S1E5: Parents’ Day

"Snake" Simpson, "Spike" Nelson, Ashley Kerwin, Divorce, Emma Nelson, J.T. Yorke, Jealousy, Liberty Van Zandt, Manny Santos, Paige Michalchuk, Spinner Mason, Terri MacGregor, Toby Isaacs, Uncategorized

Parent’s day is coming up and J.T. and Toby are dreading the day. Toby does not want to see his divorced parents in the same room together and J.T. does not want his parents to find out about the “D” he got on his math test. In homeroom, Emma is concerned with the News About Kids (NAK) commercial that is featured on the announcements. She believes that the school should not endorse products to students and that the commercial has flaws of its own, implying that teenagers are going to use money they earned on drugs.

Ashley has other concerns with the NAK commercials, as she is worried the students care more about the commercials than the announcements she is giving. Terri and Paige tell her to get an agent, and remind her that Toby’s mother is a casting agent. Terri says Ashley’s looks and presence on-screen will assure her a signing from Toby’s mom, but Paige is jealous.

Toby is trying to get J.T. to help him come up with a plan to keep his parents apart. Ashley comes up the two boys and asks if Toby’s mother is indeed an agent, which he confirms. She gets excited when she finds out that his mother is coming, which confuses the boys. They join Emma and Manny at a table, where Emma is ranting about the NAK commercials.

Emma confronts the principal, Mr. Radtich, about her opinions on the NAK commercials, claiming they are biased and used for product placement. He informs her that the school made a deal with NAK, promising to air the commercials in exchange for 18 new computers for the media lab. She argues that this is unfair, so he encourages her to write an editorials for the school newspaper if she is so passionate about it, and she agrees.

Paige is worried that Ashley is prettier than her, so she poses the question to Spinner, who gives no answer. She reveals that Ashley is looking for an agent, and Spinner says he can see her on TV, which angers Paige. Ashley informs Terri that she signed them up for the welcoming committee, so that she will be the first person Toby’s mother sees. Paige takes this as an opportunity to say that she is also going to try and get signed.

In the computer lab, Emma and Manny are working on Emma’s editorial, where Sean interjects saying that he does not appreciate the subject of the article. Toby comes up with a plan to avoid parents’ night. He writes a letter to his parents saying that he is doing so well in school that they do not need to come, and scans Mr. Simpson’s (Snake) signature to the bottom of the letter.

Emma runs to Liberty, the editor of the newspaper, to hand in her article, but Liberty says she is late. After Emma insists she turn in her article, Liberty agrees.

Back at home, Toby’s father is questioning Toby about the letter, claiming it is not real. Toby cracks and tells the truth, that his mother will also be attending, which results in his father blaming his mother for not telling him. Toby says that he wants both of his parents there, just not together, but his father assures him that everything will be okay.

At parents’ day, Toby’s mother is late, and his father makes remarks about her. When she finally arrives, Paige introduces herself and compliments his mother’s outfit. Toby’s mother is obviously annoyed, and the three manage to get away from Paige.

Toby and his parents meet with Mr. Simpson where they begin to argue immediately. The two fight while Toby and Mr. Simpson do not know how to react, until Toby blames his parents for him not doing his homework because of their constant bickering. His parents finally calm down and resume the meeting.

In the hallway, Emma’s mother compliments Emma on her editorial, where Sean and his older brother overhear. His older brother makes a comment on the article, and Emma defends her piece saying that she is right. The two go at it while Sean and Ms. Nelson try to get the two to calm down. Sean’s brother says that without the funding for the computers Sean would not be able to keep up with his school work, since not everyone is as fortunate as Emma is. He crumples up her article and says that there are two sides to every story.

After Toby’s meeting, Ashley greets his mother asking how the meeting went, but before she can finish Paige butts in and greets her. Toby’s mother is uninterested and says goodbye, but Paige hands her a photo of herself before she leaves. As she is leaving she hands Terri her card and says to call, leaving Paige confused and jealous.

The next day in the computer lab, Emma instant messages Sean, who is sitting next to her, apologizing for her argument with his brother. The two go back and forth until Sean admits the article was not garbage.

Mr. Simpson stops Toby to ask him about his parents, and he apologizes for the meeting, but says that it cleared the air and things can now change. Mr. Simpson confronts him about the fake letter he wrote and tells him to write a ten-page paper on why falsifying documents is wrong. He admits that is proud of Toby and that his parents should be too.

 

S1E4: The Eye of the Beholder

Ashley Kerwin, Emma Nelson, J.T. Yorke, Jealousy, Manny Santos, Spinner Mason, Teen Drinking, Terri MacGregor, Toby Isaacs, Uncategorized

There is a school dance at Degrassi. but Terri does not want to attend because she thinks no guys would want to dance with her. At school, Ashley and Spinner ask if she’s going to the dance, but she lies and says her father won’t let her go. When Spinner expresses interest in Terri, she agrees to go. Ashley convinces Terri to let her give her a makeover for the dance, and Paige wants to help too, although her motives are not as genuine as Ashley’s.

Ashley has to get to the dance early to assist in student government duties, leaving Paige in control of Terri’s makeover. Paige wants Spinner to herself, so she gets Terri drunk and dresses her in revealing and unflattering clothing.

