Season 1, Episode 7 - Basketball Diaries

Original Airdate - December 2nd, 2001

This episode is boring. Let’s get through it quickly.

Jimmy is all about basketball, and only one more round of cuts stands between him and the team. Coach Armstrong is doing his final evaluation of the players during an exhibition game with Earl Grey, which I think is a stupid name for a fake school. Jimmy’s only problem? Homework. He’s not doing a great job balancing practice and his assignments. Ms. Kwan is going to talk to the coach about it if he doesn’t pull it together.

He stays up all night to finish his assignment before the big match. It gets Kwan off his case, but now he’s out of gas. He needs something to get through the game, and he has an idea. Spinner, his best friend and team manager, has ADHD and takes Ritalin to help calm his brain. When Spinner mentions that for neurotypical folks, Ritalin is a stimulant, Jimmy begs him for his last pill.

They head into the exhibition match in altered states. Jimmy is buzzing from the upper, and Spinner is in his full, impulsive, ADHD glory. Jimmy showboats, refusing to pass the ball and going for risky three-pointers. This culminates in him intentionally fouling Sean to get the ball and make a game-winning shot. Jimmy gets all the glory, but Coach Armstrong is more concerned with Sean’s sprained ankle. Yes, Sean is on the team. He’s not really a joiner, but his social worker wants him to do some kind of extracurricular.

Meanwhile, Spinner spends the whole first half loudly cheering for Jimmy from the sidelines, and during the halftime break, puts on an impromptu dance performance. This culminates in him mooning the crowd, including Raditch. Raditch pulls Spinner into his office and though Spinner insists this is a medical issue, Raditch is still going to hold Spinner responsible. Unless of course there’s something else going on…

Spinner doesn’t snitch and is banned from extracurriculars for the rest of the semester. Plus, he has to take his medication in front of Raditch’s secretary, three times a day. Bummer. Plus plus, he doesn’t even protect Jimmy from his own consequences. Armstrong is not impressed with Jimmy’s lack of teamwork, and that intentional foul is a blatant violation of the ‘zero tolerance for violence’ policy. Jimmy is cut.

B story! Liberty has been pouring a lot of effort into writing the morning announcements, but since Ashley is the one reading her work, Ashley is getting all of the credit. With a little push from Emma and Manny, Liberty asks for a chance to host herself. Ashley says no, but Liberty plays hardball. No hosting slot, no more writing. Ashley acquiesces, knowing that Liberty is underestimating how difficult hosting can be and the public consequences of doing badly.

Sure enough, Liberty completely blunders the pregame announcements and becomes a joke around the school. She’s extremely embarrassed, and Paige is impressed with Ashley for setting her up. This gets to Ashley, who offers to give Liberty another shot, with some pointers. Liberty nails the post-game announcement slot, and redeems herself publicly. Ashley is happy to help, and will be happy to pass the hosting baton to Liberty again. Next year, after Ashley graduates.

There are many characters on season one of Degrassi I don’t really care for. Toby, as I often lament, is extremely self-righteous. Spinner is a bully, and no one ever calls him out on it. Even Liberty, bless her, is trying so hard that I find it hard to handle her at this point in the show. But there is only one young character in the cast that I feel nothing for at all. Jimmy Brooks.

Heading into the first Jimmy-centric episode, I thought things may be different this viewing than they were in the past. I was hoping that I would find something to latch on to to get me through. I didn’t. I enjoy Spinner in this episode. Liberty and Ashley’s story is a little dumb, but it works. But I couldn’t find an ounce of interest in the main thrust of the story. Jimmy may as well be Mr. Raditch. He is simply there. Bored, I spent the episode trying to figure out why he doesn’t do anything for me.

My first theory is that he’s very tropey. Jimmy is a cool jock who is popular at school, but doesn’t care as much about academics as he does athletics. It’s a story we’ve heard a million times. But it’s hard to believe that’s the explanation because every character this season is a trope. The girl who cares about world issues. The mean, popular girl. The bad boy with a heart of gold. Hell, there are TWO awkward nerds with unrequited crushes in the same grade.

So theory two — maybe I just don’t care about jocks. I’m sure this is why I didn’t care about Jimmy when I watched as a kid. I had a lot of resentment for sports kids. I was queer enough at a young enough age that I had a rough social experience with team sports, to the point that it took me years to realize I was actually pretty athletic. Plus, I had my own hobbies I was passionate about, especially music and dance, that didn’t feel like they garnered the same level of respect. Sports were normal, my hobbies were deviant, and my personality was too deviant to be welcomed in sports.

So as a kid, watching Jimmy, I didn’t see him as someone who struggled. He was cool! He was popular! He was good at the thing that people respect you for being good at! I’m sorry you have to do your homework, but just do it. It’s fine.

This is a very childish way of thinking about a person. It’s very myopic. That’s why I thought, watching from an adult perspective, I would see his storylines the same way I saw anyone’s. But no. I still think he’s dull.

Theory three — bad acting. I kind of wanted this one to be true so I could sit here and dunk on Drake. But that would be dishonest! At times, there is some surprisingly good acting on this show. None of those times are season one. The cast is too young, the dialogue is stilted. No one stands out as a good or bad performer. Drake still sucks.

I landed on one final theory, that I think holds water. I don’t think it fully cracks the case, but I think it’s the closest I’ve come. I think I don’t care about Jimmy because he’s not 2001 enough.

As tropey as our other characters are, they all have some twist or quirk that feels very timely. Emma was politically radicalized because of internet access. Toby is a computer nerd. Paige is deeply seeped in 00s fashion and slang. Ashley’s parents divorced because her dad— well, I shouldn’t spoil tomorrow.

Jimmy is just a jock, struggling to balance athletics and academics. I’m sure there is a virtually identical story in Degrassi Junior High and I could write one in my sleep about a kid now. I suppose the timely twist is meant to be Ritalin, but that does more for Spinner’s character than Jimmy’s. Plus, namedropping the en vogue stimulant of the day doesn’t really change that it’s a ‘performance enhancing drug’ story.

It’s borderline comical how far this show goes to feel Of The Moment. But that’s the point, and that’s the fun. I don’t want to see a show about the problems kids go through in every generation. I want a time capsule. I want this show to be about computers! Computers were a big deal!

Maybe I’ll start liking Jimmy more. Probably when he gets shot. At that point, he’ll get way more specific. For now, he’s just there, taking up space. I can’t believe that Drake is the biggest star to come from this show when Jimmy is such a dud.