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"I like it at Degrassi—or I used to. I was horrible, but I've changed. All those people who hate me, I wanna show them who I really am—show them how wrong they are."
— Rick's explanation for returning to Degrassi.

Richard "Rick" Murray (1988–2004) was a major recurring character on the Canadian television series, Degrassi: The Next Generation. He dated Terri MacGregor, but their relationship turned abusive and resulted in Terri landing in a coma. He was expelled for this, but let back in the following year, and soon after, he brought a gun to school. Fortunately, he did not kill anybody. However, before he could kill co-prime target, Emma NelsonSean Cameron wrestled him for the gun and killed Rick by accident. Before his death, Rick also had Emma at gunpoint and shot Jimmy Brooks, permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. Rick managed to make one friend in Toby Isaacs. All of Rick's bullying culminated Degrassi through a storyline that changed its history forever. Rick was portrayed by Ephraim Ellis.

Character History

Background

Rick was an only child who was bullied by many Degrassi students. As a result of getting bullied, he hurt his girlfriend, Terri, by accidentally putting her into a coma. He was expelled, but returned to Degrassi, only to be hated even more for what he did to Terri. Rick gets bullied by Jay, Spinner and Jimmy and was going to shoot Paige, but she said something that changed his mind. He shot Jimmy and attempted to shoot Emma. Sean tried to fight Rick for the gun when Rick was trying to shoot Emma, but Sean accidentally pulled the trigger, resulting in Rick's death.

Season 3

In Whisper to a Scream, he anonymously leaves Terri MacGregor roses at her locker and is later caught by Terri. He then makes his confession - that it was him leaving the roses all along. The two get into a relationship but it turns abusive. When there was a school play at Degrassi, Terri gets the lead role and Jimmy gave her great tips in rehearsal, while Rick gave some pretty bad tips. During the play, Terri takes Rick's tips and embarrasses herself in front of the entire school. Afterwards, Terri says she should have listened to Jimmy. This leads Rick to believe that Terri has more of a crush on Jimmy than himself. Rick retaliates by hurting Terri often and later apologizing, because of his 'fears of her leaving him for Jimmy', who was still single at the time. At first, Terri disapproves, but after Rick pushes her into a wall again, she dumps him.

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Rick and Terri in season 3

Months later, Terri and Rick are forced to be partners in a trust exercise. Terri fears this at first, but Rick promises he'll catch her, and he does. Terri and Rick end up back together at the end of the class. At first everybody is shocked, still remembering what Rick did months ago, and they get even more surprised when Terri wants to invite him to the road trip Paige is having when she gets the family van to herself.

Over the next few days, Terri tries to convince everybody that Rick's changed, and when they stop at a park during the trip, Paige and Rick get into a fight, which leads to Paige calling him a psycho while he runs into the forest. Terri runs after him and tells him that Paige was just being Paige and they should go back. Rick, being mad since he thinks that his feelings mean nothing to Terri, pushes her to the ground where she near-fatally hits her head on a cinder block, putting her into a coma. Afterwards, Rick was expelled from Degrassi, and Terri transferred to a private school.

Season 4

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When he returns and has to repeat his tenth grade year because of his expulsion, everybody is still mad at him for what he did the previous year. The other students feel that he should not be in the school, but Mr. Raditch disagrees.


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Paige and Emma begin a silent protest with orange ribbons, which leads Rick to find himself the victim of bullying and violence. Boys in the hall begin spontaneously shoving Rick around, smashing him into the lockers.

When even Jay was beating up Rick in the same spot where he hurt Terri twice, Emma realized this had gone too far, and that what she did was wrong. She defended him before Alex joined in. Emma then goes against the protest and talks to him that day after, leading them to become acquaintances. Rick also developed a secret crush on her afterward.

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Emma confronts Rick upon his return to Degrassi.

Despite one person now going against the protest, the bullying continues. When Rick shows up at the spirit squad car wash Jimmy tells him to get lost and sprays the back of the car with a hose as he drives away.

As the bullying continued by the likes of Jimmy, Spinner, Jay & Alex, Rick started taking matters into his own hands such as vandalizing their property, and insulting them to their faces.

When paired up in the "Whack-Your-Brain" competition by Mr. Simpson, Toby Isaacs then became his friend. The two even had friendly competitions, like a "Kiss Emma" contest and a "Who can kiss the most girls" contest. When Rick was losing the latter, Toby paid Darcy Edwards $5 to kiss Rick, feeling sorry for Rick. Darcy did so, not knowing about the abuse to Terri, and Jay ended up shoving Toby in a locker after witnessing the event.

After "Whack-Your-Brain" teammate Heather Sinclair becomes ill with Mononucleosis before the competition, Jimmy was forced to become a contestant alongside with Rick. After Jimmy noticed that Rick isn't so bad after all during practices, and realized that the bullying had gone too far, he became friendly towards him, and even defended him against Jay, Alex, and Spinner Mason. Rick soon believes that Jimmy & Emma are his friends much that to Toby’s confusion, but plays along for his mother, afterwards Rick thanks Emma for helping him, and hints his feelings towards her, aware of all is silent but dismisses it, and tells her she’s happy for him.

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Rick being iced out by the Degrassi students.

