DEGRASSI: AFTERMATH - S08E16 - MOTHER
Disclaimer: I don´t own Degrassi or the characters from it.
1. Int. Basement. Day.
Lisa is helping Sally with her homework.
Sally:
You´re saving my butt big time, Lisa.
Lisa:
If I can do it for Chrissy, I can do it for you.
Sally:
I promise, I won´t call on you again, unless it´s an emergency. I just need to get this thing with my mom out of the way and hopefully my brain will go back to normal.
Lisa:
I guess, it´s like when I had to tell mine, that I also like girls.
Sally:
Except you weren´t giving up on a lucrative career.
Lisa:
No, even if I was planning on becoming a call girl or something, it would only expand my customer base!
Sally:
You´re a weirdo!
Lisa:
Still, you can´t help liking me, can you?
Sally:
Well, you got me there!
Chrissy comes down the stairs, looking excited.
Chrissy:
I´m a success!
Lisa and Sally look at each other, both a little puzzled.
Lisa:
Do you have a secret life, we don´t know about?
Sally:
I would call her successful, at least in the romance department.
Chrissy:
I´m also a success in the acting department!
She reads from her phone, with a smile on her face.
Chrissy:
"Last night´s episode of CTV´s late night crime drama "A Canadian Crime" will be one to look out for come awards season and cements the series as a new heavyweight in the genre. The brilliant conclusion of the episode, only makes us want to know even more, who killed Audrey." I didn´t even know, that my character´s name was Audrey!
Lisa:
I guess, it wasn´t "need to know".
Sally:
Congratulations, Chrissy. You lucked out big time.
Lisa:
I´m happy for you too.
Chrissy:
Thanks. Paige thinks, that they´re sure to call on me, for a follow up episode.
Sally:
Aren´t you dead?
Chrissy:
They can do a flashback or have me appear as a ghost, who knows? I´m so excited! I have to tell Jamie.
She hurries up the stairs again.
OPENING CREDITS
2. Int. Car. Day.
Paige is driving, with Sally and Lisa as her passengers. Sally nervously checks her phone.
Sally:
We´re gonna be late. She hates having to wait for people.
Paige:
I can´t make the other cars get out of the way for us! We´ll make it in time, don´t worry.
Sally:
Thanks for coming with me, Lisa.
Lisa:
You´re welcome. The way you talk about her, I´m expecting her to have horns!
Sally:
The devil hides his minions better than that!
Lisa:
She can´t be that bad!
Sally:
I can never do anything right, if you ask her. It´s taken me most of the last year, to get her negative ways out of my system.
Paige:
Just remember, that you have a family, who loves you, in us. We won´t abandon you, no matter what.
Sally:
Thanks. I love you guys too.
She tries to hide her nervousness.
3. Int. Airport. Day.
Sally is nervously waiting with Lisa and Paige, when she sees her mother Edna, a fancily dressed and very skinny woman in her 40´s, come out with the other passengers. Sally smiles.
Sally:
That´s her. MOM!
Edna sees them and walks over to them. She looks at Sally sternly.
Edna:
Don´t stand there and yell like some bofoon! I raised you better than that!
Sally looks apologetic.
Sally:
Sorry. I was just excited to see you again. It´s been a long time.
Edna:
You´ve gained weight.
Sally:
A little, yeah.
Edna:
It doesn´t suit you. Hello, Paige.
Paige (who´s already getting enough of how she talks to Sally) fakes a smile for her.
Paige:
It´s nice to finally meet you.
Edna:
I wouldn´t have come, if it hadn´t been important. Who´s this girl?
Lisa sticks her hand out.
Lisa:
I´m Lisa, a good friend of Sally´s.
Edna:
You´ll forgive me, if I don´t shake your hand. I can´t know, where it´s been, can I?
Lisa:
Silly of me.
She puts her hands in her pockets in stead.
Edna:
Now, if you don´t mind, I´d like to get out of this filthy place.
Paige:
Follow me.
Edna walks next to Paige, while the girls walk a little behind them.
Lisa:
Is she always like that?
Sally:
More or less. I can´t wait to get this over with.
They head for the exit.
4. Int. Kitchen. Evening.
Paige and Spinner are talking.
Paige:
You should have heard the way, she talked to Sally. I wanted to smack her!
Spinner:
Hasn´t violence got you in enough trouble already?
Paige:
You know, I can´t take it, when people mistreat their kids. Women like her, shouldn´t be allowed to have them.
Spinner:
Can you stay civil with her, for Sally´s sake?
Paige:
I suppose, I´ll have to.
Chrissy and Sally come in, ready to start cooking.
