Borrowing Your Enemy’s Arrows:
We last left everyone on their spring break service trip to Mexico. It was a trip filled with great opportunities and plenty of drama but now everyone’s back home and life is back to normal - or at least as normal as life ever is for these characters!
The last episode left us with the revelation that Travis has feelings for Bay. I’m still not a fan of this storyline because they’re so good as friends and I don’t want everything to be destroyed in the inevitable drama. In this episode, it seems like Bay is ready to move on after some closure with Emmett in Mexico. When Travis and one of his friends, Garrett, stop by the cafe for some coffee, Bay immediately has her eyes on Garrett. Travis, obviously, feels bad but I'm disappointed that his first reaction is to sort of trash Bay and try to sabotage her attempt to get with Garrett. I feel bad for Travis, he’s actually become one of my favorite characters, but Bay and him are just so good as best friends! It will be a tough sell to get me on board with a possible romance between them. Also, as much as I’m happy that Bay is moving on, this new guy looks way too old for her. This is just a casting issue and I won’t hold it against them but it’s kind of hard for me to really buy into them as a couple when she seems so much younger than him. We also saw the return of Tank in this episode. It happened in the most awkward way, with him as Bay and Garrett’s waiter on their first date. When he abruptly leaves, Bay tracks him down outside and they have a heart-to-heart about how their lives have changed since everything happened between them. Obviously, his has not been going very well and Bay feels bad for him. I feel bad for both of them and the whole storyline is so sad. However, I really do applaud this show for shedding light on such a complicated and important issue. This storyline has been handled in a really interesting way since the beginning, and I think it’s showing a really important message. Like Regina said, some things just get broken and they can’t be fixed. That’s the way this storyline has always been, and I feel like it will always be that way. And that’s okay. There is no perfect solution for what Bay went through and I think Switched at Birth is doing a great job portraying that.
Meanwhile, Daphne and Mingo decide to take their relationship to the next level and meet each other’s parents at a barbecue at the Kennish’s house. Honestly, I have a feeling these two aren’t really going anywhere but I still think they’re cute together. Oh well, hopefully it will be fun while it lasts! It turns out that their parents already know each other because Mingo’s dad is actually John’s old financial advisor, aka the one who supposedly got him in all his financial trouble. My first thought when this was revealed was that I hated this and it was a really stupid and cringe plot device, however by the end, I thought it was kind of a fun situation. Plus, we got to hear another side to the story and it really was necessary because we found out that John is super shady. I kind of already know that, as John is one of my most disliked characters, but this is pretty bad even for him. I really loved Kathryn in this episode. I loved how she stood up to John and I especially loved her line, “as long as they're dating, he’s welcome in our house”, she really is such an under appreciated, amazing character. I was surprised that Daphne ended up telling Mingo so soon about her kiss with Quinn. He seemed to get over it pretty fast but something tells me this is going to become a much bigger issue, although now that Quinn isn't around it seems like it shouldn't be a problem.
This episode also followed up on Melody’s adoption storyline and was a great way to bring Toby back after he’s been MIA for a couple of weeks. Melody and Gabe get engaged towards the beginning of the episode and I’m super happy for her! It soon becomes clear, to everyone except Gabe, that she’s not as into the adoption as she let on. She really only wants an older child and definitely does not want a baby. As soon as they set that up I just knew they were going to get a baby, and sure enough, that becomes the plan. However, it’s not just one baby it’s two! Melody seems really unsure about this and if she isn’t 100% on board she needs to let Gabe know or just ditch everything now. I’m honestly not sure where her storyline is going to go, which I guess makes it interesting. Also, Toby came back and he seems to be totally over everything and back to normal. I guess a couple of weeks off this crazy show will do that to a character. Anyways, he comes back just in time to give Melody some terrible advice. He tells her to just go with the adoption and that maybe Gabe’s excitement will be enough to carry her through until she finds her’s. I don’t know…that just seems like a terrible idea and a huge risk. If she isn’t comfortable with things she need to communicate that. This is adoption, they’re starting a family permanently, this isn’t just some trivial life choice that she should go along with assuming she’ll eventually be excited about it.
Overall, I really liked this episode a lot. It was possibly even my favorite episode of the season so far. It wasn’t too much of a downer and it was funny but it also had some good, emotional scenes with Bay and Tank. There were dramatic revelations with the discovery that John had more to do with his financial crisis than he let on, plus Melody’s engagement and adoption drama. It was also nice to see Toby, and even Tank again. It wasn’t a huge episode or super memorable but I enjoyed it a lot in the moment.
To the Victor Belong the Spoils:
I wasn’t as excited about this episode as I was for the last. Something about it felt very filler-y. There was a lot of good and nothing that really stood out as bad, but overall, I was just kind of bored throughout and it seemed to move very slowly.
