AnneH

unless it's become unhealthy, i hate seeing friendships completely dissolve so i want them to be friends again. it may never be the same, but i'd like to see them be honest about their feelings and make up.

Slayerfan714

I know where you're coming from. I think I'm colored by my natural affinity towards disliking everything Daphne since end of season three.

AnneH

i still have many problems with daphne (moreso than any of the other main characters) but i also have problems with emmett now too and i think them coming to an understanding would help towards repairing some of it in my head.

but tbh i don't know if anything will ever make up for daphne not suffering any consequences of her 3b actions and taking the fall for bay.

Slayerfan714

No, no it will not.

But look, the bottom line is this show needs to stop with the whole 'tell and not show' approach. It's show, not tell.

If they want Daphne and Emmett to be friends again, then show it.

I'll forever be annoyed that we didn't see any of their conversations about Simone/Emmett gate since Daphne mentioned to Bay that they talked about it a lot.

And yeah, a lot of that was due to it originally being penned as a summer season and then it got pushed back, but still.

AnneH

yep! Show not Tell. characters need to have conversations and interact ON SCREEN. they can't just slap two characters together and we just magically believe they are friends, or in love, or whatever.

ollibear

For me, I will think much less of Emmett, if he ever becomes friends with Daphne again.

Daphne crossed a line.

Emmett doesn't have to hate Daphne or even hold a grudge. He can forgive, in the sense that he doesn't wish her any ill will and hopes she has a good life.

But for Emmett to actually be friends with Daphne again? To laugh and frolic and share deep and personal thoughts? To enjoy her company and go on adventures together? To trust her when he is in trouble or in need?

No. I don't want to see that.

Lucresiare

I didn't know they had an appreciation thread ! I missed their friendship after Bay and Emmett started to date. Now it is going to be hard after what happened, but I hope Emmett will forgive her eventually.

ollibear

Your words have been playing in my head this weekend. You have reminded me of how much I loved their friendship, how much I loved that dynamic of Daphne being Emmett's best friend, but Bay being Emmett's girlfriend, his lover, his partner.

And then, to throw in the fact that Bay was Daphne, in another life, and Daphne was Bay, in another life, it was all so good.

I wanted to see so much more of that dynamic over the years. It was interesting, so many layers, so much pulling on all three characters in so many different directions.

There is just so much left to explore. I was going to say that it all feels swept under the rug, now, but it isn't even that.

It is more as though it has all been washed away.

There is so MUCH depth this show has not even begun to tap, so much potential set up from the get-go, so much I want to see, still.

Maybe I do hope Emmett will forgive Daphne eventually. To me, what Daphne did was a huge betrayal, far worse than cheating on a lover, and the betrayal has nothing to do with Bay joining Emmett in LA.

I have been conditioned to believe that one of the worst fates that can ever befall a human being is to get mixed up with the judicial system. Even once a person has paid for his or her crime, that label of felon will follow for life.

So to me, for Daphne to allow the one person her best friend loved more than any other, to be thrown into the lion's den in order to save her own hide, it is just too much for their friendship to bear.

But perhaps there could be some sort of revelation or confession made by Daphne, or a supreme sacrifice, that would allow her to right this wrong and rebuild her friendship with Emmett.

I do mourn the loss of their friendship. It seemed so special and sweet, in the beginning.

It's sad to see Daphne as one of those people in life from which you just know it's best to stay far, far away.

ollibear

When you first posted this, back in mid-May, I don't think I fully comprehended what you meant. I identify with Emmett so closely that I see every scene through his eyes. Even if Emmett isn't a part of a certain storyline, I still see it through what his perspective would be, if he was involved. So when you said that you have problems with Emmett, I processed your comment at face value, but I didn't really understand what you meant.

I wasn't able to see Emmett's decision on the beach in a negative light, so I could not comprehend how Emmett and Daphne coming to an understanding would help repair some of the problems you have with him.

