Becky’s Revelation

Becky’s brother Luke writes her a letter and wants her to come visit him at the juvenile detention center.  Becky doesn’t want to and dodges her moms pleas by saying she has band practice.  The “band” she’s a part of is called Prodigal Spoon, but Becky isn’t a part of it yet;  she has to audition.  She sings for the band’s primary member, Jonah, but he tells Becky she isn’t cut out for the band.

Later, Jonah tracks Becky down to return the letter from Luke she’d dropped while rushing out of her audition.  Jonah tells her he read the letter, and knows how mad she is at her brother.  He tells Becky the amount of baggage she’s carrying around can mess her up and recites the bible verse from Isaiah 43:25.  Becky finally reads the letter and still doesn’t want to go visit Luke until Imogen tells her she needs to release the anger she’s keeping inside. She finally visits Luke, and he tells her that he doesn’t blame her for turning him in.  Becky goes off on Luke, telling him her life sucks because of him and there’s nothing he can do to fix it.  Becky’s mom asks her if she’ll ever be able to forgive like; Becky doesn’t know at this point.  What she does know is that in the end Jonah asks her to be in the band.

GRADE: B-
QUICK REVIEW:  While he may wind up being a decent character down the road, Jonah was nothing special in his Degrassi debut.  I’m a sucker for the cheesy band archs Degrassi churns out every few years, but the Prodigal Spoon plot device never really grabbed me.  Jonah seemed to change his mind about Becky being in the band not because he had a legit change of heart, but because the show is going to eventually pair them up emotionally and (probably) romantically.  I’m looking forward to these two because of how much they’ll have in common, but their introduction leaves much to be desired.  The saving grace of this plot is the underlying arch of Becky holding in her emotions and pretending everything is okay, until Jonah and Imogen convince her otherwise.  Becky finally says what needed to be said to Luke, and now the healing process can begin.

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Frankie vs Zoë

Zoë pushes the power cheer squad as they prepare for competition, but Frankie feels Zoë’s pushing them too hard on two fronts:  nailing difficult moves and continuing to send nude Oomfchats for money.  As the cheerleading squad has doubts about their ability to win, Zoë takes the to see their competition.  The Newman squad performs a routine so good it makes the Degrassi girls want to give up…everyone except for Zoë.  She uses the Oomfchat money to buy new gym equipment so they can get better, and Frankie doesn’t like it.  Frankie feels Zoë is abusing her power as leader of the squad and not doing what’s in the best interest of the group.

Zoë vents to Grace, telling her about the squads rebellion and how she just wants people to stop looking at her as a victim.  Grace tells her she needs to stop behaving like a bitch, and also informs Zoë that Frankie is the only one on the squad who hasn’t been sending Oomfchat nudes.  Zoë returns the gym equipment and uses the money to suck up to the squad by buying them gifts and apologizing.  As planned, the squad decides to work with Zoë again and she continues to entice them with the thought of using the Oomfchat money to buy themselves personal items.  Zoë calls out Frankie for her lack of Oomfchatting and gives her an ultimatum:  either pull her weight, or quit the squad.  Frankie decides to quit.

GRADE: A-
QUICK REVIEW:  Degrassi’s young blood carries the weight of this episode with a compelling storyline on many levels.  I keep talking about how scary it is the amount of power Zoë has over the cheerleading squad, and she straight up played on their emotions to get them to return to her and turn on Frankie at the end of the episode.  From Frankie’s perspective this has been peer pressure 101:  she doesn’t want to be a part of Degrassi Nudes, but Zoë knows how to talk to (and intimidate) these young girls into anything.  It hurts that the squad was so quick to turn on Frankie, but kudos to her for doing what she felt was right in the face of peer pressure.

Zoë’s intentions are genuine, because at the heart of it all she really does want a fresh start and for people to stop looking at her as the girl who was sexually assaulted.  But it doesn’t excuse her reckless behavior and the fact she’s being a jackass, using her acting skills to manipulate others into giving her what she wants.

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Eli vs Drew

Eli can’t stand the fact Drew is always around Clare, but he winds up asking Clare on a lunch date.  Their date is interrupted by Drew, who shows up looking for Clare and has been calling her nonstop to check in on the baby.  Because earlier Clare had received a call from Drew and lied to Eli about it (she said it was a telemarketer), Eli gets upset.  Clare tells Eli that he’s going to have to accept the fact Drew is going to be around, bu Eli doesn’t know if he can do that.

While applying for a summer job at The Dot, Eli sees Drew walk in.  Eli confronts him and feels as if Drew ruined things with Clare.  Drew wants them to remain civil for Clare, but Eli punches him in the face.  Eli tells Clare he’s very mad at her, not Drew, then walks inside and is offered the job at The Dot.

GRADE: C
QUICK REVIEW:  With Drew/Clare/Eli, the various parts of this long-running arch have either been hit or miss…for me, it’s a miss here in There’s Your Trouble.  Everything seems to be a little too over the top.  Drew is overly concerned with Clare and the baby.  Eli is overly angry about the situation.  Meanwhile, you’ve got Clare Edwards in the middle, playing the role of Ms. Nonchalant in this bizarre triangle.  It’s going to be hard to gauge this entire situation because of how back and forth things are playing out.  In 1404 Clare was adamant about Columbia, etc., and now she’s cooled down and looks to be planning on taking a year off from Columbia.  Either way, we’re sitting around twiddling our thumbs as we wait for the plot’s most pressing issue to be addressed:  Clare’s ultrasound.

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RANDOM THOUGHTS

*SPINNER MASON.

I know people pointed out that Spinner isn’t wearing a wedding ring in his cameo, but unless that is randomly addressed in a future episode I wouldn’t read much into it.  And I wouldn’t put it above Stefan to have Emma appear as well just to rub Spemma in our faces!

