regina vasquez – Zakiya N. Jamal

Switched at Birth Recap: “There Is My Heart”

Posted on March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Honestly this finale was not as shocking as ABC Family advertised and for that I was a little disappointed.

Let’s begin with the end of Bemmett, supposedly forever. After deciding to take a chance Bay hopped on a plane to L.A. and gave Emmett the surprise of his life. Especially since he’s in the middle of shooting his film about him and Bay’s relationship, the ending of which shows fake Emmett and Bay breaking up because fake Bay ~~slept with~~ was sexually assaulted by fake Tank.

Bay, after discovering Emmett’s script, confronts Emmett asking him if he’s still upset about what happened between her and Tank. Emmett says that he is and that maybe they should break-up. Bay says she’s willing to move to L.A. to be with him now and try to make this work but Emmett isn’t having it. He doesn’t want to feel pressured to be there for Bay all the time. He says she doesn’t have a job and isn’t going to school. That he would have to be there for her all that time and he needs to focus on school.

Usually I’m all for the focus on school argument but this is just crap. Emmett isn’t even willing to try. He claims he loves Bay but as soon as things get difficult he bows out? Seriously. Bay doesn’t plan on sitting in his room waiting for him to come back from school each day. She’d already started looking for apartments in L.A. Plus she had a plan before, I’m sure she could make another one. Emmett didn’t even give her a chance.

Then Bay gave Emmett the ultimate ultimatum. If they broke up this time it would be “for good”. No go backs. Damn. Even with that statement Emmett still ends it. I just can’t.

Bay then heads home and packs up all her Emmett stuff to get rid of it. I don’t believe this is the end of Bemmett but I just don’t know where they can go from here. It’s not fair.

The other Switched sister is doing pretty well in the romance department, however. After getting a D in chemistry Daphne believes her dreams of being a doctor is officially over. She’s just about ready to give up until Natalie and Travis get hit by a drunk driver. When Daphne gets to the hospital Natalie tells her she doesn’t know what’s happening. After confronting a nurse, the nurse admits they don’t have an interpreter there and don’t have the necessary materials to talk to Natalie. Daphne steps in as the interpreter and helps Natalie get the help she needs.

Afterwards, Daphne talks to Mingo who accompanied Daphne to the hospital and he tells her not to give up. To retake chemistry until she gets the A she needs for med school. Daphne agrees and they kiss. Yay!

I ship it! Hopefully this boyfriend sticks. She needs to have a solid relationship for once.

Speaking of relationships, Regina told Eric she loved him … and he didn’t say it back. At least not at first. Ouch. Claiming Will has to come first right now he also tells Regina they should sell the coffee house. Talk about a double whammy.

Thankfully, Regina’s the best thing to ever happen to Eric and when he sees her talking to Will he finally realizes it. He then tells her that he’s “stupidly in love” with her too and it was the most adorable ending. That is until Will admits to Regina that his mom isn’t actually dead. What the heck does that mean? Where is she? Why would Eric lie and make his son lie? Eric, what are you hiding???? This was the only shocking thing to happen in this finale and the closest thing we got to a cliff hanger. Who knows what will happen next?

Lastly, Toby and Kathryn showcased their musical to a producer. Well, at least they thought they are. Unfortunately it turned out the producer thought the idea for the musical sounded flimsy and didn’t even come. Thankfully, John is there to give them a confidence boost and tells them not to give up. Hopefully Toby takes this advice when it comes to Lily as well. Although I don’t really think she deserves him after treating him this way I really want Toby to be happy. Hopefully she can realize how good she has it with Toby and not give him up. We shall see.

Because it was the finale there’s no preview for next week. Let us hope we can all survive until the return of SAB.

Switched at Birth Recap: “Bracing The Waves”

Posted on January 16, 2015January 16, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

This episode broke my Bemmett heart. Again. Throughout the episode Bay and Emmett attempted to video chat but things kept getting in Bay’s way. First, it was every one having their cell phones taken away during lunch because of Bay’s unfortunate sandwich/heroin incident. Then after a fight with Tess, Tess stomps on Bay’s phone, destroying it. Did I mention I don’t really like Tess, because I don’t.

Even so, Bay and Emmett’s texts were cute and I like that Bay feels it’s her job to make sure Emmett stays in L.A. and pursues his dream even though it hurts her. It still makes me mad that Bay is going through this while Daphne’s biggest ordeal is how she’s going to pass her Chemistry class.

Speaking of which, Daphne struggled at the start of her Chemistry class when she was running late and showed up to class in sweats which was a no no to her professor. She also got reprimanded by one of her classmates for signing with Josh too much and Josh kept picking and choosing what he would sign for Daphne, making her furious.

Daphne then landed herself in a study group with the same girl that was “distracted” by her signing. After going to one study session with the group, the other members in the group get frustrated because they have to keep slowing down so Josh can interpret for Daphne. Daphne and Josh then catches the group meeting without her. Josh then gets angry, defending Daphne and telling the group they can suck it. This only makes Daphne more angry because she doesn’t need Josh to fight her battles. She then inadvertently fires him which is crazy since she needs him if she wants to pass her chemistry class.

