While Season 1 had a small underlying season arc Season 2 is all about major arcs and it is making this season very enjoyable. Each episode provides another piece to the puzzle and it is becoming quite fun to try and solve the mysteries right along with Kirsten and the team. The kid that keeps appearing in Kirsten’s stitches is yet another interesting carry over and I’m curious to see his connection to everything. He’s apparently part of Kirsten’s own memories for him to keep appearing but who is he and why he’s important are still unknown factors. What is known is that this episode added new obstacles and challenges to most of the relationships making for a tension filled episode full of amazing relationship moments.
The one relationship that needs more screen time is the friendship between Camille and Kirsten because I love the way Allison Scagliotti and Emma Istha work together. They seem to genuinely have fun together which makes their scenes so enjoyable to watch. The opening scene where Camille already prepared a place for Ed’s ashes proved how well she knows her friend. But the scene that best portrayed their friendship was when Camille came up with the plan to break the encryption code. She’s been around Kirsten long enough to know how her brain works and their combined brains led them to the answer. Yet another reason these two need to do more together. They are geniuses apart but super geniuses together.
And the award for the most awkward relationship goes to Kirsten and Cameron. Despite Kirsten stating that things weren’t weird between her and Cameron the tension was palpable throughout the episode. This is something the old Kirsten wouldn’t have worried about but she’s slowly learning that feelings can be very complicated. She can’t deny how she feels for Cameron but at the same time she knows she’s not at a place to be with him. I feel bad for Kirsten because it’s so obvious she cares about him and if the timing was better than maybe they’d have a shot. On that same note Cameron isn’t making things any easier on Kirsten by pointing out how awkward things are. It’s going to take time for her to come to grips with everything and while he says he understands I’m beginning to think saying he understands and being able to be fully supportive are going to be two very different things. It was funny to see Fisher get stuck between them as they each sought him out for romantic advice. I’m betting in each moment the poor guy was wishing he was back in the coma. He did give both of them sound advice even if it wasn’t something any of the fans wanted to hear (me included).
The two of them did get close to having a romantic moment, but thanks to Linus that was a moment that was never meant to be. Linus being at Cameron’s apartment to ruin the almost kiss between Cameron and Kirsten is yet another reason Theo needs to go. He forced Linus to have to seek out Cameron’s place for a bit and as a result Linus was in the wrong place at the wrong time to ruin what may have been one of the last moments Kirsten had to secure her place with Cameron before Nina (Jasmin Savoy Brown ) came into the picture. In fact it was Linus who pushed Cameron onto a path convergent with Nina’s. In the future I do hope Linus keeps his advice to himself because he didn’t do Cameron, Kirsten, or the fans any favors. However, and I know this won’t be a popular statement, it might have all been for the best. As much as I don’t want it to be true these two may be best as friends for the time being. That seems to be all Kirsten can handle and until that changes all of the fans of this couple will just have to wait things out right along with Cameron. Or, well, maybe not right along with him because he doesn’t seem to be wasting any time seeking out someone to take up his time now that Nina is part of the equation.
Cameron’s new love interest definitely puts a wrench in hopes for him and Kirsten to unite anytime soon. Though this is the norm for a show because the leads can’t get together that easily and while I suspect it’ll happen one day there is a lot that these characters have to go through before they can get to that point. I do like the fact that, as far as we know, Nina is not someone connected to the program. I think it will be intriguing to watch him try and develop a relationship with someone he can’t be entirely honest with. He can’t have the type of bond with her that he has with Kirsten because of all the secrets he will have to keep. I predict this will be a short lived romance but will have a profound effect on Kirsten as she will likely have to learn how to combat feelings of jealousy. For now it’s nice to see Cameron getting to have a little bit of fun outside of the normal group and the program. After all he has been through he does deserve some fun as long as that fun doesn’t last too long or cause any permanent damage to his bond with Kirsten I support it.
So, I can admit when I’m wrong, and in the case of Linus and Camille I’m very glad I was. I thought for sure the show was going to give them some distance as they each took on their own journey, but thankfully I was wrong. It’s hard to deny the chemistry Scagliotti and Ritesh Rajan have because they are electric together. I can’t predict what the future holds for this couple but since they hooked up in this episode I hope that means they’ll have at least a few episodes of fun together before something may come along to break them apart again. Though I hope that doesn’t happen because I love these two together I can’t foresee the show allowing them to have a happily ever after just yet. The mention of Camille dating her ex-boyfriend’s sister leads me to believe someone else will be finding her (?) way into Camille’s life to present a roadblock for this on and off couple. Who will she be? Will the show actually give Camille a female love interest? I hope so because it would be fun to delve more into who Camille is as a person and see her develop some sort of bond outside of the main group. A show like this doesn’t just drop a line like this one without some intent to follow-up on it. I wouldn’t suggest anyone getting comfortable with Camille and Linus being back together because my guess is it’ll be short lived.
