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This 2-hour special is different even from the other movies we’ve seen (Degrassi Takes Manhattan, Degrassi Goes Hollywood) because even though it’s canon, at the same time we’re not really supposed to be taking it seriously.  That’s because they’ve set it up as a mystery-style episode where Gloria Chin, known as the cheerleader who briefly flirted with Zig in 14A, is kidnapped.  Tristan “narrates” this episode as he’s vlogging, because it’s established that he wasn’t to become a internet famous like Gloria.

Don’t Look Back is more entertainment driven, so I don’t necessarily have a “grade” for this episode.  It’s really nice to sit back and enjoy an episode without expecting anything or putting much thought into it.  Overall, it was alright; there were parts that were entertaining, parts that weren’t, and parts that were weird, especially down the stretch. I’ll lay out the storylines, then throw out some thoughts about what happened.

Frankie’s Internship

dlb_0004_Layer 2Frankie is late on the first day for her internship at City Hall because some creeper was following her around asking if she wanted a ride.  Her fellow interns already don’t like her because she’s the rich Mayor’s daughter.  Frankie tries to fit in with them by inviting herself to Cat’s birthday party at a club and getting wasted, but Mr. Hollingsworth finds out and punishes all of the interns.  She tells one of the interns, Logan, that she doesn’t know what she’s doing and needs someone to teach her, so he does.  The two become friends and they learn Logan’s girlfriend, Gloria, is missing.  Frankie goes to the police to offer information about the weird guy who followed her around, but the police aren’t really interested.  Logan’s upset over Gloria, so Frankie drags him to hang out with her and Winston.

Winston thinks it’s weird Frankie brought Logan along on their date, but she tells Winston she feels really bad for Logan.  People start noticing Frankie and Logan are getting close, but Frankie says they’re just friends.  While searching for possible suspects, Logan receives a video from Gloria being held captive.  Gloria says her kidnappers won’t let her go unless they receive $10,000.  Frankie borrows the money from Hunter and gives it to Logan.  When she doesn’t hear back from him, she starts to worry.  Winston believes Frankie got scammed and is saddened to hear Frankie admit that she’s developed feelings for Logan.  Frankie calls Logan and he asks for more money; when Frankie says no, he berates her.  As the Tenners come together to find a missing Maya, Frankie joins them and says Logan is the kidnapper.  After Gloria and Maya are found, Frankie tries to apologize to Winston and hopes he’ll give them a second chance.  Winston can’t get over the fact Frankie was so emotionally involved in another guy, and they break up

Maya’s Summer Job

dlb_0005_Layer 1After failing her lifeguarding class, Maya tries to get a summer job nannying for music producer Jordyn Kincaid.  However, Gloria has swooped in to take the job.  Maya becomes so jealous of Gloria that she asks Lola to help her put a curse on her.  Maya gets the job after Gloria goes missing, and Jordyn’s kids prank her by saying their house in haunted and using a Ouija board to contact the ghost haunting them.  After a while, the kids start warming up to Maya and she takes them along on her date with Zig to participate in a zombie walk, where they tell Maya the feel like their mom is never there for them.  Also, Zig’s upset and leaves the date because they haven’t spent any alone time together all summer.  When Maya tells Jordyn she needs to be a better parent, Jordyn fires her.  While randomly sitting at Lola’s Cantina, Maya spots Gloria and follows her into an alley where she’s also kidnapped.  Maya finds herself trapped in a cage with Gloria and learns she and her boyfriend had planned the kidnapping to receive enough ransom money so they can run off together.  Maya’s plan to escape fails, but the cops show up thanks to the other Tenners.

Zoë At Summer School

dlb_0003_Layer 3It’s summer school at Degrassi and Grace reluctantly becomes lab partners with Zoë.  When Zoë continues to not understand their assignment, Grace uses trans-cranial direct current stimulation on Zoë to help her study.  Zoë gets an A, and Grace encourages her to take an interest in science.  Tristan starts to think Zoë’s teacher, Mr. Bain, is interested in her, and warns Zoë about the girls around town going missing.  Zoë decides to test Tristan’s theory by flirting with Mr. Bain while the two are alone, but he kicks her out of the after-hours science group.  Zoë and Grace go to Bain’s office to explain Zoë flirting was a misunderstanding, but they find information about Gloria on his desk.  They find even more photos of missing girls in Bain’s truck, and call the police on him; it turns out he has nothing to do with Gloria’s disappearance.

