[WARNING: THIS EPISODE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]
For some people there’s an expectation that Degrassi always has to GO THERE, whether it be about abuse or some other intense issue. That’s not the case for me…an episode can still be really good if it 1) has a great/important underlying theme, or 2) has a totally relatable storyline. Innocent When You Dream possesses the latter.
Clare about to have a heart attack…
Clare is a big fan of a book series called Fortnight (Degrassi’s version of Twilight), and she’s having “sexy vampire dreams” about Declan. She starts to write Fortnight fanfiction about her feelings for Declan, and posts them anonymously under the name Madame Degrassi. She continues to do this, even when Holly J stumbles upon her posts (unaware Clare is the one writing them), and shows them to Declan.
When Declan randomly comments about how great Madame Degrassi’s writings are, this is when Clare’s crush turns creepy, yet hilarious. Out of nowhere she literally steals Declan’s jacket so she can “be close to him” or whatever, and during a game of 7 Minutes In Heaven, she makes out with a guy named Wesley and bites him on the neck; she bit him because she was daydreaming that the guy was Declan.
Clare biting Wesley on the neck….saying LMAO does not do this justice.
Clare goes too far when while alone with Declan she can’t contain her feelings anymore, and randomly kisses his neck. This episode isn’t something like Take My Breath Away, where the girl’s feelings for a guy are supposed to have a sweet-turned-needy feel. Declan’s lips are right there, and she decides she’s gonna kiss his neck instead…everything about Clare’s obsession with Declan is weird and quirky, and that’s what makes it so entertaining.
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DECLAN: Did you just kiss my neck? CLARE: ……… ||| It is apparent now that Clare Edwards has a neck fetish.
The ending of this episode not only shows the maturity of Holly J, but the maturity of the show and its storytelling abilities. Instead of going all dramatic on Clare, the two ladies actually have a sit-down conversation about the matter. Even if Holly J weren’t mature, I doubt she would’ve gone off on Clare; there’s no way Holly J would ever consider Clare a threat.
Innocent When You Dream’s main plot is funny and just plain fun. At the same time it’s also cringeworthy. It’s not in a bad way…it’s a storyline everyone can relate to because they’ve been on one side or the other of that situation. Or both.
INNOCENT WHEN YOU DREAM MAIN PLOT GRADE: A
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Subplot: Sav/Anya
This subplot confused me because I’m not sure how the writers were wanting us feel about Sav at the end. Either way, I think he’s a jackass now.
The other members in the band are busy with finals, so Sav feels lonely these days. Anya seems like she’s busy these days and has moved on, and that leaves Sav wanting to get back together. He passes the time by making the band shoot a video, and when he pushes everyone too far because of his loneliness, he meets up with Anya.
It turns out Anya was pretending to have a busy life so that Sav would come running back to her, but upon finding that out Sav gets pissed. So he wanted to get back together, and the chance to is right in front of him and he gets mad? He unnecessarily acted like a jerk toward Ayna, but at the end its like the writers want us to like him because he’s overcome his lonely feelings and “moving on” from Anya. Yes, “moving on” is in quotations because I don’t buy it for a second that they’re officially over.
***SIDE NOTE***
One of the most impressive things I noticed during the subplot was the episodes very subtle continuity. In Sav and Anya’s conversation in class, she references that she’s been larping a lot recently. Then while Sav and the rest of the Studz were filming their video, Sav pulled out a cop uniform, and Spinner said “Aww sweet, I always wanted to be a cop.” Just the fact they casually mentioned things that have happened in previous episodes instead of pretending like they never happened is awesome to me.
INNOCENT WHEN YOU DREAM SUBPLOT GRADE: C
Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I really liked the mainplot, It was relevant with the UBER sucess of twilight so it made sense, a bit perverted but still loved it lol. The subplot on the other hand really sucked(no pun intended)GREAT review
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You put this episode in a new light for me. I personally at first thought it was pretty stupid, but I guess it’s something that they can relate to. I just wish that they’d mentioned something about KC. And I guess it’s okay that they don’t have to make everything dramatic, but the promo made it seem that way, throwing everyone off. I think that’s why I thought it was stupid.