The scene where Camille kicked Theo’s butt and took him down was my favorite Camille moment in the entire episode. She was done allowing him to screw her over and she wasn’t about to let him do wrong by Linus. The smugness Camille had on her face had me smiling throughout the entire scene. Scagliotti nailed everything about this scene and her performance made the moment all the more empowering for Camille. If Theo sticks around I hope he has learned that his little sister isn’t someone he can screw with anymore. It looks like all of Fisher’s training is really paying off for Camille because she floored Theo in record time. If this is how she is with only a tiny bit of training I can’t wait to see her in action after she’s had some more training with Fisher, or whomever he has in mind to train her. She will be a force to be reckoned with.
I am so extremely happy that they finally addressed how underused Camille is within the program. She is a genius and has indeed helped save all of their lives more than once so I was so happy to see the beginnings of that journey start. The scenes with Fisher and then Maggie seem like the start of a much bigger storyline that I can’t wait for the show to delve into. It’s about time she get to do more than hold the tablet and I can’t wait to see what that ends up being. Let me also take just a moment to commend the show. So many shows have that one character that doesn’t quite have a place within the main arc. Usually that character is left to flounder around until either the actor gets pissed off and leaves or the show kills them off. Camille is an important friend to Kirsten so she had that connecting her to the story but otherwise, within the stitchers program, she was really underutilized. I love that the show acknowledged that on and off the screen and took the steps to fix the problem. It gives me even more reason to respect this show and its creative team given how much they seem to truly care about their performers and characters.
The case of the week was of particular interest to me. Not necessarily because of the content, though that was very fun to watch unfold, but because of what Blair said in the last episode. He seemed to indicate that the cases the program took were taken for a specific reason. In this case they supposedly knew nothing about the John Doe until Kirsten stitched into him. They’ve stitched into John and Jane Doe’s before but after what Blair said it has me wondering about all of them now. Therefore I was led to wonder what the parameters are to determine the cases and does Blair actually know more about each case than he lets Maggie know? It’s an interesting thing to ponder and I hope we get some answers regarding this soon. I really want to know how they pick the cases and why it was such a big deal that Maggie took on an unsanctioned case in the last episode and this week they are taking on a case of a John Doe. What is the differentiation and why is it important?
Another thing about this stitch that I noticed was how Kirsten got an immediate feeling about Jaime B aka Dr. Steven Benning (Mo Diaby) and had a gut feeling he wasn’t a bad guy. She was actually smiling at one point during the first stitch and while I love the smiling I still find it so weird. Another very interesting point of the stitches of this episode is that Kirsten was able to feel the injuries Dr. Benning was sustaining. When he was punched she reacted as if she had been and the grimace on her face says she felt it full force. Stitches are still fundamentally the same for her, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that being reconnected to her emotions has changed the way she reacts to each stitch.
This case had a big impact on Kirsten and seemed to really tap into her newly evolving emotions. She felt the connection between Dr. Benning and the store owner and when he got upset she embraced him in a way we’ve not yet seen her react to a stranger. She cares for Cameron so it wasn’t a surprise that her first major emotional reaction to him was to cry and embrace him. She smiles with Camille and Linus and even Maggie but this is the first time we’ve seen her react empathetically to someone outside of the group. It was also a major step for her that she was able to draw a comparison to her own life in the way she related her upbringing with Ed to the manager’s bond with Dr. Benning. Kirsten made some big emotional growth in this episode thanks to this case which made the resolution of the case even more gratifying as the bad guys got what was coming to them. The very weapon they were trying to obtain was used to take them down. I’d call that a bit deserving karmic justice.
The resolution to this episode was extremely intriguing as now Kirsten has yet another mystery to solve. Who is Elizabeth Stinger and where does the woman Kirsten think is her mom factor into everything? Her father weaved a very large web of lies but this one might just be the biggest of them all. Did he have a second family? Was the woman Kirsten knew as her mom not really her mom? So many questions and so few answers which in most shows would annoy me but I trust this show to reveal the answers in a timely way and until they do it’s always fun to make guesses.
I find this show to be more interesting with each passing episode. And this episode was no exception as it skillfully managed the complicated relationships of all the characters and continued to build on their evolution. My compliments go out to Vivian Lee who wrote this episode. She did an amazing job crafting this episode and the cast brilliantly brought her words to life. This was one of my favorite episodes so far this season and she deserves credit for the part she had in making it happen. Actors are the ones we see week after week, but without writers like Lee and the rest of the talented team of
Stitchers writers we wouldn’t have these brilliant characters to enjoy.
Stitchers is lucky to have extremely talented performers in front of the camera and equally talented artists behind it. Combined they have come together to gift us with a brilliant show every week.
Tune in to
Freeform on Tuesday, April 19th at 10/9C to find out what comes next for our favorite team of geniuses.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode.
About the Author - Aimee Hicks
Aimee works for a newspaper in North Carolina and has a BA in Broadcasting and Cinema. She has been a TV lover since before she really understood what TV was. She has a long list of shows that she loves to watch and can be found on twitter (@ahicks83) live tweeting about each new episode whenever she can. If the show is sci-fi, fantasy, comic book based, drama, or action the odds are good she watches it or has at least watched a few episodes of it. She also has a love for comedies 2 Broke Girls and Mom. She was the original creator and co-founder of LOST Video Island (lostvideo.net) which is still operating under the management of the very capable and skilled group she turned it over to.
You can email her at aimee@spoilertv.com.
