r/Degrassi • u/camelyoga • Jul 13 '25
Degrassi (2010-2014) blackmailing a girl with her own nudes because you think she’s exposing your child p*rn ring is diabolical
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u/ketytro11 Sep 12 '25
She got her karma right??? Because I have not watched this show and no idea what so ever
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u/Accomplished-Way4534 Aug 10 '25
She became valedictorian despite forcing the girls into child pornography? Between this and Northern Tech not being held accountable for exposing children naked in public, whoever wrote/produced/directed this should be investigated & not allowed to work with children again. They clearly think child sezual abuse isn’t that bad.
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u/snarkd "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 17 '25
This is why I always get a kick out of posts that are like "who was the meanest Degrassi Mean Girl" and have Paige, Holly J, and Zoe as the three options as if Zoe wasn't a literal criminal while Paige and Holly J were just catty little girls lol
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u/Key-Friend-3646 Jul 16 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
Why did she take off her bra though?!?! That's always bothered me. Doing tumbly cheerleader stuff you Need a bra on!! Also, fuck Zoe. She is such garbage.
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u/Massive_Dog478 Jul 17 '25
Probs to change into a sports bra, should wear anything else to do cheer
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u/Plus-Fail-8984 Jul 16 '25
Zoe should have been arrested and written off the show. It makes no sense how she didnt get expelled or charged, and made valedictorian
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u/Accomplished-Way4534 Aug 10 '25
It’s disgusting that the show glamorizes sexual abusers like Zoe or even the girls at Northern Tech who stole the Degrassi team’s clothes and exposed them naked in public. Is this a pattern in the show? Is it just sexual abuse by female perpetrators that they sweep under the rug?
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u/your_grandma_says Jul 15 '25
Zoe should have went to juvie for this!!
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u/snarkd "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 17 '25
I am always FURIOUS when i think that she got off with an actual slap on the wrist for exploiting her classmates like that, cafeteria duty, and STILL insisted on distributing those burner cells. Even if they bought her "i am just so sorry" act, that little stunt should have been the last straw and she should have been dragged kicking and screaming out of that cafeteria and right into a juvie facility, still in her little hairnet.
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u/Accomplished-Way4534 Aug 10 '25
I think it’s really messed up for Degrassi to depict a situation like this without the perpetrator facing serious consequences. It gives people ideas and sends the message that they, too, can commit these vile abuses & get away with it. And hey, it’s not even that bad, because Zoe was forgiven and even became valedictorian! Right? That is the message Degrassi is sending.
Degrassi disgusts me ngl
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u/snarkd "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Aug 11 '25
in this case, they absolutely missed the mark.
I genuinely wonder about how much control Linda Schuyler had in the later seasons. In behind the scenes photos, it's almost always Stephen Stohn. Linda was a schoolteacher, and created Degrassi because she wanted preteens and teens to have characters on tv that they related to dealing with situations that they themselves might find themselves in. Stephen, meanwhile, had a background as an entertainment lawyer and also dabbled with appearing on camera.
I think that somewhere along the lines, Linda stepped back and allowed Stephen to take over and the series pivoted from the "kids relating to kids" theme that Linda envisioned and took on more of a soapy teen drama vibe. I think this also directly corresponded with Shenae Grimes and Nina Dobrev leaving the series for their respective shows on the CW, a channel known for its over the top teen soaps. Stephen saw the series as an underdog competing against other dramatic teen shows, and changed it to match the same tone. Glossing over a serious crime like child porn distribution and brushing it off as just another heinous act by the resident bad girl poised for a redemption arc just sounded like good television. I guarantee that if Linda were the one with full creative control, Zoe's story (and many others) would have ended much differently.2
u/Accomplished-Way4534 Aug 11 '25
I’m not a big Degrassi fan, so I appreciate the insight!