*Good job, Frankie.  Good for her for doing the right thing.  Speaking of that, I need to point out that this is similar to the concept of Becky Baker getting screwed over by her family when she told police what Luke did to Zoë.  In the most screwed up of scenarios where these girls are doing something bad, Frankie is made out to be the bad guy for doing what’s right.  Getting screwed over for being good is a very tough pill to swallow, and just another example of how crappy reality can be (despite how we’re TOLD the world should work).

*Grace is in the lead for season 14 MVP.  She’s definitely going to move up in the Power Rankings this week.

*I wish we knew how much these girls are making with Degrassi Nudes.  Next week we’re going to see them all show up to school with Gucci handbags and diamond iPhone 6’s!

*Becky’s walking better these days, but I’m hoping she wears that cast for a while.  It’s a nice little touch of realism just to have an injured character remain injured for a lengthy period on the show.  That reminds me…I still want to see a road-to-recovery storyline one day.

*”Don’t come crying to me when you’re ugly, old women who regret the time they turned down the chance to be high school royalty.”  Oh, Zoë.  Oddly enough there are probably people who think that being high school royalty is indicative of your value going into adulthood.  FYI: your status in high school means jack shit in the real world.

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I’ve been a fan of TeenNick’s usage of live hashtags this season during episodes of Degrassi.

Some are a clear miss, but it only takes one good one to generate an instant web hit.  #SpinnerOnDegrassi became a trending topic in the U.S. and worldwide on Twitter, and remained trending for at least a solid half hour after the episode was over.

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Are the networks trying something new with Degrassi this holiday season?

Though none of them have made an official announcement, signs point to Degrassi running new episodes through December 30th.  Yes, that means we’d be getting new Degrassi the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s.

The rule of thumb for most of Degrassi’s seasons has been that they wrap up the fall block at the end of November, or in December sometime before the week of Christmas.  That’s why it was safe to assume Degrassi would end the fall block with episode 1407 (I’ll Be Missing You) on December 9th.

However, The Futon Critic has listed TeenNick’s schedule as running episodes through 1410 (Hero, vs Villian), which airs on December 30th.  Zap2It has also listed episodes through 1410, which they wouldn’t do if there were a hiatus.

The most telling info comes from MTV Canada’s most recent press release, which details the network’s broadcast plans for the holidays.  They list all of the premieres, finales and special events (marathons), but there’s no mention of a Degrassi fall finale.  MTV’s airing a Degrassi marathon of 1401-1409 on December 30th, which ends at 9pm.  No one’s going to tell you until the last minute, but it sounds like Degrassi won’t have a winter hiatus over the holidays and will just straight up continue broadcasting episodes into January 2015.

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1) Frankie Hollingsworth (Last Week: #4)
It takes guts to do the right thing when everyone around you is doing the opposite.  Frankie did just that, and that’s why she’s now #1 in the rankings.  There’s going to be a lot of competition throughout this season for the top 3 spots, and Frankie could easily be bounced from this position as early as next week.  But she’s a good girl, and her arch leaves her in a position to be competitive.

2) Zoë Rivas (–)
Last week I said Zoë would sit here until this week.  She’s still sitting here.  The complexity of her mindset and her character’s influence over an entire group of people is mindblowing.  I keep seeing people talk about how this Degrassi Nudes plot isn’t realistic, or that all of these young female characters should know what they’re doing is actually child pornography.  You know it.  I know it.  The characters know what they’re doing is wrong because of the dangers of posting nude pictures of yourself becoming public, and the shame/embarrassment that can come with it.  But I don’t buy that all of them would know what they’re doing is punishable by the law.  At that age, I don’t ever recall thinking that my fellow teenagers distributing nudes to other teenagers would be considered child porn.

As far as the realism of a nudes distribution scheme, it isn’t far fetched to believe it’s happening since Snapchat has now implemented an in-app payment feature.  Grace doesn’t care because she stays out of other people’s business. It’s admittedly weird that Jack seems all for it.  But at the same time, one could spin her willingness to partake as her eagerness to do whatever it takes to empower women (remember Zoë’s big speech the day they agreed to start doing it? It’s all about the women being in control).  The rest of the girls (Lola, Shay and the extras) are viewed as young and naive, afraid to go against Zoë because of the power and intimidation she wields as their captain.  Oh and just for fun, check out this news story about a Canadian teen who ran an underage prostitution ring.

3) Becky Baker (#9)
Often times people will just go through life carrying a heavy heart instead of confronting their feelings (the best example of this right now on Degrassi would obviously be Miles).  Good for Becky finally saying what needed to be said to her brother.

4) Clare Edwards (#3)

5) Grace Cardinal (#8)
She continues to prove that lots of development and screen time aren’t necessary for a character to be effectively awesome on this show.  It’s all about quality of their appearances that matters.  Now if only we could get Connor and Jenna to log some screen time sooner rather than later…

6) Miles Hollingsworth (#1) 

7) Drew Torres (–) 

8) Maya Matlin  (#6)

9) Zig Novak (#5)

10) Mike Dallas (–)

11) Eli Goldsworthy (#16)
Eli officially works at The Dot now, which means he’s going to become the new Spinner we can expect to see him more often.  It was a jerk move of him to punch Drew.  No, I don’t believe season 10 Eli is rearing his ugly head or that he’d ever go after Clare or the baby like that.  But what was important about that scene is that he admitted to Clare that he’s angry at her.

It doesn’t need to be pointed out that Eli cheating on Clare was wrong.  It’s a massive breach of trust, however, Clare hasn’t necessarily been forthcoming with the truth about Drew/the pregnancy/etc over the past several months with Eli.  Even in this episode her phone rang, and she lied to Eli about who it was for no reason.  When Eclare is on point, they can be magical.  But when their communication breaks down, it does so in the most catastrophic of ways possible.

