Degrassi Season 3 Review

I finished up Degrassi Season 3 last Friday. This season has really matured since Season 2. The plots have gotten more serious and it feels less like a Disney sitcom. This has also been the first season with reoccurring themes and plots, like less standalone episodes. So, the reviews will be a little different from now on. But first, the like/neutral/dislike table with a new category: Why are you even on my screen?.

Name:	Category:	Reasons:
Paige	Like	She’s slowly turning from the Queen Bee into an actually nice person. And she didn’t suffer from Plot Induced Stupidity Syndrome.
Ellie	Like	She’s interesting, but I think she ‘outed’ Marco kind of poorly. I like her relationship with Sean.
Ashley	Like	A lot of the fanbase hates her, but she’s one of my favorites. I think anyone would be pissed if their boyfriend cheated on them. Most teenage girls I know act as overdramatic as Ashley, so her characters is pretty accurate. And I like her hair and singing, too.
Terri	Like	She’s a nice friend but… that’s it. The writers didn’t use her a lot, which kind of makes her a 1 dimensional character. At least it was her decision to leave the show.
Sean	Like	He’s so far the only boy that’s not extremely irritating or out to get the ladies. I like how’s he responsible-ish, and he’s more mature than the other guys (Spinner, JT, Toby)
Emma	Like	I’m warming up to her for several reasons. Miriam McDonald looked like she actually slept for more than 20 minutes in this season; her character was interesting in Manny’s plots, and Emma and Chris were a cute couple, although I don’t think anyone expected them to be soul mates, though.
Jimmy	Neutral	He did nothing this season. His acting bored me and… I don’t even remember anything about him. Let’s hope he gets better from season 4 and on *cough school shooting*. I like him with Hazel, though.
Hazel	Neutral	She’s boring. But she did nothing for me to hate her, so… yeah.
Marco	Neutral	I liked him in Pride, but I don’t like how he expects the worse to happen out of everything. And all of his plots revolve around homosexuality, but that’s the writers’ fault.
Liberty	Neutral	She got better this season, but she’s still a bit nerdy. But we’re all nerdy on the inside, so… yeah. I guess I like how she’s learning to let go sometimes. Like, she’s not stalking JT anymore and she accepted Sean’s rejection of her.
JT	Neutral	I don’t like how he left Toby & the crew but I don’t like Toby, so it’s okay. I like how he was close with Manny at the end of the season, but based on the episode Mercy Street,… yeah, no.
Toby	Neutral	He’s boring and I dislike him from previous seasons, but I feel bad for him because of JT leaving him.
Manny	Dislike	Oh God, where do I begin with Manny. Her makeover is the wrong way to approach guys, she annoyed me in the love triangle and she ruined her friendship with Emma so many times. The only thing that redeemed her this season was hooking up with JT, but I just finished Mercy Street, so that ship has sailed. And she kind of looks like my cousin who’s only 14, so .
Craig	Dislike	The love triangle, basically. And the hat he wore in Holiday. And he expected Manny to keep the baby AND Ashley couldn’t be sad or angry because he cheated on her.
Spinner	Why are you even on my screen?	He conned a lot of people into trading their lockers just for Paige, he outed Marco cruelly, he treated Dylan like his personal chauffer (Is that the driving one?) monkey, his hair sucked, he’s intolerant, he encouraged Craig to cheat… the list goes on and on.

Now, time for the reoccurring plot reviews:

• Manny’s new look

I dislike this plot because it’s not Manny’s look that bothers me, but how she thinks that’s the only way she could get guys. Ashley, Emma and Paige all got guys without being slutty. And it’s her behavior that’s annoying, too. Not dressing like a 5 year old and being Maury material are 2 different things. Like, most of the sluts at my school know not to break up a relationship or have some morals, or act like sluts if they’re single. For Manny, she could be married and she’ll still fool around. And she tried to get Emma’s friendship back so much after she screwed it up. Heck, she even used Mrs. Nelson-Simpson but screwed that up, too. The abortion episode wasn’t my favorite episode of her, and I’m surprised some pro-life group hasn’t said ‘Abortions are only used by slutty teenagers who are cheating on other people’ or something, but it’s a Canadian teen drama, so it’s not like any pro-life group knows about it. Oh wait, The N banned it in the US for 2 years because of protestors.

• Marco’s homosexuality

It’s not Marco being gay that annoys me. It’s that he’s only ‘the gay one’. And he annoyed me in The Power of Love. Oh, and his relationship with Dylan seems shallow. And once again, the writers make it seem like ‘there’s 2 gay people in the same school! They’re soul mates!’. But it’s not Marco’s fault, so… yeah.

• Sean & The Sesame Street Gang

I could see why Sean would leave JT & Toby because he’s not with Emma anymore, but I’m pretty sure that Jay & the Sesame Street Gang (My term for poser gang people) aren’t the only other guys in the school. I think they didn’t have to steal Snake’s laptop and they were just immature in general. I guess I like them individually, not as a group. If that makes sense.

• The Ashley/Craig/Manny Love Triangle

I think that both parts sucked. I didn’t want Ash and Craig because Craig cheated on her, but I disliked Craig and Manny together. I think Ash wasn’t a prude and Craig should’ve dump her if he wanted to be with Manny. But whatever gives Ashley Kerwin more screentime, the better.   

• Terri and Rick

I see where Terri was coming from for not dumping him, because she’s plus sized and it’s not like she could be picky about who she dates and whatnot, but she could’ve just hang out with him in groups. I’m surprised nobody reported him to the authorities or anything. I wish Christina Schmidt (sp?), Terri’s actress, didn’t leave the show because I’m gonna miss her, and I’d rather have her graduate out of the story than be transferred to another school. At least she gets to teach people about abusive relationships.