Spinner Mason
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
| Gavin Reginald Mason | |
|---|---|
| Degrassi: The Next Generation character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | Family Politics (episode 1.03) |
| Portrayed by | Shane Kippel |
| Episode count | 102 |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 19[1] |
| Date of birth | 1988 |
| Occupation | Currently enrolled at Degrassi Community School |
| Family | Kendra Mason (adopted sister) |
Gavin Reginald "Spinner" Mason, is a fictional high-schooler in Degrassi: The Next Generation, portrayed by Shane Kippel. Originally depicted as the school "bully," more aspects of his character have been revealed in later seasons, such as his struggles with testicular cancer and speech impediments. "Spinner" was a nickname he earned when he was younger because ADHD caused him to become a hyperactive kid who would occasionally "spin" out-of-control. His longtime bestfriend is Jimmy Brooks, whose fault it was for Jimmy getting shot, but Jimmy eventually forgave him at the end of season 5.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Season 1
In the beginning of season one, Spinner took a liking for Terri and asked her for her geography notes as a means of asking her to the Starlight, Starbright Dance. Although Terri had a crush on Spinner as well, she told him she was not going to go to the dance. Ashley urged her to go, so Terri gives in and goes, however when a jealous Paige notices that Spinner likes Terri, she attempts to get Terri intoxicated for the dance. After Terri makes a fool of herself that night, Spinner's liking for Terri dissolves, which is revealed to Terri the next day at school.
Spinner assisted his best friend Jimmy in buying condoms, and boycotted the cafeteria when he discovered an earwig in the food.
Also, in an attempt to boost Jimmy's performance during a basketball game, he gave Jimmy one of his Ritalin pills, which he took to help his ADHD. However, the lack of medication caused Spinner's ADHD to go into overdrive during the game, and he eventually moons the student body. Both Jimmy and Spinner are penalized for their actions.
[edit] Season 2
Spinner began to take an interest in Paige, but broke off with her when she canceled a date with him to hang out with Dean at a party. However, when he discovered that Dean had raped her at the party, he attacked Dean. and later asked her to the school dance. They began dating towards the end of season 2.
Spinner grew very jealous of Jimmy's wealth, so when Jimmy brought his new MP3 player to school, Spinner stole it and attempted to sell it to another student. Jimmy catches Spinner and confronts him about it. Spinner later apologizes and returns the MP3 player, however the two don't reconcile until the beginning of season 3.
[edit] Season 3
At the beginning of the school year, Paige became unhappy when she is assigned a less-than-acceptable locker. When Spinner asks Jimmy if he'd trade lockers with Paige to make her happy, Jimmy accuses Spinner of having no backbone, and makes him admit this in front of their class in exchange for the coveted locker. When Spinner does this, Paige becomes embarrassed and angry that he made her sound like a controlling girlfriend. The couple reconcile at the end of the episode.
After Marco walked out on a double date with Spinner, Paige, and Hazel, Spinner confronted him about his actions, and Marco admitted to Spinner that he was gay. Spinner, unable to accept the idea of his friend's sexuality, refused to speak of the matter to Marco or any other friends. Spinner took his frustration out during a volleyball game when he intentionally spiked Marco in the stomach. He also wrote "Marco is a fag" on the bathroom wall (although the message was changed to "Marco is gay" in The N's American broadcast of the series), after which Jimmy defends Marco and takes his side of the dispute. After Marco is gay bashed by a group of homophobic men on Toronto's Church Street, Spinner attempted to differentiate himself from the guys who hurt Marco, but Marco showed Spinner that he's just as bad as they are.
By the end of the season, Spinner's views of Marco's sexuality changed, and he even helps him get together with Paige's gay brother, Dylan.
