sab spoilers – Zakiya N. Jamal

Switched at Birth Recap Season 4 Episodes 7-8

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to recap last weeks episode so this will be a combined recap of last week’s and tonight’s episode. Get ready for a lot of Switched at Birth.

Last week Mission Hills and East Riverside got hit with a massive storm, keeping everyone in doors. Meanwhile, the Kennish household got a lot of guests including Emmett, Grandma Kennish (Bonnie), and her lady friend, Lucille. At the same time, Daphne and Regina were trapped at the coffee shop with Eric and Nacho.

Emmett returned to comfort Bay after learning she was sexually assaulted and doesn’t want to listen to Bay’s side of things. Although at first Bay wants to just agree with Emmett and blame everything that happened on Tank she knows it’s wrong to do so.

Finally, having enough Bay tells Emmett she has to be honest and tell him the truth about what happened that night. Emmett gets upset because he feels like she’s defending Tank but Bay is just trying to be clear about what happened, even though she’s not really sure what that even is. Emmett gets upset and leaves the house, telling Bay he’s not sure he can be okay with what happened between her and Tank. Hopefully, these two can figure out a way to make this work.

During the Bemmett drama, John suggests to Kathryn that Bonnie’s “friend”, Lucille, is more than just a friend. Kathryn denies it at first, not believing that her mother could be gay. Well Kathryn is in for an even bigger surprise when her mother tells her that she has Alzheimer’s and has known for a year. And she’s also gay.

Talk about a surprise. Kathryn decides that her mother has to move in with the Kennish’s and let them take care of her but Bonnie refuses. She and Lucille plan to go to Europe and follow theirs dreams. Kathryn becomes upset, not wanting her mother so far while she is ill, but eventually relents. It would’ve been interesting to see Bonnie and Lucille living with the Kennish’s, though. It sounds like the plot for a new sitcom.

Moving on, Daphne and Regina were surprised to see Nacho at the coffee shop. Apparently, he lives in the same building as Eric and was hired to do some handy work. When Nacho starts asking questions about how Daphne got off after their acts of vandalism Daphne foolishly tells him what Bay did for her.

Daphne, Nacho can’t be trusted. His name is freaking Nacho. You can’t trust a tortilla chip. #SwitchedatBirth

— Zakiya Jamal (@BooksTVMe) February 18, 2015

Of course, this was a terrible mistake. Even though Daphne told Nacho he’s off the hook and could go live his life that wasn’t good enough and instead he decided to black mail Regina and Daphne to get some money for himself and his daughter.

Thankfully, Eric realizes something is going on and asks Regina to tell him the truth. Although she doesn’t tell him everything she tells him Nacho is blackmailing them. Eric then goes into hero mode and shows Nacho his gang tattoo, warning him not to mess with the Vasquez’s ever again.

Then being the great guy he is, he gives Nacho some money for his daughter.

This week Bay was finally freed from her community service and probation. After saving her community service boss(?) from choking he decides to pay it forward by recommending Bay for early release. Bay is finally free! She can go to L.A. Too bad her boyfriend (maybe?) is not speaking to her at the moment. Talk about terrible timing.

Now with so much free time on her hands, Bay is looking for something to do. Daphne suggests going back to the woman who was going to put her in that art showcase but the woman says they have no openings. Instead she suggests Bay finds a way to make her own art and to be proactive.

Taking her up on her suggestion, Bay goes back to the community service spot and talks with Tess. In typical Tess fashion, she’s not really open to being friendly with Bay, mostly because she’s dealing with her own issues. Tess calls Bay out on not really knowing anything about Tess at all and Bay, realizing Tess is right, asks Tess about her life.

Tess explains her son, Sam, has a bad heart valve making him sick and difficult for him to breath. Tess had to bring Sam to work the day before and was fired because of it. Now Tess has to struggle to find a way to pay for Sam’s medicine.

Bay decides she wants to help Tess in some way but she’s not sure how. After talking to Kathryn, Bay decides to find a way to show Tess how great of a mom she is. Using her artistic skill, Bay starts an “Everyday Heroes” campaign on park benches, showing Tess with Sam. Bay, you’re my hero. Bay will continue to paint more park benches of different everyday heroes to fill up her free time. And it’s totally legal. Go, Bay!

