MAYA PLOT SUMMARY: Maya tries to throw herself at Cam while studying, but he seems more interested in studying than in her. She goes to Tori for advice, who is about to compete in a beauty pageant. Tori decides to give Maya a makeover so they can do the pageant together. Maya sings the song she’s been writing for WhisperHug to Mo and he likes it, but he wants Imogen to sing it because Maya doesn’t have enough sex appeal. Maya shows off her new look to Cam, but when he isn’t thrilled by it she storms off after telling him she doesn’t know what it’ll take to make him notice her. She wants to quit the pageant, but Zig convinces her she should do it anyway.
When it comes time for the pageant Maya is introduced on stage, and as she’s walking the catwalk she trips and falls in front of the crowd. She gets right up and continues as if nothing ever happened, and both she and Tori become finalists. Maya plans to play the song she’s written during the finals, but because she now genuinely wants to win Tori feels threatened and tells Maya she stands no chance and isn‘t the right kind of pretty. Cam wants Maya back, but she’s still convinced that he doesn’t like her because he never tells her she’s pretty. Tori confronts Maya about having Zig perform with her at the pageant, and Maya reminds Tori about the mean things she said earlier. Maya and Zig perform at the pageant and afterward they share a kiss, which Katie walks in on. During the final interview the ladies must answer the question, “What is your biggest flaw?” Tori uses the time to talk about Maya’s positive influence on her and apologize to her for being mean. Maya feels guilty for kissing Zig, calls herself a bitch and walks off the stage.
Maya leaves the pageant and shows up at Cam’s doorstep, apologizing for the way she’s treated them. The two get back together, and the next day at lunch Zig doesn’t like the news. He talks to Maya and tells her that there’s a spark between him and her, and that they should be together instead. However, Maya denies that she has any feelings for Zig and walks away.
With Season 12 having officially completed filming, some corners of the Degrassi fandom are convinced that the Degrassi apocalypse is coming. “Is the show getting canceled?” “How can they possibly go on without the seniors?”
I don’t know how many times I‘ve said it already, but thanks to the current niners I believe Degrassi will be fine in the future. They’ve been solid since they arrived on the scene, and this plot is just another example of that. The show once again jumps into Degrassi Junior High mode by examining a very relatable topic (insecurity) without making it more dramatic than necessary. Maya’s insecurity revolves around the fact that her boyfriend doesn’t make any moves on her and doesn’t tell her she’s pretty, therefore in her head something must be wrong with her. There’s no telling what Cam’s issue is (we’ll find out eventually), but as a guy in his late 20’s watching this plot is somewhat scary, knowing what kind of impact self-esteem issues can have on girls and their future relationships.
Tori’s also dealing with her own set of securities. Once Maya is chosen as a finalist, she builds up enough confidence to believe that she can actually win. Tori has the looks that Maya wants, but lacks the intelligence that Maya has. She can’t have Maya “taking over” pageants, because that has always been her thing. In essence, we’re watching the insecurities of two friends drive a wedge between them, because neither believe they are the “complete package” of smart and pretty, as dictated by society.
Throw Zig into the mix and it complicates things. He just so happens to give Maya the kind of attention she wanted from Cam at the right time. The only major kink in this episode is when Maya shows up at Cam’s front door near the end of the episode. It’s obviously wrong of her to go after Zig in any way, shape or form, and dating a guy that cheats on his girlfriend with you isn’t a smart idea. However, up until that point Maya spent the entire episode railing on Cam for his lack of showing any interest in her. She’d become attached to Zig because he made her feel good about herself, so it makes no sense that she’d suddenly run back into the arms of a guy who, even if it was unintentional, made her feel like crap. From that point on everything, including Zig’s sudden desire to drop Tori for Maya, is setting up Degrassi’s next love square. More important than how that will affect the romantic relationships is the effect on Maya and Tori’s friendship, which was wonderfully tested in this episode and has finally convinced me they are more than frenemies.
