Maria Vacratsis | 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, we get glimpse of the future.

Episode 1.11 “Friday Night”

(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on June 3rd, 2002)

It’s a wild Friday night in Toronto!

Emma and Sean go on their first date. It goes like this: Sean asks out Emma. Emma says yes but isn’t sure whether or not Sean is asking her on a date or just asking her to hang out. Sean is inarticulate because he’s a guy. Emma gets mad. In gym class, a game of dodgeball turns into a game of Emma throwing the ball exclusively at Sean. Sean thinks that Emma hates him. Emma says she doesn’t hate him. Finally, Sean shows up at Emma’s house. Before they leave on their date, Spike takes a picture.

They step outside of the house and a bird immediately defecates on Emma’s outfit. Emma changes. They decide to get something to eat before going to a movie. Emma says that she ordered Sean a vegetarian burger. Sean is cool with that because he doesn’t eat meat ever since he spent time on a ranch and saw how the animals are treated. Emma is like, “Awwww!” But then Emma realizes she can’t find her wallet and she fears that it’s accidentally been thrown away. Sean spends the night searching through the dumpster behind the restaurant, until Emma realizes that she had her wallet with her all the time. Whoops! Emma runs off in tears.

How sad! Of course, those of us who have watched this show know that one bad date isn’t going to keep Emma and Sean from having one of the most epic (if ultimately pointless) relationships in Degrassi history, one that will survive Sean going to jail but which won’t survive him joining the Army. Of course, we also know that Emma is somehow going to end up married to Spinner despite saying barely ten words to him over the course of 8 seasons.

Speaking of Spinner, he and Jimmy spend Friday night tormenting Ms. Kwan. Spinner has a grudge against Ms. Kwan because Ms. Kwan broke his “discman” while trying take it away from him when she discovered him listening to it in her class.

“My discman!” Spinner exclaimed.

“No, your fault!” Kwan snapped.

Spinner got detention. Later, Jimmy also got detention for making fun of Shakespeare. (Kwan also got annoyed with Jimmy for making out with Ashley in the hallway. “You two may think you’re cute….” Uhmm, it’s the hallway. Calm down, Ms. Kwan.) When Spinner and Jimmy learned that Ms. Kwan would be at the school late, teaching an ESL class, they broke into the principal’s office, broadcast the sound of Spinner chewing gum into her classroom, and then ordered several pizzas for her class. Spinner then threw an entire carton of eggs at Kwan’s car. Kwan came outside, saw her car, and broke down into tears while Spinner and Jimmy watched from afar. Spinner was amused. Jimmy felt guilty.

The next day, Mr. Raditch announces that Ms. Kwan has taken a leave of absence because her husband’s been sick. The upcoming class field trip is canceled. And Mr. Raditch will now be teaching Kwan’s class. Spinner, you idiot!

That said, I blame Jimmy more. Everyone knows that Spinner’s impulsive and out-of-control. Jimmy’s supposed to be the voice of reason.

This episode is one of the better season one episodes, if just because it featured Emma being repeatedly humiliated (that may seem cruel but if you know some of the things that Emma’s going to do in the future, it is kind of satisfying to see) and it also features an early appearance of a recurring Degrassi theme: Spinner accidentally destroying someone’s life. This episode represents the future of Degrassi.

This week, Emma tries to destroy someone’s life.

Episode 1.10 “Rumors and Relationships”

(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on May 20th, 2002)

This episode features Spinner at his best and Emma at her worst.

Let’s get Emma out of the way first. When Emma happens to see Liberty and Coach Armstrong alone in a classroom together, she assumes that Armstrong is hitting on Liberty. She tells Manny about her suspicions. Terri overhears and tells Sean. Sean tells Spinner. Spinner tells Jimmy. Jimmy tells Paige. Paige tells Hazel (Andrea Lewis). Hazel tells Ashley. Ashley tells Liberty. Liberty gets upset. When Emma sees Liberty crying, Emma ask Liberty about her and Armstrong. Liberty swears on her life that Armstrong was not hitting on her. Emma wonders how the rumor got started–

Uhmm, Emma …. YOU STARTED IT!

Emma promises Liberty that she will work her backwards to find the person who started the rumor–

IT WAS YOU, EMMA! YOU STARTED THE RUMOR!

Because Emma is apparently incapable of remember what she said earlier in the day, she goes from Ashley to Hazel to Page to Spinner (she skips Jimmy) to Sean and eventually she confronts Terri. Emma says that the rumor is all over the school and it’s all Terri’s fault.

Terri, quite sensibly, points out that Emma is the one who started the rumor.

Now, in her defense, Emma does feel bad about starting the rumor. When Mr. Raditch calls Coach Armstrong out into the hall to tell him about the rumors, Emma walks up and confesses that it’s her fault. But one thing Emma doesn’t do is really apologize. In fact, when she later talks to Liberty, she instead acts as if it is somehow Liberty’s fault for not telling Emma why she was in a classroom alone with Armstrong in the first place. Liberty finally admits that she had dyscalculia (which is dyslexia but with numbers) and that Armstrong — THE MATH TEACHER — has been tutoring her and helping her not to feel bad about it. Emma again asks why Liberty just didn’t tell her that to begin with.

Hey, Emma — maybe Liberty didn’t tell you because IT’S NONE OF YOUR FREAKING BUSINESS!

The episode ends with Liberty telling Emma that, when it comes to helping people, Emma sucks. And Liberty certainly has a point.

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Spinner discovers a bug in his food. “Boycott the caf!” he yells, “it has earwigs!” Unfortunately, no one believes Spinner. So, the next day, Spinner collects a bunch of bugs and takes them into the cafeteria. He thinks that if someone else sees a bug and reports it, they will be believed and someone will call an exterminator. Of course, the only thing that anyone sees is Spiner carrying a tub of bugs. The bugs get free and Spinner is sentenced to work in the cafeteria until he’s paid off the $300 that it’s going to cost the school to have the cafeteria exterminated.

“But it needed to be exterminated anyways!” Spinner says.

This was classic Spinner. Even when he cares about Degrassi, no one listens. It’s a little bit gross that he was carrying around a tub of living bugs but his heart was in the right place.

Spinner’s the best!