While Bay is saving the world, Daphne is trying to get her love life in order. Bad boy Mingo asked her out and although he’s very hot, she’s not sure if she’s ready for the hook up lifestyle. Listening to Vilma, Daphne decides to give it a try.

Unfortunately for Daphne, her hook up with Mingo didn’t go as well as she wanted to, at least not afterwards. Not being able to locate the condom they go to the student health center to have Daphne checked out. While there Daphne and Mingo have a fun time talking and Daphne realizes she actually likes him. Too bad for Daphne, Mingo isn’t looking for a relationship. After getting out of a three year relationship with his high school girlfriend, Mingo is just looking for something casual. Realizing she wants something more Daphne ends it.

Other Highlights:

Travis struggles in his English class and Kathryn helps him out. Despite Kathryn’s help, Travis thinks about handing in a plagiarized paper that he later tells John he got from Coach Walsh. John and Kathryn motivate Travis to keep trying in school and John tells Coach Walsh to confess about what he did leading Walsh to be fired and John made head coach.
Eric’s keeping a secret about his deceased wife but after Regina tells him she can’t be with someone who keeps secrets he agrees he’ll tell her one day, when he’s ready. Also, Eric, Regina, and Will make a really cute family. Just saying.

My Thoughts

I’m so glad the writers finally let Bay have a good episode. She’s finally free from community service and probation and she gets to join Emmett in L.A. when they’re ready. I’m so excited. Also, I really hope Daphne and Mingo work out. I like him. Then again Daphne doesn’t need another boyfriend but let’s face it we all know she’ll get one eventually. It might as well be him.

Check out the preview for the next episode. We’re so close to the mid-season finale and I’m not ready for it end. 😦

Switched at Birth Recap: “I Lock The Door Upon Myself”

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

The Kennish-Vasquez children reunited in this episode, mending fences and giving apologies.

First, Toby apologized to Daphne for snapping at her in the first episode of this season (although personally I still think it was warranted). Although Daphne is happy for this reconciliation she’s now dealing with Bay’s hostility. Bay is finally realizing what it really means to be a convicted felon and she’s mad at Daphne for letting her take the fall but knows she can’t really be mad because it was her decision. Even so, Bay doesn’t want to spend any more time with Daphne than necessary.

Bay’s feelings are only worsened when she becomes a finalist for an art contest and realizes one of the questions on the application was, “Are you a convicted felon?” Getting upset, Toby, who’s on Bay duty that weekend, decides to help her cover up her ankle bracelet so the judge won’t know that Bay’s on house arrest when she comes to check out Bay’s art work. Of course, this plan doesn’t work out. Just when the judge is telling Bay she’ll definitely be in the showcase, the battery starts to die making it beep, giving her away.

The judge then leaves and Bay is devastated. Bay’s day only get’s worse when she doesn’t get to the charger fast enough and the battery actually dies. Luckily for Bay, her corrections officer let’s her off the hook and just gives her a new charger. Also, the officer tells Bay her ankle bracelet should be back on in a few hours which means she has a few hours to kill before she has to go back home.

Meanwhile, Daphne and her fellow deaf students are getting pranked by hearing kids in the worst way. Their bathroom was flooded and now they all have to share one bathroom. When Daphne confronts Mingo, the guy who’s responsible, she ends up agreeing to a dorm triathlon to get access to their bathroom rather than having to go to another building.

With the stakes set they enter into competition and Mingo cheats the first round by bringing in his friends from the lacrosse team to help them win tug of war. Daphne confronts Mingo but he says there weren’t any rules against it. Following Mingo’s theory Daphne calls John to help them win the next contest. While playing John realizes Travis has a great throwing arm and decides to help coach him.

For the last leg in the triathlon, Daphne’s roommate, Iris, helps out my giving advice from her own experience in mud racing. Iris had been feeling left out because she’s the only hearing kid in her dorm and although she’s good at signing she was having trouble keeping up. Daphne promises to be a better roommate and with Iris’ help they’re able to beat Mingo (who will probably become Daphne’s next love interest, of course).

By the end of the competition Bay and Toby show up. Bay at first wanted to apologize to Daphne for the way she treated her but after seeing Daphne having so much fun Bay changes her mind. Taking a chance Daphne throws mud at Bay leading to a mud fight between the three siblings. Nothing says reconciliation like a mud war.

