Katie’s Storyline
This plot is why there’s really no reason to review any Part 1 episodes ever. I didn’t love it or hate it…it was just there. It was interesting to see Katie’s mom had MS, plus I loved how Maya referenced Katie’s bulimia. Katie’s drive is believable and I feel like that’s the Katie we should be seeing all the time. However, I just don’t get what they’re doing with Katie most of the time…her personality is so back and forth depending on who is around her.
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Jenna’s Storyline
It’s still heartbreaking, and I’m glad we’re getting a good look at the aftermath of the adoption from Jenna’s perspective. It feels more authentic and it’s far more fleshed out than Degrassi ever could’ve been with Liberty post-adoption and Manny post-abortion.
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The Niners
I love the energy of the niners, especially Tristan and Tori as bffs. Hopefully the writers won’t give Tori anymore crying scenes. Ever. I loved the Tristan/Owen interaction as well. It’s so ironic…the past couple of days I’ve been rewatching Degrassi Junior High. Tristan and Owen’s scenes remind me a lot of how when during school hours Stephanie Kaye never wanted to acknowledge that Arthur was her younger brother.
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Other thoughts
*Another thing I loved about Jenna’s plot was the interaction she had with others besides KC. Her scene with Jake was funny, clever and insightful for both characters. I know a lot of people hate Alli and think she’s a hypocrite, but in this episode she did exactly what she does best: be an effective support character.
*Was anyone else trying to read all of the note cards for the event calendar?
Gotta love how the event board references future events…football tryouts (future Connor/Mo plot) and the Model UN (future Dave/Alli plot). And I will be DEVASTATED if they do not show us Gladiator Day.
Like everyone else I was like “AHHHHHH OMG!!!” when I realized that the show had thrown in a “Degrassi Experience” reference by making Tori and Tristan a couple of vloggers about the show West Drive (West Drive has been around for ages in the Degrassi universe). But after reading this blog post by Asya (aka Misfitsandco) I took a step back from it, and now I’ve gotten a little worrisome. I have nothing against Degrassi Experience or the reference itself. Little nuggets of awesomeness like that are sometimes more memorable than full storylines. But that combined with Asya’s post points to a bigger concept and it reignited a bigger concern for me…one I’ve had since before Season 11 started, back when even the networks and those at Degrassi were getting in on the “let’s get the fangirls fired up over Eclare vs. Cake” phase. The question is how much fan involvement and fan influence is leaking into the show itself? And by “fan” I’m talking about Degrassi’s primary fanbase, aka teen girls.
If the current majority of Degrassi fangirls were in charge of the show, here’s how the rest of Season 11 would pan out:
Can’t Tell Me Nothing Pt. 2: EClare gets back together.
Not Ready To Make Nice: EClare gets engaged.
Need You Now: Eclare gets married.
Smash Into You: EClare has sex on their honeymoon.
Hollaback Girl: Clare finds out she’s pregnant.
In The Cold Cold Night: Clare has the baby in a car on a cold Toronto night, and she and her perfect family of Eli and their son Eli Jr. live happily ever after.
Direct references to the Degrassi fandom and to “Degrassi pop culture” are awesome and they’re fine, as long as it never goes beyond that. Asking fans for ideas about concepts and storylines (excluding fans just saying things like “put my favorite couple back together!”) is fine, as long as it never goes beyond that. Anything else though is such a slippery slope that it’s scary, and I’m not sure where the line is now. Degrassi is superior to other shows with its ability to connect so closely with its fans, but at the same time the last thing we can afford is for the show to start thinking like a fangirl when it comes to the meat of the show…even if fangirls do make up majority of the show’s current fanbase.
Here’s the promo for Part 2:
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
“Tristan and Owen’s scenes remind me a lot of how when during school hours Stephanie Kaye never wanted to acknowledge that Arthur was her younger brother.”
The irony of that is when Tristan first appeared during the first part of season 11, I really thought he was going to be Arthur’s son. They are basically twins.
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I’ve come to the conclusion I just don’t like Katie. She just comes off very bland and unrootable. I also dislike how she basically went from a newbie to a lead pretty much overnight. There’s really no reason why she (and that bitch Marisol) should be the 2 most predominantly featured characters on the show. Not that I support any one character eating up the show, but at least in the past when they’ve given certain characters lead roles (Emma, Manny, Paige, Darcy, HollyJ, Chantay (j/k)), they at least had a personality (I didn’t always like them, but I can acknowledge they weren’t written with one-note characteristics.)
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I agree so much! Katie and Marisol, particually Katie, lack the charisma or acting talents to carry an episode like Emma or Manny. Even though I can’t stand Marisol, at least when she’s on screen it’s worthy, even if she is a pain in the ass. Katie, on the other hand, is played by the dullest, emotionless, two-note range actress, I’ve ever seen as a lead character on Degrassi. I don’t think it’s the material that makes Katie boring and lackluster because she’s gotten some good stuff, I think it’s the fact that the actress can’t act.
