FIONA PLOT REVIEW: The running theme for Fiona’s existence is that she feels “forever alone.” She needs someone or something in her life that she can cling to, emotionally and/or physically (not necessarily a “romantic” physical relationship, just someone who will physically be around her, like Drew as her roommate).
There are several threads throughout this plot, and they’re all pushed forward through the use of plot devices. The strongest is Fiona’s loneliness; with Drew moving out and Imogen busy with other things, Twitter becomes an instant addiction for Fiona. Anyone at that age who actively engages in social media knows the rush of having people follow you or reply to your posts. Instead of going the cliché route of having Fiona recklessly post too much information about herself online, they attack this angle slickly, having her tweets automatically post her location. The catch is she has no knowledge of what the “geotagging” function is to begin with.
The break in at Fiona’s loft serves a dual purpose, one being implied while the other is literal. There’s never any evidence that suggests Fiona’s tweeting directly allowed for someone to find her loft and burglarize it. However, it does address the potential danger of something like that happening to the show’s audience. On a much stronger note, the break in shows us how emotionally devastating that kind of occurence can be, even if you weren’t physically harmed. The culprit wasn’t caught, and never will be. The feeling of fear and helplessness Fiona feels can drive one mad.
Because she’s dealing with all of this alone, it’s understandable that Fiona would soon become obsessed with finding a way to protect herself, ultimately becoming fixated on owning a gun. However, that’s where this solid plot ends and its sudden derailment begins. Fiona going into a dark alley at night to buy a gun from a bunch of hoodlums is one of the most absurd things this show has done in God knows how long.
I understand that people in real life can be extremely gullible, but even complete idiots have enough common sense to not do what Fiona did. Ironically, the idea of someone older than a young child being lured into a dark alley (or anywhere creepy) is so ridiculous that it’s become a joke to society, enhanced nowadays by internet memes driven through social media. The stupidity of that scene takes away from conclusion, where Fiona finally realizes she can stand on her own two feet because she was forced into a position where she had to. Heck, Fiona’s clarity in itself is rushed given all that‘s happened. She spent the entire episode rattled because of the break in, but after getting attacked (she could easily been killed) and spending a night in a hospital “thinking,” she’s suddenly okay?
For me, this was an A-level plot until out of nowhere things imploded. Degrassi’s been on a tear for a while now churning out solid plots, but this is one that by the end of it all I’m left scratching my head.
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ZIG PLOT REVIEW: There’s two kinds of fans when it comes to this plot: those who thought Zig was adorable, and those who thought the plot made no sense and was a complete waste of time. I disagree with the latter.
Zig is someone I initially brushed off as a waste of space, because that’s what he was when he first joined the show. Any interaction he had with other characters was borderline anemic. Since then he’s grown a lot, showing a wide range of emotions ranging from sincerity to anger. The latter is what we see in this episode, as he uses that to act out the guilt he feels for Cam’s suicide. Zig’s “Zou Bisou Bisou” performance is hilarious, yet clever in how it continues a plot that could’ve easily been wrapped up by the end of Part 1. The trick is that Zig has no clue that the song he sang and dedicated to Madame Jean-Aux was a song about romance, and could’ve caused a slew of trouble for her and Zig had anyone had motive to believe there were romantic intentions present. He still carries guilt for Cam’s death, and can’t bear the idea of hurting someone else because of his actions.
Ultimately, Zig’s apology is endearing. He’s done some crappy things, but he’s remorseful enough to publicly admit his mistakes and apologize. This plot once again shows how characters on Degrassi cannot forever be constrained to the “good” or “bad” categories that the fandom always wants to place them in. These characters are far more “gray area” than we want to give them credit for.
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DALLAS PLOT REVIEW: Dallas being a dad comes as a shock, however, the driving force of this plot is how he balances that fact with trying to date Alli. We get some insight into Dallas’ past, the fact that he hasn’t been the kind of father he should be. It’s weird that Dallas was able to successfully keep Rocky a secret from everyone, even Drew, but it’s not surprising that he did so.
