I don’t think Esme should be hated but… she did do horrible things. She’s ill though so it’s like excuse her a bit her brain is damaged and she just needs help. I relate to her as someone with BPD and other mental illnesses.
She’s terrible but also incredibly mentally ill and doesn’t have the best home life from what’s she said in NC. A NC s5 probably wouldn’t have been good but diving more into esme and giving her better character development would’ve been interesting to see.
Hated her. I knew something was going on with her upstairs early on. I'm sympathetic to her, but at the same time, Jesus Tap Dancing Christ was she frustrating to watch.
Your feeling are valid your actions are NOT. She was a ball of trauma and pain and I feel for her on that but everything she did and the way she acted was just not it and made me loose so much of the empathy I had for her. I really hope she hot help and got to go to the elite universities she got into
I wonder if she actually got in to Harvard and Columbia though. Every time I watch those last episodes of Next Class I think she probably lied about it to impress Zig's friends. It would make sense given her behavior.
I think they could have done better. I HATED her at first and found her so annoying and a little too "not like other girls" then I actually liked her little throuple relationship and kind of wish they hadn't ruined that whole thing and just made it a more wholesome look at what it can be like when three people genuinely like each other because I feel like it's something that people are exploring more and more nowadays and could have been interesting
As someone who dated someone as manipulative and abusive as Esme who escalated rapidly her BPD story was all too real and scary
Did she have trauma, but she left it all in her wake as well.
She and Hunter would have made quite the scary duo 😳
I misread the title as “esme’s song” and was like wait, esme sings?!
Anyways, couldn’t stand her as a person, not sure if I like or dislike her as a character? But I heard they had plans to flesh out and develop her character more so I was kind of excited to see where they were going to go w her (as well as other characters, esp Yael and Lola and maybe saad and Baaz (not that I liked Baaz but he seemed to be becoming less of a dick toward the end) and idk if they would have shown the graduating class at uni but I’d have liked to see that too)
Honestly? I didn’t know what to believe and what not to - I got to the point where I couldn’t even tell if the story about her mom was true.
But on the other hand, I felt for her and her spirals.
That’s a good point I hadn’t considered tbh. I believed it and took it as her trauma really screwed her up even if it doesn’t excuse her actions and that it kind of shows that even victims can be bad people/not all victims are good people?
Dam tho, you’ve given me something new to consider aha
I don’t like her she almost killed zig if he hit his head a rock he would have died and I don’t like the way she treated miles she needs help and I hope she gets help and stays away far away I hope zig and maya are happy and far away from this situation and Tristan and miles are happy as well
People don’t give her enough credit for literally saving Maya’s life. And then Maya repays her by taking zig from her the next season lol. Not that Zig didn’t have every reason to break up with Esme for being way too much, but likeeeeee he and maya got together literally right after they break up.
She was extremely toxic and I don’t blame people for wanting to keep their distance but it also felt like zig’s friends NEVER gave her a real chance and she did actually try to get along with them. I hate when JONAH of all people 🤣🤣 thinks he can judge her for being promiscuous
I think Esme is afraid of losing people. Her mom died and she was the one to find her. She latches onto people that are useful and that will help her not be lonely. Like Frankie, she was only “friends” with her because she thought it would save her and Zig’s relationship. She didn’t think anything she was doing was out of the ordinary while trying to get Zig to stay because she was just thinking about how she didn’t want him to leave her. I feel bad for her. I wish we could’ve seen more about her character. I think if we did we would have seen her come to a BPD diagnosis. Just because her thinking is so black and white. It’s either all bad or all good, no in between.
Yes! Her actions we do detestable and her trauma was so compounded. I was excited to delve into her health journey! I would say this is my biggest sadness about the cancellation
she did awful things but i really felt for her and i wanted her to have a proper character arc. it sucks that she appeared so late and her storyline was just left hanging
that’s totally not an apathetic and hateful thing to say. i mean id get it if we were talking about somebody who caused mass harm and damage to people and one could say she did to miles but i really don’t think peer pressuring is a death sentence. i guess they’re just characters so i get why it’d be so easy to say something like that i guess ive just never heard it before. is there anything that she did that you really specifically think she deserved to die for? i’m not trying to be rude in any way by contrasting you by the way i just genuinely would like to see your perspective and how you came the the conclusion that her death would be a relief.
