photo: abc family
We Are The Kraken Of Our Own Sinking Ships
Original Air Date: Oct 8, 2012
Karen Belgrad – Senior Editor
karenbelgrad@thetwocentscorp.com
This hour was all about the title, at list for our two titular daughters, as both daughters found themselves clearly boarding sinking ships. And one of the glaring issues with their story lines came to light.
In the past, largely through Emmett, the Vasquez-Kennish girls were largely intertwined in their lives. But so far, this season, they are very isolated in their plots. So, the obvious solution is… more Emmett. And thanks to Toby, that should hopefully be happening sooner than later.
Daphne: Daphne is in her own world this week at Maize. She and Chef Jeff agree that their kiss from last week should never happen again, so naturally, they immediately repeat the action. But his playful flick of Daphne’s earring doesn’t go unnoticed by Scuba, who is harboring his own rejected crush on Daphne. So when Scuba messes up poached shrimp, he coerces Daphne into taking the blame. Jeff rails at Daphne, but privately admits it’s all for show and he’d rather be kissing her then scolding her. Jeff is also keyed into his kitchen enough to know that Scuba did ruin the shrimp, so he fires him, and Scuba retaliates by outing Jeff and Daphne as a couple. And I don’t know how deep this romance will go, but once the parents find out, there’s sure to be a kibosh put on the couple. And despite passionate defenders commenting on last week’s recap/review, I’m still not on board with this May-December romance.
Bay: Bay is fully embracing her new found wildness by bombing/tagging her car and contemplating dreadlocks. But when John and Kathryn meet Zarra (and her pelvic angel wing tattoo) they instantly want to redirect their daughter’s attention. So Kathryn invites Alex (Bay’s Galapagos boyfriend) and his parents to dinner. Alex thinks it’s a real date, jokingly suggesting an aperitif, but is crushed to realize that bay had no part in the ambush dinner. During dinner, Bay gets an urgent call from Zarra, requesting $1500 bail money, only saying she was jumped by Smak!, but not what she was arrested for. Bay drags Alex to get gelato as a cover, but really drags him all over town trying to procure the bail money. When she can only get $300 from her ATM, she heads to the Kennish car wash to “borrow” the money. At the car wash, she is stunned to find Travis sleeping there (I knew it!!!), but convinces him open the safe for her, knowing she’s putting both of their butts on the line. She bails out Zarra, but is surprised to learn the bail also went for Zarra’s friend Mouse, which Zarra had failed to mention. Bay, somewhat idiotically, expected Zarra to pay her back immediately, but Zarra has no such notions or means to do so. So Bay is left holding the empty envelope, unsure of how she’s going to cover her butt, and feeling used by Zarra.
John/Kathryn: Bay’s parents are at a loss as to how to reel her in, with John admitting that he doesn’t want to be as hard-nosed as his own father and that Kathryn is largely the primary parent. The ambush dinner does nothing to make them feel secure, as Alex’s parents drone on and on about their children’s extra-curricular, college-baiting activities. But after a little salsa dancing, courtesy of Alex’s mother, the two actually unwind and enjoy themselves. They acknowledge that they are happy their children are individuals, if not perfect. And they enjoy a rare moment of just being a couple.
Regina: Regina and her hand brace (what did Constance Marie do to herself!?!?) reconnect with Patrick, who admits he misses her. But the proximity and phone calls from Angelo are too much for him to bear. He says he’d be fine with a fake marriage, but thinks that Regina is in more of a real marriage than she’s willing to admit. And that’s curtains for Regina and Patrick.
Toby: Toby spends more time with Nikki, jamming and hanging out. But when they venture to Roy’s music shop for a little browsing, Toby is stunned to learn that Nikki has a boyfriend, albeit a long distance one. But he sticks with her and the two have a heart to heart, where she admits that after her father’s random murder, she used to do drugs and starve herself. But she learned to let go of her anger, as it was eating her up. Her words hit home with Toby, who pays a surprise visit to Emmett and asks to start up a new band. Which presumably will not be called Third World Bus Plunge.
So this week was heavy on the recap, as there were a lot of plot developments, all of which will surely blow up in the coming weeks. Bay will surely get busted for pilfering/borrowing $1200. Will she take Travis down with her? Has she learned that Zarra is a wild ride, but not a reliable friend? And how long until others clue in to Daphne’s relationship with her much-older boss, who Regina knew was boffing Melody? And can we finally see more of Emmett? And how about more of the Simone-redemption story?
Episode title art: David Nixon’s We Are the Kraken of Our Own Sinking Ships… Hmmm… Octopus, just like Zarra.
TheTwoCents 
It was nice/decent.Of course, there were some things I thought about as well.
