Switched At Birth – Recap & Review – American Gothic

photo: abc family

Switched At Birth
American Gothic

Original Air Date: Jun 13, 2011

Karen Belgrad – Associate Editor
karenbelgrad@
thetwocentscorp.com

Last week Switched At Birth premiered to record ratings for ABC Family. And if the show keeps on the same consistent path they showed us tonight, I don’t see a decline in its future.

In these two episodes, we’ve seen a good division of screen time between the teen characters and the adults. But most importantly, we can see each character’s motivations very clearly. Nobody is (so far) evil and out to destroy anyone else. What we have so far is three parents and two daughters trying to navigate the confusion of life’s reveals. So let’s check in for week two of Switched At Birth.

Daphne awakens to, well, every kid’s secret dream. Gone are the bars on her bedroom windows of her tiny old house. Instead, she looks out to seemingly endless sunshine and a fancy swimming pool. Moments later, Bay is over at the guest house to invite the new residents over for homemade breakfast (and seriously what is a popover?).

Only Daphne accepts the invitation, and she is soon overwhelmed by the family’s constant chatter and inside jokes. We step inside her quiet world and can see the hubbub that surrounds her. Kathryn and John try to include her in conversations, but talk over each other and forget to face her for lip-reading. She also misses their concerned looks when she leaves for school on Emmett’s motorcycle.

At her own school, Bay tries to make good with Liam after “taking a break” last episode. Liam is upset at not knowing what is going on with her, and he chalks it up to “Bay drama”. He then takes a trip to Daphne’s school for a visit, still not knowing the girls’ connection. Daphne and Liam have a quick bond and make plans, but Emmett is protective of Daphne and thinks no good will come from her dating a hearing (and rich) football player.

Kathryn is bothered to see Regina redecorating the guest house. Now, I know they invited her and Daphne (and Abuela) to move in, but I agree it’s a bit presumptuous of Regina to begin tearing down wallpaper without asking. I am however in agreement with her about packing up some of the tchotchkes!

When Bay is unable to overturn her grounding for last week’s fake ID debacle, she opts for the tried and true method of playing parents against each other. But instead of her father, she opts to see if Regina can be of assistance. She’s surprised when Regina says the punishment would have been harsher coming from her. As a recovering alcoholic, she admonishes Bay about her predisposition to addiction. The two further bond over art, including quoting Frida Kahlo. And when Regina’s handsome former neighbor Ty pays a visit to “deliver mail”, he and Bay continue their flirtation.

In the kitchen, Toby and Daphne engage in some sweet sibling bonding while preparing for a family BBQ. Meanwhile John and Kathryn have met with a lawyer, who advises they consolidate their lawsuit against the hospital with Regina for a larger settlement. The two also decide that they will approach Regina over their discomfort about Daphne riding a motorcycle. And it goes about as well as one would expect. Regina tells them it’s not their place to criticize her parenting decisions.

The BBQ is awkward on all family fronts. When Kathryn suggests saying grace, Regina declares her family to be atheist. Daphne demurs that she’s agnostic and offers to say grace. But the dinner goes from bad to worse when Kathryn offers to drive Daphne to school every morning, disregarding Regina’s previous statements about allowing the motorcycle rides. Regina goes on the offensive, wondering what other decisions of hers they are going to try and circumvent.

Back in the guest house, Daphne tells her mother she’s not even trying and wonders why she hates the Kennishes. Regina opines that they are arrogant and entitled. Daphne takes off. In the main house, Bay wonders if her parents hate everything about Regina if it doesn’t mean that they hate some things about her as well. She sneaks out of the house.

Daphne meets up with Liam at a record store where she teaches him about lip reading. She declines to tell him anything personal, but the two are having a nice time until they run into some of his friends who act like teenage jerks, insensitive to her deafness. One asks for the sign for “doing the nasty”, so Daphne teaches him the sign for “I’m a douchebag.” Then she texts Emmett to come take her home.

Bay meets up with Ty for some late night graffiti postering and schools him in the unwritten rules of tagging. She also lets her guard down and tells him about the whole baby switch fiasco. The two share a tender kiss. When she gets home, she first runs into Daphne and the two acknowledge the oddness of their mutual situation. Then, she is busted by John, who opts to go easy on his daughter.

The next morning, Regina admits she’s being too hard on John and Kathryn, and that it took her a while to learn deaf culture too. She tells them she resisted the motorcycle at first, but learned to trust Emmett as a safe driver. Daphne schools them that they need to talk slower and be patient. But when Kathryn balks again at the bike, Regina says this is about getting to know the girls, not co-parenting. She also advises she has no interest in pursuing a lawsuit against the hospital. Kathryn suspects she’s hiding something.

So while Regina is clearly overreacting to every little overture from the Kennish household, Kathryn is almost neurotic in trying to parent Daphne. And John’s idea of filing legal papers to have a say in Daphne’s life will clearly blow up in the future. But the fascinating thing is that Daphne seems to be a focal point for all parents, while Bay is almost an afterthought. I think we need more Bay and Regina bonding and getting to know each other beyond “gee whiz, we have this in common?”. And something tells me there’s got to be more going on with Toby than meets the initial eye. I just don’t know what yet!

And for some novel trivia, last night “The Normal Heart” won the Tony award for best revival of a play. And guess what? D.W. Moffett (John Kennish) originated the role of Felix back in 1985! Now you can earn a pink wedge in Trivial Pursuit!

Well, those are my TwoCents! Share you TwoCents, comments, and feedback on this episode below!