[edit] Season 4
In the season 4 opener, Spinner gets a new car which he has been saving up for since mid-season 3. Soon after this, Spinner's girlfriend Paige – who was taking Dean to court for raping her in season 2 of the series – learned that she lost her trial against Dean due to a lack of evidence. An enraged Paige then became inebriated at a party, got behind the wheel of Spinner's new car, and rams it into Dean's car, effectively damaging both vehicles. The next day, the police tracked down Spinner and Paige at school and question them about the damages on Dean's car. Spinner takes the blame for Paige's actions and gets arrested, however Paige became overwhelmed with guilt over the incident and later confesses to the crime. As punishment, Paige loses her license. She also promised Spinner to pay him for the damages of his car.
At a car wash run by Degrassi students, Spinner and Manny play and joke around and realize that there's a spark between the two. Manny's ex-boyfriend Craig notices the closeness of Spinner and Manny, and a jealousy develops. Later when Spinner and friends Craig, Marco and Jimmy go to the movie theater where Paige worked, Spinner and Craig got into a brawl over Manny. Paige's manager called security and then proceeded to fire Paige. Paige breaks up with Spinner the following day, stating that Spinner wasn't fighting over her, he was fighting over Manny. This begins the saga of Paige versus Manny which plays out throughout most of season 4.
During the tie-break round of the student trivia show, "Whack Your Brain", Spinner, Jay, and Alex set up a prank involving yellow paint and feathers to fall on Rick in front of a televised audience. A disgruntled Rick then returned to Degrassi, armed with a handgun, intending to take revenge on the pranksters, unbeknownst to anyone. Rick's intentions are swayed when he encounters Paige and learns that most students did not find the prank funny in the slightest. When Toby, Emma and Jimmy voiced similar opinions, Rick decides not to go through with the shooting and goes to the washroom to clean himself up. While in a bathroom stall, Jay and Spinner enter the bathroom, notice that Rick is hiding, and loudly invent a story that involves Jimmy being the one to blame for the prank. A betrayed and livid Rick then returns to the hallways of Degrassi, gun in hand. He shoots Jimmy in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. Rick is later shot with his own gun in a scuffle with Sean.
When Jimmy returned to Degrassi in a wheelchair after the shooting, Spinner later reveals to him that Jay and himself planted the idea in Rick's head that Jimmy was responsible for the prank that evoked the school shooting. Jimmy immediately alienates Spinner and tells Degrassi's students of Spinner and Jay's actions. Spinner is then abandoned by all of his friends, and when he attempts to reconcile, is shunned away. In an attempt to do better, Spinner confesses his role in the prank to Principal Hatzilakos, which inevitably gets himself and Jay expelled from Degrassi.
[edit] Season 5
After Spinner was expelled from Degrassi in the previous season, he attempted to better himself by going to summer school courses. Because of his desire and motivation to return to Degrassi, Spinner is permitted to return and repeat the 11th grade. However, his friends still resent his past actions and he remains friendless.
In Spinner's own words, he was persona non grata (an unwelcome person) because of his association with the shooting. However, Darcy invited him into the Friendship Club, a Christian student organization run through the school. Spinner then became a born-again Christian and began dating Darcy, who knew about his involvement in Jimmy getting shot, but decided he was worthy of another chance. Because the Friendship Club (and inevitably Darcy) believed in virginity until marriage, Spinner was forced to hide his past with Manny from Darcy. Later, Jay attempts to manipulate Darcy into having sex with Spinner, however when Spinner learns of this, he beats Jay up and cuts him out of his life.
In the season 4 finale, Craig seems to have forgiven Spinner, however Craig was off of his bipolar medication, and thus his rationale and judgment was poor at the time. In the opening of season 5, Craig still alienates Spinner.
In the episode "I Against I," Spinner and Marco become friends again, but Linus, the leader of Friendship Club, convinces Spinner that Marco's Safer Sex campaign must be stopped because it goes against their beliefs. Spinner, lost for friends, loses Marco's friendship again because Spinner sided with Linus. Linus is later found out to be intolerant of homosexuals and is rejected by Spinner. At the end of the episode, Marco forgives Spinner again, realizing how lost he feels over the things in his life that have gone wrong.
