ollibear

Ruby Rose Scarlett

I have a lot of things to say but I need to go out right now, perhaps I'll post later. Just one thing, though - I don't condone cheating, and Bay not telling Travis ahead of time was wrong, but that Emmett and Bay scene was incredible. The looks they exchanged, the music (I said all I ever wanted, all I ever wanted was you/ And you’re still the one to break my heart/ Still the one to tear it apart), the bond. They have a special chemistry and I can't help but hope that this season manages to get them back together in a way that feels organic and right for everyone involved.

nailpolishchick2

Bay and Emmett's serious chemistry is what has killed me all these years and seeing it last night was no exception. Emmett wants her back and Bay is still in love with him.. Despite her denying it to Travis. Her actions speak louder than her words do. It was Bay's responsibility to inform Travis about the tattoo project instead of how he found out which was by accident. He was totally ambushed. I do not support Travis and Bay but the way she is treating Travis is typical because she has done it to many of the other boyfriends she's had. 1. Denying Travis's offer to spend the night with her. 2. Lying to him about her having work. 3. Not informing him about the photography/tattoo project with Emmett. I hope she breaks up Travis before it gets any worse because the noble thing to do would for her to admit her true feelings and call it a day. Tank got burned horribly because Bay could not be honest with him about her true feelings. Now it's time for Bay to be honest with Travis. I still am swooning over the serious love between Bay and Emmett

John S

Did anyone notice that Sean Berdy was listed as a guest star and not as one of the stars of the show?

Ruby Rose Scarlett

Hopefully it's an acknowledgement of his relatively light workload last season as opposed to any inkling of what's to come this season. I want Emmett to stay. The writers did a great job, we're only four episodes in and before the season started I really thought they were done with his character for good. Now I find myself not only wanting him to stick around but really rooting for him and Bay.

John S

It is strange, that with only 6 episodes left, they would list him as a guest star NOW. That does not appear to be a good sign.

nailpolishchick2

teaholic

Yes, definitely agree on the Bay-Emmett chemistry!

But I also agree with the frustration with Bay's behavior... I feel like we have seen all of these storylines before:

• Bay isn't upfront with her current boyfriend about spending time with an ex-boyfriend because she can't "find the right time" to tell him (and knows he'll be rightfully upset)
• Of course, current boyfriend finds out anyway, in the worst way possible
• Travis's work/athletics get derailed by stuff in his personal life
• Travis's frustration leads to him lashing out physically

The whole mentor-stealing-apprentice's-idea plot seems very familiar as well, although I can't recall when we might have seen it on Switched at Birth. Maybe it's just been done too often on other shows; it felt predictable and unnecessary.

Also, I'm annoyed that things are once again magically working out for Daphne in terms of her pre-med career path.

And I really don't like how much space the racism storyline is taking up in this show, where it doesn't organically belong, and how Daphne now has a role front-and-center in the black student protest. It feels too much like a rehashing of the Carlton uprising, except here, it's wedged in and doesn't feel earned.

Ruby Rose Scarlett

I completely agree with this. I think it's a story worth telling but I'm surprised they decided Daphne needed to be shown so much. Iris and Sharee were doing just fine without her intervention. I don't want this to turn into a story where Daphne saves African-American students from racism (though the promo clearly shows that that's the road they're taking) and becomes the heroine. It's like The Help all over again and the 'black people need the help of white people to win their fights' narrative needs to stop.

John S

My negative mind at work again - until the bitter end.

Daphne gets arrested again for her protest - gets convicted - can no longer become a doctor - has overwhelming guilt because she can no longer repay Bay - by episode 10 she becomes a very vile, heartless person.

Sean Berdy is no longer listed as one of the stars of the show, so therefore, Bay and Emmett do not get back together - and Bay is distraught. When the show ends, she has no one in her life.

girl under the floor

I don't want to, but I agree with all of this

We have seen it all before

I was so looking forward to this last season, but we're not getting any fresh stuff.
Even the Travis baseball storyline, I've seen that play out on other shows already, even if it wasn't on this one. With no fresh spin to it, it just doesn't interest me


The highlight to me was the Bay tattooing Emmett scene

I hope Bay just breaks up with Travis soon. Even if she would not end up with Emmett, it's clear that she doesn't feel for Travis what he feels for her.

Barstool Prophet

Yeah I really didn't like this episode. It's like everything is going the opposite way I want it to. . Bay really needs more in her life than a guy. I also wish Daphne stopped getting involved with stuff like this. I don't want Bay and Emmett back together, but I don't feel any chemistry between her and Travis either. Regina's story is too wacky for me, the younger guy thing is overdone for me.

They aren't doing the racism issue any justice.

