ABC Family's Switched at Birth - Episode 3.15 "And We Bring the Light"
Toby returns with a new perspective on life and a surprising new aspiration for his career. Bay's college dreams are knocked for a loop when she doesn't get the news she expected. Angelo helps Daphne redirect her senior year stresses with a baking challenge. Regina faces yet another moral crossroad.
"And We Bring the Light" is a weird episode of Switched at Birth largely because it wants you to be unraveled throughout the hour. That's a tone that the show simply isn't used to. It's usually just about the ups and downs of this very unique family. It's in the small moments where I personally think this show truly shines. And yet, the show is doing this very big moral quandary with Regina's work on the East Riverside revitalization project. Last week, that story took an episode off and the hour as a whole felt more natural. This week is unsettling. It works to surprise you about who ultimately will be on the E.R. table at hour's end - opening with Kathryn getting the call, Regina pulling a gun on Daphne, Toby and Bay driving away so close to the end. Ultimately, it is Angelo. That reveal does make sense. I spent the entire hour thinking about who it would be. I didn't think the show would have it be a member of the Kennish family both because we saw in the first minute it wouldn't be Kathryn or John and because the show already did a story about someone in that family almost dying just a year ago. So, it had to be someone within the Vasquez family. We don't know the specifics of how Angelo gets in that situation. I'm guessing it has something to do with Nacho and his gang concerning the East Riverside project because why else would that have been in the "Previously on..." segment?However, there's also a handful of moments in this episode that don't want to unnerve you. They are moments that would be normal on any other episode of Switched at Birth. Frankly, I wish there had been more of them in this episode and the big reveal just have been spared until the very end. That probably would have been more surprising as well as allowed me to better enjoy the small moments happening elsewhere with the family.
Bay gets rejected by her dream college! Toby returns home from Iceland! Daphne and Angelo continue to bond! And then, there's the return of Coto which really doesn't intrigue me at all. The show definitely could have presented that moral question to Regina without his presence. And yet, he's a familiar face that is suppose to unnerve both Regina and us and that just buys into the whole aspiration of this hour. But it is nice to see the Kennish family bonding over trying to help Bay as well as Daphne and Angelo actually making really good strides at an actual relationship.
But "And We Bring the Light" is ultimately about Regina pulling a gun on Daphne and then getting into a huge fight with Angelo over it. She's not having an emotional affair with Wes but from Angelo's perspective it definitely could be perceived that way. Additionally, it only makes it more potent that their last interaction before his accident was this huge fight. I'm not sure where Switched at Birth is intending on going with this story and how it will effect the Kennish-Vasquez clan. They theoretically could kill Angelo off. They've always struggled with giving that character meaningful things to do. However, this season they've actually had him doing some great things with Daphne. So to kill him now seems off. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Some more thoughts:
- "And We Bring the Light" was written by Joy Gregory & Alexander Georgakis and directed by Jim Hayman.
- So, Toby wants to become a DJ now. Ummm, okay. I'm intrigued to see how that story will fit into this season.
- But seriously, who cares about Angelo's story about trying to open a restaurant?
- It's devastating that Bay didn't get into her dream school. And yet, it also was inevitable if the show were to continue on as it has for three seasons.
- I'm so happy that Bay was able to get her art piece to work. Even though, I'm disappointed she didn't talk to Emmett at all this week about what was going on in her life.
- I'm expecting a very special episode of Switched at Birth next week.
