Oh haiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!
The Way We Get By is a weird episode. It’s one where there were some great moments, but as far as storylines and the episode as a whole goes I felt like it was nothing special. There wasn’t very much actually happening; sometimes the story just sat there, while other parts didn’t really make sense.
PLOT A: Bianca and Drew Become A Couple.
...can't.....resist.....Bianca....
Degrassi’s basketball team is winning in the playoffs thanks to its star player, Drew. After they win a trip to the semifinals, KC, Jenna, Dave and Sadie go on a double date. Drew decides not to tag along because he doesn’t want to be the fifth wheel.
Drew starts searching for a girl so he can fit in with the foursome, but no luck…no girl at Degrassi wants him. Well, no girl except Bianca that is.
Drew and Bianca start dating, but the problem is KC and Dave don’t like the idea because their girlfriends hate Bianca. Actually, apparently everyone at Degrassi hates Bianca because of her reputation for being a slut. However, Drew’s adamant that Bianca is not as bad as everyone believes.
Jenna talks crap, and Bianca rightfully gives her the "Oh hellllll no this bitch just didnt..." look.
Drew sets up a meetup at The Dot so that KC, Jenna, Dave and Sadie can meet Bianca, but Jenna and Bianca get into an argument. Drew and Bianca head to the ravine, where Ron Ron gives them mushrooms. Drew gets high, and decides that he has to go to the basketball game because it’s the finals…he also insults Bianca because he felt like he was letting the team down. He shows up, but his mom notices something is wrong. Drew admits he’s high, and his mom doesn’t let him play. Degrassi lost the game, but Drew doesn’t lose Bianca, who still wants to hang out with him despite what happened the day before.
I’m up on Drew and up on Bianca, but I still don’t buy them as a couple. Though not as blatant as say, Peter and Mia, their coupling seems so random. The whole part about girls at Degrassi not liking Drew because of the boiler room incident was just a plot device to force them together. I don’t know, it just doesn’t make sense that you’d make Drew this all-star athlete, but at the same time girls find him repulsive.
Don't do drugs; stay in school.
Also, I’m not really sure why Drew likes Bianca, besides the fact he’s desperate for a girlfriend. He spent the entire episode trying to convince KC and Dave that Bianca is a great girl. The problem is even WE, the audience, still know nothing about her. We saw a less-bitchy side of her in this episode, but we still don’t know who she is. On the other hand, I actually like Alicia Josipovic’s acting. Bianca reminds me a lot of Alex Nunez, she’s very blunt and delivers her lines sharply. I’d love to see Bianca get a storyline of her own. But for now I guess we’re stuck with watching her and Drew together, a couple that’s got a lot of work to do to make me interested in them.
–
PLOT B: Riley’s Mom Finds Out He’s Gay.
Riley's mom would rather fold clothes than believe her son is gay.
Zane invites Riley to an art showing, but Riley says no because he knows nothing about art. Anya convinces him he’s being an idiot, so Riley gets a makeover (aka he cuts his hair…thank God because that look on him is ridiculous) and he attends anyway. Riley meets Zane’s ex-boyfriend Thomas, who he ends up accidentally insulting.
Riley goes home, frustrated. Zane stops by and they sit on his bed. They start kissing and Riley’s mom walks in on them. She’d brought them food, and just sits the plate down and leaves. Knowing that his mom saw him and Zane kiss, Riley tries several times to talk to her about it. However, she keeps pretending as if she never saw anything.
Finally, Riley finds out his mom told their dad to go to a baseball game without him. Riley tells his mom that he’s gay, but she’s still in denial…she thinks he’s just going through a phase. He wants to have a family conversation, but she demands that he not come out to his dad. Zane consoles Riley, telling him that his mom will come around in time.
This is the best plot out of the three. Despite being open-ended (I’m assuming this plot will continue, but open-ended plots like this one always make me nervous for some reason), I thought it was pretty well written. If you had gone into this episode completely blind, aka didn’t see a single promo or read an episode description, you would’ve thought this episode was going to be about Riley being jealous over Zane’s ex. Honestly, they could’ve gone that route and it might’ve made a solid plot. The way it was written, Riley’s mom finding out he’s gay came out of nowhere, and I liked that. I liked that they found a new way to deal with a character coming out to his family. Riley’s acting is always a distraction (Argiris is not the strongest actor of the bunch), but at least Riley’s character continues to grow. One thing that bugs me though…Riley’s mom seems to think gay people aren’t into sports. Riley’s been playing sports for years…why in the hell would being gay suddenly make him lose interest in them?
