Adrian Depressed; Families Collide; Elka Saved

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Reviews & Commentaries for "scripted" shows this week include: The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Switched at Birth, and Hot in Cleveland.

Monday:
The Secret Life of the American Teenager "When One Door Closes" (S04E02):  [with a title like that, I'm almost ready to bet that next week will be "Another One Opens," LoL.] We open with Ricky and Amy, and it's clear that Amy and John have slept over at Ricky's several times. Ricky suggests that they move in. Amy mentions that Ashley and Toby are taking off on a cross-country trip that day. [so they are gonna do that... interesting.] Amy wants to wait until school is out for the summer, but Ricky convinces her. Amy feels guilty about Adrian's situation. Adrian tells Ben that she wants to take the GED and not go back to high school. [can't really say I blame her too much.] Ben wants her to go to a real school, even if it's a different one. She tells Ben to say "hello" to Grace and Amy. Ben tells her that he's going to have dinner at his dad's after work, but Adrian wants to stay home and order in, alone. [I have no idea how I'd feel if I was in her position... maybe I'd want to be completely alone, too.] It's been 8 weeks since the last episode. [weird. very weird. why not make it the season finale of last season then, rather than the first episode of this season? and why schedule the episodes to air week-to-week instead of having some sort of gap in between?] Ben and Adrian had gone to counseling, and Ben wants to go back. [good for him.] Adrian says that nothing can be said to help her. Adrian doesn't want any pills. [maybe she'll change her mind, though. I could see someone having an addiction on this show...] Adrian tells Ben that she wants to stay home, watch old Oprah episodes, eat whatever she wants, and imagine her baby in the nursery. [that last part freaks me out a little.] Ruben wants Adrian to go to her baby's grave, but her mom doesn't feel the same way. Adrian's mom took a month off work but is returning now. Ruben calls Adrian, offering to bring over lunch, but she tells him to leave her alone. [no surprise.] Ben comes back in to apologize over the way he left, and Adrian just says that she doesn't want everyone worrying about her. Kathleen won't let Tom's girlfriend and children move into the guesthouse with him. She's on welfare and is older than him, and Kathleen points out that a divorce would take half of his money away. [the possibility of a pre-nup is not discussed.] Tom mentions that he wouldn't have sex with Rachel, and points out that his mom isn't having sex, either. (Jeff is in Africa again.) Grace went to Zimbabwe to volunteer for two weeks - and she's halfway through that now. [I don't think one of those weeks was Spring Break, either. These kids are always taking off school!] Ashley tells Amy it's weird that Ricky and Amy are getting together while Ben and Adrian are in mourning. [I feel that these are mutually exclusive events.] Ashley tells Amy that she hopes she stays happy, and Amy wishes that Ashley will get happy. [cute.] Amy thinks she should tell Adrian that she's going to live with Ricky. Amy did tell Adrian about her sex with Ricky. Amy runs into Ben, and she's at a loss for words, since she says the same things everyday. Ben asks Amy to drop by the condo to try to talk to Adrian, and Amy hesitantly agrees. Amy asks the counselor for a note so she can leave at lunch. [these kids try to leave school for the most ridiculous reasons!] Ben doesn't want to talk to Ricky. Leo's assistant tells him that she's looking for another job. He offers her a raise or a more prestigious title, but she says she wants a change. Leo's upset, and the assistant says that, after 25 years, she needs a change. He doesn't want her there if she's looking for another job, and asks her to leave. [She's in love with him, obviously.] Adrian's home on the couch, pigging out. Amy gets there, knocks, texts Adrian, and keeps knocking. Eventually Adrian lets her in. Amy says that they miss Adrian at school. [not the best, but you gotta open with something!] Amy offers to help bring schoolwork home. Adrian says that she's surprised that Ben is still with her, and says that the only good thing that came out of losing Mercy [interesting choice for the baby's name] is that she knows she can count on Ben for the rest of her life. [hmmm....] Adrian asks Amy how things are with Ricky, and if the sex has changed things. Amy tells her that she's happy and that she's been staying at Ricky's a lot lately. When she tells Adrian that she's moving into Ricky's place, Adrian thanks her for not tiptoe-ing around. Ricky talks to his therapist about Amy and John moving in. [good. we haven't seen the therapist in a while.] Ricky is afraid that Ben will leave Adrian. [I think he has good reasoning there.] Kathleen goes to a thrift shop to talk to Rachel, who declines going to lunch. She's not friendly and doesn't want to talk to Kathleen. Rachel says that Tom's heart doesn't have limitations, and that he's caring, trustworthy, sweet, funny. Then she admits that she divorced her husband because he beat her in front of the kids. He stole the kids and it took her three months to find them. The guy is in jail now, and she spent everything she had trying to find her kids. [this story totally swept Kathleen way more than it affected me.] Kathleen tells Grace on the phone that she's talking to Rachel about moving into the guesthouse. Amy went back to school after seeing Adrian and tells Ben that they talked, and she isn't sure if it made a difference. Ben feels like life betrayed Adrian because Ben felt like betraying her once, when he told Amy that he wasn't ready to be a husband and father. Amy reiterates that it wasn't his fault that the baby was stillborn. [I didn't get why everyone in the hallway stared at Ricky and Amy...] Betty's back, though we don't see her. Ben wants some wine but Leo says no. [oooh... maybe this will foreshadow that Ben will develop a drinking problem...] Ben and Leo both say that they don't want to be married. Leo says that they can't do anything about it as the episode ends. 