After working with her roommate to try and learn how to better read lips so she can understand the chemistry terms, Daphne quickly realizes she needs Josh. Lucky for her Josh shows up to her next class anyway and with advance notes, no less. Later, when Josh and Daphne are studying outside the same girl that didn’t want to study with Daphne now asks Daphne to rejoin their study group because she has advance notes. Although Daphne knows that’s the only reason they’re letting her in she realizes she needs them more than they need her and takes them up on their offer, making them promise to slow down for her. Therefore, once again, everything works out perfectly for Daphne.

Moving on, the parents are dealing with their on stuff. Kathryn is trying to have her book be made into a movie but it becomes clear that the producer is really just fishing for money when he askes John if he could chip in for the budget. Disappointed Kathryn worries her book will never become a movie but after talking to Renzo she’s convinced making the book into a musical would be a better idea.

Meanwhile Regina returns to East Riverside to drop off Bay for her community service. While there she knocks off one of the lights on someone’s motorcycle who turns out to be building a new coffee shop in East Riverside. Regina and Eric (aka Coffee Shop Guy) hit it off until one of Regina’s former friends, now enemy, sees Regina and gives her hell. Not wanting to enter East River Side on the wrong foot Eric decides to cut ties with Regina.

Regina, always a fighter, refuses to be deterred and convinces Eric to let her help him fix up his coffee shop so he can open it for business and get a lot of customers. She hopes by helping him she can also show East Riverside she’s on their side. Let’s see how that turns out.

There was no Toby in this episode and barely any Emmett. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of the boys soon. Check out the promo for next week’s episode below and try not to freak out over the potential Emmett-cheating-again thing. It’s totally not going to happen. I think.

Switched at Birth Recap: “And Life Begins Right Away”

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Usually I try to go in order of what happens in the episode but I just can’t today because nope, nope, nope, absolutely not. Bay is NOT going to jail for Daphne. What in the world is this BS? I’m sorry but no.

First of all I get the whole they’re really sisters now and Bay loves Daphne enough to be this selfless and that’s beautiful and blah blah blah. Whatever. That’s complete BS. First, Bay could totally still get jail time. Honestly it may not be as bad as Daphne but still. More than that it’s a felony. She’s going to have a permanent record for something Daphne did. Also, yes Bay wants to be an artist now but what if she wants to do something different later. This is on her permanent record. Just no.

I get that this was a great plot twist and honestly I applaud the SAB writers for creating such a great finale because it truly was wonderful but I’m so upset by this. Daphne really messed up this season and although I get that she was upset by everything with Angelo that shouldn’t be an excuse and she shouldn’t be able to just walk away with this. I’m really pissed that Daphne let Bay just take the blame for her and this made me dislike her even more. Own up to your own mistakes. If we’re going to try to play the “they’re real sisters now” card then Daphne should’ve of done a solid for her sister and not let her take the fall for something she didn’t do.

But I can talk about that all day so let’s just get to the recap.

The episode began with the return of Wes and him telling Regina he wouldn’t press charges against Daphne. Yay! Except when Daphne and Regina go to tell John and Kathryn the good news there’s an officer waiting to take Daphne in because someone else pressed charges and they found Daphne’s prints on the scene.

Oh, dear.

Once at the police station it’s revealed that there’s really no way Daphne can get away from this unscathed. Either they can fight it and she could get three years or she can take the plea deal and get 90 days. Either way she’ll be going to prison for reals and since she’s 18 it’ll go on her record. I guess Nacho wasn’t worth it after all was he Daphne? (Sorry I’m still pissed.)

After the Kennish’s and Vasquez’s have a family discussion Daphne decides she’s going to turn herself in and that she just wants to enjoy her last day at graduation and the family agrees.

MeanwhileBay is working on finding a reasonable plan to present to John and Kathryn so she can go to LA and be with Emmett. Though it takes her time to figure it out she makes a solid plan and with money from Angelo’s life insurance Bay is able to present her plan to John. After revealing to both John and Kathryn that Bay is at risk for developing an aneurysm they are especially not on board for Bay going to LA. However Bay points out that she’s 18 and she can legally do whatever she wants.

You go Bay!

Also, it’s revealed that Carlton will be closing after this year which sucks but that wasn’t a major plot point so we’ll move one.

At graduation Daphne freaks about her future and tells Bay she doesn’t think she’ll be able to give her speech. However, with encouraging words from Bay Daphne is able to find the courage to give her speech which left me in a ball of tears because it was so beautiful.

Afterwards there were a lot of beautiful moments at the graduation. First of which, Travis’ mom showed up all on her own. Apparently she’d been learning sign language via an app (that I now need to purchase) and it was really sweet to see her there meeting Melody and Mary Beth.

What got me the most was the scene between Daphne and Emmett (shout out to come-and-dance.tumblr.com for this awesome GIF set):

He then admitted that if Bay wasn’t going to LA with him he wouldn’t have gone to USC. Awww! He’s so in love with her it’s adorable.

Also, when Regina went to hug Bay Bay revealed she had a picture of Angelo pinned to her gown which also made me tear up a bit. This episode really hit me in the feels.

After Sharee says her goodbyes to Daphne and says she’ll see her at the graduation party Daphne decides to peace out and go to the police station straight from there. Bay decides to go with her telling her she won’t let her do this alone. From there we get the whole Bay lies and says she did it and Daphne lets her take the fall thing that I refuse to discuss anymore.

Other notable points of the episode was Nikki deciding she wants an annulment rather than a divorce and Toby and Cool English Teacher deciding to do nothing rather than something together. In other words they’re leaving friendship territory and walking into relationship territory.

