With the Season 11 Part 1 DVD set I feel like, for the first time ever, we get a genuine effort from the Epitome team to provide engaging bonus content to accompany the actual episodes.  It almost feels like a continuation of their social media movement over the past year or so, where they’ve done things like publish a mobile game chock full of behind-the scenes pics/videos and provide extra content via the official Degrassi and Degrassi Writers tumblrs.

The Season 2 boxset set a really high standard with its sheer volume of content, primarily composed of deleted scenes/bloopers.  From then on the extras became more disappointing with each passing boxset, seeming to only provide generic features: minimal deleted scenes and blooper reels, pointless character bios, lame yearbooks, trailers/music videos no one cares about and the good, yet very occasional episode commentary.

Things changed with the Season 7 boxset, with Echo Bridge Entertainment taking over the responsibility of producing the show’s dvds.  Seasons 7 and 8 provided webisodes and On The Set videos respectively, a first after years of those features appearing online only to quickly fade into oblivion (I’m still hoping that the first two seasons of Degrassi minis will magically appear on a boxset some day).  The Season 9, 10 Part 1 and 10 Part 2 boxsets have slid back to the disappointing days of Seasons 3-6, so the features on 11 Part 1 are an instant upgrade.

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As I rip off the plastic and open the case there are some issues that are quite apparent:

I’m not sure if anyone else’s set looks like this, but right off the bat both discs look the exact same.  The only way to tell the difference is by a tiny number sequence on the inner white ring.  If I’m wanting to watch “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” on disc 1 and somehow end up putting in disc 2 by accident, innocent babies and puppies will get eaten and my life will be ruined.  Once I put in the correct DVD, I can now choose which episode I want to watch:

Wait, how do I know that if I choose Episode 22 my dvd player won’t explode?  What if episode 19 is really a link to freaky animal porn?  It’s bad enough that I’ve gotta remember a ton of episode titles, now on top of that I’ve gotta remember which episode number they are.  By this point I’m wishing that the second bullet Vince shot during prom, you know the one that mysteriously disappeared, would magically reappear and make its way through my tv screen.

After grabbing a couple of tampons to stop a nosebleed caused by thinking way too hard on the episode selection screen, I finally get to the bonus features:

Episode Commentary

As usual, the episode commentary is good.  Dead & Gone is the only episode on this boxset with commentary, provided by Luke Bilyk, writer Matt Huether and director Stefan Brogren.  I love that they have people from different departments providing commentary.  Not only do we get tidbits about the production process, we also get multiple perspectives and interpretations of the storyline’s direction.

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Deleted Scenes / Bloopers

I’m not sure if I was just in a good, but I laughed quite a bit during the bloopers.  Most of the deleted scenes I could give or take, but the ones that were really interesting to me were the two with Anya. [SPOILER ALERT] Anya seriously contemplates putting off her plans to join the Army, so that she can continue dating Owen.  In other words, she’s pulling a Dr. Chris again.  Holly J thinks it’s a stupid idea and Anya admits that she’s procrastinating because she’s scared of the future.  And here we thought that she was focused and on track, yet she at the end she was so willing to once again succumb to emotional trap of being “head over heels” for some guy. [END SPOILER]

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Gallery Shoot

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The gallery shoot video blows any photo-related thing Degrassi’s ever had on a boxset out of the water.  With these gallery shoots they take hundreds upon hundreds of photos, yet so few of them actually see the light of day in any given season.

This awesome feature combined with them posting various gallery pics on the Degrassi tumblr, I think they’re finally realizing that fans absolutely love the gallery pics, especially the quirky outtakes.

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Meet The New Kids / Parking Lot Tour / Set Tour

Some if not all of these have appeared online in some way, shape or form over the past year, but they’re still enjoyable.  I like the fact they had cast members conducting the tours and introducing the new cast.  They provide a lot of charisma and make this behind-the-scenes content fun to watch.

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Goodbyes / From Rehearsal to Shooting

I wasn’t as sad as I thought I’d be watching the “Goodbyes” of the seniors, but it was still touching seeing how close the cast and crew are.  But my favorite extra from this dvd has to be the rehearsal.  We see Stefan coaching Luke, Chloe, Jordy, Alicia and Brendan Jeffers through a rehearsal of the prom shooting scene in Dead & Gone.  The closest we ever get to seeing rehearsal stuff is when Stephen Stohn tweets pictures of the readthroughs.  It’s really neat to see the meticulous planning that goes into the episodes before they even begin shooting.