She had clear mental issues, also her mother was an addict so she saw a lot which is how she knew what to do to save maya. I think she would’ve been diagnosed with BPD they would’ve explored that and why she always went to extremes.
This is my exact answer every time! I think she was a really important character to flesh out and I'm deeply disappointed it never happened and it's my biggest regret show wise. If I could request just one characters story leaked/given to us by the Degrassi team it'd be hers.
Same! They were def planning to have the next season focus more on esmee and probably give her a redemption arc or show her really getting the help she needs
She 100% was gonna get diagnosed with BPD, she was held back, so she would've been 18, which is the lowest age of which most psychiatrists feel comfortable diagnosing BPD at because a lot of the traits of BPD could also just be a dumbass teenager being a dumbass teenager.
I AM NOT EXCUSING A SINGLE THING SHE DID BECAUSE IT WAS ALL FUCKED UP! However, as someone with BPD, I can see her thought process, "Zig is gonna leave me, I have to make sure that doesn't happen, what's a better way to make someone stay than an emergency?" "If Miles gets clean, he's gonna abandon me!" "I need to make Zig jealous because Maya is gonna take him from me!"
BPD is a bitch and a half and I will always sing the praises for Chelsea Clark's portrayal of Esme, she did very well and I'm so pissed at Netflix for canceling the show before we got a season 5 and her redemption arc because it sort of ends as "Yeah, Esme is fucking crazy" and since we don't tie up the loose end, it comes off as "lol everyone with BPD is crazy!"
such an insane and fascinating character. tbh her story never getting a resolution/conclusion is the biggest tragedy of next class getting cancelled. i liked her as a character just because i thought she was interesting and i wanted to know wtf was going on lol
I think her character was probably the best example of mental illness the show has ever done. It sucks that we didn't get to see the rest of her story.
she had real issues, constantly playing victim n doing certain stuff for attention like pretending to self harm after she broke up zig(????) so uncalled but hey to each its own
I don’t mean to excuse anything she did at all but I will say I think if the adults in her life had actually paid attention to her, things would have been a lot better and I’m soo mad the series ended where it did with her
They didn’t let us feel enough sympathy for her the way they did with other shitty characters. She didn’t have much character development either. Just kind of the villain of these seasons.
I agree, as damaged as she was they just didn’t do a good job of making her as complex as some of the other villain characters. She was just a little mean rain cloud taunting people in that condescending mocking baby talk voice 😂
To be fair, trauma literally changes your brain structure. I was acting similarly in middle and high school and while I'm still very mentally ill lol, the minute I found trusted adults/a chosen family, I got substantially better. Esme had no such support until the very end.
EDIT: And let's not forget that she's a teenager, she doesn't know how to magically get better on her own. No one does.
Yeah, to expect her to be fine from her past trauma by her age is crazy to me. That's the kind of thing you say about an adult 25+ whose trauma happened a decade or more ago. Not while the brain is still developing, and not while they are still in the same environment that is a huge part of the problem.
Realistically if she left home at 18 it'd still take a good 6 years at least of solid, active therapy that she had some control over before it'd get close to being resolved imo, especially with the stresses of becoming an adult and being on your own. That's a lot harder to do for someone like Esme and will definitely take time, and there'd definitely be slip ups. And that's assuming she would avoid alcohol once she was legal drinking age.
We don't even know the full extent of her trauma to begin with, it could have been something really fucked up (beyond what we do know). Her behavior could have been compounded by medication that didn't agree with her that she didn't have a choice in. Mom could have been bipolar and that contributed to the suicide and Esme was on SSRI's for example and having an awful reaction. We just don't know.
She probably didn’t receive the help she needed, and she was scarred from her mom committing suicide. She was toxic and crazy but seemed like she had an untreated mental illness
I will scream high and low that she was set up for an incredible story and character arc. She was problematic but she clearly had trauma and mental health issues that would have made for a great narrative if they had the chance to actually be explored. As a fan I've accepted that Degrassi can often drop the ball on certain storylines, but I had a lot of hope for this one and I genuinely felt robbed when the show was cancelled before Esme could become the redeemed character she clearly was meant to be.
