Friday, January 6, 2012

Switched at Birth: Trust Issues

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I found it interesting how many different questions of trust were broached this episode. Obviously Bay doesn't trust Daphne with Emmett, that we saw coming. And the fact that John doesn't trust Angelo with Bay, that was also alluded to previously. But Kathryn wanting to go talk to the nurse alone, not trusting John to be there when they learn everything together? I wasn't expecting that. I was also taken aback by Toby not trusting Daphne, too. I mean, I know he was looking out for Bay, but to think Daphne would do something with Emmett was a bit much. Do you think that these trust issues will continue? I'm not sure, but I'm really looking forward to more episodes, especially after talking to Vanessa Marano and Katie LeClerc a couple weeks ago!

Switched at Birth "Starry Night" (S01E11): Bay and Emmett continue to struggle to communicate with one another. They try signing over the phone, but Bay isn't accustomed to it and doesn't holding the phone far enough in front of her. [gotta love technology!] Daphne steps in to help, but that makes Bay upset. Later, at a food vendor, Emmett has typed out what he wants and shows it to the guy, but when the guy asks what type of sauce to put on the tamales, Bay feels rushed and jumps in to answer for Emmett, which hurts him a little. [makes sense that typing things out on smartphones would be better than hand-writing things in this day and age... I just hadn't thought of it.] A couple of hours later, a guy accosts Emmett, wanting a free drink (you'll learn why in a little bit), and Bay yells at him, saying that Emmett's deaf and to leave him alone. This also upsets Emmett. Later that night, after struggling to express himself, Emmett asks Daphne to interpret for them, and she does. Emmett tells Bay that he can gesture, point, and text, and that if someone has to take a little longer to engage with him, it's okay. Bay apologizes to Emmett, and he tells her that she shouldn't use deafness as a defense. They make up for the most part, but the constant communication problem bothers Bay. [it is a struggle, there's no denying that. but, they both know that it'll take more work to communicate when they use different languages.]

Kathryn invites Daphne to watch a 3D horror movie with closed captioning, in what appears to be a rather drastic attempt to spend time with her. Daphne initially agrees, but then asks for a raincheck in order to drive out to Toby & Emmett's music festival that night. Kathryn agrees, though you can tell she's a little upset... she had been running around to get things ready and make caramel corn and whatnot. Kathryn and John end up watching the movie. [I love Kathryn. She's so nice and tries so hard.]

But that's not all Kathryn did this episode, mind you. Their lawyer comes over with some documents for the Kennish family to read, but Kathryn is worried about the nurse who is planning to testify, so she goes to the hospital and waits for the nurse to come out. [um, stalk much?] After some pleading, Kathryn is able to ask the nurse some questions in private. She begins by pointing out that she remembers some of the nurses, but not this one in particular. The nurse tells Kathryn that she remembers her because her parents were big fans of John's, and she wanted to have things to tell her dad, so she made sure to spend some time with the Kennishes. [makes sense to me.] The point sticks when the nurse tells Kathryn that she remembers Kathryn's struggle to breastfeed, a result of not being able to do so with Toby, as he was born with a cleft and couldn't latch. This is something that very few people know (they had it fixed when Toby was six weeks old), and Kathryn believes that she may indeed have been part of the switch. [...wow. the writing is either really clever or ridiculously just-possible.] Kathryn tells John that she met the nurse, and he's upset that she went without him. She explains that she needed to make her own judgments, and now she's very upset with the hospital and what they did. [I'm glad that she realized that she allows herself to be bulldozed by him normally.]

John calls a family meeting to make it clear that Angelo can't come to the house or be alone with either of the girls, and that all phone calls with him will be monitored. [sensible.] Later, while helping Bay do her nails, Regina reluctantly agrees to step-in and help Bay get better access to Angelo. Regina goes to John's work to talk about it, and he is actually willing to compromise, and says that he won't chaperone Bay and Angelo, as long as Regina will. [this is a big step for John, don't you think?] Daphne doesn't understand why Regina would want to further any communication with a person of such poor character, and it seems that there is even more to the backstory... Regina and Bay meet Angelo at a restaurant/club, which is awkward from the get-go. Bay tells Angelo that she's seeing Emmett, which shocks Regina. She regains composure, but only momentarily. Soon, Angelo mentions that Bay told him that Regina is in AA, which leads to an argument and Bay sitting alone at the table while the other two go off to talk. [poor Bay. She wants so much out of these meetings and things just keep becoming awkward.] Regina and Bay end on a sour note, knowing that they don't tell one another everything. And, it looks like it hit Regina pretty hard, as she later calls her sponsor, leaving her mother to worry that she'll start drinking again. [and, if you recall, Daphne also drinks, so maybe we'll have some mother-daughter alcoholism coming up?]

John asks Bay how things went, then tells her that Angelo called, wanting to do something with her the following day. However, Bay announces that she plans to drive out to the music festival to support Toby... and unhappy when John tells her that Daphne already left for the same event. [Regina was out when Daphne left... so did she not ask permission of anyone? Perhaps her grandmother let her go?]

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So, now let's talk about the festival... Wilke lied about who the band was opening for, and their stage is out in the middle of nowhere at the same time as a big band, so people won't likely see them play. [I'm really not a Wilke fan!] The guys then hand out handbills and stickers in the crowds, and Toby jokes about changing the name of the band to "Free Booze" so that, when it's announced, people will come running, instead of paying $7 for a beer. Wilke and Emmett go for it immediately, though Toby thinks it's a bad idea. [...yeah. I'm inclined to go with Toby. Though I'm sure plenty of people I know would have gone with Wilke.] Daphne arrives late at night, so she climbs into Emmett's tent and snuggles next to him while he sleeps. In the morning, Emmett is upset that she just came in and didn't wake him. They get into an argument and she leaves, just in time for Toby to suspect that Emmett cheated on Bay. He's quite upset with Daphne, but it doesn't last long. Plus, Bay soon shows up and surprises Emmett.

Good times don't last forever, though, since people start throwing stuff at the band when they begin playing and the crowd realizes that they aren't actually receiving "Free Booze." [are you surprised? because I'm not. I'm also upset that we really don't get any information regarding how well-liked GuitarFace's music actually was...] Daphne gets jealous of Emmett and Bay, so she leaves the performance. Later, Daphne opens up to Wilke, mostly since Emmett isn't available. [oh, and by the way, Wilke apparently can't be bothered to learn Emmett's name, as he calls him Edward when talking to Daphne. another reason i don't like him.] She's mad at a lot of people for a lot of things. Wilke's solution? Take her hearing aids, then push her into the water. He pulls off his shirt and joins her, and it seems to brighten her mood. That night, Daphne asks Bay about how the dinner went, and Bay talks about how screwed up everything is.
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