Carter reels after another betrayal from David. Meanwhile, Max and Taylor struggle to take their relationship to the next stage.
I was willing to go along with "Do the Right Thing" for awhile. When it was about Taylor and Max having sex for the first time, yes it seemed like they were rushing into it. But it was just wonderful to watch. Likewise it was tragic just seeing the disappointment on Grant's face as he notices the crushed cookies Elizabeth spent all afternoon making. Even the exposure of David writing the book "Finding Carter" all along was handled quite well. And then, the hour took this very weird and awkward turn halfway through. I can't say it came out of nowhere because it stemmed from Ofe's money problems and Bird's family issues that were established early on. But then, Bird just accuses Carter of stealing her mother's jewelry and she gets sent back to prison yet again. It's so completely jarring and ridiculous. The show simply has no idea what they want to do with Bird or with her relationship with Carter. They're friends except when they are catty. None of this makes any sense whatsoever. It was just an excuse to get Carter running away from the family yet again at hour's end. The opening sequence teased us with that - and in the end it did come true ---- somewhat. She hasn't made the decision to run away with Crash. She's just made bail and threw David's manuscript out the window. She's fed up with them but she hasn't decided she is completely done with them. And yet, the show wants us to infer that as a way to derive tension over the episode's closing. It doesn't work.And then, there's Max going out to buy a lamp to make Taylor more comfortable. Why can't the show be more like that all the time? The rest of the show just wants to be so big and so important. This story is so small and intimate. And yet, it's the one plot thread that has continually worked week after week. How could you not swoon after they traded "Six reallys"? Of course, we get the requisite beat of one of the parents - Elizabeth - walking in on them during the act. But that didn't really detract too much from this simple yet awesome story.
Even when the plot went big with the exposure of David's book, I thought the series handled it well in the moment. They then of course fumbled in the end. They used it as a way for Carter to just completely not trust either of her parents - which is a little unfair to Elizabeth. David is the manipulative one. When Elizabeth said "he doesn't lie, he just hides things," I'm pretty certain everyone started laughing. But Carter still simply gets angry at Elizabeth later because she's "interrogating her like a cop." Ugh! The bad is still outweighing the good. I'm not sure how much more of this ridiculousness I can take.
Some more thoughts:
- "Do the Right Thing" was written by Emily Silver and directed by Jennifer Lynch.
- Based on the few excerpts that Carter and Bird read out loud from David's book, he doesn't seem like that good of a writer at all.
- Lots of awkward talk about money that the show just doesn't know how to open up an engaging discussion about.
- Did no one else open up the trash can and see all the cookies? They may not be bake sale appropriate but they are still edible!
- Carter: "How can anyone hate Max?" Everyone's thoughts exactly!
- So why couldn't Carter reach Crash by his phone? Oh that's right, it was a plot contrivance to amp up the mystery surrounding the jewelry that never received any good kind of explanation.
- It seems like every other scene there's a commercial. The running times have been incredibly short all season long. Why? It's really distracting. Did they just not come up with enough plot?