12) Winston Chu (#11)

13) Alli Bhandari (#12)

14)  Hunter Hollingsworth (#13)

15) Shay Powers (#14)

16) Tiny King (#15)

17) Tristan Milligan (–)

18) Imogen Moreno (–)

19) Jack (–)

20) Jonah Haak (Unranked)
His debut was nothing special, but we’re hoping he’ll become interesting as his arch with Becky progresses.

21) Lola Pacini (#20)

22) Connor DeLaurier (#21)

23) Jenna Middleton (#22)

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Spinner Mason for obvious reasons.

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I’ll Be Missing You airs on Tuesday, December 2nd at 9pm EST on TeenNick and MTV Canada.

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Zoë receives threatening texts from an unknown number about her fundraising activities. Worried about Miles, Tristan checks in on him and realizes that he has a vice that needs to be kicked. Alli is accepted to Cambridge and this scares Dallas.
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MTV :30

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TeenNick :15 (Zoë)

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TednNick :15 (Tristan)

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Maya’s Meltdown

Maya’s finds herself losing sleep and stressed out because she keeps having a recurring dream about Miles jumping off the balcony at Degrassi.  In order to take her mind off things she volunteers to organize the music for the cheerleading squad’s performance, but she still finds herself thinking about Miles.  Grace and Zig take Maya to a park for Zen, and when that can’t calm Maya’s nerves they decide to hack Miles’ Facerange account.  Miles wasn’t at school and when they see he responded to Tristan’s wellbeing message by saying, “I want to kill myself,” the trio break into Miles’ house to check in on him.

Miles is fine, but freaked out that Maya keeps bothering him.  Tristan thinks Maya’s constant obsession with Miles is because she wants him back, but as she leaves she pleads for Miles to just talk to her.  When Maya goes to check Miles’ social media accounts, she starts freaking out when she realizes he’s blocked her.  Zoë walks in to confront Maya about bailing on the cheerleading squad, but Maya freaks out, saying “I won’t let it happen again,” as she flings the laptop across the room and has a panic attack.  That night she continues to have the recurring nightmare about Miles, and Zig suggests she get professional help for what she’s going through.

GRADE: A
QUICK REVIEW: Long forgotten are the days when we assumed Degrassi would never have Maya suffer longterm emotional trauma because of Cam’s death.  Nearly everything since has been about him, and now those feelings are overwhelming her.  Maya’s breakdown gave me chills, period.  If you’ve ever been so anxious about something that it literally consumes your existence and affects you physically, then you know exactly what Maya’s going through.

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What Is Hunter Hiding?

Frankie’s worried about her computer science grade, but Lola and Shay are too busy to help her study.  They suggest she ask her brother for his homework to help her, but he refuses to do anything that would help the cheerleaders.  When Hunter walks away Frankie looks at his computer and finds a graphic comic book he’s drawn, one where the hero character kills the cheerleaders.   Frankie and Chewy investigate and find the rest of the comic.  They realize Hunter isn’t planning to kill the cheerleaders, but the comic represents him saving their classmate, Arlene, from being teased by them.

Upon learning that Hunter has a crush on Arlene, Frankie sits with her in class instead of Lola and Shay, and Frankie invites awkward Hunter over so he can spend time with Arlene.

GRADE: A
QUICK REVIEW: The plot was amazing in two ways:  first off, we’ve got Frankie discovering that Hunter has a very disturbing way of expressing his feelings.  Even when he speaks you get vibes of anger and seclusion from him.  Secondly, Frankie introducing herself to Arlene for Hunter’s sake was amazing.  It’s little things like that scene that are compiling to make season 14 solid so far.

There’s also what could be Hunter’s eerie foreshadowing of the upcoming episode, Firestarter.  “I would sooner see all the cheerleaders die in a fire than help them.”

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No Love Triangle For Jackogen

Imogen tells Jack that she loves her, but Jack simply responds by saying “Thanks.”  Later, Jack tells Imogen they should break up because she doesn’t believe in monogamous relationships.  Imogen reluctantly agrees that she enjoys polyamory so that Jack will still want to be with her.

Eli advises Imogen to tell Jack how she really feels, and Imo is motivated to do so when she sees Jack is on a date with another girl.  Imogen busts in on Jack’s dance class and tells her how she feels.  Jack admits she’s afraid of commitment and tells Imogen she loves her.

GRADE: A-
QUICK REVIEW: I’m not interested in Jackogen as a couple, but I loved that Imogen stood up for herself in this episode.  We’ve seen this before from Imogen, where she goes along with whatever Jack is saying or doing in order to impress her.  Sometimes it takes a slap in the face from reality (seeing Jack on a date with another girl) to stand tall and say what’s on your mind.  Communication is one of the biggest killers of relationships; you have to speak up and tell people what you want, otherwise things will go nowhere.

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1) Frankie Hollingsworth (Last Week: #1)
I’m loving how organic the interaction between the Hollingsworth siblings has become.  There’s bickering and tension, but at the end of the day we see Frankie showing love for her awkward brother by helping open the door for him to interact with his crush, Arlene.

2) Maya Matlin  (#8)
Maya’s arch is still emotional, but soon others will start noticing Miles’ troubling behavior.  I’ve said before there’s been no reason for Maya to mention Cam’s name throughout this multi-season character arch, because her actions have spoken far louder than words. And if you didn’t notice it in [You Drive Me] Crazy, it should be clear by now that for well over a season Degrassi’s been avoiding having Maya tell Miles about Cam on purpose.  That major reveal could wind up happening soon as others start to notice Miles’ downward spiral.

