, she’s going to get impregnated by Joey Jeremiah and then run away from Toronto, never to be seen again.

Degrassi’s about to get dark!

Next week, Degrassi High comes to an end. Don’t worry, though. Degrassi will go on forever.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrasssi Hibh 2.6 “Crossed Wires”

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In yourself, you must believe …. let’s return to Degrassi High.

Episode 2.6 “Crossed Wires”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on December 10th, 1990)

Alex is dating Tessa but he has yet to kiss her and Tessa’s getting tired of waiting for him. Arthur and Yick (remember them?) both tell Alex that he’s a total wimp. Myself, I’m just wondering how Alex somehow went from being a background character to suddenly getting storylines. For the record, Alex does eventually kiss Tessa and he leaves her breathless, which seems like a bit of an overreaction. I mean, it’s just Alex….

Of course, any Tessa storyline that doesn’t involve Joey is going to feel somewhat odd because true Degrassi fans know that Tessa is eventually going to end up pregnant after sleeping with Joey, leading to a jealous Snake dropping the first F-bomb ever heard on Canadian television. But, that was all far in the future. When this episode aired, Tessa was still just the girl who apparently only owned that one blue dress.

Alex and Tessa’s rather silly storyline is matched with one where Liz, after going on a date with Tim (Keith White, finally getting a storyline after spending so much time as a background character), freaks out after Tim attempts to kiss her goodnight after taking her to a Pogues concert. Liz eventually tells Spike that she was sexually abused by her mom’s ex-boyfriend and that’s why Liz doesn’t allow anyone to get close to her. (In many ways, this episode feels like a dry run for the Jane Says episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation.) This episode handles the subject with sensitivity, as Degrassi (to its credit) always did. Tonally, it can be a bit of shock to go from the silliness of Tessa’s story to the seriousness of Liz’s but that’s kind of the way it is when you’re a teenager. One minute, you’re in a sitcom. The next minute, you’re in the most depressing drama ever. That’s certainly the way it was for me when I was in high school. I preferred the sitcom moments but the fact that I can cry on cue came in useful whenever things started to get serious.

Finally, Dwayne’s moronic friends are upset because Dwayne will no longer let them beat up on Joey. Dwayne doesn’t care. Joey’s the only person that knows that Dwayne is HIV positive. Joey has kept his word and not revealed Dwayne’s secret. Dwayne helps Joey fix his car and Joey, in return, gives Dwayne a life home. Dwayne going from being a bully to a sensitive guy is another character arc that would become a Degrassi tradition.

Next week, Kathleen finds some marijuana. Oh no!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Degrassi High 2.5 “Body Politics”

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Just when Lucy thinks that she’s out, they pull her back in.

Episode 2.5 “Body Politics”

(Dir by Phillip Earnshaw, originally aired on December 3rd, 1990)

Lucy is depressed because the big dance is coming up and no one has asked her. She makes another one of her video diaries for L.D., in which she says, “I know I can be kind of mouthy.” That’s true but being “kind of mouthy” is a Degrassi tradition and screw anyone who can’t handle someone having an opinion!

Anyway, Lucy does get a date with Dale (Cameron Graham), a jock with a cute smile. But when the Girls Volleyball Team discovers that the Boys Basketball Team has been given all of the best practice slots in the gym (basically, the basketball team gets to practice in the afternoon for as long as they want while the volleyball team only gets a few minutes in the morning), Lucy finds herself starting another protest. However, when she discovers that Dale is the captain of the basketball team, Lucy starts to wonder if she should back off. She wants to go to the dance!

The creepy Farrell twins insist that Lucy has to be their leader and their spokesperson. This episode was the first time that the Farrells were prominently featured in the second season and I had forgotten how annoying they could be with their constant demand that Lucy lead every single protest. Seriously, I’m kind of sympathizing with Lucy’s desire to avoid getting involved.

Lucy does eventually step up and make her argument about the girls deserving equal time to the Phys Ed. department. It doesn’t do any good. It turns out that, when Dale said that no one cares about Girls Volleyball, he was right. Lucy loses her fight and her date. But the president of the senior class, the never before-seen Bronco (L. Dean Ifill), is impressed by Lucy’s fighting spirit and asks her to the dance. So, things work out.