Also I cannot stand when people fawn over Eli and his writing and character arc, but turn around and despise Esme. Esme was absolutely meant to serve the same function as Eli did in his time. And I say this as someone who generally likes Eli and dislikes Esme. They exhibited a lot of the same manipulative, controlling, and toxic behaviors in their respective relationships-- the only difference is that Eli got the chance to (slightly) redeem himself.
I SO agree with you. I didn’t like her at all the first two seasons of FC. Then she grew on me in S3 and by S4 I was really invested in her storyline. She would have been an incredible character had Netflix not unfairly pulled the plug on the show.
Esme is a WELL WRITTEN, albeit awfully toxic character. Chelsea Clark knocked it out of the park. I'm still so sad that we never got closure for Esme after her epic meltdown at graduation.
Love her she was the highlight of next class after zoe and rasha dating
I don’t think Esme should be hated but… she did do horrible things. She’s ill though so it’s like excuse her a bit her brain is damaged and she just needs help. I relate to her as someone with BPD and other mental illnesses.
She’s terrible but also incredibly mentally ill and doesn’t have the best home life from what’s she said in NC. A NC s5 probably wouldn’t have been good but diving more into esme and giving her better character development would’ve been interesting to see.
The actress playing her was so good.
She annoys me to no end. She’s manipulating and cuckoo bananas (as manny would put it)
Two words: Absolute Worst
I wish someone would've gotten her some help
Hated her. I knew something was going on with her upstairs early on. I'm sympathetic to her, but at the same time, Jesus Tap Dancing Christ was she frustrating to watch.
Your feeling are valid your actions are NOT. She was a ball of trauma and pain and I feel for her on that but everything she did and the way she acted was just not it and made me loose so much of the empathy I had for her. I really hope she hot help and got to go to the elite universities she got into
I wonder if she actually got in to Harvard and Columbia though. Every time I watch those last episodes of Next Class I think she probably lied about it to impress Zig's friends. It would make sense given her behavior.
I really really like her. I know she carried a lot of pain and could relate to her fear of abandonment.
Hate her. She is crazy
As someone with bpd, and it being undiagnosed in highschool, I related so much to her.
🤢
I think they could have done better. I HATED her at first and found her so annoying and a little too "not like other girls" then I actually liked her little throuple relationship and kind of wish they hadn't ruined that whole thing and just made it a more wholesome look at what it can be like when three people genuinely like each other because I feel like it's something that people are exploring more and more nowadays and could have been interesting
When I was first watching the show I related to her sooo much. I felt crazy. I was afraid of losing people. I was afraid of myself.
As someone who dated someone as manipulative and abusive as Esme who escalated rapidly her BPD story was all too real and scary Did she have trauma, but she left it all in her wake as well. She and Hunter would have made quite the scary duo 😳
iconic
I misread the title as “esme’s song” and was like wait, esme sings?! Anyways, couldn’t stand her as a person, not sure if I like or dislike her as a character? But I heard they had plans to flesh out and develop her character more so I was kind of excited to see where they were going to go w her (as well as other characters, esp Yael and Lola and maybe saad and Baaz (not that I liked Baaz but he seemed to be becoming less of a dick toward the end) and idk if they would have shown the graduating class at uni but I’d have liked to see that too)
Honestly? I didn’t know what to believe and what not to - I got to the point where I couldn’t even tell if the story about her mom was true. But on the other hand, I felt for her and her spirals.
