AFTERELLEN BAIT
“Smash Into You, Part 2” didn’t bring us any queer female storylines, but it did crash together all the other queer storylines. Because it’s better to condense the LGBT characters into one plot instead of giving each of them a separate storyline, right?
FEELINGS, FEELINGS, FEELINGS!
It’s a gay panic, guys! Grab your Twinkie bars and hold tight! Oh, not that kind of gay panic: Adam’s much classier than that. Also, he’s enjoying being pursued. Let’s enjoy that with him for the two-point-five seconds the feeling lasts.
And hang on to your dignity! Adam still has his, which is why he refuses Clare’s suggestion of wearing denim to his blind date. This must also be why he’s alarmed at Tori’s word choice when she assures him he looks “so fab” (subtle is not Tori’s strongest suit).
WHATEVER IT TAKES
Adam shows up to the blind date, trying to think positively about the possibility of meeting someone new, only to discover his date is a guy named Tristan. After a quick moment of shock, Adam clarifies that the rainbow pin on his backpack doesn’t mean he’s gay. There is a T in LGBT, after all.
Tristan wanders a whole five feet away with Tori, while Zig sits down with Adam at the Dot and predictably has to ask, “so what does the T stand for?” Adam answers curtly, sick of having to educate everyone around him just to be seen as human.
He hightails it out of the Dot to bemoan with Clare his disaster of a date while I bemoan why Degrassi keeps putting all the queer kids with Adam.
Lesbian? Check. Gay guy? Sure, pass him over! Why give Adam a straight female-identified love interest when you could tell all these other storylines instead?
To be fair, this storyline with Tristan and Tori is pretty remarkable: it isn’t a case of Tori blurring gender and sexuality by assuming Adam’s gay because he’s trans, but rather it’s a case of her seeing Adam as gay irrespective of his being trans — a great distinction to see on a teen drama. But at this point, I just want Adam to finally get the girl!
NEW BEGINNINGS
Adam, being more awesome than I am, skips the whole woe-is-Adam’s-love-life monologue that I just wrote for him, and instead jumps to the scene where he assures Tristan he has nothing to be embarrassed about with regards to the blind date. “Dating in high school isn’t always the best route to happiness,” Adam tells him, “but you’ve got to stay open to stuff.”
I think Degrassi‘s lesson of the night for me is to keep the faith that Adam’s real love interest plotline is yet to come. That, or that even fruit flies like Tori can have bad gaydar.
How’d you all find the conclusion of this storyline? Who else is impatient for the return of Fiona and Imogen?
