Switched At Birth – Recap & Review – The Tempest

photo: abcfamily

Switched At Birth
The Tempest

Original Air Date: Jan 10, 2012

Karen Belgrad – Senior Editor
karenbelgrad@thetwocentscorp.com

Based on comments from last week’s episode, I don’t think many of you are finding a great deal of sympathy for Daphne these days. And after this episode, and her pouting and outbursts, I’m guessing your positions won’t be changing. But, in a way, I think viewers should actually have a little more empathy for her.

Neither girl asked to have their lives turned upside down. But now that it is out of their control, both are trying to adapt and incorporate whatever they can of their new world into their own world. But for Daphne, who left a great deal of her old world behind, the only consistency she really has is basketball. Now, hear me out…

She lives in a new place, where despite steps of inclusion; she really is still a visitor living in a guest house. Daphne feels like everything sucks: basketball, losing Emmett, the return of Angelo, and sharing Regina with Bay. The suck list might have been a little overdramatic, but it became clear from Regina’s comments that Emmett was really her only true friend. So I think that little bit of throwaway dialogue actually made me feel a little more understanding of why she is so upset about Bay and Emmett. John and Kathryn do little things to include her, like horror night, but she must still feel like a guest in their family. So she clings to the familiar. Haven’t we all been there?

In her desire to forge a new life for herself, she befriends Simone, who is either Bay’s friend or life-long adversary. Bay wants to warn her off Simone, but Daphne’s self-defense walls are on high alert and she shrugs it off. Daphne wants to play basketball at Buckner, instead of losing Carlton, and John discourages her due to the “commitment to the team.” Really, in my eyes, it’s his commitment to her that he’s upset about. He started coaching there for her, but she wants to play to win, and Buckner would be a better opportunity. So she lays it out that she will do it, because it’s the one thing she can control. If she wasn’t such a foodie, I’d think we might see an eating disorder in her future (control issues).

But her desire to fit in, leads Daphne to ask Wilke for help in procuring a fake ID so she can go to an over-21 bar with Simone and her friends. Wilke and Toby take it upon themselves to start a “novelty identification card” business to make money to fund a music video for Guitar Face. You know this will blow up in their faces. But all that happens so far is Wilke follows Daphne to the bar and makes a pitch for her. Daphne actually seems surprised by his intentions, despite their previous make-out session, and tells him they are just friends. Wilke pouts. Meanwhile Daphne joins in the group of girls’ bar-fun of making out with strangers. She almost gets into a fight with girlfriend of her random make-out, so the group makes a hasty exit, but without anyone else’s knowledge, Simone does a dine-n-dash (aka doesn’t pay the tab). For all the worries of Bay that Melody has (see below), it really seems like Daphne is the most susceptible to being led down the wrong path.

Daphne and Emmett spend a day photographing themselves “planking” (which is so yesterday, the new thing is Tebowing). At his place, they’re busted kissing by Melody (the returning awesome Marlee Matlin) who lays into Emmett for dropping AP Biology for Speech Therapy. She openly blames bay for all the changes in him. Bay is also chagrined that Melody dislikes her, regardless of Emmett’s lack of concern. So Emmett proposes a game night of bonding. Bay invites Regina along for back-up.

The game night is immediately awkward with Melody signing too fast for Bay to keep up. I liked the way the show didn’t subtitle, so hearing viewers were as lost as Bay in the moment. Bay tries to converse solely via sign, but Melody laughs at her for using the sign for “circumcise” instead of “hang out”. Bay is hurt and leaves. Regina stands up for Bay to Melody, but defends Melody as a protective “mama bear” to Bay. Bay feels like there is always someone in between the two getting closer.

Emmett and Melody have a terrific sign language argument about everything. He accuses her of blaming Bay when it’s really just him evolving. She says that speech therapy was forced on her and she was punished if she tried to sign. He responds that Bay is not making decisions for him, he’s making them, but Bay is here to stay. He thinks that she doesn’t want him to be happy because she is single herself. Mother and son come to a tentative agreement when she agrees to try and be nicer to Bay.

At the end of the hour, Emmett is working on his bike in the driveway when a squad car pulls in. The police shine their light on him, so he is unable to read their lips. He tries to sign, but with a wrench in his hands, the police mistake it for aggression, and force him onto the ground and cuff him. We’re not sure why he’s being arrested, or why they were there, but raise your hands if you think Wilke framed him for the fake ID business.

Elsewhere, Kathryn decides that nobody can tell the story of their families ordeal as well as she can. And if Kendra, Snooki, Valerie Bertinelli, and Keith Richards can write a book, so can she. She also has a great little moment where she stands up to John, insisting she can handle their lawyer without his help. Kudos Kathryn!

So what did you think of this week’s installment? Was Melody too hard on Bay or could you see where her reactions were coming from? Do you feel any sympathy for Daphne? How much trouble is Simone going to lead her into? Would you read Kathryn’s book?

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