Degrassi - Episode 901/902 Discussion- Just Can't Get Enough- 10/4 (CTV) & 10/9 (TeenNick)

**JustMe2000** · 10-03-2009, 10:22 AM

When I'm with you baby, I go out of my head

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Sunday, Oct 4, 7 PM ET (CTV), Monday Oct 5, 8 PM ET (Much Music) & Friday Oct 9, 8 PM ET (TeenNick)- Just Can't Get Enough, parts 1 & 2

When Mia (Nina Dobrev) is offered a major modeling contract in Paris, Peter (Jamie Johnston) decides he’ll go with her. But he soon realizes he doesn’t fit into her sophisticated world. At a posh party, feeling frustrated and insecure, Peter takes meth to escape the pressure. Back at Degrassi, Alli (Melinda Shankar) is concerned when new girl Jenna (Jessica Tyler) focuses on becoming Clare’s (Aislynn Paul) friend and Holly J (Charlotte Arnold) quickly becomes overwhelmed trying to please everyone when she takes on the role of the people’s president. (CTV Media)

bailamicorazon · 10-04-2009, 05:28 PM

I actually liked this premiere more than last season's... even with it's onslaught of Pia. I was happy to see a Peter-centric episode though. I would have liked the meth storyline to have been played out longer... I'm hoping he relapses, mainly because it's an addictive drug, and two episodes hardly seems like enough.
I found Declan a little contrived. I didn't really understand the motives behind his actions, he was just a bit of a pompous prick. Jenna was over the top as well with the constant "Claire Bear"s. Mia annoyed me as she usually does. The b-plots were cute, not amazing, but cute.

Oh-Canada · 10-04-2009, 05:50 PM

In some ways I really liked it and in some ways I didn’t.

The last 20 minutes were great. I especially loved the end when Peter calls his mom and then she moves back home. I thought it was really sweet. I also totally loved all the Peter/Riley in this episode!!!! I was so not expecting that but it was great. You can tell that Peter trusts Riley moreso than the rest of the Studz. As well, I thought Jamie did such a great job. I was very impressed. It was funny but also kinda serious too.

That said, I absolutely hated Mia and her storyline in this episode. It was completely ridiculous. I find it very hard to believe that any mother would willingly leave her child that young for 5 months. Wouldn’t she be sad and miss her daughter??? Instead she seemed excited about it. The idea of Peter moving to Paris was so stupid. I guess it made a bit more sense because he wasn’t living with his parents anyway. But still I had to roll my eyes at that.

The two subplots were great. I’m now really interested in what is going to happen with Holly J for the rest of the season. I was surprised to see her break up with Blue so early but it was definitely Holly J being Holly J and I’m excited to see what else is to come. Also loved the Alli/Clare/Jenna plot. Unlike all this Mia crap, it was very Degrassi.

So I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season now especially since Mia and her modeling ways are gone. There’s still Declan and Fiona as Degrassi’s resident rich kids but I actually like them so far, especially Declan. Because I think Landon is amazing.

MegaJ · 10-04-2009, 06:06 PM

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That said, I absolutely hated Mia and her storyline in this episode. It was completely ridiculous. I find it very hard to believe that any mother would willingly leave her child that young for 5 months. Wouldn’t she be sad and miss her daughter???

Meh, Mia's always looking for some excuse to dump that kid somewhere.

ihavealife2uknow · 10-04-2009, 07:04 PM

I liked the 2nd part 20 times more than I did the first. I'm already annoyed by Declan too. He was all over Peter criticizing him from the second he stepped on Degrassi's campus. Fiona seems nice though. Jenna didn't really bug me in this episode, though I'm sure in the future she will && I knew Dave was a freshman! I knew he couldn't be a junior..he juss looks too young! Chante was kind of weird too, sticking her camcorder in everyones faces. I hope to see Peter struggle with meth a bit more sometime this season && I'm glad Studz, Riley and Ms. H were there to support him. I think it was a good season opener overall. Mia got a decent farewell and I'm glad her and Peter are at least friends after all this.

