Week 3 of Degrassi’s 5-week telenovela kicks off this week with one character’s return to relevance (Jenna), and one of the most-anticipated storylines of “Showdown” with Clare and Asher. Oh, and Drew gets a job at that phone kiosk in the mall.
Tonight we’re getting our first REAL look at the Baker siblings Becky and Luke. It’s going to be interesting witnessing the dynamics of their home life as well as how they react differently to the introduction of Jenna in their environment despite both having the same strong, Christian foundation. Clare’s storyline will span across all four episodes this week, with the super heavy stuff not happening until “Waterfalls.” To check out HQ promo pics of Closer To Free, CLICK HERE. I’ve also added a drop-down menu to the site’s main menu for easier access to the promo pics for the episodes throughout Degrassi: Showdown.
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I’m excited to see Jenna get some meaty material again, but not sure how I feel about this Luke character. I was never a fan of Jenna’s until the Ty adoption storyline, so hopefully this douchebag isn’t an instant turnoff. Honestly, I’d rather see Jenna and Dallas, who’s also kind of a douchebag, but behind that rough exterior, seems to have a modicum of decency.
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The dude (Luke’s the character’s name, right?) looks like a real creep. Just looking him makes me uncomfortable.
I agree about Dallas, who’s probably my favorite new character. Lots of unlikable qualities but he’s got that “cool” factor that’s hard not to like.
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Im excited to see where they go with this clare plot in Waterfalls. I’m glad we haven’t seen too much from the promos like in season 10. Luke looked good at first, but when you look at his face he kind of looks like an inbred floridian. Becky is too much, I hope they chill her out a lot later on, cause right now, it seems a little unrealistic to have someone so bubbly all the time.
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I got these discriptions from Tvguide com. Closer to Free, Pt. 2 Season 12, Episode 10
Jul 31, 2012episode detailsBe the first to comment!
Conclusion. Jenna is baptized. Elsewhere, Drew receives failing grades, so he ponders dropping out of school; and Connor’s messages humiliate Clare. read more
Closer to Free, Pt. 1 Season 12, Episode 9
Jul 30, 2012episode detailsBe the first to comment!
Part 1 of 2. Jenna grows close to Becky and Luke, but religious differences arise. Meanwhile, Clare is captivated by her new mentor, Asher; and Drew gets a job opportunity
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can someone plzz expain what this mean “Clare is captivated by her new mentor, Asher” PLZZ
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It probally means like she looks up to him and he inspires he by hi journalistic work i dont think like she gets a crush or anything. But her being so ingaded might make her not notice the signs of him being a creeper!
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I think what it means that really admires him as journalist
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I really hope that Jenna’s plot dives deeper than her just wanting Luke because he’s hot. I think it’d be interesting to see her fall hard because she wan’ts someone. Saying that, she really doesn’t have anyone. Her parents are gone, her brother moved away, and KC and Ty are out of her life. I also think that Luke may just be the first guy to be interested in her because he may not know that she had a baby. That’s just my thoughts.
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I bust out laughing at Jenna being baptized in the promo for the next episode! I’m Christian, and I think this whole episode is hilarious. But I find it somewhat interesting. Better than Fitz’s Christian plot.
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I laughed as well and I agree, it is miles better than Fitz’s “I found god” plot. The beginning sort of reminded me of Spinner’s plot in season 5 where Darcy brings him to friendship club.
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Tonight’s episode was so boring.
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Yeah tonight’s episode was very meh. Religion could be interesting but I just find Luke so creepy that I can’t take this seriously.
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I agree. I thought it wsa boring
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i thought tonight’s episode was pretty solid. I love how they are establishing events rather than just dropping things in (which they still do, but in a good way). I can totally see how asher might think clare has a crush on him and that’s why he starts putting on advances. Sexual harassment is different from a rape story line, and i love how they are setting the asher/clare storyline up. I think the writers and all degrassi is finally coming together to create really solid episodes.
The liquid part of the epi was all the singing, ugh (which sounds horrible to be honest) but it was part of the story line so i get it. I actually like Luke (maybe not crazy for him and jenna) and part of me feels like he’s a male whore waiting to happen but another part of me admires that he was able to say no to Jenna because he just didn’t want to be put in a bad position. A lot of people might not agree and say it might not even come to sex, but it takes a lot of guts and control to just try to avoid the issue. The other part of me thinks he’s crazy and should just get laid.
