This past week I started watching Degrassi: The Next Generation. I currently have the first six seasons complete. I used to watch the show occasionally when I was a teenager, but I have not seen every episode. It is definitely a throwback to my school days, despite it being one of the most dramatic shows I have watched recently.

Spoilers ahead. The show came out in 2001. So most likely if you were going to watch, you would have by now, but if you have it on your to-be-watched list and haven’t gotten around to it, you may not want to read further.

My favorite character so far is Alex. I really like her character development. She starts off kind of in the background as the girlfriend to a school bully. Throughout the series, we see her open up and discover who she really is. We see her face sexuality, home life, and school issues. My favorite storyline of hers is when she finally stands up to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. Her mother’s boyfriend was arrested due to credit card fraud. Alex worked to come up with the money so they wouldn’t be evicted. Her mother then took the money that Alex earned to bust the boyfriend out of jail. Alex told her mother that she had enough and left. She then reached out to her girlfriend to ask for help, something that was really difficult for Alex to do. It shows a lot of growth.

My overall favorite story arc has to be following the school shooter, Rick. I think the show writers did a great job navigating the whole story. He starts off appearing as the average kid. He starts dating Terri, and quickly his life spirals. He begins to become physically abusive to Terri. At one point, he pushes her and causes her to get what appears to be a TBI (traumatic brain injury). However, if it was actually a TBI, it was never stated in the show. She was hospitalized and had multiple surgeries. Rick was basically suspended from the school and criminally investigated. We later see him attempt to come back to school and try to fit back in. This was unsuccessful. He is bullied by his peers. After being humiliated at a quiz bowl-style event, he comes back to the school and shoots Jimmy. He attempts to shoot his love interest, Emma, but is stopped by her ex-boyfriend, Sean. Rick accidentally shoots himself during the struggle and dies. We then get to the aftermath of the Degrassi students dealing with the shooting.

I am looking forward to finishing the rest of the series to see how the rest compares to the iconic first six seasons.