Screen: TeenNick
When the Degrassi franchise got rebooted as Degrassi: The Next Generation, one of the fun things about it was that the title was actually accurate. This wasn't just a new group of kids attending the same school I'd watched when I was in high school myself; that first season revolved around Emma (Miriam McDonald) starting at Degrassi, the same school at which her mother Spike (Amanda Stepto) was a student when she unexpectedly became pregnant with Emma in the previous millennium. Since then, other characters from the original series have returned, but producers have also written in continuity by having younger siblings join the show as their older siblings graduate and move on, both from Degrassi and from Degrassi. Which is fine...to a point. And one such point occurs in the latest episode.
So as we grown-ass taxpaying adults all know, Clare (Aislinn Paul) has spent the past four episodes undergoing treatment for cancer. (It would be rude of me to suggest that producers may have read The Fault In Our Stars last year and been "inspired" by the story of a teen couple who remain devoted to one another despite the intrusion of terminal illness, so I won't.) Throughout, Clare's boyfriend Eli (Munro Chambers) and mother Helen (Ruth Marshall) have kept her company in the hospital, which makes sense, because when a loved one has cancer, that's what you do. One question, though: where's Darcy?
I mean, I know where Darcy is. As I know I need not remind you, Darcy (Shenae Grimes) preceded Clare at Degrassi: she had all kinds of adventures and troubles of her own before reaffirming her Christian faith after some pretty serious adversity and leaving Degrassi to do missionary work in Kenya. And in reality, of course, Grimes went from Degrassi to another reboot -- 90210 on The CW. Since Darcy departed the Degrassi opening credits sequence, she's been mentioned in passing in various episodes, but she's never been back, which is fine: Grimes was busy; 90210 shoots in L.A., a very long way from Toronto; I get it. But the thing is, Darcy's sister has cancer. And Shenae Grimes is not on a show anymore. WHERE'S DARCY.
While we're on the subject, where's Jake? Clare used to date Jake (Justin Kelly) and even considered giving him her flower before his dad and her mom got married. So this dude is both her ex and her stepbrother and was last on the show like four episodes ago: where's Jake?
I don't have a problem with this or any other show meant for young persons dealing with big, scary issues and helping kids understand them by putting them in a manageable context. But maybe think through the situation logically and have someone at least say that Darcy couldn't get a flight and fell in a well or something.
But while we're on the subject...I do have a problem with the show giving Clare a clear MRI. This character's always been a zero and producers pass up a free shot at killing her off?! Lame.