#dnc4 reactions

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Esme Song

Esme’s got probably the most linear path set-up for her after 410. Every season they hinted there’s a lot wrong but it was done in ways she could get out of any repercussions. That isn’t the case anymore. And I’m glad because we really need a good dig into mental health as the show keeps dodging really going all out on this.

Sadly this means Esme’s post will be the most straightforward.

The Good - Esme Song’s not nice. This is the best thing they did for her. The easiest way to hide what’s up with her from the audience was to make unsympathetic. They did almost too good a job in NC1 as I assume Esme was, well, actively evil. NC2 she was barely there, but what we got was less evil and more... odd. But she was completely on point for being the balance of ‘not nice but not evil’ in NC4.

The Bad - Her introduction in NC1 went a bit too far, as I’ve said. Having her be Miles’s bad habit enabler wasn’t a problem but she seemed so pleased with how close to death he got without any time to show how he went well outside of her extremes. Like, for instance, she tried to stop Miles from his bender that left him pantless outside of the school.

What could have Been? - A minor change, and not focused on Esme specifically... but her and Zoe. Not like dating dating, but showing Esme when she’s between targets (NC2) mercilessly playing with Zoe’s heart. We had a little of it when Zoe auditioned for co-hosting with Winston. But next time they interacted it was Esme calling Zoe out for dressing as a Geisha. The issue, overall, was having Esme teasing Zoe romantically would have continued the thread of ‘Zoe is living a lie’ a lot better. It’d also better set-up that Esme is, at least, unapologetic in her doing what she wants which lead to Hollingsongvak.

Father Knows Best/Mental Healthapalooza - Esme is a character we need some home life of. Either to confirm it is exactly as messed up as Esme suggests, or if her statements about her dad are more of her disconnection to reality. If he’s just... a father who doesn’t understand his messed up child or if he’s actively evil. If he’s actively abusive getting Esme the hell out of there would honestly be the best way to go.

Because it goes hand in hand with another thing that pretty well writes itself: Esme needs a long plot on her mental health struggle. Sorta the same way Maya’s plot still had her depression even if NC4 didn’t focus on it. Maya’s mental state was in all her plots, in little subtle ways. But it was there. And Esme’s mental health struggle could be the best plot in that line of thought ever if they go for it.

No Means No - Esme is probably the most sexual character on the show. She’s had a lot more room to be into having it, and suggesting it’s good. And while I’m generally more of a ‘pro sex ed pro sexual understanding’ sort... sometimes, some people, abuse sex like they abuse drugs, alcohol, or emojis and need to just give it up. Not permanently, but Esme having to struggle through dating and building trust without relying on boning people to keep them around.

Especially if they frame it so they don’t say ‘sex is bad’ but more that ‘abusing sex to avoid people is bad.’ Balance it against a few ‘having sex makes you an adult’ plots/concepts with ‘sometimes knowing when not to do something is mature.’

Just... don’t do the Jonah thing ‘I don’t have sex because I’m straightedge’ was bad and dumb because his reasoning was bad and dumb. And Jonah slutshamed a lot more than should ever be okay.

Cannot be Redeemed - Now there are a lot of fans that HATE Esme. Which I can get, she’s not a nice person. But honestly the last thing we need is ‘see this obviously mentally ill person working to be better? Fuck them they can never be normal. NO FORGIVENESS.’ Show her working through and struggling to connect, then let her connect to people. Let her find a family that she can be safe with.

Even if it isn’t dating Frankie. 

...But no seriously can she date Frankie?

[purplerakath]

Death of the Monologue

So attached to ‘the advantage of connectivity’ which was about how characters need connections, this is a post about how we ended up here.

This is also somewhat in response to watching @degrassi--online‘s season review. (This isn’t a callout, just an explanation.) Because I got to this post when Erin said she didn’t like/understand Frankie’s role in the Zig/Esme/Frankie relationship. My first thought was ‘oh that’s obvious’ but then I realized that’s only obvious cause I write fiction. And suck at screenwriting. Because I have to rely on this one thing.

Dialog.

Way back when this ‘fourth wall’ thing wasn’t a thing. Shakespeare had this thing where ‘dialog’ could be between a protagonist and the audience, a one sided conversation.

There are more non-Shakespeare examples, but this is the most well known in current schooling examples. There’s a long history of monologues and other one person scenes in live theater all across the history of fiction.

Monologues like this were how you could convey anything and everything because you didn’t need a second ‘audience’ character. In books you can just say things in the prose without any conversation. Or you get noir voiceover (books and films), hearing the thoughts of a character wholecloth. Plays often have a narrator to explain things that can’t just be conveyed. There are a lot of options for this.

None of these are things you can get in a show like Degrassi, Degrassi uses realistic and simple narrative tools. No big special effects, a handful of dream sequences, no voiceovers unless someone is actively talking (Maya start of NC1, Miles start of NC3). So when a character has feelings, reactions, responses they can be alone. They can be afraid, cry, sink into the water of their bath. Conveyed in body language, expression, and the background music and lighting of a scene.

But if you need thoughts, or opinions, or complicated states of being (like everything that is Esme) you need an audience. You need someone to talk to, sometimes you can cheat with a sleeping/comatose ‘partner’ in the dialog (Miles and Tris in 303), but not all the time. Meaning sometimes you have to bring in a second or third character to have them ‘talk to’ even if the character might as well be a card board cut-out and doesn’t give much back. 

And Esme is cold, bitter, and alone. She doesn’t let people in, she pushes everyone away on purpose. So you need:

A person for her to talk to.

And why they are there.

Which gets us Frankie. Frankie is brought in, by Esme, as a toy. Esme is actively trying to help (in her special destructive manipulative Esme way) but she also wanted a toy to play with. Someone not quite as safe or controlled as others, which given how Frankie just broke a guitar on a tree? Yeah, she fits the bill. How much Esme was using her is another part of showing exactly what Esme is, and what Esme will do to ‘protect’ what is ‘her’s.’