Chrissy:
The little ones are taken care of for the evening.
Sally:
Let´s get cooking!
Spinner:
We all heard the lady!
They get to work.
5. Int. Adam´s Room. Evening.
Lisa and Suey are babysitting Adam and James. They´re eating pizza. James is REALLY enjoying it and makes loud "mmm" noises with every bite.
Suey:
You sound satisfied with the pizza, James.
James:
My dad makes the best pizza!
Lisa:
No arguments there!
James:
I still don´t understand, why we can´t eat with the grown up´s.
Lisa:
They´re having an evil witch over for dinner!
Adam looks scared.
Adam:
A witch? In our house!
James:
They´re lying to you. Witches aren´t real.
Suey:
You don´t think, witches are real? Have you heard of Willow Rosenberg?
James:
No.
Suey:
She was a good witch, who fought against demons with her best friends Xander, Giles and Buffy.
Lisa:
Buffy was a vampire slayer!
Adam:
Vampires are real too?
Suey:
Mmm, they are.
James looks sceptic.
James:
Why aren´t everyone scared of them all the time, then?
Lisa:
It´s something, we don´t talk about. It´s just too scary a subject, but all us adults know, that they´re real.
Suey:
I wouldn´t worry, though. It´s been hundreds of years, since one was spotted in Canada.
Adam lets out a sigh of relief.
Adam:
If one does come after us, a vampire slayer can save us?
Suey:
Yes. In every generation, one girl is chosen to fight the forces of evil. She is the slayer.
Adam:
Wow!
Lisa:
For Willow, it all started, when Buffy moved to Sunnydale in California. Buffy had just been kicked out of her school in Los Angeles, after she burned their gym down. So, her mom moved her there, to get a fresh start.
James:
Why did she burn the gym down?
Suey:
It was full of vampires!
Lisa:
Can you take hearing more?
The boys look full of suspense and nod.
Suey:
What her mom didn´t know, was that Sunnydale was built on the mouth of hell and that an evil, ancient vampire was planning on rising and taking over the world!
Lisa and Suey wink at each other.
6. Int. Living Room. Evening.
Sally is showing Edna the house, Chrissy is with them.
Sally:
This is the living room, center of the house.
Edna:
I had no idea, that I´d left you in squalor.
Chrissy:
Hey! You´re talking about the house, I´ve lived in all my life!
Edna:
I´m sure, it´s fine for a common girl like you.
Sally:
Actually, Chrissy was in the episode of "A Canadian Crime", that aired yesterday.
Edna:
Really?
Chrissy:
You could say, that it was the main part. I played the murder victim.
Edna:
Meaning, that you just had to lie there?
Chrissy:
Pretty much, but I had to lie perfectly still, or the shot would be ruined.
Edna:
That not really acting, is it?
Chrissy:
I think, it is.
Edna:
When they can replace you with dummy and no one would know the difference, you´re nothing more than a glorified piece of set dressing. At least, not in my book.
Chrissy tries to swallow her anger.
Chrissy:
Sally tells me, that you´re a useless excuse for a human being, who´s never done anything with their life!
Sally tries to step in.
Sally:
Maybe you should check on your brothers!
Chrissy:
They´ll be fine. I want to hear, how your mom can defend talking down to me, when she´s never worked a day in her life.
Edna:
I was born into money. I´ve never needed to work.
Chrissy:
I suppose, you´re proud of that?
Edna:
I can´t see, why I shouldn´t be. We have a rich family tradition.
Chrissy:
Oh, so do we. My grandmother became pregnant, when she was 14 and had to fight tooth and nail for everything, she has. So did my parents and you know what? I´m damn proud of them!
Edna:
Good for you! You´re still not an actress, though.
Chrissy:
On second thought, I´d better check on them.
Chrissy hurries out.
7. Int. Adam´s Room. Evening.
Lisa and Suey are vividly re-enacting Buffy for Adam and James. They´re fighting with broom sticks.
Lisa:
Then Angel, who´s had centuries to master the art of sword fighting, does a fancy move with his sword, that makes Buffy drop hers.
Suey drops the broom stick and the boys hold their breath in suspense.
Lisa:
And he´s like all cocky and stuff. Saying that without her friends, what´s left? He then tries to stab her with his sword, but Buffy, with her eyes closed, blocks the sword by closing her hands on the blade!
She stabs the broom stick at Suey, who grabs it.
Suey:
Buffy just replies: Me!
James:
Yes!
Suey takes the broom stick and starts wailing on Lisa, until she´s pinned against the wall.
Lisa:
At the same time, Willow performed the soul restoration spell and it worked, but it was too late. The statue had already started to open!
