Season 5 - Girls in Love!

From this episode one can see the groundwork being laid for the inevitable Palex hookup. Alex is visibly annoyed that Paige's boyfriend Matt is back in town. She spends a good deal of the episode being standoffish and cold to Paige. Whereas Paige is showing more and more interest in Alex's future. She's trying to get her to have a goal, to go to college once high school is over. After Matt The Jerk unceremoniously dumps Paige, leaving her a joint as a parting gift, Alex is feeling a little more willing to listen. But only if Paige is stoned. Stoned!Paige lives it up, laughing all the way through the college fair, and yet still pushing Alex just a bit about her future. Until Paige's own plans go awry -- an inpromptu interview with the university of her choice, Banting. Stressed out and high, Paige snaps at Alex. After a disasterous interview, Paige heads to work, and tries to apologize to Alex. After a small bit of groveling the girls make up, both glad to be in the same boat. Scared to death about the future.

Where to start on this little gem of a two parter. We open with Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes giving a press conference on the front steps of Degrassi, as Alex watches on. Jay sidles up to her, flashing two tickets to the Jay and Silent Bob movie premiere. Alex brushes him off, shocking him with the news that she's going with Paige instead. Cut to Paige, withering under the peer pressure that is Hazel, telling Alex that she didn't think Alex was really serious about going. Alex storms off, Hazel makes a nasty comment, Paige defends Alex, and then goes to chase after her. Visibly upset, Alex and Paige argue, which leads to Paige heading off in search of an extra golden ticket to the premiere. Once secured, she presents Alex with her prize. Though Paige is dejected to find out Kevin has cut her from the movie. Because of that, she plans to stay at home instead of going to the premiere. Alex isn't having it though. She talks Paige into going, shaking her feminine wiles as incentive.

Cut to the red carpet, where Palex make a grand entrance, before settling in their seats to watch the movie. Paige is still depressed over being cut, so Alex tries to cheer her up, by telling her she should just be enjoying each other's company. Complete with hair smoothage. At the afterparty, everyone is trying to get past the big burly security guard. Alex comes up with a plan to crash the VIP party. And it works like a charm. Who knew a little girl on girl snuggling and cheek kissage would do the trick. It probably didn't hurt that Alex pretended she was a stripper. Hmm, a little foreshadowing methinks.

Once inside, Jay finds them and proceeds to tease them on their PDA of lesbian goodness. After a nasty crack from her ex directed at Paige, Alex lets loose with her inner butch. The stuff hotness is made of. An invitation to dance which is presumably just to irk Jay's goat, leads to a hot and heavy bump and grind between the girls. The entire afterparty is looking on. Jay yet again pops up, obviously peeved with Alex and her apparent turn to girlsville. We see the sweet side of her once again, when she insists that the entire night is all about Paige, and making her happy. The girls then head off, Alex offering to walk Paige home. They stop on the way though to retrieve some shoes at Alex's place, Paige having kicked her heels off mid-dance. Trying to be sneaky, but failing miserably, Alex's mother Emily wakes up, asking to be introduced to Paige. Or apparently THEE Paige. Alex talks alot about her it would seem. After 'Lexi' is suitably embarrassed, her mother finally heads off to bed, leaving Palex alone on the Couch o Love! After a conversation about how good the night was, Alex looks ready to lean in and get her smooch on. But just before she can make contact, she hears a scuffle coming from her mother's bedroom. Mayhem ensues when her mom's boyfriend, in a drunken rage, manages to knock Alex over an end table.

Paige is horrified and takes Alex back to her house for some tlc. Paige is trying to nurse Alex's injured arm when Alex makes the confession that she's in trouble. And not the beaten up kind, the 'I'm falling for my friend' kind. After a few intense moments, Alex finally leans in and kisses Paige. And Paige responds for a few seconds, until reality slams back in and she freaks out. She flies up off the bed, insisting on sleeping on the couch, leaving a confused and hurt Alex alone in her bed.

And we're hoping the harsh light of day has calmed Paige down enough to rationally and maturely deal with her smoochie with Alex the night before. Yeah, this IS Paige afterall, so not so much. She sneaks back into her bedroom, a sleeping Alex curled up on her bed. They have an awkward conversation, with Paige trying to forget all about their little indescretion, and Alex isn't having it. This is why we all love Alex, she calls Paige on all her crap. Unfortunately, that tactic just serves to annoy Paige even more. She makes a harsh declaration of not being able to deal with Alex, sending the brunette off to rub some toothpaste on her teeth, slamming the door on her way out. Once arriving at school, Paige is grilled by Hazel about the after party, and if she hooked up with any GUY.

