Hello again friends. Last we left off, we met about 250 kids who live in Edgemont and all have issues of which I have varying levels of caring about. Arguably the most important one being a minor is missing, and that’s how we ended off the premiere of Edgemont!. So let us continue on, with hopes that maybe this episode we will be able to devote a bit more time to specific people and problems and not have everyone crammed in at once.
The episode opens with Mark having returned home after looking for Travis all night around the neighbourhood. Kat is freaking out, thinking that their brother could’ve gotten on a Greyhound to God knows where. Apparently their mom still doesn’t even know he’s missing, with Kat being pissed she left for work as if nothing was wrong. Well why aren’t you telling her her child is missing?? Like I get it, they think the parents can’t handle it. But like these teenagers can? Anyway, it’s an extremely short scene, then we get into the catchy theme song immediately.
After the opening credits, we see a guy at the coffee shop with his head down looking like he is asleep. I thought it was Mark at first, given the whole overnight search, but no, it’s Gil, and we’re still on that stupid essay plot from the first episode. Chris comes by and is happy to see Gil completed the task and ends up taking the essay Gil did for himself because that one would likely be better. Then Gil spills coffee on his essay like a dumbass.
We then go to Mark and Kat at the school with Mark telling his sister if Travis isn’t found by noon they’ll call the police. Kat asks why he’s even in the school because he’s suspended, which he somehow forgot, but I guess he’s got shit on his mind. Kat takes off, then Scott rounds the bend to bug Mark about being in love and not being able to talk to Laurel properly. Holy shit, this character is by far the most annoying one so far. His whole thing so far has been awkward weirdo who doesn’t have social skills. Mark tells him to just be himself and leaves, with Scott being like, well who am I? At least he’s aware his character has zero personality.
In the washroom, Anika and Erin are talking, with Anika bitching she didn’t get as high a mark as Erin on a test, even though she copied Erin. Erin says her pea brain answers were the wrong ones, which somehow Anika blames her for as well. Laurel comes in, and Anika acts fake nice to her, informing Erin once Laurel is out of earshot that she’s going to regret moving to Edgemont by the end of the day.
We then see Erin telling a bunch of girls that Laurel did something so bad “she can’t even show her face in Toronto anymore.” Listen, we had a crack smoking mayor, there’s very little that shocks Torontonians, so unless Laurel committed a terrorist attack and is on the run, I doubt anything she could have done would matter at all.
Laurel then see’s a bunch of the girls that Erin was talking to, looking at her and saying shit, so she can tell something is going on. Scott comes by, and actually makes a semi-decent attempt to talk to Laurel, asking her if she wants to study for some test that’s on Friday. Laurel is so preoccupied with rumours starting and probably sick of being followed (by Scott), she barely acknowledges him and walks off.
In the halls, we see Jen has now met up with Mark, whose telling her the news that the principle has dropped the suspension to detentions because of Mark’s broken home situation. Mark then asks Jen for a quarter, who asks, “for what?” Which maybe nowadays to the youngins who never encountered a payphone this would be a weird request, but he’s clearly asking her for it to use the phone. I am kinda surprised he doesn’t have a cell, but I sincerely cannot remember when I got my first cell phone, so maybe 2000 was just before it started becoming a thing. Mark tells her the Travis thing, and her response is normal in being like wtf why haven’t your parents done that, with Mark confirming he hasn’t told them yet. Ugh, stupid teenagers, stop trying to handle things that are way outside of your capacities.
Mark calls the cops, who seem to not really give a shit given how the phone call ends. Scott, of course lurking in the shadows, comes out and yet again bugs Mark to help him with Laurel, whose sitting on the floor on her laptop. How Mark hasn’t told this guy to go the fuck away yet, I have no clue. Mark finally gives in, as clearly Scott is not going to be satisfied until Laurel is chained in his basement, and goes to try and help him out with her.
So Mark tries to give Scott an opening to talk to Laurel, and starts talking about the SkyDome (which it will always be known as, screw The Rogers Centre), but instead Scott decides to continue having stupid daydreams about Laurel. But while Scott continues to make an idiot of himself, Laurel and Mark kind of seem to hit it off a bit. But considering Mark actually knows how to have a conversation, I’d say the bar is pretty low.
We then cut to an extremely short scene of Craig at the coffee shop with Maggie, and he’s talking about goddamn Communism again. Actually he’s decided he’s now an Anarchist. Maggie slightly humours him, while gently touching his hands, which you know made him pop a chub. But anyway, we don’t need to go into that. Also this scene was not needed and pointless, because this is the only time we see Craig this whole episode.
Back to the main story line; Mark meets up with Kat to call the police (which he already did), and Kat is on the cusp of a mental breakdown because of Travis. Jen comes up running and tells the siblings to come with her. We then cut to her garage, and we see this kid, I’m assuming Travis, sleeping in the backseat of a car.
Kat is about ready to snap this kid’s neck, but Mark tells her to calm down and tells Travis to come on home with them. And that literally seems to be the end of that plot point. Also entirely offtopic, but these siblings don’t look related to each other at all and it bothers me.
At the coffee shop, Gil is still there, drinking coffee and whining about writing the two essays. I thought teenagers were able to stay up all night with ease. I remember doing stuff like that. Erin and Anika come in, and Anika starts asking Gil what’s his issue. Gil says he’s pissed at the teacher and Chris regarding the whole situation. Anika tells him to watch himself, as Chris is a psychopath (I don’t know why this is a thing with her, as so far Chris seems fairly normal). Gil responds that he’d kick Chris’ “black ass”. The girls are just like ooooooooooooookay…..
