aka, "The one where the school musical temporarily fixes all problems"
Episode 14, Season 14
Original Air Date: 7/20/2015
Main Storyline Character: Clare Edwards, Zig Novak, Winston Chu
Previously on Degrassi:
-Clare and Eli did the horizontal hustle and got pregnant. Despite their recent breakup, have come to terms that they will be parents to this child.
-Zig was in Vince's gang until he decided that oh hey, living on the streets and dealing drugs is pretty bad, so he and Tiny are slowly stepping out that back door while trying not to get murdered.
-Tiny got stabbed by Damon because we need to stir up that gang drama.
-Winston is whiny and annoying and kissed Lola but doesn't want his girlfriend to know.
Clare and Eli will always be together. There is no one else that either of them could ever be with, no matter how hard the writers of this show will try. Circumstances change, yet they both still end up together. These two previously broke up because Clare slept with Drew, then when she got pregnant she thought it was Drew's, then when she did the math, she realized it was Eli's and oh snap, Eli doesn't like her anymore because she slept with another dude. But Eli is Eli and of course loves Clare, and Clare admitted Drew was a mistake (Drew is everyone's mistake. He's just a boy toy for everyone. Poor guy)
Mini digression, the Degrassi Wikia lists the following as relationships for Drew Torres:
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| Ex-boyfriend and hookup to many. Even ex-fiance. |
Anyways, back to Eli and Clare's soon-to-be-fully-functioning-relationship. All of a sudden they're cool again because Eli said he'll always care for Clare and even Alli tells Clare that they'll inevitably end up together, even if their conversation about their upcoming birthing class resulted in a high-five. "We high-fived because that's what strictly platonic co-parents do." Oh, but Clare are you WRONG.
They go to birthing class and because Clare signed up for the new-age mother-goddess crystal-necklace spirit animal hippy experience, their first instructions are to look in each other's eyes and have the male tell the female about how much he cares about her. "Clare Edwards, you are the most incredible person I've ever met. [...] I feel lucky to be part of this journey with you. I love you and I'll always be here for you no matter what." Eli has a way with words and dreamy stares. He should be an English major! Clare, understandably, re-falls in love. But she doesn't want to! Because being in a relationship with someone that you're having a baby with would be more complicated than being in a platonic non-relationship with someone you're having a baby with, or so she thinks.
Eli pops over to Clare's house later and Clare sets all these "rules" so that things won't progress, like saying he can't look at her with that look and he can't touch her because she will just melt in a puddle. I wonder what happens to the baby fetus when she melts into a puddle. He says ok, but what are you afraid of and they KISS and have SEX and the ECLARE relationship is back up and running.
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| Clare and Eli, post-(fully-clothed?)sex |
Eli is so sure about this and Clare is kinda sure about this, but she was the cheater in their last relationship, so is she just worried about her own wandering eye? She already hooked up with Drew and there are no more designated boy toys and/or fellow book lovers left in the Degrassi universe so we shall see what happens.
Zig's situation in this episode is complicated, so let me do my best explaining. He was in a gang with Vince and Tiny. Tiny and Zig are trying to leave said gang. Zig lives at Maya's house because his parents kicked him out for being a drug dealer (and he doesn't deal drugs anymore but still wears all black and sleeveless shirts because change comes very slowly). Tiny was recently stabbed in a non-gang related fight, by Damon. Damon is an asshole. Tiny is in the hospital but seems to be ok.
Now that we have that background, the episode begins showing Tiny in the hospital and good-girl kind-hearted Maya is telling Zig to tell the cops about what happened. Zig is all "snitches get stitches" but I think that argument is a little too late since "secrets lead to hospital visits" would be a less catchy but more truthful slogan to live by in this sort of situation.
They rush to school because Mrs. Pill will get them in trouble under the new regime if they are late, but wouldn't being late to school always have been an issue, with or without Mrs. Pill? I guess with all the glaring issues at this school, rolling in 20 mins late probably wasn't an issue before. Maya casually mentions that she hopes they DVR'd Game of Thrones and how she hopes Daenerys gets to King's Landing this week. Clearly she isn't a a true fan of the show because everyone knows that Daenerys will be stuck over in Essos for like 3 more seasons until she gets sick of ruling hateful towns and wants to rule a hateful empire. But Zig doesn't wanna talk TV because he has real issues like his friend just getting stabbed, and he wants to do something about it. Maya's all "Maybe you need something else, during the week. You could always audition for the school musical!" Because in Maya's hot-pink sweater world, school musicals make the world a better place. But Zig, in his black t-shirt world is all "That's not gonna get Tiny un-stabbed." "I know, but it's worth a try." (All actual dialogue, BTW) I don't know about your logic, Maya Matlin, but Winston better have written one helluva musical to get someone un-stabbed.