Esme is terrified she’ll lose Zig. Esme unraveling at the end is all about losing Zig. Showing she was so afraid she’d lose him she wanted a pocket threesome on hand in case Maya or Zig’s friends drove him away is an evidence of her mental state... and a good way to give her someone to talk to. Which we needed in 407 and 410. Two points where the person can’t be Zig.

‘Can’t be Zig.’ because in the latter he’s broken up with Esme, and in the former Zig doesn’t see how hard it is for Esme to try and get along with the Rubber Room kids. Because Zig is a bit thick. He’s not the smartest teddy bear.

The fact that it also gives us some other useful conveniences of character interaction (Zig and Esme at Frankie’s house in 403, Frankie there to talk to Zig in 406) are nice bonuses. But primarily Esme needed someone to talk to. The same way they built some connection between Yael and Lola in Season 3 to prep for 308. Because a large part of Lola in Season 3 was being isolated from her friends for one reason or another.

Frankie not being a big part of this plot is fine. She has to be there, but she doesn’t have to be there very much. You get the same thing with any plot not directly built off a two character conflict. Degrassi’s writers are really good at making the dialog unique. (Rasha’s ‘the consequences of heteros such as yourself’ line is the perfect example with her miming a giant pregnant belly.) But any character could have been opposite Grace at that table talking her through ‘am I about to bone.’

There aren’t really a lot of options for how to... escape, this. Escape the need for dialog, not on Degrassi. Degrassi doesn’t have the option (or the time) to use a confessional cutaway like ‘The Office’ or a main character talks to audience like House of Cards. Or the Storytelling voiceover of How I Met Your Mother, and while I wish it could, it isn’t Noir enough for Veronica Mars.

Anyway the point is Frankie did need to be there, and she was the best choice for it. As I’ve said here (Frankie’s reasoning) and here (Esme’s not viewing Frankie as a threat). I mean, think how different this would be if that was Grace, or Maya, or Lola, or Baaz. None of those would have worked nearly so well smoothing out Season 4.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Lola Pacini

Oh man, see I knew Lola would be good from S14, but I thought Imogen one scene wonder perfection. We got so lucky with her. The writers started giving Amanda stuff to work with outside of comedy, and she ran with it and didn’t look back. This has all been amazing. She’s also in the best overall space for anyone on the show right now when it comes to giving them screentime and ins on plots.

The Good - Lola’s had solid grounding moments and growth moments for the past three seasons. While NC2 had the issue of being a plot that was aimed well for the characters, but not for the demographics, all three seasons have kept Lola in a mostly forward momentum toward being a better character. Each time they put her with the right balance of agency and self, but with hints she’s actually afraid and uneasy (and working through that). Lola can effortlessly be written into any plot with any character for any reason. She’s in a good place.

The Bad - So the big issue with Lola is that a lot of her issues were told to us instead of shown. In S14 when they are peppering the ground with plot ideas to decide what to run with that’s fine, but in NC1-2 we really needed to see her mommy issues in the flesh (or lack of flesh) to really hit them home. Or at least smooth over the rougher edges in BuyMePizza getting to the reveal. 

Lola’s doing the best so her complaint is nitpicking.

What Could Have Been - I will, always and forever, wish that Lola was secretly a brain tanking her own class scores to be cute. By the Gods the reveal and twist would have been fantastic. That Lola’s some ditzy airhead... who happens to be good at school. But since she fits in as ‘the dumb one’ she plays into her goofier thoughts and vanity. It would have been a great twist but they didn’t do it.

And I’m fine with who Lola is, don’t get me wrong. Just... it would have been great to have that in the air with her while she does have some flights of fancy and gaps in logic.

So that’s what Pansexual Means - So this plot likely needs a new fresh face to make it work, a Sophomore or Freshman girl who is just heart eyes about Lola. And while Lola is all about her boy Saad, this girl is all about Lola. Now from the framework this is a ‘gay girl falls for straight, heart crushing sadness ensues.’ The twist of course is... Lola’s flattered, and would totally be into it if she wasn’t already about someone else. Lola will do her best to not crush this young gays little heart because it’ll bring Lola around to the other side of her usual role.

She gets to be the one turning someone down, instead of... what happened with Tiny and Miles. This is what I think they tried to do with Vijay and Tris but just... botched, spectacularly. Anyway the other advantage is it allows for a pan character without any pan romances (yes that’s a thing, you can be demi/bi/ace, and totally open to the idea of nonstraight romance and then never have one), and also legitimize it. It’s a slightly different sour note than what Gracevas hit, but it has more room to be positive.

And is a good way to introduce a new character.

A Girl with Needs - So the second plot idea, as much as I choose a misleading header, is about education. So there are a few ways to go about this. The cutest and lightest touch would be ‘Lola needs glasses.’ That Lola’s been just labeling herself as ‘dumb’ (because it’s comfortable and everyone else puts her there) but she’s there because she’s got an actual issue with classroom learning. She has a need that isn’t being met, now this could be introducing a learning disability that isn’t dyslexia (although having Lola be dyslexic would make her addiction to emojis take a new light), or that she doesn’t learn well in classroom environments.

Or she just can’t handle work well because she can’t see because she needs glasses.

The glasses version is a lighter and softer as it’d just be about Lola feeing uneasy with how she’s treated because of them. The Learning Disability options are a lot deeper and had better involve hitting all the ableist language issues that come up in society. They defined Lola by her lack of school abilities, now to define why she’s like that.

Some Parents Don’t Come Back - So what they should NOT do is have Lola make up with her mom. Sorta like how Zoe’s mom had to be a homophobic bigot because that happens, estranged parents that leave don’t always come back. Sometimes parents that are jerks... are jerks. We haven’t really done that lately. They went out of their way to bury the abuse with Miles and his dad. Immy’s mom came back and that was good for her. 

I mean they can have Lola’s mom come back and still not be there for her, still be the bad guy in her story. But... it makes more sense for her to just be absent, not evil.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Rasha Zuabi

So I was really happy with NC3 Rasha. And I was mostly okay with NC4 Rasha. Just... you know, they didn’t really use her with anyone other than Goldi. She barely had interactions with Zoe NC4. It was bad, I don’t really understand how the writers botched on this? Cause it means Rasha’s in the worst place for NC5. Still, in spite of that, I love her and she’s awesome.

