Wow great thread idea! Loved reading the responses so far even though I don't agree with all of them...
My top 10 least favourite episodes:
Lots of episodes I'm kind of... meh about. But these are the ones that really bothered me.
10. Together Forever: I think part of the reason why this episode bothers me is because I was misled by spoilers prior to the episode. In season 4/5 I was still in high school, and I was a huge JT/Liberty fan. I loved how they weren’t this perfect hot teen couple, and I always go for the "nice" male characters on TV. I loved how JT loved a plain girl like Liberty. Anyway, I was always so sensitive to the fact that JT & Liberty might get shafted for other "hotter" characters. Word on the net was that Liberty was going to have her baby in this episode, so after Lexicon of Love part 2 aired up here in Canada I was allllll excited for this promo. The episode was called TOGETHER FOREVER. That, to my 16 year old brain, indicated JT/Liberty + baby epicness. And then… Craig’s never ending love triangle was on my screen. Toby’s "the adoption parents are in the hall" line was not a good enough ending for me.
9. This Charming Man: This is the only episode of season 3 that I’ve only watched once. It’s just plain boring. Honestly, I can’t even really remember what happens in it. Season 3 was so awesome that this episode sticks out as really bad to me.
8. Working for the Weekend: I think the whole point of this episode was for Shane to be all sexy and beat someone up. Okay so obviously there was more to it than that, but this episode was boring, stupid, and unrealistic at the same time. So their little store just happened to be the victim of a robbery? Coincidence much? I know the Degrassi kids are cursed, but usually there’s a purpose to all the crimes that that place on this show. This time it just seemed like the writers had to throw this in just because it’s Degrassi and they need something humongous to happen. This is one example of season 6’s "OMG OMG OMG how many times can we break the law?" theme.
7. Love My Way: Two things about this episode – firstly this was the episode that made me realize that college storylines just weren’t going to work. Paige/Spinner had their time, but now it just seems silly. Secondly, this was the worst in a 6 part Palex episode. I don’t know why the writers decided to kill off a character and then focus the entire 2nd half on only two characters. It was just plain boring to watch Palex break up and then get back together and then break up and then get back together again.
6. Uptown Girl: My reasons are basically the exact same as Nicole’s. I was one of the few people who loved Mia in season 7, which is surprising considering I’m such a huge JT/Liberty fan. After the craptastic season 6, I was suuuuuuuper supportive of the new cast and Mia was leading the way for me. I was happy that TNG had a real teen mom character like Spike. This episode ruined any realism for her character. What teen mom can relate to struggling with a modeling career? This episode (and the entire storyline) made Mia look like a terrible MOTHER (because that is first and foremost what she is).
5. Didn’t We Almost Have It All?: Again, IA with Nicole. As someone who is a fan of Liberty you think that I would’ve liked the fact that she got a main plot in season 8 as opposed to the other grads, but by this point I was completely over the old cast. This is the 2nd worst college episode of Degrassi IMO.
4. Lost in Love: Yawn. A 2 part episode without an issue. This is the star example of the "Degrassi is watered down thanks to The N’s new target audience" argument. Why did they ever think that this episode would get good ratings on CTV?
3. Degrassi Goes Hollywood: Everyone knows I hate this episode/movie/whatever it is. It should not have "Degrassi" in the title because it clearly has absolutely nothing to do with the core principles of the show.
2. Touch of Grey: A painful episode to watch. The worst college episode of Degrassi. I had to suffer through this episode with my housemate at the time. The whole time she was like "why are you watching this?" This episode is sooooo preachy. I’m still
at the negative consequence to marijuana that the writers came up with. As a mega Skins fan, I don’t get what the big deal is.
1. The Bitterest Pill: To fully understand my hatred towards this episode I have to set up my situation at the time. This episode aired when I was in my first year of university. I always watched Degrassi but season 5 really made me a psycho uber fan thanks to non-traditional teen drama characters like JT and Liberty getting major storylines. When rumours first circulated that JT was going to die I was conflicted. On the one hand, I was such an uber that I thought Degrassi could do no wrong. On the other, I loved JT more than I had ever loved a television character before. By the time the episode aired, we pretty much knew that he really was the one to die. I tried to prepare myself beforehand, but it didn’t work at all.
You guys probably remember that Rock This Town & The Bitterest Pill aired on CTV first and they aired back to back. Season 6 was the first season that CTV was airing 2 episodes per night. That was one of the big problems with this episode. I watched Rock This Town in my residence common room (luckily by myself). Even though I knew that JT was going to die, actually seeing it was heartbreaking. Like… he DIED. It was crazy. But then like 5 seconds later this episode comes on and Toby and Liberty are going on a road trip. This episode takes place like a week or 2 after RTT and to me that’s when this episode should’ve aired. At the time I was in shock. I was not prepared to see an episode that was somewhat normal. Everything bothered me. It just didn’t seem sad enough. I wanted the entire episode to just be shots of all the characters crying and in pain like I was. I didn’t like hearing the same old cheery background music and shots of school buses in the morning. The subplot… the whole time I was wondering why I should even care about this. Someone I love just died, so why am I watching Ellie’s relationship drama? It was way too soon.
As well, the actual storyline in this episode is stupid. WHEN WOULD THIS HAPPEN??? There are so many kids who have to deal with the death of a fellow student. There are so many teenage girls who have lost boyfriends at a young age. I would be shocked if there was even ONE who dealt with the situation by getting with their bf’s best friend. Like… NO. We’re talking about pain, suffering, and death. To turn this storyline into a love triangle was ridiculous.
Wow now I’m all worked up
We should do a list like "top 10 most underrated episodes" or something like that. I have so many episodes I love that most people hate.
