Season 4, Episodes 16 & 17

What do you pretend? Okay, guys, we are back this week to talk about some very interesting Degrassi episodes, as per usual. Per usual, we're back. We're talking about some very important plots, also some plots that Jenny and I absolutely hate to no end to the earth. We're getting in some good episodes.

I was just thinking about having to talk about it and I'm already mad thinking about what we're gonna have to talk about but I guess we should just jump in we're starting with season four episode 16 Eye of the Tiger and this is a very jimmy-centric episode because jimmy is now out of the hospital and he's back at school and the episode starts with this cute little welcoming party where everyone's on the front steps like watching him get out of the

Because he's in a wheelchair and he's getting out of the handy, capable bus ramp and everyone's just kind of sitting there on the steps. I'm not going to lie to you. As a grown-ass adult, this opening scene still makes me so emotional. I am a huge Jimmy stan, as we can tell from season... Honestly, from season three onward, Jimmy is really great.

Um, and then just like, you just feel for him. Cause he, he was like a star basketball player. Now he's paralyzed and it's, it's a lot. Um, so Jimmy coming back to school appropriately named eye of the tiger. And, um,

It's really sad because Spinner is not there with the rest of his friends waiting for Jimmy. And then as a viewer, we know why. It's the guilt. But none of the other characters are aware at this moment in time of Spinner's relationship. relationship to Jimmy ultimately getting shot yeah it's important to note that Spinner and Jimmy aren't really on talking terms but it's because of kind of the fight they had before Jimmy got shot about Rick and stuff

Jimmy is not aware of why Spinner's actually acting weird. But then we get this moment where Spinner approaches Jimmy in the computer lab and apologizes to him for not visiting the hospital. And at first, you know, Jimmy's kind of giving him the cold shoulder. Jimmy and Spinner do still very much go way back. They're the dynamic duo of the past three seasons. And he does seem willing to be able to kind of forgive Spinner and Spinner.

We get kind of a montage of Spinner just completely, clearly sucking up to Jimmy because of the overarching guilt that he feels for the fact that he knows he's responsible for Jimmy getting shot.

you know the montage is like you know him pushing him around him grabbing his books him giving him water like you know just trying to make the transition as easy as possible for jimmy because obviously we can all imagine like how incredibly life-changing it is from going like as a very you know able-bodied person to someone who's now in a wheel tier it's a very big transition um and that's kind of

of like one of our main plots another plot um our b plot we can just like kind of breeze through it um but there is a lot of drama between uh jt liberty and her little brother danny Yeah, basically JT and Liberty, they're going hot and heavy. They are a couple now, but Danny is really butthurt because JT used to be his friend more than Liberty's friend. I think he's just kind of feeling...

left out because now he's getting ditched for his sister all the time. And basically JT and Liberty are making out of the hot or hanging out of the hot tub. And Liberty's kind of rude to Danny and says, Oh, go. go play lookout for dad and like tell us when he's coming but danny's so butthurt that he doesn't do anything and then liberty's dad catches her and jt in the hot tub which is Not great. Very awkward. Lots of yelling from a parent. Very, very awkward. And I guess under...

we're under the assumption that like Liberty's not supposed to have a boyfriend. So it's, and it also doesn't help that it's JT. So when her dad has always seen as like a non-threatening male, cause they are friends and they have been for years.

So this is not a great family situation going on right now. And I think a step beyond Liberty is not supposed to have a boyfriend. It's like not only does she have a boyfriend, but they're just in the hot tub, which is somewhere you probably don't want to find your teenage daughter. and her boyfriend ever yes it's like very bachelorette-esque you don't want to see that we know what goes on in the hot tub no go zones yeah and so

JT then confronts Danny's like, listen, that was not cool. I'm dating Liberty. You just have to get over it. And Liberty's also obviously super upset with Danny. We have this very, very bizarre moment at school where it's like JT and Danny like fighting. And then like JT pushes him so hard that he falls and like hits him.

his head and is like bleeding on the street and then that's when liberty like goes and of course she picks danny's side because her younger siblings injured in front of the whole school and kind of just like stops talking to jt and then eventually later they make up in the episode

like Reagan explained. It's just kind of a strange B-plot that will just like legitimately never be revisited. But that's the B-plot. So we can go back to our A-plot. Spinner's being the biggest ass kisser. And then we are getting to the scene, which is the pinnacle of this.

which is Jimmy and basketball. So I guess Spinner talks to the coach and they like name an award for like the MVP after Jimmy or something. And it's really touching. And like the whole school is like really involved in it. And we're like, oh my God, this is so cute. And then we immediately.

fucking go to like you know there it's him and Jimmy in the in the gym and Jimmy's trying to shoot baskets and Spooner's like well when you're out of the chair Jimmy's like dude I'm not getting out of the chair like you you straight up don't know I am paralyzed

Yeah. And so obviously that conversation that they have sets Spinner over the edge with the guilt and he can't live with that anymore. So he confesses to Jimmy what he and Shay did. And obviously Jimmy is pissed. And not only is Jimmy pissed. The rest of the school is now basically shunning Spinner for what he did. Oh, yeah. It's super bad.