I’d love to know what worked/didn’t work for you! Share away 🙂
The Zara story line is PERFECTION. I cannot wait to see how this unfolds. ❤
The Toby/Nikki (that’s her name, right?) isn’t particularly interesting. I’m not a fan of new characters coming in and only interacting with one main character, for example Ty, Simone and Travis were all somewhat engaging because they affected Daphne/Bay, Daphne/Bay/Toby and Daphne/John, respectively. People like Nikki or Zarra are just filler characters to me. I will admit though that the Bay/Zarra dynamic is starting to intrigue me because her current situation now involves the Kennish parents. But, now that Emmett will be thrown into the Toby-Nikki mix, I might actually start to like them. I loved their dialogue about starting over. So cute.
Speaking of Travis, I really like him. I am a minority Traphne shipper but the great thing about Travis is that he doesn’t need to be with Daphne all the time to be interesting. I love the relationship he has with John and I really do hope to see more of him. He’s the only reason my Emmett withdrawls aren’t making me go crazy!
Scuba’s an ass. He reminds me of one of those guys who are nice when they want something, but once they don’t get their way they air out everybody’s dirty laundry just because they think it’s fair Him calling out Daphne was both disrespectful and uncalled for. Good riddance!
It’s about time someone put a kibosh on the Daphne/chef thing. She is 16 years old. He’s 30. She is below the age of consent. It is *illegal.* Case closed. I don’t appreciate Bay being written as such an idiot that she thinks Zara could suddenly come up with $1500 to pay her back. Bay is *that* naive and sheltered?
The age of consent in Kansas is 16, so it is not against the law. I personally like the chef/Daphne storyline, and find it a hell of a lot more believable than the Emmett’s mom/chef storyline, given how those two have been portrayed each feeling about the deaf/hearing thing.
I like the pairing of Daphne and Chef Jeff. I do not believe he is 30 on the show. I believe more like 24 or 25.
But she’s still a 16 yr old high school student who thinks wearing sexier clothes makes you seem more grown-up. And he’s still a college graduate/entrepreneur. Compounding the age difference is the life experience difference.
And, of course, the legality of it all.
As one of the stupid girls out there who at sixteen dated a twenty-something guy, I definitely agree that the bigger issue is the life experience stage– they’re at ridiculously different places in life, where things like life and sex mean different things. Throw in the fact that he was messing around with Melody, and this has got to blow up in their face soon.
As far as legalities, I imagine that would be more of a hollow threat doled out to Jeff by the parents, just because unless he’s doing something really scuzzy, they’re going to really screw over their relationship with their daughter by throwing her crush in jail.
I have trouble buying Nikki as a recovering addict. She just looks too sweet and wholesome and innocent.
Daphne and Jeff, no. In addition to statutory, an issue no one else has really harped on is that he’s her boss. Even if they were both adults and the same age, dating your boss alone is trouble. and then throw in the Melody thing. This has trouble written all over it. With Daphne so soon after Melody, it’s also harder to buy that Jeff is sincerely romantic regarding Daphne, and not a womanizer.
I did, however, like that one scene he did where he fake admonished her. I thought the acting was well done, with good comedic timing. and, if they were both adults, that might be a good way to handle it – being a fair employer, treating all employees equally, and admonishing your girlfriend when deserved, but still saying “sorry sweetie, I hate yelling at you, but I have to be fair.”
and, it’s got to be difficult for the actress who plays Daphne. To her, Jeff is the appropriate age and Wilke was statutory.
I like Zarra. Yeah, Bay was really stupid not to see that Zarra was taking advantage of her, and really stupid to think Zarra had the money to pay her back (otherwise she would have bailed herself out). (I think the stupidest thing Bay did was tag her dad’s work – until I realized she did it because she wanted him to see it, and was naive enough to think he’d appreciate it as art, rather than view it as vandalism.) But I also think it’s entirely plausible for Bay to get fooled by Zarra, and even possible to believe Zarra would pay her back. (only, paying her back instantly is pushing it – again, because then Zarra would have bailed herself out) because Bay is only 16 (or 15?) and adults get swept into these things. Plus, Zarra’s not even a slick con man, she is kind of Bay’s friend. anyway, I like where the Zarra-Bay friendship is going. Bay has been toying with a darker nature, but never actually going there. and now she might, and get out of her sheltered bubble somewhat. unless Zarra, after using her for her money, just splits.
I hate the Zara storyline. It seems to be making Bay *less* cool, less herself. For some reason she’s co-opting her own art to hang around with this loser/poseur. Because whether or not it’s intentional, Zara is coming off a poseur—otherwise, what’s with her hair and dress? If she lived the way she claimed, she wouldn’t be as clean and neat as she always is. But the worst, hilariously bad joke is her hair. That supposed to be dreads? Come on. She’s got it twisted and pinned and curled. I was confused when she explained her tags by gesturing to her hair, because why not just wear it differently if that were the case. But now she claims they’re dreadlocks! That’s rich. It may be just a behind the scenes wardrobe failure, but it’s a major one. The point is, as Bay said, she’s been doing street art for two years. She doesn’t need the acceptance of some fake, faux-dreaded outlaw to be herself or continue her art. And Bay’s own art (pre-Zara) was a lot more interesting and meaningful than spray-painting tentacles all over everything.