(Lucy, of course, is destined to be crippled and blinded by Wheels in an auto accident but that’s a while off.)

As for the other plots in this week’s episode, Patrick, the Irish guy who was dating Spike at the end of last season, is single again and asks Liz out on a date. Spike says she’s fine with it but actually she’s jealous. Hey, it happens! And Alexa and Michelle finally decide to be friends again. Yay! Seriously, it’s always nice when friendships are saved.

This episode could have been better. The main problem was that I didn’t buy a lot of the Lucy story. I mean, how come there wasn’t a coach or anyone supervising the gym while the basketball players and the volleyball players were having their argument? How come the athletic teams didn’t already have a set schedule for when they would practice? Since when are the Farrell twins athletic and why can’t they ever do anything without demanding that Lucy be their spokesperson? How exactly is L.D.’s father getting away with traveling around the world with his daughter who I imagine is legally required to be in some sort of school? There were just too many unanswered questions.

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

Posted on May 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 2.2 “Bad Blood: Part Two”

Posted on April 27, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Dwayne gets some life-changing news.

Episode 2.2 “Bad Blood: Part Two”

(Dir by Kit Hood, originally aired on November 12th, 1990)

After his summer girlfriend informs him that she’s tested positive for HIV, Dwayne goes to the local clinic to get tested. He’s understandably nervous as the doctor draws his blood. The doctor mentions that Dwayne is in a high-risk group because he had sex without a condom. Dwayne gives about twenty different excuses for why he didn’t use a condom. The doctor looks on, disappointed. Two weeks later, Dwayne returns to the clinic and is informed that he has tested positive for HIV. The doctor informs Dwayne that he’s going to have to start living life differently. He’s going to have to take care of himself. He’s going to have to give up any plans he ever had of being a father. He’s going to have to be careful when it comes to his blood.

At school, Dwayne takes out his anger on one of the condom machines in the bathroom. Wheels witnesses this and quickly runs off to tell Joey. Joey still needs a little over $300 to get his car. He also needs some money to pay everyone who took a bet on the previous episode’s attempt to walk through the cafeteria naked. Joey decides to blackmail Dwayne to get the money. (Joey has figured out that Dwayne is the one who snitched to Raditch about the walk through the cafeteria so Joey feels that Dwayne owes him the money regardless.) When Joey confronts Dwayne in the boys bathroom, it leads to another fight. Joey cuts his head. Dwayne ends up with a bloody nose. As soon as Dwayne sees that he’s bleeding, he backs off and tries to end the fight. Joey taunts Dwayne for being scared of a little blood.

“What if I have AIDS!?” Dwayne yells back.

Joey laughs off Dwayne’s comment, which leads to Dwayne throwing a fit and shouting that he didn’t do anything wrong. Joey figures out that Dwayne actually is HIV+. Later, Dwayne gives Joey the three hundred dollars in return for Joey not telling anyone. “We’re getting a car!” Snake and Wheels celebrate but the look on Joey’s face indicates that Joey is not happy about the way he got the money. In other words, Joey has a conscience! Yay, Joey!

And so does Dwayne. One of the things that Degrassi did very well was that it took characters who conformed to certain stereotypes and then dug underneath the surface and revealed that everyone — even the school bully — had their own individual fears and dreams. This episode finds Dwayne’s bravado crumbling as he’s forced to face his future as someone who is HIV positive. Darrin Brown, who is now a director, did a great job as Dwayne as did Pat Mastroianni as Joey. Both of them really grew as actors over the course of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High.

While that was going, BLT finally broke up with Michelle. Michelle was not happy. Eh, who cares? This was a good episode but BLT and Michelle were a boring couple and it’s hard to get overly worked up about them splitting up. Dwayne had a real isssue to deal with. Michelle will eventually find someone else willing to deal with her nonstop drama. Such is the way of the world.

One final note: in this episode, Lucy is shooting a video for L.D. Spike appears with her baby, Emma. Emma says, “Hi, L.D.” These were the first of many words to be spoken by Emma Nelson on Degrassi. (Emma, of course, will grow up to be one of the leads on Degrassi: The Next Generation. We’ve got a while to go before we reach that point, though.)

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 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 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.