But I think I might have finally figured it out, during this hiatus.

When There Is My Heart aired in March, I believed Emmett had done the mature thing on the beach. In my mind, Bay had hurt him so many times over the last year, and he was in a good place with school. Why should Emmett jeapordize his schooling to support someone whose poor choices made her own life a mess? Bay had become too emotionally dependent on Emmett. Bay had lost her own direction. She forfeited her job in LA. She was no longer signed up for classes. Her felony conviction would make both of those things difficult to accomplish, at least without her parents' assistance.

What was Bay going to do all day, while Emmett was in classes?

To me, I understood why Emmett's feelings had shifted for Bay. She needed to get her own act together, especially before she made any big moves, or before they continued dating. It wasn't her 19 year old boyfriend's responsibility to do that for her. Emmett had enough on his plate, attending a school far from his home and community (and one that he had never been 100% sure was right for him). If Emmett was going to ask his parents to pay for such an expensive out-of-state college experience, then he needed to commit to it. Helping Bay regain what she lost after taking the fall for Daphne would be a huge distraction for Emmett, not to mention Bay's emotional state after being raped by Tank.

In my mind, Bay needs her parents right now, not a 19 year old boyfriend who is trying to stand on his own two feet for the first time in his life, and Emmett was smart to sense that.

But I think I might be the only one who felt that way. I don't think anyone else saw Emmett's decision in the way that I originally did.

Everyone has been so disappointed in Emmett, ever since the episode aired. So I have done a lot of soul searching to try to come to a place where Emmett is wrong in my mind. I have finally achieved it. It has taken me nearly 6 months to completely believe it, but I do.

I can now see Emmett as the giant LOSER everyone else in the universe recognizes him to be. I have joined the masses.

And now, I think I understand what you meant. It's probably not possible for the writers to ever realistically redeem Emmett for Bay. But Emmett could become more tolerable to the audience as a side character, if he reconnects with Daphne. Your comment makes sense to me.

The added bonus is that their connection might redeem Daphne in my eyes, too. I was beginning to feel that her character was lost to me forever, after she allowed Bay to take the fall for her.

Yesterday, I went back and watched the Carlton High School graduation episode again. I listened to Daphne's commencement speech in the episode And Life Begins Right Away.

Daphne still sees Emmett as her hero. The story she tells about an 8 year old Emmett standing up for her on the playground is beautiful.

When I look at Emmett through Daphne's eyes, I am able to like him again. Whereas, when I look at Emmett through Bay's eyes, I am disgusted by him.

Now that Emmett has cheated on Bay with her sworn enemy (and brother's girlfriend), and followed that up by abandoning Bay in the darkest hour of her rape, as she begs him with tears in her eyes not to do it, I do not believe Emmett can ever be someone Bay respects again. Bay completely trusted Emmett, and he cast her aside as if she means nothing to him.

How does anyone ever again trust someone who does that?

When I remember that Emmett even had the audacity to turn Bay's rape and sexual violation into a "major motion picture" complete with his new girlfriend as the director of photography (and his classmates and teachers as the audience), then I think it is safe to say Bay was right. Emmett is not the person Bay or any of us thought he was.

Emmett is cold, heartless, weak, and a liar, and those are kind words to describe the man Emmett has finally become.

To do something like that, especially to someone he once claimed to love, is inhumane.

Bay should be livid with Emmett. When Season 4B opens, Bay should hate Emmett with a passion, at least until her anger subsides at Emmett's violation. And then, once Bay's anger does subside, she should feel nothing but indifference for Emmett.

Emmett's words obviously never meant anything, and his actions tell Bay everything she needs to know about him.

To me, once upon a time, Emmett was a boy who made a big mistake in an emotionally charged situation and immediately regretted it, doing everything in his power to make amends.

Now, Emmett is a man who knowingly and callously rejected the one fragile person he convinced to trust him completely, at the moment when she needed him the most.

How does a person ever get over that?

