Emma is My Favorite Character: Unpopular Degrassi Opinions

[truelovekiss]

Also, is it my imagination, or have all of the kids gotten significantly richer? I know Paige, Jimmy and Liberty all came from upper middle class homes, but Craig, Manny, Emma, Spinner, JT, Sean, Jay, Alex and more came from working class to poor families. But then it seemed like the new kids were significantly better off.

[luckyroll3]

The only one recently they've shown to be "poorer" is Zig, and his friend who was the bad influence (who actually hasn't been shown for a while).

[Petunia13]

Holly J had money problems and Jenna and her baby daddy who I didn't like.

*I hate Eli. Oh my God, do I hate Eli. His bad boy, driving a hearse thing was the stupidest jump the shark move ever. I was like, are you serious, show? Is this what constitutes as a bad boy now? It was the most pathetic attention grab.

This. Fucking this! I don't think there's a character in the history of all the incarnations of Degrassi I disdain more. He is such a self centered attention whore whiny douche who isn't even entertaining. And Degrassi can do mentally ill or damaged characters that had humor or nuances- Craig for sure his story and performance was layered, and compelling, also Emma, Sean, Ellie.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Petunia13

[Bubbles]

I liked Jane, until they ruined her in the Manhattan movie. She had a life outside of her boyfriend and encouraged other girls to find their own stuff to do instead of sitting around waiting for their boyfriends to pay attention to them. She seemed to feel genuinely terrible about cheating on Spinner, and while I understand why he was hurt, frankly I thought his reaction was pretty rich coming from a guy who cheated on at least two of his past girlfriends and was lucky to be given a second chance by one of them.

But then they turned her into a blubbering mess who couldn't function without a man.

[Bubbles]

Holly J had money problems

Yeah, except when she got into Yale there was zero mention of how she was going to afford foreign student tuition at an Ivy League school. I guess Fiona paid for that too?

[Petunia13]

LOL I didn't care how that was portrayed and had waved her always giving her money. "What's a few thousand dollars? We're friends!"

Spinner is weird because he has a lot of qualities I find repugnant but he is still one of my favorite characters. Makes no sense but its how I feel. Just like I think Emma is annoying but like her, Adam had a lot of good traits but I didn't care about him and I should have since his story was fascinating so I don't get why.

Not sure if this is unpopular but ~ seething Drew hate ~

Edited June 2, 2015 by Petunia13

[paceyjwitter]

UO: I could not care less about Eli or Zoe and think that both Clare and Zig could do much better. I wouldn't compare the two but I watched the former two treat the latter two like complete shit all last block and I'm not really eager to see them rewarded in any way. 

[Racj82]

Okay, these are classic Degrassi opinions. I just finished the first series. All the way through to the TV movie. I have a few thoughts I need to share. I have no one to talk to about this stuff.

 

There are some obvious choice for best couple on Degrassi (from either series). but my favorite couple has turned out to be Michelle and BLT. I just loved seeing them together and they were very supportive of one another. Which it also made me legit angry when they had BLT cheat on her only after a fucking month apart (I know, teenagers, but whatever) like they did. I saw no need to blow them up. Maybe the actor that played BLT needed time off because he kind of drifted off the series midway through the last season. It's the really frustrating thing about degrassi. There were a lot kids that didn't really care about acting so we lose great characters because of school or lack of interest. I support their decision but it sucks as a fan is all.

 

I actually think the actress playing Michelle was the best of the OG actors. She showed great range in the various struggles they threw at her and it's crazy how much time she got.

 

There are two things I found the most irritating about OG Degrassi and I don't know if people would agree.

 

They repeated the same damn storyline twice in the span of three episode and I didn't find it interesting either time. We had Liv and Spike fighting because Spike dumped the dude she was dating and then he and Liv showed interest in each other and Spike went apeshit about it after not being really into the guy at all and say it was okay. Her argument was that, "You should have known I didn't mean it was okay to date him". Fuck out of here with that. Again, I know TEENAGERS. It doesn't make it any less annoying to watch. Two episode later, those two rando girls where one of them was into Snake got into the same damn argument. One girl liked Snake. He wasn't into her. She was over it. Snake asks the other girl out. Friend gets pissed when the girl accepts the date. They literally have the same exchange about you should have known better. This one is even worse because no one dated anyone at this point. I just have no time for this. Authentic or not.

 

Now, for me main beef. The handling of the character of Shane. This is by far the most frustrating of a character in all my time watch any of Degrassi throughout the years. Let me just breaks this down.

 

Shane and Spike have sex.

Spike gets pregnant.