In "High Fidelity, Part Two," Spinner goes to Paige's house to tell her that he and Darcy are back together, but she reveals to him that she never blamed him for the Jimmy incident. Confused with the acceptance, Spinner and Paige have sex. The next night, Darcy finds this out through Spinner's text messages, which he sent to Marco for help. Heart-broken, Darcy breaks up with him.
At the end of the episode, Jimmy apologizes to Spinner for blaming everything on him and their friendship is rekindled.
[edit] Season 6
The season begins with Darcy and Spinner getting back together, as Darcy has gotten over what happened between Spinner and Paige. However, Darcy begins to sell racy pictures of herself through an online blog called MyPage as a way to raise money for the Spirit Squad. When Spinner finds out, he and Darcy begin to fight over the pictures, which ends with Spinner dumping Darcy. Darcy later apologizes to Spinner and tells him that she hopes that they can still be friends.
Spinner's renewed friendship with Jimmy is tested when the two begin selling t-shirts designed by Jimmy. Jimmy is unsure if they had made the right move, however the venture takes off and does surprisingly well in the beginning. Their store is later robbed and Spinner saves Jimmy from harm, but the robbery incident further cements Spinner and Jimmy's friendship. The two decide to keep the business going, and they hire Paige as their business manager.
When Paige begins to see Spinner casually, Spinner realizes that he still has feelings for her and that he wants to be with her. When first telling her how he feels, he is told they could only be "friends with benefits" and Spinner leaves it at that. However, he later tells Paige that he needs all of her, or none at all. Paige and him eventually end their "friends with benefits" relationship and become platonic friends.
Spinner also attends Liberty's birthday party, and he and Jay throw out Johnny DiMarco and his friend Drake after they cause some trouble.
[edit] Season 7
While Spinner is having lunch with Jimmy and Ashley, he spots Toby getting bothered by Johnny. Spinner goes to break it up and tells Johnny to back off and quit acting stupid. Johnny acts like he is giving up, but tries to sucker punch Spinner. Spinner catches it before it makes contact with his face and bends Johnny's fist back. Johnny backs off. Ms. Hatzilakos cautions him about breaking the zero-tolerance policy regarding violence and suggests he volunteer for the schools new peace group. He jokes it off, but he later stops another fight in the school yard between Liberty, Danny, and a Lakehurst student who taunted them about JT's death.[1]
Spinner notices a new girl from Lakehurst, Jane. He manages to get her attention after she sees him stop the bullying of Toby in the cafeteria. When Ms. Hatzilakos is lecturing Spinner on his violence, she spots Jane and asks if she is late to class again and starts talking about giving her detention. Spinner jumps in to help by saying Jane has volunteered for the peace committee as well. During the peace committee meeting they seem to hit if off, and later to go out to play pool at a pool hall. Things are going well until she pokes him in the abdomen while teasing him. Spinner runs out on the date in pain, unwilling to admit to her that he's been having health problems. The friendship between the two remains uncertain while Spinner deals with cancer and various violent fights he initiates between himself and some of the Lakehurst trouble-makers. However, after later admitting to Jane that he has cancer, the two reconcile.[1]
While working out and doing some kicks, Spinner experiences a sharp pain in his groin. He believes he pulled a muscle and jokes with Jimmy about it, but also admits he's been having problems with his groin area lately. During the altercation in the school yard, Spinner has to back down because the pain starts up again. Jimmy urges him to get it checked out by a doctor. Spinner resists at first, but eventually goes in for tests and learns he has a lump in one of his testicles. While waiting for the test results, Spinner has another attack of pain while at the pool hall with Jane and leaves. Worried she wouldn't want him if he has a problem, he blows her off the next day. He later avoids the call from his doctor because his father died from cancer, but Jimmy convinces him to face the problem head on. At the doctor's, he learns that he has testicular cancer, but lucky for him, they have caught it early so his chances are good.[1]
