With the announcement that HBO Max was blessing the world once more with what is quite possibly the most dramatic high school to ever grace the small screen, it’s time to take a look back at the show teens and tweens alike could not get enough of in the early 2000s, Degrassi: The Next Generation. The fourth and longest-running of the franchise thus far, Degrassi: The Next Generation always promised to go there and never failed to deliver. It set a bar every teen show that’s followed has tried to reach, and while Euphoria has come close — there may never be another quite like The Next Generation. It gave fans everything from multiple teen pregnancies to the repercussions of bullying to a plethora of LGBTQ characters. Now it’s time to dive into the best and brightest from all fourteen seasons of one of the best Canadian imports ever, Degrassi: The Next Generation.
“Mother and Child Reunion” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Long before parents took claim of places like Facebook to share Minion memes, they feared the internet. So much so that the late ‘90s and early ‘00s were splattered with very special episodes concerning the dangers of logging on. So it’s not shocking Degrassi started there when it picked up a decade after Degrassi High with one of its alums, Spike (Amanda Stepto), who was now a single mom to Emma (Miriam McDonald). Emma not only thought she was meeting someone her age, she went up to a grown man’s hotel room. Many were taken aback by how intense it was when stranger danger went into full effect. Thankfully Emma was not harmed, shaken but safe to live another day while still driving home the unsafe ways of the internet.
“Shout” Part 1 & 2 (Season 2, Episode 7 & 8)
By the second season Degrassi had already dealt with body issues, drug usage, and how one handles having a gay parent. So season two had to step it up. The first of many two-parters, “Shout” remains one of Paige’s (Lauren Collins) most memorable as she was sexually assaulted at a party. Fans attached themselves to the heart of "Shout" and how people are made to feel guilty for being the victim, and how that guilt can place a heavy burden on their mental health.
“Pride” Part 1 & 2 (Season 3, Episode 3 & 4)
It’s clear when Degrassi went with a two-parter, they meant business because come the third season there was nothing more to talk about than “Pride.” There's a lot about this episode that's allowed it to stand the test of time. First, when Spinner (Shane Kippel) cannot believe Marco (Adamo Ruggiero) would miss out on a date with Degrassi’s finest for his mom’s pasta sauce. The way he delivered that line, a meme before memes were a thing. Comical pronunciation aside, the emotional peaks and valleys of "Pride" left fans agasp when Marco's the victim of a hate crime. This episode initially aired in 2003, and still holds a lot of weight in the history of LGBTQ characters on television for portraying the reality gay youths face.
“Time Stands Still” Part 2 (Season 4, Episode 7)
This is where Degrassi solidified itself because those who didn’t even watch the show knew about this episode. Granted years later it’d be because Drake was the focal point, but still. “Time Stands Still” originally aired five years after the tragedy of Columbine, and school violence was still (and remains) a hot topic. This episode revolved around girlfriend abuser turned quiz bowl champ Rick (Ephraim Ellis) being humiliated on TV. Spinner and Jay (Mike Lobel) were responsible but made it seem like it was Jimmy’s (Drake) idea, leading Rick to bring a gun to school. Jimmy’s shot and paralyzed, and Rick fails to make it out alive as he struggles with Sean (Daniel Clark) over the weapon. Almost 20 years later and gun violence, at least in America, is still an issue that’s yet to be dealt with, so this episode remains as relevant today as ever.
“Our Lips Are Sealed” Part 1 & 2 (Season 5, Episode 15 & 16)
The fifth season had a lot of storylines that made fans do a double-take from a pregnancy to an interest in plastic surgery as a teen, but the most compelling was Emma’s eating disorder. Thin being in was something pushed in the ‘90s, but by the time this episode aired in 2006, the message had made its way down to celebrities teens were paying attention to like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. So Emma’s struggle wasn’t uncommon amongst viewers at that time. Likely triggered by earlier episodes in which her BFF Manny (Cassie Steele) went on about needing breast implants, Emma too starts to obsess over her body. This wasn’t groundbreaking for viewers old enough who'd seen DJ Tanner (Candace Cameron Bure) go through the same on Full House, but Degrassi took it a step further with Emma landing in the hospital.
“Rock This Town” (Season 6, Episode 11)
The promos for season six of Degrassi warned one of the students wouldn't be making it to the end. One could argue until the end of time about who it should’ve been, but no one guessed it’d be who it was. J.T. (Ryan Cooley) being murdered on his way to tell Liberty (Sarah Barrable-Tishauer) his true feelings hit fans in a way that some have yet to recover from. J.T. was one of the original students when Degrassi came back and fans watched him go from the quintessential immature class clown to a teen who stepped up and did what needed to be done when he thought he was going to raise a child. Sadly, if there are any characters from this lineage of Degrassi heading to HBO Max for a special cameo, J.T. will surely not be one of them.