Shane skirts is responsibility but finally comes around.

 

He wants to be more involved in everything but Spike keeps pushing him away even when he's clearly sincere now and he has stood up for her and the baby to his parents. The main reason why he says nothing to his parents at first is because he didn't want to get sent away. Spike doesn't give a shit about any of this.

 

Spike has the baby at the beginning of the summer. At the same time, Shane gets sent away for summer against his will. Shane writes letters to keep in touch with Spike and the baby and explain himself but Spike never opens one letter. Even after he explains himself upon return, she still wont give him the time of the day. She wont let him see his actual baby either, even though it's unfair to Shane. I hate that Spike had to spend the summer with a newborn without him but he didn't run out on the girl.

 

Then he decides to give child support to help out. She reacts like, "what the hell is this" to her friends instead of being thankful. She also still wont let him see the baby until months afterwards.

 

The only slip up he does is not pay child support one week because of a concert. Not a good move but not evil. Spike gets pissy again.

 

Shane takes acid at said concert and falls of a bridge (off camera). Spike gives no fucks. They never have her address this at all. Not once.

 

Shane vanishes from the show while in critical condition.

 

Shane comes to visit Spike but he's brain damaged so he has trouble expression his emotions and speaking. Spike seemingly is seeing him for the first time JUST NOW. She at first treats him like a crazy person. "What's wrong with him". He took acid and fell off a fucking bridge! What the fuck. She treats him better and with more care the second time but that's it for Shane.

 

One of the most mishandled storylines I've ever seen on tv. It also left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to Spike. It's crazy to me that this is actually Emma's dad. I never saw his origin before. To know that these are the storylines revolving around one of the Degrassi's most important characters is crazy to me.

 

Sorry for the venting. I had to get that off my chest.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Racj82

[luckyroll3]

She did let Emma meet him when Emma asked about her dad that one time.....

[paceyjwitter]

She did let Emma meet him when Emma asked about her dad that one time.....

I thought Spike yelled at her, insisted on keeping Emma in the dark about what happened to Shane and Emma had to sneak off with Craig during school hours? Spike was pregnant with Emma's brother at the time. 

[luckyroll3]

I thought Spike yelled at her, insisted on keeping Emma in the dark about what happened to Shane and Emma had to sneak off with Craig during school hours? Spike was pregnant with Emma's brother at the time. 

Maybe.  I really don't remember.  What I do remember is that Emma sought him out and was surprised at his condition.

Edited June 11, 2015 by luckyroll3

[Racj82]

I do remember that story line despite not remembering all the details. It would not surprise me if Spike overreacted to Emma wanting to see her dad judging by how she reacted to things prior. I understand wanting to protect your daughter but Shane wasn't evil. Emma knowing about her father wouldn't hurt her. Make her said for sure but she should have known about Shane from early on. No reason for her not to know. Just a terrible handling of this SL.

[paceyjwitter]

Spike flipped out and actively prevented anyone else from telling Emma about Shane's condition. I recall Emma questioning Caitlin at (I think) Spike's baby shower. Snake ultimately was the one who told Emma the whole story. But same. I rewatched the original series as well as the first twelve seasons of the next generation not long ago and Spike did NOT come across as a very good person. I know raising a child alone was difficult, but as Racj82 pointed out, Shane wanted to be involved. 

Edited June 11, 2015 by zayasex

[Daisy]

I do agree. Spike was really much a cow about the entire situation. 

[the living statue]

I love the conversation about old school Degrassi as I've also been watching it on Amazon Prime. Unpopular opinion: I can't stand Arthur. He is sanctimonious, Yick was actually a pretty decent friend to him, and no-one cares about him being "rich".

[Racj82]

I love the conversation about old school Degrassi as I've also been watching it on Amazon Prime. Unpopular opinion: I can't stand Arthur. He is sanctimonious, Yick was actually a pretty decent friend to him, and no-one cares about him being "rich".

