Degrassi Episode Review: How Bizarre

DREW PLOT RECAP:  Drew wants to prove to Alli and Jenna that he’s not a bad guy, but it becomes difficult when Mrs. Hollingsworth sends him a picture of her boobs.  Frankie also walks in on Drew hugging Mrs. Hollingsworth in the pool house.  Drew decides to tell Mr. Hollingsworth before word got back to him, and Mr. H tells Drew he appreciates the honesty.  However, Drew later finds out he’s been fired from the campaign.

“You keep making the same mistake over and over again, man.”

By now the world is tired of seeing Drew Torres’ face, but for the moment I’m not really interested in allowing “Drew fatigue” to completely overshadow some of the general points this plot is making.  It’s awfully interesting how both Drew and Becky’s plots have a similar theme: the disturbing idea that doing the right thing might actually get you in trouble.

Degrassi has invested a large amount of time in Drew.  He’s spent all of season 13 trying to change his reputation and prove to everyone that he’s a good guy.  The issue now is that he might be trying a little too hard.  His conversation with Clare might seem like a noble gesture, and at the heart of things he genuinely didn’t mean to hurt her.  However, Drew’s motivation for talking to her in this episode is more geared toward repairing his image with Alli and Jenna than it was actually resolving the lingering issues with Clare.  “I’m not going to apologize cause I didn’t do anything wrong,” Drew says to Dallas.

It feels like people have forgotten that in a span of 11 episodes, Drew quickly rejected not one, but two girls after sleeping with them, mishandling both situations in the process.  This isn’t meant to be a “let’s pile on Drew” session, but as the quote up top says he still doesn’t seem to get it when it comes to the opposite sex.  Looking back at the way he talked to his mom about Zoë in Power To The People compared with his approach here in How Bizarre, Drew still doesn’t grasp how his actions affect other people, most especially when it comes to running damage control.

There’s a reason the episode starts off with Drew screwing up his and Dallas’ “Shark Tank” style presentation:  Drew either doesn’t think, or he overthinks.

The latter comes into play when Drew receives a picture of Mrs. Hollingsworth’s boobs and is also caught by Frankie hugging Mrs. H in the pool house.  He becomes hellbent on telling Mr. Hollingsworth about both situations before someone else does…the problem is neither Frankie nor Mrs. H said a word about either incident to Mr. H.  Oddly enough, the idea of such honesty is laughable when you think about the political world.

“He needs to hear my side of the story, he needs to know that I’m not a bad guy,” Drew says.  It’s great to be ambitious, but in this case Drew does so blindly, ignoring Dallas’ advice in what is clearly a delicate situation.  Trying too hard to make your point can be just as bad as not trying at all.

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BECKY PLOT RECAP:  Becky feels as if her parents hate her for turning in her brother Luke for sexually assaulting Zoë.  As they refuse to talk to her, she finds herself sucked in the virtually world of Realm of Doom.  She meets a guy named Sir Excellence and the two go on a cyber date, where they end up “making out” in their underwear.

“I feel trapped here.”

The whole Realm of Doom stuff is hilariously cheesy.  Becky has escaped into this gaming world to get some sort of release from the toxic environment she’s currently in.  It’s similar to those who game in real life or hang out in any forum or corner of the web in general for that reason, excluding having your avatar make out with another in its underwear.

However, it’s all fun and games until you start looking at how and why Becky is involved with Realm of Doom in the first place.  Her home life since Unbelievable is heartbreaking and infuriating.  Becky Baker did the right thing by turning in her brother Luke, but now her parents are standoffish toward her.  They seem far more concerned with coddling Luke, since his problems are “far bigger” than Becky’s; I mean, he is the one who might being going to jail after all.

That attitude of the Baker parents is the harshness of reality slapping us in the face.  Ironically, there’s a song by DC Talk, a Christian rap group from the 90’s, called “Talk It Out,” which highlights the importance of kids talking to their parents about their problems.  I don’t know about you, but my parents raised to me to strive toward being a person who’s upfront and honest.  But oh how quickly we learn with both ideas that the real world doesn’t always work that way, and that it’s fairly common to be punished or shamed for actually doing the right thing.

If you think about it in the context of sexual assault, it’s even worse.  Becky simply turned her brother in, but how many times have we witnessed the female be blamed or criticized after being raped, as if she’d brought it on herself and how dare she try to get someone in trouble?  Where’s the incentive to tell the truth or be a good person if you’re punished for doing so?

That’s the world Becky wants no part of, as she overcompensates by disappearing into the Realm of Doom and having her avatar do things she’d never actually do in real life.  It’s sad thinking how others choose far more dangerous activities to cope with their every day life.

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ZIG PLOT RECAP:  Zig gets a gig in a restaurant kitchen, but is disappointed to find out he’s been assigned to watch someone chop onions.  He feels like they don’t respect him enough to give him a “real” task, so he demands a chance to prove himself.  The chef asks Zig to chop an onion, which he fails to do properly.  The chef tells Zig he can’t expect to receive more responsibility if he can’t learn the simple task he was given.

“They just think I’m some useless, gang member charity case.”

This is a really random reference, but since the word “bizarre” is in the title of this episode it’s only appropriate.  In the video game Final Fantasy X, there’s a point where you encounter a guy who’s complaining about having to do some lame task instead of fighting in combat like everyone else.  Another character simply says to him, “If you want to prove yourself, first you must complete the tasks you are given.”

I first heard those words 13 years ago and they’ve stuck with me ever since, and it’s basically what Zig is told in this episode.

In a rare move Zig is involved in a plot where he is the actual lead, and it’s quite nice.  You’ve gotta love the fact that Zig is excited to get involved and make something of his life, but similar to Drew he’s far too eager to prove he’s not some “useless gang member charity case.”  I love the no-nonsense chef who points out that respect is earned and that she didn’t give Zig what he considered an “important” job because she wanted him to learn the basics first.

As someone who landed an internship at a radio station and has now been working there for almost 10 years, regardless of how cheesy it might be to reference Drake’s song there’s no shame in starting from the bottom.

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