John S

I'm not sure what you expect from Bay. She only has a high school diploma. She is a convicted felon. She was rejected from art school because she is a felon. Her job prospects are pretty slim.
Two years ago I said that Bay and Emmett wouldn't be together at the end. I also thought that she and Regina, mother and daughter would drive away from the Kennish house, never to be seen again.
I also thought that Daphne would be psychologically destroyed because of her belief that she HAD TO become a doctor.
You said "Everything is going the opposite way I want it to". How do you want it to go?

Barstool Prophet

I guess I wanted the writers to find a way to make things right for Bay. Have her go back to school or have her do something. I mean I like this tattoo artist thing, I just honestly wanted the show to go back to character driven rather then plot driven. I don't like the handling of the social issues.

ollibear

Wow, it's taken me nearly a week to have the emotional energy to accept this episode enough to comment on it. I guess that's par for the course over the last couple of seasons, but it's a drag. Why do the episodes have to be so draining?

I loved the episode, because of Emmett. He is and always will be my connection to this story.

I still cannot believe that the writers buried his point of view. The moment the producers minimized Sean Berdy's role, they also minimized the authenticity of their story.

I wanted to see so much more of Emmett's story over the years.

In Season 1-C, I remember telling myself to hang on, that soon, things would go back to normal, but the show never recovered. Emmett should have been given a bigger story line in Season 1-C. I wanted to see him in the 4-episode arc with the Deaf motorcycle racer, and that storyline was scrapped. Emmett should have had a much bigger role in Season 2-A, when the students took over Carlton, and yet, he didn't. We barely saw Emmett in Season 2-B (the summer of Ty) or Season 3-A (the fall of Tank). I hated all of it.

Then, in Season 3-B, we had a promise of something more. The season opened with Bay confessing to Daphne that she had sex with Emmett. We actually saw Emmett for a couple of episodes. He even had the beginnings of a point of view. But then, Angelo dies, and we barely see Emmett for several episodes, and immediately following, EVERYTHING changes with the episode "It Isn't What You Think."

In that episode, Bay decides to go to dinner with Tank and his dad, over celebrating Emmett's acceptance to Gallaudet with him. She tells Tank about her potential to develop aneurysms, instead of telling Emmett. She continues to hide that news from Emmett all season, and pressures him to go to Gallaudet, when he really does not seem to want that. Then, at a moment when Emmett really needs Bay, she abandons him to take the fall for Daphne.

Having Emmett abandon Bay after he had just fought for two years to win her back makes absolutely NO sense at all. I know Bay wasn't being the best partner to Emmett, but I still do not see that as something Emmett would have done. Any other character? Sure. But one who had fought as hard as Emmett to win back Bay's trust? No way.

The writers have given Emmett fans nothing since Episode 23, and originally, his character was absolutely the fan favorite. If the writers wanted to show their superiority over the actor, well, they did it. They destroyed his character of Emmett, and the writers destroyed their story and the entire "Switched at Birth" series along with him.

Me, too. And I agree that their scenes are what make this episode special and unique.

The writers have completely done a hatchet job on Bay & Emmett's relationship, and on Emmett's character in particular, but even with all of that destruction, Bay & Emmett's magic still manages to shine through, at least, on a small scale.

It's difficult to see through all of the mud that the writers have slapped on their characters. I have to be vigilant not to look through that lens, the one where Emmett cheats, lies, and abandons Bay, and then, begs her to come back to him, after she is already happy with someone else, and the one where Bay doesn't have a loyal bone in her body, and even sleeps with Emmett's brother, after being warned that a similar decision by Diego Rivera was torture to Frida Kahlo's soul.

Over the years, Bay and Emmett have treated each other, and their love, with such disrespect that it is difficult to root for them anymore. A love like theirs is rare. To see it treated so callously, and with such disdain, is painful to watch.

As much as their chemistry popped and sizzled on screen in this episode, I have a difficult time suspending disbelief and believing that their feelings for each other are sincere. That's sad, to see both characters as that superficial and shallow now. But that's what the writers have done to them.

Me, too. I agree.

Yeah, I noticed that in the first episode this season.

Years ago, I remember Lucas Grabeel said that ABC Family (Freeform) had offered all of them four year contracts. I guess, when it came time to renegotiate for Season 5, Sean Berdy was not offered a spot as a series regular.

On Instagram, about a year ago, Ryan Lane's mother was attacking me in the comments on Jack Jason's page. Someone with the screen name "Insider Info" joined our heated discussion and said that one of the producers wanted to fire Sean Berdy since the spring of 2012, but ABC Family (Freeform) would not let that happen.

I guess it finally did.

