Switched at Birth: Ty is OK, Travis is Not

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Man... do I feel stupid! I totally should have realized that Ty would be back after the Emmett found out about him and Bay! This will undoubtedly cause more drama... which the show is going to have to squeeze in, since it's full of so many other plots right now! Like that spiteful Simone... hopefully Toby is starting to dislike her disregard for everyone else now... And, can we talk for a quick minute about how much this episode made my heart ache toward the end? The whole Travis situation makes me cry inside. How tragically lonely that kid must be - and how awful he must feel to communicate in a language that his parents and his brother don't know! I honestly don't know what could be done... we know that Travis has only been at Carlton for a few months, but since Travis is fluent in sign, he must have grown up with it being taught somewhere... no parent/teacher meeting or school function ever uncovered the fact that he and his parents can't communicate? I never thought about this being a problem... I guess I just assumed that anyone with a deaf child would love him enough to learn to sign! I'm very much looking forward to learning more about this aspect of deaf culture!

Switched at Birth "Write a Lonely Soldier" (S01E19): There was a helicopter crash in Afghanistan and Ty's company was affected, so Bay, Regina, and Daphne are all very worried. Emmett (who could never serve the US because he's deaf) goes to comfort Bay, and she tells him that she's been emailing with Ty, which frustrates Emmett. Daphne later explains to Emmett that he shouldn't be upset because Bay was just trying to help Ty adjust, plus Bay is crazy for Emmett. [it also seems like Daphne has given up fighting for him... thoughts?] Later, Bay suggests some artwork for Emmett's next motorcycle, but he's stuck on the emailing thing. He even asks to read the emails if they "were nothing." [what a mistake!] She protests about privacy, then brings them up for him. It starts to settle as she demonstrates how harmless they are... but then there's a photo of Ty's tank with a piece of Bay's street art, which ticks off Emmett. [...yep! I'd be pissed, too.] It also makes it worse that Bay doesn't remember whether she even told Ty that she was dating Emmett. [interesting how the word "important" kept coming up...] John pulls some strings to find out that Ty is actually okay, and Ty later calls Bay. [whoa. saw it coming, but not like this.] Ty calls asks her for another hammer girl to put on the top of his Humvee, then Bay breaks it to him that she started seeing Emmett (oh, who, by the way, has stopped taking speech therapy...), rendering the poor soldier speechless. [so she did know that she hadn't told Ty about Emmett... liar.]

Kathryn tells the Kennish lawyer that she gave money to the nurse (the influx in her account was flagged), so now the nurse can no longer testify if the hospital finds out... plus, the lawyer could face trouble with the Bar Association, though he's willing to risk it. [this may be his only case and all... but that seems like a lot to risk!] Kathryn wants to try talking to the other nurses who were working that day, but can't figure out how Angelo got one to agree to testify, so she wants to talk to Angelo's lawyer. John tells her to bring their lawyer with her, so they both go, and find out that Angelo was told by a third (unknown) party to go to that specific nurse. [this is a bit cryptic... why would someone contact ANGELO about it? He wasn't even around when it all went down...] This means that they need to find Angelo, plain and simple. [this whole little story of the lawyer finding Kathryn attractive is going nowhere... let's drop it while we're ahead, guys.]

Simone asks Toby which of his sisters has been badmouthing her more, and he says that neither has said anything, which surprises her. [so another one of her bad qualities is that she thinks that everyone cares enough to bother talking about her?] She got him a solo gig, but it's at the same time as a GuitarFace gig. Toby tells Wilke that he can't make it, but Wilke calls him names and reminds him that this could be an opening for more work, so Toby decides to go with it. Toby then tells Simone that he can't do the gig she planned, and she's not too bothered by it. [hmmm...] The Wilke gig gets cancelled when some parents find out about the party being thrown, and Toby finds out that Simone was the one who ratted on the event. Toby's upset so he goes to Kathryn for advice (without giving details), and she basically tells him to give the person the benefit of the doubt. [even though you and I both know that Simone is just bad news!]

At Carlton, the towel boy, Travis, confronts Daphne, claiming that she couldn't cut it at Buckner and that's why she's back to play basketball at Carlton. [just how widespread is this belief? we weren't under the impression that anyone was treating Daphne differently when she was in class and whatnot.] She tells the principal about it, who ends up firing Travis. Daphne feels bad, so she asks John to give him a job at the carwash. [these girls and having their daddy pull strings...] John asks her if Travis like her or if he's like Emmett... meaning, how deaf is he and how can he communicate? [it came off rough... and shook me as much as it did Daphne.] He takes it back, though, and says that if she vouches for him, he can have the job.

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Travis begins work by irritating Daphne by pointing out that Wilke doesn't know any signs and he's dating a deaf girl. [I hadn't realized that Wilke has made no efforts whatsoever... good point!] Wilke invites Daphne to see the show, and wants to go to her basketball games, too. [awww... cute couple ideas!] Travis gets fired over being rude to a customer, but he threatens to sue John for discrimination so Daphne tries to talk to him. After Travis just quits, she goes to his house to find out more. She quickly learns that his mother doesn't sign, nor does the rest of his family. [is it standard to not use speech when you're meeting someone when you're deaf? I was expecting Daphne to speak while signing, since it tends to help people understand her.] Travis goes back to John's carwash and asks for a second chance. John, being a good man, gives him one. Oh, and Daphne decides to try and get Wilke to sign, but shortly after giving him a namesign, he's really only interested in signs like "make-out." [dang it, Wilke. TRY.]