Speaking of new relationships I’m now a fan of: Wes finally made a move! Thank God. Took him long enough. When telling Regina he wouldn’t press charges he kissed Regina and at first she was totally about it but then pulled away saying she wasn’t ready. However, later in the episode after Regina had blamed Wes for Daphne’s arrest, Regina goes back to his office to apologize where he then invites her to go to Hawaii with him. We don’t know if she’ll say yes or not but I’m really hoping she says yes. I really like them together and I think he would be good for her. We shall see.

Sadly, now we’re on Switched at Birth hiatus which is always a sucky time. Thankfully, the writers are blessing us with a Christmas special in December so it won’t be too long of a wait. Check out the preview below.

Obviously the show really likes these what if episodes. I don’t care; I’m in support.

Until then let me know your thoughts on the finale and the crazy ending. Honestly I just hope this doesn’t wreck my Bemmett ship. I don’t think it will but what is Emmett going to do now? He better still go to USC. But then they won’t be together. Then again Bay might be in jail so there’s that. I can’t even think about.

Will Bay go to prison? Will Regina go to Hawaii? Does this mean Daphne’s going to Gallaudet now? What’s going to happen?!? Thankfully SAB got renewed for a fourth season so we’ll get all our answers soon enough. I can’t wait!

Switched at Birth Recap: “It Isn’t What You Think”

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

So many things frustrated me about this episode I don’t even know where to begin.

Because I love Bay so much I’ll start with her. Bay, seriously, what are you doing? Please explain.

I get that she feels guilty because of what she did to Tank but the way she’s handling it is so no bueno. She chooses to apologize again and help Tank out by going to a fancy dinner with Tank and his father because Tank now has to break the news to his father that he dropped out of his frat (because of Bay). Honestly Bay doing this really wouldn’t have been too big a deal if a) Emmett hadn’t just found out he got into Gallaudet and wanted to go out and celebrate with his girlfriend and b) if Tank hadn’t “forgot to mention” that he and Bay had broken up to his father. But both of these things occurred and it’s a hot mess.

Tank tells his father the truth (about the frat and him and Bay being just friends) and naturally his father is furious. I don’t really get why his Dad is so pissed. I mean yeah Tank is now ending the three generations in the frat but it’s not like he dropped out of college, as Tank points out. None of that matters to Tank’s father, who then storms out. Tank and Bay then agree to be friends which in theory sounds good but in reality is a terrible idea. First of all anyone with eyes can see that Tank still has feelings for Bay and at this point Bay should know that nothing good comes from remaining friends with an ex. I mean she was friends with Emmett and then cheated on Tank with him. Not good.

To make matters worse Bay then confides in Tank, telling him her fears about aneurysms being hereditary and how she’s scared to go to the doctor and find out. Bay, sweetie, these are things you tell your boyfriend not your ex. Do better. Seriously. Bay is walking a thin line right now I need her to stay on the right side. The Emmett side.

Now, the other switched sister, Daphne, has actually lost it. Previously I allowed her actions because everyone handles grief differently but she went way overboard in this episode. Coming into the house and seeing Wes there totally set Daphne off and she spoke disrespectfully to him then talked to Bad Boy #1 (who’s name I honestly don’t care to learn) telling him that the project was about to break ground. Of course BB#1 takes this as a great opportunity to strike and convinces Daphne to join him.

The two then join forces to graffiti and ultimately destroy the site we’re they’re going to break ground. They do so much damage and Wes says it’ll cost a fortune to get the project back on track … unless they enlist the help of Senator Coto. Regina is still against the idea but Wes tells her it’s the only way they can get the project done and Regina relents.

Meanwhile Melody gives Daphne a stern talking to basically telling Daphne to get over herself and forgive Regina. Naturally once Daphne decides to let it go she goes to Wes’ office and sees Regina and Wes talking to Senator Coto. Oh, dear. This then undos every forgiving thought Daphne had and fuels her anger, leading her to find BB#1 and tell him she doesn’t want to slow down she wants to speed up. I’m guessing “speeding up” will lead to more than kissing but we shall see.

Also, Travis made me very sad this episode. He’s decided to drop out of high school because he didn’t get into Gallaudet and his friend is hooking him up with a job that starts the following Monday. There’s so much that upsets me about this. First, I get that Travis is sad but this is not the best way to handle things. He literally only has three weeks left before graduation. Just graduate. Second, Melody made a good point about how this happens to a lot of deaf kids because there’s not a lot deaf universities and it’s difficult for deaf kids to go to hearing schools. Let be me clear I’m basing this all on Melody’s words not any of my own knowledge. I would never pretend to know what life is like for someone who’s deaf. But I get Melody’s point and I was just saddened to see Travis going down this path. I hope he does graduate. I think he will from pics I’ve seen from the cast but one can’t be too sure.

Lastly, Toby and Lily, the cool English teacher, get into it because of Sharee who needs to make up a test if she has any chance of passing Lily’s class. Lily is absolutely against a make up exam even when Toby tries to convince her so he goes over her head to the principal. Lily then goes to Toby at his apartment infuriated. Of course this then leads them to have sex because somehow that makes sense. Afterwards instead of having pillow talk Toby brings up Sharee again making Lily feel like he only slept with her to get her to change her mind which he denies.