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Weird…Much has confirmed Degrassi's S12 premiere is on Monday July 16th, but Degrassi's now airing at 10pm now? I hope this is an error.—
Kary (@KaryDegrassi) May 23, 2012

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@DG_Experience @KaryDegrassi @MuchDegrassi Hooooold your horses… we haven't announced the date or time yet!—
MuchMusic Official (@MuchMusic) May 23, 2012

Well neither MuchMusic nor TeenNick have yet to actually announce anything…but amidst the chaos of the Bite Your Tongue promo on May 28th, Entertainment Weekly confirmed what we’ve already known for weeks, that the premiere is on Monday July 16th [ It's only official when accredited media outlets post it, as opposed to us lowly Degrassi bloggers ;-) ].

Of course the most interesting piece of information is that the premiere’s broadcast time is going to be at 10pm EST on BOTH MuchMusic and TeenNick.  I’d been following this for a couple weeks assuming that the 10pm start time was an error, but I guess not.  At this point all of the info I’ve read only talks about the premiere being at 10pm, so I’m not sure if this is just something happening for that one episode or if 10pm is going to be Degrassi: Showdown’s official timeslot.  It probably is though, and with Much and TeenNick fleshing out their summer schedules we should also know why in the coming weeks.

[UPDATE 5/30, 5:20EST]

Apparently the Stohn has said that all Degrassi episodes this summer at 1pm EST:

@ethood1999 all summer, both networks!—
Stephen Stohn (@stephenstohn) May 29, 2012

Sweet baby jesus, I was hoping it was just going to be that one night…this is going to make for some long-ass nights covering the show.

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On top of the Season 12 Summer Trailer, TeenNick released a couple of more promos today…below is a generic promo for their Psyched For Summer lineup:

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This next promo obviously indicates the end of Krew, and because she blames Bianca, Katie takes it out on Bianca’s car:

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The moment you’ve been waiting for is here…below is TeenNick’s official promo for Degrassi: Showdown, which will premiere on Monday, July 16th at 10PM EST.  The 10pm broadcast time is a change from the assumed 9pm time they’ve followed for the past 2 summer blocks.  We’re still waiting on word as to whether the 10pm time is for the premiere only, or for the entire summer block.

Anyway, this promo is titled “Bite Your Tongue.”

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You can also download a version of the promo by clicking here.

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My Thoughts

One of the questions people keep asking me is how this promo stacks up to Shark In The Water and Steal Your Heart. The more I think about it, the more I don’t understand why we’re trying to compare any of these promos to each other. At this point I don’t have a preference. They all have their certain strengths. They’re so insanely different from each other, but for me they all manage to do exactly what they’re supposed to do: get me excited for the upcoming season. If this promo had been the first “summer promo” ever aired I’m sure people would’ve been saying it’s the greatest promo ever, and saying how no promo after it would ever compare. I know there are people disappointed with this promo, but at the same time the summer promo is the only time when either network will step outside the box and show any sort of creativity, which we’ll never get with the rigid network and episodic promos. I ride TeenNick’s ass pretty hard on a regular basis, but I have to get them props when it’s due…I really enjoyed this promo.

Bite Your Tongue’s promo excels from a technical aspect, in particular the use of slow motion to enhance the dramatic elements. That combined with the yearbook theme, whose irony lies in the glimpses of chaos tucked in between the superficial smiles of the Degrassi students’ faces, makes for an exciting look at Season 12.

This had no effect on me, but some fans were put off by the promo’s “lack of mystery.” In “Shark In The Water” and “Steal Your Heart” we turned to those promos to give us a hint of some of the upcoming season’s storylines, with little to no knowledge beforehand of what was to come. “Bite Your Tongue” does the exact same thing, but the problem is we already knew about everything that was touched on in the promo. We already knew about the hockey boys being involved and causing trouble. We already knew there would be homophobic turmoil. We already knew there would be Krew/Drianca drama. We already knew Eli and Becky may or may not butt heads. Olivia and Dylan posted clues about the promo that gave away Maya and Cam before the promo made its debut. That’s the Degrassi world we live in now…we know everything about everything before anything actually airs.

