Degrassi Junior High

"A Helping Hand" is an excellent but also creepy Degrassi Junior High episode. In this episode, a substitute teacher named Mr. Colby tries to seduce Lucy. He was so creepy. I love how Wheels goes back to school to get his books and he catches Mr. Colby being all creepy, and he basically saves Lucy from being raped. I love how Lucy gave L.D. a makeover. And I love how Joey and Snake were trying to get Simon to join their band. I give this episode a 10/10.

Mr. Radich has an emergency appendectomy, and won't be able to teach for a while. The whole class is excited and thinks that the sub will be a "fossil who can't get a real job". Enter Mr. Colby, a good-looking teacher who wins the affection of many of the girls. He takes a special interest in Lucy. Unfortunately, his interest turned into almost molesting the poor girl. Wheels and L.D. try make Lucy understand that she has to report the guy, but she doesn't want to. She is afraid. This won't be the last Mr. Colby will walk the halls of DJH....

This episode shows how people handle loneliness wrong. A good follow-up on Lucy's handling loneliness in What a Night, and with the parties. And here is the last place where Voula is mentioned; that she moved to the suburbs. And Mr Colby is, well, he doesn't even look all that attractive, it may be his being very friendly that makes him attractive. But he later shares that he is recently divorced. Another vulnerable state of life. And again, LD asks Lucy if she gets lonely. But Lucy doesn't have that different a life from LD; LD lost her mom, and her brothers are moved out, so they both spend a lot of time alone. It's interesting how Lucy talks about how "neat" it was to spend more time as a family, but now that they're busy again, she doesn't mind. And good follow-up on her court case, and Voula's parents not wanting her to see her. It's good, though, to see how Wheels handles getting glasses, and how Joey and Snake handle it too. And how good it was that Wheels was staying after and caught Mr Colby just before he started kissing Lucy. I loved it when he barked "Derek! What are you doing here?" And how he offered to be a witness for her if she needs. The part where Simon joins the Zit Remedy is amusing, though it doesn't last. And it seems mothers think alike on sexy clothes; Alexa got grounded when her mom found them, and Stephanie always talks of how her mom would ground her for life if she caught her wearing them.

This episode was centered around the theme of lonliness. Lucy's parent's are never home, and her best friend Voula has moved away. She tries to put on a brave face, but it's apparent how empty she feels after Voula calls to tell her she won't be able to visit on Saturday. That's why she feels so special when Mr. Colby starts to show her a lot of attention. This is how many lonely people feel when they enter a friendly, or moreso a romantic relationship. Lucy was so ecstatic that someone, anyone was willing to show her attention that she didn't even realize what was really going on until Mr. Colby took it too far.



I loved the actor that played Mr. Colby. He came off perfectly as a guy who seemed really nice, but had that creepy look about him. I was pretty freaked out by his "stare".





This episode title complemented the episode perfectly: Lucy tried to help L.D. look pretty, Lucy helped Mr. Colby after school, Mr. Colby helped himself to Lucy, Ms. Avery helped Wheels by tutoring him, and Simon helped the Zits by being their new bassist. This just goes to show that "a helping hand" in need is a helping hand indeed.

In a very important episode of Degrassi Junior High, Lucy who previously got caught shoplifting meets her new idol Mr. Colby. He is the subsitute for the hated Mr. Raditch. It looks like all the girls have the hotts for him and so does Lucy as she is now getting A's on all her papers but LD doesn't find him to be cool as she sees him looking down Lucy's top, she thinks he's dangerous and she's right. Then after school he starts touching Lucy and Wheels sees him and she goes home crying and tells LD everything. Then she tells Mr. Colby she'd never stay after school again, "not in a million years." Anais G. (Lucy) blew me away in this episode and it was one of her best performences of the series.