Nothing is more frightening than exposing yourself to the “It Goes There” world of Degrassi High. The show is amazing but terrifying all at once because at Degrassi everything that can go wrong does go wrong. That’s the way it’s been since 1987, when the original Canadian series made groundbreaking television with episodes focused on abortion, racist parents, and acid-induced suicide attempts.
When Degrassi: The Next Generation premiered in 2001, there was a new era of corruption and seedy Jr. High/High School antics to explore. Degrassi executive producer Stephen Stohn, who produces the series with his wife and series creator Linda Schuyler, said, “Our writers each season go into the local school and actually have conversations with the kids and find out what’s on their mind.”
The show’s controversial subject matter has led to boycotts from the powerful Florida Family Association, as well as a few episodes originally banned from airing in America. And while life at Degrassi may seem disproportionately tragic, not all is gloom. There are happy moments, like when real-life Degrassi fan Kevin Smith visited to film a movie at the school. Beyond that, it’s pretty bleak, as evidenced by these 21 horrifying experiences that felled Degrassi students:
1. Taking Ecstasy and Losing Control
Ashley takes ecstasy at a party. Attempting to finally show she can let loose and live a little, she instead makes a fool out of herself and her dear beau Jimmy, resulting in this sassy comment:
2. Everyone Gets Gonorrhea
In Season Three, there is a school wide gonorrhea outbreak. The Degrassi health teacher warns it could lead to death.
3. Mentally Disabled Father Trashes the House
Emma decides to seek out her father, Shane. But for everyone who watched OG Degrassi, they already know that Emma’s father took acid in high school and jumped off a bridge leaving him mentally impaired. So you can imagine the horror when aged Shane goes to his daughter’s house and then destroys everything in sight.
4. Standing in Front of a Train
Everyone’s favorite Degrassi character, Craig, is in turmoil due to his abusive father. So he takes to the train tracks and puts his life in danger. His dear friend Sean pushes him out of the way as a train approaches. Thank heavens he lives and laughs in the face of danger. In the U.S., the N Network omitted this near-suicide scene from the episode.
5. Finding Out Your Girlfriend is Into LARPing
Sav is dating Anya. He discovers her in the wild fields outside of Degrassi, live action role-playing with nerds. He can’t believe it. He eventually comes around and goes to her LARP wedding.
6. Saving Yourself For Marriage But Then Being Roofied
Darcy, the ultimate Christian at Degrassi, is devastated when she gets roofied and raped at a party. At first, she mistakingly assumes she had drunk sex with her boyfriend, but eventually realizes the horrible truth.
7. Being Shot in the Hall
Degrassi experienced this popular tragedy when Rick (who already had a bad rap for putting his girlfriend in a coma) was bullied with feathers. He shot Jimmy. Then Rick was accidentally shot and died.
Stohn said, “We did a lot of research for that episode … we actually flew Barbara Coloroso [author of The Bully, The Bullied, and the Bystander] up here to Degrassi and she met with our writers and helped us frame the story.”
Jimmy lived, but was paralyzed and spent the remainder of his Degrassi days in a wheelchair. “The story I really wanted for Jimmy was to see him graduate and walk across the stage to collect his diploma.” Stohn said. “My eyes actually get moist when I think about this.” Unfortunately, actor Aubrey Graham became Drake and left during the 08/09 season when this would have occurred.
8. Being High at a University Fair
When Paige is dumped, her ex gives her some pot. She smokes it right before a University fair and this action destroys her future. She will never attend her dream school.
9. Having an Abortion
Season three brought us this controversial episode where Manny decides to have an abortion with no regrets. Originally, this episode was not aired in the U.S.
“It’s fascinating to us as Canadians -— and I won’t say abortion is not an issue for us in Canada -— but it never even occurred to us that it could be all that controversial,” Stohn recalls. “Our Canadian broadcaster at the time, CTV, never batted an eye … we produced the episode, were very pleased with the balance we showed and how we portrayed the difficult decision. So we were surprised when the broadcaster in the United States said we can’t show this episode.”