Lily leaves more infuriated than when she first arrived and Toby later goes to the school to apologize and Lily tells him about her deaf brother who was always babied and it wasn’t until her family and everyone else stopped babying him that he really reached his potential. Somehow this explains why she’s so hard on her students. Personally, I don’t really get it but sure, okay. Either way their conflict is resolved and they’re now heading down the road to a relationship. How cute.

I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen next. The promo for the next episode looks so crazy I’m having trouble believing it myself. Check out it below and I’ll see y’all next week.

Switched at Birth Recap: “The Image Disappears”

Posted on July 15, 2014July 15, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

If you follow me on Twitter you know that I was in complete denial this whole episode. I still can’t believe it and I’m very upset with the writers. Let’s just get straight to the point. Angelo is gone. After his accident he went brain dead and there was no reviving him. What I hoped was a very bad dream turned out to be very true and I couldn’t be more upset. Let’s start from the beginning.

The episode begins with everyone arriving at the hospital, stressed because Angelo is in grave condition. Although he pulls through his surgery the doctor warns that there could be serious brain damage but also states that since he’s young and healthy there may be a chance (there wasn’t).

After Bay, Regina, and Daphne go in to see Angelo the doctor tells Daphne if the number on the machine that’s hooked up to Angelo goes above 20 that’s no bueno. Regina then convinces Daphne to leave and go take the SATs that she’d studied so hard for. I personally think it was a little ludicrous for Regina to expect Daphne to sit through an exam like that after all she was going through but it is what it is. Daphne leaves, telling Toby to let her know if the number goes above 20. Of course, because everything has to go terribly wrong in this episode, it does.

Meanwhile Kathryn and Regina pray for Angelo’s recovery and Bay decides to donate blood in an effort to help Angelo. While donating she passes out and has this really sweet dream of Angelo helping her as she gives birth to twins. Then she’s gently awakened by Emmett, her knight in shining armor. Aww.

At the test Daphne has to give the proctor her phone and of course it starts to go off during the exam. Having to make a choice Daphne picks up the phone and she is dismissed (rather harshly) from the exam. Running back to the hospital Angelo has been rushed off to the OR. Daphne tells Bay she went to take the SAT and Bay rings her a new one, asking how she could possibly leave to take a test in such dire circumstances. Little does Bay know that was the last thing Daphne wanted to do in the first place.

When Angelo gets out of surgery the doctor says he’s brain dead leaving everyone shocked and wondering what to do. Angelo can continue to live off of all the machines he’s hooked up to but he’s essentially gone. Well, at least this is what the doctors say. Every one is in denial about this point at first.

John, who feels guilty because Angelo asked him for a loan and he said no, is looking for any doctor that can give them a different diagnosis. He fails to find one and is forced to admit there’s nothing he can do. Daphne talks to the doctor who explains to her Angelo’s not coming back. He shows her two x-rays of Angelo’s brain, one that shows the blood flowing there and one that shows no blood flowing at all. The doctor then suggests that the family consider doing organ donation.

Daphne tells Bay about her plan and Bay is outraged asking Daphne how she could possibly want to break Angelo down and “sell him for parts like a used car”. Again, ouch. Bay is throwing some hard punches in this episode. Speaking of low blows when John suggests to Regina they let Angelo go she accuses him of being glad that Angelo’s finally out of their lives. She later apologizes however.

Bay and Emmett go to Angelo’s apartment on a search for a phone number for his mother so they can call her and let her know what’s happening. While searching the apartment they find Angelo’s last will and testament. Surprisingly, Angelo states that in the case that he can no longer function or make choices for himself he would like to be taken off ventilation. Bay, who still doesn’t want to let go, doesn’t want to believe it and even suggests they pretend they never saw it. Oh, dear. Thankfully Emmett is able to talk some sense into her and they bring the will to the hospital where Regina is forced to face the truth as well.

Realizing what Angelo would have wanted they agree to take Angelo off of the ventilator and donate his viable organs. Bay then calls Angelo’s mother in France and tells her the bad news. In a touching moment Bay and Daphne watch as Angelo’s mother says goodbye to him, in French, on the phone.

It is later when they’re talking to a different doctor(?) about what organs will be donated the family learns that Angelo suffered a brain aneurysm. The doctor suggests it could have been caused by extreme stress or anger or a number of other things. However, all Daphne can really hear is anger and once the deed is done Daphne rips into Regina blaming her for Angelo’s death.

Throughout the episode there was also a recurring flashback of Angelo and Regina in the hospital when he accused her of cheating. Towards the end Regina imagines a different ending where he doesn’t leave and they work it out instead wasting all those years apart. Daphne also imagines Angelo coming in on her wedding day and seeing her in her dress. Basically there were a bunch of scenes that made me cry.

As I remain in denial it seems that Angelo is really gone and I will never understand why the writers did this to me. Still this was a very deep and thought provoking episode that I wasn’t expecting from Switched at Birth. The acting was superb and despite all my tears it was a great episode.

Check out the preview for next week below.

Source for Photos/GIFs: ABCFamily and Tumblr

Switched at Birth Recap: “Like a Snowball Down a Mountain”

Posted on June 26, 2014June 27, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

SO. MUCH. DRAMA.

This episode was very emotional and I loved every minute of it.

