Originally posted on Tumblr. See the preceding installments for more.
Part 3c.
We left things off on sort of a cliffhanger in 3b. Still on the subject of Daniel Raditch, we answered two questions related to him, which I've included below alongside my corresponding responses:
- Could Raditch have prevented tragedy from happening? (Yes, he could have and should have.)
- Could Raditch have prevented Rick from returning to school in the first place? (Unfortunately, no.)
For those of you that are wondering, "What do you mean Raditch couldn't keep Rick away? He put her in a coma!" This is why this essay exists. In part 3c, and this will be the last of part 3, we will look at Rick's abusive history with Terri in detail in order to better understand why Mr. Raditch couldn't just prevent Rick from enrolling in classes at Degrassi. Four factors come into play here: (1) lack of evidence; (2) no witnesses; (3) the locations of Rick's abuse; and, most importantly, (4) Terri's failure to report the abuse as it was happening. In this essay, in order to examine the details in which the abuse occurred, I will be recapping events that occurred in episodes "Whisper to a Scream" (3x08), "Never Gonna Give You Up" (3x10), and "Don't Dream It's Over" (3x17). Buckle up, buttercups: this is going to be a long one, so make sure you carve out some time to read.
How it Began
Our introduction to Rick's character happens way back in episode 3x08 "Whisper to a Scream". He is portrayed as the shy but endearing hopeless romantic who is also Terri's love interest/secret admirer, the latter unbeknownst to Terri at first.
Rick anonymously tapes roses to Terri's locker for her to receive. Even though Terri wants Rick to be her admirer, she doesn't believe that he is due to her own insecurities. Finally, she waits after school to find out who's leaving her roses, and...her wish comes true! It's Rick! They kick things off pretty quickly, and by episode 3x10 "Never Gonna Give You Up", they are officially dating. The writers did a stellar job at gradually revealing Rick's true nature to the audience. Bit by bit we see his layers unravelling: from him being threatened by Terri and Jimmy's friendship; to him ordering for Terri at the Dot; to him insisting that Terri should listen to his stage directions and not Jimmy's even though Jimmy is the director. Finally, half way through 3x10, we see Rick's true colors.
The Abuse
Incident #1
After Terri takes Rick's poor advice (or a poor interpretation of his advice: whichever), she embarrasses herself on stage the day of the final performance, and everyone laughs at her. We then cut to Terri and Rick walking home behind an alleyway. Rick seems to have forgotten about what happened to Terri at school, but Terri hasn't. She's short with him in this scene, curtly asking him to talk about how, thanks to his pointers, she was mortified in theater class. Rick seems annoyed here and doesn't think there's anything to discuss. Terri continues, saying that she "looked like an idiot...because of [Rick]."
Rick, offended by her tone of voice, takes matters into his own hands quite literally. He grabs Terri's wrist and twists her arm around. He proceeds to tell her, as he's squeezing her, that he doesn't like her tone and that it makes him feel stupid. We then cut to a shocked and frightened Terri pleading for Rick to release her hand.
On or off School Grounds?: Off
Any physical Evidence?: Yes: the bruise on Terri's wrist.
Were there additional Witnesses?: No
Incident #2
Terri approaches Rick in the gym as he's striking the set for Marco's play. It's the day after Rick assaults her for the first time, and they have since made up. She asks for his permission to go to Paige's girls exclusive party. Rick then slaps his girlfriend across the face after she tells him he's being crazy for not wanting her to go without him: a boy. I can attest that he is definitely being unreasonable here.
Details:
On or off School Grounds?: On
Any physical Evidence?: Yes: the cut on the corner of Terri's mouth
Were there additional Witnesses?: No
Incident #3
Terri is storming home from Paige's place when she encounters her boyfriend along the way. Rick apparently wanted to profess his love for her, which was the reason why he waited for her to get home, or so he claimed. Then we learn the real reason why Rick was lying in wait for Terri: he wants to set a rule that only applies to her. If she agrees to his terms, she can only see her friends during school hours. Terri ignores this, walking past Rick and saying that she needed some time to think. Rick accuses her of wanting to leave him, which Terri denies. She claims to love him, but says that he's suffocating her. This is when Rick pushes Terri into the cardboard wall back first. After this incident, Terri has finally had enough of being pushed around, and she dumps Rick on the spot.
Details:
On or off School Grounds?: Off
Any physical Evidence?: Inconclusive, though we can infer that her back had been bruised
Were there additional Witnesses?: No
We can conclude that Terri told her friends all about Rick as the final scene in this episode shows her talking to Jimmy and Hazel in the halls. There seems to be a happy ending here. Yeah, Rick is crazy and abused Terri, but she broke up with him, and if Rick tried anything, her friends would come after him in a heartbeat. It was clear that Terri felt safe around her friends and wasn't worried about Rick, especially after she made it clear that she wasn't just going to take him back after all that he did. We learn in episode 3x17, however, that her own dad was left in the dark about Rick's abuse, let alone the principal. It's great that Terri found comfort in confiding into her friends and that she handled the situation quite well for a fifteen/sixteen year old girl, but this should have been the time where she informed some adult in her life about what Rick had done to her. Nonetheless, the bruises fade, the only evidence that proved that Terri was abused, and life goes on as if she never met him.