Switched at Birth "American Gothic" (S01E02): We open in the guesthouse, breakfast time. Daphne is planning to have Sugar Rice Pops, which surprises Bay when she comes to the door. [I guess she's not allowed to eat sugary cereal?] Bay invites them for popovers, but only Daphne goes. We get another good glimpse into Daphne's life as we hear no talking but see the others from her point of view. Bay's family likes squirrels. [random. but okay.] Daphne had never had rhubarb before, and she likes it. It looks like Kathryn is learning a few signs. Bay is upset that Daphne gets to ride on a motorcycle. Daphne is still going to the deaf school. John wants to sue the hospital for switching the babies. Kathryn wants John to talk to Regina about the motorcycle thing, but he won't cave. [geez, woman! it's YOUR issue, deal with it!] Liam doesn't want to be with Bay anymore. [good. she doesn't deserve him.] Regina is peeling off wallpaper when Kathryn comes over. Kathryn acts like she's fine with it, but when she gets back, she complains to John. Liam goes to the deaf school to see Daphne, and asks Emmett where she is by giving her name sign. [a little too random that he asks her friend, LoL.] Daphne tells him that she decided to stay at the deaf school, but thanks him for looking her up. Turns out, Liam's dad owns Daphne's favorite restaurant. [of course.] Emmett watches Liam like a hawk. Bay asks Kathryn if she can have an hour off from being grounded, but Kathryn says no. So Bay goes to Regina, but Regina says she'd have grounded her for a month, not a week. [haha!] Liam drives an Escalade. Regina asks Bay to help paint the walls, and she agrees. Toby picks on Daphne for the first time, taking away her brownie batter and eating it. [LoL.] Regina shows Bay her AA chips and encourages Bay to ask anything she wants. Regina gives a bit of her alcoholic history... turns out her father was, too. The neighborhood kid comes over to see Regina, and he and Bay flirt a little. Kathryn and John see an attorney about suing the hospital. Kathryn gets John to help her confront Regina about the motorcycle thing. [I should have figured that he'd cave!] Kathryn suggests that, because Emmett is deaf, riding on a motorcycle is especially dangerous. Regina doesn't think that's a valid argument, and then the money issue comes back into play. They have cookouts every Thursday, apparently. Regina is an atheist, Daphne is an agnostic. This comes up when they say grace, though Daphne volunteers to lead. Kathryn directly asks Daphne about driving her to school in the mornings, and it turns into a bigger argument about throwing money around, joint parenting, gun control, etc. [yeah... it got out of hand pretty fast.] Regina leaves, Daphne goes after her. Regina starts packing and tells Daphne that the others don't think deaf people should drive. Daphne doesn't believe her. Regina says that the others are arrogant and entitled, and that's what's wrong with them. Bay is upset that Kathryn doesn't like Regina. Bay asks Toby to cover for her, as she's going out for a bit. Bay goes to see Tony, the kid that lives in Daphne's old neighborhood. She tells him she needs a lookout to do some graffiti. [if the writers want us to hate Bay, I'm getting close!] Bay talks about the unspoken rules for graffiti artists. Meanwhile, Daphne is with Liam at a record store. Daphne explains to Liam how lipreading works. Out on the street, they run into some of Liam's friends who make fun of the deaf. Daphne splits. [can't say I blame her. Though I was surprised that she gave them the wrong sign for something, LoL.] Bay finishes her "artwork" and bonds with Tony a bit. Emmett picks up Daphne and takes her home. [he's such a cutie!] Bay sneaks in, and she and Daphne chat about how fast the families fell apart. John catches Bay sneaking in, and claims she wasn't doing anything illegal [which is a lie]. John lets it slide, but tells Bay not to tell Kathryn he caught her. [she's got Daddy wrapped around her little finger...] Regina tells John and Kathryn that she fought the motorcycle for months, too, but allowed it in the end. Kathryn isn't okay with Daphne on the motorcycle, but Regina isn't okay with co-parenting. [good point.] Regina tells John and Kathryn that she doesn't want to pursue a lawsuit, since making the hospital better and protecting other parents isn't her job. As it ends, Kathryn tells John that she thinks that Regina is hiding something. [Well, my prediction that this would be a school-centric episode was a little right and a little wrong. I didn't realize that Daphne would ultimately choose to stay at the deaf school. I think that Liam is going to prove to be an intriguing character.]