First, let’s begin with Tank finding out the truth behind Bay breaking up with him. Silly John had no idea he was reprimanding the wrong guy and poor Tank had to awkwardly find out his girlfriend cheated on him via her father. I felt so bad for Tank and all I wanted to do was run and give him a hug.

However, I’m glad the truth is out now and Bay can official move on to Emmett. Bemmett is back y’all! Well, for now anyway. Moving on.

Switched at Birth was actually able to surprise me this episode which is rare. Turns out Matthew wasn’t just pretending to be Mandy to get back at Emmett. Instead it actually went much deeper and the truth is he’s gay and has been crushing on Emmett for a while. Go figure.

I actually ended up feeling bad for Matthew as well because although what he did was still very messed up he’s also dealing with some really heavy stuff. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to have to hide such a big part of who you are. To then have people find out that you pretended to be a girl just so you could fake date some guy is even crazier and embarrassing.

Due to these circumstances Bay is able to convince Emmett not to tell the principal the truth about what happened with Matthew even though they were able to delete all the pictures and texts Matthew had. Instead Emmett reconciles with Matthew telling him that he’s going to let go and it’s all over. Not sure if they’ll ever be friends again (probably not) but at least there’s no drama and I’m sure Emmett has now learned his lesson about the dangers of sexting (although I still don’t get what he could’ve sent Matthew if it wasn’t a pic of his “junk” but I’ll leave it alone).

As per usual Daphne has gone through yet another boyfriend in less then a season (shocker!). To be fair it’s not Daphne’s fault that she has a line of boys at her peck and call and then once she picks one they up and leave. Or is it? Hmmm . . .

Either way once Daphne got the assistant job at the clinic and got a little bossy with Campbell he couldn’t handle and took her advice and applied for a higher position . . . at another clinic. Awkward. He then says that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to split his time at this new clinic and make time for her. Really Campbell? You can’t drive you car back to see your girlfriend every once in a while? You’ll be that busy? Okay, sure. More like you can’t handle the fact that Daphne’s moving up in the world. I never liked that guy (Jorge forever!). Anyway Campbell’s now out and God only knows who’ll be in next.

Kathryn is making great strides with her book or at least she was until Sarah Lazar decided to sue because Kathryn created a character based on her and the character is a slutty reporter who sleeps around. Ouch. As much as I get why Kathryn did it (I’m definitely not a Sarah Lazar fan) slut shamming is never okay. After having Regina talk some sense into her Kathryn makes a small effort to have the Sarah Lazar type character changed but to no avail. So with a deep sigh Kathryn leaves her book the way it is and it seems that will cause more problems later down the road but that’s a problem for next week’s episode.

Lastly, now that Angelo has moved in the Vasquez’s are a cute little happy family. Until Wes shows up. Neither Angelo nor Daphne are big fans of his, especially when he reveals he’s carrying a gun (Daphne wasn’t there for that but I know she wouldn’t be too happy about that). Although Regina is at first against the idea of using a gun as protection her paranoia and fear gets the best of her leading her to ask Wes to teach her how to shoot. Truthfully I think Regina has a right to be a little scared but I don’t think getting a gun is going to help the situation. I just hope no one gets shot. Let us pray.

It looks like next week is going to be a little less crazy but still filled with drama. Emmett might be moving (but probably not) and Kathryn confronts Sarah Lazar about a possible affair with John. Also Regina will once again question Daphne’s allegiance to the Vasquez family. Oh dear. Check out the promo below.

Source for photos/GIFs: ABCFamily and Tumblr

Switched at Birth Recap: “Love Among Ruins”

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Switched at Birth has finally returned and with a bang, no less. If you haven’t watched the episode (shame on you; it’s Wednesday) then stop right here because there will be spoilers.

First, Regina has to deal with the fact that she’s now a target because of her the East Riverside project even though she quit her job with Wes. She tries to keep the brick through the window incident under wraps or at least make it seem like it’s less of a big deal than it really it is but of course the truth eventually comes out (as it always does).

Surprisingly, however, Katherine and John actually support Regina rather than badger her for not telling them the truth about the brick through her window. Instead they tell her they support her choices and thinks that she shouldn’t let anyone stop her from her dream of fixing East Riverside. For the first time in a long time I actually like John. And then he ruined the feeling later on in the episode but we’ll get to that later.

After talking to the Kennish’s, Regina decides to get her job back and continue on with the project at the dismay of Daphne who just confronted the vandalists, telling them off and letting them know Regina didn’t even work for Wes anymore. Oops.

Another shocking moment was Daphne confiding in Angelo. In the mid-season finale we saw a little bit of a relationship forming between the two but this really sealed the deal. Daphne asks Angelo to do two things for her: first, he needs to learn how to sign and second, she asked him to move in.

And then this happened:

What a cute little family. Here’s to hoping it lasts.

Moving on, the major point of the episode (obviously) was the reuniting of Bemmett. Finally.

These two love sick teens were a little too eager to get back together and seemingly forgot about using protection leading Bay to have to take the morning after pill. From the looks of it, it was not enjoyable. The pill, not the reuniting.

However, in the words of Daphne I cannot picture Bay and Emmett as teen parents so I think Bay did what she had to do and I’m proud of her for recognizing she made a mistake and quickly rectifying it.

What she didn’t rectify, though, was her relationship status with Tank. Of course Bay felt terribly guilty for cheating on him, especially knowing what it feels like to be cheated on, which is why she knew she had to be honest with Tank and break up with him. Still, once Tank revealed that he quit his frat Bay found it very difficult to get the words out.