In L.A. Emmett made a new friend, Skye, who tries to help out by bringing him to set with her while filming. Things don’t go as planned when Emmett is shafted to work at the food cart and opens a bag of chips right when they start rolling. After such a sucky day Skye takes Emmett to the set of Psycho and apologizes for letting him be treated that way. They both agree to stand up for themselves in the future and Skye kisses Emmett but he thankfully pulls away. He tells her he has a girlfriend and apparently she has a boyfriend as well. Someone should let Skye know that she probably shouldn’t be going around kissing people then.

Regina was missing Angelo hard in this episode and I just wanted to give her a hug. She ended up hooking up with Eric (Coffee Shop Guy) but it just ended up making her miss Angelo more. Poor Regina.

Next week’s episode looks way more drama filled and I’m praying nothing bad happens to Bay but I know it will because obviously the writers hate her. Check out the preview below.

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 It Cannot Be Changed”

Posted on January 7, 2015January 7, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

1604390_831946286849250_1320324379564941867_n — (Via Facebook)

This episode infuriated me to no end. Just all of it, every second. I hated it.

The episode begins right after Bay stupidly takes the blame for Daphne and Bay goes to Emmett’s house to try explain but he’s not really having it, and rightfully so. They had plans, how could she do this? Meanwhile, Daphne’s at the Kennish’s house telling all the parents about what happened and John is over the moon with the idea.

The thing that makes me so mad about this is although Regina and Kathryn are kind of against it at first they are easily persuaded into believing this is a good thing. Daphne is not punished for her actions. She doesn’t get reprimanded for allowing Bay to take the fall for her. This is a huge deal and no one really seems concerned.

The episode then jumps forward 10 weeks when everyone is getting ready to start college (except Bay but she was never going to college anyway). At first everyone seems to have accepted Bay’s decision and is cool with it. She’s put on house arrest and has to serve community service.

However, both Toby and Emmett are mad at Daphne for letting Bay take the fall for her. Toby is more vocal about his anger but Emmett keeps it in until later.

Melody has opened up her upper education deaf program and both Natalie and Travis will be attending. Meanwhile Daphne and Emmett are preparing to leave for college. Daphne starts wondering if she should really go to Gallaudet, especially after Toby calls her out for just living her life while Bay has to suffer for her mistakes. Emmett also struggles with the idea of leaving for L.A. without Bay by his side.

Bay is able to convince Emmett to go to L.A. and she’ll be with him for Christmas as soon as her probation is over. However, that plan is dashed when after accidentally passing a inmate some hidden heroin she’s slapped with another 100 days of probation. Ouch!

This great injustice leads Emmett to confront Daphne and tell her what we were all thinking: she messed up. Emmett then tells her she can never forgive her for what she did and letting Bay take the fall. The heroin situation also forces Bay to realize how serious what she did was. She realizes she will always be seen as a criminal now even though she wasn’t the one who committed the crime.

While Bay’s dealing with the consequences of her actions, Daphne, after deciding not to go to Gallaudet, has to find a interpreter who’s also fluent in chemistry for her to take the chemistry class she needs for pre-med at UKC. Of course what should be an impossible task becomes easy for her when she learns her new roommate has a cousin who has two deaf parents and used to be pre-med.

The show has to pretend they’re actually giving Daphne a challenge though, so at first he’s completely against the idea, telling her he hates the pre-med program and the professor. However, Daphne is able to persuade him after giving him a heart felt speech about her struggles in the past year and how he should want a deaf person to become a doctor to help people like his parents. He then agrees and all is right in Daphne’s world, as usual.

Back to Bay; after a heartfelt speech from Melody, Emmett found the courage to go to L.A. without Bay, which sucks for Bay and the Bemmett ship but is good for Emmett. After having to say goodbye to her boyfriend with no guarantee on when she can reunite with him Bay is fairly in a terrible mood. When Daphne pays her visit, Bay is thoroughly pissed off and doesn’t want to talk to her and asks her to leave. You go, Bay!

Overall, as far as the script and the acting goes the show was fairly well done. I just hate seeing Bay suffer for this when she didn’t do anything while Daphne continues to get everything handed to her. She was grounded and all the parents seemed to just accept that what Bay did made sense. I understand they both could of got in trouble if they confessed that Bay lied but she still wouldn’t be in as much trouble as she is now. Also, as Toby pointed out Bay could’ve got serious time for Daphne’s crimes and it’s lucky she didn’t.