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I’m kind of glad KC wasn’t involved, but at the same time it’s sorta odd that he wasn’t there. This is obviously a follow up to Clare and Declan in Start Me Up, but at the end of that episode it was insinuated that Clare was going to get KC back. So it’s definitely weird in the sense that she supposedly wants KC, but also has a mega crush on Declan.
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Yes, exactly! What ever happened to that?
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I`m also wondering what is up with Jenna and KC’s relationship they kind of left us hanging there, I hope they revisit it in seaosn 9 and don`t make us wait till season 10.
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I totally agree, I don’t think Degrassi always needs to go there to be good, Innocent When You Dream was a good and entertaining light episode.
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i absolutely love this episode!!! (well, the main plot at least. the subplot was terrible.) i laughed so hard so many times and its now one of my favorite episodes (which may be odd, since all my other favorites are the incredibly intense ones.) and the freeze frame was the best part. FAVORITE. FREEZE FRAME. EVER.
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anya should get herself a manly man. sav is such a freakin girl. he was the whiny woman in that relation for sure. GET OVER HER,DUDE!
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All I can say is… O_O
That was possibly my favorite episode this season.
Obviously the Sanya was horrible (and arguably a bit OOC)
In addition, I don’t really know what we’re supposed to know about Clare and her character development.
That said, I think the A plot more than made up for any flaws with the raw hilarity.
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i think most of the point of the episode (beside making us laugh) was to convery that clare is finally having “sexual desires”. now i feel like she’s gonna turn into her sister in “eyes without a face” any second now.
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me to think of it, i really wish that clare would reference “eyes without a face” at some point. it seems like it should have been a pretty traumatic experience for her.
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*come to think of it . . .
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I couldn’t stop smiling as soon as they said fanfiction. Me be a fanfic obsesser and writer myself!!! XD but I’m sure everyone saw the commercial for next weeks episode by now right? well That guy that Riley has a crush on in it looks exactly like my OC in my fanfic!!! X3 scary!!! Maybe the writer are stealing so ideas! hahahahaaa XDDDD
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yeah the fanfic thing was terrific. i know what you mean; by best friend is a sort of fanfic celebrity, and she talks about her stories all the time.
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Is her fanfic about Degrassi??? I’d love to read it!!! XD I have so many fanfic ideas it’s hard to write them all but I only have one story up right now and it isn’t that far along but I have all the major parts planned out. I’m hoping to get a lot more readers
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no, not degrassi, unfortunately. actually, its percy jackson (we are both entirely aware of how incredibly dorky that is.) but she is a great writer. and we were planning a percy jackson/degrassi crossover, but we’re probably never going to actually write it cause it was really complicated.
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I never got to see Percy Jackson but I really want to! I’ve read tons of fanfic on things I’ve never seen! hahaa But that’s how I got into some really good shows
Once I see a youtube AMV for it I find fanfic on it then start watching it!!! That was basically for a bunch of movies animes and Skins (an awesome British teen drama)
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when you say “see” i hope u mean “read”. cause the books are great, if incredibly dorky. the movie is just terrible and cheesy (and im not even saying that just cause they destroyed the book. it really was a terribly cheesy movie)
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I like reading but I really don’t have time besides the few books I’m obsessing over now! XD It takes me forever to decide to start a book
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fair enough. but dont try to read percy jackson fanfic if u’ve only seen the movie. u wont understand anything.
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For the subplot I think it would have been better if they spent more time on it other wise it was to a point useless and confusing. From the beginning Sav just seemed a bit to eager and there didn’t seem to be nearly enough awkwardness between them even when Leia mentioned the break up!!!
Then I’m wondering why in the commercial Anya new about Riley being gay??? Both of them had wanted to stay friends but after breaking Sav’s nose it never seemed like that happened.
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maybe anya has a crush on him again but he comes out to her so she helps him set up with zane? but i like the ranya friendship.
it seems like the darcy spinner friendship. and i like that friendship.
and to the guy above with the thing. i do mine on degrassi.wikia.com on my user page kenver24,
you can see that if ya want.
according to the homepage there is a jenna/clare/kc subplot
i figured because of the sav anya thing last week.
but i loved this episode.
i put it on my top 5.
1, Heat of the Moment
2,Standing in the darl
3,causing a commotion
4,innocent when you dream
5,broken promises
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heat of the moment is ur favorite episode? not to be critical or anything, but have u SEEN the earlier seasons? out of almost a decade of degrassi, THOSE are ur favorites?
