Hi Kary,
I recently read the post you did a while back about your “Top 10 Favorite Episodes” of Degrassi, and was wondering, since you did that before the end of Season 9, are there any from Season 10/Season 11 which you would say that would join that group? If so, which ones would you add and which ones would you take out of the list you made? Thanks so much!
– Sean
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Here’s that list of my Top 10 Favorite Episodes of Degrassi:
1) Rock and Roll High School
2) Take On Me
3) Weird Science
4) Drive
5) Friday Night
6) Our House
7) When Doves Cry
8) Take My Breath Away
9) Against All Odds
10) Coming of Age
To say I created that list before Season 9 is an understatement…I think I made the list sometime around Season 4 or 5 (hence the reason all of the episodes are all from Seasons 1 – 3). Just looking at this list, it’s safe to say it is severely outdated.
Putting nostalgia aside, I could now look at this list and replace 6-10 with a handful of episodes from the past several years: Rock & Roll High School and Take On Me will probably forever be #1 and #2, but the rest of the slots are open to be flipped around, etc.
This isn’t my official list (I’d have to go on a super Degrassi marathon binge to figure it out), but off the top of my head this is what an updated Top 10 might look like:
1) Rock And Roll High School
2) Take On Me
3) Eyes Without A Face
4) Weird Science
5) Friday Night
6) Death or Glory
7) Chasing Pavements
8) Drive
9) Innocent When You Dream
10) What It Feels Like To Be A Ghost
Remember…just because they’re my favorite, it doesn’t mean they’re also the 10 absolute best episodes from a technical standpoint.
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I absolutely love Innocent When You Dream, one of my top ten favorites as well, so many fans hate it which I don’t understand, since it was such a shout-out to the fans (a reference to Nina going to The Vampire Diaries and fanfic writers, since Degrassi has a lot of fanfic out there.)
It also gave us a lot of development for Clare, and gave her some much-needed confidence after KC dumped her. I don’t think she would have been able to stand up to him and Jenna after the cheating on the exam fiasco the way she did if it hadn’t been for this episode.
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Chasing Pavements? Really? I mean like, the episode was good, but I’m surprised that of all the awesome episodes in the show, that’s the one you choose as one of your Top 10 as the only one from Season 10/11.
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When I think about Seasons 10 and 11, Chasing Pavements is always the first episode that comes to mind!
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Honestly, I think Chasing Pavements was the best episode of In Too Deep. It was written beautifully. Part 1 was an amazing set-up and there were just so many tearjerking moments in Part 2. From a general standpoint, it was just too easy to resonate with what Fiona was going through. Almost everyone in high school has at some point fallen victim to the notion of wanting someone they can never logically have. A very relatable episode indeed.
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That’s pretty much why I loved it so much!!
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Oh yeah, this is a question I’ve been thinking of for a while, and I wanted to ask you: how do you feel about making every single episode a 2-parter?
I was never around your blog before Season 10, I just found it during like In Too Deep, so I never got to read your initial reaction to the announcement that every episode would be 2-parters.
I think it works perfectly for the telenovela blocks, but New Beginnings is a prime example of why when it goes back to the weekly blocks, especially if there’s only going to be 14 episodes, they should go back to single episodes. I’d be okay if they threw in one or two 2-parters across this block, but the absence of so many characters is ridiculous.
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I complained last year during In Too Deep, I will complain about New Beginnings in my final analysis of Season 11 and I will continue to complain about how nothing but 2-parters outside of the telenovela block doesn’t work. You’re right, the 2-parter system is perfect for the telenovela, but there is such a massive difference between waiting 24 hours and waiting 7 days to see the conclusion of episodes that have weak Part 1 endings. The past couple of Part 1 eps here in New Beginnings have done better, but I still wish they’d just go back to the old 30-minute format during the fall and spring blocks.
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Eye’s Without A Face (Season 6 episode), thats one of ur favoorite eps???? How so? the best part was the confrentation. I hated the peter/darcy/spinner interaction during this season..
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It wasn’t about the peter/darcy/spinner interaction for me, it was more about Darcy and the allure of a total stranger fueling her sudden need for attention
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I hate that every episode is a two-parter too, especially when they are written in a way that they can be viewed together like a normal one hour show on any other network, which leads me to ask, why not make the show an hour? I also feel that the two part nature forces you to rush through plots to create the sense of urgency needed to hook you in for part 2. Like in “Not Ready to Make Nice,” it only got interesting, right when Clare finds out what Summer and her crew was up to, then BAM, police raid, they get arrested, and Clare is back at home being sisterly with Jake, and her parents never found out. Same thing with Imogeli, didn’t get into it until they were already over, and then it all seemed pointless. It would have been better if the setup for those plots were 2 independent episodes, then you had the Smash Into You episodes as a two-parter in between (with Clare and Imogeli as B or C plots) then the fallout for each happen in the next two episodes. At least that way you feel like those plots lasted longer than they did in reality because they weren’t wrapped up in a nice bow, the next week after they got started.
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I really don’t understand why the Degrassi crew is so hesitant to do a single hour-long episode. Sure we get movies and specials from time to time, but those can still be aired in parts. It doesn’t even have to be for the whole season. Assuming they stick with the summer blocks (and I don’t see the benefit of going back to the 22-episode format with a cast this huge), those telenovela two-parters are just fine. I just feel as though things would run more smoothly with 14 hour-long episodes as opposed to 7 30 minute two-parters aired weekly.
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Death or Glory made your list Kary? I was wondering, what do you mean when you said it “lost way too much steam in Part 2?” If anything, wasn’t it somewhat more intense?
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It felt like Spinner’s plot was a little too quick to wrap it up neatly, and they never dealt with the rivalry again after that. Also, Part 2’s subplot was another shitty Marco plot (as opposed to Darcy’s subplot in Part 1 where she tells Simpson about being raped).
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I agree with most of your list; however, I would definitely put My Body Is A Cage somewhere on there simply out of the power of Adam’s storyline and of Anya’s scene with the volcano. Plus, My Body Is A Cage managed to a PSA into a real plot line and convince the audience of its relatability without sounding too PSA-like.
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I won’t bother trying to rank episodes because there are just too many, but I don’t think Degrassi will ever top “Time Stands Still”, the school shooting episodes.
Also, any episode where Craig Manning, Holly J, or Sean Cameron were in the A-Plot gets an honorable mention.
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What about the crappy Sean episodes in Season 6?
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Missing Hide and Seek.
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Kary, did you not do a march madness this year.
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