7 Unpopular "Degrassi: The Next Generation' Opinions

I have to admit, I have been unapologetically binging Degrassi: The Next Generation and it's hard to keep all of these opinions to myself. It's been pretty fun too look at the show with an adult eye and see how things have changed from when I was a teenager.

Let's look at the top 7 unpopular opinions about Degrassi: The Next Generation. It's impossible to fit all of the hot takes into one article - such as feeling like the show should have ended before it did and the adult storylines went too long, but I think you can settle with these. What are some of your unpopular opinions about Degrassi?

7. Spinner deserved Darcy

We love to say that terrible people deserve terrible things, right? Well... in this case, that really happened when Spinner started dating Darcy. The couple's relationship started as what could seem like Darcy about to be taken advantage of, but what really happened is that one of the least likeable characters got exactly what he deserved.

The couple started dating when Spinner returned to Degrassi after the shooting and he was quickly introduced to Christianity by Darcy. After initially revealing he wasn't a virgin and cheating on her, Spinner turned things around and became the most supportive boyfriend Darcy could have asked for. He respected her desire to remain abstinent, supported her Spirit Squad endeavors, ended his friendship with Jay, and even became a "born-again virgin." The tables turned when Darcy cheated on Spinner by selling racy photos on social media and basically did everything she used to chastise him for. They were a trainwreck and Spinner deserved every bit of it.

6. Alex and Paige could have been bigger than Marco and Dylan

Degrassi TNG was amplified into the teen stratosphere when the show boldly tackled the subject of sexual identity with their first openly gay character, Marco Del Rossi. Marco didn't remain the only gay teen on the show and while we all loved Marco's connection and relationship with Paige's older brother, Dylan, we could have had an even stronger LBGTQ+ relationship if Paige and Alex would have been handled differently.

In the beginning, Paige and Alex became friends when they started working together at a movie theater, but it became something more when Alex made a move on Paige after the premiere of the Kevin Smith movie. In my opinion, what ultimately killed their relationship was pressure. Paige was under immense pressure to succeed in college, all while Alex struggled to live up to the expectation of what fit into Paige's life. "Palex" always outshined Marco and Dylan because, in my opinion, they actually wanted to be together and they had a lot more in common. Sometimes life just gets in the way - especially at Degrassi.

5. Liberty and J.T. were never meant to be

Everyone's heart exploded when at long last, Liberty got up the courage to kiss J.T. What made us even happier was when J.T. actually gave his longtime admirer a shot at his heart. Not long after they became a couple, they became teen parents, broke up, and placed their baby up for adoption.

It's easy to say that Liberty never deserved J.T. for the sheer fact that she acted like she had no responsibility for the situation they found themselves in, but the reality was that J.T. didn't really deserve Liberty either. He couldn't support their life together without stealing and he remained quite immature in general. He tried to redeem himself before his untimely death, but Liberty continued to blame him for everything. We loved seeing them give it a try, but they just weren't the match we wanted them to be.

4. If Spinner got expelled, Peter should have been too

Let's face it, Peter got away with a hell of a lot since he came to Degrassi and it all came from the privilege of being the principal's son. Right off the bat, Peter made an explosive entrance when he took advantage of a drunk Manny and broadcasted a video of her breasts to the whole school. As if that wasn't bad enough, Peter was involved in illegal street racing and was an accomplice in Sean's hit-and-run. That was after he broke into Sean's locker and planted drugs to get him expelled from the school. Oh, we can't forget when he took racy photos of Darcy and showed them to strangers in chatrooms - one of whom stalked Darcy.

If Ms. Hatzilakos expelled Spinner and Jay for bullying, she could have easily sent Peter back to private school as swiftly as he came. Allowing him to stay at Degrassi led to him getting involved in even more messy situations, forming a band, and getting into meth. Basically... Peter became another Craig.

3. Emma was a terrible friend

Pretty much any criticism of Emma in the early Degrassi years came from her being far too judgmental of just about anyone who didn't agree with her. When Manny wanted to change her image, she was called a slut by Emma. When Manny got involved with Craig and wound up pregnant, she was met with pro-life criticism from Emma. When Peter showed Manny's breasts to the entire school, Emma started dating him in secret. We also can't forget when she got an STD from Jay while he was still dating Alex, or when she tried to sabotage Liberty's crush on Chris because she was too embarrassed of him dating her next.

The bottom line is Emma was a pretty lousy person and an overall bad friend. In my opinion, Emma and Sean were a match made in heaven because they both suffered from a victim complex and had the attitude from hell to show for it.

2. Spinner should have dated Terri, not Paige

While Spinner didn't really remain high on our list of "good guys," but it's hard to deny that he was great with Terri. Back in season 1, he showed a lot of interest and never seemed to care that she was a plus-size girl. He even asked her to dance with him at Degrassi's first nighttime dance. A desire that was sabotaged when Paige got Terri drunk so she could have Spinner all to herself.

After that, Spinner had a really cute heart to heart with Terri when she wanted to quit modeling. She was embarrassed of being a plus-size model and he told her that she was pretty and said anyone who doesn't think so is jealous of what she has. Spinner ultimately wound up with Paige and Terri wound up in a coma because she stayed in an abusive relationship with Rick. Needless to say, I think she would have had a great series ending if Spinner would have dated her and not Paige. He also might not have gone down the path he did.

1. Degrassi Community School should have been closed

Yeah, yeah, we know Degrassi was a fictional teen drama and it was fun watching it all unfold. However, when it comes to the many indiscretions that occurred at the Degrassi Community School, I think it's safe to say that any real school would have been shut down a long time ago. I don't know what kind of Toronto community the school and its rival schools served, but needless to say it's implied that it wasn't the best.

Between a school shooting, a student being stabbed to death, a gonorrhea outbreak, teen pregnancy, hate crimes, sexual assaults, a group of kids dedicated to stealing school property, multiple students repeating grade levels, and much more... the fact that the community insisted on cramming more kids into that school as opposed to spreading them away from the school is questionable.