aka, "Clare gets her groove back, Frankie pities her mom, Zig has the sex"
Episode 20, Season 14
Original Air Date: 7/28/2015
Main Storyline Character: Clare Edwards, Frankie Hollingsworth, Zig Novak
For whatever reason, this episode has two names.
Previously on Degrassi:
-Clare lost her baby.
-Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth are going through a divorce, basically because Mr. Hollingsworth is a horrible human being.
-Zig and Maya are in loooooove.
In this episode, we have some justification for everyone's hatred towards Mrs. Pill, we get the old Clare back, Frankie decides she can be independent, and Zig and Maya star in an after school special.
Clare, Connor and Alli are curiously summoned to a public place (the hallway) by Mrs. Pill to tell them they're all in the running for valedictorian. They'll have to give speeches on the video monitors tomorrow, and then their classmates will vote for the
At the Dot, Clare shares with Alli the truth of Degrassi. Maybe it's a social experiment! No, just creepy surveillance. Clare loves social change, so she asks Alli to also pull out of the race for valedictorian. She doesn't feel the need to share this info with poor Connor? Maybe because she's not as close with him, or maybe because Connor doesn't have anything juicy going on in his life to warrant a need to have privacy. Alli tries to convince Clare that it's not worth it. "Screw Pill. Don't make this about her. She's been here for what? Five minutes? You've been here for four years," says Alli. A lightbulb above Clare's head goes off; she has a plan.
The next day at school, we're in the school's TV studio, where Mrs. Pill is explaining the valedictorian process on screen. Off screen, Alli is telling Clare that she's proud that Clare decided to compete after all. Clare's up to the podium and says "As my time at Degrassi comes to an end, I have a simple question for you. Do you deserve privacy?" She shoots an icy glare towards Mrs. Pill. "Mrs. Pill doesn't think so. She's using the school's cameras to spy on you." Mrs. Pill does a weak effort of gesturing to Drew (the cameraman) to stop the broadcast. She meanders to the side and fiddles with some cords as Clare says "We need to stand up and tell Mrs. Pill to--" and Mrs. Pill literally pulls the plug on Clare's speech. Clare looks at Mrs. Pill, smirks and walks out with the swagger of a confident woman. Clare is back in action.
She's later clearing out her locker, and when Alli asks why, she says she's expecting a suspension. Mrs. Pill immediately enters the conversation since she apparently has security cam access on the go, and asks Alli to give them some privacy for a moment. IRONY! Mrs. Pill tells Clare she's not suspended, and FYI, these cameras have reduced "reportable incidents" by 30%. She's worried about Clare, and apparently Clare's friends are, too. Mrs. Pill, you knowing that info isn't helping your case one bit. Mrs. Pill walks away and Clare grabs a baseball bat from the conveniently loitering baseball team and starts smashing security cameras left and right, much to Alli's chagrin.
Frankie and Winston are running through choreography for the musical, which entails Frankie singing (surprisingly well!) while climbing a giant skyscraper stage set. Winston whines that she's moving too slow, and she barks back "I'VE GOT THIS, WINSTON" then immediately does a SLAM into the gym mat below. I wish I could find a gif or a clip of this, because I'd like to replay it over and over. It's almost as good as Paige's cheerleading fall back in season 4. Winston offers that they simplify the climbing so she doesn't need to sing and climb. Frankie snaps back "I CAN DO TWO THINGS AT ONCE." Neither of which involve cheating on her significant other, WINSTON. Imogen calls it a day, and pulls Frankie aside to tell her to get over it. If she can't get over working side by side with her ex, Imogen will have to get a new actress.
Frankie is back at home, and Hunter teases her for gorging on snacks. But this is the Hollingsworth household, so "gorging on junk food" is a tidy little tray with a perfectly placed pyramid of donuts, bag of chips, and can of whipped cream. If they're gonna gorge, they're not gonna be messy about it! Rich kids have to keep their composure, even when they are wallowing. Hunter doesn't understand why Frankie is considering quitting the play, because she helped it come to fruition. It's just as much hers as it is Winston's. Mrs. Hollingsworth enters with two romcom DVDs and declares that it's a girls' movie night! "Aren't you going to that charity thing?" asks Frankie, and her mom says no, because Mr. Hollingsworth will be there. With that, Frankie realizes that she'll have to deal with Winston (we all do) and make this play happen.
At rehearsal the next day, Frankie informs Imogen that she will, in fact, continue with the musical, but Winston will have to rehearse separately. What a diva! "But he's the jerk, why should I have to feel uncomfortable?...I just don't wanna end up like my mom." Imogen asks if it's a metaphorical mom. WTF does that even mean? She means her REAL mom, duh. Mrs. Hollingsworth doesn't do any of the stuff she used to do after she split up with her husband. Imogen tells her she needs to change her mindset and give up some of this pent-up anger. "It'll make you feel better."
At the next rehearsal, Frankie is singing her song and climbing the skyscraper. She gets past the corner that made her fall last time. Now it's Winston's turn up, and he falls. "Seriously Winston?" Imogen laments. I'd love to do a supercut of people hating on Winston. He's like the Jerry Gergich of this show. Winston fully expects an argument or snide remark to come from Frankie, and it never does, which shocks him a bit. Frankie smiles and tells him she'd like to stick around and rehearse a bit longer.