Adam:
Oh, no!
James:
Relax. The world is still here, isn´t it?
Adam:
I guess so.
Suey:
That´s only because Buffy made the ultimate sacrifice. Angel got his soul back and she gently kissed him, before she stabbed him through the heart, so that it also pierced the statue. It sucked him into hell and she´d saved the world again. This time, at the prize of her one true love.
James:
Is he still in hell?
Lisa:
No, the Gods decided to set him free and he started a detective agency, that´s helping the helpless in Los Angeles.
Adam:
Why?
Lisa:
Apparently he has a vital role to play in the apocalypse!
Adam:
What´s the aplopapl .. what you said?
Suey:
We´ll get to that story some other day.
Lisa:
We don´t want to spin off too far, from the one we´re telling.
Chrissy comes in and smiles at the sight of them.
Chrissy:
Here I thought, you might get bored!
James:
They´ve been telling us scary stories!
Chrissy eyes Lisa and Suey, who look apologetic.
Chrissy:
What kind of scary stories, have you been filling their impressionable minds with?
Lisa:
The real life tales of Buffy, the vampire slayer.
She winks at Chrissy, who winks back at her.
Chrissy:
Have they told you the one, where Cordelia gets sucked into a hell dimension, she herself unknowingly created?
Suey:
We haven´t got that far yet.
Chrissy:
It´s funnily enough ringing true right now. It sure taught me, to be on the lookout for vengeance demons!
James:
What are they like?
Chrissy:
Oh, you´ll find out!
Chrissy smiles to Lisa and Suey, before leaving them again.
8. Montage- Music: "Buffy - The Vampire Slayer Intro" by Nerfherder.
We see Edna being seated for dinner. She looks unimpressed, even as Sally explains, what they´re having.
We see Lisa and Suey doing kicks and punches in the air, while pretending to be Buffy and Faith, the other vampire slayer. They get the boys involved too, to their amusement and Suey pretends to "stake" Adam, who pretends to die.
We see Paige having to excuse herself from the table, as Edna´s behavior has become too much for her. She goes down to the basement and pounds and kicks a punching bag to get it out of her system. When she comes back up, she´s calm again.
We see Lisa and Suey re-enacting the episode Hush, with paper hearts in stead of real ones. They see, that they might have scared Adam too much, so they give it a happy ending in stead, that makes him smile.
9. Int. Living Room. Evening.
Dinner is over and Chrissy is clearing the plates.
Chrissy:
Don´t worry about the dishes. I´ll take care of it.
Spinner:
Thanks, Honey.
Chrissy leaves them with her arms full of dishes.
Edna:
Can we finally get to, why I came here? I hope, that I didn´t fly here for something, we could have done over the phone.
Paige:
Sally has been doing much better, since she moved in with us.
Spinner:
Her grades have constantly improved, she´s made lots of friends and she clearly loves living here.
Edna:
Is that true, Sally?
Sally:
I really have it good with Paige and Spinner. I want to continue living here.
Edna:
I can´t see why not. It´s close to the set.
Sally:
It´s not just the geography. They´ve made me feel from day one, like I was a part of the family. They´ve also helped me reach a big decision. I´m quitting acting. I don´t want to be a child star anymore.
Edna looks mad at her.
Edna:
That´s out of the question! Did you put her up to this?
Paige:
It´s what she wants. If you´d been here, you would have seen too, that it´s what´s best for her.
Edna:
This? You must be joking! She could be going to premieres with movie stars and eating at fine dining restaurants every night!
Sally:
That´s not what I want!
Edna:
You´re 16! You have no idea, what you want!
Spinner:
Hey, lady! You can´t talk to her like that, in her own home!
Edna:
I´ll talk to my daughter, how I please. Come, Sally. I´m getting you out of here.
She stands up, but Sally doesn´t budge.
Sally:
I´m not going anywhere. You gave birth to me, but they´re my real family.
Edna:
Stop talking that nonsense.
Sally:
Is it nonsense, that I love cooking with my dad, having girl´s nights with my sister or reading bed time stories to my little brother? It isn´t to me.
Paige:
I´ve held my trap long enough, but if you don´t get out of my house right now, I can´t guarantee for the consequences. How dare you, talk to her like that and come in here and insult us?
Edna:
I wouldn´t expect common people like you to understand.
Spinner:
Here´s one thing, us "common people" understand. That you´re not worth a damn as a parent and if Sally wants to stay here, then here is where she stays!
Edna:
You´ll be hearing from my lawyer!
She storms out, grabbing her coat on the way. Sally follows after her.
10. Ext. Garden. Evening.
Edna storms out. Sally catches up with her.