She answers semi honestly, but is clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. It quickly turns to the cheer she didn't write for the Kevin Smith assembly that afternoon. Escaping from the cheertators Paige ends up in MI with Marco, who also pumps her for info about the VIP party. But first she feels like she needs to confide in the requisite only gay at Degrassi. Marco HAS to be attracted to some girls, right? He can't be totally and completely gay, no lines blurred, no exceptions. Because if there's a girl out there that he likes, that might just make it ok for Paige to be feeling what she's feeling for Alex. Marco relishes in the idea that there's a girl that likes him. Not that he would like her back. Paige confides that no, she's the object of female affection. Marco finds that news most amusing, until Paige freezes up the second Alex walks into the classroom. By Alex's cold behavior towards Paige, Marco easily puts two and two together. Alex, making the first move yet again, emails Paige, asking her if she's up for lunch together, to talk. Paige freaks and shuts her down yet again. But seeing the pout on Alex's face, emails her back, asking for a meeting in the laneway later after their class.

We cut to the alley, where Alex is patiently waiting. Jay once again pops out of lurkerdom and tries to disuade Alex from persuing something with PomPom Paige. Speak of the devil, Paige sends Jay back to his hole of sleeze, and plops down on the stoop next to Alex. A conversation ensues about why Palex can't be born. Paige insists she's not a lesbian, Alex tells her it shouldn't matter what she is, because there's no denying that she kissed back the night before. After a bit more of 'I can't, we shouldn't' from Paige, she realizes that Alex does make her happy, even if she's not supposed to, and Paige this time leans in for a sweet kiss. Unfortunately Jay is still lurking. He goes running to Hazel with the scoop that Paige has suddenly hopped the fence. Hazel naturally doesn' take the news well, and at cheer practice that afternoon, she confronts Paige. Things get worse when Alex pops in to surprise her new girlfriend. Paige, feeling the pressure of her popularity, shuns Alex, saying that Hazel has it all wrong, that Alex means nothing. Of course Paige doesn't realize Alex is standing right behind her. But alas, this IS Degrassi, of COURSE Alex was standing there. She bails, Paige chases after her, pretty much proving Hazel's point to begin with. The girls argue in the hallway, in front of Kevin Smith no less. Paige insists she just can't like girls. Alex can't figure out why she kissed her then. Paige can't honestly answer her, and a tearful Alex takes off, leaving Paige to deal with the fallout and her choice.

Later on that afternoon, Paige tries to lead a cheer for Kevin. And fails miserably. Kevin catches her on the way out, where Paige apologizes for her botched cheer. Kevin, being a surprising voice of reason, manages to talk some sense into Paige, making her see that labels aren't all that important, but Alex is. He encourages her to go chase after her girl. Back at Alex's apartment, Jay is trying to worm his way back into Alex's good graces. Not working thank God. Alex goes out into the hall to escape where Paige is waiting there, trying to work up the nerve to knock. Alex doesn't make it too easy on her, but Paige apologizes profusely insisting that she's going to work on not caring what other people think about her. Alex warms up, but is still a bit reluctant. Paige, sensing this, tries to drill her point home, with one of the sweetest moments of their entire relationship. She tells Alex that she means pretty much everything to Paige. And after a rocky start, the future of Palex looks very bright.

Just a small bit of Palex here. In the beginning, we see the girls walking along through the Degrassi school carnival, adorning matching cool shades. Spinner stops them to preach about Jesus, but doesn't get very far. Paige makes a smart ass crack while Alex giggles from behind her. The next time we see them is at the safe sex conference that Marco is running. A homophobic little twerp is making nasty comments, to which Alex doesn't take too kindly too. At one point Marco gets into a fistfight with the homophobe and we can see a little glimpse of Paige holding Alex back from the melee. One thing to note about this episode is that the acronym that is Palex is used by Marco in the actual text of the show when referring to how together Paige and Alex have been.

In the second part of this two parter we get to see how Hazel has been dealing with Paige's new relationship with Alex. Lets not forget that Hazel and Alex pretty much can't stand each other. After an awkward meeting in the halls, where Paige gets annoyed with Alex for not trying harder to get along with her bff Hazel, Alex decides to extend the olive branch, searching out Hazel and offering for the three of them to hang out. Her ideas of hanging out are of course a bit different than Hazel's, more like getting drunk and getting into trouble. Hazel would rather go to the mall. We see a cute little glimpse of just how hard Alex has fallen for Paige, because against her better judgement, she agrees to an afternoon of shopping with the cheer twins.

