Degrassi Junior High

"Bottled Up" is an excellent Degrassi Junior High episodes. In this episode, we find out that Kathleen's mom is alcoholic. This explains Kathleen's attitude and behaviour. She's basically one of the orginal mean girls on Degrassi and it's because she has a messed up home life. I feel so bad for Kathleen. It's so sad that her mom missed that quiz show. I love how Rick try to explain his situation with his dad. The subplot was so cute with Scooter and Max trying to be cool so they imitate everything that Rick does. I give this episode a 9.5/10.

Kathleen is a part of the Quest for the Best team, and although she is smart, she is driving everyone nuts with her stuck-up attitude. Her little facade comes to an end when the team goes to her house, and her alcoholic mom embarrasses her. The cat is out of the bag: Kathleen doesn't have the perfect life: she has a mom who abuses alcohol and a father who works too much and isn't really involved with her life.



Rick, whose own life hasn't been easy, walks her home after the show and talks to her about her problems. What a stand-up guy!



Scooter and another little dude want to be "cool" like Rick. They only see him exterior- rough and tough - but they don't know about the real Rick- the one who was beat up by his father and is now living with an older brothers.



This episode deals with people's perceptions of others. What we see on the outside is not necessarily indicative on what's going on on the inside! A must-see!

This episode is a pivotal point in the series. Up until now we have Kathleen as the nasty snob; rubbing everyone else's problems in their faces and like she's the model of perfection. But here we see what she has been covering up. We see her home; her drunk mother on the couch, and her dad away on yet another business trip. So she's pretty much on her own. The Quest for the Best team learns about her too; when none of them can have them over to watch the tape because they either have too much company or don't have a VCR, they know Kathleen does have one because she brags about it. Moral of the story; watch what you brag about. I love watching Max and Scooter trying to break out of the nerd image. Rick is considered a troublemaker but not a nerd. And they choose to emulate him. Good to show someone starting to smoke, and finding it to be disgusting. And they become cool by giving Rick their tickets to the show, and having him say "thanks buddies". "He called us buddies!" It's so sweet. Caitlin and Rick were getting close up until this point, until Rick walks Kathleen home. Poor Caitlin. But she's done good by talking to Rick about it and getting his perspective. And that happens to a lot of people who try to do good.