I hope it's not unpopular. I wanted to punch Arthur in face over and over again after Stephanie left (not really but in my mind yes). He was so obnoxious about the whole money thing. They honestly weren't even THAT rich. Even back then. They would blow through that money in no time. This also falls under "it's true to the real world but it doesn't make it any more enjoyable" but the way he treated his cousin the same way his sister treated him made me so damn angry. There was never even a epiphany where he realized that he shouldn't treat his cousin like that. He just remained douchey. I do like that Yick casually moved on and a big deal wasn't made about it. The friendship wasn't totally gone but it wasn't the Yick/Arthur show anymore. They never made a big deal about Yick becoming a stoner either. He just started smoking. That was pretty much it. Cigarettes to start but by the time the show was over, he was clearly a pot head. Oh, I almost forgot how Arthur blew up his fathers first bit of romantic happiness after the divorce because he missed hanging out with dad. First of all, grow up. You're a teenager. Go out on a date or something. Second, the mother had already firmly moved on. Let him live his life too. Third, this is another instance of Arthur doing the same thing Stephanie did while learning nothing from her mistake. Arthur never really gets called on this either. The woman breaks up with the dad and that's it. We never even see the Dad again. It's end with him being miserable and Arthur all like "lets watch this dopey TV show". Another instant where Arthur could have at least tried to fix things but he gave no fucks.

 

Also I found the transition from the end of the last season to the movie to be odd involving Yick. The girl he hooks up with at the end of the season is with a totally different guy at the start of the movie. Not that it's crazy. They just might not have worked out. But, the only scene we see of Yick early on is with him, the girl and her new boyfriend...who's he stoner buddies with. it was just jarring when I saw it. There's just a whole transition there that we leaped over. Not the most important plot but they could have just left Yick with her. He was a lazy stoner too. They could have went through the plotline the exact same way while keeping some more continuity.

[the living statue]

Also I found the transition from the end of the last season to the movie to be odd involving Yick. The girl he hooks up with at the end of the season is with a totally different guy at the start of the movie. Not that it's crazy. They just might not have worked out. But, the only scene we see of Yick early on is with him, the girl and her new boyfriend...who's he stoner buddies with. it was just jarring when I saw it. There's just a whole transition there that we leaped over. Not the most important plot but they could have just left Yick with her. He was a lazy stoner too. They could have went through the plotline the exact same way while keeping some more continuity.

 

I love your entire post but quoted for brevity. Yick hooked up with the awesome Tessa Campanelli, at Degrassi High. She dumped skeevy Alex for him. School's Out! felt like a different universe in the OG Degrassi world. Some of the characters barely seemed to acknowledge old relationships, like you mention. It would have been awesome to see Tessa dump stoner Yick, and then have her hook up with Joey Jeremiah.

 

And re: Arthur. His conduct with regard to his father's relationship was so petty. In a cheesy sitcom, he would have seen the error of his ways, and made amends by the end of the episode. I s'pose part of the charm of Degrassi is that the characters are usually shown to have choices, and sometimes their decisions end up being sub-optimal. Arthur often ends up looking like an awful person to me, though it seems to me like he is meant to be portrayed as "the nice guy".

[Racj82]

I love your entire post but quoted for brevity. Yick hooked up with the awesome Tessa Campanelli, at Degrassi High. She dumped skeevy Alex for him. School's Out! felt like a different universe in the OG Degrassi world. Some of the characters barely seemed to acknowledge old relationships, like you mention. It would have been awesome to see Tessa dump stoner Yick, and then have her hook up with Joey Jeremiah.

 

And re: Arthur. His conduct with regard to his father's relationship was so petty. In a cheesy sitcom, he would have seen the error of his ways, and made amends by the end of the episode. I s'pose part of the charm of Degrassi is that the characters are usually shown to have choices, and sometimes their decisions end up being sub-optimal. Arthur often ends up looking like an awful person to me, though it seems to me like he is meant to be portrayed as "the nice guy".

Thanks. Sorry for the length of the post. Literally when I saw the name Arthur, the anger rose back up in me. I do appreciate that show hints at Arthur becoming a dick and never really reward him for it but he also gets off with a lot of awful behavior for someone we should like in theory. I could kind of route for Arthur in th early going but that went away so quickly as he got older. I think with characters like that, they need a little more balance.so they don't just come off as hateable but that didn't happen with him. For example, I disliked a lot of Wheels actions once his parents died (even if I understood them in context) but they showed him learning from his mistakes in parts and he did work on himself even if it sadly wasn't able to stick.

[the living statue]

Thanks. Sorry for the length of the post. Literally when I saw the name Arthur, the anger rose back up in me. I do appreciate that show hints at Arthur becoming a dick and never really reward him for it but he also gets off with a lot of awful behavior for someone we should like in theory. I could kind of route for Arthur in th early going but that went away so quickly as he got older. I think with characters like that, they need a little more balance.so they don't just come off as hateable but that didn't happen with him. For example, I disliked a lot of Wheels actions once his parents died (even if I understood them in context) but they showed him learning from his mistakes in parts and he did work on himself even if it sadly wasn't able to stick.

