Recently I’ve started rewatching Degrassi The Next Generation on YouTube. Currently I’m aboot halfway through the first season and *spoiler alert* it has stood the test of time in quality in my opinion. 19 years ago they were tackling issues that 12 year old me had no idea aboot, but goddamn did I love tuning in just to sing the theme song.
Anyways one episode in particular that had me taken aback was S1E4 Eye Of The Beholder.
In this episode Teri (a shy girl who’s insecure about not being a size 6) is finally getting some attention from the opposite sex in the form of Spinner asking to use her notes. The high school equivalent of drunkenly dancing with a girl at the bar while trying to hold down all the fireball you drank while pregaming because you refuse to pay $3.50 for a Miller Lite.
So back to Degrassi. Teri and Spinner are hitting it off much to the delight of true best friend Ashley Kerwin and much to the dismay of OG mean girl Paige Michalchuk. Because for some reason Spinner is the guy Paige has decided she wants to date.
Yes Gavin “Spinner” Mason is the guy the most popular girl in the school has decided she wants to rule Degrassi with as King and Queen. The guy who probably goes to church camp and tells everyone he fingered like a “billion girls” over the summer (when in reality he spent the entire summer fucking his pillow) is fast tracked to become the King of Degrassi.
This is like an offensive coordinator getting a head coaching job for simply just being around talent (Spinner is obviously playing the second fiddle to All Canadian Jimmy). It’s fair to say that Spinner is the Zac Taylor of Degrassi (I type out as a Bengals fan who DEFINITELY has not written him off as a bad hire).
So Paige sees Teri as a threat and decides that to woo Spinner away from Teri at the school dance she’ll just give Teri a little alcohol poisoning. Yes you read that right. PAIGE OVER SERVES TERI TO THE POINT OF ALCOHOL POISONING OVER THIS FUCKING GUY!
So Teri being the drunken mess she is tells Spinner how much she loves him which leaves him confused but still interested because he’s a horned up grade 8 bro. Paige meanwhile is watching this with the biggest of smiles on her face. All of the sudden Teri begins to get the “spins” and rushes off to puke in or around the nearest trashcan while Paige just shrugs off any kind of guilt and gets her dance with Spinner.
We cut to the next day at school and Spinner gives Teri her notes back while Paige chimes in that “he won’t be needing them anymore he’ll be using my notes” which makes it official that Spinner and Paige are dating and Spinner wants to be a C+ student instead of a A student.
Oh yeah JT and Toby skip the dance to look at porn and are caught by Toby’s Dad and his stepmom who then decide to show them male and female porn to teach them a lesson aboot objectifying women. Now while I’m sure the courts would have no issue with Toby’s dad teaching this lesson to his own seed I don’t know how they’d feel about him showing JT some dongs.
You can watch this episode and more on the Official Degrassi YouTube channel (LINK)