The Good - Sometimes realism is normal. What I mean is sometimes the most realistic person you can write is a nerd who loves musicals and schemes. And I’m sure someone out there is like ‘but she’s a Syrian Refugee she should have some angst and drama’ and they’re wrong. Because why Rasha works is she’s very relateable on everything outside of being a Syrian Muslim.

And if you think she’s not relateable you’re watching Degrassi. Glass houses, stones, etc.

The Bad - So this isn’t anything really wrong with Rasha as a character, just more harping on the failure to really set Rasha up with more characters. See they knew in writing NC3-4 that Rasha and Saad were meant to stick around for NC5-6. And while Saad’s interactions are mainly with Lola, who we get to keep. They didn’t set-up any interactions between Rasha and a Junior. Rasha interacted with Grace, Zoe, Goldi, and Winston. Even when they could have had her interact with Lola, they just left that in the background.

Even tangential Rasha and Shay/Frankie/Lola scenes where Rasha is just there would have been good. Or, hell, Rasha and Saad scenes.

What Could Have Been - I don’t actually have anything? I wanted a Rasha-centered NC4 plot but most Rasha plots are still on the table. The only real item they lost a chance at was a Rasha concerned about her social situation with Goldi, Winston, and Zoe all vanishing for College. Everything else is still very much an option for her.

Quick Note - I’m not Muslim, Syrian, or Lesbian enough to really have a firm enough grasp of Rasha’s concepts to make for a good season long arc idea. So Rasha’s ideas are going to be more single plot ideas, things to do with her that put her at the center. Kay?

Flying Solo - So they never really handle how much... weight, there is, being the friend who isn’t out with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Not the ‘you’re single’ weight but the ‘yes, I would totally be out with my girlfriend if she was here’ weight. Because they mishandled Clare/Eli’s long distance thing and Tris in a coma was a special sort of hell for Miles. But if they set-up Rasha with a new circle of friends, ones with boyfriends/girlfriends who they are out with, they can look into this special sort of longing and desire.

Connected to this, so as not to waste my second slot, Rasha visiting Zoe at college and the awkwardness that is. Not that they break up, nothing like that, just that it’ll be a very weird situation to be in. Of course this second idea needs Ana around, but it’d only be for one or two episodes.

Good old-fashioned nerd Bullying - So last time we had someone bullied for just being into things people don’t accept as things people like was Hunter being a gamer. The issue is that Hunter quickly spiraled into torturing people for fun and profit which kinda made him less of a victim and less sympathetic all around. While I don’t want bad things to happen to Rasha, Rasha is all about the excited fun things that are, well, a little bit childish.

As someone who is old and watches dumb teen dramas, I can relate.

Rasha’s love of 90s sitcoms, High School Musical, and all of that would be a good place to show off just old fashioned jerkfaces being jerks. Nothing too political, it isn’t because she’s Syrian or Muslim, it isn’t because she’s gay, it’s just because she’s different. A reminder that some people are just... cruel for no other reason than that. And then Rasha gets to smack them down in an epic comeback at the end and we can all cheer.

Let’s Just... avoid Cheating - So I’m going to just include ‘Rasha is more than a Syrian Muslim Lesbian’ as a part of this. Because I’m a broken record when it comes to saying that characters should never be reduced to their diversity alone. Rasha’s fun and sarcastic and energetic and loves schemes. But the more pressing thing is that we do not need Zoe cheating on Rasha, or Rasha cheating on Zoe. There are plenty of complications that distance (either physical because Zoe is in another city, or social because college vs. high school) brings to a relationship we can either talk about or talk around.

Depending on if Ana is around to include in episodes.

The point is don’t ruin either of these characters for us.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Shay Powers

Now for someone they haven’t handled as well. Shay had a powerhouse first establishing moment in ‘no boy is good enough for my room.’ Shay was strong and self-aware and self-assure. All in ways that worked really well for S14. And then... the writers decided not to do that. Which isn’t too surprising, but at the same time it felt weird. Anyway, let’s get this show on the road.

The Good - Shay knows where she’s going and what she wants, that bit they kept. Shay has a plan, she knows what she wants and she works to get it. Which compared to her friends is a nice breath of fresh air. She’s in the same camp as Holly J, Maya (S12-NC2), Clare, and Alli in that she is all about her future and that she isn’t wasting her energies. And showing how that clashes with her friends, with herself, is good. I loved her plots in NC2 on this front.

The Bad - As much as on paper I love Shiny... Tiny kinda sucked the life out of Shay’s overall character direction. A plot focused on Shiny was a plot focused away from making Shay a developed and rounded character. Especially 408. And the few plot directions they could go for (Shay vs. her parents, Shay’s concern for her friend vs. her happiness with her boyfriend) were unexplored in favor of making Shay the insecure jealous one. Which we didn’t need, we have Frankie.

What Could Have Been - Shay trying to get her parents on board for Tiny. Oh man there could have been so much room to explore in there. Showing the classist aspects of racism by having it be black parents vs. a black ‘thug’ (word used simply for ease of the point). Go into the micro-aggressions of acting more white to escape all the negative connotations Tiny has. There’s a lot of room there to use Shay’s parents and Shay to explore this. But... no this is fine a former gang member can take our daughter camping with his former gang buddy, a drug addict, a dying hacker, and two emotionally damaged girls. What could happen!?

Gotta be the Very Best - So Shay’s big thing is her future, she knows what she wants and that it’s a rough road to get there. But the first step is to be better than everyone else. She wins by beating everyone else. It isn’t a huge stretch. She hates losing and she’s pinning her whole future on Olympic level athletics. Now this isn’t Katie doing all she can to win, injuring herself, and popping pills. This is simply giving Shay the one thing that she can’t deal with.