 

Yes, Degrassi Junior High Arthur was more interesting than the older Arthur, I think. He had the relationship with his sister Stephanie for a start. Degrassi High Arthur is usually always portrayed as "the nice guy" even when he really isn't very nice, and he seems utterly incapable of introspection. How sad for Arthur that he peaked in Junior High!

Wheels is a great example of a character who is far more fleshed out in this respect. Though I loathed what his character turned into, as you say, he was not one-dimensional and did seem capable of realizing that he needed to make changes (even if it was just for self-preservation purposes).

[paceyjwitter]

Speaking of Wheels, an unpopular opinion of mine is that I actually liked him. He was one of my favorite characters. I know he did some awful things and could be really selfish at times, but I found it really hard NOT to root for him. He'd been through so much and I do think he was more or less lost after his parents died. His brief appearances on the next generation made it clear that he'd finally turned over a new leaf. 

[Chairperson Meow]

I never liked Spike. Ever.

[HazelNoir]

This is my first post here! I've been lurking forever but I finally decided to join. I agree with so many posts people made here. Bubbles' post about Jimmy on the last page was spot on. He treated all of his girlfriends terribly, not to mention his mother. I feel like they could've done so much more with him and he was more compelling than Spinner but he didn't get that much focus after the shooting.

 

My biggest UO? I disliked JT. He was petty a lot of the time and it wasn't even poor writing or something you could chalk up to him being 12 or 13. When Manny got her makeover in Season 3, we were supposed to feel bad for him that he didn't get to date her, as if he was entitled to her just because he knew her longer. When she dated Sully instead of him, he just acted like those "nice guys" who complain about being "friend zoned" instead of realizing that Manny was her own human being who was allowed to date whoever she wanted. Then the show sets them up together, which says "see? Manny was stupid after all. Bad boys Sully and Craig messed her up, but JT would never!". Then he brings up Craig before they date, which Manny shuts down gracefully, and then again in the next season, when he thinks Manny would still have feelings for Craig because of the hot tub scene. Manny was right to end the relationship right there and then she called him out on his pettiness at Rick's funeral, but she still was friends with him because the show didn't think it was wrong of him to act like he deserved her over anyone else because he's inherently a better person because he's goofy.

Then I also hated how he treated Toby. He tried to ditch him for the popular kids and still wouldn't be friends with him after the Rick stuff but Toby was always there for him no matter how terrible JT was. It kind of reminds me of Dave and Wesley in a way but at least those two were forgotten about before they were able to get too toxic. I didn't like his relationship with Liberty that much either but that's for another day.

 

I like Ashley a lot. I like how she always changed her style for who she was hanging out with (a more visual interpretation of personal discovery in adolescence, I guess) and she acted like a real human being, which isn't always taking the high road (like the frenemy dynamic with Paige when they were in middle school or outing Manny's pregnancy or feeling overwhelmed by Craig and wanting to go to England) and making decisions based on communication and rationality. I usually see people hate how she's negative or petty but I feel like it's more of people calling any kind of female character who isn't perky all the time a bitch. Maybe that's a stretch but some of the things Craig or Peter or Drew have gotten away with get less comments sometimes. Like, Craig took Ashley off his credits on his CD but nobody thought that was wrong, but Ashley wanting her own direction for her song was way worse. Yeah she could've talk with him about it, but I like Ashley because communicating was an issue for her. 

 

I didn't like Adam that much. I understood his impact and role and I liked some of his episodes and since he had a lot of friends he didn't always interact with the same people, but I feel like the writers didn't know what to do with him for how to progress his storyline. I feel like they were moving at a snail's pace or giving him subplots which didn't really give us anything new about him. It sucks that (from the looks of it) Jordan wanted to leave the show (are we allowed to talk about behind the scenes or fandom things here?) but at least Adam isn't stuck in a limbo of dating and breaking up with Becky for these last 2 seasons. If they'd have another trans character on the show, I think they should do more research, whether that involves trans writers or trans actors and actresses, but that's for another thread.  

 

I liked Mia, before she became a model at least. I liked the episodes where she was dating Lucas and having to deal with her child almost being taken away and stuff. Yeah, she wasn't helping Liberty or Toby at all at JT's memorial but I've gone through loss and there's ALWAYS someone who thinks they were closer to the person than you were or tries to invalidate your mourning somehow so it was good to see that on TV somewhere. 

 

I really liked Paige, Marco, and Ellie's college plots. They're not realistic at all but I liked how they talked about things like anxiety, dropping out, not knowing what you're doing in life, loneliness, codependency. I feel like I can relate to Free Falling and Don't Stop Believing more than some of the early "relatable" year plots. 

