Alexa

ME TO A T. I cant stand his character, really cant. I've never liked the actor in anything he's done, he just always come off so jerky to me.

In general I found this episode pretty blah. IDK, didnt care about the Toby/Nikki stuff or stuff with his parents. Didn't care about the bay and field hockey either. lol.

Tank was pretty nice in the episode but I dont really want it to go the romantic route. Seems that it will though.

ollibear

I found this whole 10-episode arc blah. Gosh, I hated it.

Looking back, it's ironic. I was so focused on Emmett, from the moment he cheated. I just wanted Emmett back with Bay. I felt Emmett's pain personally, and I felt Bay's pain, too.

At first, I was naive enough to think they'd get back together the very next episode, after he told her the truth about Simone. Then, I told myself that it might take a few episodes, but he'd be back and we'd still get to see him. Next, I told myself that Bay & Emmett would be back together in the Season 1 Finale. That felt right, and when Emmett followed Bay to Mexico, it looked like it might happen.

By the time Season 2 rolled around, I was sure that Bay and Emmett would get back together in the season premiere. In my mind, their story was the one the writers were meaning to tell, so how could it take much longer than it already had? Didn't the writers know they were wasting precious time?

I hadn't faced the fact yet that the writers had no intention of ever telling Bay & Emmett's story. Viewers were never again going to see Bay & Emmett, as a couple. Oh, we'd get a glimpse of them in Season 4's "Oh, Future!" (By the way, I just read two separate TV critics reviews of that episode, and they both said it was the best episode of Switched at Birth in years and that it was exactly the type of writing they wanted to see more.) But of course, that episode was an anomaly. We saw a moment of Bay & Emmett's relationship (literally, just a few seconds), and that's all we would ever see. The writers never had any intention of focusing on their relationship, only on their misery as separate people, apart from each other, and of course, we only saw a few minutes of Emmett at all.

Switched at Birth almost seems like it should be renamed Bay's Misery and Daphne's Success. That's really all the writers ever gave us.

Drive In the Knife, during the middle of Season 2A, was such a hard episode for me. I had to face the fact that the writers REALLY, REALLY wanted to draw out Bay & Emmett's reunion for as long as possible. I kept telling myself that they'd get back together, but Bay continued to refuse. I kept wanting to fast forward to the part where Bay & Emmett would get back together, but I was watching the episodes week-by-week and season-by-season, and it was impossible to fast forward.

So I waited through the summer of Ty, and I thought once he was gone, I would finally see Bay & Emmett happy together, but no.

We had the season of frat boy Tank. Man, it was a drag.

The only thing worse was watching Daphne choose Campbell over Jorge. Was she CRAZY? Jorge was learning sign language for her. He was a genuinely nice guy. He did NOT have a girlfriend. He wasn't threatened by her success. And Daphne chooses that weasel Campbell because he has pretty eyelashes? Give me a break.

Season 3A was so difficult to get through. None of the stories were fun. I didn't even get any meaning out of them. It was just one big season of blah with no connections or message or anything. I enjoyed the dance episode, and the last 2 minutes of the Season Finale, and that was it.

I was scrolling back through the thread for this episode, and I saw my quote here, from when it aired:

It's true. The one thing the writers were consistent in doing was hammering it over our heads that Bay and Emmett were separate now, and their lives did not intersect in any way, shape, or form.

Bay's hand injury was a stupid, stupid storyline without any meaning, and the one person who could have given her story arc meaning was kept separate from her the whole time.

I still remember the line Bay says to Daphne about how frustrating it is to have a part of your body fail you. Bay is supposed to relate to Daphne and Emmett's deafness. It's a super cool feature to the hand-injury story arc, but the writers leave it laying on the table. That moment never returns to Bay later, to give her any needed knowledge.

It exists. But it exists for no purpose.

Just like everything else about Season 3A. I'm glad Season 3B and all of Season 4 are better than 3A, because I almost didn't make it through 3A.

~AnastasiaGrey~

Yeah I dont know why they did the field hockey with baby it was pointless

ollibear

I agree. It gets tiring with the TV series choosing a new sport for every season.

For season 1, it was all about Daphne and basketball. That was cool, in the beginning.

For season 2, funds were cut at Carlton, but we did see Bay playing volleyball in PE class and Daphne teaching Jace how to swim.

For season 3, it was all about Daphne/Bay/Toby and field hockey.

For season 4, it was all about Travis and baseball.

All the sports started to feel formulaic. I could imagine the writers mapping out a new season and saying to each other, "Which sport should we choose to focus on this season?"

The writers did not need a sport, just for the sake of having a sport. They should have only chosen a sport, if it truly made sense for the character in that moment. It would have seemed less formulaic, if the writers had chosen to leave out the field hockey stuff in Season 3.

I fully support Season 1's story arc about Daphne and basketball. Also, I fully support Season 4's story arc about Travis and baseball. Those two stories make sense for those two characters. But Toby didn't need to start a field hockey team with Daphne, and Bay didn't need to be drafted into playing goalie. I didn't feel like that was authentic for any of those three characters, and the storyline was boring.

The writers needed to come up with something better than Toby coaching field hockey at Carlton. That didn't ring true for his character. At first, I thought the writers were doing it to give Toby, Daphne, and Bay an artificial way to interact with each other. But then, the writers never even made the story about Toby, Daphne, and Bay. Each character had his or her own individual story and didn't interact with the other siblings at all.

Toby was wrapped up in being a mentor to Sharee. Daphne was wrapped up in helping Sharee as a friend. And Bay was wrapped up in proving to herself that she could diversify her strengths for college. None of the characters needed the vehicle of field hockey, to do those things. I'd have rather seen different stories for Season 3.

~AnastasiaGrey~

And they never did anything else with her hand injury anyway

ollibear

Yep, Season 3A had stories dropped left and right. As a viewer, it's frustrating. The worst part of all is that the writers neglected all of the characters old connections to each other in Season 3A. It was a frustrating season.

~AnastasiaGrey~

I agree

ollibear

At least things got back on track in Season 3B and Season 4. I wish the writers had allowed us to see more of Bay & Emmett's second relationship. We had waited so long for it, and the writers barely gave us a glimpse before they obliterated everything to smithereens.

Sometimes I think about the fact that Bay and Emmett reunited in the fall or winter of their senior year, and he didn't leave for LA until the next September, and yet, we only saw them together briefly at his dad's housewarming party, senior skip day, and prom. None of those occasions were without huge conflicts looming overhead either.

Bay and Emmett didn't speak to each other at their high school graduation. We never got to see Bay and Emmett hanging out together, nurturing their relationship. Something more important was always taking precedence in Bay's life.

I so would have loved to see Bay and Emmett go out and grab a burger, to celebrate his acceptance to Gallaudet. That would have been WAY MORE exciting than watching Bay have some stupid dinner with Tank and his dad. Bay could have told Emmett about her potential to develop aneurysms, instead of telling Tank.

And I wish Bay would have gone to the graduation party with Emmett, instead of going to the police station with Daphne. Emmett was so excited about the big graduation party, asking Mary Beth if she was going to be there. It sounded like a fun event, and Bay just totally stood him up for it.

Bay and Emmett didn't even seem to hug or kiss or have sex in their second relationship.

Maybe all these things are why it fell apart.