3) Zoë Rivas (#2)

4) Grace Cardinal (#5)

5) Zig Novak (#9)

6) Clare Edwards (#4)

7) Becky Baker (#3)

8) Miles Hollingsworth (#6) 

9) Drew Torres (#7)

10) Hunter Hollingsworth (#14)
We get an even more solid look at this kid; he’s a loner, and he’s got a lot of pent up anger toward the cheerleaders.  We see a lot of his hostility toward them is because of their treatment of Arlene, a kind of nerdy, quiet girl he likes.  While Hunter and Arlene might be the cute new ship fans gush over, there’s absolutely nothing cute or endearing about the disturbing way Hunter channels his anger through violent drawings about killing his fellow students.

11) Eli Goldsworthy (–)

12) Winston Chu (–)

13) Mike Dallas (#10)

14)  Alli Bhandari (#13)

15) Imogen Moreno (#18)
I have no emotional attachment to Jackogen, but I’ve been consistently impressed with what Degrassi’s had Imogen do when it comes to them.  We’ve seen Imogen try to impress Jack multiple times now, doing whatever Jack thinks is cool so that Jack will continue to like her.  Imogen was about to go along with Jack’s relationship request, until the reality of it (seeing Jack on a date) became too much.  How often do we find ourselves trying to do things to impress others or not honestly communicating our feelings for fear of rejection?

16) Shay Powers (#15)

17) Jack (#19)

18) Tiny King (#16)

19) Tristan Milligan (–)

20) Arlene Takahashi (UNRANKED)
She basically just sat there quietly during her debut, but the situation surrounding Arlene (Hunter vs. the Cheerleaders) gives her an instant bump in value.  You could say 1406 showed her as someone who’s off in her own world, doing her own thing.  Her talking about being obsessed with something the “popular” kids aren’t into is quite the relatable position for those of us who spend a lot of time online.

21) Lola Pacini (–)

22) Jonah Haak (#20)

23) Connor DeLaurier (#22)

24) Jenna Middleton (#23)
So Connor and Jenna have to appear within the next episode or two, don’t they? They were on set around the time RT! was directing his episode block (which is airing now)…

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Zoë’s Birthday Blackmail

It’s Zoë’s birthday, and she receives a mysterious package from a stranger:  a doll programmed to say “I know about Degrassi nudes.”  Not knowing who it’s from, Zoë becomes paranoid.  She also ends up receiving a text message from a blocked number saying they’ll reveal the Degrassi Nudes scheme publicly unless Zoë quits power cheer.  She prepares to resign by lying and telling the other girls she needs to quit power cheer because she was offered a movie role, but before they can do that they surprise her with a cake and personal bracelet.  Zoë can’t bring herself to quit, so she ends up telling Grace to shut down Degrassi Nudes.  Afterward, Zoë informs the squad that she’s shut down Degrassi Nudes for good, but everyone on the squad receives a text message from the same anonymous stranger blackmailing Zoë.  The person threatens to reveal power cheer is behind Degrassi Nudes unless the girls kick Zoë off the squad.

GRADE: B
QUICK REVIEW: This is one of those conflicting scenarios where Zoë did questionable things with good intentions (in her mind), but now someone’s threatening to take away the best thing she’s gained from it (having REAL friends).  The PLL-style setup of someone anonymously blackmailing Zoë is amusing, especially the creepy doll.  She lost her acting career.  She lost a sense of normalcy after her sexual assault, because people continued to treat her like a victim.  It was great to see a multi-dimensional character like Zoë legitimately feel accepted in the moment, because all she’s ever wanted since coming to Degrassi is to fit in.  However, Zoë seems to think she can do “whatever it takes” to get what she wants, and it looks like she’s poised to learn another difficult lesson about how quickly one can lose it all.

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Tristan FINALLY Realizes Miles Is In Trouble

Winston believes Miles hasn’t been himself, and tells Tristan that Miles changed when the two of them started hanging out.  Tristan confronts Miles about it, and Miles tells Tristan that he isn’t the problem…as a matter of fact, Miles assures Tristan he has no problem at all.

When Miles doesn’t show up to class for their presentation, Tristan shows up at his house to find Miles smoking weed in his pool.  Tristan believes Miles has a weed addiction, and Winston suggests they stage an intervention.

GRADE: C
QUICK REVIEW: Maybe I missed something, but since when did Miles basically develop a weed addiction? It feels like they needed a tangible angle to have Tristan finally join the “Something’s Wrong With Miles” Club, because Miles just moping around ALL OF THE TIME isn’t noticeable enough. Tristan has been off in his own Miles-esque universe this season, ignoring every potential warning sign that something is wrong.  That’s his character’s major flaw though, especially when it comes to romance; Tristan can be so blinded by “love” that he can’t see what’s happening right in front of his face.  His character has been useless so far this season, and besides the simple fact he and everyone else finally realize Miles is spiraling out of control, it’s hard to be engaged with Tristan’s POV when you stack it next to an emotionally gripping one like Maya’s.  With that said, I’m expecting the actual intervention in the next episode to be better.

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The Beginning Of The End For Bhandallas?

Alli reveals she’s been accepted into the University of Cambridge.  Dallas is upset she didn’t tell him she was accepted to a school so far away, and Alli says they need to talk soon about their future.  Believing that Alli will probably break up with him, Dallas decides to plan a date to wow her.  Shay overhears his plans and tells him they’re dumb, saying he needs to be more romantic.  Dallas plans a romantic evening involving dinner and staying overnight at a hotel, but Alli says no because she doesn’t want to have sex with him.  Dallas assumes Alli won’t sleep with him because she’s already planning on breaking up with him, and he yells at Shay by calling her date idea dumb.  Shay tells Dallas he shouldn’t be with someone who doesn’t want him, and reveals she has a crush on him.  As she goes in to kiss him, Alli walks in.  Dallas continues to think Alli doesn’t want him and doesn’t want a committed relationship with him that’s long distance.  Alli tells she doesn’t want to sleep with him because of how badly it’s messed up her past relationships…also, she wants them to build a future together that might include him moving overseas with her.