After having a little fight with Emmett and looking through what I’m going to now refer to as her “Emmett Box” Bay realized that even though she and Emmett didn’t handle things well she still wanted to be with him (yes!) and that she had to break up with Tank. Eventually (aka probably next episode).

Now why John lost points with me towards the episode is because he went to use Bay’s computer to look up the weather and saw her last Google search was “Where to buy the morning after pill?” First of all, John obviously can’t spell “weather”. Secondly, I do believe it truly was an accident but by the looks of the preview for the next episode John is going to do what he always does and just jump to a conclusion that will ultimately be wrong and cause more problems. And truthfully I think I’m just always looking for reasons not to like John.

While Bay was trying to figure out how to get out of one relationship and into a new (old?) one, Emmett was dealing with his Matthew problem. Matthew wasn’t playing around when he said he’d tell the whole school, as he printed out screen shots of conversations Emmett had with “Mandy” and threw them all around the school.

Melody, being the smart mother she is, quickly realizes that Emmett is hiding something and it’s not good. Emmett eventually confesses that “Mandy” wasn’t real and it had all been a prank set up by Matthew. Emmett felt stupid for being played but Melody informed him that he shouldn’t be embarrassed and that he had been cyberbullied. Go Melody!

After agreeing to tell the principal about it Matthew confronts Emmett reminding him of a “picture” Emmett sent “Mandy”. If I had to guess I’d say it was picture of Emmett’s private area but that’s just a guess. Either way Matthew spooked Emmett so much that when asked if what Melody said was true Emmett denied it saying it was all just a joke.

Melody was furious, and rightly so. However, as angry as she may have been with Emmett she was even more angry with Matthew who she knew was messing with her son.

Yeah, things got intense. Sadly, Melody then got suspended.

It’s not right, it’s not fair, and I seriously hope something happens to Matthew because he’s the absolute worst. Here’s to hoping Melody gets reinstated ASAP and Regina doesn’t get hurt in the next episode. Check out the preview below.

That’s all for now. Until next week SAB fans.

Source for photos/GIFs: ABCFamily and Tumblr

Switched at Birth 3X11 Recap

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

So far this episode has been my favorite of all the ABCFamily spring finales I’ve seen this season. Here’s the recap. Beware the spoilers!

First, Toby is all distraught and sad because he realizes that he and Nikki are really going to get a divorce but he truly doesn’t want to because he loves her and “wants to be with her.” That being said he comes up with this crazy idea to just go run off and follow her even though he knows that’s not something he really wants to do.

Katherine, being the wise mom that she is, gives some advice that she should have given her past self way back when. If you start sacrificing the things you want for someone else eventually you’ll come to resent them. She’s able to convince Toby that what he’s doing is crazy so Toby decides not to follow Nikki but instead to take a trip to Ice Land for some crazy reason. Hopefully he remembered to bring a jacket.

Daphne has finally made her choice and she’s officially dating Campbell. To bad she forgot to let Jorge know. He quickly found out the truth, however, when he walked in on them making out.

Talk about awkward. Daphne then explained that Campbell’s the one she wants to be with and Jorge said he understood but asked her to limit the PDA and soon she’d be gone anyway so no worries.

Sadly, for Jorge Daphne has now decided that she wants to be doctor and plans on staying at the clinic after her community service is over. It was not a good day for Jorge. However, when Daphne runs into one of the guys who robbed her food truck she begins to question if she’s really up for this doctor job. If those are the kinds of people she’s going to have to help will she be willing to save their lives?

Her first instinct was absolutely not and went so far as to ask Angelo for a job at his new restaurant. Later, however, her attacker came back in struggling from drug withdrawal and she agreed to help him. She even volunteered. She then realized that people are still people no matter what crappy thing they’d done and she was willing to put her anger and fear aside to help save a life. Go Daphne!

The Vasquez women were all about facing their fears this episode as Regina stands up to her boss and tries to help the people of East Riverside by ensuring they get the money they deserve. Wes of course quickly catches onto what she’s doing and fires her and tells her she has to return her car and the $50,000 he gave her for her business. He also promises to give the residents of East Riverside hell and to blame their troubles all on Regina.

Obviously the residents of East Riverside were not happy about any of this and threw a brick threw the window of Regina’s business, K&D, that had a sign taped to it that said, “Stay out of East Riverside.” We’ll just have to wait until next season to see what happens with that.

Katherine’s book was leaked and she accused Renzo of committing the crime. This led Renzo to let her know his world does not revolve around her and all her issues, and he actually has a friend who’s going through chemo that’s been his main focus.

After talking it out Renzo forgives Katherine for the accusation and tells her that she shouldn’t be afraid of one bad critique of her book and keep trying new adventures. In the end it turns out it was actually her publisher who leaked the book for publicity. And it worked. Good job Katherine!

Lastly, and I’m sure what almost everyone is most excited about, the reunion of Bemmett. As I suggested in my last recap Emmett was indeed being catfished. He didn’t listen to Bay when she told him the photo was stolen and instead accused her of meddling. Bay couldn’t just let it go however, and with the help of Tank, did a reverse image search where she found that “Maddy” was actually a girl who attended a high school close by.