–
LOL at Alli's face.
PLOT C: Alli Tries To Gain Her Parents’ Trust Back.
Alli’s going to an all-girl’s school and decides to become friends with a girl there named Malika. Alli’s parents adore Malika, so Alli uses their friendship as a way to get back on her parents’ good side. Of course Malika has plans of her own…Alli invites Malika over for dinner, and she ends up staying the night. However, Malika uses the sleepover as a cover to go see her boyfriend. Alli reluctantly covers for her, but only because of Malika’s promise to help Alli gain back her parents’ trust.
At school, Alli and Malika are sitting outside and Malika starts smoking. She asks Alli to hold the cigarette, and when she does Alli’s mom conveniently pulls up and catches her. Alli tries to tell her mom the cigarette wasn’t hers, but her mom doesn’t believe her and Malika leaves her hanging. Once again Alli is in trouble.
I didn’t really find this storyline interesting. I understand it sucked for Alli, who tries so hard yet she’s being brought down by someone else, but the whole “Alli’s always in trouble” thing is getting repetitive. I don’t know what it is, but I tend to find characters boring when they’re isolated from Degrassi…you had any of the college kids in Seasons 6 and 7, and now Alli who’s stuck at a private school. I’m longing for the days where she and Clare are reunited and become bff’s again.
Kary's Degrassi Blog 
Haha so true I am only excited about tonights episode because Drew will be high and the promo for next week, Jesus Ect. Part 1, will cone out!!! lol
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46 SINGERS? WHAT IS EVERYONE GONNA RECITE,A SINGLE LETTER EACH
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hahahah it’s gonna be like We Are The World or something
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YES!! Finally new theme song
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Wait, what??!?! What is going on!?! A new theme song?!? Someone please explain!
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So theyre basically making the theme a clusterfuck of epicness like All of the Lights? awesome.
and that picture is going to become meme, mark my words XD
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Finally, a new theme song! Now my brother won’t have to hear me complain every time a new season comes up with the same theme! xD
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Cool. Hopefully it’ll be more like the original theme song. But as for Jesus Etc we all know the parts we look forward to the most don’t happen until part 2.lol. But I am still excited.
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im excited tor tonight…and with that many singer for the theme wongs i hope it sounds like the first one…
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Maurice February 25, 2011 at 5:40 pm #
“Hopefully it’ll be more like the original theme song.”
I loved the original theme song too!! It sounds like they are bringing back the choir. So I’m really excited to hear how this new theme turns out…:D
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Yay! I miss the choir sound of the first two seasons.
Tonight’s ep will hopefully prove to be hilarious. Drew + shrooms = lolz
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haha i love that
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this new theme song is gonna be epic!!!
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YES YES YES! I was hoping they would bring back the choir!! No offence to them, but I absolutly hated the version of it since season 8. But any who, i actully liked the bianca and drew thing only because now he is single and he wouldnt be cheating. I also have a feeling that bianca is going to open her eyes and change her skanky ways and I think i would like that storyline. Cant wait for Jesus etc. too!! :)))
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I could seriously care less for Jesus etc.lol Too much Eclaire character overload! excited for tonights episode though.
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Exactly @ Relly88.
LMAO,Poor Alli getting caught with the cigarette and that girl lyin on her ass lol
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I agree, I’m still tired of Eclare and the descriptions make the storyline sound a bit lame, but we’ll see. I’m excited for Alli’s part in Jesus, Etc. though!
Anyways, I really liked tonight’s episode! I enjoyed all of the stories, much better than Part 1.
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OMG so excited for Jesus etc.! I can’t wait! Eli is my favourite character and I hate when he doesn’t have a storyline in some shows. I really want to hear how the new theme-song sounds like. Tell you the truth I don’t really care about Drew.
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Im so with u!!! So fucking excited I’ve literally been waiting just to see Jesus etc part 1 and 2 for like 3 months nows
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So how was tonight’s episode? Summery, please? I don’t get teennick anymore on tv and my computer doesn’t work til next week. As I’m using my phone now. ):
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All I got to say is I like Drew and Bianca together. <3 but they could of done so much more with the shrooms storyline. Like they should of done it like he had a bad trip (like a storyline from skins where Effy has such a bad trip that she was seeing things and knocked a girl out with a rock). I love the alli storyline, it was interesting. Riley's was the same old gay storyline every show has except he came out to his mom by putting gay porn all over his room Lmfao. Next week = eli and Claire overload. Not excited.
