#Rick Murray

[mersu-chan]

Rick is kinda like Carrie but if Carrie were a boy and instead of telekinetic powers, she had anger issues and a gun

[spinelli-gemelli]

A Degrassi Essay About Rick Murray

(Part 4)

We've covered a lot of ground so far: Rick's motives for returning, what the principal could or couldn't have done, and students' reactions to his return. Specifically we examined Emma's initial interactions with Rick as he made his reappearance in "Mercy Street". We will now take a closer look at other characters and their motivations for their behavior towards Rick.

Spinner

Spinner has an obvious personal motivation to antagonize Rick, but he goes through a remarkable character arc. Spinner was the one, along with Paige, to find Terri lying on the ground unconscious. I can only imagine what thoughts must have flashed through their minds; their own versions of how Rick landed Terri in the coma. That's something that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, though this event might be overshadowed with what's to come in season four, dare I say. In "Don't Dream It's Over", Spinner sees Rick sitting in his mom's car and confronts him, and he rears up to punch him, but Paige intervenes, quickly followed by Rick's mother, who pulls Spinner away from her son. A moment later we see him retreat, and Paige pursues him. In this moment he's sobbing, saying he's "just like [Rick]", but Paige insists that he's different. It's one of the first times we see a vulnerable side to Spinner, who's either been portrayed as a dense bully or Paige's loyal boyfriend wrapped around his girlfriend's finger. Anyone who is able to extract such a tender moment from Spinner is bound to end up being resented by him, which I believe the seeds for Rick had been planted as early as the end of season three. When Paige and Spinner's relationship takes a hit in season four, with the drama of the Dean trial and Paige crashing Spinner's car into her rapist's car, the previously softened, dull Spinner returns to his bullying roots, which is only amplified when Paige splits from Spinner. He soon joins forces with Jason Hogart, embracing full antagonist mode in the plotline against Rick. Originally he takes part in the ribbon campaign as a way to avenge Terri's injustice, but soon it just becomes a favorite past time of his, along with Jay, to torment Rick. It's not like anyone would come to his defense, at least anyone who could fight him off. He gets a rude awakening when he realizes in season four that his actions have consequences, not only for himself, but for those he cares about. Gavin Mason hits the ground hard this season, and it will take more than just apologies to bounce back from this.

Paige

Paige, like Spinner, found Terri lying on the ground out at the park with Rick hovering over her unconscious body. As Spinner runs to grab his phone for emergency services, it's Paige that reaches down to touch the back of her friend's head, only to get a handful of blood. That's something that stays with you for life: the stuff of recurring nightmares. Her motivation, like Spinner's, is personal. She collaborates with Emma to bring justice to her friend, but, unlike Spinner, she doesn't go as far as bullying Rick, but she fully believes in the power of social ostracization. This is different from her usual mean girl vibe: this is justified in her mind. Rick needs to be punished for what he did, and no one seems to be doing anything about it, so why not take matters into her own hands? We see her tease Rick right before he goes on stage for the Whack-Your-Brain finals (4x07), but the matter in which Rick replied to her taunting (quick and witty) lets the viewers know this isn't the first time she had given him a hard time, though her meddling of Rick never becomes physical. Paige is a dynamic character, and we see that, when Rick is publically humiliated in front of the entire school, she has a conscious and expresses her empathy for Rick when she encounters him in the cafeteria after it happened. She even goes as far to acknowledge that they aren't on the greatest terms, yet she didn't let that stop her from reaching out to Rick. It's in this instance that we are reminded of the power of words. Just by expressing her sorrow, Rick felt seen and heard, and he almost went back on his plan to seek revenge for his mortification. This is what I like about Paige's character, which makes her fun to watch in scenarios like these. She knows when it's time to make jokes and when it's time to be serious. She's emotionally intelligent. We see similar interactions in earlier seasons, where she tries to relate to Ashley about having a gay family member, when she consoles Emma who gets her period in class, or the time when she reminds Manny to ask the right questions before engaging in intercourse.