Later, Miles shows up at Lola’s Cantina to find Zoë because they haven’t hung out all summer.  Because Zoë’s been hanging out with Grace, Miles is convinced Grace is in love with her.  At school Zoë confronts Grace, who denies it.  In order to test Grace, Zoë chooses to hang out with Miles over Grace.  The constant PDA annoys Grace, and the two get in a fight while Grace is the third wheel on Ziles’ date.  The Tenners find out Maya’s missing and use science and social media to find her.  Zoë finally acknowledges she has feelings for Grace and kisses her, but tells her she wants to take things slowly.

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Some thoughts on Don’t Look Back…

Degrassi crammed an entire summer into this 2-hour special, and I can tell you without a doubt this summer setting would’ve been far more interesting as an expanded block than when they shipped the kids off to Paris in 13A.  Sometimes the show tries too hard to be creative, so for every enjoyable musical or dance there’s a Paris or Spemma marriage.

dlb_0001_Layer 5Frankie’s plot was really sad.  The ending of Frankston (again) isn’t surprising, but Frankie put a lot of trust into this Logan guy and he took advantage of her.  It sucks to be used.  When it comes to Frankston, I had a feeling Winston would say what he said about emotional cheating being worse than physical cheating.  Cheating sucks regardless and is never justified, however, I would feel even more hurt if it were emotional cheating as opposed to just the physical kind.  Frankie is firmly planted as a major character on the show moving forward, but Winston isn’t, and without him being attached to Frankie I’m curious to see how he’ll be used in the future.

Maya getting a babysitting job with a music producer is pure convenience, and it’s funny to see this after my commentary on Jenna’s departure, another female musician whose interest in the hobby became virtually nonexistent on the show after a while.  Amidst the fun silliness of the mystery plot, there’s two serious topics to look at: Maya’s jealousy toward Gloria and how Jordyn’s kids felt about her.

dlb_0002_Layer 4Ideas often shown throughout season 14 were the concepts of jealousy and judging people and their lives based on superficial traits.  Frankie was pegged as the rich girl whose daddy (and his money) could solve all her problems.  Lola is viewed as dumb, but she’s a whiz in the classroom. Drew referred to Jonah as “Guyliner,” used in a condescending manner toward the guy Mr. Torres was jealous of.  Though it turns out Gloria and her boyfriend Logan were both tools, Maya was jealous of Gloria because she was pretty, popular and beloved.

Another sad aspect of this episode involved Jordyn Kincaid’s children, who felt like their mother was never there for them.  We’ve seen how the lack of love and attention from a parent can affect a teen (the Hollingsworths), and it’s even more disheartening to see it when the kids are even younger.  Maya tried to do the right thing by telling Jordyn she needed to spend more time with her children, but once again Maya has a way of trying to help and going about it the wrong way.

In one of the most underrated concepts ever, I LOVE that Degrassi had some of the characters involved in summer school.  Zoë sounds a lot like some teenagers you’ll meet, the kind who will get bad grades simply because they aren’t interested in putting in more effort than the bare minimum to learn the material.

dlb_0000_Layer 6However, when we get to Gracevas, I still don’t know what the hell is happening.  Degrassi leans heavily on ships, and I get it.   Ships make this fandom go round, despite fans saying they’re “tired of the show’s relationship drama.” I’ve been in the fandom for over a decade and it never fails that this fandom gets so worked up over ships; all Degrassi has to do is plant the seeds, water them here and there, and fangirls/fanboys will do the rest.  Whether you love or hate a ship, if you obsessively do either in today’s digital realm, Degrassi wins (i.e. the reason Eclare is the most powerful couple in the history of the show is because of both the extreme love and hatred they received for 5 seasons.  ).

There have been instances where characters in the same social groups have dated each other. What I don’t get here is the insane speed at which “Tenner Roulette” is happening, especially in 14B.  It’s like watching the writers sitting in their writing room, eating snacks and debating which storylines and ships to create, except that process is playing out in the episodes.