I just wish for once Daphne would get punished for all the things she does. Even when she got probation for the Chip Coto thing, it wasn’t as bad as what Bay is going through now. I just hate that the Switched at Birth writers just won’t let Bay be happy. Honestly, if this doesn’t get better soon I’m not sure I want to keep watching.

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: “Girl on the Cliff”

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

This episode was everything I needed and more. Daphne finally got her intervention and it actually worked … by the end of the episode.

The episode began with Daphne being confronted by Bay, the Kennish’s, and Regina and everything that she’s done wrong has finally been brought to light. I still can’t believe she said she barely touched Bay. Lies they tell.

Thankfully, all the parents recognize that Daphne is headed down a very bad path and although John is upset that Regina knew Daphne had done drugs and was working with Chip Coto, with the help of Kathryn they’re able to work with Regina and stay on a united front.

At school Emmett is set on giving Bay the perfect prom by pulling out all the stops, including making a rose out of newspaper crosswords and campaigning for him and Bay to be prom king and queen. Although the effort was really cute Bay wasn’t that excited to be queen but eventually accepted the nomination just to make Emmett happy.

Of course despite all of Emmett’s efforts something goes wrong. The principal announces that all girls have to wear dresses and all guys have to wear suits. Natalie’s girlfriend is greatly offended by this because she doesn’t wear dresses and so she and Natalie are not going to prom.

After talking to Regina, Bay decides to take a stand against the administration and decides to go to prom in a suit and so does Mary Beth, Natalie, and Natalie’s girlfriend. Although this was a great idea and I’m proud of Bay for taking a stand for her friend the chaperone at prom (the same one who I didn’t like from the start when he said some girls would kill to be prom queen) was absolutely against it and even said some very disrespectful things that honestly he should get in trouble for.

Though they were refused entrance into the regular prom Bay and Co. recreated an awesome prom outside. Also in a great moment before hand Emmett admitted that he was trying to make the perfect prom for Bay since the last one (when he told her he cheated) was so terrible. Although he was upset that things didn’t go exactly as he wanted them to it all worked out in the end and they had a great night.

Daphne on the other hand was having a really rough time. She was grounded so she couldn’t go to prom which she supposedly didn’t really care about but in reality she was probably really upset about that. From there she went back to the clinic where she decided to steal some Oxycodone from the medicine cabinet.

She gets busted and although she begs and pleads Doctor Jay fires her. On top of that a camera caught Nacho at the construction site for the East Riverside project and Regina confronts Daphne where it’s finally revealed that she was there as well and also did damage.

Regina is livid and rightfully so and tears Daphne a new one. Daphne then lies and says she has to go to the clinic but obviously that’s not true. Regina later realizes this and becomes stressed about where Daphne could have gone. Kathryn finds her sitting on a curb in tears and Daphne finally admits that the real reason she’s been acting like such a brat is because she feels guilty for not getting to really know Angelo when she had the chance.

With that breakthrough Daphne is comforted by Kathryn and Regina and thankfully it seems she now headed down a better path. Even so, if Wes chooses to tell the police about Nacho being at the construction site Daphne may very well end up arrested. We shall see how ABC Family will let this play out.

Besides that Toby and Tank had a little disagreement about Toby DJing a party for Tank’s former frat. In the end although Toby did go to the party he apologizes to Tank, telling him he should’ve had his back. They agree to move on and all is well with the roommates.

Next episode is the finale and I can’t wait to see what will happen but I’m also sad for the oncoming hiatus. However it has to happen. Check out the preview below.

Switched at Birth Recap: “You Will Not Escape”

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

First, I think we can all agree that Daphne needs to CALM. THE. FREAK. DOWN.

She really ticked me off this episode so I’m going to begin with her. After hearing that one of the other neighboring high schools is having a senior ditch day Daphne, Natalie, and Sharee agree to have one of their own. Of course, Daphne is the most gung ho for it. I honestly could care less about the planning of a senior cut day. I mean, seriously, who didn’t have a senior cut day in high school? What I’m tight about is what happened during said day.

