Season 3, Episode 17 - Don’t Dream It’s Over

Original Airdate - February 23rd, 2004

Content Warning - Abuse

Well. Rick is back. Paige has her license and access to her mom’s minivan so she invites the crew on a little weekend park trip. It seems to just be a local park. Why the minivan matters? Idk! Terri thinks she’s going to skip. She isn’t eager to play fifth wheel to Spaige and Jazel. Pinner and Himmy. I think I was right the first time.

In theater class, the kids are choosing partners for trust falls, and Rick wildly chooses Terri. She goes with it, he catches her, and that resparks something. Yikes! They bond after class over a love of theater. Rick apologizes for his temper and the abuse. Terri admits she misses him, but is hesitant.

But she’s not too hesitant to invite him to the park day! Paige is instantly not happy. She wants to put her foot down and say he can’t come. But the others, especially Spinner, say that’s a bad idea. If Rick doesn’t come, Terri won’t come, and the two of them will be hanging out alone. Spinner would rather be able to keep an eye on things.

At the park, the energy is frosty and weird. Rick tries to sit on the hood of the minivan, and Paige yells at him not to dent the car. Rick goes to pee and Paige takes her moment to strike. She invites Terri over to a sleepover that night, but Terri knows what she’s doing. Terri tells Paige to stay out of it, and that she’s being careful. She believes Rick has changed.

Paige flips. How can she say that after what he did? Rick overhears and jumps in. He and Paige fight. Rick’s temper is building. Paige calls him a psycho. He storms off. Terri is mad. Paige just set him off! Paige can’t believe that Terri is taking his side. Paige says that if that’s how Terri feels, Terri should go with him.

Terri does follow Rick into a strange field of cinderblocks. She manages to calm him down, and they kiss. Nice? Rick says they should start walking home and Terri says that’s silly. They should go back to Paige and the others. Rick gets super mad and pushes Terri. She falls and hits her head on a cinderblock.

Back in the park, Paige is worried about how long the two of them have been gone. Spinner goes to check things out with Paige. They find Rick standing over an unconscious Terri with blood on his hands.

At school on Monday, Raditch makes an announcement about Terri’s injury. She’s in a coma. The Grade 10s start discussing, and Spinner is intensely angry at Rick. Simpson tells him they’re not supposed to discuss details. He encourages them to focus on what they can do for Terri. Paige has made a giant, ugly card for everyone to sign.

Paige and Spinner take the card to the hospital and learn from Terri’s dad that she’ll need surgery. In the conversation, they reveal that they knew Rick was abusive. Terri’s dad flips out on them. How could they not tell an adult? Guilt!

Paige drops Spinner off at work. When he kisses her goodbye, she goes deep, clearly ready to have sex. Spinner stops her. She’s not in her right mind. Paige flips and yells at him. None of this would have happened if he hadn’t insisted they bring Rick along. Spinner turns it back on her. She’s the one who told Terri to go after Rick in the park.

The next day, Spinner sees Rick in a parked car outside of school. His own rage activates. He pulls Rick out of the car and is ready to start beating him up. Paige sees and tries to intervene, but Spinner only really stops when Rick’s mom comes out. She’s packed up his locker. She tells the Degrassi students to leave her son alone.

Spinner rushes off and almost starts crying. Paige goes after him. Spinner is realizing that he and his violent temper are just like Rick. Paige assures him he’s not because “he stopped himself” which isn’t really true! Spinner should work on himself!

They go back to the hospital. Terri has gotten through her surgery but has a long road ahead. Her dad apologizes to them, and they apologize to him. Then the episode just kind of fizzles out.

Meanwhile, Ellie and Marco have big plans for a Bollywood movie night. But when Sean invites her on a double date to an action movie on the same night, Ellie is torn. She ends up bringing Marco to the date, which Sean doesn’t love. Marco has a pretty miserable time himself. He laughs at how stupid the movie is, and has and awkward moment with Sean where their hands touch in the popcorn bucket. Also Alex finally gets a line in this scene!

That Monday, Ellie has learned about Terri and is talking to Marco about her complicated feelings. She and Terri weren’t friends, but they knew each other. Sean comes up and sits between them, pushing Marco away. Marco takes the hint and leaves. Ellie is pissed and leaves Sean also.

She tells Marco she’s going to break up with Sean because Marco is more important to her, and Marco says she shouldn’t do that. Sean is kind of right. Ellie is using Marco as a vulnerability shield. She should spend time alone with her new boo, and their friendship will be fine. Ellie apologizes to Sean, but also asks him to be nicer to her friend. She’s new to all of this, and they commit to navigating her first relationship together.

I don’t want to talk about Rick. I think this episode is weird and bad, and I’m not doing it. Instead, we’re at an interesting point where all of our cast members have a very defined love interest. Let’s do a round up of these couples and let John have some fun doing his favorite thing. Having opinions. I’m going to rate all of these couples on a scale of 1-7, my personal favorite scale because there’s a clear middle.

In theme song order:

There you have it. A lot going on, a lot of it middle of the pack. It’s interesting to me how locked in everyone seems, and I think this relationship status quo is going to carry us all the way through to next season. I can’t wait until the web gets more tangled.