GRADE: A-
QUICK REVIEW: Sex happens on Degrassi, but rarely are the complexities of it fleshed out or discussed between characters on screen without massive consequences!  Dallas was in full panic mode, and honestly I would be too if someone I was seeing was suddenly offered an opportunity that meant moving away.  It’s a scary thought that someone you care about will go off to live a life elsewhere, and could possibly forget you.  Dallas is a good guy, but there was almost a vibe of him expecting Alli to prove her love for him by having sex with him.  If the two did it, it would be some kind of confirmation in his mind that she still has feelings for him (which was ridiculous thinking on his part).  The best part of this plot comes from Alli’s perspective:  she firmly puts Dallas in his place, not only calling him out on his one-track mind, but also reminding him that when it comes down to her personal decision to have sex, it’s about her and no one else.

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Hush airs Tuesday, December 16th at 9pm EST on TeenNick and MTV Canada.

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Tristan organizes an intervention for Miles, but it only pushes him further away. Zoë is sure that Hunter is the blackmailer and confronts him. Becky loves writing songs with Jonah but could he want to do more than make music?
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MTV Promo

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TeenNick :15 (Miles)

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TeenNick :15 (Zoë)

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It’s been a super busy week, otherwise I would’ve posted this earlier!

Epitome’s new series Open Heart will debut on Tuesday, January 20th at 9pm EST on TeenNick in the U.S. and YTV in Canada.

As much as I would love for TeenNick to air the show before or after Degrassi and FINALLY have some kind of primetime block consisting of multiple shows, that isn’t going to happen (and it’s smart for them not to do that).

That means the theory of Degrassi burning through all of season 14 at once is officially out the window; the show’s midseason finale (Firestarter) will air on January 13th.

Stephen Stohn said Degrassi will take an 11-week hiatus while Open Heart airs, meaning Degrassi should return on April 7th.  If they run through the rest of the known Degrassi episodes (1413-1424) that would wrap things up in June, not including 1425-1428.

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This week’s rankings are kind of quiet, which is what happens when a majority of the show’s primary players aren’t really involved in an episode.

1) Frankie Hollingsworth (Last Week: #1)

2) Zoë Rivas (#3)
I still maintain that it’s not unrealistic at this current point in time if Zoë avoided major repercussions for Degrassi Nudes. Keep in mind I won’t think that’s the case once Simpson becomes involved.  I still love the dynamic of her character:  she can be jealous and vindictive, but she also shows moments of being just like everyone else…she just wants to be accepted.

3) Maya Matlin  (#2)

4) Grace Cardinal (–)

5) Zig Novak (–)

6) Clare Edwards (–)

7) Miles Hollingsworth (#8)

8) Becky Baker (#7)

9) Drew Torres (–)
Never take love advice from Drew Torres.

10) Hunter Hollingsworth (–)

11) Alli Bhandari (#14)
Excellent smackdown from Alli in regards to Dallas’ expectations of sex.  It’s as if she’s finally learned something!

12) Mike Dallas (#13)
He was WAYYYYYY off base with his sexual expectations, but just looking at the overall situation from his point of view I get the general panic he was in at the thought of losing his dream girl.  Also, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that his sudden freakout caused him to completely overlook the most important thing:  he could’ve TALKED to Alli as opposed to assuming from the beginning that things were as good as over between him and Alli. 

13) Eli Goldsworthy (#11)

14)  Winston Chu (#12)

15) Shay Powers (#16)
Her presence in the gym scenes was an awesomely subtle way to establish her character outside of power cheer. 

16) Tristan Milligan (#19)
Tristan has been pretty useless in season 14.  The problem with his character now is without him receiving any character development throughout this period where his boyfriend is nearing a breaking point, we either see Tristan handcuffed to Miles like a lost puppy or him being a jackass toward Maya.  It really would’ve been nice to see a bit more of Tristan’s POV throughout all of this, besides the default knowledge that he’s desperate for love. At this point it’s hard to care about his level of concern for Miles when Maya’s plot is killing it.

17) Lola Pacini (#21)
A smooth piece of writing by Degrassi in regards to Lola’s inability to keep a secret.  Her bubbly, slightly ditzy persona complements the more serious Shay.

18) Imogen Moreno (#15)

19) Jack (#17)

20) Tiny King (#18)

21) Connor DeLaurier (#23)
Oh hey there, nice of you to join us!

22) Jenna Middleton (#24)
See #21.

23) Arlene Takahashi (#20)

24) Jonah Haak (#22)

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Something’s Got To Give airs on Tuesday, December 23rd at 9pm EST on TeenNick and MTV Canada.

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Drew is committed to keeping Becky happy but his situation with Clare has his attention divided. Maya lies in order to protect Miles, but the guilt is eating her up. Imogen is determined to find out who is behind the crooked online venture that has everyone at Degrassi talking.
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MTV Promo

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TeenNick :15 (Drecky)

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TeenNick :15 (Maya/Miles)

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Miles’ Intervention

Miles is late waking up to drive Frankie and Hunter to school.  After Mr. Hollingsworth yells at Miles, Frankie finds his stash and grills him about being addicted to weed.  At school, Miles tries to apologize to Tristan, who’s still upset because Miles ditched their presentation.  Miles tells Tristan that Perino will allow them to redo their presentation, and Tristan agrees as long as they meet up later to study.  Later, Tristan shows up with Frankie, Hunter and Winston and they hold an intervention.  Miles lashes out at them and runs out to his car.  As he’s backing out, he runs into Maya on her bicycle.