And as far as the characters missing from the promo, Degrassi fans tend to forget that the cast members have lives outside of Degrassi.  Just because it doesn’t happen in the promo doesn’t mean it’s not happening at all or the characters are on the brink of being written off…there was no reference to EClare, do ya really think they’re gonna just up and forget about them in Season 12?  Getting the cast members together at once though is probably a rarity:

not all the actors could be there on that particular day, but we got most of 'em!!!!—
Stephen Stohn (@stephenstohn) May 28, 2012

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Normally I can’t wait for the weekend to get here…now I’m ready for it to be over before it’s gotten under way.

It’s been announced that TeenNick’s big promo for the upcoming Season 12 summer block, Degrassi: Showdown, will be released on Monday, May 28th.

Looks like Maya’s got her eye on someone this season… find out who in the new promo on @TeenNick 5/28! … say.ly/bOW3oDW—
Olivia Scriven (@OliviaScriven) May 25, 2012

It’s kinda weird that it’s being released on Memorial Day, but whatev.  If it feels like they’re debuting this promo earlier than normal, that’s because Season 11 ended later than usual…it’s right on par with the premiere date of last year’s Steal Your Heart promo (5/27) and 2010′s Shark In The Water promo (5/21).

Here are more pics from the promo, featuring Tristan, Katie and Cam:

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The Good

New Beginnings > In Too Deep
One of the big complaints I had about Season 10 as a whole was the second half of the season, aka In Too Deep…it was a big ole’ ball of mediocrity.  Its disappointing nature was magnified given the success of The Boiling Point’s summer format.  The telenovela format itself provides a level of excitement because of the sheer volume of episodes within a short period alone, something the one-episode-per-week format can’t really compete with.

New Beginnings was a step in the right direction.  For 6 straight weeks during New Beginnings we were treated to a crop of episodes that I thought had a strong A plot, complimented with a strong B or C plot (Not Ready To Make Nice, Need You Now and Smash Into You).

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Jake Martin
Before “New Beginnings” started I read a quite long character study of Jake by a Degrassi fan named Chelsea (I think every Degrassi fan should write a thesis about something from the show, but that’s a whole other thing lol).  Now any of the stuff in that post relating to Jake’s relationship with his father or mother, etc., I consider a stretch and did when I first read it months ago…that’s primarily because I have no reason to believe the show will ever delve into that (as demonstrated in New Beginnings).

My thoughts on Jake before “New Beginnings” was that Jake was quote “a one-dimensional character with no development or personality of his own.” I still stand by that analysis of Jake at that time because I still feel it’s true…Jake was a waste of a character during the Cake era.  It has nothing to do with him, it was all of Clare’s b.s. completely overshadowing any chance for him to show us anything.  Like everyone else I was hoping that Jake would break free of Cake, and then he’d actually become interesting.

Personally, I enjoyed Jake during “New Beginnings.”  He was finally able to *gasp* actually show a fun, funny personality since Clare wasn’t dominating everything.  He’s still sort of a mysterious figure, but we got to see way more of him in the second half of the season than we did in Now Or Never.  Oh and he did a pretty awesome thing: he appeared in 12 consecutive episodes (Dead & Gone Pt 1  through Need You Now Pt 2).

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Jahmil French
There’s a lot of depth when it comes to Degrassi’s actresses.  Annie, Melinda, Jordy and Aislinn (to name a few) can churn out a solid, moving performance when need be.

But the dynamic is different with the guys.

I’m not at all trying to imply that they aren’t good, but at times it feels like Munro is in a league of his own.  Jahmil showed he’s got the “moves like munro” by churning out an incredibly powerful performance in Smash Into You, making it hands down one of the best of Season 11.

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The Niners
The Degrassi fandom is inconsistent with its overall opinion about new characters.  We were up in arms over the introduction of the niners midway during the season, because they’d  just introduced 3 new characters at the very beginning of Season 11.  But wasn’t it right before Season 10 when people couldn’t wait to see new characters Eli, Adam, Drew and Bianca?  But as inconsistent we are with this, the show is just as inconsistent with how they utilize new characters.  With the niners we were slowly introduced to them, giving us time to get used to them as opposed to giving them a major plot or thrusting them into the plot of a someone else like they did with Katie, Imogen and Jake.

