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New Characters

GRADE 12

Yasmin Ebrahimi (17, Iranian, hijabi*)

Regan O’Connell (17, white, red hair)

Justin Velasquez-Gordon (17, Filipino & white, medium brown hair)

Blair Whitaker (17, white, blonde hair)

GRADE 10

Kelsey Cardinal (15, indigenous, black hair)

Eric Lang (15, white, light brown hair)

Adrian Lowell (15, black, black hair)

GRADE 9

Carson O’Connell** (14, white, red hair)

Isabela Velasquez** (14, Filipina, dark brown hair)

GUEST CHARACTERS

Adults: Mr. Nathan Kaufman, guidance counselor

Grade 12: Ryan

Grade 11: Avery

Grade 9: Jenny, Olive, Eddie, Xavier

*I wrote Yasmin so she could be played by a hijabi actress if this were a real show. There are big tradeoffs, of course: I can’t portray her naturally at home with her family or female friends, where her hair would be uncovered. I don’t think one is better than the other– not only did I appreciate seeing Rasha and Goldi at home on Next Class, but I also loved the plot about deciding to stop wearing (or not) the hijab. I just thought it would be an interesting approach.

**The Niners are secondary characters this season. They and their classmates would become more significant characters in their Grade 10 year, but they still have roles in the story this year.

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Welp, it’ll sure be fun when we pick up three months after the bus crash, having seen none of the immediate aftermath, no reactions to finding out who is and isn’t okay, no recovery from injuries sustained. And then we’ll get to enjoy having no significant amount of time devoted to any sort of long-term aftermath, because the entire semester will be smushed into ten episodes, and then ten episodes later that class will graduate. (Yep. You just watched all of Miles, Maya, & co.’s junior year.)

I get that this is how Netflix does things, and I would SO MUCH rather have this format than no show at all... but sometimes a girl just has to vent.

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I’m finally watching #OMFG, and...I’m having a bit of a flashback.

Grace literally said “Show me your leg” to Zoe.

I think a lot of us have compared Grace to Ellie and Zoe to Paige before. But who’d’ve thought I’d be comparing Grace to Paige and Zoe to Ellie?

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I just want to point out that I called this all the way back in January.

So Degrassi’s using hashtags as episode titles now.

The producers have said there will be cameos from old characters in the 500th episode (which will be episode 15 of Next Class.)

If they don’t call it #ThrowbackThursday, it is such a missed opportunity.

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So Degrassi’s using hashtags as episode titles now.

The producers have said there will be cameos from old characters in the 500th episode (which will be episode 15 of Next Class.)

If they don’t call it #ThrowbackThursday, it is such a missed opportunity.

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The part about this season of Degrassi that most resembles my own high school experience is how they make t-shirts for absolutely everything.

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One of the few things you can count on from Degrassi is that they have no concept of different kinds of science class.

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Here is how much I need to fix my gosh dang Grace plot:

When Esme asked Miles “what’s your middle name” I went “he doesn’t have one!”

Because I have so much groundwork done for my fic that I know (at least in my world) he doesn’t.

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See! I was right to not jump on the bandwagon.

(more thoughts to come, I have MANY)

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I have no idea if this was intentionally done or not,

but Zoe going all Science Nerd to try to help Grace is actually perfect.

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I’ve been avoiding tonight’s episode because I’ve spent so long writing a chapter whose theme is basically “you’re not necessarily damaged if you’re a private person” and I feel like the official canon is about to make a strong statement to the contrary

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Fair warning: my default reaction to things (especially new episodes of TV shows) is usually quite critical, so this blog is going to lean more in that direction over the next few weeks.

However, I know I can be harsh, so I’ll try to moderate my thoughts and only post when I feel it’s really a warranted criticism. Also, after some time and space and rewatching, my views tend to mellow out somewhat, so I’ll be sure to do some of that before passing all of my judgment.

Which is to say, I’m tempted to make a lot of sweeping generalizations about the things I didn’t like about tonight’s episode, but for the time being, I’ll hold on to those.

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Why Student Council is the Quidditch of Degrassi

(Spoilers for Next Class Episode 1)

I remember an interview with J.K. Rowling that I read once. By the time she was writing the fifth or so Harry Potter book, she said, Quidditch had become the bane of her existence. Every year she had to figure out a way to tell a compelling story or two that somehow involved this magical sport she’d created. And there are only so many distinct and interesting things that can happen at a Quidditch game.

She did a pretty good job. Making the team, swallowing the Snitch, Quirrell’s curse, Dobby’s bludger, Malfoy as his rival Seeker, dementors at the match, the Quidditch World Cup, Weasley Is Our King, Harry as captain... each Quidditch story had some unique element, and each found a way to fit into the book as a whole.

But things did start to feel repetitive. And I can only imagine she was relieved when Harry left his Quidditch days behind and she didn’t have to start blatantly recycling plotlines to check the “Quidditch story” box.

The Student Council Elections have reached that point.

A technically-against-the-rules party for a presidential campaign. A friend using the debate to reveal private information and say slanderous things about their friend/competition in front of the whole school. Someone playing with their ex’s feelings to mess with their presidential campaign.

Did I describe the plot of “#BootyCall,” or did I describe the plots of the previous three years of Degrassi Community School presidential elections?

Yes, and yes.

(Okay, it turns out the Triles kiss thing was a bit more complicated. But only a bit.)

Sure, there are other school functions that crop up time after time-- a school play, a sports team, a dance. But somehow these have always had reasonably fresh stories. (Okay, the dances get repetitive sometimes, but they’re surprisingly good about not repeating too much, at least within the past few years.) The elections, on the other hand, have run out of steam.

(There are also certain “issue storylines” they could stand to retire for the same repetitive reasons, but I’m sticking with the StuCo thing because it’s a good “necessary school institution” parallel.)

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vague initial response:

I did not dislike it as much as I expected to. I generally liked the ideas behind the storylines, but I disliked a lot of things like some of the dialogue, the amount of time allotted to certain scenes, etc.

Basically, I believe there was way too much going on in this episode, and therefore there was not enough going on in in this episode. I foresee this trend continuing.

I’ve written more at length about that, but I’m waiting to post it because apparently everyone else feels exactly the opposite to how I feel about some of my opinions (the dialogue, etc.) So maybe I need to reconsider the severity of my opinions.

Maybe.

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apparently this is OITNB now and we play random songs over the credits.

RIP acoustic cover of the old theme song, I miss you already.

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HOLY CRAP.

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to connect the dots.

I read a long time ago on Degrassiblog about the Andre Kim situation, and how many hoped the show would address a similar situation.

I’ve known about the gaming thing and the computer-throwing for a while.

This morning I read that Hunter was specifically getting in trouble for “misogynistic behavior.”

But it wasn’t until LITERALLY RIGHT NOW that I put it together. (Also due to Degrassiblog.)

They’re taking Hunter down because of a shitty thing that a different actor did in the past. Fuck that.

(FWIW I’m addressing something kind of similar in my fic, and I’m not destroying a Hollingsworth in the process.)

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after that tweet about “one more sleep until Next Class in Canada, one very long sleep for the rest of the world”...

I’ve been walking around going “No! Sleep! Till Next Class!” in my head

there are more lyrics now

it’s embarrassing