Alex

Alex Nunez has been a background character all of season three, only playing the role of Jay's girlfriend, but in season four, she's given some dimensions. Initially she appears to be joining the bandwagon of antagonizing Rick (episode 4x04), but then we get a glimpse of her true motivations during her conversation with Emma. In this scene, Rick walks up to Emma and wants to donate a check of over five hundred dollars to her fundraiser. For a fleeting moment, Emma considers it, but Alex appears on the scene and snatches the check out of Rick’s hands, telling him no one wants his guilt money. Rick tries to reason with her, but Alex shuts down that conversation immediately, causing a discouraged Rick to walk off. Emma asks for the check, but Alex tears it to ribbons. Before Emma can accuse her of not caring about the campaign, Alex insinuates that Emma doesn't know anything about it. "You ever ice your mom's lip? Bandage her up? Lay awake at night listening to her cry?" It's in this chilling scene do we learn that she has experienced domestic abuse first hand through her mother. Punishing Rick is her own way of avenging what her mom's boyfriend(s) did to her. She’s more than just Jay's chick. She is deeply concerned about women’s welfare when it comes to relationship abuse, yet another reason why it was a travesty to have the scene with her and Marco talking to Raditch deleted. Once again, we get to learn more about who Alex really is when she pleads with the principal to reconsider letting Rick back into the school. We start to see that there are layers to this girl.

Spinner's, Paige's, and Alex's motives are relatively straightforward and easy to understand. This next character is harder to peg, even more difficult to understand than Emma's motivations.

Jay

Degrassi's resident "bad boy", Jason Hogart ceases any opportunity to wreak havoc on the lives of any Degrassian. While I'd love to say his motive for coming after Rick was for "kicks and giggles", I would like to play devil's advocate for a bit, especially considering that his own girlfriend has had experience with domestic abuse. Maybe she talked to him about it. Maybe Jay visited Alex's house a number of times and had seen it for himself. Maybe he had to protect Alex from the collateral damage that her mom's boyfriend(s) would inflict. We don't know the dynamics of their relationship this early on in the series, so it is hard to confirm. Either way, Jay shows no mercy for Rick as he is the character that jumps Terri's ex at the Dot, drags him to the back alley, and punches him in the gut. He is also the one that is shown throwing Rick against a locker in episode 4x06 "Islands in the Stream" with ease, which gives the audience the feeling that Jay has done this to Rick many times before.

Unlike, Spinner, Jimmy, Paige, and even Alex, who at some point either experience a change of heart towards Rick, feel bad that he was humiliated on stage, or feel guilty about the school shooting, Jay shows no remorse for what he did as being one of the three accomplices in setting up the paint and feathers alongside Spinner and Alex. In episode 5x10, "Redemption Song", a year after the shooting had taken place, Jay says that they "did the world a favor" to Spinner after the latter asks the former if he ever thought about what happened with Rick. It's his reaction to the tragedy that forces me to believe that he didn't really care about getting justice for Terri or the fact that anyone else got hurt. He never goes into an explanation about what he means, either. They "did the world a favor" by humiliating Rick on stage? Lying to him later about Jimmy being the culprit? Indirectly getting Jimmy shot? Perhaps Jay means that they aided in unmasking Rick's true nature of violence, and to half of the Degrassi fans, Rick never truly changed, so to them this is true, though I doubt anyone agrees that this was done in favor of anyone. In the wake of tragedy, everyone loses.