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I use fanfiction.net I’m windscarbabe68
I’ll check yours out as soon as I get the chance
I promised myself this next episode would be my favorite and I can already tell Ziley or how about Zaley? is gonna be a favorite couple!!! XD X3
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ya i wonder if she knows?
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i started watching season 7, i watched the other ones when they came on but they didnt appeal to me much.. season 1 was ehh season 2 i didnt really like the earlier seasons.
i liked season 5 and s6 but thier episodes werent appealing to me. i think season 8 rocked. just for some reason. i know all of you guys would love to blow it up but i liked it. then i saw all of them in the big marathon im like yeah i dont like the earlier seasons. but i liked jt emma and manny but i liked thier younger seasons.
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i actually started watching at the very end of season 8. but once i became totally obsessed, i found the earlier seasons online, and ive seen every episode. so my faves (if u actually care at all) are “whisiper to a scream”, “take on me”, “anywhere i lay my head”, “standing in the dark”, “live to tell”, and now “innocent when u dream” (not necessarily in that order)
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yeah i actually liked take on me.(innocent when you dream knocked it out.) mainly because it was a cool moving episode, i liked that there was no subplot and the main plot was scattered. but for some reason i likes that episode.
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it was freaky wen claire stole declans jacket. and did you see the riley commercial. i wanna see that episode soooooooooooooooo bad
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Another great review Kary! I just thought the episode was so awkward and entertaining to watch lol. I was upset not to read any comments you had on the promo to next week’s episode. Riley! it looks like it has potential to be a good one. Although I hope they don’t always make Riley episodes about his sexuality.
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im betting that they will. (make everything about his sexuality, i mean). its what they did to marco.
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thats the issue the writer wants to address
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yeah i wish they would give riley another thing like something with football or something
thats another reason i liked this ep.
before clare was on with kc storylines now she has her own character developing.
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SO I literally and I mean literally just watch the commercial for next weeks episodes over 10 times I started to lose count!!! I’m so excited for it I had to make sure I heard every word, saw every look expression, movement, who was around, and where it was!!! XD X3 XD X3 XD X3
I’m a complete Riley obsessed fan freak!!! *hyperventilating* I’m gonna watch it again!!! XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD X3333333333333333333
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yeah, i’ve done that my fair share of times. not with riley, but with my favorite episodes. i turn up the sound really high, and if i miss a word, i rewind and watch it again.
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Very cheesy, silly, but I didn’t mind it.
It was decent for a filler episode.
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Looks like we’re getting a Clare/Kenna subplot next week (I’m glad there’s going to be a follow up THIS season)
I’m so excited for Riley’s episode next week! :)
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Yeah, I guess Clare’s “You used me!” comes into the subplot cause she never said it in this episode even though they advertised it that way.
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yeah! i hope it picks up from SMU. when she tries to get him back or kc tries to get her back. even better, i hope jenna and clare get into a catfight! like manny paige s4
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so im guessing fiona’s subplot thing for the setup movie is in Keep on loving you. (in the tempted promo you see a flash of her not in hlm though.)
i wonder if savs story leads to the movie.
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I think that flash of Fiona will part of Hilly J’s A plot in that episode.
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lol Holly J*
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can anyone tell me what was the instrumental used whenever Claire dreamed of Declan?
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I really liked this episode cause it showed something everyone goes through and it wasn’t overly dramatic- I just wish they would have shown Clare actually bitting into Declans neck and blood dripped down. As for the subplot I thought the part where Anya and Sav are talking was kinda confusing, but then after re-watching that part I understood it. I think they were trying to make it seem like Anya was still a lier(cause she was pretending to be busy), but it showed that Anya was correct about Sav still needing her.
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when clare first started off on degrassi, i thought she was gonna be a one dimensional character, (cause she was such a goody-too-shoes,) but she’s slowly becoming a character i’m kinda gtetting more into. i just hope the writers give her some juicy, interesting stories that broden her character & make her as memorable as the original group of kids. darcy started out like that, too. but after she was date raped, her character became way more better & way more interested.