The episode is also an echo to a Degrassi Classic episode from 1989, when Erica decided to have an abortion. This episode ended with her going to the clinic and a protestor holding a plastic fetus up to her face. American broadcaster PBS aired the episode but cut the final scene.
10. Cutting With a Compass
Ellie is pressured to the max: she’s an intern for Caitlin Ryan’s TV show, her dad leaves her to join the army, her mom is an alcoholic, and so on. She begins cutting herself with a compass to deal with it all.
“I’m sort of ashamed to say this, but I had never even heard of cutting,” Stohn said. “And as the writers came to Linda and me and talked about it, we realized that cutting is out there and it’s a genuine problem.”
11. Taking Laxatives to Lose Weight
At some point Emma develops an eating disorder. But what’s more interesting is the show’s portrayal of Toby’s eating disorder. In Season Two he begins to take laxatives in an attempt to shed pounds.
12. Keeping the Baby
Liberty gets impregnated by JT. And she decides to birth the baby. So of course JT needs to figure out how to pay for the baby’s future. He starts stealing drugs from the pharmacy where he works part time, and sells them on the black market so he can buy bibs, a pram, and other important items.
13. Taking Too Much Ritalin
Jimmy wants to be a basketball star -— he wants it all! But he needs the energy and strength to do so. He convinces Spinner to give him his Ritalin. He gets ways too hyped up on the court and injures Sean.
14. Doing Too Much Cocaine
After escaping his abusive father, life doesn’t get easier for Craig. He has to deal with being bi-polar and then he becomes a coke addict. Manny dumps him when she realizes his addiction is taking over his life.
15. Taking Too Much Meth
Peter develops drug problems à la Craig. He becomes hooked on meth after feeling inferior to his model girlfriend who is about to jet off to Paris. He makes a fool of himself at the school dance and ends up in the streets.
16. Getting Arrested Because Your Fake ID is the ID of One of Canada’s Top 10 Most Wanted
Eli gets revenge on bully Fitz by giving him a fake ID — the real ID of a wanted arsonist.
17. Being Stabbed
The young and innocent JT is stabbed by Degrassi rivals at Lakehurst who’ve had it out for him since he started dating Mia. Pre-stabbing, JT’s best friend Toby meets up with him at a hip cafe and casually mentions that he could potentially die. “They’re going to take you off the menu,” he says. “The menu of life.”
18. Taking Diet Pills Before Realizing It’s Not Fat Inside You — It’s A Baby
Jenna was taking diet pills because she couldn’t fit into her dance uniform. A good 20 weeks go by before she decides to take a test to confirm her pregnancy.
19. People Find Out You Were Born a Girl
Adam is outed as transgender in Season 10 when his dance partner in gym accidentally feels his taped-down breasts. To deal with his issues of gender dysphoria he burns himself.
This episode really riled up the Florida Family Association. “It’s really one guy based out of Florida,” said Stohn. “His main message is that if you watch Degrassi you’ll turn gay. I don’t think he quite understood the concept of transgender [laughs]. We created the Becky Baker character -— we love that character -— and we specifically made her from Florida as a secret homage to the Florida Family Association.”
20. Finding a Dead Body
Eli is a death magnet. His girlfriend died, he was nearly stabbed at a school dance, he drives a hearse, so of course he and Clare are the ones to discover the dead body of Cam Saunders, the student who committed suicide.
Stohn said, “The one topic that we had never been able to do that we wanted to tackle was suicide. It’s so difficult to tell a suicide story. And, of course, we have to be extremely sensitive to any kind of triggering or copy cat. And we don’t want to be exploitative. To be able to tell a suicide story and to have it real, as with all of our stories, it’s very important that it happens to a main character.”
21. Marriage
Emma and Spinner get married at a casino. They were, of course, drunk. They were not actually in love. After the marriage they convinced themselves that they’d always been in love and should stay married.
Stohn said, “I was devastated when the writers wanted to marry Emma to Spinner. I’ve always hoped that we could have a reunion episode, maybe even a feature film, where Sean comes back from Afghanistan and by that time Emma and Spinner have split. And she’ll get together with her true love, Sean.”