Just like Dallas, the plot itself has to walk a thin line to make sure “Dallas the dad” and “Dallas who wants to date Alli” remain balanced. I feel like the plot succeeds, even as Dallas’ focus shifts more toward becoming a better father toward his son, as it should. Dallas has spent quite some time trying to just go out on one date with Alli, but every time something seems to get in the way.
Their plight has hints of Snake and Melanie from Degrassi Junior High, one of the classic ships in Degrassi history that, despite their best efforts, was never able to actually get together. It’s great to see that Dallas has his priorities straight…who would’ve thought a character on Degrassi would actually turn down a chance with someone they like in order to be responsible?
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
I hope it works out between Ali and Dallas!
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Anyone feel like Zig’s plot was kinda all over the place with the singing and his friend setting him up for disaster with the teacher? I like how it dealt with the niner situation but i feel like the whole French club thing was kinda random
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After watching that video with stefan, im so mad that the moment was spoiled in promos because finding that out and after everything that had happened on the roof would of ben such a great moment and a shock.
When it comes to Fiona, the one thing that I realized is that her problem with dependency seems to be a constant theme in all her storylines. From Declan, Holly J, drinking, porcelina, Adam, Imogen. The crazy thing is that with all these dependency issues she has lived alone in a apartment all the way in canada while her family is in the US. I think this plots ending and her denying imogens request was a nice way to wrap up her character and having her come kind of full circle.
I was really happy they chose to focus on how cams death affected zig, and that he got some resolution with tori and the others. I did feel its was weird that his character kind of flipped and was so interested in the teacher, although it wasnt romantic I didnt think the moment that he shared with her in part 1 was enough for him to latch on to her.
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A Plot – When watching Fiona’s plot, I was saying to myself how Part One and Part Two felt completely different. Then I found out that both parts were not written by the same person. To me that is why I think the plot had its downfall in Part Two and I dislike the fact that it happened to a character whose potential has been wasted the entire season. I do agree that Part One and the first eight minutes of Part Two were solid but the second that Fiona became obsessed with trying to own a gun is when this plot went south. And of course the alley way scene was just mediocre because it did not feel real. Fiona might not have street smarts, but I think that someone who recently has been held at gunpoint would not try to buy a gun from some thugs no matter how paranoid he or she is…it’s as simple as that. Then they try to throw a happy ending in there with Fiona realizing that the break-in will not affect her…again it feels contrived. I find it so ironic how this plot had both a purely intense scene, which was Fiona’s home invasion, and one of the most stupid ones. Just goes to show that the Degrassi writers still have the lingering issue of balancing writing quality.
B Plot – Out of all the Niners, Zig is the one that improved the most this season with his A plot in Got Your Money, the love square story line, and Cam’s suicide. Ricardo Hoyos displayed his emotions very well especially during the scenes where he admits his mistakes to Damon, Tori, Tristan, and Maya. It was nice to see how Zig was dealing with the guilt of Cam’s suicide and in the midst of it all he trashed his French teacher’s car. It just represents how deep guilt can get for a person especially feeling responsible for someone committing suicide. Now that we’ve seen Eli and Zig dealing with the aftermath, it’ll be interesting to see how Maya deals with it in next week’s episode.
C Plot – Surprisingly enough, the 12C promo did not ruin my reaction to Dallas being a father. If anything it just added to the multiple angles of Dallas’ character who as we know is not flat out good or bad. I like how Dallas dealt with the dilemma of trying to hide Rock from Alli so she would not go away from him. In a way, it felt realistic as he told Drew that every time he met a girl they would shy away the second he told them he had a son. Seeing Dallas step up to his parenting duties made me realize how conflicting it can be sometimes for teen parents. With Dallas, we can all be relieved that he won’t be the next Mia Jones where he would have cast his son away. I loved the irony of the final scene between Alli and Dallas. It’s interesting enough that their potential relationship is open-ended but as Dallas tells Alli that him being a parent is his first priority one can only flash back to earlier in the season when Alli said the same exact thing to Dave about her schoolwork for fast-tracking coming first. Oh and Kary, I did have that Snake and Melanie thought in my head when thinking about this plot as well.