Meanwhile, Emma must go to the dance alone because Manny’s parents will not allow her to go. She is lonely at first, but meets Sean, who is upset he has to repeat seventh grade. The two get to know each other and become friends. J.T. and Toby decide to skip out on the dance to use the computer whilst Toby’s parents are out for the night. The two look at porn on the internet, but Toby’s parents come home early and catch them.

Paige arrives with Terri to the dance, where she is obviously drunk. Ashley saves her from Paige and the principal, while fixing her clothing so it is not so revealing. Spinner notices Terri and the two share a dance, but it is cut short when she runs to the bathroom to vomit. Paige uses this to her advantage and steals Spinner right from Terri.

The next day at school, Emma says she had a good time with Sean, although he might appear scary at first. Meanwhile, Spinner and Terri have an awkward exchange before Paige jumps in throwing Terri under the bus for the previous night. Paige walks off with Spinner, leaving Ashley to comfort Terri.

S1E3: Family Politics

"Snake" Simpson, Ashley Kerwin, Emma Nelson, J.T. Yorke, Jimmy Brooks, Liberty Van Zandt, Manny Santos, Mrs. Kwan, Paige Michalchuk, Revenge, Sibling Rivalry, Spinner Mason, Terri MacGregor, Toby Isaacs, Uncategorized

Ashley is on the phone with her friend, Terri, talking about how they are going to make this the best year ever. She ends the call to continue working on her student government election posters. Ashley tries to get ready in the bathroom, but Toby is already in it, and an argue ensues. It is revealed that Toby’s father and Ashley’s mother are in a relationship, and the two families have recently moved in together.

At school, Toby complains to J.T. about Ashley, while Ashley complains about Toby to Terri. Ashley and Terri are hanging up Ashley’s posters when they run into Paige and they examine her clothing before Paige says, “new year, new look, new Paige.” She tells Ashley how typical it is of her to be focusing on the election rather than her appearance.

Emma and Manny enter school and are immediately harassed by Jimmy and Spinner, both eighth graders. The two demand the girls have hall passes or they must leave, then laugh it off, making fun of seventh graders. The girls ignore it and meet up with J.T., Toby, and Liberty before going to their homeroom, media immersion with Snake. The eighth graders, Jimmy, Spinner, Paige, Ashley, and Terri, join in their homeroom with Mrs. Kwan, who commends Ashley on starting her campaign early.

After class, the seventh graders notice Ashley’s posters, which Toby dislikes because no one is running against her. He tells J.T. to run a mock campaign against her, but he refuses. Toby convinces him by saying that it’s great practice since he one day wants to be famous, and he agrees, only if Toby does all of the work.

Liberty approaches Ashley and Terri while they are hanging up posters. She introduces herself, saying that she is running for secretary and wants to discuss the lack of a school newspaper, but Ashley tells her to wait until after the election. Meanwhile, Toby is making flyers and posters for J.T.’s election in the media room.

Ashley and Terri run into Toby putting up the posters, and notice that they have J.T.’s name on them. She says that they are wasting their time, since school presidents are always eighth graders, but Toby assures her that this year things will be different. He mocks her by saying that she is just afraid of competition.

J.T. begins his campaign claiming he is going to do what real politicians do, “absolutely nothing!” while Ashley talks about starting a recycling program. She begins to get annoyed when she realizes people are paying attention to J.T. more, simply because he is funny.

Later, at home, Ashley confronts Toby for helping J.T. run his campaign, which results in an argument. Ashley’s mother comes in to try and break up the fight, which she thought resulted because Toby was running against Ashley. Once she realizes that Toby is only helping J.T. with his campaign, she says that he has every right to help his friend. Ashley is upset because she believes that she is taking Toby’s side.

The next day, Toby and J.T. check the polls and see that J.T. is winning with 52% of the votes. This worries J.T. and he reminds Toby that the campaign was supposed to be a joke, and if he wins he will actually have to work to help Degrassi. Later, J.T. is at his locker when Jimmy and Spinner forcefully take him to the locker-rooms, where Ashley is waiting. She bribes him with $60 to drop out of he race, but he refuses, lying and saying his parents will be upset if he loses. She continually raises her bribe up to $80, until he finally accepts. She gives him half of the money and promises the other half once he drops out of the election in front of the whole school.

Spinner sneaks up on Manny and Emma and blows a spitball at Manny, making her cry. Emma tells Spinner to leave, and comforts Manny, while Terri comes up and makes Spinner go away. Once he is gone, Manny reveals she was fake crying to make him go away.

Toby finds out about the bribe and confronts J.T., but J.T. reminds him that the entire campaign was a joke and offers to split the money with him. Toby says that he just wants Ashley to not get everything that she wants.

Later, when J.T. begins his speech, Toby pulls Ashley into the hallway and confronts her about the bribe. He threatens to tell the school, but she tells him that J.T. already accepted the money. Toby lies and says that he took the money as evidence, which scares Ashley. She then says her entire life is already terrible, so Toby might as well make it worse. She says that her mom only cares about Toby and that she just wants one thing, to be school president.

At the end of his speech, J.T. says that he is dropping out of the election and tells the school to vote for Ashley. Out in the hall, Ashley begs Toby not to tell the school, and he agrees.

Jimmy walks Ashley home to find Toby sitting on the porch. He congratulates her on winning and apologizes for setting J.T. up against her. The two realize that as long as they are living in the same house, they might as well be nice to each other.