Even Manny, his girlfriend. Ooh, he's a social pariah because the next day at school, this man walks in and everyone's looking at him. Marco and Craig are like, you are not our friend anymore. Manny fucking dumps him. Like, it's a lot. And then, of course, he gets called to the principal's office because they've been looking to see who was, like, Rick's bullies at the school that led to him to do this. Yeah, it's a mess.

Now his only ally is Jay, who comes to work and brings some alcohol, which... doesn't fucking help at all like that doesn't make the situation any better yeah they're both social pariahs and like suspended from Degrassi so they can't even go to school anymore and then we get to the point where uh Spinner's just spiraling and they're having a mini Welcome back party for Jimmy, I think at Craig's house. So it's like Craig, Marco, Paige, Hazel.

and you know just like the people the fun people and they're great that they hang out with and then spinner of course crashes the party and it's like god damn it can't you just like go away for like two minutes yeah he's wasted he crashes the party doesn't go over well they're fighting and then Spinner tries to drunk drive. He takes Craig's keys to his car and then it's trying to kill himself and trying to like just drive and then everyone's trying to like get him to stop and then

He keeps going. And then Jimmy, like, throws the wheelchair in front of him. And then he always hits Jimmy. And then Jimmy's speech is like, you deserve to live with what you did to me. You didn't have to tell me. You told me because you didn't want to feel guilty anymore. And I was like, oh, sh-

shit here's drake with the best actor award truly and then he ends it with a you're dead but then he's like kind of like you're dead to me already though and i was like that's a sick bird i you know what very justified incredibly justified given the circumstances. So then Spinner's obviously just crying and overcome with the fact that he's like guilty, lost all his friends, everybody hates him. And so...

He goes into school and confesses to the principal. Miss Hatzelak is what he did. And Miss Sage tears him a new one. He's like, listen, I'm ready to accept any punishment, whatever, whatever. And she's like, you're going to get expelled for this. She cuts it. This is not a suspension. This is not a couple months of detention. This is, you're gone. I will say.

Even a week of her just being there, already a significantly better principle than the former one. Truly, truly. So that's where we leave Spinner in this episode.

on the brink of explosion, which honestly he does deserve. Fully agree with that. So then we move on to season four, episode 17, Queen of Hearts. And this is an Ellie-centric episode. I love Ellie. We see that she's still very much living on her own in the old apartment that she used to share with Sean. And this episode starts off on a slightly sad note because rest in peace, Ferret Bueller, the ferret they should have never gotten in the first place.

It dies. Like it is the most bizarre. It eats some electrical wire. It doesn't even die of natural causes. It gets like electrocuted from eating an electrical wire or something really dark and grim like that. Yeah, and my first two notes, just like Ellie and her ferret living alone in Sean's old apartment. Now the pet is dead. Yeah, it's quite a grim start to the episode. And then it doesn't get much better because then she's having dinner with her mom.

who is, she only has dinner with her mom once a month so that she can get the right money. Because if we remember from the past, Ellie's mom's an alcoholic. It was not a very positive living environment for Ellie, which is why she ended up moving in with Sean in the first place. And

something Ellie's mom is doing better she's trying to tell Ellie that she's changed and she's like working on herself something Ellie's mom says sets her off and she tells her mom that she doesn't want her rent money anymore to which I was like girl How are you going to live? Because you don't even have a job. Yeah, it's one of those situations where it's like way better in your head than executed.

It's this power moment of like, I don't need you anymore. But it's like, you're like 16. Of course you need your parents to help you out. Even if you're in Canada, which is kind of like a welfare state or like the government will help you a lot more, like you still relatively need some type of money. And she doesn't have a job like Spinner where like...

like she's getting some time. Cause like he, in previous episodes, like we know he works there cause he needed to pay for his car. So I'm like, Ellie, what do you do? So this entire episode.

