ollibear

I have a question about the storyline, and I need others' thoughts.

Why was it important to Bay for Emmett to listen to her explain what happened during her night with Tank, before he dropped out of college for the semester?

Bay wouldn't even allow Emmett to e-mail his adviser about a withdrawal, until he listened to her explain the full story.

At first, I thought Bay might feel as though Emmett would not want to quit school, if he knew her part in the night's events. That made sense to me. Bay didn't want Emmett to sacrifice something important to him, until he knew how badly she had betrayed their relationship.

But now that I reflect on that, it doesn't make sense, because Bay was absolutely floored in disbelief when Emmett didn't want her to move to LA to be with him.

In my mind, if something Bay has done is so bad that Emmett would no longer want to quit school to be with her, then it is not a stretch to imagine that it is probably also so bad that Emmett would not want Bay to move to LA to be with him. So why was Bay shocked?

In Bay's mind, either her role in the happenings that night was bad enough to break up their relationship, or it wasn't. If Bay thought it was okay to move herself to LA to live with Emmett, then she should have thought it was okay for Emmett to move himself back home to be with her. Like Emmett said, he could withdraw from his first semester and return to LA with Bay for his second semester.

If Bay thought that what she had to share with Emmett was so bad that he would not want to do that for her, then why did Bay think Emmett would want her to move to LA to be with him?

I can't see Emmett telling Bay, "Well, what you did really sucks, so our relationship is no longer important enough for me to sacrifice my education for you, but I still care about you so you can move out to LA to be with me, when your parole is up."

And that seems to be what Bay expected of Emmett. She expected him to no longer want to move home to be with her, based on what she did with Tank, yet she expected him to be open to her moving to LA to be with him, as soon as she could.

It just seems weird to me. Either her actions were bad enough to end their relationship or they weren't. It makes no sense that Bay would feel as though she was no longer worthy of Emmett making a sacrifice to be with her, and yet, simultaneously feel as though Emmett would still welcome her with open arms once she was free to travel.

If their relationship is so damaged that he no longer wants to make a sacrifice to be with her (especially when she is fragile), then it is probably so damaged that he doesn't want her packing up all of her belongings and moving 2000 miles across the country to be with him.

It's frustrating for me as a viewer, because we did not have an opportunity to see or hear what Bay told Emmett. We do not know what made Emmett react the way that he did. And it's difficult to gauge whether Emmett is a horrible human being for abandoning Bay in the way that he did, without knowing Bay's words to Emmett.

My thoughts are that Emmett is a horrible human being. Nothing should have made him react the way that he did. But it does puzzle me that Bay thought Emmett needed to listen to the truth before he decided what to do about his college. In essence, Bay was saying to Emmett that once he knew the truth, he may no longer choose to be with her. I don't understand why it is so surprising to Bay, though, when that is indeed what Emmett says.

Bay called it.

~AnastasiaGrey~

Well considering she didn't know what happen exactly that's probably why

ollibear

That's true. And I remember on the beach, Bay said, "I waited for you to come back to me to talk through what had happened with Tank," so Bay wanted to talk things through with Emmett. Perhaps Bay thought Emmett could help her process what had taken place with Tank and figure out what it all meant and what she should do about it, if anything. (Although Emmett's solution was to press charges and get Tank off the street so he could not do it again, and Bay wanted nothing to do with that.)

But I still don't know why Bay had to tell Emmett BEFORE he withdrew from school. Why not let him withdraw, as he was on his computer doing, and move back home to KC to be with her, until she was able to go to LA with him?

That way, they would have been together and could have worked through all of the things that happened to Bay with Tank. They could have processed and dealt with it, as a team.

The only reason I can come up with for Bay feeling that Emmett needed to know what had happened BEFORE he withdrew from school is that Bay thought the information would make Emmett decide not to withdraw at all.

