aka, "Clare has a stillborn, Maya is a model child, Hunter will be a horrible boyfriend"
Episode 18, Season 14
Original Air Date: 7/24/2015
Main Storyline Character: Clare Edwards, Maya Matlin, Hunter Hollingsworth
Previously on Degrassi:
-Zig and Maya kissed!
-Clare and Eli found out their to-be-born baby doesn't have a heartbeat.
This episode is a huge come-down from the previous. Last episode we had hormones raging in every way possible, and major drama on the Clare/Eli front. This episode, not so much. It mellows out with Maya and Zig, but the Clare/Eli storyline is heartbreaking. And the Hunter storyline is...well, not very thrilling at all.
I'll be honest, the Clare and Eli storyline had me to tears, so it'll be hard to bring out the snark. It's so sad!!!
Clare and Eli are at the doctor's office, deciding what to do with their to-be-stillborn child. Clare's too far along for an abortion, so she'll just have to anticipate labor in the next couple weeks, or the doc will have to induce it. Either way, it's a lose-lose for this girl, a character who has been through so much. SO MUCH. More on that later.
The doctor leaves Clare and Eli with a piece of paper. It's a list of things you can do to "commemorate" your child upon their "birth." They can get footprints, a lock of hair...and both Eli and Clare are emotionally distraught and creeped out. I think it's so creepy that people commemorate their dead baby, but at the same time, I've never gone through the thrill and excitement and stress and work of being pregnant for multiple months only to find out it was for nothing. These poor kids.
Back at school, Clare is mentally on another planet when Alli and Jenna walk up with some cardboard puppets for a class project and start talking about outfits for baby EClare. Clare CANNOT handle this right now and just storms out of class. She doesn't even talk to her besties about this?
Clare is off driving somewhere, singing off-key in her own road trip version of Eat Pray Love when Eli calls and tells her that they need to talk. "NO THANK YOU." Well, that's that.
Their argument lasts all of five seconds because next thing we know, Eli is in the car with Clare under the condition that they don't discuss the baby. Clare tells him they are off to NYC.
At a rest stop, Eli insists on taking over driving duties, but when the car won't start, he tells Clare it's best to call his parents to pick them up. Clare is trying her best to avoid life, so she'd rather hitchhike to New York than go back home. Eli tells her it's ok to take a break and go back home. Clare doesn't want to take a break, though! She first had to stop her life because she had cancer! Then she got better, but immediately found out she was pregnant. She had to change her life around the pregnancy, and now that it isn't happening, she is most definitely not going to stop her life again for any inconvenience that God keeps throwing her way. Clare is the Job of the Degrassi bible, and it really sucks. Eli is a good soul, and admits that he lied about the car battery, because he was afraid she might go into labor on the road. He will drive Clare to NYC, because he believes that she deserves it. That, or he just doesn't want to hear her rant about how she's had the most unfortunate life so far.
Eli and Clare are now on the road, and the plan is to go to NYC and have Clare talk to an admissions counselor at some university so she can enroll for the fall. Eli is throwing questions at her as a bit of a rehearsal for this interview, and after he asks "won't you be liable to slack if your assignments aren't being marked?" "No. I'm the most determined girl you'll ever meet." You most definitely are.
The next sequence of Clare and Eli had me waiting for the inevitable "omg I'm in labor!" moment, which never came. Instead, they have a cute moment in a gas station where Eli continues the fake admissions interview with Clare, but she gets distracted when she sees some kitschy silver "Baby" frame on the gifts shelf. Eli asks "What makes you uniquely deserving of this special exception?" "I tell her, 'if you think I overcame adversity when I beat cancer, wait til you see what I'm like after losing a baby.'" What is that cracking noise? I think it's my heart breaking.
Eli and Clare are back on the road and imagining living together in NYC. They imagine if their son would have enjoyed beef jerky as much as Clare does. They pull over and have a tear-filled talk about never knowing this once-living thing, and how they may never know why he died. "It's just not fair!" Clare and Eli's (and my) tears stream down their faces in unison. "It would have been beautiful and amazing." They are perfect together. Clare tells Eli to turn around to go back home, now that they've come to terms with losing their unborn child.