Maya’s unharmed and Miles winds up driving her to her therapy session.  While she meets with her therapist, Miles gets high in his car as he waits for her.  Once she returns, Miles drives slowly and Maya finally notices he’s high.  He accelerates and his car tears off opened door of a vehicle parked on the street.  Maya demands that Miles go back to the scene, but he refuses: since he has marijuana in his system he’d be charged with a DUI, and the consequences he would receive from his father would be too much for him to bear.

GRADE: B
QUICK REVIEW:  This was a setup episode, and in the case of Maya and Miles it puts them in a pickle going into 1409.  It’s awesome that we see a character actually going to therapy as opposed to it being implied!  It’s easy to see why Maya let things go after Miles told her what his father would do to him if it got out that Miles crashed into a car while high.  She still recognizes that Miles is in a dark place, and even though she’s going to therapy for anxiety stemming from Miles’ behavior and Cam’s suicide, that isn’t going to stop her from trying to protect Miles.

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The Case Of The Degrassi Nudes Stalker

Zoë comes clean about the stalker’s demands, leaving the squad furious that she didn’t tell them when he first contacted her.  Zoë says they need to stick together, so they all visit Grace and ask for her help.  She’s able to track down the person to the Hollingsworth home, so Zoë and the squad interrogate Hunter.  They take his computer and get evidence of his graphic novel and blackmail him into no longer sending them threatening messages, and he agrees.  Later, Hunter’s at The Dot with Arlene and tells her he has no idea what the cheerleaders wanted with him.  He says he just agreed to their demands so they’d leave him alone, meaning the identity of the stalker is still unknown.

GRADE: A-
QUICK REVIEW: I really liked this plot for several reasons.  1) Jack confirmed that she does know what they were doing can be considered child pornography by law.  In my commentary about Zoë in 1405’s Power Rankings, I mentioned Jack’s motivation for being a part of Degrassi Nudes could be more about empowering women.  If you’re questioning why Jack would willingly partake in this scheme knowing it’s illegal, think of it this way: countless young people engage in underage drinking, fully aware of the fact it’s against the law.  2) Jack’s knowledge is counterbalanced by the rest of the squad’s lack of knowledge (aka Lola having no clue what they were doing is considered child porn).  3) I like how the writers are building up Zoë and the squad through a false sense of relief, only to have it all crashing down in later episodes. 4) Misdirection city with the seemingly obvious culprit (Hunter) not being the stalker.

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Crellie 2.0?

Becky enjoys spending time with Jonah as they work on a song together because he encourages her.  He invites her to sing with him at The Dot’s open mic night and she agrees.  Drew gets kind of jealous because he believes guys and girls can’t be friends, and Jonah’s using this situation to make a move on Becky.  That makes Becky’s next meetup with Jonah uncomfortable, and she tells him she has a boyfriend.  Jonah tells her that he’s committed to God, so he wouldn’t try anything.  Prodigal Spoon’s performance is a success; while Drew apologizes for being jealous, Jonah walks off looking disappointed as Drecky makes up.

GRADE: B-
QUICK REVIEW: Becky and Jonah’s interaction in the episode was better than their first meeting.  I don’t think anyone actually likes Drecky, but at the very least you can understand specifically why they were drawn to each other and started dating:  they came together when they were both at very low points in their lives, and relied on each other for emotional comfort.  Outside of that Drecky has nothing in common, but on the other hand Becky and Jonah share core traits (music and God).  By default Jonah has the ability to provide Becky with the comfort she’s looking for (she told Drew that the band is the only thing she has right now), and it’s only a matter of time before he edges out Drew.

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As stated in the post about Degrassi going on hiatus, MTV confirmed Firestarter Pt. 2 as the midseason finale on January 13th.  Degrassi will return sometime in April.

Of course Degrassi started off season 14 with a flash forward to Firestarter, where Miles searches for a missing Frankie.

Firestarter Pt. 1 (1411 – Airs Tuesday, January 6): Degrassi’s fundraising scandal threatens to ruin Frankie’s relationship with her father. Zig and Tiny compete to get a cheerleader’s number. Clare contemplates her future and is confident that she can really have it all.

Firestarter Pt. 2 (1412 – Airs Tuesday, January 13th): Mr. Hollingsworth’s campaign is in its final stretch, and the stress has him even more tense than usual. Miles appeals to his family about his father’s behavior, but it seems like he’s the only one who realizes there needs to be a change. In the meantime, Zoë has used Frankie as a scapegoat for the Power Cheer debacle, but Frankie isn’t giving up. Along with Winston, she creates an elaborate plan to prove that Zoë is the one behind the scheme. Imogen reveals to Eli the truth about Clare’s situation.

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1408 was little more than a setup episode, so it’s another quiet week in the rankings.  Major drama will pick back up in 1409, causing major shakeups next week.

1) Frankie Hollingsworth (Last Week: #1)

2) Zoë Rivas (–)
Good for Zoë finally finding a place where she feels accepted.  Too bad it’s all going to come crashing down because she built everything she’s gained on a bed of reckless behavior.

3) Maya Matlin  (–)
As always her intentions are good as she wants to protect Miles from his father.  However, the concern going into 1409 is that her desire to protect Miles unintentionally transforms into her enabling him.

4) Grace Cardinal (–)

5) Miles Hollingsworth (#7 )

6) Zig Novak (#5)

7) Clare Edwards (–)

8) Becky Baker (–)
Becky and Jonah’s interaction is far more natural in this episode. As I explained in my recap of Hush, Jonah fits the mold of what Becky needs more than Drew ever will.  There’s no point in wasting time talking about Drecky because they’re not long for this world.  Jonah is instantly more compatible for Becky than Drew because he offers her what Drew can and then some.