Someone better than her. Now I don’t mean in athletics (although if you remember my collection of characters for NC5, that could be it). I mean academics. Shay likes winning, she’s one of the best students in the class. But having someone who just regularly does just that much better than her would put her in a spot where her identity is challenged, and she’ll have to deal with it. And probably won’t deal well, she doesn’t handle things she can’t overcome well.

Too Much Going On - Shay needs a job for supplements, she has school, tryouts, and extra curricular activities. If anyone was ready for a rehash of Alli’s overworked and killing herself plot it would be Shay. Instead of jumping into ‘doing drugs to stay on top’ just having Shay work herself to exhaustion feels likes enough. She’s more than capable but there are limits. Shay can’t drop anything she has in the air, so if you wanna put her attentions to the test this would be it.

I’d see her giving up on friends, trying to barrel through alone and alienating everyone to give her space to focus. It’d be hard to watch, but it’d put her in that beautiful alone space that lets a character grow. And it’s the only set-up I’d allow for breaking up her and Tiny, speaking of...

Drianca 2.0 - This? See this? Don’t do it. You kept them together through the end of NC4. You’re stuck with this unless you can make up a really good reason for the break-up. Which you probably won’t without more episodes to cover things. This is the line, no OOCing Tiny just to end a relationship we can’t follow. Which you don’t need to do because Shay has so many places to go inside the school without a boy.

I’m watching you, don’t do it.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Hunter Hollingsworth

So I think some of the issue with the twins is how their characters were created, it meant that there was less concept for them when Sara and Spencer joined the cast. They wrote in characters for them, this meant that what we got was a lot less formulated (compared to S14 Jonah and S13 Zoe who were, well, planned out. Anyway Hunter is... probably never going to get past who he was in NC1.

The Good - So barring NC1, Hunter’s the right balance of ‘immature and crude’ with ‘not actually evil.’ He’s a jerk, misogynistic, uncaring... but, he isn’t out to hurt anyone himself. He just does it by accident. Because he’s an uncaring jerk. That’s a good place to start a character off. Hunter is relateable in all the ways you don’t want to relate to a character.

The Bad - And like with Esme, they took Hunter too far in NC1. He was so cruel, so damaged, so horrible that nobody should really ever got ever what he’s done. Which is a bad place to start a character people eventually are suppose to like. to sympathize with. Even if you can see Hunter’s side from 106, it’s really hard to get past what he did in 108-110. That’s a bad place to start a character.

What Could Have Been - A proper ‘Hunter seeks forgiveness’ arc. Hunter went out of his way to hurt people and we never explored him undoing this. It would have gone a long way to help him (and Baaz and Vijay) become less hated by the fandom.

Like, there are a lot of ‘things to change with Hunter’ but they aren’t new directions for him, they’re just damage control.

Not All Men (are horndogs) - So while an ace guy would be amazing? I’ll settle for a demi guy. Hunter is pretty much the go to for this. There isn’t anyone Hunter’s had a thing for he didn’t also have regular prolonged contact with. Arlene, Yael, and Lola. Even Becky was more of a social thing than a physical thing, given it was all in Realm of Doom. That a lot of his talk is, well, overcompensating. That not wanting to bang every hot chick feels ‘wrong’ in the eyes of dudebros everywhere.

If you wanna throw a twist onto this, you can combine it with a favorite of people who read my stuff: Hunter ends up with a thing for Vijay.

Breaking the Habit - Okay so... here’s a standard set-up they have. Hunter making the wrong choices off the wrong information. Lying to Yael because he’s afraid, or because of Baaz and Vijay. Going behind their back because he doesn’t know how to talk to them, or because of Baaz and Vijay. Maybe, just maybe, we can get a plot where he’s given the choice to listen to Baaz and Vijay... and decides not to. Because, well, they have zero idea what they’re talking about in basically every Hunter plot. And this includes 409 where they are on the right side of Yael’s identity, but still idiots for taunting Hunter when he’s trying.

Like, this is such a simple goddamn idea, but having Hunter take a step toward not being an utter moron about relationships would be grand. The reason none of his plots are really... big, is because we need him in a more sympatheticc location before he can be used as an active protagonist.

The Bonds of Blood - Basically what you shouldn’t do is repeat any of Miles or Frankie’s plots with Hunter. That’s really the only ground not to cover. Oh, and rehashing his previous bad life choices again would be a poor line here. Hunter needs to be pushed into a place where the audience can relate to him a bit better, and all of Frankie’s poor choices and Miles’s drug habits are well antithetical to likeable Hunter.

Sorry if this is weaker overall as a post? But I’m real tired while I write this.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Yael Baron

So Yael has the least terrible set-up of the gamers. When Maya was sad and injured Yael was the first to break and apologize. And was the most rattled by the results of their actions. And was the least dickish of the four of them. Overall Yael just has some of the better writing luck (although some of that ‘luck’ is the writers favor girls. And Yael was written cisfemale for two seasons).

The Good - Yael has the best balance of ‘sarcastic wit’ and ‘real human emotions.’ They do a good job of playing even before the nb reveal that Yael is outside their comfort zone in standard ‘girly’ situations. Even without the nb reveal thsi was a good writing choice as it distanced Yael from the rest of the cast in a way that made them very identifiable (even if the wig thing didn’t have a good payoff).

The Bad - Almost all of the bad pretty much comes down to the writers being in a less than optimal writing place. So while Degrassi being ‘canceled’ wasn’t a thing, it was in a dubious place for a little while. The main actors were almost certainly safe, but anyone who was very low value... well. Devyn Nekoda who played Arlene got a gig on another show. So they had to slot a new character into an old dynamic. It felt a little weird. As such Yael didn’t seem like a proper character until NC2.

What Could Have Been - So. The wig. Honestly I was hoping for her to have more wigs and be a bit more... eccentric. (I use ‘her’ because I’m talking NC1-2 when Yael was still firmly cishet writing wise. I’ll go back to they/them when I get to future plots.) See, the obvious thing was Yael is a cosplayer. I was expecting a lot more wigs in a lot more styles. Maybe not going all the way to ‘girly’ but up-playing style as a part of her kit early on. A weird nerd style, but a style.