I have the same feeling as you, but I don't credit the writers with that, at least, not yet. Maybe I need to go back and re-watch, to see if it is the writers that make me want Emmett to stick around and to be with Bay. That wasn't my initial interpretation, but I could be too closed to what the writers have to offer right now. I will take a second look.

So far, I have given all of the credit for that feeling to Sean Berdy and Vanessa Marano. Their acting and the directing in this episode is exceptionally good. Those scenes in the tattoo parlor were beautiful.

I did like the line, "I'll never forget that." Vanessa Marano's delivery of that line was perfect, as was the delivery of Sean Berdy's lines in that scene. Truly, they could have not said any words at all and just stared at each other, and I would have been mesmerized.

Bay and Emmett, now, as always, are magic.

I hope it is not an inkling of what is to come this season, too. Sean Berdy has had a light workload since the spring of 2012. Rumor has it that he is only in four episodes this season, and we have already seen two of them. I don't think Emmett will be in the next two episodes. I believe he will be in the 100th episode, and then, his last appearance probably will be in the last episode of the series.

I hope Emmett is in more episodes, but I don't think he is going to have much of a story. That's sad. If so, it's also distasteful that the writers will only be paying lip service to a story that is as important as mental health. Emmett's depression is serious, and it deserves to be covered, since the writers chose to introduce it.

Why even bother to introduce that subject, to only gloss over and ignore it? I really hope that is not the case.

When it comes to Sean Berdy and his character Emmett, all of the signs have been bad since Lizzy Weiss unfollowed him on Twitter in the Spring of 2012.

That's the same month that Ashley Fiolek's (the Deaf motorcross star's) role was suddenly cut from a four episode arc to just one episode. Also, that is when ABC Family (Freeform) cut the number of episodes from 10 to eight that season.

Ten episodes had already been announced in the press. Ashley had already mentioned her four episode arc in interviews, and then, everything changed. I don't know what happened, but it must have been bad. Lizzy Weiss and Sean Berdy seem to have had bad blood between them ever since.

I dislike how they took Daphne from this street smart, cool young woman and turned her into a naive, gullible, clueless innocent (well, as innocent as seven-time felon can be). An innocent is not who Daphne appeared to be in Season 1.

I am excited about next week's story, because I love the character of Sharee. If the writers were smart, they would have Sharee interact with Emmett and his family this season. She knows about the effects of mental illness from all that she has gone through with her mother. Sharee could advise Daphne (if Daphne is still friends with Emmett) and even offer understanding to Melody, if Daphne will introduce Sharee. I remember when Sharee was afraid that her mother might hurt herself. Melody might be going through that, too.

But then again, maybe not, since Melody had time to counsel Travis, and then, to track down John and advocate for Travis, all in this one episode, while she did not see her son with depression, at all.

Melody even managed to put in a plug with John, for Travis to become Bay's husband one day. Melody never did anything like that for her own son, Emmett. Perhaps Travis is Melody's favorite.

Anyway, Sharee is a strong character. Like Emmett, she has charisma. I like her. She is authentic, and I want to see more of her. I also like Iris and Chris. All of them are more likable and relatable than Daphne, or even Bay, lately.

I don't think Daphne cares two hoots about repaying Bay.

Bay will have everyone in love with her in the end. She will have her pick of suitors and probably turn them all away. I see that as Lizzy Weiss's fantasy, so I imagine that's what will happen to Bay. I hope I am wrong, though.

If it was my fantasy, Bay would choose to be with Emmett, in the end.


It is weird that the writers would have both of the girls' schools taken over due to social unrest. How often does that happen in real life? Not that often. But the girls have had it happen two times in two years, at both their high school and their college.


I agree the Travis story is boring as can be.


I want Bay with a guy, but not Travis. I could have been interested in seeing Bay with Emmett, Garrett, or even Tank, after their incident together. I wasn't interested in Bay & Tank as a couple before that incident, but now, I am curious to see how they would handle the struggle and the stigma of becoming a couple, after everything that happened between them.

I don't think a tattoo parlor is the right end for Bay's love of art story. I'm not impressed. (Although, I do appreciate that in the pilot episode for the series, Bay sneaks away to a tattoo parlor to get a tattoo, and now, the series has come full circle.)

I'm going to give the series one more week before I decide how I feel about the story on campus racism. I love the three black characters that will share the point of view, so I am hopeful that the episode will be good. I do think it's lame that the series is doing their second school takeover in as many years. At least, I like the three characters at the forefront of the story though!

Bay did screw herself over when she took the fall for Daphne, and I would LOVE for the writers to play up that fact this season rather than gloss over it.

I don't have much hope though.

Character driven, yes! Amen.