I remember Stephanie and Arthur too. Hated that they got rid of Stephanie though. Arthur just got plain weird once they hit high school. lol
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Since you mentioned Liberty Kary, I was wondering, what did you think of that plot Liberty had in, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” where she found out her adopted baby was moving away? Would like to hear your thoughts on the first of DTNG’s post-adoption plots.
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I know you asked for Kary’s opinion, but I would like to put my two cents in: that totally should have been the main plot, instead of that crappy Marco one, especially since 1.) The pregnancy storyline revolved around JT and 2.) That joke of a subplot in “Together Forever”. If they expanded it a bit, it would have been a solid episode.
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pocksuppet’s answer is way better than mine would’ve been, because it points out the main issue. Now that I think about it, it doesn’t really make sense to try and compare the Liberty post-adoption and Jenna post-adoption because they’re on two different levels. Heck, Liberty got screwed over nearly the entire time they dealt with her pregnancy, etc. While she was pregnant, the focus was on JT. Her giving birth played second fiddle to a terrible Crellie ending and the post-adoption plot was trumped by a terrible Marco plot. Sigh.
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Is it wrong that I hope they don’t cop out on the MS storyline? Thats probably about the only way they can make me feel any sympathy for Katie after these past 3 episodes.
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Ok, when season 11 first started I really liked Katie and how she was a b**ch to Clare. When she started becoming Drew crazy it went a little down hill, however I did like the episode when she ran for president against Marisol. I was excited for THIS episode because we get to see her a bit less confident but i dont like it. The best way to keep her interesting is to keep up her bulimia storyline…. The Niners; I like the though of Tristan and Tori all together as characters, but Alex Steele is such an awkward actress. She becomes painful to watch, and Tristan isnt always convincing. Hopefully they will get better by next season. With that being said, I am excited to see them for the rest of the season.
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I think that Degrassi should take a page out of Skins UK’s book. Skins has a way of presenting viewers with different points of view on characters. I know that it’s easier for them to show each character’s point of view because they only have around 8 but it’s nice to see that each character is a human, that there’s a reason why one character is super mean and why one cares so much about what others think.
To any of you that watch Skins and are up to date with the current season this will be a clearer comparison. Skins has a character, Mini McGuiness, she’s at times unbearably rude and bossy and is the school’s Queen Bee, most viewers hated her initially BUT then they were given an opportunity to see that there’s a reason that she acts the way that she does, a chance to see her behind the scenes. When her second centric episode comes around (Season 6) we see that her father has left her with a mistrust of all those around her, he seems to be the only person in her life that can truly leave her feeling as if she has nothing, she manipulates those around her and puts her walls up because she doesn’t want to give anyone else on earth that power. We see why Mini is so controlling.
With Marisol we have so many storylines where she simply serves as a rude whore and that’s all, we have no choice but to hate her, when she became a “main” character (as in she’s in the opening credits) I thought that we would be able to see a different side to her, but the writers are making her less and less of a person, they’re not leaving room for redemption they’re creating a completely one-dimensional character with no other purpose than to make everyone around her miserable. Maybe she does have pressing issues at home or in her family but without us knowing that she doesn’t seem like a real person, rather a generic TV-Show character with no soul. Degrassi needs to truly go deeper into who they are as people and see them dealing with true issues that aren’t black and white themselves. I hate how these issues seem so, good v. bad and “right” v. “wrong.” Each person withholds a unique set of values and morals that are shaped as they grow, but few of these characters seem to be growing or developing as people and the writers should realize that Clare isn’t the only character on the whole damn show. DEGRASSI WRITERS: PLEASE focus on and develop other characters instead of leaving them as one dimensional half-baked stereotypes.
Side Note: I was so happy to see that Zig had a bit of acne in the scene with him Tristan and Tori. It looks like Degrassi is attempting to shed its glitzy shell and show “real” teenagers, that get acne and have bad hair days and aren’t wearing 10-inch heels to school and don’t have personal make-up artists and unlimited wardrobes at home.
I hope I don’t come off as pretentious or over-bearing.
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I was JUST talking about how Degrassi needs to be more like UK Skins! Skins fleshes each character out so well, and Skins also does a great job at wavering between the likability of characters. My best example would be Cook from Seasons 3 and 4, where he’s a total douchebag, but at the end of it all, you still love him. And it isn’t that they make him lose his dbag qualities, and he suddenly becomes a nice guy either. It’s not as though, they give the character a new quality that is likable, but they make you love the character even with the same qualities they already have. They switch it up so flawlessly with all their characters, you don’t feel like likability is being forced upon you. As opposed to Degrassi, where I feel like they give characters these random qualities at certain moments, just so that things make more sense, or so that it fits into the plot.