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Issues Over Relationships
Degrassi’s achilles heel will forever be its tendency to focus on shallow relationship drama as opposed to any potential underlying issues.  I do need to point out that Degrassi DOES do relationship drama well sometimes, but it doesn’t feel like a lot given the number of couples that pop up and disappear throughout any given season.  Despite what any promos would’ve led you to believe, issues took precdent over relationships quite a bit in New Beginnings, in particluar during Not Ready To Make Nice, Need You Now, Smash Into You and Hollaback Girl.

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The Bad

Katie Matlin
This is a really random comparison, but I feel like it’s appropriate…Katie Matlin is the Taylor Kitsch of Degrassi.  Hollywood has put a lot of stock in Kitsch in 2012, yet his big flicks “John Carter” and “Battleship” have fallen well short of expectations.  The comparison here is that like Hollywood did with Kitsch, Degrassi has been trying hard to make Katie a leading lady, but it’s just not working.  They’ve been all over the place with her character in Season 11.  The content they gave her with the drug addiction was good, but she has yet to become appealing or compelling enough to be someone I want to see carrying storylines regularly.

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Fimogen/Imogeli
This trio has a unique dynamic where as friends, any combination of Fiona, Imogen and Eli is fantastic.  But the show completely lost me when they drifted off into romantic territory.  Fiona apparently had nothing to do with her life, so the show decided to pair her up with Imogen.  And in a convulted attempt to create a roadblock in Fimogen’s path, Imogeli was randomly paired together and served as nothing more than a plot device.  In both cases things fall short when it comes to Imogen.  With Fimogen, even though it would be completely believable that Imogen could be bisexual or pansexual, we never got any sort of outlook from her perspective.  The hasty reconciliation between Eli and Imogen (more like the lack of witnessing a reconciliation period) put a damper on Imogeli…that plus the way Eli behaved before they started dating, it was hard to ever believe he was truly interested in Imogen as more than a friend.

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Adam Torres
I heart Adam Torres as a secondary character.  I know there’s people who still think that every character who’s featured in the opening credits is a main character, but that’s just not true.  Adam has only had a few storylines in Season 10 and 11, but an overwhelming majority of his time is spent being a support character who appears quite frequently.  He wasn’t around much in New Beginnings and I missed seeing him there…though both Jake and Drew stepped into a support character role quite nicely.

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Frostival (Season Finale)
Degrassi sucks at season finales, and I’m not exactly sure why anymore.  It’s reached the point where I kind of go into every one expecting to be disappointed by a ho-hum ending.  I guess I can kind of take solace in the fact that what was originally Season 10′s finale (Spring Fever, before it was bumped up to Season 11′s premiere) was pretty good.

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Cast Cameos
It might be just me, but former characters returning for a cameo doesn’t do much for me these days.  Paige and Sav returned in The Power Play mini, and I didn’t really care.  Unfortunately I felt the exact same way about Holly J’s return in the finale.  I feel like one of the main issues is that it’s announced well in advance that they’ll be appearing.  It takes away from the “emotional oopmh” of them physically appearing, which is probably the most important part of it since they offer little (if anything) to the actual plot at hand. It’s like someone telling you that you’re getting a surprise party, then you having to fake being surprised as you walk in.

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The Ugly

Fiona Coyne
*sigh* It’s sad when you watch your favorite character go downhill.  I guess it’s my fault for having high expectations for Fiona in New Beginnings.  Fiona is incredibly dependent on people, but she has trouble establishing relationships with others outside of that comfort zone.

With Holly J gone I thought we’d get to see Fiona genuinely struggle to fit in…that lasted for all of two seconds.  Instead it felt like the show had nothing for Fiona to do and decided to throw another love interest her way, and Imogen is the only girl on the show that we could possibly imagine being anything other than straight.  If they can’t come up with something interesting for one of the show’s current stars, I’d rather them just go ahead and write her off the show.