At the end of 14A we saw Zoë and Zig on the path to finally establishing something romantically, after Zoë had rejected Zig earlier in the season.  Next thing you know, it’s 14B and Zaya is a thing.  Miles and Tristan broke up, because it was thought that Miles was interested in Maya again.  That was also nullified once Zaya got together.  Then Zoë looked headed for a reconciliation with Miles until she realized she’s basically in love with Grace now.  The end of this movie implies Tristan wants Miles again.  And that doesn’t even cover the fact Maya, Zoë and Tristan all tried to get a ride on the Miles train back in 13A.  At this point, they’re better off just having the characters participate in a giant orgy in the dark, and whichever characters are together when Tiny turns the lights on (because they’re not gonna let a brotha get in on this sexy action), they’re the permanent pairings.  Just make up your mind, because there’s too much talent in this “Next Class” of characters for them to all drown in this shallow love pool.

Posted by Kary

36 Comments

  1. the last paragraph of this recap might be my favorite thing ive ever read on this site. good job Kary!

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    1. Zoe and miles zig Frankie and Tristan and maya and boyfriend zig find Zoe miles Winston and Tristan grace girlfriend Logan hunter brother 10.00

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  2. Seems a lot of people are not on the Cardivas bandwagon, saying that Zoe deciding that she’s suddenly into a girl makes no sense. I think it does, personally. I’ll copy/paste what I wrote on the Degrassi Wiki (yeah…).

    Zoe’s character is all about falsity vs. reality. Big parts of her story so far have been about keeping up appearances for the sake of being accepted by others. She maintains her “bitch queen” persona because it’s what she thinks people expect of her. But in the process, she’s never developed a sense of who she really is, hence her continued botched attempts at redeeming herself. Her shots at redemption have been about catering to what she thinks others want. She’s a child actress, so it makes sense that she’s a people pleaser. She’s been groomed to present herself in a certain way, to want certain things and certain people. Her reputation as a girl who “gets around” with a lot of boys could very well be related to the fact that as an actress on a popular teen show, she’s “expected” to be with guys. The fact that she can easily flit from one guy to another makes me wonder how emotionally invested she’s been in her relationships with them. Her dislike of Maya’s bonds with Miles and Zig may not have stemmed from jealously, so much as from the threat Maya posed to Zoe’s chances of being in “safe” (i.e. socially acceptable) relationships with guys who were right there, who seemed emotionally available to Zoe.

    To go for Grace shows a Zoe who’s ready to stop caring about how she presents herself, especially in light of her exchanges with Miles a few episodes ago about screwing what the haters think. Zoe looks like she’s finally willing to carve out and embrace her own identity. I could buy Zoe as a lesbian, honestly. Given Zoe’s continued work as an actress, she could provide the writers with an opportunity with exploring how a public life can interfere with relationships, especially when you’re in the closet. Or a story about a casting director not casting her as the romantic interest of a guy in a film/show because of the stupid idea that audiences can’t buy a gay actor playing a straight role.

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    1. Many words… First: she has to work on being nice and not doing things to get things in return. Yeah they had fun but Grace don’t care what others think. She’s Zigs nanny. But Zoe cares too much about what others think. I like her

      A tad more now. She helped someone without wanting rewards. She had a real smile. Not those “Hydra” smiles. Yes she did something good but what they left out is the sentencing. She still has at least 3 charges waiting. They

      Won’t go away. In Canada any charges such as porn or fraud can’t go away. The lawyer will say something like “I’m proud of” but probation is too easy. She took the full blame. Maybe if it wasn’t big… But she needs to learn that

      When you do something bad/a crime that the consequences stay. Real people don’t slide by. She can ask but I say the answer is no. They just left that part out. It better be in next year cus her sentencing should be soon.

      The saying Maya thing will get her rep up a little. But when she forced 12 girls to take many pics (over 300) & she took lots. That’s too big to go Away. Her walking free is wrong. It teaches her to do bad then make it up by doing
      Good. My mom said that just because she helped save a girl & she helped catch 2 kidnappers her charges can’t go down . maybe she can do 3 as a deal. But probation is

      Too easy. We all know from “There’s your trouble” there’s over “many Zero’s”. She’s becoming a real human girl. But part of that is excepting what you did. I know Grace wod wait for her.

      Lastly: no o e would give her a job. Not when her charges are that big. 12 his hundreds of pics… No way in hell. I want the storyline to finally end with theast piece of the puzzle.

