I'm the same age as Zachery Ty Bryan. I remember when this episode first aired. It was such a joke of an episode. We knew the writer was trying to make some sappy little solution to school violence. Instead, they made a thoughtless, cruel episode that does the opposite.
And of course the episode has the standard Breakfast-Club-style caricatures: the jock, the nerd, the tough guy, the rich snob, and the good girl. Those distinctions aren't so clear in reality.
The way they resolved it is so so so wrong, and so so so damaging to kids who watch the episode. They resolve the problem in the end by all of the bullies saying to their victim that they need to feel sympathy for their bully. The snobby girl's, "I laughed at you when you asked me out, but YOU need to forgive ME"... really? What did this episode hope to accomplish? Make victims of bullying feel even more victimized? More ignored? More dismissed? If I were in that position and saw this episode, knowing that my own bullies do see them selves as better than me and more worthy of sympathy, knowing that my own bullies in reality would never show any care for me at all, this episode would've nudged me in the wrong direction. Fortunately I wasn't in that exact position. I was a defeated bullying victim. And I knew that anything I did in return to them would only make me as bad as they were, so I refused ever to fight back. But I'm sure a lot of kids saw this episode and were only reminded of how they're treated every day and that NO ONE UNDERSTANDS and NO ONE CARES.
And of course the episode has the standard Breakfast-Club-style caricatures: the jock, the nerd, the tough guy, the rich snob, and the good girl. Those distinctions aren't so clear in reality.
The way they resolved it is so so so wrong, and so so so damaging to kids who watch the episode. They resolve the problem in the end by all of the bullies saying to their victim that they need to feel sympathy for their bully. The snobby girl's, "I laughed at you when you asked me out, but YOU need to forgive ME"... really? What did this episode hope to accomplish? Make victims of bullying feel even more victimized? More ignored? More dismissed? If I were in that position and saw this episode, knowing that my own bullies do see them selves as better than me and more worthy of sympathy, knowing that my own bullies in reality would never show any care for me at all, this episode would've nudged me in the wrong direction. Fortunately I wasn't in that exact position. I was a defeated bullying victim. And I knew that anything I did in return to them would only make me as bad as they were, so I refused ever to fight back. But I'm sure a lot of kids saw this episode and were only reminded of how they're treated every day and that NO ONE UNDERSTANDS and NO ONE CARES.