Daphne along with her fellow seniors head to Hawkeye Ranch where Travis quickly questions the lack of alcohol. I won’t even go into the fact that they are underage and in a public place because again this is something I think we can all agree we’ve done or at least our friends have done. It happens. What’s dumb is that Daphne decides to call Nacho (really his name is Nacho?) to come with some beers.

Nacho, being the gentleman that he is, doesn’t just show up with beer but also brings a posy that includes some girl who may or may not be his girlfriend but is definitely more than a friend.

When Daphne confronts him Nacho makes it clear that Daphne’s not the only girl he’s seeing and basically says, “I can’t just have one girl at time … but that’s cool right?” and Daphne says yes because … well at this point I don’t even know why.

Wanting to exact revenge on Nacho for being a douche she goes on the Ferris Wheel with Travis where she shares a beer with him and then tries to kiss him. Actually she does kiss him because apparently Daphne now has zeros effs to give.

Thankfully, Travis doesn’t give into temptation and reminds Daphne that he has a girlfriend then gets off the Ferris wheel and proceeds to throw up. Gross but good for you Travis!

Bay, who has already confronted Daphne for being stupid enough to date Nacho, confronts Daphne again for being a brat and kissing her friend’s boyfriend. Bay then reminds Daphne that she’s not the only one struggling and she needs to stop lashing out at everyone, being mean to Regina, and all in all get over herself. In other words Bay said everything we’ve all been thinking. You go Bay!

Then Daphne shoved Bay to the ground and stomped away, continuing to act like a bratty three year old that can’t get her way. Seriously, Daphne what are we going to do with you? Things only got worse when Daphne arrived back home where Regina tells her what she decided to do with the money from Angelo’s life insurance: donate it to Melody’s awesome satellite Gallaudet school and then maybe do a mother-daughter road trip.

Although Daphne was okay with the idea at first she then snaps at Regina, saying Regina shouldn’t even have that money because she’s the reason Angelo is dead. Daphne then goes on this whole rant about how Regina sucks and brings up the fact the Regina knew about the switch … again. Daphne, sweetie, you really need to get new material. She ends her rant by saying Regina isn’t even her mother. Really, Daphne? Really? I would just like to point out how Daphne is all upset because Angelo died but he was not her biological father so her logic is little jacked up at this point but I digress.

Daphne should be glad she didn’t get slapped into next week’s episode after everything she said to Regina. Either way it looks like Daphne might finally get what’s coming to her next week but I’ll get to that later.

While Daphne was losing it Bay was dealing with her own stuff. After talking to Tank Bay decides to get checked out for aneurysms. Thankfully she had nothing to worry about. However, she doesn’t get this news until the end of the episode and proceeds to have a mini freak out before then because she thinks she might die.

Rather than tell Emmett what she’s really stressed about she gets angry when she sees the girl who was the image behind “Mandy” and the girl says she read all the things Emmett wrote to Mandy and that made her break up with her boyfriend and she’s kind of into Emmett. Weird. Either way Bay seems to get jealous and storms away from Emmett leaving him confused and rightfully so.

Bay basically tells Emmett he should be with “Mandy” and go off to USC, where he found out he was accepted early in the episode, and leave Bay behind because who knows what would happen in the future? Silly Bay. Don’t you know honesty is the best policy? Obviously, not.

Once Bay learns that she doesn’t have an aneurysm she finds Emmett and apologizes for acting so irrational (but STILL doesn’t say anything about her health fears) and says he should go to USC and that she’ll go with him. Yep, because following you boyfriend to college is always good idea.

Either way I guess it’s Bay’s life and she can do what she wants but I personally think it’s a terrible idea.

Other major points to of the episode that don’t really need further explanation:

Regina and Kathryn go to New York for Kathryn’s book release. Some how they end up pretending they’re lesbian lovers and it’s actually kind of hilarious.
Travis thinks he dropped out of high school but in reality Melody stepped in and with the help of the money Regina donated is starting a Gallaudet satellite campus that Travis will be going to after he graduates. You go Melody!

And that’s about it. This week was crazy mostly because of Daphne (when she told Regina that she wasn’t her real mom I almost lost it). Looks like Daphne is going to get her just desserts next week, however. Is it wrong that I’m excited to see her get knocked down a peg? If it is I don’t care because that girl needs some sense knocked into her. Check out the preview for next week below.