Later Frankie gets home and excitedly looks for her mom to tell her about rehearsal. She finds her teary-eyed mom looking at some news site about Mr. Hollingsworth's latest political success, surrounded by a box of tissues and the infamous "wallow tray" with a pyramid of donuts, a can of whipped cream, and a bag of chips. Is the pantry just filled with a stack of these pre-made trays based on level of wallow? Frankie basically tells her mom that she's better than her for going back to the musical, and now it's Mrs. H's turn to move on. It's time for them to go to the mall that was previously Mr. Hollingsworth territory. These girls are taking back their lives, one mall at a time!
Zig and Maya are getting hot and heavy with their makeout session in the Degrassi parking lot, which as close as it is to the school, it is apparently the best place to do non-school-appropriate activites. Tiny and Grace see them and state the obvious, "Get a room!" Zig laments that they can't go to the Matlin household, so what are they supposed to do? Uh, go to the ravine? Isn't that where Degrassi kids go? That's where Emma gave Jay a blowjob, JT sold drugs, Alli lost her virginity, Drew and Bianca did shrooms, Jack has axe-throwing parties, etc. It's a sort of catch-all of weird illicit activities. This gang clearly hasn't heard of the Degrassi Debauchery Park and Tiny suggests that Zig invite Maya over. Yeah, why not, Zig? It's not like it's a drug den or anything. "Sure!" "Yay!" says Maya, and it's a date. Grace says they better hurry or Pill might chop off their hands for being late. Or just creepily watch you from A's lair!
Zig is back at Vince/Tiny's place, tidying up. Vince comes home and declares "Zig is getting LAID!" Zig brushes it off and Vince and Tiny realize that he's still a virgin. Vince says don't worry, "Your night is gonna be great...promise."
That night, Zig and Maya are having dinner. "Why were you so worried about me coming over? It's not Hogwarts, but what is?" Maya, I've read the books and seen all the movies, and I still don't understand what you're getting at with this Harry Potter reference. Vince barges in with a huge crowd of people and Zig is understandably pissed. "I wouldn't mind meeting some of your friends," says Maya, and guess who one of those friends is? Vince holds up a baggie of white pills and it's MOLLY. See that play on words that Vince just did there? A true poet. "What is this, the first half of an after school special?" inquires Zig. No, it's not, but it's an episode of Degrassi. C'mon, Zig, you know where this will lead! Also, what is up with Maya? She knows that it's Vince's gang that Zig's a part of...why is she happily meeting him? Oh, are you the man who's put my boyfriend's life in danger all this time? Pleased to meet you!
Maya's curious about the Molly. "What's it like?" Vince does a hard sell, "Colors get brighter, sounds get sharper, you feel more connected to everything you love!" Vince is playing the Tim Meadows to Maya's Dewey Cox, and she wants in. Zig decides they should do it together, if at all. As Zig and Maya take the pills in hand, the rap music at the party swells to confirm that yes, it's "MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY. MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY MOLLY." Vince apparently put on a themed playlist for this party.
The party is now well under way and Tiny is dancing up a storm. Zig is feeling Maya's hair, Maya is feeling Zig's face and shoulders. They plop on the couch and have a great time feeling the squishiness of the leather. Maya says everything is awesome! This house is awesome! This couch is awesome! I LOVE EVERYONE! Zig starts rambling about how the guys were bothering him earlier, especially about sex with Maya. Maya stops him right there. [Side note on how I've noticed that in every movie/show there is a point where a drunk/high person suddenly becomes sober for the script's sake because there's something serious to discuss.] Maya asks if he wants sex or not. Zig definitely wants sex, but didn't wan't to pressure her. Maya starts making out with him. Zig wants to make sure there's consent. "You're saying..." "Which room is yours?" replies Maya. She leads him off the couch.
The next day at school, Maya is talking quietly with Grace in the hallway about math. Zig quietly approaches and hands her her backpack, saying she left it at his place last night. She quietly accepts it and Grace cuts the sheepish whispers with the booming question "What the balls happened last night?!" Maya takes that as a cue to exit. Grace prods Zig, who tells her they had sex...while high. Grace, with her blue hair wisdom, tells him he's an idiot.
Zig finds Maya outside studying, and they talk. They both didn't mean for things to go that far, and they both wish their first time didn't happen when they were high. Zig blames himself, and tells Maya to stay away, as all bad boys do. He's just too bad for you, Maya! His black tank top is a bad magnet! All bad things come to him when he wears it! Maya's all "this is a joke, right?" And Maya tells him that duh, she has opinions and actions, too, and she was the one to take the pills. It was a mutual mistake, in her eyes. "You're better off without me," says Zig, as Maya storms off and he dramatically slams his fist against the chain link fence.
Back at
They drive up to some dark, quiet street in a retail community and Vince and Tiny get out. Zig stays at the driver's seat and calls Maya. "What we did wasn't stupid; the way we did it was," Zig tells Maya. If they weren't high, they would've realized that they weren't ready to have sex. Zig isn't sorry that it happened, because he's glad his first time was with her. She's glad it was with him. They smile. They decide they'll get back together. They hang up just as two loud gunshots are fired. Tiny and Vince run to the car and shout to Zig to start the damn car already. They scramble in and Zig drives off.
Lesson Learned: Everyone deserves privacy. You need to move on with your life after a bad relationship. You only get one "first time," so it should be with someone you love and it should be with a clear head.
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