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MO/MARISOL PLOT SUMMARY: Katie, Jake, Mo and Marisol officially plan to spend their spring break in Puerto Vallarta. They have to get travel insurance, which requires them to fill out a health form listing any medical conditions they have. Marisol offers to fill out Mo’s form, but he declines and quickly leaves. She thinks that Mo might be hiding something, but she doesn’t know why. While at The Dot she tries to hint at getting him to confess, but Mo seems completely out of it. He goes inside to use the washroom and Marisol snoops in his bag, finding a needle with an orange cap. When Mo returns he’s back to his normal self, and Marisol leaves to find Katie. Marisol is convinced that Mo does drugs.
Marisol confronts Mo by staging an intervention in an empty classroom. He scoffs at the idea that he uses drugs, but refuses to tell her why he carries a needle in his bag. It’s not until later when Marisol tells Jake about Mo’s “addiction” that Jake tells her Mo’s secret: he has diabetes. Marisol confronts Mo again and feels as if she can’t trust Mo to trust her with his secrets. He apologizes and Marisol forgives him, and she also gives him a medical alert bracelet.
We can all agree that the basis of this plot is ridiculous. It’s believable that Marisol would find a needle in Mo’s bag and then logical dictates that she would assume (and be hurt) by the fact Mo is hiding some sort of medical condition. But Marisol jumping to the conclusion that Mo is a drug addict is absurd. She can be annoying (though she’s been quite normal and likable in Season 12), but she’s not stupid.
This plot hits on the same concept of communication, or lack thereof, that’s been done many times over on Degrassi. It’s not shocking Mo would hide his diabetes…it’s never shocking when someone hides a condition they have. What saves this plot though is the humor both Jake and Mo deliver throughout, as well as the part where in the end we’re shown that Mo and Marisol genuinely care for each other.
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ADAM PLOT SUMMARY: Adam’s mom Audra warns him to be careful with lifting weights because she doesn’t want another child of hers getting hurt or being in danger. That makes it impossible for Adam to tell his mom that he’s trying out for the men’s volleyball team at school. Coach Armstrong gives Adam a permission form that his mom must sign in order for him to play. Adam approaches his mom with the intent of talking to her about it, but she’s visibly upset about the situation with Drew and feels as if she’s a bad parent. Adam is afraid his mom will worry too much if he tells her about volleyball, so he decides to forge his mom’s signature on the permission slip.
Adam makes the team, but gets hit in the face with a volleyball and suffers a nosebleed. He tries to hide it from his mom, but she finds out about it anyway. She isn’t mad and is okay with Adam playing on the team…she also thinks it’s finally time for them to start looking into Adam getting testosterone.
Throughout a huge chunk of Degrassi: The Next Generation the adults were a critical part of the show. We would see their perspective on things, and have a more well-rounded view of them beyond seeing them as “so-and-so’s teacher or parent.” Nowadays I’m convinced the only reason adults are apart of the show is because they have to be…it’d be too unrealistic if we never saw any of the characters’ parents. It’s great that we get an Adam plot where he’s doing something normal, but it’s also refreshing that we get such a deep look into the mind of Audra Torres.
She’s always been a firm, overbearing parent, feeling as if she has to protect her children from the world. Over time we’ve slowly seen her softer, loving side, but here we watch her breaking down because she feels as if she’s failed to protect Drew. However, by the end of the episode we see how much she’s evolved. She’s convinced she pushed too so hard that it drove Drew away, so she avoids doing the same with Adam by being open to him joining the volleyball team and getting testosterone. Adam and Audra’s final scene together is heartwarming, and it’s fantastic that we’re finally seeing Adam progress after such a long time of his character being stagnant, an issue that has plagued quite a few of the LGBT characters on Degrassi.
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How Do YOU Grade Doll Parts?
You will be able to grade the plots in tonight’s episode. Voting begins at 9:30pm EST!