The Weekend Trip
A few months later, the Grade Ten Circle is having a weekend getaway. Paige’s folks are out of town and left her the car keys, and so far it's a double date with Paige/Spinner and Hazel/Jimmy. That Saturday, all four friends are at The Dot when, to their dismay, Terri catches up to them...with Rick right behind her. What was presumably the day before, Rick apologized to Terri after class for his behavior and said that he missed her. His delivery was convincing enough for Terri to take him back. After all, Terri didn't want to be the fifth wheel on her friends' roadtrip.
While Rick and Terri are dining off separately, the other four deliberate on whether or not they should include Rick on the road with them. After a brief discussion, the group decides it's best to keep their friends close and their enemies closer, concerned about Terri's welfare if they leave Rick behind without any of them being there to look out for Terri, who would most likely stay behind if Rick did. Spinner was actually the first one to suggest this, which I was both impressed and touched by. Spinner has always had a soft spot for Terri it seems, and in the scene at The Dot, he was the one being the most tactful about the situation rather than letting his feelings about Rick get the better of him. This is probably the one time in the entire Rick arc where Spinner thinks with his head instead of his fists.
The party of four is now six, but that doesn't stop Paige from being hostile. When they arrive at the park, Rick sits on the front of Paige's van and encourages Terri to do the same, but Paige rudely tells him that she'd rather not have him do that. Rick insists that he's not causing any damage to the vehicle, but before their little spat can continue, Terri warmly invites Rick to sit on the picnic bench with him. He relents, sliding off the vehicle and accepting Terri's invitation. You can see all the other guys, who were just sitting on the bench seconds before, move away once Rick saunters over. The message is clear: no one outside of Terri wants him there. We can see Rick is mildly aggravated by the time he joins Terri, yet his girlfriend consoles him and tells him not to worry about Paige.
Unfortunately this isn't the end of their feud. We cut to a later scene where Rick momentarily separates from Terri to join Spinner and Jimmy, who we see tossing a frisbee back and forth between each other. Paige uses this opportunity to sit and talk to Terri. She gently urges her to come hang out with Hazel, but Terri politely rejects the offer. Then Paige extends an invitation for her to hang out with the girls later that evening, but Terri is receptive of Paige's real motives this time and insists that there's nothing to worry about. At this point, Paige ditches the pleasantries and cuts straight to the chase. "So what, you've just forgiven Creep Boy for beating you up?" She says to Terri. Terri then says that Rick apologized for what happened before. "Of course!" Paige retorts. "His type always does so they can...get another shot in at you."
Rick, of course, overhears the ordeal. It's not like they were exactly whispering. He comes out from behind the van and immediately gets into it with Paige, telling her she's a vicious backstabber among other things. They go back and forth for a bit, until Paige goes in for the kill, hurling the worst insult in her arsenal for Rick at Rick. "Well I'd rather be that than a psycho!"
We can see that she hit a sensitive spot with him. He storms off into the woods but not before kicking Paige's van in the process. Everyone around them has stopped what they were doing as they watch Paige and Rick yell at each other. Once Rick is out of sight, Terri stands from her seat and confronts Paige. She takes sides with Rick, saying that she's tired of Paige pushing her around and telling her what to do.
"Fine." Paige says. "If I'm such a bad friend then go after him. Go!" Ironically she proves Terri right: Paige is telling her what she should do yet again. This leads us to the fourth and final incident.
Incident #4
Terri catches up with Rick, and she finds him...pulling up cinder blocks? Kicking the dirt and pacing in a circle? It's a little strange, I must admit. He's taking out his anger on the soil...for now. Terri apologizes about Paige and politely asks Rick to calm down. Surprisingly he cooperates, then continues to say that he's happy that they're back together. After their small display of affection, Terri encourages Rick to come back, holding his hand and moving back from where they came. In the same instant, you can see Rick closing his fingers around Terri's hand, refusing to go back to the main group, insisting instead that they walk the other way.
Terri isn't interested. "It's really far." She says to Rick, and she's probably right. There's a reason why they drove all the way out to the park. It's completely reasonable to not want to walk back into town, but Rick doesn't see it that way. "She called me a psycho." Rick jerks Terri back towards him, his tone tight. Terri is frustrated that Rick isn't seeing the big picture. "That's just Paige being Paige." She tells him.
