Take On Me

"It's a Swiss Ball!"
— Sean doing the Mr. Raditch impression.

Take On Me is the sixteenth episode of Season 3 of the Canadian television series, Degrassi: The Next Generation. It originally aired on February 16, 2004 on CTV Television and on June 11, 2004 on The N. The episode was written by story editors Aaron Martin and Sean Carley and directed by Phil Earnshaw. It shares its title with the song by A-ha.

Summary[]

Ellie attempts to get the best news to put on television from Degrassi's worst who are stuck in Mr. Raditch's Saturday detention.

Main Plot[]

Five Degrassi students end up in detention for different reasons. Hazel for surfing porn, Jimmy and Toby for trying to change Jimmy's grade, Sean for telling Raditch to go to hell (for 8 solid weeks, as he said proudly) and Ellie "supposedly" for skipping class. Sean is playing with a ball when it hits the ceiling and it drops on Ellie's bag. Sean apologizes and Ellie says it's fine, but later pulls out a tape recorder to make sure it is okay, in which she uses it to get the truth out of Sean about the stolen school property but has some doubt when he doesn't judge her for cutting.

After a while, the five of them bond and go on a spontaneous adventure throughout the school. They also play truth or dare and the students make Hazel kiss Toby. They go down to the basement, where Jimmy finds the keys, and the students go in the elevator which leads to the roof.

On the rooftop, Toby gets over his fear of heights, Hazel and Jimmy start going out, and Ellie and Sean get closer. Jimmy finds a locket belonging to someone and gives it to Hazel when he kisses her and says it was for making her kiss Toby. Ellie is laying down with Sean and they begin talking, and getting to know each other. Sean says, "You're not scared of me," and Ellie says, "You're not freaked by me..." and then shows him her cuts. "Still not freaked?" Sean just grabs her hand. Toby crawls over to the edge of the roof, and he sees Simpson and Mr. Raditch and quickly hides. He hears Simpson telling Raditch that life is too short to be in detention. Raditch is about to change his mind when he catches Toby looking at him on the roof, the five students hurry back to detention positions so they don't get caught.

When Mr. Raditch finds evidence of escape, Toby takes the blame and the kids are released. Right before Ellie volunteers for taking a group hug photo, her tape recorder falls out and it is revealed that she only came to detention to get the best story from the other students for her co-op. The other four look at her in disgust and Sean smashes the tape.

On Monday, all detention attendees are friends, excluding Ellie. After the realization that Ellie meant no harm and hands him the tape that has him confessing to his crime, Sean forgives her, and the episode ends with Ellie holding Sean's hand and smiling.

Sub Plot[]

Mr. Simpson has finally come back to work after a long break of chemo and talks to Daniel Raditch about it.

This episode is based on the 1985 film The Breakfast Club: the plot line of five students in detention and the characters sharing the same personalities.
This episode is named after the song "Take On Me" by A-ha.
This episode marks the beginning of Hazel and Jimmy's relationship.
This episode marks the beginning of Ellie and Sean's relationship.
This episode also ended the rivalry between Sean and Jimmy.