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I was thinking the same thing about the Mo & Marisol plot. I hope she only took one syringe because we know that real bad things could happen if Mo doesn’t take his insulin. Sometimes a cookie, orange juice or a candy bar won’t cut it. Someone as a joke took my friends diabetic kit, she ended up in a diabetic coma 2 hours after that. Thank God shes alive today.
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Haha, called it with the Morisol plot line. Now to see if it actually happens.
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I must be the only hockey player on Planet Earth who gets scratched then spends his time watching Degrassi in the team lounge.
Hope it doesn’t have me squealing like a little girl when the team comes back in. At least my broken hand keeps me feeling manly.
Anyway, bracing for a hopefully good part 2.
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I really liked this episode. There were a lot of moments that made me laugh. The Mo/Marisol plot was ridiculous, of course, but at least there were some funny moments. Maya and Adam’s plots were both great; the only weak moment was when Maya went running back to Cam. That just seemed random and unexpected to me since she had been showing so much chemistry with Zig. I thought she was going to want to try and get with him, even though she doesn’t seem like the boyfriend-stealing type. I like that Zig’s reaction at the end of the episode leaves it open.
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Some sweet words said this episode.
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I just watched part two on teennick.com…did they cut out 10 minutes of the episode or something?
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So I just went to watch part 2 on teennick.com and they cut like half of the episode out of the upload for no apparent reason…..does anyone have another place to watch it in the US?
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I found this solution to the video problem in the comment section on the TeenNick video. If you look right under the video box and click the button that says “embed” It pops up a text box. If you copy the address of that video (the part on the first line after …scr= and between the ” ” marks, it starts with http://) into the address bar it takes you to a video that has the middle part in it.
Hope that was helpful, I don’t usually post on here, but I wanted to pass on a solution to this problem.
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I am thinking Much will air it on the 23/30th I think TeenNick is doing both parts at as special time/day so they don’t have a one week hiatus between I Want It That Way/Tonight Tonight as they’ve never aired Degrassi on Black Friday (and since Black Friday is a tradition that is attached to American Thanksgiving Canada isn’t changing the schedule)
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Wow Maya was cold blooded in this episode! Jeez. Marisol is so ignorant, but she did fix her attitude a little bit. Anyways Dallas needs to show up some more.
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I agree with you, Kary. Everything about Maya’s plot was excellent up until the last 3 minutes. Talk about contrived. I have a feeling the writers did that for the crazy Maybell fans. However, I liked how the reality of the kiss was eating away at Zig instead of Maya per se but Campbell pushed that girl away with his lack of appreciation so why should SHE come back to him and say he was right and she was wrong? I know it is supposed to be a plot device for Tonight, Tonight but come on. Maybe the plot would have been better if Campbell was the one showing up at Maya’s front steps and telling her what she wanted to hear in the first place.
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^ I like that suggestion. Plus, it would have been less predictable if Cam had come to apologize.
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Man, I actually really enjoyed that episode. And I know I’m completely in the minority on this, but I THOROUGHLY enjoyed Zig’s character in this episode. I’m not saying I stand behind what he did, I just love the concept of his character.
Also, some people seem to forget, Zig had always liked Maya. I don’t know if I was the only one seeing this, but I had completely suspected that he still liked Maya the entire time he was dating Tori.
It’s a sad truth, but when you start dating someone, you don’t just AUTOMATICALLY drop all feelings you had for other people. It would have made no sense for Zig to suddenly no longer be interested in Maya just because Tori came back to him.
This also goes for Maya. She liked Zig way back in the beginning; just because he became unavailable does not make her stop liking him. That’t not the way human brains work.
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I feel like Maya running back to Cam makes sense. He was being super weird to her and she had every reason to leave, but if she’s trying to avoid going after Zig, Cam is the easiest target. Run back to ex-boyfriend, use him as a shield, as if nothing ever happened with best friend’s beau. I don’t think she did it out of any kind of change in Cam (although nice to see him working to be better), but to squash any kind of potential between her and Zig. Cam’s convenient.
Marisol was just being ridiculous, OOC even. That’s all I can say about that.
