Rick Murray
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| Richard Murray | |
|---|---|
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| First appearance | Whisper To A Scream (308) |
| Last appearance | Time Stands Still, Part 2 (408) |
| Statistics | |
| Nickname(s) | Psycho, Freak |
| Status | Deceased, Fatally shot in struggle with Sean |
| Year of Death | 2004 |
| Occupation | Student |
| Episode Count | 8 |
| Portrayed by | Ephraim Ellis |
Rick Murray was a student at the fictional Degrassi Community School in the series, Degrassi: The Next Generation. He could easily be considered the most tragic character in the history of the series (1989-2004). He was portrayed by Ephraim Ellis.
Contents |
[edit] Season 3
[edit] Crush on Terri
At the start of season 3, Terri starts wondering who in the world is sending her roses everyday and taping them to her locker. At first, everyone thinks it's Toby, when Toby denies this, Terri waits outside her locker early the next morning. She caught Rick taping a rose to her locker and stopped him. From that moment on, the two started going out.
[edit] Relationship with Terri
Rick and Terri had both never had a real relationship. The two were incredibly happy. However, Rick proved to be jealous. He didn't allow Terri to hangout with Paige and Hazel, believing they would make fun of him and pick up guys. At first, Terri attempted to reason with Rick, Rick quickly grabbed Terri and hurt her. Terri broke up with Rick shortly afterwards. Later, Terri gets jealous when all of her best friends are boyfriends and girlfriends. Terri finds Rick and forgives him. Rick, Terri, and Paige get in an argument over Rick hanging out with all of them. Paige screams at Rick and Terri to go away. In a flurry of anger, Rick grabs Terri and throws her onto a rock. Terri was put into a coma. While not in the TV show, Paige's Journal says that Terri had transferred to a private school.
[edit] Season 4
[edit] Relationship With Toby
J.T. started hanging out with new friends, Toby, feeling left out and unpopular, started hanging out with the constantly jumped and bullied Rick. Toby and Rick made a bond, and were good friends. The two had some contests, for example to see who could kiss Emma Nelson by the end of the day.
[edit] Relationship with Emma
As soon as everyone found out that Rick had returned to Degrassi, Emma immediately took issue with it, but Principal Raditch warned Emma to leave Rick alone. Paige and Emma set up a fundraiser against beating women. Rick tried to make amends by giving Emma an anonymous donation, but Alex tore his check up. Despite not knowing Terri, she hated Rick from the get-go because her own mother was the target of abusive boyfriends. The fundraiser soon turns into a fight against Rick. Spinner, Alex, Jay, Jimmy, and multiple others started to beat up Rick and decorating his things with notes telling him to leave. Emma was praised for starting her fundraiser against Rick. At The Dot, Emma deliberately trips Rick, then Jay drags him outside and starts to beat him up. Realizing that the situation was getting out of hand, Emma defended Rick, and she was labeled a hypocritical loser. Emma hung out with Rick because she felt sorry for him, however, Rick thought quite differently.
[edit] The Shooting
Rick was easily the smartest kid at Degrassi. Rick, Emma, Toby, and Heather (an unseen character constantly mentioned throughout seasons 1-5) become the school's team in the fictional game show Whack Your Brain. Heather gets mono and Jimmy takes her place due to his knowledge in geography and sports. Rick protests, but after proving how smart and how he can deal with his anger, Jimmy forgives him and becomes Rick's friend. Prior to the day of the Whack Your Brain contest, Rick spraypaints the cars of Spinner and Jay. Rick flashes the sign he drew to the group, angering Jay. Alex, being the student council vice president, sets up yellow paint and chicken feathers to splash all over Rick. After Rick singlehandedly wins the game show, the paint landed all over Rick. Rick went from hero of Degrassi back down to his nerd status. Rick runs off stage, incredibly angry. Emma comforts him, Rick takes it the wrong way and kisses Emma. Emma reveals her real feelings for Rick, that she stayed with him out of pity. Hurt, Rick runs home. When he gets home, he makes a decision which will soon have serious reprecussions for Degrassi.
Rick returns to school later that afternoon. Aside from Jimmy, Toby, and Emma, Paige (who once hated Rick for his actions toward Terri) also denounced the prank, saying it was "sickening" and "childish." Rick apologized for hurting Terri, and Paige seemed to accept it. Just before this, Rick was pulling a gun out, implying that he was contemplating shooting her before she made nice.
Rick cleaned himself up in the bathroom. Jay and Spinner, realizing that Rick is in one of the stalls, pretend that Jimmy set up everything, adding that Jimmy joined the team to trick Rick into a false sense of security, and that Jimmy convinced Rick to play the sudden death round of the game. Rick goes to Jimmy and pulls out a handgun. Jimmy tries to run and is shot in the back. Craig finds Jimmy on the floor and hyperventilates.
Sean, Emma, and Toby run towards where Jimmy was shot wondering why everyone was running away from the area. Rick stops them and tells them not to run away. Afraid for his own life, as well as what Rick is capable of doing, Sean tries to reason with Rick. Rick says it's already too late, believing he had already killed Jimmy. Rick points the gun at Emma for "flirting" with him. Sean quickly tries to take the gun. In the struggle for the gun, the gun goes off bringing both of them down to the ground. At the end of the episode, the news reporters reveal that Rick had died in the struggle for the gun, Jimmy had to be hospitalized, and Sean, Emma, and Toby escaped without physical injury.
[edit] Aftermath
Jimmy getting shot as well as Rick's death caused an aftermath that affected several of the main characters. Sean, thinking that he might've killed Rick, left Degrassi and moved back to Wasaga Beach. Jimmy was confined to a wheelchair. Emma became distant and isolated, leading to her contracting gonorrhea after performing oral sex on Jay. Toby was left shaken by witnessing Rick's death.
Spinner would suffer the worst. Not only did he lose all of his friends, as well as his girlfriend Manny after confessing his involvement, but he and Jay were expelled from Degrassi. However, by the end of Season 5, all of Spinner's friends, including Jimmy, had forgiven Spinner.
[edit] Note
In the episode "Back in Black" Sean thinks he killed Rick and is remorseful, but in the Degrassi short "Sean in prison" he says he is not sorry
| Degrassi: The Next Generation Minor Characters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Teachers and Adults | Ms. Kwan | Tracker | Mr. Armstrong | Mr. Manning | more... | |
| Students and Kids | Kendra | Dylan | Rick | Dean | Danny | Mia | Heather | more... | |