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I’m sorry, but I totally and utterly loathed this episode. It feels like nothing actually happened, but they be because we saw all the outcomes on various promos. We knew Drew was going to get high, go to the game, and get in trouble with his mom. We knew Riley’s mom would deny that he was gay. The only thing we didnt know about was Alli, but nothing particularly ground-breaking happened there. As best I can tell, there wasn’t any evolution in Bianca’s or Drew’s character. Riley has made an important step, but then, we knew he would. Alli, at least, is getting better. I’m interested to see where the Riley and Alli storylines go. Don’t really care about Brew. (I think that’s the most entertaining mash-up name there)
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Anyone have the links to next weeks promo’s ? Muchmusic & teennick . thanks
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NOO, TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE.
I don’t obsess over Eclare like everyone else :D I lurv Ziley <3
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I was really disappointed with this episode. There was like no plot and it was pretty much just filler til next week. I seriously don’t think it was worth the time to watch. My teacher always says that stories need meat and flavor like wings (weird comparison I know). This was like the bone and the meat was never there.
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im thinking the new themes gonna be like an A capella?
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I also become uninterested in characters once they get isolated from Degrassi. Because the show is called Degrassi which means that it should be set in fricken Degrassi, not some university or wherever else.
I wasn’t excited for this episode because I didn’t care about any of the storylines in part 1, but I was very surprised when I liked Riley’s.
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I hope that this isn’t the last we see of Riley and Zane. I’ve a feeling that this will be the last we see of them for the remainder of the season however, and that next season, shortly before the grade 12 students graduate, the loose ends will be tied up. It’s a shame though, that every single plot Riley’s had has had to do with his sexuality. I would have liked to have seen something unrelated him being gay. Even Marco had a few that were unrelated to his homosexuality (gambling storyline, student teacher storyline), or not directly related (the prostitution storyline; that was a plot that, although dealing with wanting to party with new gay friends, could have been re-written slightly for a straight character). I also with that we could see a little development with regards to Zane’s character. I haven’t come across a single viewer who dislikes him, and it’d be great to see him fleshed out a little before he moves on.
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I agree, I’d like to know more about Zane. The character is certainly very likeable, but he’s too one-dimensional. Let’s face it, he’s never been much more than a plot device to help Riley accept his sexuality. Hopefully the writers will change this. I mean, how did Zane get to be so self-assured about his own sexuality? How did his parents take it when he came out? I can’t be the only one wondering how this gay teenager seems to have more confidence and wisdom than most gay twentysomethings I know.
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I don’t remember Degrassi featuring other schools as much before season 10 (not counting universities). But now we’ve seen Declan and Fiona’s school as well as Alli’s.
And I also enjoyed them surprising us (not counting the promos) with Riley’s little problem with Zane leading to a huge ordeal of coming out.
I also don’t feel Drew really likes Bianca, he just seems to be back in the state of mind he was in when she grabs him by the belt and took him into the boiler room. And I agree that of the four main new characters from the beginning of season 10, that Bianca is the one we really don’t know yet. She seems to be a mixture of Jay and Alex.
I sort of feel for Alli but I also think she gets herself into a lot of these situations. I don’t get why she couldn’t hang out with good girl Clare instead.
Anyway it wasn’t a bad episode. But next weeks looks better.
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I actually enjoyed the episode. Riley’s was my favorite storyline though. I felt bad for Alli even though her facial reactions were hilarious. And I have a question: Does Paige have HIV or not? They never said I dnt think
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No they never said if she did or not. Chances are we’ll never know. :-/
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A topic like HIV is so relevant and serious, and to just not follow up on it at all (!) was such a huge mistake on the writers’ parts. Even a brief mention in DGH about what happened between Paige and Griffin would have been satisfactory.
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Also, am I the only one who cringes every time Bianca runs her fingers along Drew’s shoulders and chest? It’s so cartoonish and awkward-looking. We KNOW that Bianca gets around. We don’t constantly need to see her fondling the boys she talks to in order to remember this. It’s so over the top.
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No, I do too. Alicia’s acting makes me cringe a lot of the time because I think she goes a little overboard with the whole thing. She’s all over Drew every time she talks to him. It gets irritating.
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Anybody else notice that Thomas’ DOB was 1986? No doubt the actor is 25, but shouldn’t the character be closer to Zane’s age? Since Zane and Thomas were dating before Zane met Riley (so let’s say “last year”) then that probably meant Zane was 16 or 17 and Thomas was 23 or 24. It’s not a huge age difference but it seems slightly hypocritical, considering that they’re making such a big deal out of Anya dating the 25 y/o doctor…
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Awesome review! I actually came to some of the same conclusions at my review! I am so curious to see what happens with Fitz next week (avoiding spoilers!)
