Season 1, Episode 1 and 2 - Mother and Child Reunion

Original Airdate: October 14th, 2001

content warnings - attempted assault of a minor

First of all, let’s address the elephant in the room. No one even mentions 9/11.

Now let’s address the other elephant in the room. I have not seen precursor shows Degrassi Junior High or Degrassi High and I won’t be doing any research. I think there’s a chance I end up watching at some point for a punishment post and I couldn’t possibly spoil myself and also I don’t really care. None of us, and very little of the intended young audience of Degrassi the Next Generation, has any context for these shows. Unfortunately and somewhat bafflingly to me, Degrassi the Previous Generation comes up a lot and it comes up right away.

This episode sees a handoff from Previous Generation to Next, more specifically from Christine Nelson, a character from the original series who was a teen mom, to her now 12-year-old daughter, Emma. I refuse to call a grown woman Spike.

Let’s get the olds out of the way, shall we? It’s the ten year reunion for the class of 1991 and all of your faves are here to celebrate, but widower and single dad Joey Jeremiah isn’t going. Former classmate Lucy, who has recovered from an accident that I will not be looking into further, tries to convince Joey that getting out of the house and celebrating is what his late wife would have wanted. They swing by the newly refurbished Degrassi Community School to drop off some memorabilia to another classmate, and new Degrassi Teacher, Archie “Snake” Simpson. I don’t want to call an adult man Archie or Snake. We’re going to have to stick with Mr. Simpson.

And wow wow wow, Joey runs into former flame Caitlyn Ryan, the most successful person in their class who lives in LA and hosts a nature documentary series that is very successful. Caitlyn is organizing drinks to introduce all of her old friends to her fiancé, hot shot director Keith. Lucy strongarms Joey into accepting the invitation.

Keith is a douche. Joey gets moody about it and Mr. Simpson corners him about his bad mood. Joey can’t stand feeling so pitied all the time, but Mr. Simpson says the grand marshal of the pity parade may be Joey himself. Joey takes this to heart and goes to the reunion to try to have a nice time with Caitlyn and his friends. He runs into her in Degrassi’s shiny new computer lab aka the media immersion center. This show is about computers.

Later, Joey catches another old classmate, Alison, flirting with Keith. Keith makes it clear that he’s doesn’t really want to marry Caitlyn. While Caitlyn gives a toast to the entire reunion, Joey confronts Keith and Alison which escalates into a fist fight. Caitlyn breaks it up and Joey tells her what Keith said. She and Joey go to the bathroom (is this normal in Canada?) and they share a nice moment. Also fun fact, there’s a scene that was cut from the American broadcast where Wheels (you know him right?) apologizes to Lucy for that accident. Wild they couldn’t add a scene where someone mentions 9/11!

Okay, that was painful, let’s get to the good stuff. This episode introduces us to Emma Nelson, a Degrassi icon and the first center of the sprawling ensemble cast. Emma and her bff and icon-in-waiting, Manny Santos, are looking at the latest e-mail from Emma’s internet boyfriend, Jordan. This show is about computers. It’s not clear how Emma met Jordan, but they’ve been trading emails and have SO much in common. They both love the outdoors, social justice causes, and the movie Chicken Run. Plus he sent her pictures and he is so cute.

Emma and Manny, along with their jokester friend JT Yorke, help Christine bring some memorabilia to Degrassi for the reunion. While there, they run into new student Toby Isaacs. Toby and his dad have just moved in with his dad’s girlfriend (more on that tomorrow) and he’s not thrilled. But he is excited to run into JT, his friend from camp. JT introduces Toby to the girls, and Toby instantly starts crushing on Emma. Emma makes JT and Toby watch the door of the computer lab while she sneaks in to read Jordan’s latest message. He’s coming to Toronto!

The foursome heads to the park to do swings and water guns and talk about Jordan’s visit. This instantly highlights one of Degrassi’s great strengths. These are children who act like children. If you’re a child, it’s relatable! If you’re an adult, it’s kind of refreshing but also makes me feel weird about watching it back!

JT is sure Jordan is a catfish and Toby thinks it’s even worse than that. Jordan may be dangerous. Toby is very annoying about saying this because Toby is very annoying. Emma isn’t sure what to do. She lied to Jordan about her age and said she was in high school, but she doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to hang with her dream guy. That said, after Toby’s scolding, even Manny isn’t sure this is a good idea. Meeting a guy from the internet can be really dangerous!

Emma is struggling to sleep when Christine comes home from drinks with Caitlyn and Lucy. Emma idolizes environmentalist Caitlyn Ryan, and asks her advice. Caitlyn, lacking the full context, tells her to follow her heart and go for it. Emma emails Jordan and agrees to meet.

Emma pushes Christine out the door to the reunion, lies to Manny about her plans, and heads off to a hotel to meet Jordan. Manny instantly gets a bad vibe and starts checking Emma’s cover story. When she realizes Emma isn’t home, she recruits JT and Toby to help her suss out the situation.