And if that's the case, if Bay really thought that knowing the truth about her night with Tank would keep Emmett from wanting to return home to be with her, then why was Bay surprised that Emmett did not want Bay moving to LA to be with him either?

Bay should have realized that if Emmett did not want to be with her in KC anymore, then he wasn't going to want to be with her in LA. It's not as though his new school was some magic bullet that would make staying in a relationship that had disappointed him tolerable. If Bay thought Emmett might not be willing to work through their problems in KC, once he learned the truth, then she should have realized that being in school in LA wouldn't make Emmett able to work through them any easier.

Bay thought Emmett wouldn't want to return to KC, once he learned the truth, and she was right. What I don't understand is why Bay thought Emmett would want her to move to LA, once she shared the truth with him. It doesn't make sense to me. Bay should have known that if it wasn't going to work in KC, then Emmett's school in LA wasn't going to make it work out there, either.

If Emmett is no longer willing to sacrifice his school for Bay, based on the information that she has shared, then Emmett is no longer invested in his relationship with Bay. She should have known that. I hated to see Bay be so blind to that fact and feel so hurt on the beach. It was difficult to watch her pain.

John S

I went back 17 pages looking for the 'Storyline" thread but I couldn't find it - so I settled on this one. In that thread, I made many predictions concerning how this show would end. With only about 9 episodes left, it doesn't appear that many, if any, of those predictions will come true. Most of them were very negative but it doesn't appear that even the one positive prediction will happen.
I predicted that Kathryn and Toby would win awards for her musical. In the last episode, that musical wasn't even mentioned. Maybe it is forgotten.
Since it takes about 12 years to become a doctor, unless they fast forward 12 years into the future, there is no way that Daphne will be a doctor by the time the show ends. I predicted that the pressure that she would face to become a doctor would cause her to break. It doesn't look like that will happen. So far, she feels no pressure at all.
I predicted that, because she will ALWAYS be a convicted felon, that Bay would face many hardships. It doesn't look like that will happen.
I also predicted that Bay and Regina, daughter and biological mother, would drive away from the Kennish house, never to be seen again. I guess that could still happen. We'll see.
I also predicted that John and Kathryn would get divorced. I could still see that happening.
IN MY OPINION
There is 0% chance that Bemmett will happen.
There is more of a chance - a small chance - that Demmett will happen.

Those were some of my predictions. Do you have any predictions on how the show will end - either positive or negative?

ollibear

Yes, the writers' story went from utter despair to joyful bliss at the drop of a hat. I would have thought negative things would happen, too, based on where the storyline was going, but now, I can tell that everyone is going to live happily ever after. There is no rhyme or reason for it. Watching Switched at Birth from season to season provides tremendous highs and lows. I cannot take being jerked around so quickly. It's too much for me.

The writers really should have mentioned the musical at some point in the Season 5 premiere.

Even if all that the writers shared was that the musical was dropped in the wake of John & Kathryn's financial problems, the writers still should have shared that.

Daphne doesn't feel any pressure to become a doctor. You are right. Bay doesn't seem to feel Daphne needs to become a doctor either, anymore.

I believe that Bay did not take the fall for Daphne, so she could become a doctor. Instead, I believe that Bay took the fall for Daphne, because subconsciously, Bay was not emotionally ready to make the move to LA with Emmett.

Bay wanted "an out" from that decision, which was becoming too real to her, and Bay found one in Daphne. (The situation is the same as Bay finding "an out" from living with Travis by asking Daphne to move in with her instead. Daphne could have moved in with Regina and commuted to school every morning with Regina or Kathryn, since Regina goes to school there, too, now, and Kathryn works at UMKC. There is no reason why Daphne had to live with Bay, if Bay had wanted to live with Travis, just like there was no reason why Bay had to take the fall for Daphne. She would have survived her 90 days in jail a lot easier than Bay survived her six months of community service and house arrest. Neither Bay nor Daphne cares whether Daphne becomes a doctor.)