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: “Girl with the Death Mask (She Plays Alone)”

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

This episode could be summed up in three words: Daphne lost it.

I don’t blame Daphne for losing it, really I don’t. I never liked her but the truth is she just lost someone that she was just starting to really get to know and like and she blames her mother for his death. That’s a lot of emotions to deal with. Even if this episode was two weeks later.

If you didn’t watch this episode yet stop reading here because there’ll be plenty of spoilers. Here we go.

Bay and Daphne are both still recovering from the loss of Angelo and Regina, Kathryn, and John are doing just about everything in their power to help them get past it but to no avail. That is until Bay gets a letter from her grandmother (Angelo’s mother) telling her about a cousin Angelo stayed with a few years back who should know that Angelo is now dead.

Using this to their advantage Kathryn and John suggest taking a trip there (Chicago) and bringing Daphne along so she can visit Northwestern. The switched sisters begrudgingly agree and let John drag them across the country (with snacks provided by Kathryn).

Daphne is still pissed off at Regina and as hard as Regina tries Daphne won’t forgive her making a bad situation even worse for Regina who’s barely holding it together. This is evident by the fact that Regina completely spaced on Abby and one of her father’s visit to the house. Thankfully Kathryn steps in and takes over helping out with Abby as her father spills that Daddy #2 has stepped out and Abby has quickly gone from having three dads to having one. Is she even one yet? Wow.

Kathryn hoping to cheer up Abby’s papa calls Renzo and invites him over which may have been a good idea if Renzo didn’t suddenly turn into a nervous hot mess of a man that decided to make a three course dinner that didn’t turn out so well. Renzo ends up leaving in despair, embarrassed and disappointed but Abby’s daddy appreciates Kathryn’s efforts and thanks her.

Meanwhile in Chicago Daphne goes off with a premed nerd at Northwestern to learn more about the program but instead makes a good nerd go bad and convinces him to do coke with her. Yep, that happened. Things quickly escalate and they end up throwing his couch off the roof and Daphne almost destroys the nerd’s laptop. I personally got really stressed for him then. Losing your laptop in the middle of the school year is never good.

While Daphne was experimenting Bay was learning more about her family history. Although her cousin turned about to be a bit of jerk, not really feeling any kind of sympathy about Bay losing her father and trying to weasel some money out of John, he did reveal some much needed information to Bay. Turns out Angelo had a sister who died at 18 also from an aneurysm. I guess maybe now Daphne should stop blaming Regina for his death because it might just be a hereditary condition. Of course this is not good news for Bay who realizes she’s 18 and there might be a chance she’s next. Hopefully Bay doesn’t keep this information to herself and get’s checked out ASAP.

Later Bay and Daphne reunite at Northwestern where Daphne tells Bay how she kind of lost it and that she thinks Regina caused Angelo’s death. Of course Bay defends Regina because Bay knows the truth but doesn’t tell Daphne that, making Daphne even more pissed off.

Everyone then returns to the Kennish-Vasquez household where Daphne finally completely loses it with Regina even telling her that she got high and asking Regina what is she going to do about. Ouch. To end the show on a happier not there was then a cute moment between Bay and Abby where Bay realizes she had a piece of Angelo closer to her than she thought. Awww.

In the middle of all that upheaval Toby had his first DJing gig which he invited everyone he possibly knows to. Including his upstairs neighbor who turns out to be a teacher at Carlton, Ms. Summers. It is a small world after all.

Emmett and Mary Beth show up at the bar (or was it a club?) and Tank is there. Awkward. Thankfully Tank assumes Emmett is Travis and everyone else just plays along. That is until Travis actually shows up and Ms. Summers reprimands Emmett for drinking, calling him by name.

Tank, drunk and pissed, attempts to take a swing at Emmett embarrassing himself by falling over. I truly felt bad for Tank in that moment. It’s obvious he’s been having a hard time since he and Bay broke up. After Toby and Ms. Summers takes Tank back to Toby’s place Toby even offers to let Tank crash on his couch. Looks like someone just got a new roomie.

Also I totally ship Toby and Ms. Summers. She’s cute, has a great accent, and is just all around awesome. My only question is how old is she? I mean Toby’s legally an adult and can date whomever but I’m just curious. Either way I think she would be a good fit for Toby.

