Before Drake was the “6 God” he was just another Canadian kid starting from the bottom (of the acting world). In later life, he would be one of the most successful rappers of all time, with 13 number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (a record he shares with Michael Jackson).
In the early 2000s, however, he was Jimmy Brooks, a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation who suffers a gunshot wound and its subsequent consequences. Degrassi: The Next Generation, unlike its predecessors, actually became quite popular in America. Jimmy Brooks was a basketball player and popular kid from a wealthy family, considered one of the more open-minded students at Degrassi.
His first appearance on the show is in the third episode, “Family Politics.” The premise sees Jimmy’s girlfriend Ashley running for class president and Jimmy helping her win. In the episode “The Mating Game,” Jimmy and Ashley are pressured to have sex by their friends and make tentative plans to do so. He’s involved in various storylines that eventually culminate with Jimmy being shot by Rick Murray.
Ashley gets cold feet and backs out but the couple decide to stay together. Jimmy becomes a regular part of the show, but his character is forever altered in Season 4.
The Jimmy Brooks/Rick Murray conflict explained
In the Season 3 episode “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the conflict between Jimmy and Rick begins in earnest. It all pretty much starts over Rick’s relationship with Terri.
In the episode, Terri gets the lead in the school play and asks Jimmy and Rick for advice. Rick gives her terrible advice and Jimmy gives her good advice, but because Rick is her boyfriend she takes his advice and ends up embarrassing herself. Terri tells Rick she should’ve listened to Jimmy, leading him to believe she likes Jimmy better. Rick then hurts Terri and she breaks up with him, and Jimmy says he “has her back” in case Rick tries something else.
In the episode “Don’t Dream it’s Over,” Terri takes Rick back, shocking Jimmy and his friends. Paige and Terri get into an argument with Rick and he pushes Terri and puts her in a coma. She’s then transferred to another school.
This brings us to Season 4. In the episode “Mercy Street,” Rick comes back to Degrassi and ends up getting bullied because of what happened to Terri. The bullying gets especially bad in the two-part episode “Time Stands Still.” Spinner and Jimmy throw Rick into a dumpster. Rick retaliates by spray painting an X on Spinner’s car. In the “Whack-Your-Brain” competition, someone gets sick and Jimmy is forced to join Rick’s team.
For a moment, it seems like the two might reconcile because Spinner and some friends confront Rick, but Jimmy tells them to back off. Rick tells his mom that he’s now great friends with Jimmy, Emma, and Toby (his teammates). Rick’s team ends up winning the “Whack-Your-Brain” competition and Rick is super excited because the whole thing is being filmed. When Emma gives him the trophy, yellow paint, and feathers are dropped on him, making him a laughing stock.
In part 2, Rick goes home for a bit and comes back with a gun. He wants to kill Paige, but she inadvertently saves herself by apologizing to him. Spinner and Jay lie and say Jimmy was the one who was behind the prank, thinking that Rick will tell Mr. Raditch. That’s not what happens. Rick confronts Jimmy, who tries to comfort him and tells him he “has his back.” Rick says “you stabbed me in the back” and shoots Jimmy as he tries to run away. The wound is paralyzing and Jimmy no longer has any feeling below the waist.
In the episode “Eye of the Tiger,” Jimmy comes back to school in a wheelchair, to the celebration of everyone except Spinner, who with good reason feels guilty about the whole thing. Jimmy tells Spinner that he wishes Rick would’ve killed him and Spinner confesses that he was the one who gave Rick the idea that it was Jimmy who was behind the prank. Jimmy simply says, “then he shot me,” and the two end their lifelong friendship. Jimmy is then in a wheelchair for the rest of the show.