 

That's all for now, but I'll probably be back here if I think of something else! 

[Chairperson Meow]

I totally related to Paige's college experience. I did hate that Emma dropped out. I can't see her not doing well in school or at least trying. I also think they dropped the ball with Toby. He had the stuff for a great storyline- nerdy guy suddenly related to the popular girl, best friend gets killed. They just never did enough with him imo.

[Daisy]

I totally related to Paige's college experience. I did hate that Emma dropped out. I can't see her not doing well in school or at least trying. I also think they dropped the ball with Toby. He had the stuff for a great storyline- nerdy guy suddenly related to the popular girl, best friend gets killed. They just never did enough with him imo.

 

I just think compared to everyone else, the actor wasn't really that strong. 

[Chairperson Meow]

I just think compared to everyone else, the actor wasn't really that strong.

True, but he could have grown. A lot of the cast wasn't great then, but most grew.

I saw Jake Epstien (Craig) in a clip on Teen Nick. My stupid no longer teen heart went a flutter. Still.

I also really liked the Declan actor. I hope I see him in another show.

[Bubbles]

The floating timeline (dragging out a "school year" over multiple seasons to hold onto actors as long as possible) has done the show more harm than good at some points. I've been marathon-rewatching the show from the beginning, and it's really struck me that the worst seasons of the show tend to be the ones that were the last gasp of a group of graduating seniors. They run out of good story ideas for the characters and basically just run them into the ground so that it feels like a good thing when they finally graduate.

It started with Emma and Manny's class. Most of their storylines in their last high school season were terrible - Purple Dragon, Manny and Jay's engagement (I liked them together but the fake engagement was stupid and the stuff about the plane tickets to Malta was even worse), Jimmy and Ashley fighting over music and breaking up again, Liberty hooking up with Emma's boyfriend, etc. Spinner was the only one of the graduating seniors who actually got a decent storyline that season.

The last season of Holly J, Anya and Sav's class also really dragged - Anya dating her mother's doctor and then becoming a coke fiend, Holly J's attempts to buy a kidney from her birth mother, Sav dating Ms. Oh, breaking up Riley and Zane just to give them something to do.

It was the same thing with the most recent season. The mountain of bad stuff that happened to Clare by the time she finally graduated was ridiculous - her parents got divorced, her ex-boyfriend crashed his car on purpose when she broke up with him, her next boyfriend became her step-brother, she ran away from home and was taken in by drug dealers, her co-op advisor sexually assaulted her and then got her fired, she got cancer, her boyfriend cheated on her, she got pregnant and didn't know who the father was, and then she had a miscarriage. Did I miss anything? Drew's list would probably be just as long. They couldn't even come up with anything for Ali, Jenna and Connor to do in their final season. It was long past time for them all to graduate.

[jsm1125]

I didn't really care for Katie, though I always liked her dynamic with Maya. She always struck me as an opportunistic jerk that we were supposed to believe was actually an overachieving do-gooder. I'm still annoyed that she never received any fallback from the foiling the cafeteria incident.

 

I never found Dylan attractive. His features seemed way too pointy to me, though I think we were supposed to view him as a stud.

[OlDegr]

Disclosure: I only stuck around until the TNG original class graduated.

 

 Here's some unpopular opinions:

   

1. Rick alone was to blame for Jimmy getting shot. Yeah, Spin contributed to Rick's angst with that lame prank but Rick alone did it and instead of everyone dumping on Spinner, they should have all dissed Rick's memory. Oh, hated how  Snake just spouted off jargon to Radich instead of pointing out that Radich ignored the biggest 'warning sign' re Rick's violence- he'd put Terri in that coma and Radich was wrong to ever let Rick return. Snake also failed Emma by not getting mad at Rick when she told him he'd pointed a gun at her (his new daughter). Instead of working to guilt JT to show up at Rick's funeral for Toby's sake, someone should have tried to tell Toby that a big part of growing up is that everyone can make mistakes in picking their friends and he could use his bad pick of Rick to learn to pick better next time.