9) Hunter Hollingsworth (#10)
We can now cross Hunter off the list of people stalking the cheerleaders.

10) Drew Torres (#9)
Maybe it’s because I’m a straight guy with experience in the female friend department, but Drew’s jealous was definitely realistic here.  It didn’t matter how platonic our friendship was, I’ve had female friend’s boyfriends jealous of me (emotional relationships can be far more threatening than physical ones).  Now when it comes to Drew’s statement about how guys and girls can never be friends, there’s obviously no definitive answer to that; it always depends on the situation.  But in their specific situation I’d like to think it’s difficult for someone to start a NEW friendship with a new person who’s already in a relationship.  And when you reach my age, good luck trying to start up the kind of friendship that involves lots of communcating/hanging out with someone who’s married.

11) Alli Bhandari (–)

12) Mike Dallas (–)

13) Eli Goldsworthy (–)

14)  Winston Chu (–)

15) Shay Powers (–)

16) Lola Pacini (#17)
Lol at Julio…with each passing episode it becomes more apparent that Lola is Degrassi’s version of Cat Valentine.

17) Jack (#17)
So Jack did know better after all…I really loved that scene, and I loved that Jack finally flexed her muscles when it came to something outside of Imogen.  Jack went into Degrassi Nudes knowing what the worst-case scenario could be while the other girls ranged from knowing they could get in some kind of trouble if they got caught (Shay) to just being along for the ride (Lola).

18) Tristan Milligan (#16)
I really thought Tristan would’ve been more involved in this episode.  So much for Triles being anything more than two people who’ve been using each other for their own emotional benefit.

19) Imogen Moreno (#15)

20) Jonah Haak (#22)
His appearance in this episode was much better than his debut.  Now we just sit back and wait for Becky to fall into his arms.

21) Arlene Takahashi (#20)
“Well whatever they have coming, they deserve it.”  Now how would Arlene know they have something coming…?

22) Tiny King (#18)

23) Connor DeLaurier (#23)

24) Jenna Middleton (#24)

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“Are you really going to lie for this guy?”

At the beginning of the episode Maya overhears Dallas talking about his car being involved in a hit-and-run, and she puts two and two together.  She goes to Miles’ house to talk to him, but he insists all he needs to do is take his car to the shop before his dad notices.  However, Mr. Hollingsworth spotted the car and demands to know what happened.  When Maya sees Mr. H grab Miles, she lies and tells him they were hit by a car that took off.  Mr. H then demands they go to the police station to report it.

At the station, Maya lies to the officer and tells him they were shopping at the mall and were hit in the parking lot.  He tells her to draw a diagram of the parking lot and list which stores they visited, and as long as her story matches Miles’ they’ll be alright.  At school Maya freaks out because she knows they’re going to get caught, but Miles is high.  She realizes she lied for nothing when Miles doesn’t care that they’re going to get in trouble, and in the moment he decides to confess to Dallas that he was the one who hit his car.  Miles also tries to provoke Dallas into hitting him, but Alli convinces Dallas to walk away.  Maya winds up back at the police station and her mom’s upset because Maya’s hurting herself trying to save Miles.  Maya’s mom tells her she can’t help Miles if he won’t help himself, so Maya tells the officer the truth this time.  Afterward, Miles thanks Maya for caring about him and the two learn Mr. H used his power to make sure they won’t have a criminal record.  Maya tells Miles that he needs to start trying to help himself, but Miles somberly tells her that he can’t tell anyone about his dad.

GRADE: B-
QUICK REVIEW: I’ve finally reached the point where I’m suffering from “Maya trying to save Miles and destroying herself in the process” fatigue.  Thankfully, Maya’s mom hit the nail on the head with the point of this plot:  you can’t help people who aren’t willing to help themselves.  There’s some scary scenes in this episode though when it comes to Miles, because it’s as if he’s so beaten down that he doesn’t care anymore.  He practically begs Dallas to hit him, and despite finally realizing Maya’s been trying to help him, he sees no way out in dealing with his dad.  The ball has officially been placed in Miles’ court when it comes to dealing with his personal demons.

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Inspector Imogen on the case

Imogen is presented with the perfect opportunity for a juicy Degrassi News story:  Hunter reveals someone at Degrassi is sending pictures of their boobs for money and shows Imogen a pic, so she decides to investigate.

Jack repeatedly tries to discourage Imogen from looking into Degrassi Nudes for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t stop Imogen from wanting to find out who’s responsible.  Imogen’s investigation is interrupted when she accidentally reveals what she’s doing to Simpson, who shuts down her story and tells her investigating Degrassi Nudes is a police matter.  Jack continues to shrug off the idea of someone sending nude pics for money as no big deal, and Imogen realizes Jack is the one sending pics.  Jack also confesses that the entire cheerleading squad is doing it, and Imogen’s furious because she feel as if Jack cheated on her.  After a talk Eli, Imogen talks to Jack and forgives her.

GRADE: B
QUICK REVIEW:  This isn’t the sexiest of plots and it’s one that’s just waiting to be forgotten.  However, wading through my indifference toward Jackogen reveals Degrassi doing something they rarely do: give Imogen’s character some depth, and that’s something worth praising.  She’s angry at Jack for two reasons: one reason is Imogen feels Degrassi Nudes reinforces the idea that women are seen as little more than objects, further strengthening the belief that women aren’t viewed as equal to men (*gasp* continuity from the Imogen we saw in Dig Me Out and Power To The People!).  Another reason is she views Jack’s willingness to show her boobs to anyone, even boys, as cheating.  Imogen and Jack are two quirky girls seemingly attracted to each other’s quirkiness, but as we’ve seen multiple times they’re often on different levels about things.  It’s good to see Imogen standing up for herself instead of “Spineless Imogen” rearing her ugly head and just accepting whatever Jack does because Imogen doesn’t want to rock the boat.