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Woah, I was certain that after seeing the last episode, Alli and Dave broke up.
As much as I like Alli and Dave together, I was really proud of Alli when she chose her future over a high school relationship. I gained so much more respect for her because she made that mature decision.
I originally loved the ending of Say it Ain’t So, but now I don’t really know what to think of it. Knowing they are still together, the episode does not leave a huge impact as before–it’s like everything is back to normal and that they just gave up having sex.
Maybe the writers should not have ended with Dave saying “I love you” and Alli repsonding with “I know”… that gives off a break-up vibe.
Perhaps the writers wrote it that way because Alli knew Dave would not like her decision of going to MIT, and that they both know their relationship will be coming to a end?
Anyone else want to add/feel the same?
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I liked this episode pretty well. Jenna’s situation since 11.5 hasn’t been explored much. What is her legal relationship vis a vis the Bhandaris? Are they guardians? Foster parents?
With her own family, KC and the baby out of the picture, it makes sense that she’s looking for something or someone to fill the void. And she’s on Mrs. Bhandari’s bad list, so that isolates her even more.
We got a less caricaturish look at the Bakers. Degrassi will, as always, eventually make them more understandable if not likable.
The Fiona-Drew friendship could be cute, although Drew moving out his home just seems like another dunderhead decision.
Clare’s idol worship is poignant since we know what’s coming.
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They’re legal guardians. they said it plain as day in Say It Aint So. lol
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First off i think the Fiona Drew friendship is so cute!! When she said you take the bottom and ill take the top an he was like my kind of girl i lol’ed !! Also i like Dallas but Drew always takes his advice the wrong way!!
Jenna umm her singing with Becky was humourous! And when Luke was like you tempt me omg i couldnt really take this suriously.
And Clare was being soo mean ,but Conor was pretty funny ! I agree its easy to see why Asher would think she has a crush on him .
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I think it’s well established that Jenna cannot carry a main plot because the actor is so disengaging-sort of like Zig. The Baker siblings were two characters I have been excited to get to know and I feel like Jenna is bringing them down. Hopefully part 2 gets better. The only part that made this episode remotely interesting was seeing my boy, Dallas. On a side note, Bhandurner being all chummy chummy and still being in a relationship came as a shock to me.
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Yeah, the last episode ended all depressing like they were over, then Dave is like “boyfriend gets first dibs” and Alli doesn’t even bat an eyelash. While I’m glad hey are still together because they didn’t need to break up, I’m still a little miffed that there was all that drama for nothing.
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Degrassi is trying a little too hard with this religion plot. Bakers are too much like caricatures to be taken seriously (though Luke is more realistic than Becky). It would be more natural if Jenna had hung out with them a bit longer before they sprung the evangelical language on her. Despite this though, I think this is a good topic for Degrassi to broach: the born again Christian phenomenon. It’s very easy when you are in a position like Jenna where your faith is up in the air or you’ve gone through a vulnerable and rough time to get caught up in the certainty of faith in people like the Bakers. I lived with a bunch of “Bakers” on my floor in my freshmen year dorm; super perky Christian evangelicals who were really nice people, but had beliefs and practices that I do not agree with. Even though I was already a progressive Christian and wasn’t really looking to join their group, I couldn’t help admiring how committed they were to their beliefs, almost to the point where I started to question my own. I can only imagine if I were like Jenna with nothing really. In fact most of the people in that group were like Jenna at one point and had all been “found” by this group of people and decided to live their lives for Christ and all that. I checked out though when they had their “everyone has a disease called sin and Jesus is the vaccine and it is up to us to go cure everyone,” conversation.
But at any rate, I hope the writers delve into the psychology of why people end up joining those types of churches which will help us understand the Bakers more. I also hope that they remember Clare is a Christian and some how include her perspective in this plot to balance out the over the top Bakers and their brand of Christianity.
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See, like most people we keep thinking bringing clare will be a good thing. But apparently the degrassi writers or degrassi people feel like its either a)not important or b)forgot clare is religious. They won’t have clare interact at all with becky, Aislinn paul says that clare doesn’t get involve in the religious drama in the interview kary had with her at the premiere (its in the degrassi extra 1208 i think). They are almost done filming degrassi so unless they do it in the other half of the season i don’t think clare will even get involve with religion to be honest.
which is stupid. Like i get making the bakers super religious, ive known people like that (luke is a lot more realistic than becky though). It’s just stupid not to do (i think) a little compare and contrast. At least during the becky trying to save adam fiasco, that would be so perfect for clare to get involve atleast with one sentence.