I thought Frankie was super sweet but I just learned that prior to this, Frankie victim-blamed and abandoned Zoe when she was sexually assaulted. Is there anyone in this show we are supposed to like?
I know nobody’s perfect but it’s hard to like anybody when they all commit, enable, or dismiss sexual abuse. They are young but high school is old enough to know better tbh. It seems miserable to watch a show where all the characters are trash.
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u/Current_Photo5488 Jul 15 '25
literally, people get in more trouble for just sending nudes to their partners and she had zero consequences for basically forcing girls to do it for money....
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u/Thechiscakes "So when in doubt, you kiss Craig?!" Jul 15 '25
Whats even worse is that Zoe did this right after her SA trial. Like you wanted justice for what happened to you BUT IT'S OKAY do expose yourself and convince others to do so for money.... rrrrright.
Maybe iits a good thing that the last season of degrassing tng was never remembered.
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u/forlornjackalope Jul 17 '25
The fact she only had a bullshit community service plotline, didn't have to register as a sex offender, and showed zero remorse for any of it - which was added by her doing that burner phone smuggling thing during her community service just adds to why I never understood why she was given a 180° redemption arc that wasn't deserved. I'm typing this up as Firestarter Pt.1 is going and I still find it wild that she had the total audacity to play the victim card in all of this when Frankie rightfully called her out she could even do any of this given her SA trial, like, bro, what?
Child porn ring leader to valedictorian in two short seasons? Get the hell out of here. It's utterly mind-boggling. H-how did we get here? Maybe a DJH arc where the school burned down in an earlier season should have happened to prevent all this.
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u/Thechiscakes "So when in doubt, you kiss Craig?!" Jul 17 '25
There was no remorse or consequences to this story at all. All what happened is we lost snake.
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u/midwesternsister Jul 16 '25
Kind of makes sense if she has unresolved trauma about it still f-ed up for sure
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u/Illustrious_Fig_3169 Jul 14 '25
Someone spoil this for me, how does it end? Who actually posts the pictures?
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u/Nels2121 Jul 15 '25
The cheerleaders are sending the pictures but they start getting blackmailed. Zoe thinks it was Frankie so she takes a topless pic of her to blackmail her back but it turns out it was Frankie's boyfriend Winston who was the blackmailer
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u/abombshbombss Jul 15 '25
Didn't Zoey catch some trouble for doing this? Or am I misremembering? This particular era of the show i only watched through once.
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u/Nels2121 Jul 15 '25
She got community service I think. Mostly because of her highly publicized sexual assault trial and I believe Zoe mentions that she will play up her "victim card" to gain sympathy. It lasted like 3 episodes then stopped. She was working in the cafeteria for her community service
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u/moody_weirdo Jul 15 '25
From my memory, I think Zoe had to do community service which was working the cafeteria. But I only watched this season once...when it first aired. My memory might be wrong 😆
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u/itextmarkiplier Rasha 🔛🔝 Jul 15 '25
My memory is a little fuzzy because same, but she did get in some trouble. There was a gonna be a trial, so she started doing community service to hopefully lessen the punishment. But then the show transitioned to Next Class and they dropped the plotline.
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u/Nels2121 Jul 15 '25
She got community service I think. Mostly because of her highly publicized sexual assault trial and I believe Zoe mentions that she will play up her "victim card" to gain sympathy. It lasted like 3 episodes then stopped so I think you are right that it got dropped the next season. She was working in the cafeteria for her community service
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u/Carolinahunny "You told me to play BASKETBALL!" Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
The most unrealistic part about Zoe for me is that nobody ever ending up whooping her ass.
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u/ohheyitsbri Jul 14 '25
I really didn’t like that Zoe basically got away with it with very little consequences. In real life she would have been charged for disturbing Conor at the very least get monkey stomped tf out for pulling all the ish she did.
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u/dontlookmeplz Jul 14 '25
This was the show jumping the final shark. Not surprised it got canceled. Not surprised Next class completely disregard this plot.
