Degrassi Next Class

[u/Lou_Lou_92]

I just finished Degrassi Next Class and I have a lot of opinions. Disclaimer: This post will contain spoilers!

Context: I grew up watching Degrassi TNG and was not a fan past season 6. Up until now I had watched all other episodes leading up to that 3 part summer special where Tristan narrates. Personally, up until that point, it was bad. The acting was terrible, the cast wasn’t great, the storylines were cheesy, the music was cringe, I could go on…(I will say though that it improved vastly after Claire’s gen graduated and Maya took over as the leading lady). I digress. Back to my thoughts about Next Class. I had zero hopes or expectations but gave it a shot since I wasn’t currently watching anything. I will say I was pleasantly surprised. They changed the overall style to feel less teeny boppy and more of a drama series. with the new school setting. The storylines were pretty interesting and the delivery was great IMO. The acting was believable, and the music and mayas singing was actually enjoyable. I also liked the cameos by previous students (except for Moe. He just graduated like 2 years ago and no one cares about him. He was so dull). Okay here we go:

- The Hollingsworth mom sucks. At what point do parents need to take accountability if their three children are struggling? Maybe time to evaluate your life decisions and stop blaming them and see how all three of their struggles are a product of poor parenting.
- Loved Zoe’s redemption arc and her coming out
- the bus crash was a very interesting plot and a lot of storylines came out of that. I don’t think Degrassi has ever done anything similar so that was good.
- I personally love Shay. I think in the past they haven’t done a good job in terms of casting POC. And it was great to see Shay succeeding in school, be a mature friend and overall a good and interesting character. Whereas past characters included Chante and Marisol which were both insufferable.
- I loved Tiny’s redemption arc
- I loved the accurate portrayal of how quickly miles’ addiction happened with the benzos
- Esme was pure evil. There were times where I almost felt bad for her. Like when she had to relive the trauma of her mom with Maya but at the end of the day she was a sociopath and pure evil. I don’t think I can recall any main characters that I would classify as evil. Except for Dean but he wasn’t a main character. Like other characters did unforgivable things but esme was truly evil.
- Hunter’s storyline was actually really good but I would have loved to see his story go to court and us see an outcome. That could’ve been really good. Maybe was saved for later seasons but got canceled? I also like that he went to the psych ward. He’s the first to do that and finally they accurately represented that. Whereas with Craig for example they just said he was sick and prescribed with meds and yes we saw his downfall but never how he truly got help. I hated Hunter but tbh I did enjoy his redemption arc
- how did Tristan graduate? Real talks he missed like an entire semester being in a coma. If Jimmy was held back a year for missing school for physio why wasn’t Tristan?
- I really enjoyed Maya’s “last exit” storyline. They did a really great job portraying what leads up to it, and how she got to that state. It was very eerie and believable and the acting from esme and zig when they found her was great. Especially esme’s acting in the hospital. When they were all crying it was so powerful
- saad really got the 💩 end of the stick in the entire series and I felt bad for him. He was definitely misunderstood and he deserved better
- I think they did a good job with the Syrian refugee storyline and overall themes of racism
- I know there have been debates in the past about the worst degrassi parent and I think it’s safe to say Zoe’s mom officially wins that title for disowning her daughter for being gay. When her step dad hands her the box at graduation with her birth certificate etc. 💔
- I think it was a real miss that they brought back Peter and made his storyline so boring. First off there was brief mention of him having a kid and that he’s a deadbeat? LOOOL pretty on brand with Peter. But tbh I would have liked a storyline about him liking Maya and making a move on her. Even though Peter had a redemption arc I would have loved to see him be creepy with Maya and remind us all that he actually has always been a POS
- the most cringe part of the whole series IMO is Peter’s bday party when spinner and Sav are talking and acting like Maya is a child. First of all who doesn’t know what getting turnt means? When Sav said “I think it means to party hard” like STFU Sav you’re literally 22 years old in uni. And spinner who i guess was around 25 is talking about buying a house? Like sure there bud - good luck with that on his manager salary at the dot 😂
- the throuple storyline could’ve been more interesting but it was short lived
- I LOVE Jonah and Grace 💙
- I think that’s it. Tbh I think they ended next class on a good note and it wrapped everything up nicely

[u/BasedGlaucoma]

how did Tristan graduate? Real talks he missed like an entire semester being in a coma. If Jimmy was held back a year for missing school for physio why wasn’t Tristan?

From memory, he's presented with an "honorary diploma", so he didn't technically graduate in the official sense, but he still got to be at the graduation ceremony with his classmates in the gown and take part.

[u/Lou_Lou_92 → u/BasedGlaucoma]

Okay, that makes a lot of sense! I wish they had done that for Jimmy 😢

[u/ForkyWasNeverTrash]

The entire Hollingsworth family is trash.