I really like it because I grow to love Ellie as I'm rewatching this. She didn't really leave like a huge impression on me when I was younger, but now as an adult, she's like definitely a fave. But then we just kind of- learned that she's really good at this card game that i forgot what the name is i've never heard of it before but they like skip school to go play like craig jimmy herr marco and alex can we talk about the group that goes to skip school to play that card game is

the weirdest combination of people on the show. It was like Craig, Ellie, Alex, Jimmy, Mark. I was like, in what world do all of these characters have anything to do with each other? Well, we know.

that like we know Marco and Ellie are clearly very good. I feel like Marco is the Marco is the common link because he has something to do with all of these people because Alex is like his vice president. Yes. Yeah. And that's the only reason I could think she would even remotely be hanging around these people. Well, yeah, also she's now friends with Paige because like they work together, but they don't really hang out outside of the workplace. But I'm like, my girl.

is a fave he's just the social glue getting all these great characters together and for some weird reason this card game was like a two-player card game and i've never heard of anything like this before but you need to do it like in pair Like that's how you play it. I don't remember the name either. And I don't, the rules made no sense to me. Like I couldn't tell if it was just a made up game for the show.

Absolutely don't think it's real. But Alex and Ellie end up being strategically just a very good pairing for this game. Their playing styles are very compatible. And then I guess the other really good pair of people is Jimmy and... Craig.

And then Marco is like, you guys are so good. Like we should play like for money. Like Dylan, his boyfriend, who's Paige's brother, he's like, Dylan's hockey friends are super into this, but they play for a lot of money. Like we should host a game. And like, this is how you can get your rent money. But like you're.

gonna need a lot of money to start yeah and so ellie decides to gamble the the last month of rent money that her mom gave her at the last dinner she decides to gamble it all in this game And Alex brings the money, too, because they're going to be a team, which is such a dumb move on so many levels. I love Ellie as well. Again, I agree with Danny that she didn't leave a big impression.

Ami when I was watching this as like a child teenager but now as an adult I really like her character absolutely I think it's such an idiotic move to be like this is the last month of rent money I have let me gamble it all away and as they're getting ready to gamble and all this stuff ellie has this golden idea to ask alex to move in with her which alex doesn't seem she's kind of like girl what are you doing

Yeah, because I guess it's implied that like Alex's home situation isn't super great and like there might be an abusive situation. Well, Ellie's mom was just negligent because like she set their house on fire when she was drunk. I think there might be more of like a drug problem or an abusive household with like Alex's backstory. And Alex is just like, you fucking idiot. We're both children.

yeah and that's kind of what Alex says she's like listen I know you don't want to hear this but you should give your Alex is the one who tells Ellie she needs to give her mom a second chance she's like I also have a crappy situation but at least your mom is trying

To be better. To be better because that's just not the situation like at my house. And obviously Ellie doesn't really want to hear that. And then they go and they do the game and Ellie gets kind of nervous because it's the way the two-person game works and you kind of have to like trust. that your partner knows what what's they're doing what they're doing it's weird i don't get it either

Ellie gets really nervous and kind of almost wants to back out at the last minute. And then obviously Alex like ends up winning it for them and gets like a little mad at her for not trusting that she was doing the right thing. And then at the end of the episode, Ellie finally listens to Alex and decides to move back home.

Yeah. And it's good. And then she like does this, the episode ends very positively, but right before she decides to go back home, she kind of like does this weird emotional test to her mom where she's like, there's an emergency drive over. And then her mom's like, why would you lie to me? She's like, I just needed it. prove that you could drive like that you were sober at night and I was like okay Ellie calm down

But yeah, she's going to live there for one more month and then she's going to go live with her mom. I think just to finish out the month of the apartment. So that's our A plot. Our B plot, we'll get more into... Our B plot for this episode eventually will help kind of lead and propel us into other... episodes this season but essentially it's just like the student teacher teaching um Matt and it's just uncomfortable as a viewer to watch just him interact with children because he's dating Paige

And then the whole drama of them for the B plot is that he won't take her to his apartment. So Paige is like suspicious and she thinks that he's cheating on her. And to be fair, as a viewer, you are also like, yeah, this is very sauce. Like this is so they're not having sex.

which is good but I'm just like this is still very suspicious so she ends up going to like his place and he just like it's not that he's cheating on her it's just that he's poor yeah he just has like a crappy apartment like he's just broke um But yeah, I hate this B-plot. I hate any student teacher dating. It makes me wildly uncomfortable. Very. Riverdale, pretty little liars, can't do it. I think the other thing we get kind of from this is that in this B-plot.

with Paige and the teacher dating is also kind of when Manny gets into the fold of knowing about what's going on and because she's kind of the one who plants the idea into Paige's head that he's cheating on her and stuff. But instead, he's just a broke college student. And I just hate this plot so much. I hate talking about it. I'll be honest.

