Previously on Joshuaonline, we've looked at The Kids of Degrassi Street both the pilot and second special , now we take a look at the third special, we've not reached the when it became a series status yet.
This is from 1981, we look at "Irene Move In".
It's fall (yay) and we get two plots this time: there's talk that BigFoot as been spotted and a new family is moving on to Degrassi Street (roll those credits).
Irene moves in on to our turf/ Copyright Degrassi
Going with the second plot and the plot the episode is named after , Ida is not happy that another person has moved into the neighborhood, her brother, Fred, is like no what are you doing? You're judging before you her. Ida's mother says the same thing later when Ida mentions that she can tell someone's personality from one glance. Her mother says that she should visit her. Irene meets Cookie, Ida, and Noel. Yeah the third special has the same cast as the first two.
Reoccurring huh?
You can feel the awkwardness between Ida and Irene mostly, especially when Irene asks her about her dad. (oops) He's away in the west and this implies the parents are divorced. Irene asks if they would like to play with her and Cookie goes with her tomorrow. Irene thinks that Ida is mean, and Cookie explains that sometimes she's bossy, but they are friends, and Ida can be good friend.
Ida shows up trying to get Cookie to come to their club (see episode 2)and well everything she tires to not have Irene join backfires because yes. (she's 9) Cookie decides to avoid the club that day and Ida joins her. Ida tells Noel what Irene is bossy and is trying to take Cookie way from being their friend (oooh) and something has to be done about it. (uhh murder?)
I'm going to make Irene move out...permanently
It's not just fall, it's almost Halloween. Ida keeps watching Cookie and Irene having a good time each other, well kind of, because it becomes a mess when she hears Cookie doesn't want stars on her hat , and Irene insists. Ida comes over it gets into a mess and Irene ends up with paint on her. The shot looks like she got shot, but with yellow paint blood. Irene accuses her of doing it on purpose. (It's washable paint, right?)
Later, Ida tries to ask Cookie if she's going to the club , then Irene shows up in the same Cookie house (odd way to say that) and Irene tells her Cookie can't come because she's going to a movie. The Big Foot plot comes back too as Noel goes to tell Irene and Cookie that he found a Big Foot foot print. (It's a big foot) Ida dressed up in a Noel's Halloween mask and a fur coat? I think.
Then Ida tells Irene that Big Foot wouldn't eat her anyway since she stinks. (which is a choice) Irene yells at her that she'll never like her and runs off. Then, Cookie gets mad at Ida because of that and they she decides to stop being friends too. Noel walks off too.
Ida is adamite that she doesn't want Irene to join the club. She's bored and asks her brother to hang out with him. She tells him she doesn't have friends and more and Fred says that if she wasn't so bossy she wouldn't have lost them.
Ida's mother says that Irene is coming over the next evening because she and Irene's mother are working on the election. So, it becomes an "I'm not talking to you think" which annoys Fred (same) who's watching them. (poor guy) Fred walks away for his sanity. Cookie is staying there too because we need someone to fix this monotony.
Fred realized he has lost control of his life
The Bigfoot thing really is being driven into this plot, that night they hear noise. (Oh no it's Santa! yay!) Ida and Irene get up from the bed see a dog, but think it's Big Foot (same difference?) They all go downstairs to take a picture of the beast, from a safe distance. Fred wakes up when he hears the noise and wonders why the freaked out. (not a dog)
They have a blurry picture because that's what happens. Anyway it seems the Irene and Ida have forgiven each other and things seem to be a thing now and Irene is allowed to join the club. The special ends with a Halloween party.
This one is straight forward in what story it's telling. Someone new moves in and Ida is worried that things might not go well and ends up causing the problem she thought would happen by nature. Showing the nature of what Degrassi would be trying to go for through it's entirety - simple realistic issues being brought to a forefront. It's simply explained, why does Ida not like Irene, she just doesn't it's not grand it's not a long story it's trying to figure out why, it's just is, and sometimes that happens. Also, it's cool to see how the opening minute sets up everything, even the dog.
You can see that Irene figured it out early that Ida doesn't like her and tries to channel it her own way. I like how this one and the last one both involve the club in someway where last time Cookie wanted to join and this time Irene wanted to join.
The episode also shows that Irene is new and wanted to be fitting in with the neighborhood any you understand her motivations as well. That's what drives the tension. The Big Foot story also blends in well, it fits with childhood stories and it works to drive the plot and give a good resolution. It takes a good use of a simple stories and does it well to make investment in watching it worth it. It plays it realistically but not boring.
That's it for now, tune in next time, when Ida judges you.