Oh-Canada · 10-04-2009, 07:30 PM

I think Declan has potential. Sure he comes off as an annoying jerk now but so did Holly J and now everyone loves her. In fact I think like 90% of new characters on Degrassi are hated in their first season. The only exceptions are Jane and Riley. Even Peter was hated at first. But once Declan gets some good storylines and shows a vulnerable side I think he could be interesting. As long as they tone down the Gossip Girl-ness of him and Fiona.

npdargy312 · 10-04-2009, 07:55 PM

Overall I enjoyed the episode, not the best opener, but better than season 8's. I'm glad Pia broke up, but strangely enough I enjoyed their conversation at the end on the computer, I thought it was cute:p(never thought I'd ever say something positive about Pia!) Loved the Piley moments

I'm also hoping this isn't the end of his Meth use.

Alli has got to be one of the most jealous people ever (fictional and nonfictional:p) but at least this time she was right...she just seemed too jealous too soon. Alli sounded just like Connor when she was like "that's my seat" I "lol'd":p...KC soo wants Jenna.

Blue said more in this one b-plot than all of season 8!:p he was kind of annoying. She was really stressed and he was just making it worse. Hopefully now Blue and Anya somohow get together(they would be a cute couple

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Chantay was so ridiculous when she ran on stage, I laughed(in a good way) Declan is hot...but a total ass...I'm glad Fiona is nice, but she seemed really defensive when that girl Victoria said they were "really close" (All I could think was incest...gross)

Dave was annoying, Jenna was just barely tolerable, I'm sure I'll dislike her come 905, did Derek just move away? I'm not sad...but I hope they explain his disappearance. I'm glad Kelly is now a "recurring" role...he should never have been starring along w/ Leia or Blue(IMO, but this season I don't mind)...and I hope they explain Liberty too!

Mayberry · 10-04-2009, 08:59 PM

I kept asking myself what I did to deserve listening to Jenna's singing. Kill a dog? Kick a baby? Then, I finally decided that it was being willing to watch the rest of this snoozefest.

Thank God for Spinner. Thank God.

**JustMe2000** · 10-04-2009, 09:32 PM

Let's see....newbies first:

Jenna & Declan were both overbearing, especially her. Hopefully we don't see too much more of her singing. I think he has some good potential, and so does Jenna to an extent. We'll see what happens.

As for the other two, I liked what we saw of Fiona and Dave, but their roles were brief so it's hard to get too much of a read on them.

A.J. Saudin really had a growth spurt between seasons. Loved the look between KC and Johnny as their girlfriends met up in the hall.

The episode overall I thought was pretty good, with a few clunky moments. The whole Mia supermodel thing was a mistake for the show, but she's gone so that's that. I do think they've done a good job with Peter's character in recent seasons and was glad to see him the focus of this episode. The plot was a little rushed, but I think that actually helped it in some ways, adding to the frantic feeling that I'm guessing someone in his situation (both the drugs and Mia leaving) might feel. I also enjoyed the scenes with him and Riley as well as the other guys in the band. Very happy at the end to see him call his mother and ask her to come home and yeah, as much as I've bashed her in the past, I was glad to see Hot Sauce again.

As for the subplots, I really liked both of them, especially the second one with Holly J.. She's one of my favorite characters on the show, so I'm always going to enjoy a plot with her as the focus. But, I thought they did a good job of showing how as much she's changed, there's still plenty parts of her that haven't. It was also a good way to get a lot of the other characters involved. Oh and one episode they actually gave Blue more to do than he did all of last season.

mixaaa · 10-04-2009, 09:38 PM

Maybe I'm crazy but I actually really liked this episode.

I thought the whole Peter and meth thing was gonna be kind of ridiculous and out there but they did a pretty decent job with it. I loved the Peter/Riley scenes and the fact that his friends and his mom ended up being there for him and not a girl. He'll probably be single for a while since he tends to latch onto girls way too much. The scene with Peter/Riley/Spinner was too cute.

I never liked Blue and I was just waiting for Holly J to dump him all episode. I was so glad when she finally told him off. Idk why but he just annoys me & that was especially true this episode.

I like Alli. That Jenna(?) girl was ...annoying to say the least.

Overall, I liked the episode and I won't really miss Mia. I hated Peter/Mia but I found their scenes to be tolerable this episode especially the final one on the computer. It was pretty cute.