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      1. Well it depends. Zoe’s charges won’t go away, but the judge could go less harsher on her if they see that she’s been trying to do good things in school and in the community. It’s happened before with other cases. However, while Zoe’s awaiting sentencing I do think that she should’ve been on house arrest like Luke and Neil were while they were awaiting their trial etc…

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    2. Degrassi news don look back maya zig Zoe miles grace Logan

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  3. I though this movie was fun and campy! It was pretty much the most I’ve ever liked Tristan, that’s for sure. Degrassi has a habit of throwing characters together randomly (Spemma, Peter/Mia), but I’m actually on board with a Zoe/Grace pairing. Why not? Would be nice to see Grace as more than just a supporting character. And I’d like to see Zoe with someone who really understands her. But I do have to wonder if Zoe just doesn’t know what it feels like to have a close girl friend. Is she mistaking a close friendship for romantic feelings?

    I felt bad for Frankie, and thought it was a little unfair of Winston to count that as emotional cheating because this guy was a lot older than her and a creepy sociopath. It makes sense that a sweet and innocent character like Frankie would fall under his spell. I’m ok with the Frankston break-up though because I don’t particularly like Winston. I do love Frankie and look forward to seeing more of her in the next class! One storyline that I’d really like to see more of is the simple stress of going to school. I loved Alli’s storyline about fast-tracking and not having enough time to get all her work done and Stressed Out is one of my favourite episodes from old school Degrassi. Anyways, it would be a lot more interesting than all the “Tenner Roulette” :)

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    1. No I think Zoë is either a lesbian or bisexual. I do think she loves Grace and wants to be with her and has develop feelings for her.

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      1. It would be interesting if Zoe is bi. You don’t see that very much on TV.

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      2. But we don’t know if Grace is gay. She just assumed. We all know what happened the last time she did what she thought was the “right thing”. Grace looked puzzled. Like ” wtf was that?”

        & she disrespected Zig. She left him with no explination! How rude! The guy deserves an answer!

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      3. It wasn’t rude, she just lost interest in Zig and moved on to Miles and Grace or just Grace. She probably never really had true feelings for Zig anyway same with Miles. She proably just had true feelings for Grace. As for Zig, as I stated before -Zig would’ve left her or any girl for Maya. It has been stated this on the show and in the canonish Champagne Supernova minis multiple times.

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  4. I don’t think it was Zoe and zig was nullified. It’s Been proven multiple times in the show in the Champagne Supernova minis that Zig would dump any girl for a chance to be with Maya.

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  5. Fixing what I wrote because I pressed post comment to soon:

    *I don’t think it was Zoë and Zig that was nullified. It’s Been proven multiple times in the show and in the Champagne Supernova minis that Zig would dump any girl for a chance to be with Maya.

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    1. And in one of these episodes it was stated that Miles was over Maya because she tried to change him and with Zoë who is either bisexual or lesbian was proably never either interested in boys all together and was trying to hide her sexuality or the comment Zig made in WIMS made her lost interest in him and with Miles she fell for him but then feel for Grace or she likes Grace and Miles at the same time.

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  6. I couldn’t take this special seriously after Friday’s mediocre finale.

    Zoe and Grace? No. I can’t.
    This would be a weird couple, sure, but I cannot be convinced that Zoe develops feelings for Grace in such short time. Miles pointing out Grace’s possible attraction to Zoe and Zoe later paying attention to whether or not it’s true only to later develop questionably reciprocated feelings is a total Barnum effect that doesn’t add up (to me). This sudden relationship also makes me question the show’s intentions with its characters. After an awfully executed break up between Imogen and Jack, it appears as though the show is eager to replace one lesbian couple with another. What would have worked, instead of Zoe, is Jack and Grace since they’re both females of strong temperament and having the show explore Jack’s coming out with Grace’s assistance. However, Jack’s character will not return for Next Class, so we’re left with an introduced character who never confronted her fear or endured the struggle of coming out to her parents. (The only characters who have been shown to struggle with coming out have been Marco and Riley, but no female character). But this new Zoe and Grace relationship feels forced in addition to being abrupt.

