Oh hey look, everyone (including the writers) are jerking off Craig's guitar.
I started grading episodes halfway during Season 8. It didn’t take long before people started asking me what I thought about episodes in earlier seasons. Because it was obviously going to take a while to review 7 1/2 seasons worth of episodes, I quickly went through and assigned grades to the main plots as well as write a brief sentence about them. Some of the grades are set in stone, but most of them are not and can change (for better or for worse) as I actually get to reviewing the episodes.
“Together Forever” is one of those where my grade for the main plot (D+) is set in stone. A couple of times I’ve been asked why:
“Hiya Kary, if your not too busy could you please answer this : Any further thoughts on “Together Forever” ? And, what did you mean when you said for Together Forever, “Everything about this episode screams self indulgence.” ?”
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I love reading your episode grades, especially while watching my old DVDs, and I saw that on season 5, for the episode ‘Together Forever’, you said that everything about it screamed self-indulgence. I was just wondering, could you elaborate?
– James
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First off, I need to point out that I love Craig, and I love Downtown Sasquatch. I also tend to give good grades to Downtown Sasquatch related episodes (Rock and Roll High School is my favorite episode of all time, and Neutron Dance was pretty entertaining). But to me, “Together Forever” was just nonsense. In retrospect it reminds me of Spemma in “Degrassi Takes Manhattan,” but on a less-ridiculous level. In DTM, Degrassi knew it had to get rid of Spinner and Emma as characters. So it’s like they basically said “screw it” and just wrote the wackiest thing they could think of.
One of the Degrassi writers typing up the Spemma plot in Degrassi Takes Manhattan...U Mad?
Together Forever is pretty much the episode where someone said “Since Craig is leaving we might as well just give him a rockstar sendoff, despite for years him (and Downtown Sasquatch) being portrayed as subpar musicians who magically become amazing when it’s convenient to the story.
I’m also not sure what in the world they were doing with Crellie in this episode. Manny being jealous of them was laughable. The appeal of Crellie was rooting for Ellie, her being placed in the ultimate underdog scenario against Manny. Even looking back at Weddings, Parties, Anything there was nothing that ever suggested Craig was interested in Ellie as more than a friend (him commenting on both Ellie and Manny’s hotness was a smokescreen).
Craig’s return in Season 6 in What It Feels Like To Be A Ghost was fantastic…but his departure to become a star a season earlier was frustrating, especially coming off the heels of Kevin Smith making multiple cameos, Manny becoming the resident movie star and the show taking a more glamourized angle in general. I’m sure if Cassie Steele had needed to leave the show in Season 5, Manny would’ve made a hasty exit straight to Hollywood (ironically that’s where she ended up several seasons later). Meanwhile, while Craig drove off into the sunset, one of Season 5’s top storylines (Liberty’s pregnancy) took a complete backseat in this episode…she might as well have given birth in the trunk of Joey’s car.
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On a more positive note, Ology has released a new interview with Luke Bilyk and Melinda Shankar…they talk about stuff on set and their favorite TV hookups. You can watch below:
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I actually liked the Craig sendoff, but I understand your point about the band’s talent. I think the point was that even though the band as a whole sucked, Craig was a good enough singer to strike out on his own. To me, this episode was the peak of the show before it went in a whole new direction.
BTW, to answer your question on the graphic, yes I am mad about the Emma-Spinner pairing. Never mind that it came the hell out of nowhere despite the two not speaking more than once or twice before then, they totally snubbed Sean Cameron.
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Call me crazy, call me insane but, I actually loved this episode, it’s my favorite episode from Season 5 in fact. <3
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Season 5 was pretty MEH in general. Outside of Spinner becoming the man again, it was kinda lame. The Jiberty baby drama was nauseating.
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word
season 6 and 7 were a lot more interesting
I think they just tried to overdo themselves because of how good most of seaosn 4 was
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“Oh hey look, everyone (including the writers) are jerking off Craig’s guitar.” Hahahahah.
My Jiberty-loving heart is still bitter that her pregnancy was overshadowed by the Eli Goldsworthy of TNG.
As much as I love Downtown Sasquatch, they really weren’t anything special. But even years after “Together Forever,” I believe Craig was actually talented enough to make it in some manner, no matter how ridiculous the premise of that episode was. I still maintain Jake Epstein is the most talented musician to come out of Degrassi. If it was anyone other than Craig getting “famous” in some way, I wouldn’t have believed it (coughStudzcough).
I think Craig did have feelings for Ellie, but they were never strong enough for him to want to pursue anything with her or to risk destroying their friendship. The timing was also never right with them; after awhile, you just knew they weren’t ever going to happen.
I’m also kind of a sucker for the whole message that people should pursue their dreams, no matter what anyone thinks a person’s “future” should be.
Also, I have a question: Why exactly was Craig written off the show anyways? The reason escapes me.
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Agreed with comment above. I think Craig had feelings for her too. I still want Sean and Ellie to get back together. I always thought they complemented each other perfectly. Ellie helped Sean turn over a new leaf and Sean was Ellie’s rock and was there when he needed her. That was love, unlike Semma or Spemma which is lust
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This episode was made of fail. I always got vibes that the writers hated Liberty and this episode proved it. What the hell were they smoking when they gave a birth plot the shortest subplot in Degrassi in favor of that douche Craig? Especially since the entire pregnancy storyline before that focused entirely on JT.
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lts alright. I would have loved for Lib to have a bigger plot i this episode. I mean she was having her baby. It was more important then Criag going solo. Since we knew that was gonna happen anyways. But it could have been subplot 2. But since Criag is their golden star he has to be the main man in this polt.
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