Even in the beginning when everyone was united in the campaign against Rick, Jay was the only one to make a mockery out of the situation. Even as the others detested Rick, no one was seen outright making fun of him (except maybe Spinner). To everyone else, this was serious business. He even got himself expelled from school, and by the looks of things, he never cared or tried to return. If you also take into consideration all of the other characters he would persuade into doing things, they almost always end up worse off than before. We see this with Sean, who would go on to steal Snake's laptop; J.T., who decides to steal drugs from the pharmacy at which he's employed and sell them to dealers on the street; Spinner, who lies to Rick about Jimmy being responsible for the paint and feathers prank and winds up indirectly responsible for Jimmy's fate; and Emma, who Jay preyed upon while she was in a state of shock after the tragedy in order to get her to perform oral sex on him. Hell, the first time we're introduced to Jay is in season three when he calls Paige's brother Dylan "Homo-chuk" (episode 3x04), a reference to him being gay. Given his resume of ruining characters' lives (although only two of these instances occurred before the Rick conflict), it's hard for me to believe that he cared about any justice being served. All of the evidence points to the contrary. Rick was just the perfect outlet for his bullying urge since no one would rush to the kid's aid after what he did to Terri. Jay was just doing what Jay does best: stirring up trouble. In this way, he's similar to an arsonist: he sets the fires and watches them burn.

[zayadriancas]

Time Stands Still Part 1

“You think they wanna know who I am? They wanna torture me.”

[degrassi-fandom-confessions]

I was so annoyed when everyone started befriending Rick and saying “Oh he’s not that bad” like did we forget what he did to Terri or?? I’m sorry but I feel like the writers were trying to paint him as victim towards the end of the storyline and that didn’t sit right with me.

[degrassi-ship-war]

when i suggested i might do this on my main blog some of you expressed mild interest, so i've decided to give the people what they want and make a degrassi: the next generation character tournament.

i'm keeping this to opening credit tng characters (there will be two characters who aren't in the opening credits but whose presence looms so large that they had to be included anyway) because it was the only way i could make the math work, and also i thought it would be unfair to the degrassi junior high and degrassi high characters to set them against the tng kids. if this gains some traction and people are interested, maybe i'll do separate polls for the ogs and the next class kids (although many of them are featured in the tng polls as well) after we're done with the tng tournament.

i'm going to post the qualifying rounds later today. they'll consist of sixteen groups of five. i made the lists using a randomizer. the least voted character in each round will be disqualified, while the other four will move on to the main tournament. that way i'll narrow 80 main characters down to 64. i'll also be using these qualifiers to help seed the bracket. qualifying polls will be week-long.

this is the most math i've done willingly since high school so i hope you all appreciate the sacrifices i'm making here.

[anangstyblackgirl]

AI Degrassi - Jimmy gets shôt.

[dreamgirlnightmare]

He’s such a psycho loser creep 💕

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[nkp1981]

The practical effects behind the Terror Dogs for "Ghostbusters"

[brokehorrorfan]

Mondo will releases a Ghostbusters poster by Marie Bergeron tomorrow, October 29, at 1pm ET. The 24x36 screen print is limited to 165 for $80. It's estimated to ship in March.

[mersu-chan]

i did the thing

[spinelli-gemelli]

A Degrassi Essay Series About Rick Murray

(Part 6)

What proves that Rick Murray is such a nuanced character is that there is no such thing as an unpopular opinion about him. Because these are valid thoughts:

As are these:

And these:

And this:

And even this:

All of these comments and more can be found under Dontorious' video titled "Everyone Bullying Rick", which can be viewed on YouTube. There are also many comments like these in the Degrassi subreddit, and though you will find that most tend to be in the "No Sympathy" camp, there are a few who will pick up the empathy flag and wave it on Rick's behalf. You get my point: if you find yourself nodding along with all of these comments and understanding each perspective, then it's probably a position you've heard before or agree with. Frankly, none of these comments are jaw-dropping, "I can't believe you just said that!", kinds of opinions, so I better not see any of you writing stuff like the following examples:

"UNPOPULAR OPINION: The bullying with Rick went too far." (Yeah, no duh)

"Am I the only one who doesn't feel sorry for Rick?" (Darling, have you been on any Degrassi discussion board ever?)

"I can't be the only one who thinks it's the principal's fault for letting Rick back into the school." (Not even close)

I promise that someone has voiced your sentiments many times before. Degrassi fans have been discussing this moment for over twenty years. Heck, even my essays have reiterated common talking points on the subject. My goal with this series is for people to consider all sides of the debate and demonstrate the shades of gray it entails. Degrassi fans should understand that just because others react to the Rick arc differently than they do, it doesn't make them bad people (or naive depending on what opinion you have). This is something to take into account in all areas in life. If you share a common goal with someone you know, and you have different ways of reaching that same goal, then you and that person are not enemies.