“Death or Glory” (Season 7, Episode 5)
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Cancer's no stranger to the halls of Degrassi. Snake (Stefan Brogren) had leukemia during the third season and Clare (Aislinn Paul) would later go through treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma. However, longtime fans were shaken by Spinner’s diagnosis. Usually the most charismatic yet simple-minded, this was one of the first times he had to deal with something so grand. He’d overreacted to Marco’s coming out and gotten Jimmy shot, but getting cancer put him in his own traumatic spotlight. Also, being that testicular cancer isn’t as common in teens as adults, this shed a light on the reality of getting diagnosed while still in high school.
“Fight the Power” (Season 8, Episode 3)
The dust settled for a while once the eighth season rolled around as a new wave of students came into play. Students like Jane (Paula Brancati), a rough around the edges girl fans had come to know via her relationship with Spinner. This episode was far from romance though as it focused on Jane’s interest in being on the football team. While Title IX passed in the early ‘70s, many still took issue with allowing girls to play the contact sport. Degrassi showed it wasn’t necessarily the coaches, but rather the guys on the team who couldn’t handle a woman on the field. Today, the issue has now spanned to the debate of whether trans athletes should be able to compete. Perhaps that’ll be something the next chapter of Degrassi will take on when it hits HBO Max.
“Degrassi Takes Manhattan” (Season 9, Episode 20-23)
Degrassi has a tradition of doing these sorts of movies AKA more than two episodes interlocking, and one of the best is “Degrassi Takes Manhattan.” Fans always loved when they were able to see their favorites outside the usual school halls and the only hangout in town, The Dot. However, what continues to make this episode stand out is that it ends with a marriage between two characters that - if one had watched the series up until this point - made no sense. Emma and Spinner wind up married. They had little to no interaction in the past, so it was a wild left turn. One fans need some resolution to, and with Spinner being one of the few characters to continue to come through long after graduating, no one would be surprised to see him again to let old school fans know if that marriage lasted or not.
“My Body Is a Cage” Part 1 & 2 (Season 10, Episode 15 & 16)
Transgender representation had been minimal on television up until the 2000s, so when Degrassi introduced Adam (Jordan Todosey) it was highly celebrated, and it all started with 2010's "My Body Is a Cage." Adam was just a kid trying to live his life at school when he was outed by bullies. This episode dealt with the harassment and physical violence people in the trans community face and the toll it can take having to live a lie to appease others. When Adam’s grandmother comes to town, Adam pretends to be “Gracie” but it leads him down a former dark path. In the years since Adam’s introduction, the small screen has gotten more trans representation with a multitude of queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race, as well as actors on Pose, Shameless, and Orange Is the New Black. Unfortunately, while the TV landscape has grown, the minds in control of certain states have shrunken on trans issues.
“Rock Your Body” Part 1 (Season 11, Episode 14)
Season 11 was a hill Degrassi had to get over. There were a few OMG episodes, but for the most part this season was pretty light compared to what came before it. All of that said, when a show sets up a character to be someone fans sort of could…do without, it’s always nice when they get those moments of true humanity. This is what happened for Holly J (Charlotte Arnold) when she not only needed a kidney donor but along the way found out that she was adopted. It was just the push fans needed to move Holly J towards being a well-rounded character, and not just a Type A student hungry for power.
“Bitter Sweet Symphony” Part 2 (Season 12, Episode 32)
A lot of topics became cyclical on Degrassi such as body issues, drug use, and teen pregnancy, but suicide is not something they went back to. Campbell (Dylan Everett) was only the second person in the franchise to take on this subject, the first being on Degrassi High in 1991. The pressures of being a teen weighed heavy on almost every student at Degrassi, but Campbell was the one who showed what happens when it does boil over.
“Everything Is Everything” (Season 13, Episode 29)
Speaking of cyclical plotlines, racism has popped up from time to time on Degrassi, but what made “Everything Is Everything” the best its season was that it showed what Black youth face in their day to day. A misunderstanding with police landed two of the few Black students at Degrassi, Dallas (Demetrius Joyette) and Conner (A.J. Saudin), behind bars before a science fair. That incident then led Dallas to later accuse the judges of racism. Like many of the issues Degrassi touched on throughout The Next Generation, this one is still ongoing.
“Get It Together” (Season 14, Episode 17)
A handful of teen pregnancies have come through Degrassi from J.T. and Liberty giving their baby up for adoption to Mia (Nina Dobrev) showcasing life as a single teen mom, so when Clare found herself pregnant there were a few ways it could’ve gone. She'd beaten cancer and because she was led to believe having children was off the table due to her treatment, she decided to keep the baby but unfortunately loses the baby. It wasn’t the best situation but did allow a new conversation to be had for viewers that had yet to see that on TV.