 

 2. JT's 'little problem' was easily the most tasteless and potentially exploitive (for the performer) storyline. Imagine had it been about a flat chested girl who'd been exposed in front of her so-called friends and love interests or a kid who'd had keloid scars from cancer. Would anyone with any real compassion have thought it funny to have seen her continually dissed and her continually feeling shameful over it? They made a big point  to have all Terri's friends and other kids rally around her and shut  down Mohammed's dissing her for being plus-sized but they didn't do anything more than treat this as a joke for JT. Not only did Manny and Liberty not act like real girls and avert their eyes or tell Liberty's snotty kid brother Danny that that was no way to treat a houseguest, but they joined Toby (who himself deserved to be called on for having done that to his supposed best friend) in derisively laughing at JT's anatomy. Oh, and why didn't anyone on the show wonder why Danny was obsessing about his sister's friend's anatomy. Not only did the producers openly say they thought this rather crude, juvenile and tasteless joke was the 'funniest' gag ever but at no point did any character ever apologize to JT  for having treated him so shabbily. They all literally let him die without expressing any regrets over their unfair,cruel actions. Is it any wonder the performer   asked to be let out of the show even if it meant the character's death?

 

   3. If Manny truly hated being called a slut why didn't she just tone her wardrobe down to what it had been a few episodes earlier?  She sniffed about how Craig was dating Ashley when they hooked up but no one bringing it up but she herself hadn't yet broken up with Sully so no points for righteousness there.  Oh, and why were the producers so intent on showing how 'hot' she was supposed to be in that new wardrobe? Hello, the performer was barely in high school and they  could have conveyed how others viewed her without all those close up shots! Talk about exploitive.

 

   4. Hated how they were so intent on keeping Craig as an object of pity, that everyone excused away his beating up the much-smaller Joey as him being 'bipolar'!  Hello, he knew what he was doing just as Rick had. Joey had given him refuge from his own abusive father and, when Joey actually confronted him over having stolen his credit card and caused so damage, Craig did THAT to him under his own roof- and in front of Joey's own child and love interest! I always thought Joey should have told Craig he'd visit him in the psych ward but that Craig could no longer live there! Sorry but no one should keep an abusive thug living in one's own house who couldn't have cared less who he hurt or that he'd needlessly traumatized his  own little sister.

 

    5. Along those lines, hated how they made the goth-but-smart Ellie become a total airhead to fall for Craig even knowing ALL he did to her best friend Ash and everyone else.

 

 

    6. Kevin Smith. Funny in very small doses but a drag for more than two minutes.  Why did they let him monopolize over several episodes? Perhaps Joey and Caitlyn wouldn't have worked stuff out but surely they could have come up with a better catalyst than Caitlyn getting entranced with Kevin Smith? Also,  bogus how every single character laughed at every single line of his as though it was the funniest and most brilliant thing they ever heard- even those characters like Ashley, Emma, Paige or Snake who would have more likely rolled their eyes or just groaned. Should have told him to just do a 30-second cameo as a convenience store clerk if he wanted to be on the show at all or just stay home. Boo.

 

 I'm sure I'll think of other stuff but that's all for now.

 

ETA- spelling   and addendum

Edited November 23, 2015 by OlDegr

[jsm1125]

Disclosure: I only stuck around until the TNG original class graduated.

 

 Here's some unpopular opinions:

   

1. Rick alone was to blame for Jimmy getting shot. Yeah, Spin contributed to Rick's angst with that lame prank but Rick alone did it and instead of everyone dumping on Spinner, they should have all dissed Rick's memory. Oh, hated how  Snake just spouted off jargon to Radich instead of pointing out that Radich ignored the biggest 'warning sign' re Rick's violence- he'd put Terri in that coma and Radich was wrong to ever let Rick return. Snake also failed Emma by not getting mad at Rick when she told him he'd pointed a gun at her (his new daughter). Instead of working to guilt JT to show up at Rick's funeral for Toby's sake, someone should have tried to tell Toby that a big part of growing up is that everyone can make mistakes in picking their friends and he could use his bad pick of Rick to learn to pick better next time.

 

I mostly agree but pretend to think that had Spike not cut Snake off during his rant to Raditch, he would have gotten to the "he should have never been brought back to Degrassi" portion.

 

One of the biggest head-scratchers to date was Ashley failing to graduate from her senior year, twice.

 

I actually really liked Liberty and wanted to see her character further developed.

 

I miss Mrs. Kwan and Ms. Suave (Sovet?).

 

I thought that Paige was more in the wrong than Alex was in 'Love is a Battlefield' aka their final breakup episode aka Alex's final episode.

[OlDegr]

I mostly agree but pretend to think that had Spike not cut Snake off during his rant to Raditch, he would have gotten to the "he should have never been brought back to Degrassi" portion.

 

One of the biggest head-scratchers to date was Ashley failing to graduate from her senior year, twice.

 

I actually really liked Liberty and wanted to see her character further developed.

 

I miss Mrs. Kwan and Ms. Suave (Sovet?).

 

I thought that Paige was more in the wrong than Alex was in 'Love is a Battlefield' aka their final breakup episode aka Alex's final episode.