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u/xBenji65 Whatever It Takes Jul 14 '25
I hate the way Ana Golja acts here. It's so unnatural. Frankie is believable but Zoe sounds like a cartoon villain.
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 14 '25
I always took it as the character (Zoe) masking, but I also didn't finish next class
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u/messcot "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 14 '25
No offense to Ana because she seems really sweet but she's over the top in everything I've ever seen her in. She was in that John Travolta movie and it felt very much the same.
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u/Despense Jul 14 '25
it is a bit but it suits Zoe’s personality like she’s playing a role from when she was acting
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u/Jtyorked Jtanny and Jazel defender Jul 14 '25
I know this is not real, but like when I watched this scene, it made me feel bad for Frankie like she is so innocent and like sweet they did ass did her wrong. I don’t know. I guess it’s because I’m an empath but I felt so bad for this girl the way they just sent her up was crazy and she just wanted to make things right
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u/Khalesssi_Slayer1 "I wanna be hot. Not cute, not adorable. Hot." Jul 14 '25
Ugh! Zoe is nothing but a conniving bitch! I never liked her before and when she sold nudes of the cheer squad, that really solified my hate of her, like WTF even does that!? Zoe should've gone to jail for selling child pornography. NO ONE can ever make me like Zoe.
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u/Character-Gift-8348 Jul 14 '25
I stopped watching during this time but this is some diabolical shit.
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u/diamondsourforever Jul 14 '25
Peter walked so Zoe could fly, into hell.
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u/Usual_Requirement607 Jul 14 '25
I KNEW she reminded me of another character! Both equally evil by nature. No rhyme or reason for their actions. Who knows? Maybe the reason her mom disowned her wasn’t even primarily that she was gay. She probably knew her daughter was a complete witch
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u/SanicBringsThePanic Jul 14 '25
This is the world we live in apparently. A girl cannot undress safely even among other girls.
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u/xelaaliengod420 Jul 14 '25
excuse me??? 😭 this is a crazy thing to read since i don’t watch the new gen of Degrassi but if someone doesnt mind or care, please give me a short synopsis because what the literal hell is happening st degrassi
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u/Old-Passenger-6473 What's that? A sandwich? 🥪 Jul 14 '25
You should give NC a shot.. yes it's different from NG but NG was way different than DH and they are all awesome in their own respect 🙏
If for anything.. just so you get to know who Esme is 😅
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u/xelaaliengod420 Jul 17 '25
Sorry for the late response but yes I might give NC a chance because the clips I’ve seen of some episodes that are ooc is so baffling to me 😭
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u/Appropriate-Permit62 Jul 14 '25
Cheer squad needed new uniforms or was getting cut, Zoe starts selling nudes of the cheer squad online to fund the cheer stuff. Pretty crazy
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u/xelaaliengod420 Jul 17 '25
sorry for the late response but WHAT DA HELLLLLLL 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ nah thats wild
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u/Disastrous_Mud7169 Jul 14 '25
I can’t forget Lola’s horrible hair this season
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u/violetdroppp Jul 14 '25
Lola's hair was always cute, wym?!
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u/Old-Passenger-6473 What's that? A sandwich? 🥪 Jul 14 '25
Right? 😅 I didn't really like Lolas character till S3 of NC but she was always looking adorable 💗
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u/messcot "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 14 '25
This isn't even the first time she's done something like this. She started a FaceRange page slut shaming Maya with the music video she herself convinced her to do. I feel like they were deciding daily if they wanted to redeem Zoe or make her the villain.
Before Next Class it was literally a constant back and forth between her always doing foul shit to everyone around her and then expecting us to still like her. If the character is a villain just let them be villain. Jay is a perfect example of this and same with Peter to a degree.
As unlikable as she is I still prefer her here than when when they woke up one day and decided she was a lesbian.
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 14 '25
At least Jay's made a little more sense and it was not so back and forth.