Did they send me Daughters when I asked for Sons - So like Esme, Yael’s home life is kinda important to visit in on. Vijay and Tris don’t need parents because we can guess due to how out and proud they are where their parents are. There is always an adjustment period, even if the parents are supportive they’ll screw up and not get it right. And how easy or hard this is will have an impact on Yael overall.

This’ll be a bit of a rehash of Becky’s parent plot in S14, the ‘home is complicated I’d rather not’ thing. They can have Yael relying too much on Lola or the gamers (but not the gamers unless Baaz and Vijay get some writing improvements) to avoid the house, allowing some of this plot to be through Lola or Vijay’s eyes (either one would be a good choice as they can get real loud on Yael’s behalf). We don’t need a ‘parents who are bigots’ plot again this soon, and we need to show some parents who don’t suck.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.

Future Planning - So one thing to do, that is always needed when balancing character plots, yael’s gender is not their only trait. Yael’s initial character card was ‘the next Mark Zuckerberg’ and we need to keep that as a part of their story. We had zero ‘Yael the entrepreneur’ plots since she got together with Hunter. Even if they blend in some nb aimed bigotry or use the plot to get them back with Hunter, make sure that front and center in that plot is Yael’s desire for their future.

Like, I know this is hard Degrassi, but sometimes you need a plot devoted to a character’s ambitions.

My Body is a Cage - So in retrospect, which is always flawless, My Body is a Cage did one thing it really didn’t need to do. Have Adam try to go back to being Gracie. Having a reveal of Adam being ftm was good, but while Jordan killed her scenes we didn’t need that. It broke something that couldn’t be fixed after. Because it broke the illusion of Jordan playing Adam, because Gracie looked a lot closer to Jordan at the time.

So with that in mind, Yael going back to red wig and baggy clothes just won’t help with their story. Yael doesn’t need to stay in the debonair gentleman look every ep (I’d love some other cute and genderless outfits). But they need to stay more akin to now and avoid what Yael wore before. Stepping backwards in any significant way is always a bad idea.

And any suggestion that this can just be turned off or on like a light switch is flawed.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi NC4 Attendance Notes

So I’ve finally done the numbers on who was around most with the most plots and appearances. As well as overall notes people might find interesting.

Overall Attendance

This is how many episodes everyone appeared in:

Ten Episodes - Grace Cardinal, Jonah Haak, Lola Pacini

Lola had no dialog in one of this season’s episodes, but she was there!

Nine Episodes - Frankie Hollingsworth, Hunter Hollingsworth, Zig Novak, Esme Song

Eight Episodes - Yael Baron, Tiny Bell, Goldi Nahir, Zoe Rivas

Seven Episodes - Winston Chu, Maya Matlin, Vijay Maraj, Tristan Milligan, Baaz Nahir, Rasha Zuabi

Six Episodes - Saad Al’Maliki, Miles Hollingsworth III, Shay Powers

The episode with the least cast is 407 (Fire) with 11 characters not involved, and the episode with perfect attendance is 409 (Obsessed).

Point of View Time

How often was this character telling a story, how often was the camera on them and they were the person we tracked around events. There are 31 plots (3 per episode except for 410 which has a fourth plot).

Four Plots - Maya Matlin

Three Plots - Frankie Hollingsworth, Shay Powers

Two Plots - Saad, Yael, Grace, Hunter, Miles, Goldi, Zig, Lola, Esme, Zoe

One Plot - Tristan Milligan

No Plots - Everyone else

Discrepancy Note: For 407 (Fire), 409 (Obsessed), and 410 (KThnxBye) who is the POV character can be debated somewhat, as the plots are so close in location and content there’s a lot of bleed. Full Disclosure I had Fire with Esme, Maya, and Shay POVs (One could argue for a Zig POV in there), Obsessed with Zig, Hunter, Miles POVs (a fourth Winston POV could be argued for), and KThnxBye as Maya, Zoe, Frankie, and Lola POV (Esme POV could be argued over Frankie). 

Support Time

This I didn’t do last time, how many plots were people in when they weren’t the main voice of the story? This means sometimes a character counts more than once in an episode if they were involved in more than one plot. Tiny, Lola, and Miles each had an episode where they were involved in THREE PLOTS to varying degrees. (Lola in 402, Tiny in 407, and Miles in 410.)

1st Place (15) - Lola Pacini

2nd - 4th (12) - Tiny Bell, Jonah Haak, Frankie Hollingsworth

5th - 6th (11) - Grace Cardinal, Zig Novak

7th - 8th (10) - Baaz Nahir, Esme Song

9th - 11th (8) - Hunter Hollingsworth, Vijay Maraj, Zoe Rivas

12th - 15th (7) - Yael Baron, Winston Chu, Tristan Milligan, Rasha Zuabi

16th - 17th (6) - Miles Hollingsworth III, Maya Matlin

18th - 19th (5) - Goldi Nahir, Shay Powers

20th Place (4) - Saad Al’Maliki

Note: Some characters were listed as in an episode, but as they didn’t even interact with anyone or influence the plot they’re not given a nod for being in that plot. Lola’s dialogless appearance in 403 and Rasha at prom (409) are examples. They needed to be present but they didn’t attach anything to the plot.

I’ll figure out a way to make my notes accessible after I make them readable to others. I kinda made a mess of ‘em.

[purplerakath]

Yael’s DNC4 Plot and some Misinformation On It

So there’s been some reaction to it as ‘why couldn’t they have used a nb actor to run that plot’ which makes it seem like the options were:

Do the plot with a cis actor.

Do the plot with a nb actor.

That isn’t the choice here. This is the choice.

Do the plot with a current actor.

Don’t do the plot at all this season.

You see the double edged sword here, right? Either we have another year without a series having a nb lead character, or they do it with an actor they have, because, and I’m going to write this in big easy to read letters.

There was no room to add any new actors this season on Degrassi. The season was already spread so thin trying to do the two other things they had to do this season.