 

    Actually, I think Spike cut him from making MORE excuses for Rick.

 

    Yes, it's curious that Ashley failed to graduate twice. Speaking of head scratching, a bit odd that when she left for London, NO  member of her family  or friends took her to the airport or even carried her bags/ saw her off as she got into the taxi and Craig tried to butt in.  It seemed like she was leaving a completely empty house with no other means to get to the airport.

 

   I also liked Liberty (except when she joined in that uncalled for dissing on JT's anatomy and NEVER apologized) but thought it a bit off that they depicted her having her most possibly angsty moment of her teen life (handing over her newborn son to be adopted) as though she was just passing on a sack of laundry to get washed. Yes, I realize she  wasn't the most demonstrative character and she later tried to see her son but surely they could have had her muster more angst than that over something so life- altering.

 

   Yes, I miss Ms. Kwan and wish they'd developed her more. I also liked Ms. Sauve despite her treating The Shooting with puppets as though these were kindergartners whose dogs had run away and acting like a bump on a log when Liberty spelled out she was refusing an abortion, wouldn't raise her future baby but, above all, had NOT told her parents she was pregnant. Exactly what was Ms. Sauve expecting Liberty to do there?

 

  Yeah, I think Paige was more in the wrong but I hated how they essentially trashed her character altogether in the last season or so and had her exit on a rather pathetic note.

[Chairperson Meow]

I think a huge mistake of Radich was not dealing with Rick being bullied in a proper manner. I also hated that they never followed through with anything with Toby on the show. Not his guilt over mourning Rick, not his real mourning JT, not his thing with HollyJ. Not even his hosting of Robot Wars.

[OlDegr]

I agree about not following through anything with Toby. Like why was it his stepmom Kate Kerwin was the one who went to Degrassi to retrieve him after The Shooting but neither of his parents did nor did either of them send word or contact him during that horrible day. Why was there no explanation as to where his parents were and why they didn't contact him and why wasn't Toby shown confronting them? Also, this was the first time Kate Kerwin said she had married Toby's dad after all those years of them just living together and all the conflicts between Toby and Ashley over that but neither of ever said a word on how they felt about their respective parents actually getting married.

 

   Speaking of not following through. Why was Kendra so dropped that she never got referred to again? Surely, she'd have had opinions being the former squeeze of the Degrassi Shooter's friend as well as the sister of the one known to have pranked the Shooter. But. ..nothing. Not even when Spinner had that cancer surgery did either he or his mother say anything where she may have been or why she wasn't there. Couldn't they have dropped a 'Kendra texted her support and love from her Australian soccer camp' line or something?

[jsm1125]

Jay had the best taste in women: Alex, Mel (Alex's co-worker who only appeared in two episodes while Alex stripped), and later season Manny.

[Petunia13]

I feel like Spinner had the best luck with the ladies and diverse group of beauties interested in him.

[jsm1125]

I feel like Spinner had the best luck with the ladies and diverse group of beauties interested in him.

Never thought about that, but I agree! Terri, Paige, Manny, Darcy, Jane and Emma all had different personalities and looks. Even Holly J had a crush on him!

[love21]

The floating timeline (dragging out a "school year" over multiple seasons to hold onto actors as long as possible) has done the show more harm than good at some points. I've been marathon-rewatching the show from the beginning, and it's really struck me that the worst seasons of the show tend to be the ones that were the last gasp of a group of graduating seniors. They run out of good story ideas for the characters and basically just run them into the ground so that it feels like a good thing when they finally graduate.

It started with Emma and Manny's class. Most of their storylines in their last high school season were terrible - Purple Dragon, Manny and Jay's engagement (I liked them together but the fake engagement was stupid and the stuff about the plane tickets to Malta was even worse), Jimmy and Ashley fighting over music and breaking up again, Liberty hooking up with Emma's boyfriend, etc. Spinner was the only one of the graduating seniors who actually got a decent storyline that season.

The last season of Holly J, Anya and Sav's class also really dragged - Anya dating her mother's doctor and then becoming a coke fiend, Holly J's attempts to buy a kidney from her birth mother, Sav dating Ms. Oh, breaking up Riley and Zane just to give them something to do.

It was the same thing with the most recent season. The mountain of bad stuff that happened to Clare by the time she finally graduated was ridiculous - her parents got divorced, her ex-boyfriend crashed his car on purpose when she broke up with him, her next boyfriend became her step-brother, she ran away from home and was taken in by drug dealers, her co-op advisor sexually assaulted her and then got her fired, she got cancer, her boyfriend cheated on her, she got pregnant and didn't know who the father was, and then she had a miscarriage. Did I miss anything? Drew's list would probably be just as long. They couldn't even come up with anything for Ali, Jenna and Connor to do in their final season. It was long past time for them all to graduate.