    What I did love about this episode was its hinting that Miles is not bisexual, but queer. When he told Zoe that he does not see gender, it implies that he’s rejecting the labels of gay and bisexual and that the accepts his queerness. I really liked this because it is a male character carrying on the role as a queer individual. Queerness is commonly (and mistakenly) only associated with feminism and applied to women, neglecting the fact that men can be, and many are, queer.

    But the whole Zoe liking Grace things? This won’t end well. Zoe’s made too many mistakes and still manages to get caught up in her own selfishness when she tries to redeem herself.

    I look forward to see a development in Grace’s character because she hasn’t demonstrated any signs of mental or emotional instability as other females portrayed as “troubled” have (i.e. Ellie, Jane, and [briefly] Chloe).

    I appreciate what the show does in terms of the exploration of sexuality and gender, but the show shouldn’t be forcing relationships like that. Surprises are nice, and that isn’t to reduce anyone or any topics, but it’d be nice to see a functional LGBTQIA couple that lasts.

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    1. Stefan Brogen referred to Miles as a bisexual Ferris Butler. And he works for the show. So we can take that as conformation as him being bisexual.

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      1. Fixing spelling mistake:
        Ferris Bueller. Damn auto correct.

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    2. Also These four episodes took place over the course of nearly the whole summer so it’s entirely possible for Zoë to develop feelings for Grace and it’s extremely realistic.

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      1. *Fixing spelling mistake:

        Stefan Brogren referred to Miles as a bisexual Ferris Butler. And he works for the show. So we can take that as conformation as him being bisexual.

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      2. So odd… How do we know Grace is gay? And for her to assume that is not right. When the Triles kiss happened in 13D they both kissed but Grace didn’t kiss back. Something is wrong when u have

        2 1/2 relationships in 4 months. So she dumps the BILLIONAIRE for her? Really?!

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      3. It hasn’t been officially confirmed that Miles is bi until an official confirmation is given or Miles says so himself then it’s still left up in the air. If Miles was bi, I think he would’ve just told Zoe that instead of giving an answer that still left things opened.

        It doesn’t matter if Don’t Look Back took place over a few months because to the viewers it was only 2 hours. Zoe and Grace did come out of nowhere and made no sense to just throw them together when there was absolutely no build up whatsoever. It’s bad from a writing standpoint on how the writers have been breaking continuity and flip flopping on the tenners relationships from 14A to 14B: In 14A building up Zig and Zoe especially in Firestarter Pt. 2 and then to hint at Miles and Maya getting back together because his heart was still with her only to go into 14B and all of that was erased and suddenly Zaya happens and Miles and Zoe are building towards getting back together, but wait that’s not all, another erasing, scratch Miles and Zoe and forget we did that fans and here’s Zoe and Grace! It makes no sense and seems like the writers threw them together because they ran out of ideas and what the heck since Imogen and Jack are gone let’s replace them.

        If the writers really wanted to put Zoe and Grace together then they should’ve built that up instead of tossing Zoe between Zig and Miles. Not to mention Grace is one of the main culprits of Degrassi Nudes and she gets away with everything she’s done while Zoe gets the full blunt of the trouble when Grace is the one who made the app and profited from child pornography and let’s just go with Zoe gets hurt by a few guys and now she has a sudden realization that she’s into girls. It doesn’t work, it just doesn’t.

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    3. The only good thing about this is Grace won’t let her act up. She cheated on her & she won’t be able to use technology again. The way they acted in 14A is odd. Not to mention how would there be time for a relationship?

      Yeah she helped stopped 2 dumbass kidnappers and saved Maya and got a medal & all… But her charges are still there! They can’t just throw em away. She better not get probation. Cus her child porn charge is big. She still

      Forced 12 girls to take hundreds of pics (not excluding what she took) & associating it with the school then blaming a girl for the crime? I’m all for a good relationship but those come first. They just left it to

      Have her get with daddy warbucks. They did t finish it. I’m sure the lawyer is happy but 3 or 4 years in juvie should do it.

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  7. Coming up on Degrassi: Next Class: Jonah falls madly in love with Winston, and in the second episode Winston finds out he’s pregnant with Jonah’s baby. Meanwhile, Tiny begins having a secret affair with Mrs. Hollingsworth and Tristan realizes he’s been straight all along and starts dating newly single Frankie.