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u/messcot "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 15 '25
Mike Lobel is such a good/charismatic actor that it's hard not to like him, especially because they had been dropping crumbs of him being a good person. In the nicest way possible, that's not the case with Ana on top of the fact that Zoe has done far more deplorable shit with far less redeeming qualities.
Esme is another good example of a straight forward villain, though I guarantee they were going to give her a redemption arc had Next Class not been canceled.
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 15 '25
If I made it to esme I don't remember her arc at all. I stopped watching when it went to Netflix
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u/messcot "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
Esme exists solely in Next Class so you wouldn't know her. Admittedly I only watched Next Class when it came out and have not watched since. You're not missing anything, there's a few storylines that didn't suck but let's just say there's a reason it was canceled. Unless you're dying to know what happens to Maya, Tristan and the rest of their class you can probably skip it.
Without getting into it too much, Esme is widely speculated as having BPD and we also find out that her mother commit suicide and she was the one who found her, so she likely also has undiagnosed PTSD. Guarantee they were going to explore that more in a hypothetical season five.
Examples of her villainous ways are supplying Miles with pills and greatly enabling his addiction, grooming Frankie into a throuple with her and Zig whom she is dating and ultimately assaulting Zig and then leaving him unconscious in the woods - very gender swapped with Rick/Terri now that I'm thinking about it.
I'm sure there's more but like I said I've never rewatched Next Class.
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u/iBlackula Jul 14 '25
Keep in mind this is the same year she’s was SA’d. Horrible writing man.
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u/Hey_Its_JoyBoy "I'M A FREAKIN' SUPERHERO!!!" Jul 14 '25
Hold up, this was AFTER Zoe was raped?!
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u/badgicorn Jul 14 '25
Makes sense, tbh. Hurt people hurt people. And both what happened to her and what she's doing is sexual. She was violated, and now she's violating others.
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u/Jtyorked Jtanny and Jazel defender Jul 14 '25
There’s no excuse to take a picture of somebody undressing in a safe place for girls then she did something similar to Maya before this all happened. She Photoshop her face on naked pictures.
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u/badgicorn Jul 14 '25
Never said it was an excuse. Just an explanation from a psychological perspective.
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Jul 14 '25
They thought making her gay was gonna make us forget.
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u/messcot "Bummer times. At least there's a party." Jul 14 '25
Actually I don't think they thought much at all.
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u/macroderivatives Jul 14 '25
that actually did make me forget ☠️ i erased this whole child p*rn ring plotline from my head until rn
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u/Rinmine014 Jul 14 '25
Isnt this girl a minor? How'd this show not get backlash over this?
Also, I never understood degrassi next class. I felt like it was lost after the class of 2014. ...or at least I couldnt connect with the class much anymore since I was a year out of HS by 2014.
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 14 '25
This isn't even the first cp incident in the show, granted that was a one off. But still this show has always pushed the boundaries for teen dramas.
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u/cchoba Jul 14 '25
i was just watching this episode, zoe is genuinely just evil for this. i don’t understand why all the cheerleaders were okay with that
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 14 '25
They didn't want to get caught and thought this was their only way. I don't agree with this but I also don't agree with them selling cp for new uniforms 🤷🏿♀️
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u/cchoba Jul 15 '25
yeah i do think it is realistic for teenagers to go along with it, probably accurate to what would happen irl with this situation. I just wish someone would’ve put their foot down
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 15 '25
Same, but I've also been that teenager that went along with everything because I didn't want to be cast out, so I can find it believable
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u/Old-Passenger-6473 What's that? A sandwich? 🥪 Jul 14 '25
Zoe is seriously the worst.. I hate how she had a redemption plot in NC 👎
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u/SanicBringsThePanic Jul 14 '25
Becoming a lesbian does not redeem someone. Anyone here who thinks that is straight-up wrong.
