65th: Maya Matlin
Here we go, another poster child dies early. I almost feel like I am typing the exact same thing as I did with Clare, but Maya also has a big issue with making almost everything that has ever happened revolve around her. Whether it was Cam’s suicide where she basically never mourns and goes through a predictable downward spiral where she never actually gets shown as a person who cared that someone she cared about killed themselves; or when she attends Zoe’s rape trial and storms out because Miles kissed Zoe…….when Miles and her weren’t even together anymore.
What brings Maya up further however is that she actually has storylines that are good and I care to follow that actually progress her as a character. Her consent storyline is actually one of the best episodes I think I have ever seen (if you are catching a trend here I am gonna have to apologize to all the nostalgia lovers because The Next Class has really dragged The Next Generation in terms of writing and character development). Maya forming a friendship with Grace was also the best thing that could have happened for her character.
I will say her last couple of seasons with her anxiety/PTSD/Suicide attempt all just didn’t come off as very realistic. She also suffers from dead storyline syndrome when an apparent song writing internship just flat out disappears. So she might not be as bad as Clare, but I don’t understand why the writers keep creating these white girl characters as the top character and just making them so damn self-centered and annoying.
See a summary here: https://tengaged.com/blog/Brandonator/8628466/degrassi-cast-ranking-intro