NC4 split the cast into groups of 3 or 4 to cover running plots so that sub-plots and sub-activity could lead into one another. With the primary running threads being:

Saad, Lola, Yael

Frankie, Esme, Zig

Miles, Maya, Tristan

Grace, Jonah, Zoe

Goldi, Winston, Rasha

...Hunter, Baaz, Vijay

To introduce a new character involves cementing them into a group (costs time), then revealing they’re nb (which takes time from an existing character), and without the previous emotional weight of their story (which makes BvS DoJ level storytelling) and that’s on top of having to write goodbyes to half the cast and cement a new class ready to run the school S5.

And if you think ‘well what about introducing them in NC3, you said NC3 Yael was set-up for this plot’ there isn’t any room for any new characters there either unless you want to completely rip Yael out of the plot and give her position to someone new which is bad writing.

Quick Aside: I didn’t go into the logistical aspects of casting a nb actor specifically on Degrassi which is to find an actor, who is a Canadian Citizen, between the ages of 14-18, free to be in Toronto for the production period. Mostly because I don’t know the exact number of 14-18 year old Canadian NB actors who would willingly pass for cisgendered for a season/half a season to prep for a plot to play a nb coming out story. 

If I did I’d go into that. Honestly I wonder how to find out that...

Which I guess brings the rhetorical question. Would you rather a strong, flawed, attempt, or no attempt at all for the time being. Would you prefer giving an imperfect face to the topic, or the topic to just stay in the shadows another year? Possibly longer since NC5+6 isn’t in production at the moment.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Frankie Hollingsworth

Oh Frankie... you’re still cute, and charming. But most of that is on Sara. Sara does a good job with what Frankie gets, but Frankie isn’t given a lot to work with. Which is weird, given she’s basically everything Degrassi likes in a female lead. She’s this cute little thing that makes all the right faces when they can be emotionally destroyed... only to come back stronger and better in the end.

The Good - As much as Frankie hasn’t had a lot to work with, she’s overall a very consistent level of terrible but not awful. She cares about people provided she isn’t so lost in her Jonah issues. And when they killed her Jonah relationship it opened her up to becoming someone not so lost in relationship hell she can’t see the world.

The Bad - We spent THREE SEASONS on Jonah. And while he wasn’t in the way in NC2 (NC2 had its own problems), he definitely didn’t add anything to Frankie’s story. If Jonah actively challenged Frankie to be better, instead of being vaguely there and not opening up to her? Like Shay and Tiny, it didn’t really add to Frankie. Jonah did basically nothing. He’s a fine support character if he doesn’t need to do anything.

What Could Have Been? - I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking they could have done something with Frankie, Miles, and Lola. Either anger at Miles for screwing her friend, or anger at Lola for screwing her brother. Or... surprising everyone, no anger just confusion and trying to figure out why this happened. There aren’t a lot of plots off the table with Frankie? Cause most of what they’ve done is keeping her going in circles.

Three’s Company - ...What? You can’t be surprised. I’m poly as hell and I want more poly as hell characters. The idea here is Frankie, in an attempt to get past her time with Esme and Zig and what that did to her reputation... tries dating someone. Someone new because no to Baaz. And she just finds it... lacking. That maybe Esme and Zig weren’t the ones for her, but what she’s doing isn’t working.

I know I was asked for twists, but no screw that I want poly Frankie to be a thing.

I don’t give a Damn about my Bad Reputation - So last season we touched on this, but didn’t explore it. Frankie needs to really embrace the idea that she should be herself and forget what random people think of her. Provided she likes herself and feels good about her choices. It’s a pretty basic plot but honestly Frankie is so perfect a choice for it I can’t really sidestep it. I’d also kinda like her to get an overall wardrobe update that might come with her being less of a goodie goodie?

I dunno, Frankie needs a slight upgrade to her current identity but mostly I come back to ‘good writing.’

‘Boy Crazy’ - What Franks doesn’t need? More time being an insecure needy brat about a boy. Part of why her and Zesme worked was she wasn’t worried about losing them to anyone. Which was great! So let’s not go back to her worries about a guy like her and Jonah. She needs to move forward, rolling her back to insecurity like with Winston and Jonah would be awful for making her a good character.

And we need her to be a good character, because Sara is really good.

[purplerakath]

Esme’s cruel sense of Kindness

So a lot of people, properly, had a negative reaction to Esme’s turning Zig on Saad in 401. Why did she do that, she was clearly protecting herself and leading Zig off of her crazy train where she got naked for a guy.

WRONG.

One of the things Chelsea is really good at is controlling her expressions as Esme. If Esme seems human in a moment, that’s defined and on purpose, and the look on Esme’s face before she started whispering in Zig’s ear about Saad’s involvement was empathy, not cruelty. It also follows the logic of how the exchange went. (and if you’re in the bpd headcanon camp is good evidence for you)

Zig came over to check on Esme because she threatened to kill herself.

Esme explains her nightmares are back, and it’s all Maya’s fault things aren’t perfect.

Zig feels bad about not seeing how in pain Esme is, and how he could have stopped Maya if he let her in.

Zig is feeling bad. Esme sees that. She sees it, sees him start to blame herself, and wants to make him better.

But because Esme is so many worlds away from okay, her kindness is to give him a new target to blame. This means Zig isn’t blaming himself anymore. He isn’t beating himself up if he’s beating Saad up.

In Esme’s dark and twisted mind, this was being kind. The same when she twisted Frankie into sticking around in Preach (405). As much as Esme didn’t want to lose Frankie as a plaything, she wasn’t... wrong. With what she said, Frankie has been happier with her and Zig than she was with Shay and Lola. Esme and Zig have been a lot more inclusive and supportive. In Esme’s weird destructive way.

Nothing Esme did this season was cruel for cruelty sake, not like previous seasons. She wasn’t lashing out because it was fun, or because she felt someone deserved it. Her actions were, all in all, attempts at kindness. Just she has the same overall understanding of what kindness looks like as a shark understands what complex chemistry formulas look like.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Vijay Maraj

Baaz is a case of ‘everything is bad,’ Vijay is more a case of ‘one step forward one step back.’ Every time it seems like they might be doing something with him. Then immediately he does something that I just cannot get behind in any way.