Yeah, so I'm sure when we get to these episodes, where we go later in the season regarding those two, we'll have a lot to say. Or maybe not at all. Something's anything to say. But yeah, that's it for episode 17. So we are going to go ahead and play duo, dot, or diss. Our three people are going to be Ellie. Paige and Emmy. Oh, you made that so hard because those are all characters I like. I know. Yeah. I was like, we gotta get some main characters up in this episode. Okay. Um, I am going to.

duo with Paige solely because Paige is like one of my top three Degrassi characters of all time I hate what she's doing right now don't get me wrong I understand if you want to diss her because she's acting terribly But Paige just overall is one of my favorite Degrassi characters. I cannot do anything but do it with Miss Michael Chuck. I am going to go to the dot with Jimmy. He's having a bit of a hard time. We'll hang out.

we'll get a milkshake or whatever you get at the dot i'm still unsure as to what type of food they serve at the dot diner just a regular diner right like a diner but i feel like every time they're eating like something slightly different i can't i can't figure it out um

I'm gonna go to the job with Jimmy and I'm gonna kiss Allie not because I don't like Allie because you know she she was acting a little wild this episode trying to gamble her entire rent away and I think that maybe she should think twice before she does something like that? So what I'm going to do is I think the easiest decision for me right now is to diss Paige. love her but i'm solely going to diss her on her decision making in episode 17 in our b plot because this will never end well

And it goes on for most of season four, like this weird storyline. So like, this is very much where we are with Paige. And unfortunately, I have to diss it. I honestly think... I would duo with Ellie because even though she's a little crazy in this episode, I feel like she's overall such a wonderful character to everyone. She's like such a great friend. Same with Jimmy. But I think... i probably i'm more of a marco type like personality wise very extra very annoying uh

pretty flamboyant and I feel like Ellie would compliment me very well um and I would go to the top with Jimmy he like you said he's going through a rough time I'd buy him maybe like lunch or something and we'd hang out also because I feel like Jimmy's still like socially too cool for where I was probably in high school and Ellie for sure would have been my best friend um so yeah definitely but good terms with Jimmy good terms with Paige but I'm just like oh my god don't date the teacher please

yeah no I think like this one every option is valid except for dissing because it's hard but that was a hard one now we need to name our Degrassi dumbass and our hero for these episodes This is going to be a confusing thing because I know I just duo'd with her, but I'm also going to name page my dumbass for dating teacher. I know that's a complex choice, but it's a choice I'm going with. Iconic. So...

Just give me one second. I'm writing this down on my notebook. So, or my thing so I can have. Okay. Who is your hero of you're doing pages? You're dumbass. My hero for this week is going to be Jimmy Brooks. Because, you know, despite all of the terrible things that are happening to him, I think he's still like a really good person. Which is hard because he could have been like terrible to Spinner and just let Spinner drive off drunk and kill himself.

yeah i'm gonna go with uh jimmy as my hero just because it's like fucking great and surprisingly not page as my dumb ass i'm gonna go with spinner as my dumb ass also ballad um so Obviously, we have cast Spinner as our dumbass for many other things regarding like the Rick bullying in the school shooting. But I will say in specifically episode 16.

Jimmy is so correct in saying his little speech to Spinner. He's like, you told me so you could feel less guilty. You didn't tell me because that's not going to help me. Like you did it solely so you felt less guilty. And you got it out there. And I think that's incredibly selfish. And that is like Jimmy's right. That is so fucked up. Like Jimmy's already going to be paralyzed forever. Like you did not tell him that to think it was going to help him.

Yeah, you did it because you needed to relieve your unconscious. Yes. So for that, I have to give, I mean, like Spinner is my dumb ass probably for the entire season or one of them. And we have listed him as that many different times for different reasons. But specifically for these two episodes, I have to go with him being a selfish dick. So that's super valid. Spinner will just continue to disappoint.

Sadly. Very sadly. But if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe. Leave us a five-star review. We're on Twitter at Trash Talk Pod. And Degrassi is available for free on a wide variety platform. So if you want to catch up and watch along with us, there's really no excuse. We will be back soon. We will see you on the next podcast.