"Working For The Weekend"
Airdate: Friday, November 10th

So Darcy isn’t yet done being a glutton for punishment, and approaches Spinner in the hallway to apologize once again. Spinner says he’s sorry too and starts moving towards her, but Darcy continues, telling him something was missing and she hopes they can still be friends. Ouch - burn. Poor Spinner. Hopefully this won’t prompt him to attempt to torch the school again like he nearly did after Rick went berserk.

In class, Snake announces Miss Sauve - whom I almost want to call Suave, as if she won some kind of hair care pageant - to the students, telling them they’re going to be checking out their career aptitude tests. Everyone and their dog knows those are a bunch of hooey, right? Good - moving on.

Jimmy is pleased with his top option as Criminal Lawyer, which is entertaining considering he’ll join the working world as one of the most reviled sectors of society. Ash is excited about her Family Law option, saying, "NYU, here we come! " Okay, first of all, clearly she and Jimmy are over their - ahem! - issues, shall we say? And second of all, getting into NYU from Canada ain’t all that easy. Immigration from Canuckland to the U.S. is no cake walk. (Trust me, I know.)

And poor Spinner? His options are clown, police officer and lumberjack. I’m highly unimpressed that they didn’t go the Obvious Stereotype route and have Mountie on that list. Regardless, Spinner is even more despondent and Sauve tells him it’s just a guide. Something tells me she’d be the type to claim flesh wound when someone severs a limb.

By the time they make it to their lockers, Spinner has clearly lost it. Jimmy tries to pep talk him, but Spinner resorts to reading bad break-up poetry, which one can only hope comes back to haunt him when he turns 30. Somehow they get to discussing the future, and Jimmy admits he gave up on his art dream. "I woke up - art isn’t a career, law is, " he says. Tell that to Banksy. Ash and Jimmy talk Spinner into heading over to Marco and Ellie’s that night to hang out with Paige. Yeah, that’s a great idea. Why don’t they pour acid in his wounds and just assemble all of his ex girlfriends in one room?

Plot two! Alex is trying to be a responsible student and study while young ’uns irritate the crap out of her. One of them chucks carrots at her. No chick fight, alas - she just leaves.

Marco and Ellie’s isn’t exactly party central - there’s about eight people there, three of which are walking through the kitchen carrying a boom box for some reason. But it gives Paige the chance to tell Spinner his top is, and I quote, "spiffy. " Has Banting turned Paige into a grandmother? Will she remove her dentures to eat chips and dip? When Spinner admits his top is a Jimmy original, Ellie and her super secret boyfriend tell Jimmy they’re in demand and he should consider selling them. Jimmy thinks it’s silly, Spinner says there’s nothing stopping him, and Ash gets a dig in about his dad - which is choice - prompting Jimmy to change the subject with, "Didn’t someone say something about poker? " Chicken. But Spinner’s already on a roll.

The next day at school Spinner outlines his designs on starting a t-shirt business to Jimmy. "I’m going to turn you into the next John John, " he says with glee. "It’s Sean John, " Ash corrects, which brings me to a question: why doesn’t Diddy change the name of his fashion line as often as he changes his stage name? Enquiring minds want to know. Either way, Spinner is way enthusiastic about this as Jimmy continues in naysayer mode, but eventually Spinner wins him over.

The second storyline: We find out Alex is at school again to raise her grades in order to make it to University - meaning Paige’s bullying has paid off - and Hazilakos tries to talk her into joining the lacrosse team to help her credits. Alex says no to lacrosse, but maybe to curling. Okay, so she didn’t say that. But I think Degrassi should have a curling team, too.

Montage time! The kids start making and selling t-shirts, and I so wish the song they were playing for this was Prince’s "U Got The Look. " And then, Spinner spots the holy grail - a storefront for lease. You’d think that it’d be too expensive, you’d need things like a business license, etc, but no! This is Canada! And in Canada you can rent things when you’re a minor and not have to worry about this kind of stuff! (Trust me, I know.) By the way, they call themselves Swatch Designs. Haven’t they heard of that little watch company that was huge in the 80s? Hello, copyright infringement!

Deux: Alex and Paige have coffee. Alex says she’s trying to be nicer. Paige calls BS.

Back at Ellie and Marco’s, Spinner and Jimmy are making t-shirts when Jimmy’s killjoy dad appears, giving Jimmy the chance to approach his dad for the money for the store. Here, I’ll paraphrase it for you:

Jimmy: Dad, I have a dream.
Jimmy’s Dad: It does not match my dream for you, and therefore, I WILL DESTROY IT!

That’s pretty much the gist. But Crafty McCrafster Jimmy tells Spin he can draw money from his college fund without permission, which means their store is in business after all. Spinner’s response? "Dude, that is like my 10 favorite songs playing at the same time turned up to 11! " And that, people, is your quote of the week.

Of course, all is not well in Degrassi land - it can’t be good for too long or else you’d get bored, right? Spinner and Jimmy open their store to great success, until Spinner starts raising the prices in an effort to rake in more dough. But when he leaves for a heartbeat after a tiff with Jimmy, two grungy dudes take advantage of poor Jimmy and attempt to steal their cash box, until Spinner comes in and busts everything up until the cops get there. The fall out? Spinner decides being a cop isn’t all that bad, and Jimmy decides to stand up to his dad about the money thing a la Cameron and his dad’s Ferrari in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Brings a tear to my eye. Sniff!

And what of Alex? She and "Baby Carrots " almost have a knock ’em down after being forced to play lacrosse together, prompting Baby to tell Alex about how she made life hell for her. "It was nothing personal - you could’ve been anyone, " Alex tells her. "But it was me - a real person. You made my life hell and the worst part? You don’t even remember, " Baby tells her, giving Alex pause for thought. I can’t decide if that’s good or not. Should my favorite villainess really be given a heart?

Next week: Shawn is out of jail, and Emma is trying to hide her past dalliance with Jay. As Degrassi turns ...

Degrassi: The Next Generation - Series
Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 6
"Working for the Weekend"

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.