The Good - Vijay had a strong as hell defining moment NC1. His break-up with Tris was a good way to set the tone with his character and what he was about. He didn’t have the insecurity issues of Tris, he didn’t have any problem valuing himself. It was pretty fantastic. And then everything else from NC1 and 2 just kinda... undid that.

The Bad - See, the issue is every action he has in canon. Outing Zoe, calling Maya out online, making Yunter about him (with Baaz, but Baaz was ‘just business’ about the friend group)? All his actions have a severe lack of empathy to them. There’s just a complete lack of understanding the emotions of others. Setting up a sociopath is fine, if you wanna go there. But that isn’t what Degrassi wants to do.

Literally my only change for him is ‘don’t do this?’ Which leads to, well, the way I’m going to kinda fail you all right now. Sorry.

I can’t think of any good plots for Vijay

Now that isn’t to say there’s nothing they can do with him, but with Baaz my plots were about fixing his character before figuring out where to go next. With Vijay I can’t figure out how to fix this. Like, not without just pretending he didn’t do all these things (AKA the Zig answer). And while I can give Vijay music plots or internet fame plots or any plot like that it doesn’t change the underlying fact that he’s a pretty terrible person.

Now, this is why we’re lucky I’m not a writer on the show, cause I can’t fix this. I can’t think of any set-up to undo this damage to Vijay and how he sits in the series. I’ll just go back to his needlessly catty comments to Hunter that did not help Hunter get on board with things. Or how he outed Zoe without trying to working things out for a middle ground. He went straight for outing a girl.

Maybe if we got a moment of Vijay feeling bad finding out Zoe was kicked out of her house for being gay it might have curbed some damage. Same if he showed some genuine sort of emotion about what he was party to with Maya. But since Vijay is with Baaz at ‘bottom of nobody cares ravine’ it couldn’t get 5 seconds in the plot.

Esme may be a dangerous manipulative abusive person, but we also know she’s severely emotionally traumatized and some of her actions were meant to help people. Just in some weird twisted broken way that only makes sense to her. Vijay is just a self important diva who doesn’t care about others.

[purplerakath]

Degrassi What’s Next - Baaz Nahir

...Man... just... not even sure where to begin. Like, there aren’t enough plots to really talk about, and what there is is all... you know. Bad. Where he’s involved it just never ends well. Of four seasons I’d say Baaz had one good scene. His only scene with Goldi. 

What I’m saying is all of this is going to be character rehab.

The Good - Baaz, at least, has a consistent level of terrible person. When he’s never helping the story it’s always in the same way. he’s put everything in the mindset of business. His every act is based on the idea there’s a con or a play to make people do as he wishes. He’s manipulative and ruthless. It is a starting point to make him a better person if he’s given any chance to, you know, grow.

The Bad - So the issue is that while all of this is a nice straight line of bad, it doesn’t really give anyone any reason to care about him. His rant about Hunter would have been good for developing his issues if it wasn’t undermined by what he’s done and what he hasn’t apologized for. He also didn’t learn from his actions and try to be a decent human being after being called out by Grace, he just resumed his being a crap human being from a different angle.

Hunter makes worse choices, but Hunter has at least some moment of being human and nice to balance it out. Baaz doesn’t, and on top of that Baaz was never given a defining character moment like the rest of the gamer quartet. Yael had breaking Hunter’s finger, Vijay had breaking up with Tristan, and Hunter had yelling at Becky in S13. Baaz is just... there, and awful.

What Could Have Been? - Honestly any sign Baaz lead them to attacking Maya to avoid them attacking Goldi. Or like any sign that he was aware this was a terrible plan. Anything.

The Classic Excuse - So the best way I can explain Baaz and his actions is he was bullied, and that he took on a form that was better suited to avoid the bullying he got. His impersonal businessman attitude is his armor from being bullied over his skin and his religion. And diving into that past, the way he ended up here, would help to put his terrible tactless cruelty into a context that can at least be explained. And at best undone.

Heading him down a path to realize he can’t treat everything like business, that other people take things personally, that what he says has an impact. Honestly the best way for this to work is for him to fight with the rest of the gamers to call him out.

Avoiding the Backstory - So you can bypass the backstory by just having someone call him on his actions and have him actually change from his past identity as misogynistic jerk. The obvious choice is a girl, not just because the fastest way to cause a guy to change is through his dick. (Not my logic but definitely Degrassi logic and writing logic in general.) But that’s doubly true for a guy as obsessed with social status and having everything Hunter has as Baaz seems to be.

The best part would be along the line having Baaz realize he actually wants to be a decent human being for being a decent human being. And the girl has nothing to do with it in the end. But that’s just wishful thinking.

405-408 - So my what not to do with Baaz is merely half of NC4 because his dialog and actions were pretty much inexcusable. This is more ‘not paying for an extra’ writing choices, but these writing choices basically made Baaz the least likeable character in the season. Being one of two witnesses to cupcake threesome and the only one who would find some reason to share what he saw. Suggesting Tiny only wanted sex because Baaz is clearly that thirsty. Heckling Saad.

These didn’t have to be Baaz, but they decided he was the path of least conflicting character design. It was easy, it was believable, and if they keep doing it Baaz will never be a likeable character.

Please stop doing this. Or just make him a villain. Either one, I don’t care.

[purplerakath]

Missed Opportunity - Tiny

Oh Tiny... you had so many opportunities. It’s kind of a shame that Degrassi knows nothing of how to use black characters in their stories. Like... Tiny’s stories didn’t even have to be all that race related, they had a strong character definition that had a really easy set of options to show who he is.

Option 1 - Lost his Edge

So Tiny went from gang member to science nerd. If they had him connected to any of the kids from his old life (non-gang members, just kids from his more rough and rowdy past) his focus on education, Shay, and science would have been a good place to show growing away from his past. And how that isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Not getting to party as much, how he stopped casually doing weed, all the things that would have been good to cement his change in a narrative structure.