On that note I will say this: it doesn't matter if you feel sorry for Rick or not. Empathy or lack thereof doesn't stop school shootings. It is perfectly okay to have no empathy for Rick; he has a wrap sheet of sins that he has to answer for, but if you were the kid in the situation, sitting back and letting the bullying occur would still bring about the tragedy. Some argue that Rick was a ticking time bomb and state that nothing that anyone did could have prevented the school shooting. That couldn't be further from the truth. In most tragic cases, there were moments where someone could have stepped in and taken action, but nothing was ever done until it was too late. There were many times in episode 4x07 where if someone had made the right choice (Rick, Spinner, Alex, Jay, Raditch), things would have turned out very different. You may think that Rick deserved the bullying, but it was the bullying taken to the extreme that set him off. Doesn't matter if this has been supposedly debunked in the years after these episodes were made. This is the story of Rick that the writers wanted to tell: it is about perpetuating a cycle of violence. It began with Rick; it was continued by the student body; and it ended with Rick. The show made it clear that, under no circumstances, Rick got an excuse for resorting to a gun. Some people include this in their reasons not to feel sorry for Rick, but they miss the point that this is when everyone loses their sympathy for him. It goes without saying that the moment you start to shoot innocent people, it proves difficult to take your side. Similarly, no one in their right mind would justify any of the abuse that Rick afflicted on Terri. It's after the therapy, seeing a change in Rick's demeanor, and recognizing that the bullying went too far where the window of empathy begins to open for him. It is immediately slammed shut again once we see him reach for the gun.

Imagine those who ever felt sympathy for Rick in the format of a bell curve. When we're first introduced to Rick being abusive, we want him to be stopped. When he returns to Degrassi, we don't care. When it becomes clear that the punishment has dissolved into constant bullying, our sympathy is on the rise, and finally, at the end of his arc, when he brings a gun to school and shoots Jimmy, there is no more sympathy left to give.

As stated before, that is beside the point. This is about doing the right thing regardless of whether or not you think the victim is a saint. After all, this is a show for teens. Innocent or not, it would not be very responsible for the writers to advocate bullying. Remember these episodes aired five years after Columbine, and all we knew about school shootings at the time was that the killers claimed to have been bullied profusely. We also have to remember that Rick is not a full-grown adult here: he's sixteen like the rest of his peers who detest him. There is plenty of opportunity for growth and change in a sixteen year old. One cannot say with absolute certainty that this was an inevitable outcome, especially if you're one of those who argue that Rick shouldn't have been at Degrassi the following year. Here you are making an argument that the shooting wouldn't have happened had Rick chosen another school, and that may have very well been the case. Maybe he would have gotten along with peers at another school, gotten himself in trouble and suffered the consequences of his actions, thus forcing himself to actually change now that his record has been soiled. Even at Degrassi, if Jay and Spinner hadn't have lied to Rick about the prank, there was a possibility Rick would have just gone home and canceled his plans that day. We don't truly know, but boy there were many chances for this to have gotten better. One fact, however, remains indisputable: the blame all falls at Rick's feet. He made a choice, and that choice cost him his life in the end.

[zayadriancas]

Islands In The Stream

“If you let him treat you like garbage he’ll keep doing it.”

[degrassi-fandom-confessions]

rick looked like the princess diaries girl

[degrassi-ship-war]

Qualifying Round (Group 5):

The character with the least votes will be eliminated. The other four will move on to the main tournament!

[silly-boozer]

happy Friday the 13th! I'm watching a bunch of horror movies today. Here's something cool to show you guys.

When I was looking through all the DVDs in storage I found this Ghostbusters behind the scenes booklet which is pretty cool. It came with my set of the first and second movie.

some pictures are really bad quality and bad lighting I apologize

front and back cover:

inside

I'm also watching the first movie commentary on my DVD which I am taking notes on and might post later