Of course the most underrated aspect of the episode is the fact Simpson now knows about Degrassi nudes.  He will address the school about it.  Police will be involved.

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The hot mess that is “Eclewcky”

Drew’s got a choice to make: he’s either got to go with Clare to her birthing class, or have dinner with Becky and her grandmother.  Drew chooses the latter, but finds himself distracted during dinner once Clare texts him to tell him their baby kicked.  After unintentionally revealing to Becky’s grandmother that he’s having a baby with another girl, Becky’s upset and Drew feels torn between Becky and Clare.  Drew decides that he needs to be there for Clare and the baby, so he chooses to break up with Becky.

Drew goes with Clare to her first ultrasound and they discover they’re having a boy; they both agree to name him Adam.  Once Drew leaves so Clare can finish the rest of her appointment, she tells the doctor that she’s amazed they can tell the sex of the baby at 12 weeks.  The doctor tells Clare is 16 weeks pregnant, which would mean Drew isn’t the father.

GRADE: B
QUICK REVIEW:  The bombshell at the end is a monster of its own that we can hold off discussing until next week.  However, the meat of this episode made me proud of Drew.  In a rare move, he doesn’t have to be told what to do, he makes the responsible decision on his own.  Also, kudos to Becky for acknowledging that because of the situation Drew can’t give her what she needs.  Degrassi gives fans an early Christmas present:  the end of one of the show’s most-hated couples of all time.

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Hero vs. Villain airs Tuesday, December 30th at 9pm EST on TeenNick and MTV Canada.

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Mr. Simpson calls an assembly to address the offending fundraising website. Tristan is trying his best to make up with Miles, but the connection seems to be fading. Alli can’t keep a secret and blurts Clare’s news to Dallas.
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MTV Promo

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TeenNick Promo

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1) Maya Matlin  (#3)
Thank goodness for Maya’s mom, who called out Maya’s unhealthy obsession with Miles’ safety before it destroyed her own life.  Though the back and forth of Maya trying to intervene in Miles’ life started to become repetitive from a storytelling standpoint, I can’t deny being happy that Degrassi’s allowing someone to not only suffer longterm effects from a traumatic event, but also being able to watch them recover as Maya’s in therapy.  Besides a “big reveal” where Maya is finally ready to tell Miles about Cam, I’m curious to see where her character goes from here.

2) Miles Hollingsworth (#5 )
It seems to have finally set in that Maya is “meddling” because she cares for him, and Miles sees how his actions have affected her.  With Maya having told him that he needs to get his act together, the ball is finally in court when it comes to dealing with his dad.

3) Drew Torres (#10)
“Good Drew” came to play, and I feel bad for him.  He tried to do the right thing by letting Becky go, and she went off on him.  He’s trying to do the right thing by Clare, and the baby won’t be his.  I’m trying to figure out how things will end for Drew on Degrassi and can’t really think of anything besides him drifting off alone.

4) Becky Baker (#8)
Slightly torn because I didn’t necessarily like Becky throwing her beliefs in Drew’s face when the guy’s in a tough spot and trying to do what’s right, but her reaction seemed on par with what you’d expect from someone who’s feeling hurt because of how much they invested into the relationship. Oh well, time to move onto Jonah now…

5) Grace Cardinal (#4)

6) Frankie Hollingsworth (#1)

7) Zoë Rivas (#2)

8) Clare Edwards (#7)
I shouldn’t have to explain the logic behind why Clare and Eli would’ve had sex in the season 13 episode, Basket Case.  This arch has violently shifted back and forth between “I get why the individual characters are doing this” to “Why the hell is any of this happening?”  But just because you don’t like the idea of it being Eli’s baby, it doesn’t make Eclare sex in 1322 implausible.

9) Hunter Hollingsworth (–)
When you have a secondary character like Hunter, they can use him as the go-to guy who’s into “Degrassi Nudes” as opposed to doing 1409’s opening scene with a random creepy guy we’ll never see again.

10) Mike Dallas (#12)
“You’re so cute when you pretend to be a dad.” That is one of the harshest lines I can remember anyone saying on Degrassi, and mad props to Dallas for not busting Miles’ teeth out for saying it.  We as fans tend jump on Degrassi’s case the second we notice a lack of continuity, but won’t say a word (or will give a backhanded compliment) when they get it right.  In 1409 this a case where, like using Hunter as the guy who loves “Degrassi Nudes,” Dallas’ character (along with a Rocky mention) was seamlessly integrated into another character’s storyline.  There’s also the fact that Miles said it to Dallas, but also seemed to be projecting how he feels about his own dad.

11) Alli Bhandari (–)

12) Zig Novak (#6)

13) Eli Goldsworthy (–)

14) Imogen Moreno (#19)
Imogen is a much better character when she stands tall and stands up for herself instead of following a love interest around like a lost puppy.

15) Winston Chu (#14)

16) Jack (#17)

17) Shay Powers (#15)

18) Lola Pacini (#16)

19) Tristan Milligan (#18)

20) Jonah Haak (–)

21) Arlene Takahashi (–)

22) Tiny King (–)

23) Connor DeLaurier (–)

24) Jenna Middleton (–)

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Firestarter Pt. 1 airs on Tuesday, January 6th at 9pm EST on TeenNick and MTV Canada.

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Degrassi’s fundraising scandal threatens to ruin Frankie’s relationship with her father. Zig and Tiny compete to get a cheerleader’s number. Clare contemplates her future and is confident that she can really have it all.
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MTV Promo

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TeenNick Promo

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