Emmett will never be anything more than a despicable human being to Bay, because what he did was so dishonorable.

I don't think there's enough begging in the world that can make up for heartlessness like that, and it doesn't even seem like Emmett will see the error of his ways for months to come, if ever.

So as far as Bay is concerned, who cares about Emmett, really?

But the thing is that Daphne has almost sunk as low as Emmett, in her own way. Daphne is nearly as loathsome an individual as Emmett.

Emmett can still be a hero, in Daphne's eyes. Emmett is not so obviously beneath Daphne, as he is with Bay.

While the audience may not be able to suspend disbelief long enough to believe that Bay would ever again trust Emmett, we might be able to believe that Daphne would trust Emmett.

Daphne & Emmett are both flawed individuals. Unlike Bay & Emmett, neither of them is better than the other.

Plus, unlike Bay & Emmett, Daphne & Emmett actually have a good history, with some positive memories in it.

True, most of Daphne & Emmett's relationship occurred before the pilot episode aired, but we know Emmett has been good to Daphne in the past. He has treated her well and protected her. Emmett hasn't been an awful human being to Daphne, in the way that he has to Bay.

Daphne & Emmett have a long, beautiful friendship. If the writers explore that now, it might allow me to see Emmett as a human being again.

Emmett cannot be someone Bay respects anymore. The awful things Emmett has done obliterate any kindness he ever showed to Bay.

But I still believe Daphne could admire Emmett.

ollibear

Does anyone think Daphne and Emmett's friendship will be explored more in Season 5? Or will it just be left to wither in the wind?

Like most of the people I encounter in social media, I can certainly look at Emmett as a despicable person that abandoned Bay in her hour of need (as evidenced in my previous post), but it isn't the way I naturally see him.

I'm glad Daphne forgave Emmett with ease for that.

I do feel that sometimes the characters on Switched at Birth forgive too easily, though. It's as if no one ever holds a grudge. In real life, people do.

Melody goes from despising Bay to loving her. Emmett and Toby forgave Daphne SO EASILY for her trespasses against Bay. The only real grudge that has ever been explored was Daphne's grudge towards Angelo. Everyone else forgives in one or two episodes.

In real life, I am guessing Daphne and Emmett will never do things together again, like they once did. Their only friendship will probably be if one has a crisis, then the other would be there to help.

I wish more could be explored between them.

~AnastasiaGrey~

I hope so

coffee&tv

I used to have a best male friend. We've spent all the time together, he helped me with boy problems, I helped him with girls, he would stay over at my place. I really felt like it's going to be forever, I saw him at my wedding, our kids playing together. And then, during first year at uni he shut it down. I wouldn't see him at all and when I finally did, he said a lot of hurtful things, which were untrue. It's been over 10 years since then and if he'd apologised, I'd take him back as a friend in a second.

Maybe writers think similarly? With Daphne and Angelo it was a lifetime of grudge and being hurt, no wonder they took the time to explore her pain. And then for Daphne and Emmett it was a lifetime of friendship, something you won't get rid of so easily. Toby's reason might have been blood relation? And as for Melody, she suffered from a bad case of mama-bear syndrom and saw Bay as somebody who would lead her son onto a wrong path. It was when she saw how much Bay cares for Emmett that she warmed up to her, but it did take a while for her to love her.

ollibear

True. And I will try to think of it like that.

Out of curiosity, though, if this same male friend allowed your boyfriend to take the fall for him (causing your future husband to be separated from you for a year and to carry a felony conviction on his record for the remainder of his life), would it take you a little bit longer to forgive?

True! I agree.

~AnastasiaGrey~

I am hoping that they slowly start rebuliding stuff in teh new season

ollibear

Ironically, although I usually wish the writers of Switched at Birth would allow male and female characters to remain platonic friends, I find myself wishing that they would finally allow Daphne and Emmett to explore a romantic relationship, especially if Bay spends Season 5 in love with Travis.