Overall, this episode may have had a flawed main plot but the solid B and C plots made up for it.
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I have to completely agree Matthew. You’ve pretty much nailed it down perfectly on your analysis.
The A Plot started very well, only to be derailed by a slapstick conclusion. It’s too bad that Degrassi’s budget isn’t able to allow them to produce more episodes per season. This is the season that needed it the most. Fiona’s character potential this season wasn’t limitless, but still very potent and it feels that her character has a lot of lost potential now that she will be leaving the show upon graduation.
I believe the B Plot is actually sporadic and a bit random, but it fits in well for a character who squarely blames himself for someone else’s suicide. Ricardo did a masterful job at showing numerous emotions that were simmering after BSS and finally burst to the surface in these episodes.
The C plot may overshadow both of them though, simply by trying to tackle the whole teen parent issue. It meshed well with the real world, where it would be very believeable that someone would hide the fact that they are a teen dad whether they have loving feelings for the child or not. It really enhanced Dallas as a character, and also showed Demetrius Joyette’s acting abilties. He fits into that “gray area” Kary mentioned perfectly along with Zig. Demetrius’s acting so far in 12C has been astoundingly great in my own humble opinion. He didn’t wow me at the start of the season, but as time progressed his abilities to project Dallas’s moods impressed me.
Karma Police may not be quite up to snuff when compared to Ray of Light and BSS, but it still is in good shape. Overall thus far, 12C has been amazingly written, directed, and produced. The actors have done a superb job this season overall, but this last string of episodes to end out the season have been the best C Part of any season that I’ve seen in a few years.
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While I agree that part 2 became overly ambitious and it somewhat ridiculous because of it, I don’t blame Fiona going into a dark ally by herself. It was a stupid decision but one that happens a lot. Her need to protect herself and how scared she was about an intruder coming back trumped how scared she felt in the ally, alone. It wasn’t and didn’t feel fake to me, nor did it feel like even the dumbest person wouldn’t have made that choice, people are stupid. That’s why there is so many ppl in the emergency room. Look at Rihanna.
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Lol, very true. You certainly make a good point, I was just trying to say that I felt that the writers squandered a golden oppotunity with an actor and character that have abounding opportunities. She’s done a very good job over the years of making it plain as day that her biggest phobia/fear is being alone. The fear she expressed over the breakin was believeable, I just kind of thought the plot in part 2 went sideways after an excellent start in part 1. You do make a very clear point that we all forget now and then: we all do stupid things eventually.
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This is my first time posting here, I think, but I agree with all of your points, Kary. I thought part 1 was very well done. My mom and I both watch the show, and we enjoyed the plots in part 1, though we were surprised at how fast the episode ended, lol. However, in part 2, the corny happy ending mixed with Fiona’s “black market purchase” didn’t make sense. It felt very rushed, and didn’t make sense how Fiona would try to buy a gun from shady thugs when she was terrified by her mugger. The two other plots in both episodes were great, and overshadowed the main storyline in “Karma Police”. It really brought out the best of Demetrius Joyette’s acting AGAIN! I’m also glad that he and Alli didn’t get together. It would’ve been another cheesy happy ending, and frankly I just don’t like them as more than friends.
As for season 12, the fall block was boring in my opinion, but I’ve enjoyed 12C and the Showdown event equally. Degrassi’s always had good actors IMO, but it’s really showing in 12C. Just when I thought the show had run out of plots and was getting boring, it’s started to impress me again. Also, I love your blog!
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I thought the end of Fiona’s plot was stupid. Just because you see some thugs in the street doesn’t mean they sell guns, but I liked her plot overall and the other two. I especially related to Dallas’ plot, considering I’m severely allergic to nuts.
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Why is Campbell off all of your links in the sidebar?
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