Bay and Tank decided to stake out the school to try to talk to the girl. While waiting Bay and Tank get into another fight about his fraternity because although Tank is now safe from being black balled Bay can’t understand how his friends could’ve not stood up for him. The only reason Tank was able to stay was because his coach vouched for him. Tank of course is upset that Bay is still talking bad about his frat and doesn’t get why she can’t just be supportive. This leads Tank to storming out of the car leaving Bay to deal with the Emmett issue.

After waiting around a while she sees “Mandy” and questions her about why she’s lying to Emmett. First it comes out that the girl isn’t even deaf and that she has no idea who Emmett is and has never spoken to him. Bay is about to leave, feelings embarrassed about calling this girl out when the girl says she has a deaf cousin that might know Emmett. Of course, it’s Matthew.

Realizing what has happened Bay immediately texts Emmett trying to warn him but unfortunately Emmett has been acting like a jerk lately and got his phone taken away so he didn’t get any of Bay’s messages. He therefore goes to the park expecting Mandy but instead opens a picnic basket with a catfish inside and out walks Matthew with a video camera saying, “Gotcha!” Of course, Emmett is furious (rightfully so) and fights Matthew. Matthew then beats up Emmett, leaving him wounded on the ground.

Hours laters Bay shows up to the park, thanks to Travis’ info, and finds Emmett sitting on a rock, hurt. She is of course concerned and asks what happened and he tells her the whole story, admitting that she was right and that he’s so embarrassed. Bay tells him that Matthew is sick and a jerk, it doesn’t matter, and that everyone loves Emmett.

Emmett then asks if she’s including in that list of people that loves him. Bay doesn’t answer and instead reminds him that he came out to the park to be with a different girl. Emmett then reveals that it wasn’t the same as what he had with Bay and that he’s just been trying to find that again with someone else but hasn’t been able to.

Which is when Bay finally admits:

Insert all the feels.

This love revelation then led to the Bemmett sex scene that fans have been waiting for since season one. Now of course fans have to wait until June 16 to see what happens next.

Obviously there’s a lot of things that need to be addressed. First of all, Bay and Tank did not officially break up. In fact, Tank actually dropped out of his frat, essentially for her. Therefore Bay committed the same crime that Emmett did which made them break up in the first place. I guess we’ve come full circle?

But really, as much as I love Bemmett and am happy to see them together will this last? Because Bay is obviously going to feel guilty about what happened, especially when she finds out what Tank did. Tank is one of the good ones and she messed up and she’s going to have to acknowledge that.

Also how will Emmett take it? Will he just be so happy to have Bay back that he won’t care that once again he’s involved in a cheating scandal? And what will everyone else think? The Kennishs loved Tank and everyone knows how much it hurt Bay when Emmett cheated on her. I can’t see everyone just saying, “Oh, yeah that’s fine. Just get back together.”

Only time will tell. Until next season, let all the Bemmett shippers rejoice.

Sources for photos/GIFs: Tumblr, ABCFamily

Switched at Birth 3X10 Recap

Posted on March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Pranks, make-ups, fights, more make-ups, and some identity crises. That about sums up the last episode of Switched at Birth. If you haven’t watched yet (although really you should have by now) this is your spoiler alert. Here we go.

Matthew, the guy who slashed the tires of the deaf students at Carlton, returns from his suspension and is suspiciously ready to reconcile with Emmett. I’ll get to the suspiciousness about that later. In that same scene, Emmet tells Bay about his plan to get his internet girlfriend, Mandy, a framed photo of one of the pictures she took. Trying to be a good friend Bay volunteers to take it to her friend Logan to get it well done and put together.

Unfortunately for Bay her act of good friendship leads her to make a tough choice when it comes out that Mandy’s photo isn’t actually her’s but she plagiarized it. Now Bay has to figure out how to tell Emmet that his girlfriend is a lying liar who lies. He’s probably not going to take it well but here’s to hoping it’ll end in some Bemmett loving.

Daphne is still trying to figure out which hot guy she’s going to be with this season. It’s obvious to Katherine (and really everyone else) that it’s Campbell she wants to be with but “for some reason” she just can’t see it. It’s probably because he’s in a wheelchair but Daphne struggles to believe that because how could she, who has a handicap, possibly be bothered by someone else’s.

It quickly becomes evident that this is the case, however, when she goes on a date with Campbell and she tries to help him get over the curb and they’re not let into a bar because of his chair. This leads the two to have a fight and eventually Daphne accepts that there’s a lot of stuff she doesn’t understand about Campbell being in a chair and she does feel sorry for him. In a very smooth way, Campbell makes it clear to her that it’s okay and they can work it out.

Get it Campbell!

Regina’s still dealing with the hot mess that is the buy out of East Riverside. Thinking that she’s doing the owner of one of her favorite taco places a favor, she actually ends up helping her boss buy the place at a much smaller cost than it’s real value. Oops. Besides that, because she was so busy doing her work she missed her daughters’ last field hockey game of the season. Regina starts to wonder if all the benefits she’s receiving from her new job or worth the sacrifices and her integrity. (It’s not.)

The big Carlton versus Buckner game went as expected (Carlton lost). What was unexpected is the prank war that came of it. Buckner started it by trashing the Carlton front steps and Bay and Tank retaliated by defacing the Buckner statue. Nothing brings a couple back together like a big prank. Although they then had a fight because Bay didn’t want to have sex but then got back together when Tank apologized. Yay! This couple is very up and down.