Check out my recap/review, reader feedback/comments are encouraged and appreciated as well!
http://thetwocentscorp.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/degrassi-%E2%80%93-recap-review-%E2%80%93-the-way-we-get-by-part-two/
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Lol keep writing and do u like eclare cause I sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo luv them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please answer
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regarding Kary’s question about Riley’s plot: “One thing that bugs me though…Riley’s mom seems to think gay people aren’t into sports. Riley’s been playing sports for years…why in the hell would being gay suddenly make him lose interest in them?” wasn’t it because she thought he was going through this ‘phase’? As in, she doesn’t think he’s into sports for the period of time, and then when she assumes he’s “over it”, he’d be back into sports?
ps. sorry for all the quote marks, it’s just for in the event that he WAS going through this phase.
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This was an ok episode. Everything was just kind of all over the place. Though I really liked seeing Riley and Zane. It’s nice having Allie back but I feel this was more of a build up for the future eppy. Overall I think I enjoyed part 1 a lot better.
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Oh groan… I think Clare and Eli are ridiculously cute and all, but they’re getting WAY overexposed. Plus, I’m tired of reading comments that sound like this: “ZOMG I LUUUUUURVE ECLARE, I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THEM. IF ELI DIES, I’M NOT WATCHING DEGRASSI ANYMORE (which, you watched before he was on, so what makes his presence any different? Shut up). IF SHE LEAVES HIM I’M GOING TO THROW ROCKS AT HER WINDOW AND SLASH HER BIKE TIRES. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 ;) :D :)"
Anyhoo, back to the episode. Eh. The Drew-Bianca plot was a little dull. I really adored the Ziley plot, and I think they deserve way more air time. As far as his mom thinking he doesn't like sports anymore, it's more of a cultural thing I think. Coming from a Hispanic family, if you're gay, you're seen as the stereotypical gay male: Glitter, Gaga, and shopping. You're somehow not the same person you used to be once you come out of the closet.
And dayum, I felt really bad for Alli :/
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I liked these two episodes (there were some awkward parts – especially with Jenna and Sadie around), despite the more mixed reviews. I thought it was refreshing to have a story without Eli, Clare, Adam, Fiona, Holly J and (partially) Sav. They’ve been the basis of episodes for a while and as much as they offer to the show, it’s nice to see other characters. I still want to know more about Bianca, but who knows how that’ll happen. Plus, I thought Luke’s acting was pretty good, his character wasn’t as annoying as it had been before. I’m just glad they’re including the actors that haven’t had as much airtime as the main bunch.
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Ah, Man. I have to disagree with your grades this time.
The writing of Riley coming out to his mother was horrible.
They should have shown her finding the magazine’s and what her reaction to them was. While I think a parent could be in denial, the way Riley’s mother didn’t really have a reaction to anything until the very end, bothered me. I don’t know, I would have written that whole plot differently.
The episode’s main plot, while I agree with how Drew’s affection for Bianca is way off, is a testament to Luke’s acting. I’m talking about when Drew was high. I don’t think that’s a very easy thing to pretend convincingly.
Alli’s plot, eh… maybe you’re right on that one. Great acting, but away from Degrassi is boring.
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I found Part Two better than part one. Part one I really just wanted to fall asleep. Part two was more entertaining when it came to Alli. She gets blamed for smoking and it leads way to Jesus Etc. Part 2. Also seeing Drew get high was pretty hysterical.
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Well I had been such a BIG fan of degrassi this past summer; now not soo much..some plots doo seem pretty irrelevant as to where they had left off in winter and its like we are all set for what’s gonna happen which I find pretty boring..all the main events happening in the plots where given away in the previews which sucks beacause its like okk??..this is it?..the climax was something they kept repeating on the tv ?..I do have to say to kary tho that I DO understand what they were doing with ali’s plot..the way it seemed to me was ali was getting a little taste of her own medicine ;meaning how she had used claires friendship to do things behing her parents back at some point in degrassi tng I think they are trying to manipulate the situation soo when ever they give her the plot when she actually changes …shell have some sort of enlightenment as a person
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Kary, stuff like that happens all the time. Its one of the reasons people don’t want to come out. They’re afraid that others will assume that everything’s changed because he/she is gay now.
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