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  8. Can you or anybody please tell me who the actor is for Logan.?? :)

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  9. I am so in love with the idea Grace and Zoe being a couple. The way that Zoe was falling for Grace the entire movie seemed so organic and real, the way a good rom com is. I really like this couple, and I like the idea of Zoe questioning her sexuality.

    And I really want Zaya, Triles, and Gracevas to all live in harmony for (most of) season 15, all friends with little relationship drama. Drama focused somewhere other than their love lives.

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  10. “Maya tells Jordyn she needs to be a better parent”

    UGH! That is such an Emma Nelson thing to do. They really are intent on recreating old characters.

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  11. Honestly, Gracevas makes sense despite the fact that it was never stated whether or not Grace is gay. Another thing that you guys have to consider is that this was the whole summer, and when you’re sixteen a month at least is all you need to develop feelings for someone else. Especially in the summer. Zoe/Grace are the only females on the show currently who could pull off a lesbian romance. And so it was.

    As for Miles, the fact that he officially doesn’t see gender is going to be very interesting entering season 15. Now let’s all cross our fingers that there is no Zaya baby, a baby scare or anything outlandish like that since they are most definitely the new Semma/Eclare.

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  12. Big stuff…

    1. Since when does Gloria have bigger boobs then Maya? Like WTF? In thunderstruck Mayas boobs were just as big. How does she go from busty to flat? I was really hoping they were real!

    2. Zoe is too dressed for summer school. And coming on to the guy is funny. I am so glad she didn’t pull her girls out. She’s lucky Pill didn’t find out. Cus if that happened then she’d be all over the news as a perv. I’m sure he still wonders why she did that.

    3. WTF Chewie? But k understand why. She gave a guy 10 grand. That’s worse than a kiss. She never spent money on him yet she’s quick to help a guy she just fuckin met?

    4. So Zoe is gay now? Hot as fuck! I clapped when I saw that miss. Also I said GAH DAMN! But we don’t know if Grace is gay. All we know is she’s a computer genius and keeps Zig in check. But overall

    5. Gloria is a piece of duck shit! She’s going to Juvie while her boy toy goes to jail cus he is over 20. 2 kidnappers. Fuckin fools!

    6. I hated the ending. How are they gunna do that? I’m happy she got a medal and helped stopped 2 cunts but she needs to get her charges
    Cus the DN stuff doesn’t equal probation. She should just get 4 years in juvie and be done cus we never got an ending. It would happen between

    August or September. I don’t think the girls will go to court. Just a recap: DN is a big child porn charge (her taking lots of pics while forcing the girls to take lots of pics) while naming it the school & online. Not to mention the blame site. There’s 2 maybe 3 charges but probation is too easy & nice.

    Yeah she’s becoming better but they can’t go away cus she did something great. Her charges are all felonies. She got nothing bad in 14B total letdown. I’m sure her lawyer is proud of her yet at the same time she tells her it won’t change her sentence. If we’re lucky she will only be in 15A. Cus those charges

    Need to be done. There’s many pics. She can’t bounce back from this. But her good thing will make her a little better but not much

    Lastly: Tristan still likes Miles! Funny! He needs to apologize for getting mad.

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    1. Maybe think twice before you post comments that include outright objectification of teenage characters/actors and offensive or derogatory language. Just a suggestion.

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  13. I agree that the “Tenner Roulette” has been insane. In particular, Zoë & Zig’s aborted romance, Tristan & Miles’ bizarro breakup & the Maya factor there, and Zoë & Miles’ most recent bout of…whatever that was supposed to be. None of it has been backed up by anything or worked in the storytelling at all. I think actually if things balance out to be Maya/Zig, Grace/Zoë and they return to Miles/Tristan (without the obnoxiousness that suddenly popped up in “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started”), those couples are the ones that actually make sense and have had a basis in the characters’ relationships that led to them logically.

    Of course, Cardivas (new favorite ship name) came about only in this one episode, but when you take in to account the actual two months it covers and the amount of time it’s clear those two characters have ended up spending together, it does make a lot of sense. I do think the romanticism may be up for a bit of debate: when they were rolling in the grass face to face their reaction was to laugh, not make out. And you could argue that Miles is projecting his sexual fluidity onto Zoë and possibly Grace, since we have no idea what her actual feelings on the subject are. But I love that Degrassi writes sexually fluid characters, like Miles and Imogen and Paige, and I think that having more and more bisexual, pansexual, heteroflexible or homoflexible characters is much more true to how people actually are, and are increasingly finding to be more widely accepted. I did pause for a hot second when Zoë suggested the three of them make out. It would be severely interesting if Degrassi tackled a threesome, but I’d be super surprised.