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Network Promos
The promos during New Beginnings were either frustrating (TeenNick) or forgettable (MuchMusic).  I don’t understand why TeenNick insists on trying to overhype and oversell the show in their promos sometimes…Hollaback Pt 2 is an example that made me want to bang my head against a brick wall until I passed out:

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Stop it TeenNick!! It’s frustrating because I know it’s possible for you to make good promos that aren’t of the overdramatic/love triangle variety. Why? Because you just made one…the Season 12 Teaser Promo:

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And you’re also about to release your annual Degrassi summer promo…those things are always good.  MuchMusic’s issue is that their New Beginnings promos were flat out boring.  That makes no sense to me given that I really enjoyed their Now Or Never ones:

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Both networks probably want to “Fitz” me in an alley for constantly scrutinizing their promos.  But demand is always immediate for the promos after an episode, and they’re an important part of the Degrassi fan experience.

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Drew passed out? I’m taking bets on how many penises get drawn on his face

TeenNick’s has started promoting its summer plans, which consists of more water than the Pacific Ocean (H2O and new show Alien Surf Girls).  The good news about TeenNick’s “Psyched For Summer,” which begins on Tuesday May 29th, is that there will be sneak peeks of Degrassi Season 12 scattered throughout the next several weeks…so those of you who have TeenNick keep your eyes peeled!

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This post is a collection of all the key information about Degrassi Season 12 as of 5/21/12:

Degrassi Season 12 Premieres on Monday, July 16th at 9PM EST

Unless stated otherwise, MuchMusic and TeenNick will broadcast the episodes at the same time.  The summer telenovela block is 4 weeks long with a new episode every Monday-Thursday, for a total of 16 episodes.  Below is the broadcast schedule for the summer block:

SUMMER BLOCK WEEK 1
7/16, 9pm EST: Come As You Are Pt. 1
7/17, 9pm EST: Come As You Are Pt. 2
7/18, 9pm EST: Walking On Broken Glass Pt. 1
7/19, 9pm EST: Walking On Broken Glass Pt. 2

SUMMER BLOCK WEEK 2
7/23, 9pm EST: Got Your Money Pt. 1
7/24, 9pm EST: Got Your Money Pt. 2
7/25, 9pm EST: Say It Aint So Pt. 1
7/26, 9pm EST: Say It Aint So Pt. 2

SUMMER BLOCK WEEK 3
7/30, 9pm EST: Closer To Free Pt. 1
7/31, 9pm EST: Closer To Free Pt. 2
8/1, 9pm EST: Waterfalls Pt. 1
8/2, 9pm EST: Waterfalls Pt. 2

SUMMER BLOCK WEEK 4
8/6, 9pm EST: Rusty Cage Pt. 1
8/7, 9pm EST: Rusty Cage Pt. 2
8/8, 9pm EST: Never Ever Pt. 1
8/9, 9pm EST: Never Ever Pt. 2

Below is a complete list of the known episode titles for Season 12:

1201/1202: Come As You Are
1203/1204: Walking On Broken Glass
1205/1206: Got Your Money
1207/1208: Say It Ain’t So
1209/1210: Closer To Free
1211/1212: Waterfalls
1213/1214: Rusty Cage
1215/1216: Never Ever
1217/1218: Sabotage
1219/1220: Scream

Season 12 is slated to have 40 total episodes, so after the summer block the remaining 24 episodes will be split into two blocks that will air during Fall 2012 and Spring 2013.  SPECIAL NOTE: Episode 1223 will be this Degrassi series’ 300th episode.  Episode 1226 will be the 400th episode in the history of the Degrassi franchise, dating back to the debut of “Ida Makes A Movie” in 1979.

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NEW CHARACTERS

Name: Luke Baker
Grade: 11
Actor: Craig Arnold – https://twitter.com/#!/thecraigarnold

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Name: Becky Baker
Grade: 11
Actress: Sarah Fisher – https://twitter.com/#!/SarahFisher28

NOTE: Luke and Becky are siblings:

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Name: Campbell
Grade: 10
Actor: Dylan Everett - https://twitter.com/#!/DylanEvz

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Name: Mike
Grade: 12
Actor: Demetrius Joyette – https://twitter.com/#!/SLsJoyette

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Episode Descriptions/Storylines

The overall theme of the summer telenovela is a showdown between Degrassi and a new team that arrives at Degrassi.  It’s basically been confirmed that it’s a hockey team, given that Degrassi filmed hockey scenes on 5/14/12:

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So over the last couple of weeks of Season 11.5, TeenNick posted some episode descriptions for Hollaback Girl and In The Cold Cold Night that made no sense whatsoever.  Now that Season 11 is over we can safely assume those descriptions were actually for Season 12 episodes, and had been released by accident.  There’s no way to know which episodes these descriptions are for, but you can read them below:

Unknown Episode #1, Part 1: When anti-gay slurs appear on several lockers, Simpson can’t find the culprit, so the students take matters into their own hands. A conflict between Alli and Eli puts Clare in a difficult position. Fiona embarks on her first-ever job search.

