Rock and Roll High School
Degrassi is hosting a battle of the bands contest. The winner gets free studio time to record their own demo. Ecstatic, Craig is eager to enter Downtown Sasquatch into the competition. But his excitement is put on hold when he finds out Ashley and her girls are entering the competition too.
Craig and Ashley both struggle to write good lyrics for their songs. Craig has a severe case of writer's block. And the added stress of competing against Ashley's band in the contest puts more pressure on him and makes it even more difficult for him to focus on writing good lyrics.
Meanwhile Ashley is writing lyrics about random topics that she has no personal connection to. She reads a poem out loud in class about the Spanish Civil War, she receives minimal feedback and negative responses from her classmates, including Craig who teases her about the poem. The girls tell Ashley to write about things she's experienced, personal things in her life, like her relationship with Craig. That inspires Ashley to write "Mr. Nice Guy", a song about her turbulant relationship with Craig.
Later that day, Ashley runs into Craig at the mall. He pulls her aside to apologize. While Ashley thinks he's going to apologize for cheating and ruining their relationship, instead he aplogizes for making fun of her lyrics in class. Ashley walks away disappointed.
The next day, during a sound check for the show, both bands practice their songs on stage. Craig's band performs a disasterous instrumental, as Craig still hasn't come up with lyrics for their song. Ashley and the girls perform their song. Ashley's lyrics talk about the extent of her relationship and breakup with Craig: "This song is the price for breaking my heart, should've written these words to you write from the start...I can't pretend to forgive and forget, going to make the day you met me a day you'll regret".
Later that day, Craig is outraged and tells Ashley that she can't perform those lyrics in front of the school because he knows the song is about him. But Ashley taunts him about it. Craig's response: "If you weren't such a prude I would've never been with Manny". One more low blow to Ashley.
Craig's friends try to help him write lyrics to his song. Spinner and Jimmy even come up with a hilarious, albeit sexist and offensive, rap about Ashley, which Craig refuses to perform.
Craig continues to struggle with writing the perfect lyrics right up until the day of the contest. He comes up with lyrics to express exactly how he feels just minutes before he and his band go on stage to perform. The song he writes is essentially an apology song to Ashley. The lyrics: "What I know is that I hurt you, what I know is that I'm a loser, what I know is that I suck...that I screwed up...that I never earned your trust..."
The crowd loves his piece, and his band ends up winning the contest. Ashley congratulates him on his win and tells him "The lyrics were just right".
In the sub-plot Caitlin learns how to be more of an assertive, discplinary parent to Angie.
This episode essentially settles the score between Ashley and Craig, and resolves some of the issues that have risen between them throughout the season. We continue to see how difficult it is for Craig to express his feelings in words. He couldn't say "I love you" to Ashley in Should I Stay or Should I Go, so he had to express those feelings in the form of a song. Again, in this episode, he doesn't know how to express the remorse he feels for cheating on her in words, so he expresses those feelings in a song. He finally gives Ashley the apology she deserves; the apology she's needed from him all this time. And they end the episode on decent terms.
I think approaching their resolution from the standpoint of a high school talent show is kind of cheesy. I find it hilariously unrealistic that half the characters on this show are musicians. Hazel plays keyboard, Jimmy, Paige, Ellie, and Marco all play guitar? A bit convenient eh? Suddenly they're all musicians and can conveniently play in the talent competition.
I thought this episode was a little campy, with all of the songs about revenge and heartache. But in highsight, there were a lot of issues between Ashley and Craig that needed to be resolved, and I'm glad they were delt with in this episode. I just wish the writers had chosen a different, less cheesy way, to deal with those issues.
Grade: C
Craig and Ashley both struggle to write good lyrics for their songs. Craig has a severe case of writer's block. And the added stress of competing against Ashley's band in the contest puts more pressure on him and makes it even more difficult for him to focus on writing good lyrics.
Meanwhile Ashley is writing lyrics about random topics that she has no personal connection to. She reads a poem out loud in class about the Spanish Civil War, she receives minimal feedback and negative responses from her classmates, including Craig who teases her about the poem. The girls tell Ashley to write about things she's experienced, personal things in her life, like her relationship with Craig. That inspires Ashley to write "Mr. Nice Guy", a song about her turbulant relationship with Craig.
Later that day, Ashley runs into Craig at the mall. He pulls her aside to apologize. While Ashley thinks he's going to apologize for cheating and ruining their relationship, instead he aplogizes for making fun of her lyrics in class. Ashley walks away disappointed.
The next day, during a sound check for the show, both bands practice their songs on stage. Craig's band performs a disasterous instrumental, as Craig still hasn't come up with lyrics for their song. Ashley and the girls perform their song. Ashley's lyrics talk about the extent of her relationship and breakup with Craig: "This song is the price for breaking my heart, should've written these words to you write from the start...I can't pretend to forgive and forget, going to make the day you met me a day you'll regret".
Later that day, Craig is outraged and tells Ashley that she can't perform those lyrics in front of the school because he knows the song is about him. But Ashley taunts him about it. Craig's response: "If you weren't such a prude I would've never been with Manny". One more low blow to Ashley.
Craig's friends try to help him write lyrics to his song. Spinner and Jimmy even come up with a hilarious, albeit sexist and offensive, rap about Ashley, which Craig refuses to perform.
Craig continues to struggle with writing the perfect lyrics right up until the day of the contest. He comes up with lyrics to express exactly how he feels just minutes before he and his band go on stage to perform. The song he writes is essentially an apology song to Ashley. The lyrics: "What I know is that I hurt you, what I know is that I'm a loser, what I know is that I suck...that I screwed up...that I never earned your trust..."
The crowd loves his piece, and his band ends up winning the contest. Ashley congratulates him on his win and tells him "The lyrics were just right".
In the sub-plot Caitlin learns how to be more of an assertive, discplinary parent to Angie.
This episode essentially settles the score between Ashley and Craig, and resolves some of the issues that have risen between them throughout the season. We continue to see how difficult it is for Craig to express his feelings in words. He couldn't say "I love you" to Ashley in Should I Stay or Should I Go, so he had to express those feelings in the form of a song. Again, in this episode, he doesn't know how to express the remorse he feels for cheating on her in words, so he expresses those feelings in a song. He finally gives Ashley the apology she deserves; the apology she's needed from him all this time. And they end the episode on decent terms.
I think approaching their resolution from the standpoint of a high school talent show is kind of cheesy. I find it hilariously unrealistic that half the characters on this show are musicians. Hazel plays keyboard, Jimmy, Paige, Ellie, and Marco all play guitar? A bit convenient eh? Suddenly they're all musicians and can conveniently play in the talent competition.
I thought this episode was a little campy, with all of the songs about revenge and heartache. But in highsight, there were a lot of issues between Ashley and Craig that needed to be resolved, and I'm glad they were delt with in this episode. I just wish the writers had chosen a different, less cheesy way, to deal with those issues.
Grade: C