On the "Whack-Your-Brain" finals where Rick is teamed with Toby, Jimmy and Emma, Degrassi is tied with the other school. Rick is chosen to break the tie and he wins for Degrassi. Rick then gets yellow paint and feathers spilled on him due to a prank set up by Jay and Spinner, and activation by Alex. Humiliated and laughed at by the entire school, he storms off stage, where Emma follows him and tells him to ignore what happened. Believing Emma is professing her love for him, tries to kiss her, but she immediately shoves him and says she only pitied him and tells him to stay away from her. Now heartbroken, he goes home, where his parents are nowhere in sight. and goes through his father’s belongings and finds a handgun which he intends to use on Emma. He was also going to shoot Paige (believing she was the one who organized the prank), but after she expresses her sympathies and admits that she was disgusted with the prank, he changes his mind. They also forgive each other about Terri.

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Rick Murray's bullying reaches the breaking point

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Jimmy and Spinner throw Rick in the dumpster

Rick then cleans himself off in the washroom. He appears remorseful and smiles, ready to finish his day, when Jay and Spinner walk in. Rick hides in a stall as Spinner tells Jay that Mr. Raditch knows. Jay then notices the yellow paint (which Jay dumped on Rick) in the sink and sees Rick's feet in the stall. He then starts talking about how well Jimmy played his part. Spinner, also noticing Rick, plays along and talks about how Jimmy was an inside man. Rick hears this, and goes after Jimmy, shooting him in the back and goes after Emma (who was the person he intended to shoot first) who is with Sean Cameron and Toby. Sean points out that Rick has a gun and the three try to walk away. Rick closes his eyes with the gun in his hand and yells at them, "Don't turn away from me!" Sean tries his best to convince Rick to put the gun down and is almost successful but Rick points his gun at Emma. Sean grabs the gun in an attempt to stop him. Toby yells "Stop!" A gunshot is heard, and they both fall to the ground. It is revealed later that Rick has been accidentally killed by Sean.

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When Danny Van Zandt and J.T. Yorke are mad at Toby for being friends with a "psycho", Manny Santos tells them that Toby would've never became friends with Rick if J.T. hadn't ignored Toby and hung out with Danny all the time in the first place. J.T. then reflects on (and regrets) all the things he said to Toby. Toby ends up going to Rick's memorial service, when J.T. shows up as well, after learning his lesson from Manny. Sean is then treated as a hero, but is having trouble expressing his feelings about the shooting. He then moves back with his parents in Wasaga Beach, after having a huge fight with them when Sean sees them express their feelings about the shooting and crying (even though they kicked him out). Mr. Raditch gets transferred to a new school because of the shooting, and Ms. Hatzilakos takes his place as principal.

Jimmy is hospitalized and paralyzed from the waist down, as well as confined to a wheelchair. Spinner, feeling guilty for what he did to Rick and indirectly Jimmy (while wishing he had been Rick's friend from the start and defended him as Jimmy later did), confesses to what he and Jay told Rick. Jimmy and Spinner are in the gym when Spinner says, "When that paint was dumped on Rick, we told him that you did it." Jimmy replies, "And then he shot me.." Jimmy rolls away and Spinner is left alone.

Degrassi Minis

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In the 2008 Degrassi Halloween special, it is the 3-year anniversary of the school shooting. Holly J., Jane, Mia, Danny, Derek, Sav, and Anya stay to help set up the Degrassi "Harvest Dance". Holly J., who was in charge, left to go to her locker to get the raffle tickets. In her locker, she found Rick's glasses, which still had yellow paint on them, and picked them up. Rick then took over her body after he chased her to the music room. Meanwhile, Jane calls Spinner and tells him to come join the others at the dance. Spinner refuses, feeling guilty on the shooting's anniversary. Rick then proceeds to kill most of the students there until Spinner came and apologized for bullying him all those years ago. He then realizes he's dead and then resets everything to before he killed the students. Rick is finally at peace and moves on.

Appearances

Trivia

  • He is one of many Degrassi students who don't go by their full name, his full name being Richard.

Relationships

Main article: Terri-Rick Relationship

Quotes

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  • "Uh, hi um…yes you've caught me." (First line) - Whisper to a Scream
  • (To Sean, Emma, and Toby): "I already shot someone." (Last line/Last words) - Time Stands Still (2)
  • "I didn't want it to have to come to this."
  • Jimmy: "I've got your back."
    Rick: "You stabbed me in the back." - Time Stands Still (2)
  • Terri: (About Paige) "I am so sorry."
    Rick: "Paige does not matter. SHE DOES NOT MATTER!"
    Terri:"Please, Rick. Calm down."
    Rick: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just so happy...that we're...together again. *kisses Terri* We're made for each other."
    Terri: "Come back. Ignore Paige."
    Rick: "No, let's walk."
    Terri: "It's really far."
    Rick: "She called me a psycho!"
    Terri: "That's just Paige being Paige."
    Rick: "...That makes it okay? Do my feelings mean NOTHING to you?"
    Terri: "Lets go...Rick..."
    Rick: "Don't you DARE choose Paige over me again. DON'T YOU DARE!"
    Terri: "I'm going back."
    Rick: "You can't leave, you understand?"
    Terri: "Rick, you're hurting me!"
    Rick: "You're not going. Not. NOT. NOT!" - Don't Dream It's Over
  • (To Sean, Emma, and Toby): "DON'T TURN AWAY FROM ME!!" - Time Stands Still (2)
  • (To Emma) "I'm glad I found you, Emma. You made my list." - Time Stands Still (2)

Gallery





Interaction

Friendships Relationships Conflicts Attractions
Toby-Rick Friendship Terri-Rick Relationship Paige-Rick Conflict Rick-Emma Attraction
Spinner-Rick Conflict
Jimmy-Rick Conflict
Emma-Rick Conflict
Jay-Rick Conflict
Alex-Rick Conflict
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