It looks like next week will be even more interesting with Daphne still lashing out and Bay going out with Tank? What’s going on here? We’ll just have to wait until next week. Check out the promo below.

Switched at Birth Recap: “Oh, Future!”

Posted on July 1, 2014July 15, 2014 by Zakiya N. Jamal in TV

Let all the Bemmett shippers release a happy sigh. Awwww!

A lot went down in this episode and overall it was fantastic. Let’s begin.

Turns out Bemmett wasn’t the couple that was preggars this season. Instead it’s Emmett’s Dad (Cameron) and his girlfriend (now wife), Debbie. In a very shocking twist Emmett, Bay, Melody, and her new beau, Gabe, went to Cameron’s house for a housewarming party that turned into a wedding and then a baby announcement. Awkward!

Emmett was not in a congratulatory mood, especially since he didn’t even want to go to the party in the first place. The only reason he went was because Bay really wanted to go. Or at least that’s how she made it seem. The truth is she found out that Melody was offered a job in Wisconsin and was scared Emmett would leave with her. Therefore in a poor attempt to show that maybe living with his Dad wouldn’t be a bad idea she insisted on going to the housewarming. Oh Bay. Always scheming.

Obviously Bay’s plan failed not that it mattered because Melody decided she wasn’t going to leave because she had too many reasons to stay (including her hot boyfriend and of course her sons). Emmett eventually accepted that he’s going to have a little bro and by the end actually seems a little excited about it.

The best part of this episode was seeing Bay and Melody be so friendly and Melody saying Emmett needed both of them in his life right now. It’s a big step up from how Melody first felt about the Bemmett pairing. They’ve come a long way.

Speaking of new friendships Kathryn and Sarah Lazar hit it off over lunch when Kathryn tried to explain why she couldn’t get the slutty news reporter character taken out of the book. Although Sarah argued that Kathryn could’ve tried harder she let it go as long as Kathryn agreed to accept the fact that there would be a movie based on Sarah’s switched at birth book.

After that the two became gal pals, drinking wine and even calling Kathryn’s publisher and telling her off. And then what better way to seal a new best friendship than to ask if they’ve ever slept with your spouse. Yeah, that’s not weird. However, Sarah took it in stride, and honestly told Kathryn that although she did try once John never cheated. You go John!

As Daphne and Bay prepare to graduate Daphne has to seriously consider her financial options (college is not free, unfortunately). Bay tells her J&K would be happy to chip in but Daphne isn’t for it. Instead, with the support of Regina, she applies for a Latina scholarship. Although I do get where she’s coming from the truth of the matter is she’s not actually Puerto Rican and it would be unfair if she did get the scholarship.

Also, Regina kind of flipped out on John and Kathryn when they offered to pay Daphne’s tuition but truthfully she was just upset that they could give Daphne something she couldn’t. In the end Regina realized that if there was an opportunity for Daphne to go to a good school and reach her dreams then Regina shouldn’t stand in the way. It was a great moment for them and I get where Regina’s coming from. It’s hard to raise your kid one way and then have someone swoop in and change the game but she definitely made the right choice. To have someone pay your tuition in full is a blessing not a charity.

Lastly, we got to see some great interactions between Mary Beth and Travis (I missed them!). The (cute) couple staked out a BBQ restaurant in the hopes of seeing Travis’ favorite football player, Derrick Coleman, the first deaf offensive player in the NFL. Awesome!

As they waited for Coleman to arrive Mary Beth and Travis ended up in a fight because Travis didn’t want to talk about his family and claimed that Mary Beth never wanted to talk about hers either so she shouldn’t push it. However the truth is Mary Beth felt Travis didn’t want to hear about her brother but she really does want to talk about it. After working it out Travis accepted that Mary Beth needed to talk about her brother even if it made her sad and Mary Beth accepted that Travis wasn’t ready to talk about his family just yet and then all was well in the world again. And of course Coleman did show up and it was fantastic.

That’s about it for this week. Toby comes back next week, yay! But someone gets hurt next week as well. Not yay. I have no guesses on who the person could be (just kidding it’s probably Wes) but it definitely will have something to do with the gun Regina’s getting. Oh, dear. I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see how this all goes down. Check out the preview below.

Sources for GIF: ABCFamily and Tumblr