Switched At Birth – Recap & Review – Dance Amongst Daggers

photo: abc family

Switched At Birth
Dance Amongst Daggers

Original Air Date: Jun 27, 2011

Karen Belgrad – Associate Editor
karenbelgrad@
thetwocentscorp.com

Most people throw a party and wonder what would happen if nobody showed. On this show, Kathryn throws a party (I mean “fundraiser”) and wonders what everyone will be saying about her. And Bay wonders if anyone will notice her. And both Regina and Kathryn seem to be wondering about who is noticing John.

This episode brings all of our main characters together in a single setting and we finally get to see how they interact with knowing and prying eyes. And, what we’ve all been anticipating, the reveal of Daphne and Liam finally comes to light. So how did it all play out? Keep reading to find out.

At the start of the hour, Daphne and Liam make it official that they are boyfriend and girlfriend. With their mutual like of zombie movies, sports, and fried zucchini, it’s truly teenage love.

Back at the house, Kathryn is busy planning her fundraiser (to raise money from scholarships to attend fancy Buckner Hall). She’s got Toby and his band playing the party. And she is nervous and a little desperate to provide a united front now that the baby-switch secret is out. To help her on that end, she invites Regina and Daphne to attend the party. Regina is, once again, a little snide at the idea of spending time on something involving Kathryn, but Daphne is excited to attend and bring her new boyfriend.

With Bay looking on, Regina and Kathryn both jump into simultaneous “mom” mode and wonder who Daphne is dating. All are shocked when she reveals it is Liam, Bay’s ex-boyfriend. Kathryn was unaware of the “ex” part. Bay is floored, and spitefully declares she is dating Ty. Daphne’s incredulous response of “My Ty?,” really made me want a mai-tai.

At school, Daphne is eating lunch with Emmett and he’s reading her a pretty good riot act for dating Liam. He points out that either she’s taking Bay’s guy or Bay’s leftovers. I love the way these two communicate. Their subtitled signing scenes (say that ten times fast) reveal a level of comfort between the two actors that many speaking and hearing actors can’t convey.

Regina and Daphne have dinner with Melody and Emmett. Melody agrees to go the party as Regina’s plus one, but also admits that she and Cameron (husband? It is a gender neutral name these days, right?) have separated. Both ladies tell Daphne that they don’t think dating Bay’s ex-boyfriend is a good idea.

And when party night arrives, Daphne is less than thrilled to be wearing a dress she’s worn to five Quinceañeras. Regina is wondering why Daphne suddenly cares about dress labels. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting a little bored with Regina’s money/class phobias. Not everything is about the haves and have-nots. Sometimes a teenage girl just wants a new dress. Melody tells Daphne that every outfit is gussied up by a flower in the hair, which hilariously reminded me of the baby’s breath Marlee Matlin wore in her hair when she won her Academy Award.

As the party begins, Kathryn puts on her “game face” to pleasantly greet her gossiping guests. Everyone at the event is immediately going to the “switched at birth” revelation and hounding Kathryn and Bay with relentless questions. Bay has the fun job of trying to explain to the dumbest girl on the planet why she and Daphne don’t look alike. Apparently the difference between switched and separated at birth is too hard to grasp.

When Toby’s band has a crisis in the lack of a drummer, Daphne swoops in to the rescue by suggesting Emmett. The band is understandably skeptical at a non-rehearsed and deaf drummer. Daphne explains to them that music is about rhythm and vibrations to the deaf community and that Emmett is an awesome drummer. The band, cringe-worthily named Guitar Face” begins to play and Toby and his band mate are blown away at Emmett’s prowess. I’m blown away that they ended in sync with no rehearsals! The song, “All I Want Is” is actually sung and performed by Lucas Grabeel (Toby). For a limited time, you can download it free at ABC Family’s website. After the set, we see that Toby might be quite the player as he gamely accepts a hug from the earlier dumb girl.

While he drummed, Emmett stared jealously at Liam and Daphne dancing. But instead of telling her he’s got a thing for her, he angrily goes to his deaf/hearing people don’t make good couples lecture. Uh Emmett… maybe just tell her you like her?

Throughout the night, Kathryn is having a hard time keeping her “game face” on, especially when she hears the guests speculating that Daphne is actually John’s baseball-on-the-road lovechild. Several also wonder how she could not know her own baby. Kathryn looks to John for support, but he’s inside talking with a very flirty-seeming Melody. She eyes the situation with worry, but Regina sees the same thing and seems very bothered by Melody’s behavior.

Regina tells Melody to back off, to which Melody denies flirting. At the same time, Regina makes a date with Bruce, the ex-husband of one of Kathryn’s friends. In doing so, she ignores Kathryn’s words of warnings that he’s bad news, clearly out of her sense that Kathryn couldn’t possibly be considerate. It’s getting old Regina!

John reassures Kathryn that he’s never given her a reason to doubt him and he’s not starting now. We finally get to see some real affection between the two, and there is actual chemistry there. Kathryn, with her over enunciating (and raised volume) to Daphne and overcompensating/sniping with Regina, would greatly be served by relaxing a little.

Bay’s feelings are hurt when she sees a reporter photographing Daphne with her family. She swipes champagne (which never seems to go down in glass volume), but eventually tosses it out (after Regina took a glass from her as well.) She and Daphne finally have it out, with Bay accusing her of being too nice all the time and stealing her life. Daphne accuses her of always playing the victim.

But Daphne takes the confrontation to heart, and breaks it off with Liam after their one and only catch. With tears in her eyes, she admits that she needs Bay and to make it work with the family, and her relationship with Liam will only cause strife. However, based on her expression when she sees Bay drive off with Ty, that could change.

So those are MyTwoCents! What did you think of this week’s episode? Share your TwoCents and comments below! And be sure to check out my interview with Katie Leclerc (Daphne)!