Sally:
Mom, wait.
Edna:
Go back to your real family. Isn´t that what you called them?
Sally:
They feel like that, because you never tried to give me one! You were too self obsessed to care, what I wanted! The same goes for dad!
Edna turns around and makes eye contact with her.
Edna:
What about me? This might seem like heaven to you, but it´s not what I want! I like going to parties and premieres, where I get to feel like a someone. I thought, you were the same.
Sally:
I wish, things could have been different, but this is how it is. I want to be a normal kid.
Edna:
You´re too young to know, what consequences it has on your future. What else are you gonna do?
Sally:
I´m student body president, for one thing.
Edna:
Big deal, you won a teenage popularity contest! It won´t mean anything in the real world!
Sally:
Maybe not, but it showed me, that I can be what I want to be. I´m not sure, what that is yet, but it will be a normal job.
Edna:
Do you hate acting that much?
Sally:
It was fun, when I was little, but it hasn´t been in a long time. It´s felt like something, I was forced to do. The fun has gone out of it and it´s not coming back.
Edna:
What am I gonna tell my friends? Having a famous daughter was the only thing, that made me special. Without that, I´m nothing more than another divorced woman, who´s never held a job and still has to mooch off her family.
Sally:
That can´t be my problem. You´ll have to figure out, who you want to be, like I do.
Edna sighs.
Edna:
I suppose, I should be proud. I never had the courage to stand up to my parents. It was decided before I was born, that I would marry rich, give him lots of children and live happily ever after.
Sally:
The world doesn´t work that way, does it?
Edna:
No, it doesn´t. I hope for you, that you´ll find the life you want down here. Don´t worry about me, or your dad. At the end of the day, all both of us wanted, was what was best for you. It didn´t occur to us, that you knew, what that was, better than we did.
Sally:
Is it okay, if I hug you? You are still my mom, after all.
Edna:
Of course, it is.
They hug. Edna´s hard exterior finally collapses and she starts crying.
11. Int. Living Room. Evening.
Lisa, Chrissy and Suey come down with Adam and James.
Chrissy:
How did it go?
Paige:
As expected, considering that the woman is a lunatic.
Spinner:
Said the woman, who threatened her with violence.
Paige:
I only hinted at it! Anyway, she deserved it.
Adam:
We had fun.
Paige and Spinner are immediately cheered up by Adam´s innocent smile.
Spinner:
What did you do?
James:
Suey and Lisa told us stories.
Adam:
I want to be a vampire slayer, when I grow up!
Spinner and Paige eye Lisa and Suey, who look very small all of a sudden.
James:
Didn´t you hear them? It can only be a girl!
Adam:
Then, I want to be changed into a girl! Can I, Dad?
Lisa and Suey see the influence, they´ve had on him and cringe.
Spinner:
We´ll talk about that some other time, buddy. It´s bedtime.
Lisa:
We should get going!
Suey:
There´s so much, we need to do before we go to bed!
Paige:
Like what?
Lisa:
You know, mow the lawn, trim the hedges, walk the cat ...
Suey:
Have it spayed. We´ve been meaning to do that.
Lisa (whispering to Suey):
Good one!
Suey (whispering to Lisa):
I hope, you have more. It´s the only one, I could come up with!
Spinner:
See you tomorrow, girls.
Lisa/Suey:
Bye!
They hurry out of there and almost run into Sally.
Sally:
Bye guys. Thanks for looking after them.
Paige:
I don´t see it happening again, any time soon.
Adam:
Will you read me my story tonight, Sally?
Sally:
Of course, I will.
Chrissy:
I´ll make sure, that his teeth are brushed and he´s ready for you, when you get upstairs.
Sally:
See you in a minute, Adam. Sweet dreams, James.
James:
You too, Sally.
Chrissy leads her brothers upstairs.
Spinner:
What happened out there?
Sally:
We had a way overdue talk. She still has tomorrow here, so we´ll try to spend the day together.
Spinner:
What about the acting?
Sally:
She seems okay with it. Either way, she´ll just have to live with it.
Paige:
We´re both proud of you. It took guts to stand up to her.
Sally:
I couldn´t have done it, if it wasn´t for your support.
Spinner:
You´re doing the right thing. You had to put your own well being first.
Sally:
I meant, what I said. Paige, you´re more like a mom to me, than she´s ever been or will be and Spinner, you´re the dad, I always wished, I´d had. I never knew, that I was such a daddy´s girl, until I met you!
Spinner:
We´re just happy to have you here.
Paige:
We quickly found out, that the house wouldn´t be the same without you.
Sally smiles to herself and looks happy.
CLOSING CREDITS