Unknown Episode #1, Part 2: Simpson institutes a peer mediation program to help resolve recent conflicts, but it gets off to a rough start. Clare is so overwhelmed by relationship, school, and family stress that she develops insomnia. Clare without sleep? This could get messy.

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Unknown Episode #2, Part 1: When Marisol’s insults become harsher than ever, Mo’s self-esteem reaches an all time low. Tristan and Maya bond while working on a history project, and Tori tries to sabotage their new friendship.

Unknown Episode #2, Part 2: Mo refuses to leave the house, and Marisol’s attempt to help only makes things worse. Katie won’t graduate unless she improves her math grade, so she hires KC as a tutor. When he starts spending time at the Matlin’s, Katie develops feelings for him — but so does Maya.

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And we’ve received our first official promo for the 12th season of Degrassi:

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If you’re not sure as to what’s going on, this coincides with what Munro said in a recent interview about how a new team arrives at Degrassi and starts causing trouble:

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Degrassi returns on Monday, July 16th at 9pm EST.

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PLOT A SUMMARY: After learning about Katie going off to rehab, Fiona and Imogen see this as the perfect time to get revenge by stealing the student council reins from Marisol.  Meanwhile, Eli figures out that Fiona has a crush on Imogen, but Fiona downplays it because she doesn’t think Imogen is interested.  Fiona comes up with a plan to one-up Marisol and pitches her plan to Principal Simpson: she wants to create a holiday carnival.  Fiona wants to withdraw money from her trust fund to cover the cost of the carnival, but her mom won’t let her for reasons she refuses to explain.  Fiona writes a check anyway and begins to coordinate the carnival with Imogen.  Fiona returns home one day to find the police and her lawyer in her loft.  Her lawyer informs her that her mom was arrested because of pending financial issues with her mom’s foundation.  Fiona chats with her mom, who is under house arrest, via skype.  Her mom tells her that their assets are frozen and she wants Fiona to move back home to New York.  She also sent Holly J to stay with Fiona for a few days and help her pack.

Fiona starts feeling the pressure as Simpson wants her to scale down the carnival and she doesn’t have the $11,000 she needs to pay toward the carnival, all while Marisol is gloating at Fiona’s impending failure.  Fiona takes out her frustration on Imogen, telling Imo that she’s moving away and the carnival isn’t going to happen.  Imogen is upset that Fiona’s giving up so easily, so Fiona comes up with an idea to get the cash by selling all of her stuff.  Fiona raises the cash and ends up riding the Ferris wheel with Imogen, and Fiona finally confesses her feelings and ends up kissing her.  Imogen kisses Fiona back and tells her she feels the same way, but isn’t completely sure about her sexuality yet.  Fiona also plans to do whatever it takes to make sure she can stay at Degrassi.

Fimogen in this episode suffers from the same issue that has plagued them since their inception:  their development is rushed.  Fimogen’s chemistry as friends is strong and enjoyable.  The best thing about watching them is that fact that we get to see Imogen be her fun, quirky self.  But up until the moment where Imogen initiated a kiss with Fiona there was never a hint of where Imogen stood on the matter, let alone a reason as to why Fimogen should be a couple.  Everything about them has almost been completely one sided because we’ve only seen Fiona’s side of the story, and even that seemed to be a hodgepodge of randomness in this episode.  Her family’s money issues felt contrived and bled irony as Holly J was there as Fiona’s support system (If you’ll remember Holly J had her own money woes not once, but twice).

Even more random is Fiona magically selling her possessions to come up with the necessary cash for the carnival.  And that beef with Marisol? By the end of the episode it had been dropped like a hot potato. It’s bizarre that the only consistencies within this episode are the flat momentum and the inconsistencies within the story itself.

