ABC Family's Switched at Birth - Episode 3.11 Love Seduces Innocence, Pleasure Entraps and Remorse Follows
Bay sets out to find out the real story behind Emmett's girlfriend. Daphne questions her ability to volunteer at the clinic when she runs into someone from her past. Feeling guilty about her actions, Regina takes a chance at work. Meanwhile, Kathryn is shocked to discover that her book has been leaked ahead of publication.
Season three of Switched at Birth has been very plot heavy. Looking at the last eleven episodes a lot has happened. Because of the quantity of plots, at times the show couldn't really dig deep into the emotions of the characters. I loved the separation of John and Kathryn this year because it felt like it came from a truly honest place of where they both are in life at this moment in time. But then, they got back together and everything was smooth sailing again. I just don't care about her new book deal or its subject. The finale spends time committing to it - her pages get leaked online and a bad review gets posted - but none of it hits the same emotional depth of the prior story. How the show incorporates Renzo into the plot is also very weird. It was designed to give those characters something to do - even though I would much rather be spending more time with the other characters.And then, there's the Toby story which has been great all season long. Things really exploded in that corner of the universe last week. And now is the emotional fallout as Toby truly is defeated by the destruction of his marriage. John tries to cheer him up and it works too well. He's determined to head to Peru to be with Nikki. He wants to change the circumstances so he can be with the woman he loves. Kathryn is the one he goes to talk to him about this sudden decision and she is the only one I wanted to give that advice to him. It's a strong thematic tie-in to the troubles she and John were having earlier. So this was clearly a well-designed coinciding story arc for both of them.
Then there was the Daphne love triangle which I thought had way too much emphasis this season. Will she pick Jorge and Campbell? That was a question I didn't really care about the answer for. It elongated over the season until she chose Campbell last week. But I'm so glad that the finale didn't focus on that aspect of her work environment. It started out looking like it would be with her and Campbell kissing in the supply closet and Jorge walking in. But then it take a very nice road to a story about the challenges of the medical profession. Her desire to become a doctor has felt sudden. For two and half seasons, it was all about cooking. But now it's all about the medicine. That's the profession she really gets excited about now. Cooking is treated as the B-plan and the safe and reliable option for her. This life-and-death situation happened to her with Dr. Jackson and it changed her. It was a sudden pivot but not a twist that seemed like it came out of nowhere. Stories about her being deaf and struggle with the job seem inherently interesting. The finale's story is not so much about that - as it is with Daphne facing one of the guys who attacked her. Her reaction to seeing him again strays very much into annoying teenager territory. She thinks Jorge won't do anything as payback for how he found about her and Campbell. Ugh! Then she tries to get about of community serve. Ugh! But then, she climatically helps the guy. And she valiantly is renewed in her quest to become a doctor.
Lastly, Bay tries to find out the truth about Mandy for Emmett but gets to the truth too late. Emmett's been in a very self-destructive mood lately. Lashing out at this mother, skipping classes to get flowers and failing his history test. All with the dream of finally meeting the girl he's been chatting with for awhile. The more investigating that Bay does, the more fishy it all seems. Hehe, fishy. It's all so tragic for Emmett. As it's revealed that Matthew has been catfishing him all along and set him up for an embarrassing video. Then proceeds to beat the crap out of him. He's so defeated and can't even bear to get up from the same spot. When Bay stumbles upon him, he sees just how foolish this was all along. And then, he tries to explain by saying how he was trying to recreating the way he felt with Bay. He's defeated and she's there for him unlike anyone else in the world. And that connection is so strong and powerful.
And yet, Tank is more ready than ever to be the right guy for Bay. He's allowed to stay in the fraternity but Bay continues to point out just how bad that society is in general. He storms off. But then, he makes the decision to de-pledge the fraternity. But Bay ends the episode by sleeping with Emmett. Something she couldn't do with Tank before. And it's so sad to see him rise to the challenge only for her to go back to Emmett. Poor Tank. We don't know exactly what's going to happen next whether she and Emmett start dating again. But it's a wonderful way to end the spring finale and sets up a love triangle dynamic that I'm excited to seeing the fallout in the summer.
Some more thoughts:
- "Love Seduces Innocence, Pleasure Entraps, and Remorse Follows" was written by Linda Gase & Lizzy Weiss and directed by Steve Miner.
- I still don't entirely understand the necessity of the Regina story. It felt like it took way too long for her to split from that son of a bitch Wes. And yet, if it was all just building up to that imagery of the brick coming through the glass door behind Daphne while she couldn't react, I'm more than fine with that. That scene was haunting.
- Here's a very minor spoiler for the summer premiere. It picks up a day after the events of this episode. Does that mean we will be Toby-less for the first couple episodes of summer?
- Bay: "Ever since I walked into the place and the one guy wanted to sleep with me. Ledge." Tank: "Cliff."
- Renzo: "You wanna blow off class and go eat a cinnamon roll the size of your face." Kathryn: "Yes."
- Emmett: "Is everyone in the attendance office reporting back to you." Melody: "Yep."