    God, Tristan’s character needs such a rehaul. We got a brief glimpse of the Tris we once knew in his single episode of 14B, but as a supporting character, he leaves much to be desired. Yes, he’s the sassy gay friend, but unless he’s going to show up whenever someone’s doing something stupid and shout, “What what WHAT are you doing??” maybe we can tone it back down to a real person level. I also disliked that he was portrayed in this episode as essentially dumb. I understand that he may not care about school, and that’s fine (I never did either), but it doesn’t make him stupid. I did appreciate his wariness of Mr. Bain’s interest in Zoë, having come off of his relationship with Mr. Yates, though. Continuity is always nice. I really hope that going forward they can resolve how they write Tristan though, and I would be interested to see him & Miles rekindle things. Especially since Zoë essentially dumped Miles by going and making out with Grace, but he didn’t care? Not sure what really went on there.

    Maya was so Maya in this episode, and that’s sort of reassuring. The kids spooking her was kind of dumb (this episode didn’t do as good of a job of being “scary” as “Nowhere to Run”), but her incessant meddling worked out for once, although it did get her kidnapped. Haha, classic Maya!

    Last, but not least, Frankie. Poor kid got totally shanghaied by that Logan character. Once that video popped up, it was pretty clear to the audience what he was up to, but once again if you think about it in terms of the timeline, he long-conned her but good. The other thing I found interesting about this plotline however, was how in “The Kids Aren’t Alright”, Frankie was so concerned with becoming her mother as it related to her relationship with Winston. And in this episode, although she doesn’t realize it (and for all that Hunter accuses Miles of this), she’s much closer to becoming her father. Bringing the ice cream truck for the interns was huge on this, but throwing money at Logan’s problem, and emotionally cheating on Winston and not realizing why that upset him tie in as well. I’ll be interested to see how that progresses next season. I did like the screentime for the relationship between her & Hunter, however. We’ve mostly seen them together in a very peripheral way, so I’m looking forward to more of them together in Next Class as well.

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    1. Oh and boo for lack of Tiny screentime! He had that one very nice moment with Maya, but then isn’t at the rally of people who are searching for her? No way.

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  14. I wonder if they are really going to move Hunter up a grade

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  15. This actually was such a great movie. I heard about everyone complaining about it when it first aired, and it made me scared and disappointed rather than excited about the prospect of watching. However I just watched the movie and can i said… wow. Frankie’s story was phenominal, putting her trust and care in a guy who completely took advantage of her. She’s naive and too quick to help others and they played that well here as it deeply hurt her. Zoe and Grace actually had great development, so im not sure why everyone’s complaining… Zoe has ALWAYS gone for people not because she actually likes them, but to satisfy her ego. Miles was the “hot” guy that she wanted to use to stick it to Maya. Drew was the guy who showed her attention and complimented her. Zig saved her life. These are all extraordinary circumstances, but here with Grace, everything flew naturally together. She likes Grace because Grace likes the real her and she feels like she can be herself with her. And that’s a beautiful thing. Last but not least, Maya’s storyline kinda dragged until she told her boss she needs to be a better parent. It was a sincere moment, but her story also offered the most underrated aspect of this episode:kidnapping. Maya was KIDNAPPED, found out Gloria and her boyfriend were scamming everyone, and it was actually terrifying what an emotionally abusive hold he had on Gloria and Frankie and how he was willing to leave Maya for dead in the woods. HOW CAN ANYONE SAY THIS MOVIE DIDNT GO THERE? Linda Schuyler said years ago that she would love to tackle a kidnapping/human trafficking storyline and they finally got to here. I love this movie. Kary please read what I wrote. I’d love to know your reply

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  16. “whichever characters are together when Tiny turns the lights on (because they’re not gonna let a brotha get in on this sexy action)”

    He should be with Shay, just because their couple name would be Shiny.

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    1. Haha, I thought about that too!

      At first I turned on the idea because it’s so easy to stick the only two black kids together but with good writing and storylines Shiny could be awesome!

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