S04.E08: Art Like Love Is Dedication

[AmandaPanda]

Bay aspires to resume her art career, but she's unsure about how to proceed.  Regina invites Eric and his son to be her house guests.  Mingo wants to spend time with Daphne.  Kathryn volunteers to help Travis with his English.

 

[Expat]

Is it just me, or does Mingo bear a slight resemblance to a young Adam Scott? Seriously, it's all I can see when I look at him.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Gumdrops

[KaveDweller]

For a minute I thought Bay was going to get caught doing street art and end up back in front of her probation officer.  This was shortly after I thought she was going to get time added to her sentence for refusing to cover up the graffiti.  I guess I don't think much of Bay's judgement.

[Aliconehead]

I thought that too. I think that coffee boy kidnapped his kid. Dorm guy will totally come crawling back to St Daphne wanting a relationship. Yay can't wait (/sarcasm)

[Scarlett45]

Why would Daphne need to go to the clinic to remove a "lost" condom? Women remove diaphragms and menstral cups etc on the regular, even if she couldn't reach it that guy couldn't help her? Does she have a never ending vagina or something?!! Lol.

[bybrandy]

To get plan b?

[Scarlett45]

To get plan b?

It's at the drug store now. You don't have to be called in......who knows.....

[Bec]

I was just waiting for Bay to get in trouble, too. I'm so glad she didn't and that she's getting to do art again, with permission so she won't get another strike on her record. But damn, that bench was so schmaltzy. The scripty font and everything. It looks like it was done by a well-meaning old lady who is just discovering the wonderful world of photoshop filters. Oh well, at least they didn't use comic sans or papyrus. And it is just the kind of family-friendly art a community arts organization would eat right up, I suppose.

 

Still don't care about Tess. When Bay went back to talk to Tess my reaction was like Tess's - oh god, why?

[possibilities]

Plan B may have been free at the university health services-- why pay at the drug store if it's covered by your school health plan?

[Scarlett45]

Plan B may have been free at the university health services-- why pay at the drug store if it's covered by your school health plan?

True true.

[Peanut6711]

My questions in regards to Daphne and her guy the Houdini condom was...It took him looking for it in the sheets to notice it was missing? Neither of them realized it right away? 

[Primetimer]

People actually smile on Switched at Birth this week. And then there's Mingo. But let's focus on the smiles.

Read the story

[flyngzebra]

They probably didn't notice the condom was missing because his boxers hid it.

I liked Mingo because he went to the health center with Daphne, and I was proud of Daphne for standing up for herself with Mingo.

[izabella]

I don't care about Tess, and I don't know why they are trying to make me care. 

 

I thought it was interesting that they showed Dude asking Daphne for consent before he started taking clothes off.  I don't know what the point of Daphne and Dude is, but their whole encounter followed by a trip to the clinic for Plan B (presumably, since they didn't actually say), seemed like a PSA for consensual/safe sex.  Following on the heels of the Bay/Tank episodes, it seemed like a deliberate juxtaposition. 

[heythere]

I thought it was interesting that they showed Dude asking Daphne for consent before he started taking clothes off.

Agreed.

 

I thought this was one of the most boring episodes. I really don't care about any Daphne storyline anymore. This Mingo guy is boring and I hope he's gone for good (doubt it).  Agreed on Tess, don't care and don't know why I should care about her yet.

 

The only interesting part was with Travis. I was suprised they gave so much time to that storyline but it was a good one.

[Expat]

I don't care about Tess, and I don't know why they are trying to make me care. 

 

I feel the same way. I don't like her, I don't wanna like her. She's most likely gonna disappear after this half of the season anyway, so why bother? Usually I'd soften a bit for someone in her situation, but something went wrong with the writing and/or acting because I just roll my eyes every time she's pushed at us.

I just don't get this show sometimes. They try so damn hard to make us care about periphery characters when they'll barely give 5 seconds to actual established characters.

 

I did enjoy Katherine/Travis interacting though. It's nice when they mix up the actual cast together, ya know?

 

On a shallow note, Shari Headley is still soooooo very pretty.

[CleoCaesar]

What a boring episode. I didn't care about anything that was happening. And, wait, that's the end of the big "Bay becomes a convicted felon for Daphne" storyline?

 

Colleges are notorious for giving athletes a pass on academics. Cheating is rampant, and overlooked when it comes to student athletes. No way in hell would that coach have been fired after one reported incident of facilitating one student's cheating.

 

Rolled my eyes at Daphne's "I’m waiting by my phone for some guy to text me." Uh, hon? It’s a smartphone. It goes where you go. So that guy could conceivably text you anywhere. You don’t have to physically wait by the phone. The whole "waiting by the phone for the guy to call" trope stopped working in the 1990s.

 

I thought it was interesting that they showed Dude asking Daphne for consent before he started taking clothes off.

 

Yeah, seemed like they were definitely going for a PSA in that respect. My dark mind went to "okay, she gave explicit affirmative consent now, but any number of things could happen later on in the sexual encounter that she doesn't consent to, and it will still be he said/she said". But yay for Daphne, I guess.