Clare and Eli are back at the Edwards' home, and are getting ready to leave for the induced labor procedure. Eli pulls out that sheet of paper that the doctor gave them, asking if Clare's sure they don't want to do anything. Clare says, "I won't forget him, I know that. I kinda want those memories to stay between us." Eli responds, "The three of us will always have our road trip." SO SAD!!! Then it's revealed that Clare was looking down at that kitschy picture frame that she apparently bought from the gas station, and she framed a picture of the baby's sonogram. Heartbreaking.
Maya and Zig are reeling from the big passionate kiss they had in the last episode. Luckily Mrs. Matlin didn't catch them! Maya is up at 3am getting a Coke, the last possible thing I would grab in a middle-of-the-night fridge raid, when Zig surprises her in the kitchen. He too cannot sleep. Maya decides they need to talk about it, because if Mrs. Matlin finds out, they will be in big trouble, and Zig will have to live on the streets, and Mrs. Matlin won't trust Maya anymore and so on and so forth. How long can they keep this charade up!? They passionately kiss, because no amount of talking will distract them from each others' lips. What if Mrs. Matlin catches them!? And just like that, she does. Wow, this story is progressing quickly. Mrs. Matlin's all "I'm crippled but I ain't blind." Zig is sent to his room, and Maya swears that this was a spontaneous can of coke and kitchen kiss, but Mrs. Matlin isn't buying it. TO YOUR ROOM!
"I am so glad we're talking again!" says Tristan to Maya. This is also not said by any Degrassi fan regarding the Tristan/Maya friendship. Tristan wants to talk about some test, but Maya's like "I made a huge mistake." "You kissed Zig?" Maya is so confused why everyone knows this or assumes this, when she can't even grasp her own emotions. It's because you're predictable, that's why! The conversation that follows is by the most level-headed and respectable teenager, played by Maya, and the typical trope of a teenager who just hates authority figures (except when they are gay English teachers), played by Tristan. Tristan is telling Maya to get with Zig and who cares about Mrs. Matlin! She can't tell you who to love! But Maya says she wants to be honest with her mom, who is a super nice lady, and believes she shouldn't disrespect her because she lives in the Matlin household. Good job, Maya; no lessons to be learned by you this week!
Zig is eating lunch with Grace and Tiny, sharing his girl problems. He isn't worried about Maya, he's worried about Mrs. Matlin. "You kissed her mom, too? NICE." Tiny, you're gross. No, Zig "betrayed her." Mrs. Matlin had one rule, Zig. ONE RULE. Zig and Maya are so respectful of their elders. They should head on down to the soda shoppe to meet Wally Cleaver and later help Beaver out of the giant steaming soup billboard that he got stuck in.
"Rules are rules" says Maya to Zig about their home life situation. That should be this couple's motto. Maya complains about said rules, however, because she admits she thinks she loves Zig. Zig thinks he loves Maya. They both think they might kinda be in love, and they're gonna skip on home together and be honest to Mrs. Matlin about the whole situation because by golly, they're just the most gosh darn best teens ever!
Maya goes home and talks to Mrs. Matlin, saying that no, they haven't cooled down and they don't think it will happen anytime soon. They weren't sneaking around, and that midnight coke was just innocent! They love each other, or maybe Zig is getting Stockholm syndrome, who knows. Mrs. Matlin is reasonable and says it's ok for them to stay together, especially because Zig is now such a stand-up citizen. However, he'd have to move out so those midnight kisses don't turn into something more. Maya freaks and then switches back to "I don't love him, let him stay!" because she's freaked that Zig will be on the streets again. Mrs. Matlin reassures her that Zig could probably go back home to his family since he hasn't been dealing drugs in a while. Why didn't this happen sooner? You have to wait for a teen romance to begin for you to kick him out? Maybe Mrs. Matlin WAS kissing Zig! Tiny was right this whole time. JK!
We later see Zig packing up his bag while Maya tries unpacking everything. She expresses her concern for him going back out on the streets. Zig isn't sure where he'll be living, but he's meeting with Jose, his social worker, to figure everything out. Maya of course blames herself for everything. Zig reassures her that him moving out is good, and this means they can be together. "As long as we're together, what could possibly go wrong!?" Oh Zig, why did you have to say that? You totally jinxed it, and now you're leaving Maya not with one, but TWO dead ex-boyfriends. I see it happening soon.