Now another issue with Degrassi is that (and this is kind of random lol, sorry), I think that because they acknowledge that we love it so much, they thought it would be a good idea to have seasons with 40+ episodes, which can be nice because we get 2-parts for every plot. However, while this is nice for the better plots where we can get a lot more detail and background (MBIAC), it’s terrible when they use it on plots that just drag along, resulting in episodes like this where you feel like nothing really happens.
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“Hollaback Girl: Clare finds out she’s pregnant.
In The Cold Cold Night: Clare has the baby in a car on a cold Toronto night, and she and her perfect family of Eli and their son Eli Jr. live happily ever after.”
You almost got it right. The optimal plot, according to the Official TV FanGirl Bible, requires Claire to give birth to twins, a boy (Eli Jr.) and a girl (Clarcy). By next season the tykes will be walking, talking, wearing matching clothes, and producing adorable little song-and-dance shows for mom and dad in a luxury Toronto apartment that rents for about, oh, $5000 a month. The family will have a dog named Phil (bonus points for any Degrassi fans who remember that character) and get around town in a school bus with a Mondrian-style paint scheme.
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“In The Cold Cold Night: Clare has the baby in a car on a cold Toronto night, and she and her perfect family of Eli and their son Eli Jr. live happily ever after.”
Probably one of the funniest things I’ve read on here! Kudos!!
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I thought “Smash Into You: EClare has sex on their honeymoon.” was a bit more amusing
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I totally agree with you about the Eclare mania. I love Eclare and hated cake with a passion, so naturally I want them back together. But I want it to be entertaining. Like, let Clare cry over Jake a little, let Eli spend some time with Imogen. Show them as friends. Make it gradual; not “Eli and Clare decide they truly love each other and are getting back together and married and surprise Clare is having twin mini Elis! They also both become famous journalists.” Fangirls can’t control the course of the show, or else no one will watch..
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So great to find an actual up-to-date Degrassi blog!! Been looking for one for freaking ever, because I would always get behind on the series and I love it. So Kary, you are my new faveorite person, expect me to be an often face on here. Thank you!
Also, I got to say, I LOVE Katie’s ambition, but her being all up on her meds for her knee injury is plain stupid. You gotta love her determination but I spy a future disater coming for her. Waiting for it to come. Tsk tsk.
Wish I didn’t have to wait to so long for the new episode to come out!
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Kary, I was reading some of the comments regarding that Degrassi should use some ideas from the Skins UK book, do you think that would make the show better? Personally I think so. I also wonder what would happen if UK skins and Degrassi did a cross over, I bet the drama would go through the roof
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As an Eclare fan i think differently, i like the suspense on waiting for the couple to get together, i honestly rather all the flirting, especially for Eclare in general, however i think a eclare wedding will be cheesy.
For now im gonna fangirl over Tristan and his sexyness K? k
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For the most part, I was disgusted with the fact that Owen has a sort-of gay little brother and he was so homophobic toward Zane and Riley.
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Honestly, the whole “Degrassi should be like Skins UK” is a bit petty and kinda stupid. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but seriously…Degrassi is special because it isn’t like any other show…yes, there are defiantly some things that can be improved, but honestly, I’m happy with it now. I don’t think they should try to be like anything else, Skins UK included, because then people would complain about them being like a different show. Personally, I think Degrassi should stay the way it is and all this Skins UK crap should just stop.
Personal opinion…not meaning to offend any Skins UK fans.
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I’m not saying that Degrassi should be more like Skins UK in it’s nature, I’m just saying that the writing of Skins UK and it’s characters goes farther in-depth to who they are as people, I love Degrassi I just admire how Skins UK shows multiple facets of their characters and I think Degrassi should do that as well,
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I understand that, and yes, more in-depth characters would be nice. But sadly, Degrassi is what it is. And I’m happy with it. I’ll have to check out Skins UK sometime to see what all the chatter is about.
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YESSS! http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Skins_614/
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Did anyone else laugh their ass off when the girl Katie hit in the face was wearing that ridiculous mask in the next scene?! hahaha. I have to say that I really like the new niners. They seem to have better plots and chemistry than some of the regulars. Their stories feel more natural where Cake or Katie feel forced. And Katie’s codeine addiction?! She should be out like a light with the amount she took on this episode within a few short hours.
Finally, Owen’s homophobia kind of makes sense since he’s clearly ashamed of Tristian. But it still doesn’t make what he did to Zane and Riley okay in the slightest bit. Maybe we’ll get an episode where we’ll get deeper insight into this.
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New episode tonight!!! :D Can’t wait to see how Katie’s addiction turns out…or the drama with the Niners, orrrr the drama issue between Jenna and KC. Could Jenna possibly be attempting to get her baby back?? I think that’d be a great, yet heart-breaking story-line…I get the feeling the next episode will either conclude Kate’s storyline, and shift the focus to Jenna’s, OR, end Jenna’s storyline for a bit, and focus more on the terrible after-math of Katie’s addiction and soccer dreams. Just a few more hours until the next episode!! (Okay, alot more hours, but still. :p)
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