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While I agree that they are kind of caricatured, I understand exactly why Becky didn’t tell Jenna that she was having a Christian group. As a minister’s kid myself, I know that you think it might jeopardize your friendship with some people. This episode made me realize that, annoying as she is, Becky is just lonely.
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I also agree that Becky isn’t just some uptight Christian caricature that people think she is. I really think that she isn’t really even into religion that much but in her family, it’s being forced upon her. Like how she got into that fight with Eli. Her words were like, “I can’t be associated with homosexuality.” She looked more horrified than making fun of homosexuality like Luke has been doing with his goat sounded “GAAAY!” yells at Dave. I think she didn’t tell Jenna about the Christian group was because she just didn’t want to scare her off. Becky is definitely being setup to date Adam, so I doubt she’s as religiously uptight as Luke…
I’m liking the Drew/Fiona friendship, and I didn’t think that I would. I missed the preview for tomorrow’s ep… :-/ So if I say something that happened in it, my bad. I think Drew’s big step into not wanting to be treated like a kid is to move in with Fiona. She’s looking for a roommate and he’s looking for a job. It seems likely that he’ll move in. I’d much rather he move in than Charlie show up out of the blue for some crazy plot twist. I needs my Fimogen to stay where it is. Lol. All in all, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s episode. I hope I see the promo for it at some point.
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Becky… She’s definitely deeper than what I originally thought, but she’s still definitely in the antag group. She’s basically all of Jenna’s S9 traits cranked to 11 minus the boyfriend stealing, on the outside. What’s under it I can’t be sure of, but I’m pretty sure her ‘not judging’ Jenna will be revisited in part 2. She’s kinder than her brother, but that’s because her brother is standing against Homosexuality for three reasons (at least, far as I can guess).
If she’s being set-up as Adam romance, it probably won’t be till 12.5. Right now her primary plot seems to be confrontational (with both Eli and Adam).
Fi and Drew… I’m kinda liking it but I also feel we’ve not been seeing enough of the 11.5 friendships. If this leads to double dates of Fimogen and Drianca I’m for it. Drew’s mom is doing him no favors pushing his schoolwork while he’s still suffering the after-effects of a serious head injury.
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Hmm, that is actually a good way to look at it. I know people that were forced into religion like that. it’s pretty bad with minister’s kids, because people expect them to be shining beacons all the time.
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Agreed. It infuriated me to have her admire him so much and just take advantage of her and him totally not live up to her expectations. Honestly, though, it wouldn’t have made as good of a storyline if there wasn’t some foreshadowing, at least in my opinion. I want to know what happens with Eli in that plot line as well…
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Why do I like Becky? Lol like I hate the way she sees certain things, but I think she has a deeper personality than the one shes portraying. I’m definitely excited to see more of her and how she really is in the future.
Jenna getting a main plot is great for me because it’s honestly refreshing. Sometimes I think the writers think only certain characters should get main plots but when the [normally] background characters get A-plots, it’s like wow this is different and I could get into this.
The Clare/Connor/Asher stuff is something I can’t judge yet because we haven’t seen much of it.
Drew and Fiona. Wow. I missed them interacting! Can’t wait to see where this heads. I could only shit Driona if Fiona was straight. But I like her as a lesbian more. Makes her more relatable ^.^
On the last note: I dig how this season isn’t focusing on relationships. It’s almost as if the producers and writers got on this website to read our feedback. Kudos to you, Degrassi!
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SHIP*** omg I couldn’t shit Driona xD
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Lol at Adam grabbing like four samosas when Clare asked them to leave.
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I died laughing when Jenna was all like “Shezz”.
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A bit of bore really, hopefully part 2 picks up. I actually really like Becky for some reason and it’s interesting to see Luke in a different surrounding. I don’t get why anyone would want Drew/Fiona together really, they seem like they’d make great friends really. There’s no need to make them into a couple. As for Clare’s plot, I’m positive it’ll pick up. I found myself hating Connor here honestly. He came off really annoying.
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Whoops this wasn’t to be a reply; my bad.
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