Emma is waiting for Jordan in the lobby, when an adult man walks up to her. He says he’s Mr. Nystrom, Jordan’s teacher, and Jordan told him all about how excited he was to meet her. Nystrom just brought the kids some pizza, and invites her up to eat with them. In the hotel room, he says he’s been recording the trip on his camcorder and makes a big show of calling in the boys to come eat but no one appears. Emma quickly gets the ick and puts it together. Mr. Nystrom is Jordan. She tries to flee, but fumbles with the lock. With Nystrom closing in, she decides to lock herself in the bathroom to get away.

Manny brings JT and Toby into Emma’s bedroom while neither her or her mother are home to hack into her email without her permission. He spends a lot of time pointing out that “Jordan” was clearly also reading her emails and using the information to woo Emma. He finally focuses on the matter at hand and realizes Emma is at the hotel. They trio runs to Degrassi to get Christine and Mr. Simpson who call the cops and take off for the hotel.

Mr. Nystrom tricks Emma out of the bathroom with one more nice guy move, before grabbing her and letting his true rape-y colors show. He’s set her up in front of his camera, when she hears her mother outside. Emma kicks Nystrom and flees for her mother and Mr. Simpson, just in time for the cops to arrive. The next day, the police have to take Emma’s entire computer to use her emails as evidence because it’s 2001. They better give it back soon. This show is about computers!

Christine scolds Emma for being irresponsible which seems like a wild thing to do to your traumatized daughter but, hey, tensions are high. They have a tender moment as Christine realizes that Emma is growing up, and promises that no matter what Emma struggles with, she can always come to Christine with no judgement. Spoilers - Emma will not do that! And there is plenty more trauma to come!!

In my first post, I said I think I’m an Emma, and we’ve already got something in common. I too talked to grown men on the internet as a young teen. The difference is I knew I was talking to adults. The difference is the person lying was me.

As a lonely nerd in a community where it felt like no one understood me, internet fan spaces provided me a way to feel connected. Fanfiction sites and message boards were the warm hug of community that I need to feel less alone. But online fandom has always had a horny side. You were never too many clicks away from sex.

And I clicked on purpose. My raging, confusing hormones guided my hand. I wanted to know what people were saying, what people were fantasizing about, what turned people on. I wanted to know what turned me on.

Safe within the confines of Sirius/Remus smut and play-by-post Firefly RPGs that got a little spicy, I found room for my curiosity. Passionate kisses? yes please. Boobs? I don’t think so. Hair pulling? Tell me more. Show me something else. Let me try that on.

As I grew older and bolder and more curious, I didn’t just want to observe, I wanted to participate. I could make the boys in my head push one another against the broom closet wall and write that image into a story. I didn’t know what if felt like when someone palmed your boner through your pants, but I sure could pretend.

And then people read it, and they engaged. I developed a rolodex of email and AIM “friends” who wanted to trade recommendations, talk about what we liked, explore together. At first, I tried to only talk to other teenagers. Or at least people who told me they were teenagers.

But in the play-by-post world, which I quickly fell in love with, it was harder to set those boundaries. For those unfamiliar, these games took place in forums and were basically collaborative stories. You would each create or embody a character from a fictional world and then, post by post, write what happens next, focusing on your character’s actions. Many games had prohibitions about doing too much with another player’s character, but collab posts where you jointly covered scenes featuring both characters were common.

Boy oh boy did I quickly realize I wanted attention from the people who presented as men on the forums. On my first account, I identified as a gay teen and got very little engagement. On my second, I told everyone I was an 18-year-old girl. I became quite popular.

I’m sure some people would tell me that it was bad for me that I had long AIM conversations with people who claimed to be adult men about the shows I liked and the boys I thought were cute. There is something fucked up about crafting roleplay scenes with these men where our player characters shared intimate moments. I do not think it’s good that adult men talked to me because they thought I was a teenaged girl. I don’t think that should happen ever whether the person in question is actually a teenaged girl or not.

But if I’m being honest, I am glad that it happened for me.

Because safe behind my keyboard and my lies and my screen names, I got to play. I got to feed that hormonal beast, experiment with different energies, and feel validated for the things I found attractive. Obviously, as is the case with Emma, these experiences could have escalated to a problematic parasocial emotional state or an attempt at a deeply fucked in-person interaction. But for me they didn’t. For me, it was good.

I am not a teenager on the modern internet, but the whole experience seems so much more personal. I’m sure there are pockets on AO3 and Discord where someone can remain blissfully unidentified, but TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat depend on your physical image. A curated image, but one that is undeniably you. Even where teens aren’t personally posting, they are constantly taking in other people’s images and identities.

There is no space to explore. There is only space to consume or to present yourself for consumption. Where is the fun in that?

It’s so weird watching an episode of a show about how dangerous it is to meet someone from the internet, something adults across the world do every day in 2025. But of course Emma is a child. It is still a bad idea for children to meet strangers off the internet. It is a bad idea for children to send pictures of themselves to strangers on the internet.

But I think it’s pretty fun to play pretend with strangers on the internet. I dream of a world where instead of making the social internet a tool of exposure, we made it a tool of protection. Where we found a way to keep adults out of online teen spaces, so teens could use those spaces to experiment with who they are, even sexually, safe behind a wall of anonymity. No pictures, no names, very little of their identity at all. Just whoever they want to be that day. Whatever they want to try on.

I guess what I’m saying is this show is about computers. I wish it never had to become a show about phones.