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PLOT B SUMMARY: With Katie out, Liam has decided to postpone the school paper for the rest of the semester.  Clare’s against the idea, and decides to find her own team of writers to help her put together the paper.  Clare asks Alli, Jenna, KC and Connor for help, but Alli scoffs at the idea.  KC and Connor eventually get on board, voluntarily creating the paper‘s layout.  Clare tries to apologize to Alli, who finally gets everything she’s been feeling about their feud off her chest.  Clare begs Alli to give her another chance, but Alli just walks away.  Eventually Alli and Jenna come around to help with the paper, and so does someone else from Clare’s past: Eli.

After Clare proofreads Eli’s article he asks her out to lunch.  She abruptly declines because she doesn’t think it’s a good idea.  Later Clare finds Eli in the memorial garden and apologizes for overreacting because she didn‘t want them hanging out to trigger his issues again.  Eli asks Clare if they could ever pick up where they left off before things went awry in their relationship and Clare accidentally spills soup on him.  Clare and the gang successfully complete their newspaper, and afterward she and Eli hang out at the carnival.  He asks Clare if she was really worried about them hanging out setting him off and she says “It wasn’t you I was worried about.”  As Eli walks away to meet his dad he turns around because he needs to know what Clare meant by that, and that’s when she kisses him.  Before Eli can say anything Clare tells him to hold onto whatever he’s thinking and they’ll talk about it when he gets back from winter break.

Everything involving the core group of Clare, Alli, KC, Connor and Jenna was simply fantastic.  Them coming together to work on the newspaper is one of those moments where truly appreciate them as a group because of the realization that they’ve drifted apart, and it’s been ages since they were together as a whole.

As far as Eclare goes, on one hand I enjoyed the way they ended the episode.  To me the kiss doesn’t signify their immediate reconciliation, but only establishes that they’ll slowly work on rebuilding their relationship in the future.  The one nagging issue though is Clare’s behavior…where in the heck did this come from?

Thinking back Degrassi does have a tendency to make certain major couples rekindle their relationship out of nowhere.  For the most part Cranny basically went a year without speaking to each other before Manny randomly started seeing Craig in a positive light (and Craig kissed her) in “Weddings, Parties, Anything.” Even though they hung out in the same social circle, Jimmy and Ashley literally went years without acknowledging each other’s existence.  Then not only does Ashley return to Degrassi out of the blue in “High Fidelity,” but she randomly tells Jimmy how amazing he is and kisses him.  Looking at the bigger picture of Season 11 Clare and Eli hadn’t talked to each other since the end of the summer.  With Eli we could always assume that he’d have lingering feelings for Clare, but we hadn’t received enough clarity on where she stood on things (besides her forever being overly cautious).  The way that Eclare got from “Point A” to “Point Kiss” is the direction things needed to go, I’m just disappointed that they packed all of this into one episode just to rush things along.

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PLOT C SUMMARY: Maya is getting bored with her music class because she’s far more advanced than the other students…she’s so bored actually that it causes her to talk back to Ms. Oh.  Maya can’t even practice at home because Katie needs her rest after long days at rehab, so Maya begins to feel like she’s losing her passion for music.  She wants to be bumped up to a more advanced class, but because she can’t Ms. Oh suggests Maya spend class time studying music theory.  While doing that she finds an ad in the paper for an Indie band looking for a string musician.  She tries to sneak out to the audition which is at a bar, but her dad catches her.  She tells him how she feels like music is no longer a challenge, and her dad tells her she has to find a way to make it challenging for herself.  Maya rejoins the grade nine band and has found a new way to challenge herself by taking up the trumpet.

Maya’s plight is very relatable, but ultimately forgettable in the scope of things.  People will remember Fimogen, Eclare, and the “old school niners” from this episode (none of them being overdramatic in any fashion), not the fact that Maya’s losing her passion for music and decides to start playing the trumpet.  Part 1 did a good job of setting things up, but then Maya’s plot gets lost in the shuffle of the episode’s big carnival theme in Part 2.  She’s still so incredibly likable and hands down my favorite of the niners, but there’s nothing that made this stand out to me.

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HOW DO YOU GRADE IN THE COLD COLD NIGHT?

You can now grade the plots in this episode by voting below!

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