As for Daphne not feeling any pressure or guilt over what Bay sacrificed, it's almost as if the writers haven't given Daphne a soul. Daphne doesn't feel what most people would feel in similar circumstances. Jennifer Aniston once said that she felt Brad Pitt has a missing sensitivity chip. I think Daphne Vasquez does, too. If Daphne had a heart, she would feel tremendous guilt over what she cost both Bay and Emmett, but she doesn't.

Agreed. It appears in TV Land harsh repercussions don't last for very long.

Bay becoming a tattoo artist isn't the future I envisioned for her, though. I am sad about that. Bay never went to college and appears to have no plans to do so. That's fine, except for that Bay stated going to college means a lot to her. At least, that's how Bay felt back when she was in high school and Emmett was thinking about dropping out. I'm sad to see her drop her ambitions.

I am not sure where you get that idea. Regina doesn't care about Bay. She hasn't shown much, if any, feeling for her biological daughter.

It was unfair of Regina to call Bay when Emmett overdosed, too. Bay didn't need the responsibility dropped in her lap. I could see Regina letting Daphne know, because their friendship goes back for so many years. Letting Bay know, though, was really over-the-top.

Anything is possible, but my guess is that the writers like having that marriage as a constant. I don't think the writers will change that. In Season 1, Melody called John and Kathryn long-distance runners, in their marriage. I think the writers will stick with that.
I think Bemmett may happen, but I don't have much hope that it will be satisfying if it does. I love Bay & Emmett, and I would have loved to see them happy and together.

I also would love to see Demmett happen, but it won't. That breaks my heart.

John S

Ollibear - Daphne faced the very real possibility of going to jail and NEVER having the chance of becoming a doctor because she would have had 2 felony convictions. Instead, Bay spent 100 hours picking up garbage and spending some time under house arrest, plus she has the permanent stigma of being known as a convicted felon.
In "real" life, Bay would have put her foot down and "made" Daphne try VERY hard to become a doctor, Daphne would have tried VERY hard to prove to Bay that she was not a complete failure and to even the score, and the parents would have made her try VERY hard. So far, NONE of these has happened - making the show highly unrealistic.
Bay and Regina are biologically related. They SHOULD be closer than they have been. I believed that they may drive away together because I believed that they would get closer than they actually have.
If everything ends on a positive note, then the show has not been real.
Daphne will not be a doctor and Bay will be a convicted felon - and yet everything is peaches and cream. I realize that my predictions from 2 years ago were too negative for The Family Channel/Freeform but then they should never have introduced these negative elements into the show.

ollibear

John, yes, Daphne was going to jail and would never have become a doctor. That is true. However, saying that Daphne would have had two felony convictions is wrong, because Daphne's first felony conviction (for blackmail) would have been erased. Crimes are erased from a juvenile's record, when he or she reaches adulthood. That's the American way. Unfortunately, Bay was 18, so her felony will never be erased.

But Daphne does not really care about becoming a doctor, and Bay doesn't care whether Daphne becomes a doctor or not either. That much is made obvious by their decision to remain in China beyond the summer.

While I agree the show is highly unrealistic, I don't think what you describe is why.

Daphne never really cared about becoming a doctor, and Bay never really cared about Daphne becoming one either. I thought that might be the case, and the Season 5 premiere verified it for me.

Bay took the fall for Daphne for one reason and for one reason only. Bay wanted a quick and easy out from moving to LA with Emmett. She was scared. She wasn't ready to leave her parents and her home and move in with a man yet. It's a big step, a big commitment, and Bay wasn't ready for it. Bay needed some excuse not to go with Emmett, and she is probably grateful to Daphne for providing her with one.

Daphne seems to have figured out that Bay never cared whether Daphne became a doctor of not, so the pressure is off Daphne now. At the time, all Bay cared about was escaping the move to LA. She talked a good game about wanting to go, but when push came to shove, Bay was scared to do it.

