Recently, my friends and I started watching the hit TV show "Degrassi" again. Any kid between the ages of 10-17 during the early 2010s was definitely an avid watcher of this show. Many (myself included) had to wait until they were alone to watch it because their parents wouldn't allow them to watch the show until they were older, reason being "Degrassi: The Next Generation" had very heavy themes that many parents may not have approved for their younger children to watch. Series creator and writer Linda Schuyler stated that "[Degrassi] follows an ensemble cast of students at Degrassi Community School who face various challenges often seen as taboo such as sex, teen pregnancy, date rape, drug abuse, self image, homosexuality, self-injury, suicide, abortion, domestic violence, death, racism and many other issues." This show was great and helped educate not only me, but a lot of other people in my generation on things that our parents may have thought as too taboo to speak to us about.
But besides the lessons that "Degrassi" taught, the emotional attachment those watching had with the characters on the show is what made "Degrassi" really great. Here are just a few unforgettable moments from the show, that I know I will never will ever forget and you all shouldn't forget either.
1. Spinner gets Cancer
I think this was a shock for everyone watching the show. We go from seeing Spinner as the popular school bully, who was pretty immature, to him having to realize that life is not all fun and games. Season seven of "Degrassi" we got to see a different side of Spinner, a side that we as watchers will never forget. His fight against cancer felt as though we were watching a close friend go through such a difficult time.
2. Marco Comes Out to Spinner
I think we were all waiting for this moment while watching "Degrassi." We all knew that Marco was gay - everyone of his friends seemed to be accepting of it, except for Spinner. To the point he was bullying Marco to find out he why he was acting so weird. So when we all saw this, we felt relief in a sense. We all knew how much Marco was struggling coming to terms with his acceptance of himself as gay. So it was hard to watch as one of his good friends had a hard time accepting him for who he was.
3. Rick Hits Terri and She Falls into a Coma
Rick, from the beginning of his relationship with Terri, was never good. He was very controlling, but at this moment when he pushed her, we couldn't help but hate him. He was not a good person.
4. Craig is Bipolar
I think we knew that due to the abuse he faced with his father, Craig was bound to face some form of mental illness later on in life. But after the death of his father it seemed as though the mental illness was not taking a backseat. He lost his cool many times, from beating up his step-father Joey Jeremiah to freaking out when Ashley did not agree to marry him.
5. Paige was raped at a party
6. Jimmy get shot
This moment definitely had everyone in shock. For a second the series really had us feeling bad for Rick when he arrived back at Degrassi, but never did we think he would bring a gun to school, and we wouldn't even think that he would shoot Jimmy as soon as they were finally getting along. We all were either on the edge of our seats or fighting back tears as we saw Jimmy laying on the ground as blood pooled around him.
7. J.T. Dies
I think any "Degrassi" fan will agree that this moment was the one everyone cried about back when the episode first aired. J.T. had been with the series from the beginning, we grew up with him, watching him be the goofy eighth grade student he was to having to grow up when he and Liberty had a child. It felt as though we lost a close friend. Watching Liberty hold him while outside of her own birthday party screaming for help did not make the extreme sadness that we felt any better. The worst part is no one is really over his death - even though when re-watching episodes we know that it is coming, it still doesn't change the pain we all felt.