And the third storyline of the week is for....(drumroll please)...Hunter Hollingsworth. *cue sad trombone.*
Hunter is crushing on some girl that I thought we've never seen before, but much like Hunter's character in general, I was just forgetting stuff because it was so boring. So Hunter is crushing on ARLENE, some friend-who-is-a-girl of his. But when I say crushing, I mean that he's rude to her and she is rude back. I can just see the horrible, hateful divorce after their wedding now...
Arlene and Hunter argue about the backdrop for the play, which is stylized like a comic book. Should the backdrop be more Japanese manga, or American comic? The struggle is real. They can't agree, and aren't kind about their opinions of the other person's ideas in this argument. After Arlene leaves, Imogen and Frankie walk up, and they tell him that if that is a crush, then he's doomed to have some pretty messed up relationships in the future. I just don't see this kid turning out well at all. "You need to be the hero of your own story, Hunter!" says Imogen. They also tell him to romance it up. Let's see how that turns out, since his idea of a love story was drawing a comic about evil cheerleaders locking up Arlene in a cage so he could rescue her. This should be real fun.
Hunter magically orders some flowers for Arlene without a cell phone, but when Jenna delivers them (do student aides work as messengers, too?), they are from a "secret admirer." It disrupts class, so I thought Arlene might be embarrassed, but instead she's super bitter and cannot "believe some dweeb sent me flowers...could you be more unoriginal?" Arlene, if you're going to be a regular background character on this show, you have to make me like you, at least a little bit. You're making it very difficult. Ugh, and the flower-giver "used the old 'secret admirer' cliche! What a turd!" Arlene, hasn't anyone ever told you to not look a gift horse in the mouth? You're being an asshole. The note mentions the admirer wants to meet Arlene later, which Arlene for some reason actually wants to do, just because she wants to see what kind of loser would do all this. Arlene, you are one of those kids I knew in high school who hated the popular clique just because they were popular, even if they were nice, just because you felt left out. Well guess what, they are well liked because they are likable, and here you are wanting to rip apart someone who had the decency to send you flowers. You deserve all that you get in this life. Except those flowers.
Arlene invites Hunter to this undisclosed location, because Hunter needs to be there unless he'd like Arlene to go somewhere to meet a "potential serial killer." Where are you meeting this person? A dark alley? Under the bridge where JT was stabbed? By the basketball courts where Damon was almost stabbed? By the scaffolding outside of school where Tiny was stabbed?
No, the meeting is the school courtyard, which is encased on all sides by the school hallways. Do you think a serial killer would give you a secret admirer rose and be all romantic then come to school and shoot up the place? Oh wait, Rick Murray did that in season 4. Ok, I guess your worry is warranted. Of course, since Arlene and Hunter go to meet the "admirer," he doesn't show since it's Hunter's alter ego. They joke about whether or not the admirer is some jock who uses "bro" in every sentence, then Arlene sadly realizes the admirer won't show. When Hunter says the admirer must be a jerk for standing her up, Arlene gets all defensive saying "oh really, even you think it's impossible for someone to like me?!" Arlene, chill out. Your character is the reason that men think they can't talk to women.
The next day, Arlene apologizes to Hunter about getting unreasonably mad yesterday, and tells him that she found a compromise between the Japanese and American comic styles for the backdrop. Oh no, we can't hear you debate about it any more? Bummer. Arlene says that Hunter is her best friend, and he says the same about her. They have a little moment, then go right back into bickering about comics. Arlene, you promised we as viewers wouldn't have to endure this anymore!
Least Favorite Quotes, all from Tristan:
"You've been sniffing each others' butts for months"--regarding Maya and Zig's relationship. Ew Tristan...I liked it better when we had less of you.
"Total dramz, where's my popcorn!?"--upon learning of the Maya/Zig kiss
"..and write an online diary about it, so I can read every juicy detail!"
Lesson Learned: Clare realizes that she will always overcome obstacles as long as Eli is by her side. Maya doesn't need any lessons, since she did everything right. Hunter learned not to be rude since that doesn't let a girl know how much he likes her; he just needs to be himself!
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