Shout Part 1
Paige and the rest of the spirit squad cheer for a soccer game against a rival school. That's when Paige sees Dean for the first time. She likes him and gets really excited when he invites her and Hazel to a party. The only problem--the party is the same night as her date with Spinner. Paige lies and tells Spinner that she can't make it because her grandma is sick. Instead, she goes to the party with Dean. They spend a little time talking. Then they go upstairs to get away from the crowd. At first they do some innocent kissing, but then things turn ugly. Dean rapes Paige.
In the sub-plot, Toby and JT's friendship is tested when they agree to share a locker.
Shout was a good episode. This was around the time when Degrassi started to become more of a teen drama and less of a kid show. The issues on the show were becoming more serious. Rape is such a taboo subject and the show tackled it realistically. Paige was just an innocent girl with a crush. She didn't do anything wrong. She thought that wearing make-up and revealing clothes would make Dean like her. She didn't anticipate what would happen. And even though Paige knew what he did was wrong, she couldn't bring herself to admit the truth. Hazel tells her "If you said no, that's rape". And hearing the truth causes Paige to have an emotional break down. And it's interesting to see someone like Paige, who's always been confident and in control, become a victim. Lauren does a wonderful job of portraying the part.
The sub-plot wasn't as good as the main plot. With such a serious subject like rape being addressed, I thought it was odd to have such a light hearted subplot--not to mention completely useless. JT and Toby fight all the time. There's no reason why they needed to fight again.
Good episode with a silly sub-plot.
Final Grade: A-