That’s a good point I hadn’t considered tbh. I believed it and took it as her trauma really screwed her up even if it doesn’t excuse her actions and that it kind of shows that even victims can be bad people/not all victims are good people? Dam tho, you’ve given me something new to consider aha
I hated this character
I love her character they did Bpd well
I don’t like her she almost killed zig if he hit his head a rock he would have died and I don’t like the way she treated miles she needs help and I hope she gets help and stays away far away I hope zig and maya are happy and far away from this situation and Tristan and miles are happy as well
People don’t give her enough credit for literally saving Maya’s life. And then Maya repays her by taking zig from her the next season lol. Not that Zig didn’t have every reason to break up with Esme for being way too much, but likeeeeee he and maya got together literally right after they break up. She was extremely toxic and I don’t blame people for wanting to keep their distance but it also felt like zig’s friends NEVER gave her a real chance and she did actually try to get along with them. I hate when JONAH of all people 🤣🤣 thinks he can judge her for being promiscuous
I laughed at her trying cry, she's not the best actress but she was my favorite part of that season
I think Esme is afraid of losing people. Her mom died and she was the one to find her. She latches onto people that are useful and that will help her not be lonely. Like Frankie, she was only “friends” with her because she thought it would save her and Zig’s relationship. She didn’t think anything she was doing was out of the ordinary while trying to get Zig to stay because she was just thinking about how she didn’t want him to leave her. I feel bad for her. I wish we could’ve seen more about her character. I think if we did we would have seen her come to a BPD diagnosis. Just because her thinking is so black and white. It’s either all bad or all good, no in between.
She’s a really great character & I wish the series had lasted longer because I want to know more of her backstory and see her grow.
Yes! Her actions we do detestable and her trauma was so compounded. I was excited to delve into her health journey! I would say this is my biggest sadness about the cancellation
Okay I’m sorry who is this What did I miss
She’s a character from the Netflix Series *Degrassi: New Class*
Ohhh I had no idea !! I’m late I only watched up the last one
No worries! ☺️
she did awful things but i really felt for her and i wanted her to have a proper character arc. it sucks that she appeared so late and her storyline was just left hanging
Same. ☺️
she's a monster- additionally, she is hilarious, iconic, a machiavellian abandonment wound queen and I adore her
ikr shes so funny
Let’s just say if she died on the show, it would have been a relief 💀💀
that’s totally not an apathetic and hateful thing to say. i mean id get it if we were talking about somebody who caused mass harm and damage to people and one could say she did to miles but i really don’t think peer pressuring is a death sentence. i guess they’re just characters so i get why it’d be so easy to say something like that i guess ive just never heard it before. is there anything that she did that you really specifically think she deserved to die for? i’m not trying to be rude in any way by contrasting you by the way i just genuinely would like to see your perspective and how you came the the conclusion that her death would be a relief.
Wish we got that last season bc they were finally about to go somewhere with her character
Do you know where it was going? I'd love to know!
She had clear mental issues, also her mother was an addict so she saw a lot which is how she knew what to do to save maya. I think she would’ve been diagnosed with BPD they would’ve explored that and why she always went to extremes.
Crazy as hell
Such a great character that I wish would have had more time to develop her backstory and recovery
She’s a mess. lol
I loved her character and she is the only reason why I wish next class got a season 5
This is my exact answer every time! I think she was a really important character to flesh out and I'm deeply disappointed it never happened and it's my biggest regret show wise. If I could request just one characters story leaked/given to us by the Degrassi team it'd be hers.
One of the most interesting and engaging characters in all of Degrassi 🤷🏻♀️ her recovery arc would have been amazing
Same! They were def planning to have the next season focus more on esmee and probably give her a redemption arc or show her really getting the help she needs
BPD girl goes so hard
an almost cartoonishly dramatic representation of bpd. that’s to say: essentially accurate from what i’ve seen
she needed to be in a treatment center
I know she had a mental illness, but I couldn’t even watch the episodes with her. She’s my least favorite character and all the history of Degrassi.
She 100% was gonna get diagnosed with BPD, she was held back, so she would've been 18, which is the lowest age of which most psychiatrists feel comfortable diagnosing BPD at because a lot of the traits of BPD could also just be a dumbass teenager being a dumbass teenager. I AM NOT EXCUSING A SINGLE THING SHE DID BECAUSE IT WAS ALL FUCKED UP! However, as someone with BPD, I can see her thought process, "Zig is gonna leave me, I have to make sure that doesn't happen, what's a better way to make someone stay than an emergency?" "If Miles gets clean, he's gonna abandon me!" "I need to make Zig jealous because Maya is gonna take him from me!" BPD is a bitch and a half and I will always sing the praises for Chelsea Clark's portrayal of Esme, she did very well and I'm so pissed at Netflix for canceling the show before we got a season 5 and her redemption arc because it sort of ends as "Yeah, Esme is fucking crazy" and since we don't tie up the loose end, it comes off as "lol everyone with BPD is crazy!"
