Heart Like Mine (Pt. 1)

So the thing that made this episode for me is two words synonymous with Jesus: Adamo. Ruggiero.  And Marco had a pretty boring plot.  Well, I suppose it would've been an interesting one if I were, say, a student teacher coping with teaching at my old school or a retired old man with a passion for stalking youngsters pursuing careers in education and/or intergalactic farming.  But I'm a 14 year-old interested in high school drama.  So it didn't strike me as "WOW."  But Adamo Ruggiero was ON SCREEN looking as smexy as ever.  I just about died.
You see, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm a bit incredibly one hundred percent obsessed with the Jesus that is Adamo.  And even when Marco got to be a bit of a boring character, I lived for episodes with his face.  Even in his awkward brace-face days and his absurd facial hair days, he made my life.  So a Marco plot?  Highlight of the episode.  But I will try to be impartial when reviewing this subplot (though, I'm reviewing it before the main plot so I think I've kinda already ruined that).


So Marco's back, and he and Holly J (whom he fondly refers to as "HJ") have become tight since the last time we saw them.  That whole relationship between them sorta came out of nowhere.  What ever happened to the Sinclair hatred?  It was a little out of the blue for me, but I tried to ignore the absurdity of it throughout the episode.  The plot followed his journey as he tried to discover the role of a teacher and determine the line that sets the boundaries for students and teachers.  The thing that ruined it for me was the fact that this boundary was seen through Marco's eyes.  It was one of those things like Snake and Spike relationship issues or Joey and Caitlin problems... interesting story, but not really what Degrassi was designed to tell about, making it more awkward and less engaging than it needs to be.  Although this wasn't exactly the perspective I was hoping this would be touched on, it is a topic that should be touched on.  I was secretly hoping for both that and some YR (Youth Rights = win) stuff season 9, and 1 out of 2 is pretty good.  I would like to see this same issue touched on more from the student's perspective, but that might just be because I've dealt with some similar things.
Anyway, Adamo hasn't lost his touch as an actor and was still a convincing actor. And it was nice to see some of that big bad Holly J from season 8 that miraculously disappeared after she started dating Declan and hanging with Jane.  Although it wasn't my favorite subplot, it was 1) well executed and 2) ADAMO.  RUGGIERO.


Now for the main plot.  This is really one of those setting the scene things.  The whole Jenna-Clare thing was interesting, don't get me wrong.  But I'm pretty sure the couple will be back, so I wasn't really crying for Clare.  The whole break-up was really uncomfortable, anyway.  It was very spur of the moment, like he opened his mouth to say something and was just making it up as he went and somewhere in the middle realized he was about to dump her.
But the athletic dinner was when it finally got started, after 15 minutes of setting the scene.  KC hooks up with Jenna, makes out with her bearing an incredibly aggressive and intimidating facial expression (I wanted to shout "RAPE" but my 8 year old sister was in the room), yadda yadda yadda.  The whole dinner scene is very quick and random, KC seems to be receiving awards and room keys one minute and making out with Jenna while Alli tells him off in the next.
And now we get to the good stuff.
Now, I sorta already knew what was gonna happen (thanks, Kary!).  But my dear friend Anzykins (not her name, but I've always wanted to call her that) didn't and she called me up as soon as the episode ended (before I saw it, actually) because she was so creeped out by the coach.  And after I saw it, I realized why.  If I were in a room with that guy, I'd shoot myself.  It's very clear that the coach is supposed to be this creepy guy.
What I really liked about this was that it wasn't awkward or forced at all.  Throughout the episode, the coach progressively began to show his true colors, telling KC it's okay to be unfaithful and like other girls, that he should go after what he wants at all costs, that he can take Jenna up to his room, that he can stay late, that he can have a beer, that he can watch porn... bit by bit they establish this, making it more real and much more frightening.


Even though everything was done well, nothing in this episode made me go "WOW!  THAT'S SOME GOOD TELEVISION!"  It was mediocre in comparison to the rest of this exceptional season which is quite disappointing since I was looking forward to this episode.  But hopefully part 2 will show more potential.  It's seems to be a lot like the first episode ever with Emma and her creepy adult friend... maybe, like that episode, it won't really pop unless you watch it all together.