Wednesday:
Hot in Cleveland "Where's Elka?" (S02E11): The ladies want to find Elka, and Victoria and Joy google themselves before Melanie starts looking at the recent searches. ["how to bedazzle a maple leaf" was a funny search.] This makes the girls think that Elka went to Canada. [not bad detective work, I guess.] Joy sees Elka's car and the pull over, finding an Amish bar. They have apple cider while waiting for Elka. [haha, it's clearly fermented!] Norm from Cheers plays Yoder, whom everyone knows at the bar. [love it.] Victoria follows Yoder and ends up in a communal bed with several other women, including Elka. Melanie has a fake beard on, possibly from a drunk skit. Amy from Everybody Loves Raymond plays the talkative Amish woman [fits her!], and tells Victoria about some Amish culture. Joy and Melanie are lost and stumble upon Elka. Victoria churns butter and begins to appreciate the Amish life. [didn't see THAT coming!] The others find Victoria, who doesn't want to leave Amish country. Melanie and Joy bring Elka back home, rather than to Canada like she wanted. When they get home, the governor's wife is there to ask Joy to stay quiet (about the governor's eyebrows) while she works on her green card. Joy asks the governor's wife to help Elka instead, and then she and Elka argue over who needs the help more, when the governor's wife says that she can help them both. [cool, I guess.] They're all missing Victoria, and then she shows up, saying that they wanted her to do laundry so she left. [haha.] Yoder shows up, since Victoria is to be his wife. Once he finds out that she's not a virgin, he then asks Melanie, then Joy, then Elka, who goes out to dinner with him. [LOVE Betty White!]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Off season/Coming Up:
Futurama (Season 6, episode 14 on June 23rd)
Burn Notice (Season 5 begins June 23rd)

Melissa & Joey (season 2 starts June 29th, 8pm)
How I Met Your Mother (Season 7 in September)
Terra Nova (premiering in September) 
The Simpsons (Season 23 in September. In the meantime, go online and vote for what should happen to the Nedna relationship)
The Middle (Season 3 in September)
House, M.D. (Season 8 in September)
South Park  (Season 15, Episode 8 in October)
Mr. Sunshine (Canceled. we saw nine episodes.) 
The Paul Reiser Show (Canceled. we saw two episodes, and at least 5 more were filmed.)