I dont have much of an opinion on Fiona/Declan (? I don't pay attention to new peoples names that much). They were alright. For a quick second, I thought they were going to try and have Fiona be Peter's new love interest or something when they had that scene at the party but, luckily, it was just that.

**kaleidocat** · 10-04-2009, 10:07 PM

Initial reactions:

Degrassi has a bad track record when it comes to dealing with substance abuse but I think this was their best attempt yet. It was nice to see the physical and psychological effects of drug abuse actually addressed. The time span of how long Peter's problems with meth is still a little unclear to me and I fear that everything happened over a couple days, but I'm trying not to be too bothered by that because meth has the hype of being the nastiest ass kicking drug out there.

It kinda seems like Degrassi has a problem with pacing it's storylines out (lately it feels like things start out slow and the climax hits hard and fizzles out quicker than I'd like). The Peter/Mia drama was a good lead in for Peter's issues but I found myself just wanting to see more of the drug abuse storyline. I feel like they gave us a reason for why Peter abuses drugs but well, I think it's just hard to care about anything Mia is involved in. Adios Mia! I won't be missing you. But maybe your daughter will.

I was worried about Jamie's performance from Teen Nick's promos but he did very well. The scenes of him with his friends and his mom were very touching. It's scenes like those that will keep me watching Degrassi. Keep your heart in the right place, Degras.

I'm glad the season opened with something darker after the fluff fest that was Degrassi Goes Hollywood and tried to focus on an issue. There were some unintentionally hilarious moments but that's Degrassi. I've always loved those campy moments.

Random thoughts:
- I'm into this Declan/Fiona business that's going on. They seem very close, almost boyfriend/girlfriend. It's creepy. I like it. I think it's the twin thing, that unusual very close bond of two siblings that we all don't normally have. Or maybe I just miss Six Feet Under's Brenda and Billy (not twins, but just too into each other because that's all they really had growing up).

- Glad to see the fans got some Peter/Riley friendship scenes. I think the show knows we like them.

- Jenna is going to drive me nuts. NUTS.

- But there's still this part of me that finds it endearing how the show wants to support the musical interests of the cast.

- But Jenna is going to drive me nuts. NUTS.

MegaJ · 10-04-2009, 11:08 PM

YouTube - Cleaner Girl Meth Commercial

Damn, the breaks between seasons seems longer and longer.

Man, back during season 5 if you told me Jamie Johnston would be starring in season premieres I would've flown to Canada and punched all the writers in the face. But as it stands, Peter has grown and so has Jamie as an actor and I think this was one of the better season premieres Degrassi's had in awhile.

The timeline for the meth addiction is confusing but I think it was a couple of days, maybe 3. From what I understand about meth, it's a crazy addictive drug so the effects may have been not exaggerated. In any case, the episode was mainly about Peter and his abandonment issues. Peter, completely not fitting at the party and not getting in music masters classes really did make me feel very sad for him. The Piley-ness of course was fan service.

The ending scene was great all around and it's nice to see Hot Sauce being human for once. As for Pia...I don't hate Pia, but I'm glad to see them go their separate ways. I'll be one of the few who will miss Mia, I think her character still had a lot of places to go, just if only they actually focused on her, you know, being a mother. Oh, she criticizes Peter for taking drugs now but I bet by model standards she's considered "chubby," so she'll probably need a little "diet boost."

Subplot B - The bitch is back. That's all there needs to be said. Holly J finally gets what she wants but then decides that she doesn't want to be Ms. Popular. She brings a lot of crap on herself and somehow I think she likes it that way. She's socially awkward with it being too overt and I think she just doesn't like being around people too much, unless she can boss them around or whatever.

New characters...OMFG I hate Jenna

Ugh, can totally understand Alli on this one. Overtly optimistic people make me wanna puke and she's pretty and blonde and has like a million shiny white teeth and can play the guitar...UGH. The actress isn't too good but has a knack for the character's "charm" which is climbing under your skin.
Declan's introduction takes me all the way back to season 2 where they introduced Craig. It was so well done, and while Declan didn't do as much as Craig did in WDC, he was the driving force in part one. Smarmy, arrogant and like Jenna's actor, can get under your skin...but in a good way. The verdict is still out on Fiona and Dave, they didn't really do much.

breath we drew · 10-05-2009, 04:29 AM

I thought the episode was OK, I kinda think te reactions from the friends was a bit undertone, and could've been more serious, but overall they did it the best way Degrassi could handle it. I do like Mia but erm Paris is stupid as hell, IK they needed to right Nina out cause of her role on Vampire Diaries, but couldn't it of been that her family had to move or something? Like maybe Isabella could of gotten ill or her mom and the best medical care was somewhere else? IDK that seems like a better idea to me and would make Mia more humble and remind us that she actually has a child. But the A-Plot was a bit better then I thought it'd be, still amused by it but I don't think I was expecting more.