She should have trusted that afformentioned better judgement, because shopping expedition? Total disaster. Paige gets so upset at Alex and Hazel's petty fighting that she bails on both of them. After ya know, they started throwing clothes at each other and got hauled down to mall security. The next day, Alex tries to make things up to Paige, presenting her with sweets. That doesn't fly though, and Paige uncremoniously dumps Alex's token of affection on the lunch room trash can, leaving Alex alone to ponder what else she has up her sleeve. Apparently Hazel is feeling the cold chilly shoulder as well. She sidles up to Alex at her locker, offering up the white flag, where they have a small moment, sharing in the frustrating that come with being an important person in Paige's life.

Cut to the mall coffee shop, where Halex have set up a meeting of dual apology with Paige. A cute moment ensues when Paige corrects Alex and Hazel about not having whip on her coffee. Hazel insists that she knew Paige better, but Alex reminds Paige about a certain three pieces of chocolate cheesecake her girlfriend had last weekend. Paige momentarily blushes before reminding Alex that it was their two month anniversary. The teasing continues as the girls devolve into an all out food fight, once again landing them in the mall security office.

The requisite breakup episode. Once again, this IS Degrassi after all. And couples rarely stay together that long. Palex was no exception. The episode starts with Paige freaking out that she hasn't heard back from her university of choice, Banting yet. Alex just seems totally casual about the ending of high school. She doesn't have any real plans aside from possibly getting a tattoo or learning how to play the bass. Naturally that completely clashes with Paige's plans. After a cute sneaky way of getting around Paige's questioning, an adorable eskimo kiss, we cut to the girls at work, shoveling popcorn yet again. Looks like Paige's fears were unfounded, her Banting acceptance has finally come. She's all excited while Alex is getting increasingly annoyed. Paige apparently has assumed that Alex will just move to Kingston with her, they'll get a cozy little place, and Palex will stay nice and cozily intact. Alex doesn't take too kindly to that idea, but before they can really get into a discussion about it, Alex snaps at a customer, right in front of their boss. Apparently that was strike three, and Alex gets fired. Paige want to continue their earlier conversation, but Alex certainly isn't up for it after just getting canned from her much needed job. Paige agrees to table it for the night, and with a quick goodbye kiss, Alex leaves, promising to see Paige the next day.

Once again we're in class, and Alex isn't showing much interest. Of course that bothers Paige. Her girlfriend feels the need to live it up though. Which of course means skipping and causing trouble. Paige just shakes her head, but somehow we next see them at the mall, browsing through cds at the record store. Alex tries to talk Paige into stealing a cd, an admittedly boneheaded move. Paige refuses, as she should, but Alex doesn't take no for an answer, instead sneaking into Paige's purse. Of course they're busted. Paige is mortified, and thus leads to the big break up fight. She insists that Alex needs to grow up, and show some excitement for the future, for THEIR future together. Apparently Alex doesn't see a future that includes them as a couple. Paige smells the breakup coming, but still asks for Alex to make it perfectly clear. It's a tearful, sad scene, and as Alex walks away, leaving Paige standing alone in the mall, the Palex fandom at large is sighing in disappointment and genuine surprise that it ended up being Alex who did the breaking up.

Alex heads home to find Jay, where she admits that it wasn't just a phase, or just Paige. She's a lesbian. And breaking up with Paige totally bit the big one. Jay is surprisingly sincere and nice, and they sit on the sofa to check out hot babes together. Paige meanwhile is at the Dot, depressed about Alex and yet worried about her future at Banting at the same time. Spinner tries to reassure her that she'll do fine, and one thing leads to another and they end up kissing as he's helping her with her jacket. Yeah, just a small toss of salt won't hurt us Palex fans, right?

Post breakup we find out that Paige has indeed slept with Spinner. Gross, yes. Thankfully she's not all about wanting to go back to boystown, though Spinner is pretty convinced he has a magic penis and now Paige is all his again. She sets him straight, insisting that it was just what she needed to say goodbye to high school. And probably try and get Alex out of her every waking thought. Hazel offers to have Palex join her and some friends for fondue after school, but Paige breaks the news that there is no Palex anymore. Hazel actually seems genuinely sorry for Paige, who brushes it off, telling her friend that Alex and her were so not meant to be. Yeah, I didn't buy that line either. Graduation day rolls around, and after a bit of an awkward glance at one another, Paige and Alex hug on the steps of Degrassi, diplomas in hand. From the look on Alex's face one can obviously see that she's not even remotely close to being over Paige. It's an interesting thing to ponder over the long summer hiatus.

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