Spinner does not handle the diagnosis well and begins acting out from his fear and anger. When Johnny and his friends start tormenting Toby again, Spinner walks over and tells them to quit it. When Johnny asks if Spinner is going to try and talk it out again, Spinner punches Johnny, knocking him to the ground.[1] A video of the fight is posted to the Internet and soon all of Degrassi finds out about the fight. When Jimmy warns Spinner that his actions are straining the fledging peace between the two schools, they end up arguing after Spinner makes a hurtful comment. Spinner tries to apologize to Johnny after the argument with Jimmy, but Johnny blows him off saying it was good publicity and says they should do it again.[2]
The oncologist recommends Spinner undergo surgery to remove his testicle, followed by chemotherapy. Spinner reluctantly agrees, then goes home and shaves his head into a Mohawk. Afterwards, he goes off to find Johnny for another fight, beating him until Johnny's crew pulls him off. At school the next day, Mr. Simpson warns him that if he continues fighting and having people post the videos online, the police will get involved. Spinner tries to talk to Jane, and ends up telling her about the cancer and that he must prove he is still a man with the fighting. Spinner then plans another staged fight with the Lakehurst boys.[2]
Jane goes to talk to Jimmy about Spinner's fight and that he might miss his operation, but Jimmy appears to blow her off by saying Spinner is an adult and can make his own decisions. Still, Jimmy goes to the fight site and talks to Spinner, reminding him that he can't beat the cancer with his fists. Spinner still does the fight, with he and Johnny getting fines and the cameraman charged. When Spinner comes back to school after the surgery, he is still limping, but able to reconcile with Jane.[2] Spinner promises that from here on out, he'll only be fighting one thing: his cancer.
Jay confronts Spinner after he told Jay that he had cancer. Jay recommends marijuana but at first, Spinner was hesitant. But, after he threw up in class he told Jay that he wanted the weed. When he spots Darcy at the dot, he has a talk with her. She tells him that she wants to try it. Together they go out for a talk, while Spinner is forgetting about his plans with Jane. After that, Spinner and Jane have a fight and he goes and does it again with Darcy. While they are having the talk again, he realizes he really likes Jane, and Darcy was not the one for him, and that he needed to fix his life before it became even worse. He tells Jane that he wants to be with her, and then kisses her.
In the Degrassi mini "Party Etiquette Rule #3" Spinner reveals that his best kiss was Terri McGreggor, even though the kiss was never shown or talked about in previous seasons.
Spinner, finally happy his years at Degrassi are over, he is determined to pass exams with Jimmy's help. But, when a great opportunity comes to Spinners band, a problem comes up. He doesn't know is he should stay in high school with Jane and Studz, or study hard with Jimmy and have no real plans. In the end, Spinner ends up staying in high school, losing his friendship with Jimmy again, because Spinner broke the promise that they were going to graduate together.
[edit] Relationships
- Paige Michalchuk
- First Relationship
- Second Relationship
- Start Up: "Love My Way" (616)
- Broke Up: "Love My Way" (616)
- Reason: Paige chose Jesse Stefanovic over Spinner.
- Manny Santos
- Start Up: "Bark at the Moon" (413)
- Broke Up: "Eye of the Tiger" (416)
- Reason: Manny finds out of Spinner's involvement in the shooting.
- Darcy Edwards
- First Relationship
- Start Up: "Foolin'" (504)
- Broke Up: "High Fidelity, Part 1" (518)
- Reason: Darcy couldn't accept Spinner's past.
- Second Relationship
- Start Up: "High Fidelity, Part 2" (519)
- Broke Up: "High Fidelity, Part 2" (519)
- Reason: Spinner slept with Paige and Darcy found out.
- Third Relationship
- Start Up: "Here Comes Your Man" (601)
- Broke Up: "Eyes Without a Face, Part 2" (606)
- Reason: Darcy takes risqué photos of herself and posts them online, which Spinner disagrees with.
- First Relationship
- Jane
- Start Up: "Pass The Dutchie" (710)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e "Death or Glory, Part 1". Degrassi: The Next Generation. November 2, 2007. No. 705, season 3.
- ^ a b c "Death or Glory, Part 2". Degrassi: The Next Generation. November 9, 2007. No. 706, season 3.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
