Degrassi’s controversial storyline makes television history

Degrassi has never backed away from taboo storylines that have developed the show from a tiny after school special to a primetime telenovela event. This past week was the introduction of Jordan Todosey’s character, Adam as he deals with living life as a female-to-male transgender. This was the first Teen transgender character in scripted television history and one of the best episodes I’ve seen thus far in ten seasons.

The problem with tackling such a storyline is that it’s so taboo that no one can definitely know how to portray a character such as Adam’s while giving the situation a fair portayal. The Degrassi writers did a great job with researching, contacting LGBT clubs, GLAAD and finding videos that showed what true emotion the transgendered youth go through.

I really have to hand it to each actor who was involved in the main plot. Each one had a role and nailed it. We now officially know that Adam is a female-to-male transgender and refuses to fly under the radar or change who he is for anyone else, which is awesome!

Fitz and Owen make the episode what it is–They truly have no tolerance for anyone different and couldn’t care less if they were hurting a biological female. This sets up for an amazing end to part one when Drew defends Adam. And if you have a younger sister or brother you probably enjoyed the end of part 1. Drew definitely won me over in the entire 2-part episode.

Adam is going through through tough times. His mom can’t accept who he is and after the bullying, believes everything would be easier if he just goes back to being Gracie. We learn that it isn’t as easy as one might think. Gracie burns herself as a way of coping with the stress she has when she tries to make everyone else happy.

After a talk with his mom, Adam convinces her that Gracie will no longer exist, to let Gracie go and Adam in. This combined with the threat of burning himself, Adam’s family along with Clare and Eli decide to find a safe way to put Gracie to rest. As a way of symbolizing the “death” of Gracie, Adam’s family along with Clare and Eli decide to burn Gracie’s clothes but when it came to burning Gracie’s picture Adam was reluctant to throw it in the pit even though his mom was okay with him doing so.

Overall, a great episode. Degrassi really did do this storyline justice without being over the top, which I was worried about. The episode had a great balance showing the affect of bullies and the emotional support Adam recieved. As an older brother, I liked Drew playing hero for Adam, even though he got beat up. He not only showed he cared but will go to any length to ensure his safety.

Everything came together without it being forced. I can honestly say that this was the first episode in the history of the show that took my breath away as we went to commercial. Time flew by so fast. I guess you could say that Time Stood Still.