It wouldn’t impact his relationship with Zig, cause Zig’s a teddy bear.

Option 2 - He is more than his Past

So if they didn’t want to explore Tiny’s relationship to his past directly, they had another great option. His past would probably get in the way of him getting a job, or his relationship with Shay, or his needs for college. It’d be a great place to explore how his circumstance limits his options and how none of it is his fault, directly. Let’s start with the easier of the stories to tell: Shay.

If we go with Shay’s parents and their NC1 concerns, you get Tiny’s past being used against who he is now. And Tiny having to work to prove he isn’t what he was. This gives a more interesting growth to his and Shay’s relationship, allowing both of them to stand up for the other in some ways.

You said you would take that to the Grave.

Tiny is probably the least explored with the most room to really dig deep of any of the graduates. And Richard can swing for the fences when given the space to do so. Which is honestly a shame given how great this could have been.

Instead he helps his friend bully a kid for no goddamn reason.

[purplerakath]

Missed Opportunity - Maya

So Maya’s last season was all about rebuilding her life and balancing her current condition against what she wants. Putting her musical abilities against her depression. Which was fine! Honestly nothing I can come up with is anything but this idea in different weights.

Option One - More Mental Health

So we got a few scenes of Maya struggling with her current state, and struggling with her current pitfalls and threats to her mental health. But we could have really driven headlong into this and really explored how hard it is to live with the one fear you can’t run from: yourself.

401 started with a joke from Esme about triggers, someone who is depressed to the point suicide is on the table, even after being in treatment and medicated, has so much more to fear out of their own mind. About what they will feel that pushes them closer to the dark and we could have explored that. Of seeing her come face to face with the things that lead her here, and maybe showing her leaning a little more on her friends to keep her okay.

With the Belgium coverage, Maya was shaken but quickly pulled away without freaking out too much. But she had so many other things she did that could have pulled her toward the dark, and it would have been nice to see her turning to Grace or Zoe or Zig to tell her she has other options. Maybe even a scene with Miles and his own brushes with pills and mortality.

Option 2 - Depression the Sidelong way

So the opposite path would be to focus on Maya’s future more completely. Maya had a lot of concerns about her ability to write songs and was very much in her own head this season. Which isn’t a surprise see above. Focusing on how her diagnosis and her career intersect would have been another option. Showing Maya struggling with her music more, putting more of her concerns with her future in the front and center space. Maybe trying to get her job back at the studio or having a new song be dark, and unnerving and her friends judging it off her depression space.

I mean I love seeing Last Exit again, but if she had a new dark unnerving song and Goldi and Zoe got concerned, that’d be amazing to show she’s still in this space but trying to turn it positive. And some people don’t take that well. Some people get weird when others focus on making things that are... disturbing.

Oh, there’s Hope out on the Horizon...

Honestly, of all the seniors and all the stories... Maya’s feels the most complete. Like, as much as I want to say ‘because she had the most time to tell it’ there’s more to it than that. See, they burned a lot of S13 dicking around with Matlingvas love caret nonsense. Or Matlingvak love caret nonsense. But by the end of her road Maya was a little girl who got hurt, and became a young woman facing her pain.

I might say ‘they could have done more’ but they certainly did enough.

[purplerakath]

The Advantage of Connectivity

Or why Lola is probably the next lead girl.

While you can have memorable characters who are living only in their own story, NC3 Maya and NC4 Esme both did that, a subtler hand involves being able to seamlessly fit a character into other people’s scenes. This is what gave Imogen all the charm she could offer was how from S12 to S14 she just... showed up, in a scene, and rocked it. And in S11 and S12 Adam was friends with everyone just because.

But having a pre-existing line of connection makes (or breaks) certain scenes and interactions. Maya doing the new theme song for All Inclusive was one of those ‘break’ moments. Her existing connection should have been so negative as to undermine the event.

So how is this about Lola?

If we ignore the graduating seniors the overall picture of direct and thematic connections is pretty telling as to who falls where. For the purposes of this post a Direct connection is a direct relationship to the character via a specific group, project, or clique. A Thematic connection is one of having a shared history, item, or trait that could be used to force connection if they want to use that plot element.

As Thematic is a potential connection, it counts for less than actual connections.

I’ll put a read more at the end with everyone and their connections but Lola has direct connections to pretty much everyone, and a decent thematic connection that could be used for Esme and Rasha (the only two Lola doesn’t have a pre-existing natural connection to).

Saad, Rasha, and Esme are sitting in pretty dire placements of having only one direct connection each. And Rasha’s direct connection isn’t even that good. Which probably qualifies as a misstep from NC4′s writing choices as it severely hampers how easily we step into NC5 plots. For those wondering what that looks like rewatch S11 and how much work it took to set Fiona up with a new set of friends because all her friends graduated.

All Inclusive being the largest clique of remaining cast bothers me since two of the five are in desperate need of work to be viable characters. Not saying its impossible, NC3 made Rasha amazing with very little effort and NC4 did the same with Saad. But it is very much an uphill battle.

Saad

Direct - Lola

Thematic - Baaz and Rasha (Muslim)

Rasha

Direct - Baaz

Thematic - Esme and Lola (no Moms), Saad (Muslim)

Esme

Direct - Frankie

Thematic - Lola and Rasha (no Moms), Shay (Academics)

Shay

Direct - Frankie and Lola

Thematic - Esme (Academics)

Frankie

Direct - Esme, Hunter, Lola, Shay

Vijay

Direct - Baaz, Hunter, Lola, Yael

Yael

Direct - Baaz, Hunter, Lola, Vijay

Hunter

Direct - Baaz, Frankie, Lola, Vijay, Yael

Baaz

Direct - Hunter, Lola, Rasha, Vijay, Yael

Thematic - Saad (Muslim)

Lola

Direct - Baaz, Hunter, Frankie, Saad, Shay, Vijay, Yael

Thematic - Rasha and Esme (no Moms)