I really must say I enjoy the new characters I can't say if they remind me of Chuck/Blair ala Gossip Girl or Tony/Effy ala Skins, since Declan and Fiona seem to give off incest-y vibes the same was with Tony and Effy though Effy was never a part of Tony's games where as Chuck and Blair have destroyed together, I just find Declan's character to fascinating and fun to hate, and Fiona seems to just have something about her I think I will really love, maybe it's the class and sophistication and this smarmy smile she gave, but I think I can really get into her character.

As for the Holly J./Blue plot, I am with Holly J., on this. Blue really annoyed me when he kept telling everyone Holly J., would handle it, without even asking. It just put a lot of weight on her shoulders and he was expecting to much from her, and kept on pushing it. Plus it is hard to make excuses for Holly J., a lot, but that scene when everyone was coming up to her with a complaint... I might snap too, IDK, but I could def see why she did, plus she didn't eat all day and I can easily say not eating for a certain period of time makes me very irritable and bitchy. Also I did love the "It's Holly freaking J." line at the end.

Oh-Canada · 10-05-2009, 04:46 AM

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Degrassi has a bad track record when it comes to dealing with substance abuse but I think this was their best attempt yet. It was nice to see the physical and psychological effects of drug abuse actually addressed.

I completely agree Nicole. I think it was both Jamie's acting and the fact that it didn't have this perfect "I'm going in to rehab to be cured" ending.

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I'm into this Declan/Fiona business that's going on. They seem very close, almost boyfriend/girlfriend. It's creepy. I like it. I think it's the twin thing, that unusual very close bond of two siblings that we all don't normally have.

Totally. And I think they've got great story potential because I get the sense that if something bad happened to one of them then the other would be affected in such a huge way. Great opportunity for a lot of drama!

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That's all there needs to be said. Holly J finally gets what she wants but then decides that she doesn't want to be Ms. Popular. She brings a lot of crap on herself and somehow I think she likes it that way. She's socially awkward with it being too overt and I think she just doesn't like being around people too much, unless she can boss them around or whatever.

Word. I'm on Blue's side here. Like I said before, it's just Holly J. being Holly J. If she wanted to eat that taco instead of dealing with everybody's problems, she didn't have to start yelling at everyone. She could've just been like "Can you please come back later? I'm taking a break right now" or something like that. Like Anya said, she's never happy. And what's frustrating is that Blue is right, and Holly J. is a nice person underneath. It's just that she has this fake, tough exterior to hide her insecurities. ie pretending that she doesn't care what anyone else thinks when clearly she does.

Mayberry · 10-05-2009, 08:35 AM

I didn't buy Peter's insecurities at all. Did the writers forget that he came FROM a prep school and that his dad was wealthy in season 5 (and still is wealthy)? So why is he so intimidated by Declan, who has the same background? Plus Peter got money for that atrocious musical and he's emancipated? That's not exactly low brow. It would've made more sense to do it with Mia who comes from a working class family and was insecure at the party in Uptown Girl. I feel like they rewrote Peter for the convenience of this story.

Plus they missed a perfect opportunity to show what it's like for a kid to buy from a real drug dealer. Instead, they played some corny Studz song over it. Come on now. Buying drugs in the middle of the night is a lot more interesting than the Beach Bash; you can show the dangers of how to acquire this drug but they just skipped over it.

Peter didn't even hesitate with taking the drug. If some stranger I know offered me anything, I'd at least think twice about it. In season five, they showed Paige waffling with taking pot. Craig was already on it so I'll give them a pass for that. Manny was hesitant about using coke in Ghost. Emma even hesitated in the horrible Touch of Grey. We saw no singular Peter scene where he's second-guessing himself.