The old Rick resurfaces, and he holds Terri in place with a vice grip, his hands now squeezing both of her elbows. "And that makes it okay? Do my feelings mean nothing to you?" I'll try not to reenact the whole scene, but Rick's anger continues to escalate, he accuses Terri of choosing Paige over him, and refuses to let Terri go as she tells him that she wants to return to the group. Rick is so angry that he's stuttering over his words. "You c-c-can't leave, do you understand?" He says in a shaky voice.
"Rick, you're hurting me!" Terri says, and she appears afraid.
Rick yells at Terri in his second most infamous moment. "You're not going. You're not! NOT! NOT!" He pushes her back as Terri is trying to pull away, and their combined forces cause Terri to fall to ground, her head crashing back against a cinder block, which knocks her out cold. When Terri doesn't move, Rick's anger is replaced with panic and alarm. Eventually Paige and Spinner make their way towards the two, and Rick, panicking once he sees the pair, runs off deeper into the woods, leaving his unconscious girlfriend behind.
Details:
On or off School Grounds?: Off
Any physical Evidence?: Yes. Her head injury.
Were there additional Witnesses?: No: not at the moment of impact.
Here's a Recap of what Happened:
Number of times Rick abused Terri: 4
Number of Times Terri sustained physical injuries: 3/4
Number of times the abuse happened on campus: 1/4
Number of times there was a third party to witness the abuse: 0/4
What's the Point?
We reflected on Rick's history of abuse in detail to prove that there wasn't much that Raditch could do to prove that Rick was a danger. It all comes down to there being no evidence that holds up, no witnesses, and the locations of most of the abuse being off campus, especially the coma incident. The closest any third party comes to being a witness is with Paige and Spinner; however, they only showed up after it happened. They correctly fill in the gaps in their minds about what went down before they arrived, but unfortunately having a strong hunch isn't enough to prove that someone is guilty of aggravated assault. The biggest reason why Raditch couldn't pin Rick to his crimes is the fact that the victim, Terri, did not advocate for herself, which appears to be a major plot hole. I believe it has everything to do with the fact that the writers were done with Terri's character, and they used this storyline as a way to write her character off.
The principal's jurisdiction begins and ends at school, which means that anything that happens outside of Degrassi is not his responsibility. True, we the viewers have seen what Rick is capable of. Terri's friends know what he's capable of, but they have no evidence to support their claims. It's one thing if the victim is coming forward; it's another thing if only the third party is coming forth. The only way they can prevent Rick from returning to the school is if they can prove he is guilty of aggravated assault, which would convict him, thus preventing him from enrolling in classes at Degrassi.
Alas Terri did not report Rick because she physically could not report Rick as she was in a coma. If her head injury didn't knock her into unconsciousness, there was a great opportunity for Terri and her father to go to the cops, report him, resulting in Rick getting this crime on his record, thus preventing Raditch from enrolling him in the following academic term. Sadly, that's not how the events played out. Because both Terri and her friends failed to get adult help when they found out she was being abused by her boyfriend, there was no intervention until it was too late. Terri's recovery was prioritized over ensuring Rick suffered any consequences, which makes sense. It also appears that Terri's dad never went to law enforcement from what we've seen on the show, which again, seems unlikely given how upset he was to learn that Rick had struck his daughter many times before. Again, this is probably due to the fact that the writers were done with Terri storylines after this. My prediction is that Rick's parents helped Terri's dad pay for any necessary expenses surrounding Terri's injury to smooth things over. I also imagine Rick's parents to be the kind of people who had connections in high places and pulled some strings in order for their son to avoid any institution time. Sadly it is Terri who gets the short end of the stick as she is the one most affected by the aftermath above any and all of her friends. It's noble for them to advocate on her behalf, but there truly wasn't much Raditch had to work with in order to keep Rick out of Degrassi. Like we learned in a deleted scene, Terri, the person whose life was most threatened by Rick's presence, no longer went to Degrassi. If this were straightened out in an actual episode, I feel like fans would have more closure about why Rick could return to school. We'd still be enraged that Rick got away with aggravated assault, since his only consequences seem to have been taking therapy sessions. We don't truly know about Rick's socioeconomic status, but if his parents can afford him therapy, it's safe to assume that he comes from a decently privileged background.
An Alternate Solution
That's not to say that there wasn't anything Raditch could do. He could have had a meeting with Rick and his mom, explaining to both of them that if he were to continue his education at Degrassi, he would be at odds with the other students. He could have expressed to the Murrays that he may have had a harder time getting on with his pupils because of last year's events. He could have also sat down with the students who opposed Rick and sympathized with their feelings, clarifying that he understood where they were coming from, even if he was going to allow Rick to enroll in classes at Degrassi. Something as simple as taking the grievances of his students seriously, coupled with threatening disciplinary action if they decided to harass Rick, would have been a step in the right direction and could have prevented this tragedy from happening. Though while he certainly wasn't principal of the year, I don't believe that Raditch is to blame for letting Rick return to Degrassi, which is beyond unfair, but, unfortunately, life is never fair.
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