Despite Carlton’s loss, Sharee was able to get scouted by a university which could possibly lead to a field hockey scholarship, all thanks to Toby. Speaking of Toby, it seems the other Kennish will be a getting a divorce. His wife, Nikki, finally made an appearance only to say that she loves the mission work she’s doing and plans to continue to do work . . . in Africa.

Surprise indeed. She wants Toby to come but Toby loves his work in the U.S. of A. Recognizing that it would be difficult to stay married while living on two different continents, these two won’t be married for much longer. As much as I didn’t want it to be true this couple was never really meant to last. I hope Toby finds someone though.

Next week is the spring finale and it looks like it’s going to be a doozy filled with lots of drama, fights, and romance. I can’t wait. Check out the promo:

Now before I leave you guys until next week, let’s go back to the suspicious Matthew thing. Here’s my theory: Matthew doesn’t forgive Emmett. He never did. Instead he came up with this insane idea to create this fake profile for some girl named Mandy, found Emmett online, and started chatting with him, making Emmett fall for her. Then Matthew is going to wait until they “meet up” and tell Emmett the truth, that all of it was a lie, and then beat the crap out of him. In summary, Emmett got catfished and Matthew is a jerk. We shall see on Monday.

If you have your own predictions about the finale next week or just want to say hi, leave a comment below.

Sources for photos/GIFs: Tumblr, ABCFamily

Switched at Birth 3X09 Recap

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

This week we were blessed with awkward moments, a couple fight, love triangle drama, and pent up aggression. All in all I think this week made up for the hot mess dance episode we were given last week.

Let’s start with Bay and Tank. Mary Beth is still not digging this relationship ever since the whole “dog fight” party thing. Though I completely understand why Mary Beth would be upset about that she shouldn’t take it out on Tank and his relationship with Bay. Tank is a good guy and she should at least give him a chance. I mean just look at how cute they are:

Even so, Mary Beth is totally not on board so when Bay and Tank come up with the “brilliant” idea to set Mary Beth up so she has to hang out with Tank, Mary Beth isn’t having it and storms out leading to her finally telling Bay the truth: Ty didn’t cheat.

Talk about a bombshell. Needless to say Bay didn’t take this very well leading her to run to her other ex, Emmett, asking for some much needed advice. After talking everything through Bay finally goes to talk to Tank who’s not at all happy that he came in third place (after her two ex’s) before she finally thought to even talk to him about it.

To be fair I can see why Tank would be angry. The chemistry between Bay and Emmett is still there (and probably always will be) so of course Tank is not going to be 100 percent comfortable with their friendship. Even so, Tank loses it, feeling like Bay will never forgive him for the “dog fight” thing and keep judging him for being in a frat.

Of course that’s when one of his frat brothers walks in talking about how he’s dating two girls and Bay says, “Maybe one day these girls are all going to get together and host their own dog fight.”

Oh dear!

Yeah not good. Bay and Tank try to cover up the slip but it’s too late. Now Tank might get blackballed by his frat and he’s pissed at Bay, not even sitting next to her in art class. Seems like this ship is going down fast. Will Bay be able to convince Tank to give them another try or will she not even try to mend the relationship at all?

Speaking of relationships, Daphne is still juggling her two guys and honestly she’s getting on my last nerve. Campbell and Jorge are friends and they’re both being really nice about it but how long is she going to string them both along? And she’s obviously enjoying the attention as she flirts with both guys.

Other than her “boy problems” Daphne is struggling with having Angelo around and him always talking about his baby.

Daphne hates it that Angelo is so in love with his new daughter, Abby, because he left when she was a kid and although she claimed to have forgiven him for it, it obviously still bothers her and rightfully so. Having your father walk out on you is not something you get over easily. Especially when you’re certain it’s because you went deaf.

After going off on Angelo because she missed her opportunity to talk to a Doctor about summer opportunities Daphne breaks down with Mama Regina and releases all her pent up anger. I think this was a great step for Daphne and although I still can’t stand her I’m glad she finally said what was bothering her and hopefully this will lead to a better relationship between her and Angelo.

Toby, or the other Kennish as I like to call him since he’s constantly overshadowed by his sisters’ drama, is missing his wife who’s still doing service in some country which is awesome but kind of cut into their honeymoon time. Also, now she wants him to join her but Toby’s not going for it. He likes his job as the field hockey coach at Carlton and after tutoring Sharee I think he may even give teaching a try. Only time will tell.

The Kennish parents are now trying to work together to keep the marriage in tact and this leads John to come up with a brilliant idea to bring adventure to Katherine’s life: group sex!

Okay, I don’t think this was John’s original plan but he did invite his friends over with the idea to get wild. It was his friends idea to have the group sex. Although at first it seems that Katherine and John are going to go for it they both decide it’s not for them.

This is when John’s friend let’s it slip that they used to do “triple plays” back in the day leaving Katherine to wonder what exactly does that mean? But not in an accusatory way. Instead she wants knowledge for her book and John begrudgingly obeys. Telling her everything she wants to know, this sharing session actually brings this closer. You go Kennishs!

Sadly, this season (or first half of the season? I really never understand the ABC Family schedule) is coming to an end. Even so, things seem to be picking up and I’m all too excited to see what happens next. Below is the promo for the next episode. Enjoy!