Switched At Birth – Recap & Review – Tree Of Forgiveness

photo: abc family

Switched At Birth
Tree Of Forgiveness

Original Air date: Sep 24, 2012

Karen Belgrad – Senior Editor
karenbelgrad@thetwocentscorp.com

Forgiveness is a wide spread theme on tonight’s episode. Will Bay forgive Emmett? Will John forgive Bay? Will Daphne or Regina forgive Angelo? Will anyone forgive Simone?

And although we don’t get any firm apology acceptances, we do make quite the head-way on quite a few fronts. This hour was really more about set-up for future conversations and plots. So let’s cover what happened and where we think it will go.

Daphne/Angelo: Angelo is determined to get closer to Daphne, but she is just as determined to keep him at arm’s length. He gifts with her with a literal tree of forgiveness, but she awkwardly excuses herself. He continues to make small talk throughout the hour, but it isn’t until he injures his hand with a nail gun, that the two are forced to spend time together. She takes him to the hospital, anxious to leave the whole time. He tries to bond over her impressive Highlight’s word jumble skills, but she reminds him she’s sixteen, not eight. After the nurse on duty asks if she’s his daughter, and Daphne says no, the silence is palpable between the two. After a while, he gives her the OK to leave, but she gets in her dig that she’s not leaving because it’s “hard to stick it out.” He finally lets his tentative wall down and goes off, admitting he made a mistake, but he wants to move beyond it. Later, Daphne makes a small peace offering, giving him work gloves to protect against further injury. And I have to say, it might be about time. We, as an audience, can only watch Daphne sulk for so long before we get tired of it.

Regina/Angelo: Kathryn confronts Angelo about the blonde nurse photos, and we get a name, LeAnn Crowley. Angelo admits he didn’t want Regina to know about his fling with the pretty nurse. And when Kathryn tells her we see why. It seems Regina has a pretty intense jealousy and insecurity streak where Angelo is concerned, but to the best of our knowledge, he never cheated on her. She tries to snap at him about Leann, but he points out that the two of them always come back together, including matching hand injuries. Do you think a Regina and Angelo pairing is in the cards?

Regina/Simone: Regina catches Simone outside a liquor store. After reaming out the guy buying liquor for a minor, she has a heart to heart with the struggling Simone. Simone is upset because she has no friends, nobody will forgive her, and she hates herself. Regina advises her that it’s not other people’s forgiveness she needs, but her own. Although the girls will certainly not approve, Regina agrees to be there for Simone. Where do you see Simone fitting in the big picture of the Kennish-Vasquez world?

Toby/Kathryn: Kathryn is worried that Toby has forsaken his music for all things video game. So she does a little subterfuge and brings him to his old church music group, New Dawn. Toby is annoyed, which escalates to angry when he’s cornered intol telling Kathryn why he and Simone really broke up. He refuses to take the stage, so Kathryn goes up and sings “Hard Times Come Again No More.” And while not amazing, Lea Thompson does have a pleasant voice. Toby relents and accompanies his mother, singing along. Afterwards, he’s flirted with by a cute blonde, Nikki Papagus. And while Toby seems rather agnostic in his views, Nikki is clearly quite devout in her religious beliefs. Is Toby about to become a man of faith? Religion hasn’t played a large part in the show, and I’m not really enthused about the potential of the storyline. What do you think?

Emmett: Emmett is taking part in a motorcycle show at the Kennish car wash. He’s quickly flirted with by Robin Swiller, a cute, blonde, deaf girl from Odessa. They discuss their bikes and Daphne notices a connection, but Emmett is clearly still hung up on Bay. Daphne begs Bay not to give Emmett false hope if there is no hope, saying that Emmett will hold onto the tiniest sliver of trying to get Bay back. Later, Emmett tries to talk to Bay (after her conversation with John, more on that in a bit), but when Robin approaches, Bay takes leave and tells Emmett to stay, clearly implying he should talk with Robin. What did you think of Robin? Do you see her as Emmett’s future or just an interloper on his path back to Bay?

Bay/John: After having painted over her own graffiti, Bay is surprised to see some other work turn up on the car wash. She is anguished when John declares it all the work of thugs, viewing it as defacement of his property. She tries to get him to see it as art, but he isn’t buying it. Later, while tagging with Zarra (in broad daylight), they’re interrupted by the police. But Bay’s driver’s license name of Kennish earns them a free pass. Zarra is incensed to learn Bay lied about her identity. Bay takes Emmett’s advice, and admits to John that the original tag was hers and that it wasn’t the first time she’d done it. John is confused, admitting he doesn’t feel as if he knows her at all. Bay later makes amends with Zarra, but still opts to explain the name discrepancy via adoption rather than the switch-story.

Maybe it’s a generation gap, but I have a hard time siding with Bay on her “art.” It’s someone’s, in this case, her father’s business, and they have a right to expect it to look as they left it the night before. What do you think? Is street art the high art Bay makes it out to be? Or do you view it as graffiti and defacement? And where is Bay’s friendship with Zarra really headed?

Episode Title Art: Sir Edward Burne Jones’ “The Tree Of Forgiveness”

Now you have my TwoCents! Share your TwoCents, comments, and feedback below! And are you having a hard time keeping all the new blondes (LeAnn, Robin, Nikki) straight?