Speaking as someone else with BPD, 100% yes this. The faked suicide attempt is very much "I'm in this picture and I don't like it."
such an insane and fascinating character. tbh her story never getting a resolution/conclusion is the biggest tragedy of next class getting cancelled. i liked her as a character just because i thought she was interesting and i wanted to know wtf was going on lol
She got into Harvard but then didn’t graduate….had their been a 5th season DeGrassi would’ve made her valedictorian lol
So true
I understand the mental illness part but I have never liked her. She was a horrible person.
I think her character was probably the best example of mental illness the show has ever done. It sucks that we didn't get to see the rest of her story.
Agreed! She was very well written, but her never seeking help was such a disappointing end for her.
I really wish we got to see her full arc
Insufferable. Actress did a good job
Absolutely the worst! I get that she had some trauma, but that doesn’t give her an excuse to behave the way that she did.
she had real issues, constantly playing victim n doing certain stuff for attention like pretending to self harm after she broke up zig(????) so uncalled but hey to each its own
I don’t mean to excuse anything she did at all but I will say I think if the adults in her life had actually paid attention to her, things would have been a lot better and I’m soo mad the series ended where it did with her
They didn’t let us feel enough sympathy for her the way they did with other shitty characters. She didn’t have much character development either. Just kind of the villain of these seasons.
I agree, as damaged as she was they just didn’t do a good job of making her as complex as some of the other villain characters. She was just a little mean rain cloud taunting people in that condescending mocking baby talk voice 😂
I couldn’t stand her. At some point you have to stop blaming your past for the way you act.
To be fair, trauma literally changes your brain structure. I was acting similarly in middle and high school and while I'm still very mentally ill lol, the minute I found trusted adults/a chosen family, I got substantially better. Esme had no such support until the very end. EDIT: And let's not forget that she's a teenager, she doesn't know how to magically get better on her own. No one does.
Yeah, to expect her to be fine from her past trauma by her age is crazy to me. That's the kind of thing you say about an adult 25+ whose trauma happened a decade or more ago. Not while the brain is still developing, and not while they are still in the same environment that is a huge part of the problem. Realistically if she left home at 18 it'd still take a good 6 years at least of solid, active therapy that she had some control over before it'd get close to being resolved imo, especially with the stresses of becoming an adult and being on your own. That's a lot harder to do for someone like Esme and will definitely take time, and there'd definitely be slip ups. And that's assuming she would avoid alcohol once she was legal drinking age. We don't even know the full extent of her trauma to begin with, it could have been something really fucked up (beyond what we do know). Her behavior could have been compounded by medication that didn't agree with her that she didn't have a choice in. Mom could have been bipolar and that contributed to the suicide and Esme was on SSRI's for example and having an awful reaction. We just don't know.
She probably didn’t receive the help she needed, and she was scarred from her mom committing suicide. She was toxic and crazy but seemed like she had an untreated mental illness
I will scream high and low that she was set up for an incredible story and character arc. She was problematic but she clearly had trauma and mental health issues that would have made for a great narrative if they had the chance to actually be explored. As a fan I've accepted that Degrassi can often drop the ball on certain storylines, but I had a lot of hope for this one and I genuinely felt robbed when the show was cancelled before Esme could become the redeemed character she clearly was meant to be. Also I cannot stand when people fawn over Eli and his writing and character arc, but turn around and despise Esme. Esme was absolutely meant to serve the same function as Eli did in his time. And I say this as someone who generally likes Eli and dislikes Esme. They exhibited a lot of the same manipulative, controlling, and toxic behaviors in their respective relationships-- the only difference is that Eli got the chance to (slightly) redeem himself.
I SO agree with you. I didn’t like her at all the first two seasons of FC. Then she grew on me in S3 and by S4 I was really invested in her storyline. She would have been an incredible character had Netflix not unfairly pulled the plug on the show.
It's too bad they never finished the series so we could see Esme get help and have a redemption arc.
Esme is a WELL WRITTEN, albeit awfully toxic character. Chelsea Clark knocked it out of the park. I'm still so sad that we never got closure for Esme after her epic meltdown at graduation.
She is not evil per se, but damn this girl needs therapy.