Degrassi: Next Class Review – #ThatFeelingWhen

MILES PLOT RECAP: Miles has decided to cast Lola as Hope in the play, which bring up questions from Grace and Jonah about whether or not Miles is hooking up with Lola. He denies it to them, but secretly he can’t bring himself to keep their relationship strictly platonic…that is until he receives word that Tristan has finally woken up. Miles is happy at first, but the guilt of what he’s done causes him to freak out during a rehearsal session with Lola and head back to the hospital. The first thing he wants to do is tell Tristan that he cheated, but as he’s doing so Tristan tries to start breathing normally again. Just when Miles thought things might be getting back to normal soon, he learns that Tristan has suffered a traumatic brain injury, something he may never recover from. Miles doesn’t think he can handle taking care of Tristan while also being happy himself, and Maya suggests that Miles do something whatever he can to find some happiness in life. Miles wants to quit the play, but Lola talks him out of it because she says he needs it. Miles agrees to keep going, but they’ll have to also end whatever they’ve had together. The end of the plot switches to Lola’s perspective, who walks into the washroom to see Frankie cleaning out her purse. Since she’s taking a break from Jonah she said she no longer needs her birth control pills, and Lola points out that Frankie’s been taking them wrong. Frankie says she’s being taking them correctly and it’s Lola who’s been taking hers wrong. Shock is written all over Lola’s face as she realizes she that could be pregnant.

Just like the episode description said, this one is an emotional rollercoaster. I went from yelling at Miles and Lola to stop kissing, to being happy that Tristan is finally awake, then sadness for both him and Miles as we realize this situation is far from over. “I don’t wanna be my boyfriend’s babysitter for the rest of my life,” Miles says. The gravity of this situation lingers heavily over everything; Tristan could spend the rest of his life simply struggling to function in the same ways we do everyday without thinking. Again I’ll point out that Miles is a teenager, and taking care of Tristan would be a huge responsibility for him to try and handle when Miles has shown these first few months have already worn him down emotionally.

I also feel bad for Lola. In #HugeIfTrue she mentioned to Tiny that she always feels like she’s someone’s second choice. She knew exactly what she was getting into with Miles. Everything, from her to the play, has been all about Miles trying to cope with his grief over Tristan, but it still stings knowing that she has to be pushed aside despite having been so amazing. And Lola’s revelation at the end makes everything feel even more unnerving. It’s as if everyone’s spent all of this time holding onto hope, only to watch it all start slipping away.

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FRANKIE PLOT RECAP: Frankie is concerned she hasn’t heard from Jonah in days, she she tries to get his attention by wearing different clothes and taking selfies to show him what he’s missing. She becomes obsessed with following his every move on social media, so when she sees her doing “their thing” at The Dot (making a tower of milk creamers), she decides to go investigate. At first everything seems okay, but as she walks up to talk to Jonah another girl appears. Frankie thinks the girl might be way Jonah hasn’t been talking to her, but it’s revealed she’s actually someone from Jonah’s Narcotics Anonymous group. The next day, Frankie tells Jonah that he should’ve told her about NA, but Jonah reminds her that she asked him for space. She says “space” isn’t what she really meant, and she brings up that Jonah rejecting her sexually hurt her feelings. Jonah feels like everything he does hurts her feelings and he doesn’t know how to prove that he cares about her. Frankie asks Shay and Lola if she’s a crazy girlfriend, and they honestly tell her that she’s clingy, jealous and has unrealistic expectations of her relationships. Frankie comes to the conclusion that she doesn’t like who she is when she’s in a relationship, and she decides she and Jonah need to take a break.

“I care about you Frankie. I just don’t know how to prove it,” Jonah says. Poor Jonah is convinced he’s doing everything wrong, but it’s really Frankie out here playing emotional games and she doesn’t even realize it. Degrassi’s done a great job of leading up to this point in the story by showing over the course of the season how Frankie’s behaved exactly how Shay and Lola describe it:

“Well, you kind of lose yourself when you’re in a relationship.”
“And you get super clingy.”
“Like, all of a sudden your entire existence depends on whatever guy you’re dating.”
“And you can be crazy super jealous.”
“And you put so much pressure on your relationship to be everything.”

We could sit here all day discussing all of the female characters on Degrassi who’ve lost themselves during the process of dating a boy, but there are no greater moments on this show than when characters become self aware. “I like you. But I’m not sure I like myself right now,” Frankie says to Jonah. People can find it hard to admit their faults, so it’s wonderful to see that Frankie’s genuinely honest with herself as she reflects on why she isn’t happy. We’ve watched relationship after relationship on Degrassi fail because of a lack of communication, and also because of characters not being in a proper frame of mind to maintain a healthy relationship. Everyone wants to be loved by someone else, but not everyone realizes the absolute importance of loving yourself first.

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ZOE PLOT RECAP: Both Zoë and Winston like Rasha, so they decide to find out once and for all if she’s straight or gay. Winston creeps her social accounts, but they can’t find any hard evidence. Zoë’s afraid to ask Rasha out straight up, so instead of following Grace’s advice to be straightforward, Zoë asks Rasha out for coffee on Winston’s behalf and Rasha agrees. Later, Zoë asks Rasha if she’s excited about coffee with Winston, and Rasha admits she knows “coffee” is code for date. Rasha asks Zoë if their coffee hangouts were dates, and when Zoë says no Rasha responds “That’s too bad…because I like you.” Zoë admits that she likes Rasha too, but didn’t tell her because she didn’t know Rasha was gay. Rasha says she can’t be out publicly because she lives with the Nahirs, but the two plan on going on a date anyway.

This one’s a quickie…Zoë likes Rasha, Grace tells Zoë to suck it up and tell Rasha how she really feels, and Rasha (because she’s a queen) ends up coming clean first and admitting she has feelings for Zoë. It felt like this storyline comes full circle with the bad luck Zoë’s experienced in her love life, if only because the show went out of its way to reference all of her Next Class romantic endeavors in this episode. What happened with Grace in Season 1 crushed Zoë emotionally; at that point, Zoë had never felt as close to someone as she felt with Grace. Speaking from experience, that’s the kind of thing that can knock the emotional wind out of you.

But as difficult as it is to put your heart on the line, Degrassi quietly notes that just because you failed that one time it doesn’t mean you’ll experience the same result this time. The ending of this plot warms my heart, and I’m just glad to see Zoë genuinely smiling for once. Let’s hope this is her chance to experience that happiness she’s been hoping for.

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RANDOM THOUGHTS

*WAS IT JUST ME OR DID I SEE SHAY CASUALLY GRABBING AND EATING A MINT FROM THE TRASH?!? (I know it was in a container, but still)

*#ContinuityFTW: Degrassi set up not one, but two future storylines in this episode. We catch Grace randomly coughing a couple of times, and she has a plot about her health in the next episode. When Miles asks Maya what he should do, she makes this really dark joke about how he should kill himself. They both laughed, but we know there was some seriousness behind that comment, further cementing how far Maya’s gone down this dark path. Maya’s also been missing for most of the season, basically only appearing at random. I love how her absence lets us viewers feel like Grace and Jonah probably feel, that Maya’s completely withdrawn herself.