This episode begins with John and Kathryn sharing their financial problems with the rest of the family. Everyone wants to help lighten the burden but John is way to proud and refuses all their help. Although this is kind of annoying of him, it’s not nearly the most annoying thing he does in this episode, which is saying something. The main conflict in this episode centered on Lily wanting to move back to London to be with her family. This is obviously a bit upsetting to Toby, John, and Kathryn. However, she raises some good points about how her parents have experience raising a special needs baby and they already have connections to the best doctors and therapists. Plus, I can’t blame her for wanting to be with her family. However, everyone else just see’s this as a terrible idea because they won’t get to see as much of the baby. At first Kathryn is the only one to understand that Lily needs to do what she thinks is best for the baby, but even she disappointed me and went over to the dark side with John. John actually turned into a crazy person during this episode. I’ve never seen him be so obnoxious about anything before, it was borderline scary. Kathryn deserves so much better but I’ll leave it at that. Anyways, Lily is really showing now and she is such a cute, little pregnant lady! Her bump is precious! As if the London decision wasn’t dramatic enough, her and Toby are also dealing with jealousy issues throughout the episode because she’s still spending a lot of time with the guy she had feelings for. In the end they have a nice heart-to-heart at the end of the episode and decide that they’re going to move to London together. I’m a little confused why the show seems to be possibly writing them off soon after all the set-up they put in with the Down’s Syndrome story. I think it would have been nice to see them raise their baby and would be an interesting story for the show to explore the joys and struggles that they would have experienced. Nothing is final though so maybe their plans will change. I really hope that Toby and Lily make it though because they’re actually really cute. I think they portray the most realistic couple on the show and I love how they communicate really well about everything that they have to deal with.
Bay and Daphne were both dealing with their own problems this week. Bay discovered that her infamous “Hammer Girl” artwork has been stolen by someone and put on a line of trashy and offensive t-shirts. As soon as we were introduced to him, I wanted to see Bay take this guy down and bury him! It was satisfying to see Bay win this one when she got his mom to come down and confront him, which resulted in the end of his business. I was also happy with the Bay and Travis interaction this week. He’s such a sweetheart and I just wish he didn't love Bay. Their scenes seemed a lot more friendly and less unrequited love this week. I was nervous he would try to kiss her after that hug at the end but thankfully he didn’t! I’m looking forward to seeing more of her new art project because it seems really cool.
Daphne was also on a mission this week. After skyping with Quinn (I’m surprised he’s still around!) and hearing that the sign language class is going great but could be better if there was a way to get more transportation costs covered, Daphne decides to raise money for bus passes. Most of the episode is focused on her and Mingo throwing a “fundraiser” at a local bar’s cowboy theme night. The episode is filled with country music, line dancing, and bull riding. At the end of the episode, they’ve raised enough money but Daphne slips up and says that she came up with the idea with Quinn. Mingo is shocked by this, his response, “you’re still talking to that guy?” are my feelings exactly. He’s right though! It is sort of weird that she's doing this whole fundraiser without telling him it’s with Quinn. Anyways, like they said in the episode, Mingo and Daphne are not a profound couple but they’re still super cute. I really didn't think that Quinn would be the wedge that comes between them but I guess we’ll see where it goes. Mingo seems to switch back and forth between super upset and really easygoing about it, so it’ll be interesting to see what his true feelings actually are.
I think this episode was supposed to be fun with the cowboy themed bar and fundraiser but there were just too many other dramatic and serious storylines going on that the fun vibe never really caught on. A lot of the drama took place at the “fun” location, which probably contributed to the mood being less fun than I think they intended. Overall, it was a bit of a slow, filler episode. However, it did set up some interesting things to come. I’m looking forward to the London preparations, seeing Bay’s new art project, and what will happen with Daphne and Mingo. There was also the set-up about Eric’s ex-wife and Regina’s Atlanta trip. I definitely think that something crazy is going to happen with that, and I’d bet that we’ll be seeing her role into town just in time for the finale.
What did you think of these episodes? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!
About the Author - Kate Sidwell
Kate is a 24 year old, USA based, Psychology/Public Health Researcher - but that’s just her day job! In her spare time she is an avid TV watcher (some may even say addict!!). Some of her favorite shows are Jane the Virgin, Bates Motel, The Flash, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Rookie Blue, Silicon Valley, Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow, The 100, The Mindy Project, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, The Royals, Orphan Black…so pretty much too many to count and a huge variety! She’ll give pretty much any show a chance! She also devotes a lot of time to her tumblr (
eat-sleep-breathe-tv.tumblr.com) where you can find her reviewing and commenting on most of these shows and just generally fangirling! She’s excited to be writing for SpoilerTV on Complications, Baby Daddy, Proof, Switched at Birth, Secrets and Lies, and Minority Report!