Zig is next seen in the hallway looking to sign up for the musical when pretty boy Miles walks up and gently teases him for it. Zig, already on edge, slams Miles against the wall and Grace with her blue hair and wise words tells him "that kind of anger is poisonous and just leads to more anger." Sounds like Zig's in need of a musical rehab!
Zig apologizes to Miles for "going postal" and had me wondering how such a 90's reference got into this program. Miles doesn't care enough about anything, let alone getting slammed against lockers, to get mad, so they make up. But Grace then reappears and says that since Tiny is still technically in Vince's gang, the gang heard about the stabbing and wants to protect their group and retaliate against Damon. Grace being all tech-savvy, heard all the "Chirps" (this show's version of "Tweets") despite not having access to phones on school grounds. I can't wait until we get a Grace-centric episode and it's all dark and very Girl With A Dragon Tattoo. So the gang is just tweeting about getting back at Damon at some basketball courts that night...are they not in school and also have their phones taken? They are technically in a gang which is pretty much a 9-5 job, so I guess not. Grace tells Zig he has to do something or SOMEONE MIGHT GET KILLED!!! Zig has a plan.
Zig chases after Damon and his dorky backpack to tell Damon to DEFINITELY NOT GO TO THE BASKETBALL COURTS. Damon thinks this is all some weird reverse psychology thing, but also has a penchant for getting in fights "If someone steps to me, I gotta step back!" Zig begs him not to go as it'll be a trap and Damon might get hurt.
Zig is now auditioning for the villain in the musical, because he wears black or grey t-shirts all the time and therefore would be the perfect villain. Yet he's as threatening as a 90's boy-band member prancing around stage. Everyone thinks he's perfect, including Maya because the difference between Zig and Maya's world is that Zig's biggest villain is a dude who will murder him and Maya's is a boy wearing a grey tank top singing about things that go bump in the night.
Later, Maya, Mrs. Matlin and Zig come home from dinner. A good news text from Grace: no one showed up at the basketball courts and therefore no one is hurt. However, once these three enter the Matlin living room, they see it's destroyed. And the TV is gone! How is Maya supposed to pretend to watch Game of Thrones now?! They call the cops because there is a logical adult present who makes logical choices. The cops take pictures of the scene and the detective asks a few questions, like if this could have been something more than a random break-in. Maya says no, but Zig does a really unconvincing head-shake that leads to the detective giving him one of those "come talk to me when you wanna talk" looks. But he was so good at acting before! Everyone but Zig leaves the room and Zig finds a bandana on a lamp. At first I saw this and thought it was a gang bandana, as though Vince and friends were pissed that Zig ruined their plan, but then I realized that Damon had a bandana on his backpack. So apparently Damon is mad Zig saved his life and wanted to steal a TV. Which makes total sense.
And again the least interesting storyline is via Winston. He's now working on this musical with Frankie as director and Imogen as...theatre person. Lola of course is the best person for the lead female (read: romantic role) and Winston doesn't want her to have it because he wants no more non-girlfriend kisses. Lola's surprisingly comfortable with possibly getting this part, which is strange since the last episode she literally shielded her face as she walked past Winston and Frankie post-kiss.
Frankie thinks all this discomfort that Winston is having is because he just doesn't like Lola, but it's so important for him to like Lola because they're dating, so he has to like her friends, crazy hair and all! Frankie forces a group-hang and when Frankie conveniently exits, Winston tells Lola that something needs to be done, because just telling Frankie about the kiss is too logical and plot-advancing!
Winston decides to have Frankie take the lead role (because she was his inspiration for the character!) and pass director status over to Imogen, who knows about the kiss via Winston and will probably spill the beans eventually. But for now, Winston is the lead male, Frankie is the lead female, and all is temporarily well again.
Lesson Learned: After-school activities, whether they are school-sanctioned or involving birthing class, can solve all the world's problems, at least in the short-term.
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