Adam has always been a great guy and I agree with Audra in liking the man he’s becoming. I’m glad he gets to at least start talking about going on T and that he’s able to participate in the things that he truly wants to. Now all we need is for Becky Baker to get her act together.
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That’s also what I thought about Maya going back to Cam like that–I thought it was obvious, actually, but I guess not. IDK how many people like to write on here, I know I do, but what Maya did is something very normal. To distract herself from Zig, she goes back to Cam. Obviously this story isn’t over.
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Mo and Jake’s reactions to Marisol were hilarious. They made that whole ridiculous plot worth it.
It was definitely nice to see Adam a) moving forward and b) having a plot not revolve only on his lgbt status.
The niners have definitely had some solid plots, this one included. I enjoyed everything up until Maya running back to Cam. I agree with those who think it would have been better had Cam gone to Maya.
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I like Cam’s character for the most part, but I think that Maya and Zig have better chemistry. I think Zig can really be himself around her, and that kiss was so passionate! Gave me chill bumps. I wish he would’ve realized how awesome she was when she was head over heels for him last season. I can’t wait to see what happens with this plot. Hope Tristan gets involved in it!
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I feel the same way. Zig and Maya just seem to have more in common than Maya/Cam and Zig/Tori. Zig and Tori don’t seem very attached on a personal level. To Maya, Zig seems like the perfect boyfriend to Tori because he constantly tells her how good she looks. But their relationship has little beyond that. Zig and Maya can just chill out and talk, which is something I can’t imagine Zig and Tori doing. Both of them seem so much more comfortable around each other than they do around their current boyfriend/girlfriend. I still ship them hardcore.
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To keep it short.
The main plot was excellent. The A- was well-deserved.
The Sub-Plot was also great, as unpopular as that opinion may be. I think the grade it received was kind of biased, no offense. People are just so stuck on being “Marisol haters”, so anything she appears in is automatically harshly criticized. I’d give it a B.
The Third-plot was mediocre, in my opinion. I LOVE Adam to death but I’m not going to give his plot a high-grade just for being Adam. Again, I think this grade was biased as well as the cosigning from the other fans. I’d give this a C.
I know I sound harsh but I’m NOT trying to offend anyone at all. Just keepin’ it real.
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In order for the grade to be biased that would mean I dislike Marisol…last time I checked I don’t dislike her, because she’s acted like a normal person and been a great friend throughout Season 12 (my opinions of the characters are constantly evolving, as they should be for every fan). The grade has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with 1) it’s a filler plot that adds nothing new besides the handful of hilarious lines from Mo and Jake, and of course 2) Marisol thinking Mo was on drugs. Re-read the review and you’ll see I actually defend her because the premise she’s been placed in is stupid. It doesn’t matter who it was, it’s ridiculous that the writers would make any character jump to that extreme conclusion.
And when it comes to the Adam plot, again if you re-read it you’ll see that the grade is so high not because of Adam, but because of Audra (seeing as how I spent 99% of the review of that plot talking about her and NOT Adam).
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I understand what you’re saying and really, it wasn’t just you that my comment was directed towards. I actually feel like your opinion(which you’re absolutely entitled to) reflects the opinions of the majority of the fandom. I actually respect everyone’s opinion even if that didn’t seem like the case in my comment.
Clearly, we agree on the main plot, so I’ll just move on from that.
For the sub-plot, I actually do think it was decent. Almost everyone thinks the subject matter was ridiculous(particularly the conclusion that Marisol jumped to) but I can easily understand why. First of all, not everyone is expected to the be the expert on diabetic symptons, so for people to be calling Marisol stupid(not saying that you did) for thinking that Mo was suffering from something else is what’s ridiculous, in my opinion. AND there was also a possible paranoia that Marisol was having after Katie(someone else she loves and is close to) developed a drug addiction. I also appreciate how this plot has given much needed depth to Marimo’s relationship and painted her as a loving, caring individual rather than the evil witch that most fans have in their heads that she is.