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Peter used the same Biology book that I did in 9th grade
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I too, loved this episode. It was really fun and playful, and it didn’t hurt that Declan was being crushed on by Clare. (I also think he’s hot) lol It almost felt like a totally different show…and almost like it deserved to be a full length movie. I could have definitely sat here and watched that, if it was 2 hours long!
But yeah, this was just a feel-good kind of episode. And the whole Twilight thing was cool for me too. x)
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Innocent When You Dream was a very good, different, mundane, and unique episode.
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LOL!!! I missed this ep AND start me up, so i enjoyed your review. I saw earlier promos of declan and clare getting close & was like wtf? Lol. This explains it. Crazy clare. But could u blame her? OMG. Declan. (and sav and anya suck, would they just move on?)
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I know, Sav and Anya just need to move on. And just be friends.
And Declan…god yes! He’s so hot.
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I loved the A plot, the but B plot fell flat. To me the B plot was the male version of the B plot in “Beat It” but instead of Anya, it was Sav. I’m glad they did a follow up to their break up, but i just cant get into sav’s or anybody else in that band character. So far this season we havent really seen any development with danny whatsoever.
But, i loved the whole vampire thing, altho im getting annoyed with degrassi constantly jumping on bandwagons
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Speaking of Clare, I still think Jenna is a tramp. She stole her man. She also doesn’t seem too bright.
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I’ve been watching Degrassi since season 1, and I have to say, I like the new cast A LOT more than the old cast. I enjoyed season 8, and season 9 just ROCKS…favorite season so far. That being said, I didn’t think this episode was all that great. It was alright, but if they were going for a tame A plot, the B plot should have been something sorta crazy. Sanya were really boring in this ep.
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Dude, you’ve obviously never dealt with feelings for an ex girlfriend. Sav’s actions were totally justified. You break up with someone because they aren’t right for you, but as you grow lonely without them, you start to miss their good qualities. Sav missed Anya because she gave him companionship, but at the same time she was kind of a jerk to him. He realized this when she was told him about her plan to trick him into falling into her arms. Then Sav probably went home and looked at Anya’s facebook for an hour. It happens. Degrassi, for once, actually nailed exactly what Sav should be feeling.
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this episode was utterly ridiculous. i was literally laughing through most of it. could this episode have been any dumber? i wasnt aware that degrassi had become a comedic show. the old degrassi frankly trumps the new degrassi by a million. come on… twilight? really? it saddens me that so many teenage girls have become obsessed with such trash, and even more so that it was incorporated into the episode.
and in all honesty, do any twihards ACTUALLY get to the point where they bite someone’s neck? if so, then they have serious psychological issues. i have weird dreams sometimes too, but it doesnt mean that i actually reenact them. if i have a superman related dream, i dont go about trying to fly while fantasizing.
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this is a really good epicsode they should contiudde it. The book seems good but i look it up and i can’t find it.
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you are so DUMB.
fortnight is a SPOOF of twilight. it DOES NOT exist. they made it up for the show. it is the shows version of twilight… so go ahead and read the twilight garbage if you already havent.
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I hope Declan breaks up with Holly J
I would like to see Claire and Declan date
and get little miss blondey dumped by KC
and KC date Jane and Spinner date Jenna
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Is The Fortnight Books Really In Stores.?
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retard.
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Do we think the OOC-ness of Anya in the B-plot is leading to her becoming “The Girl with Two Faces” in Season 10?
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I know this is kind of late, but I completely agree with your view on Clare in this episode and in Start Me Up. Seeing Klare in the promos was actually what got me watching Degrassi. Clare is one of my favorite characters because she’s one of the most relate-able characters on the show, especially in this episode.
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Okay, one of my favorite episodes, I love Clare, and my favorite couple is Sav/Anya so i love this episode but cry every time…………….
Sav and Anya!
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Seriously? In my opinion it was the worst and stupidest episode ever!
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The point of this thread is to discuss the episodes we think are UNDERRATED…aka it’s pretty obvious that others and I are picking episodes that aren’t considered the best, so calling episodes discussed in this post “stupid” is pointless and irrelevant.
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I loved this episode. It really shows how far obsessions can go. Its funny that this was when everyone was loving Twilight, and Im guessing that the writers got a lot of hate mail because they totally “beashed” Twilight.
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lol i wouldn’t blame Clare for having a crush on Declan
he is sexy
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This has got to be my favorite episode by far! I wish they remade it…
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