 

I 100% agree about Clare's class. At that point it seemed like they were just throwing issues at Clare to keep her busy until it was her time to graduate, and then they paired Drew/Becky together to keep Drew busy. I was so ready for them to graduate by that point so that way the focus could go towards the newer kids and I felt like this new season has been a lot better than seasons 13 and 14. 

[paceyjwitter]

Despite Spencer MacPherson's amazing acting, I have zero sympathy for Hunter and think the writers potentially took things too far with him. 

[jsm1125]

I would much rather see Zoe than Maya as the leading lady, though I like the latter well enough. Zoe's portrayer has charisma and the character actually gives concrete advice when she is being sincere!

 

While I think Tristan is insufferable, I do like that he has remained friends with Zoe throughout, with the exception of Paris.

Edited February 7, 2016 by jsm1125

[inyourmarrow]

I would much rather see Zoe than Maya as the leading lady, though I like the latter well enough. Zoe's portrayer has charisma and the character actually gives concrete advice when she is being sincere!

 

While I think Tristan is insufferable, I do like that he has remained friends with Zoe throughout, with the exception of Paris.

Echoing all of this!

 

I don't know how popular Zoe and Miles are as a couple - and whilst I'm not actively shipping/rooting for them, this is dynamic that works for me both in a romantic context and certainly a platonic one. I find their moments of romance to be one of the least problematic on the show in comparison to some of the other relationships. 

Edited February 7, 2016 by inyourmarrow

[omgsowicked]

Despite Spencer MacPherson's amazing acting, I have zero sympathy for Hunter and think the writers potentially took things too far with him. 

 

I still have a little sympathy but I agree that they may have gone too far with him. I'm glad they didn't have him go through with killing anyone but with everything else that he did, I find it very difficult to imagine his future on the show now. I guess it'll depend on what they say is wrong with him and how he behaves after he gets help. If it's a marked change, then maybe... the actor seems to be up to the task, and I think having the Hollingsworth family in the story could help.

 

I don't know how popular Zoe and Miles are as a couple - and whilst I'm not actively shipping/rooting for them, this is dynamic that works for me both in a romantic context and certainly a platonic one. I find their moments of romance to be one of the least problematic on the show in comparison to some of the other relationships. 

 

I strongly prefer Miles/Tristan and Zig/Zoe but if those were off the table, I'm interested in Miles/Zoe. I was open to it in S14 but couldn't get into them because I thought they were forced together (in my opinion, solely for Zig/Maya's benefit since Zig/Zoe had been making progress) but if they were put together for their own benefit, I'd like to see that. I think they have an interesting history and dynamic, and I really liked how sweet they were with each other in S14 and the movie... it was a big difference from how they'd been in S13.

[fitzcarraldo]

Zoe is much better than Maya. Her music isn't good, either .

[jsm1125]

The friendship trio of Alli, Clare and Jenna was one of my favorites on the show. I didn't always love any of them individually, though I liked Jenna more than most people her do, but they had a fun dynamic when they were all finally friends.

 

I think Leia had a lot of potential at the beginning of season 10.

 

Though i really like Shay, I miss Keisha.

 

I could never warm to Peter, after emailing Manny's photos and putting Darcy in danger with her online perv, without giving a somewhat cogent rationale for doing either of those things.

 

Though Alli went way too far with cyber bullying Holly J, I was uncomfortable with Holly J (who I love as much as most people do) never apologizing or at least regretting treating Alli poorly herself.

 

I preferred Sean's relationship with Ellie to his relationship with Emma.

 

I didn't really care for Zane, as he seemed condescending and overly pushy to Riley. I feel like he pretty much outed him in that LGBT round-table discussion by telling everyone that he had a football teammate in the closet, given that Riley was his only teammate at the meeting, and he had little understanding or empathy for Riley's conflict with Drew or with his mother. I wonder if the show tried to imply as much, given that the only people Zane regularly talked to were Riley and Anya, and that we rarely saw Zane having other friends.

 

I like Maya's mother overall but have a hard time getting past her essentially condoning Zoe cyber-bullying her daughter for kicks.

 

The first Next Class season was one of my favorites in quite some time, as it had a nice combination of serious and lighthearted storylines and provided a relatively equal amount of airtime to all of the returning cast members.

Edited February 28, 2016 by jsm1125