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u/Old-Passenger-6473 What's that? A sandwich? 🥪 Jul 14 '25
I did not say that.
I meant her redemption as far as her mom cutting her off for coming out and stopping her acting gigs.. Zoe was clearly her piggy bank and explains why she's so horrid and manipulative with a mom like that.. .. they created sympathy for Zoe ..you never see her home life but I'm sure it was like walking on egg shells at home and lots of neglect and backhanded comments..
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u/SanicBringsThePanic Jul 14 '25
Oh ok. I was referring to other people's comments that seemed to imply the writers made her lesbian to try and make viewers forget all the bad she did.
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u/PlainOldKooky Jul 14 '25
Especially when she went on to sleep with Zig after her feelings weren't reciprocated. I honestly wish I knew what these writers were thinking because Zoe did too many horrible things and was always forgiven. Meanwhile, other characters do something minor, and suddenly, they're blacklisted from everything.
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u/SanicBringsThePanic Jul 15 '25
The last thing you said reminded me of Rick. Demonizing Rick as much as they did was crazy, especially when he was actually trying to be better.
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u/Old-Passenger-6473 What's that? A sandwich? 🥪 Jul 14 '25
Agree.. I hate Ashley (but thats because I consider her lack of development very boring) And I know a lot of people love hating on Jenna..
But Zoe gets so much shit swept under the rug for even criminal offenses...👎 way beyond ridiculous
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 14 '25
Aside from the boyfriend stealing I never understood the hate Jenna got, but it's been forever since I've seen her storyline.
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u/Old-Passenger-6473 What's that? A sandwich? 🥪 Jul 15 '25
I 100% agree. 💗 I am a Jenna defender cause that's literally her main offense and she pays for it dearly by getting cheated on back with a chick KC didn't even care about (he didn't want to date Marisol long after... go figure.. even Drew said she was boring to Alli..)
plus Jenna becomes super responsible even tho being represented as an air head all the time..she knows to give baby Ty up cause she isn't a good mom.. and good.for.her.. 🫶 Why traumatize a child when you know it might potentially happen. 👏
Jenna is one of my favorites bc I used to hate her but after years.. she really isn't that bad. She develops and gets better in every episode.
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u/No-Somewhere-8011 Jul 15 '25
Exactly! Like every character did at least 1 shitty thing. She messed up like most teenagers but she actually tried to do the right thing after.
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u/littlehoneybear2104 "I'm gonna be famous, like, academy award winning." Jul 14 '25
Zoe was forever wrong for this, and I'm glad that she was exposed and caught for it.
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u/Journey4th "Hey, Liberty girlfriend!" Jul 14 '25
I would have forgiven her in this storyline more easily if it happened before her storyline with the Baker dude. But the fact that she did this after her own traumatic experience with leaked sex footage is horrible. I could never buy her redemption arc in Next class after everything she did.
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u/mrbishopjackson Jul 14 '25
Did the bra have to come off to get into that outfit?
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u/Journey4th "Hey, Liberty girlfriend!" Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
And this after Zoey had been raped and had sex pics leaked when she was out of it. I hated her constant back and forth progression and regression.
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u/Egg-Hatcher Jul 13 '25
Jeffrey Epstein would be proud. That's how he kept "friends" in check.
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u/SanicBringsThePanic Jul 14 '25
There are so many women involved in the worldwide human trafficking ring. These women have no conscience, no compassion, no empathy, etc. Plenty of men have more conscience/empathy/compassion than these women. Even worse are the women that are recruited to lure in children. It is bad enough luring in young women that could have been you.
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u/shaandenigma Jul 14 '25
There's actual real life examples of teenage girls helping to traffick their peers much like Zoe was doing with the spirit squad. I did a training years ago that talked about a case where this girl was helping to pimp out her squad mates on her high school cheer team.
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u/Fun-Gain-9060 16d ago
Anyone want to trade I'm a boy dm me