….And immediately go tell Chris exactly what Gil said, lmaaaaaaao. The girl’s of course come up with a bullshit excuse to be telling him, but Chris knows they just want to cause chaos. He’s pissed either way, and probably goes off to decapitate Gil.
At Mark’s place, he gives Travis the quintessential Canadian dinner, i.e. Kraft dinner and asks him where he went. Travis tells him he was basically just hanging around, and asks how their mom took his disappearance. Mark tells him they never told the mom, and Travis gets mad and runs off. So clearly he did it to get the parents to notice him. Ah classic pre-teen move for attention, pretending to run away.
The next day at school, Jen is basically saying the exact same thing to Mark, in that Travis was acting out to get his parents attention, and that Kat and Mark were stupid not to say anything to the parents. But enough about Travis, because Mark and Jen’s six month anniversary is coming up on Friday, and Jen wants to make it super special. Which we all know what that means on teen shows. Better go buy some prophylactics, Mark.
After Jen fucks off, Mark is walking down the hall and Laurel stops him and asks what the hell is wrong with Scott, i.e. does he have a keeper, and why isn’t he being handled properly? Mark subtly lets her know that he basically has a crush on her and that’s why he can’t act like a normal person. Laurel then lets him know that it’s not happening, and advises him to tell Scott that, lest she has to obtain a restraining order. Laurel leaves, and Anika asks Mark if he’s gotten the word on her.
Which leads to another scene of Laurel being confronted by Erin and some random girls stating the reason Laurel left Toronto was because she was pregnant. This is very stupid, but realistic high school drama, unlike shows like Degrassi: The Next Generation, where Laurel would’ve had to leave Toronto because she was a former teen stripper (actual plot of an episode, minus leaving Toronto).
Erin and her girl group leave, and Anika pops by to offer fake sympathy to Laurel, who see’s through it and calls her one sick puppy for starting this messed up rumour. Anika gives two shits, and tells Laurel that she’s pretty much done at this school reputation wise, and Laurel should catch the next flight back to The Six.
Cut to a new scene, and Gil is walking along, when Chris approaches all happy that he got a B+ on the essay he wrote for him. However, the love is short lived, as Chris tells Gil he heard from Anika that Gil planned on beating his “black ass” and he responds by literally crushing Gil’s balls with his vice-like grip. So yeah, not exactly helping Chris’ psycho reputation, but Gil had it coming. #questionablescreenshots
In the cafe, a short scene of Mark breaking the news to Scott that it’s a hard no from Laurel. He’s sad. Moving on.
At Mark’s, Travis is watching TV while Kat is freaking out looking for a remote, but in the background you can hear their parents fighting. Travis says they’ll likely end up in some dump apartment because their parents are going to break up and ruin their sweet Edgemont house situation. Kat says it’s unlikely and that they are just having a domestic, but no one is splitting up. Also, off topic, but Travis feels like such a 90’s name to me. Does anyone name their kid Travis anymore?
Back at the coffee shop, a postpartum Laurel enters, and Mark comes up to her asking how it’s going. She says obviously shitty, as Kool-aid head Anika and her minion have spread rumours that she was knocked up. Mark scoffs and says it’s obviously not true, is it? She’s like d’uh.
Mark invites her to sit down and asks how this all started. Laurel says Anika, but she’s not sure what her damage is. Mark says it’s probably because Laurel is hotter than her, and says she shouldn’t worry about Anika because basically no one takes her seriously. Laurel seems to give into that logic pretty quickly and is over it. Mark then asks her about Toronto, if she has a boyfriend (which Laurel keeps quiet about), if she’s had sex in a public place. She jokingly says yes and Mark’s like :O but then they start laughing. So obvi we can see there is definitely some chemistry between these two.
Oh and Erin see’s it too, complete with her pen from the movie Clueless.
Mark goes home and Kat’s all pissy because she thinks Mark is cheating on Jen with Laurel based on I guess either an IM or an email Laurel sent him, thanking him for cheering her up after her crappy day. Either way, why’s Kat reading his shit? Mark’s like yeah nothing happened, so mind ya damn business.
The episode ends with Anika on the phone with Erin who is obviously spilling the deets of the cafe encounter and now everyone will think Laurel is not only a teen mom, but also a homewrecker.
Overall I enjoyed this episode a lot more than the first. Annoying characters were cut down big time, and now major plot points for future story lines are starting to emerge. The pacing has gotten better as well, though I’m still not a huge fan of how many literal 5 second scenes this show still has, but definitely an improvement over episode 1. I love how Erin and Anika are the agents of chaos and just continue to cause problems for their own/my amusement. The Travis running away plot was pretty boring, but I guess it relates well to the parental issues the siblings are all dealing with.
The synopsis for next episode seems to be a continuation of the Laurel and Mark scandal so I’m looking forward to that and how far Anika and Erin can push ridiculous rumours. Also, why was this episode called “No Worries”? It seems like a lot of people were worried throughout it.
P.S. I just noticed a couple screenshots seem to be smaller, sorry about that, not sure what happened there.
Thanks again for continuing to follow the new direction of the blog, and I hope you guys will continue to read along as I tackle this questionable series. Until next time!
Ready or Not Reviewed! 