Kyle Schmid | 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, Emma goes on a crusade and Canada will never be the same.

Episode 1.5 “Parents Day”

(Dir by Eleanore Lindo, originally aired April 15th, 2002)

Its Parents Day at Degrassi!

Toby Isaacs is paranoid that his divorced parents are going to get into an argument as soon as they’re in a room together and that’s exactly what happens. When Snake tells them that Toby could have the best grades in school if he only applied himself, his mom and his dad start blaming each other. This scene always makes me cringe, largely because I was in the same boat in high school. “Lisa is smart as a whip,” one of my teachers said during my junior year, “but she doesn’t focus in class and is easily distracted.” “Lisa Marie,” my mother said, “did you hear that?” “Hear what?,” I replied.

Anyway, Toby tells his parents that the reason he’s struggling is because they’re always fighting. His parents apologize to him. Awwwww! That’s sweet. It would never happen in real life but it’s still sweet. (Having seen the entire series, it’s always a bit jarring to be reminded of how much the first season focused on Toby, someone who — in future seasons — would often just be a background character.)

Meanwhile, we meet Sean’s totally cool older brother and guardian, Tracker (Kris Holden-Reid). How cool is Tracker? His name’s Tracker! Plus, he calls out Emma to her face. Emma, in a sign of things to come, has written an editorial for the school paper in which she complains about a once-a-week broadcast called NAK (News About Kids). She feels that NAK is just propaganda. When Principal Raditch points out that NAK donated the school’s computer lab in return for the school showing their broadcast (and again, it’s like a 10-minute program that is shown ONCE a week), Emma writes that the school shouldn’t accept anything from NAK and students should just use their home computers. When Emma overhears Tracker describing her editorial as being “garbage,” she gets mad at tells him that he’s an idiot. Tracker points out that not all kids — like Sean, for instance — can afford a home computer.

Here’s the thing: Tracker’s correct. Even when I first saw this episode as an idealistic teenager who agreed with Emma about NAK being propaganda, I thought Tracker was correct. Not all kids can afford their own computer. If showing a 10-minute, once-a-week broadcast that most students would probably end up talking through meant the school got a computer lab, it seemed like a reasonable compromise.

However, this episode introduced one of the themes that would become prominent on Degrassi in later seasons. Emma is never wrong. Even when it’s clear that Emma is totally wrong and is being unreasonable, the show will still end with someone telling Emma that she’s right. This episode ends with Sean telling Emma that her editorial wasn’t garbage. Emma smiles because she has a crush on Sean and that’s sweet and all but you know what? That editorial was totally garbage!

My feelings were mixed on this episode. I could relate to Toby’s embarrassment. I could also relate to Paige’s over-the-top efforts to impress Toby’s mom, who we’re told is casting director. But this episode also launched the whole “Emma-is-a-crusader” thing, which would eventually become one of the more annoying things about the show. In the end, though, I guess the important thing is that everyone survived Parents Day.

If you go over to Netflix right now, you can watch 88, the best film of the year so far.

88 opens with a close-up of Gwen (Katharine Isabelle). Gwen is sitting in a diner and she has no idea how she got there. All she knows is that her boyfriend Aster (Kyle Schmid) is dead and that she believes that her former employer, Cyrus (Christopher Lloyd) is responsible. Oh, and Gwen’s hand is also covered in a bloody bandage, largely because she’s missing a finger. When Gwen tries to leave the diner, several gumballs and a gun fall out of her bag. The cops eating breakfast overreact. A waitress panics. Gwen accidentally shoots someone as she flees.

Still with no idea where she is exactly or how she got there, Gwen discovers that she has a motel room key on her. When she goes to the motel room, she discovers that the walls are covered with newspaper clippings. And, of course, there’s a corpse in the bathtub. On top of that, there’s also a rather hyperactive man named Ty (Tim Doiron, who also wrote the film’s script). Gwen claims to have never seen Ty before. Ty, however, says that they’re friends and they’re planning on killing Cyrus together.

Meanwhile, as we watch Gwen try to figure out what’s going on, we also follow the adventures of Flamingo (again played by Katharine Isabelle). Flamingo is a tough-talking survivor, the type of girl who, when we first meet her, is busy strangling a random motorist so that she can use his car. Flamingo goes from motel to motel, always staying in room 88. She obsessively drinks milk. When she runs into Cyrus and his gang on the street, they claim to know her. However, Flamingo has no idea who they are.

Which, of course, does not mean that she’s not willing to kill them…

88 is a masterpiece of the grindhouse imagination, an over-the-top film that not only embraces its pulpy origins but practically revels in them as well. The film is full of wonderfully strange and crazy moments, like when Gwen and Ty visit a flamboyant gun dealer or when Flamingo casually trashes a convenience store for no reason beyond the fact that she apparently feels like doing so. There is not a single character in 88 who is not, in some way, memorably odd. Between Gwen’s amnesia, Flamingo’s psychotic behavior, Ty’s cheerful embrace of violence, and Cyrus’s raspy monologues, 88 presents a world that is familiar and yet uniquely its own. When Michael Ironside shows up as a strict but good-hearted sheriff, it only makes sense that, in the world of 88, Michael Ironside would be the face of law, order, and decency.

Now, to be honest, you’ll probably figure out just how exactly Gwen and Flamingo are related long before the film actually makes it explicit. You probably figured it out just from reading this review. But it doesn’t matter. Ultimately, the specifics of the twist really doesn’t matter. This film is a celebration of pure style and pulp energy. Katharine Isabelle is brilliant, both as Gwen and as Flamingo. In the role of Gwen, Isabelle gives a very sympathetic performance. You want to understand what is happening to Gwen and, even more importantly, you want her to survive. Meanwhile, as Flamingo, Isabelle is a force of pure, destructive nature. Finally, in the role of Cyrus, Christopher Lloyd is a sleazy marvel and even manages to bring a hint of humanity to an occasionally demonic character.

88 is one of those films that will probably never get the critical support that it deserves. However, I think it’s one of the best of the year so far.