"We'll ask the crowd at the assembly tomorrow and see what they say; would you rather vote for the freak, or the queer." — Alex threatens Marco's campaign

 

“King of Pain”
Season 4, Episode 3
Information
Can. Airdate	September 21, 2004
U.S. Airdate	October 8, 2004
Prod. Code	403
Writer(s)	Shelley Scarrow (story) Sean Reycraft (story) Sean Reycraft (teleplay)
Director(s)	Stefan Scaini
Episode Guide
Previous	“Ghost In The Machine (2)”
Next	“Mercy Street”

"King of Pain" is the third episode of Season 4 of the Canadian television series, Degrassi: The Next Generation. It originally aired on September 21, 2004 on CTV Television and on October 8, 2004 on The N. The episode was written by story editors Shelley Scarrow and Sean Reycraft and directed by Stefan Scaini. It shares its episode title with a song of the same name by Sting and The Police.

Summary

Marco runs for Student Council President, but he could lose more than just the presidency when he finds out who his opponent is: Alex. Meanwhile, Emma becomes jealous as Liberty gets closer to Chris.

Main Plot

Marco reveals his sexuality to his mom but doesn't tell his homophobic father, as he isn't ready yet. But when he decides to run for School Council President, his opponent (Alex) decides to play dirty politics by threatening to reveal his homosexuality at the Election assembly, which his dad is going to attend. Many of Marco's friends, including Paige, Craig, Spinner, and Hazel, are shocked when they learned that Alex is going to run.

Once the day of the big debate comes, Alex reveals her campaign as her being a "freak", but even though she threatened Marco about his sexuality, she decides to keep it a secret, deciding at the last minute that it is wrong to use homophobia as a winning tactic. However, Marco ends up winning the presidential position and, in a move of forgiveness, happily makes Alex his vice president. This makes Ellie, who's already friends with Marco, become friends with Alex quickly.

Subplot

Liberty has a crush on Chris. Emma finds out about Liberty's crush, and tries to prevent Liberty from going with Chris anywhere. Although Manny is originally all for helping her best friend, she decides against it when Emma tells her that the reason she is embarrassed is that she would never want people to know that Chris dumped her only to go out with Liberty, referring to Liberty as unattractive.

Manny tells Liberty, deciding that Emma was being too harsh, and Liberty quickly ends her friendship with Emma.

v - e - d Season Four Episodes

Ghost in the Machine (1) • Ghost in the Machine (2) • King of Pain • Mercy Street • Anywhere I Lay My Head • Islands In The Stream • Time Stands Still (1) • Time Stands Still (2) • Back In Black • Neutron Dance • Voices Carry (1) • Voices Carry (2) • Bark at the Moon • Secret (1) • Secret (2) • Eye of the Tiger • Queen of Hearts • Modern Love • Moonlight Desires • West End Girls • Going Down the Road (1) • Going Down the Road (2)