As for Adam; again, I love him just as much as the next fan, but the plot was really bland. And you’re right about Audra, except I personally wouldn’t have graded the plot as highly as you did. What stood out to me the most in this plot, and thus, saved it from receiving a D, was when Audra finally began to consider taking Adam into the next step of his transition. THAT warmed my heart.
Still, perhaps there isn’t any biased coming from you(and I believe you when you say there isn’t) but I think otherwise when it comes to a big portion of the fandom. Just being honest.
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Oh I agree there’s a lot of bias in the fandom, lol. But at the same time the fandom in general isn’t really looking at the episodes with an extremely critical eye…for them it’s just about seeing their favorite characters and couples.
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I am super curious as to what Cam’s deal is. Is he gay? Bi? Asexual? Depressed? Does he have social anxiety disorder? Did his brother die? Is it some blend of these? Or none of them? They’re really taking their time to reveal whatever it is. Eli’s mysterious secret was revealed mid-Boiling Point, but they’ve drawn Cam’s out through the summer soap opera block and I’m thinking it’s not going to be revealed in the next 4 episodes either. I appreciate the suspense, but at the same time I really want some answers. Whatever it is, I hope they do a good job of depicting it when the time comes.
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we accept the love we think we deserve
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My biggest issue with the main plot is that Zig, who was so in love with Tori in Got Your Money, is suddenly wanting to be with Maya. I don’t want Zig to become a jerk, because I can’t help but see him as the sweet boy from earlier who was trying to hard to impress his girlfriend, not cheat on her.
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Exactly!Zaya makes sense if you really think about it, but then again….it doesn’t. Zig has proven that he prefers Tori in the earlier episodes where he decides to get back together with her and even in Got Your Money where he does everything to maintain their relationship. I guess Zig flirting with Maya made him realize that he has a better connection with her…but it’s just too weird for me right now. The writers did so well with Maybell and it sucks that their relationship now completely one sided, in terms of feelings. It’s really annoying especially when they had cute moments prior to them getting together, and now it’s all pointless.
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Don’t know if anyone else has thought of this with Cam, but could it be that he’s never been in a relationship and doesn’t exactly know what to/not to say or do? The whole deal with Mo/Marisol was actually not that strange, especially if she’s not got anyone in her family who has been diabetic…she wouldn’t know better.
Adam’s plot was great as usual, nice to see him having something good happen for once.
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I was thinking the same thing about Cam too. Honestly, Maya should have dropped both boys
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I don´t know why people don´t understand maya going back to cam. I think it comes from her insecurities, yes he made her feel not pretty enough, or good enough in general but the last thing he says to her is that he wants to try again. That he´s sorry. She´s clearly trying to put a bandaid and forget about zig, her insecurities, and betraying tori. Maya thinks going back to cam will solve all her problems, it´s not uncommon for girls to go back to unsatasfiying relationships when we are scared of what comes next or insecured about ourselves.
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I understand that but i thought Maya would feel more guilt and listen to what her sister had to say. All in all this is going to bite her in the butt. Toi does not seem that forgiving and Zig can’t let go. This story sounds so familiar ( Emma & Manny) or (Liberty & Emma)??
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I thought the same thing about Maya. Katie saying that Maya deserved better was meant to be about Zig, but can also be applied to Cam. I get her being insecure would fuel her going back to Cam for “comfort,” because I’ve seen girls do it many times over in real life…it’s still utterly frustrating though.
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I thought the same thing about Maya. Katie saying that Maya deserved better was meant to be about Zig, but can also be applied to Cam. I get her being insecure would fuel her going back to Cam for “comfort,” because I’ve seen girls do it many times over in real life…it’s still utterly frustrating though.
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Honestly, I can see Zig completely outing his incident with Maya, in hopes that Tori will leave him and Cam will leave Maya.
Maybe it won’t happen that way exactly, but mark my words — the truth will become revealed by Zig, and with malevolent intentions.
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