I agree that the show has not been real. It's been fantasy masquerading as realism from the beginning.

I wish the writers could go back to the pilot episode and create the entire series as magical realism. They already incorporated some magical qualities. All that they would need to add are a few more elements:

• more dream-like sequences
• symbolic dreams which the characters then apply to their lives
• unexplained powers
• ability to see the future
• ability to read minds
• magical abilities such as curses or potions

Latin American authors are most associated with magical realism. It would have made a cool genre for this particular TV series.

For all of Lizzy Weiss's talk about being honest about this or that character's actions, her story does not come across as realistic. The characters have lost their authenticity in the last two seasons. They do things that are not believable, and I cannot understand their motivations anymore. Nothing feels real.

~AnastasiaGrey~

[QUOTEWhy was it important to Bay for Emmett to listen to her explain what happened during her night with Tank, before he dropped out of college for the semester?
][/QUOTE]

I think maybe Bay didnt want to come to realization that she did do it and now she has to live with choices that she made.

ollibear

I wish Bay had just kept it to herself, rather than telling Emmett every last detail. He didn't need to listen to all of that.

~AnastasiaGrey~

Yeah I know I wish she didnt do that.

teaholic

It certainly looks that way to me, too, but I feel like we're giving the writers too much credit by trying to read into the characters' motivations in a way that feels authentic.

I think the writers are approaching this story relatively superficially and formulaically (is that a word?). I feel like they are thinking in cheesy, feel-good cliches like this: Daphne and Bay are fated to be sisters! Daphne has discovered her dream of helping people by being a doctor! She is going to be a role model for Deaf people everywhere! Bay loves Daphne, so she will do anything for Daphne to follow her dream! Bay's sacrifice bonds them even closer, so they are best friends for life!

I don't think this message is realistic, nor does it really make sense given the characters' past attachments, feelings, and behavior, but I think we're just supposed to take it at face value.

It's interesting, though, that we are seeing possibilities for a different interpretation based on what the show is presenting to us. I think our analysis is less rosy, but it gives the characters credit for more complexity and for natural human feelings like doubt, fear, indecision. It's fun to think of these characters as real people.

~AnastasiaGrey~

That is so True I agree

ollibear

Yes, I agree. It's sad, though.

The writers of Switched at Birth lost much of their audience when they buried Emmett's point of view and started treating fans as if we lack intelligence. Tiana has often said she believes that the writers were lazy. Maybe that is what happened to the show. Maybe the writers were not willing to do the real work of writing the honest scenes for these characters.

As I have watched the last season or two, I cannot believe how superficial and formulaic the story has gotten. A list of plot points with "dressing" is all we see. And it feels as though the story is always racing to the next plot point, with no time given to contemplate the meaning or importance of anything that happens.

What you said here is heartbreaking and true:

Daphne and Bay are fated to be sisters! Daphne has discovered her dream of helping people by being a doctor! She is going to be a role model for Deaf people everywhere! Bay loves Daphne, so she will do anything for Daphne to follow her dream! Bay's sacrifice bonds them even closer, so they are best friends for life!

That might be a satisfying story for a five year old, but not for anyone older.

It's depressing, because I fell in love with these characters in Season 1, and I saw a depth to their story that has completely disappeared over the years.

I miss it as much as Bay missed Emmett.

Barstool Prophet

I honestly have stuck it out but season one was my favourite. I really can't stand the social issues stance the show often takes. A lot of it is super depressing. A baby with Downs syndrome.. I mean yeah I get it, but did the show have to go there? I wanted Bay and Daphne to go their separate ways and have their experiences. I hate how Bay is less about art and more about guys. Daphne doesn't seem to learn her lesson with getting involved in these things and I hate that a Caucasian person is becoming the mouthpiece for racism. It's rather insane. I feel that this doctor thing has taken over Bays life.

John S

What do you mean when you say "that this doctor thing has taken over Bay's life"?