 

No really, this episode sucked.

Edited February 25, 2015 by CleoCaesar

[Perfect Xero]

No Toby or Emmett this week, but we got a heaping helping of Tess and Mingo? Thanks show.

Colleges are notorious for giving athletes a pass on academics. Cheating is rampant, and overlooked when it comes to student athletes. No way in hell would that coach have been fired after one reported incident of facilitating one student's cheating.

 

Your head coach being directly involved in cheating would be a huge issue if an NCAA investigation came down on the school. If there was a whistle blower on the staff (one who is a former MLB superstar and a State Senator at that) they'd cut the coach loose ASAP to avoid bringing that scrutiny down on their entire athletics department.

 

Also, I can't imagine a head coach actually doing that. They might turn a blind eye to someone else on the staff or at the school "helping" to a student athlete or be a particular tutor that gets results that are too good to be true, but directly finding someone to write a paper for an athlete. No. That's damaging your entire career when it comes out.

[KaveDweller]

To get plan b?

 

But the guy made some crack about "hope it all comes out okay" which implied there was going to be the removal of something.  

[Peanut6711]

Your head coach being directly involved in cheating would be a huge issue if an NCAA investigation came down on the school. If there was a whistle blower on the staff (one who is a former MLB superstar and a State Senator at that) they'd cut the coach loose ASAP to avoid bringing that scrutiny down on their entire athletics department.

 

Also, I can't imagine a head coach actually doing that. They might turn a blind eye to someone else on the staff or at the school "helping" to a student athlete or be a particular tutor that gets results that are too good to be true, but directly finding someone to write a paper for an athlete. No. That's damaging your entire career when it comes out.

I live in a state where the assistant football coach can molest students and the entire school and most of the town turns a blind eye for years so anything is possible, but I agree--most reputable schools would fire a coach that assisted in cheating right off the bat. Heck, this is a university that expels students without evidence on a he said/she said sexual encounter where the victim in questions isn't a student nor is she sure what happened so it doesn't surprise me that the baseball coach got fired. 

[shmeep]

I'm glad the show finally did some explaining about some Deaf people and the English language. It was petty well done and isn't something you see addressed often with Deaf characters. What was missing was the explanation of how a person needs to acquire an entire first language naturally before the age of five or there will always be some gaps. Travis had a non-signing family and wasn't able to pick up much English by lip reading, even magically, so he had virtually no first language until he picked up ASL along the way--possibly even as late as in middle school. This is very common. And despite all the credit Regina takes for Daphne's ability to pass for hearing, people like Daphne have much better language because even those first couple of years of hearing and figuring out concepts using words make a huge difference in both speech and in written abilities. Her brain was already wired for language by the time she lost her hearing. Emmett would be an example of Someone who was given ASL from birth so, having a fully-developed language in his head, he would have an easier time grasping the rules of other languages. I'm assuming he's supposed to be a decent writer, since he's going to USC.

I know Deaf people in all three of these categories, but even some of the brightest and most successful Deaf people I know were not given enough language early on and have never been able to write very coherently. This episode implies that Travis could come out of it with decent English with enough work, but odds are that someone like him would never be able to write very well. Not that working to improve is a bad thing, but I've seen countless Deaf students who are otherwise very smart get caught trying to pass English 101 so they can proceed with their education. A lot of them never make it last that hurdle and they give up. My brother teaches English at a community college. He had his first Deaf student a few years back. It was her third attempt at passing English 101 and the interpreter had no training and was almost worse than having no one, but she was all they had. My brother was sensitive to Deaf issues because of me and he took a lot of time outside of class going over things with this student and marking her papers in front of her and writing explanations for her to study. He wasn't at all easy on her and she squeaked by with an C and was thrilled because passing the class meant she could eventiqlly get a degree.

[Scarlett45]

I'm glad the show finally did some explaining about some Deaf people and the English language. It was petty well done and isn't something you see addressed often with Deaf characters. What was missing was the explanation of how a person needs to acquire an entire first language naturally before the age of five or there will always be some gaps. Travis had a non-signing family and wasn't able to pick up much English by lip reading, even magically, so he had virtually no first language until he picked up ASL along the way--possibly even as late as in middle school. This is very common. And despite all the credit Regina takes for Daphne's ability to pass for hearing, people like Daphne have much better language because even those first couple of years of hearing and figuring out concepts using words make a huge difference in both speech and in written abilities. Her brain was already wired for language by the time she lost her hearing. Emmett would be an example of Someone who was given ASL from birth so, having a fully-developed language in his head, he would have an easier time grasping the rules of other languages. I'm assuming he's supposed to be a decent writer, since he's going to USC.

I know Deaf people in all three of these categories, but even some of the brightest and most successful Deaf people I know were not given enough language early on and have never been able to write very coherently. This episode implies that Travis could come out of it with decent English with enough work, but odds are that someone like him would never be able to write very well. Not that working to improve is a bad thing, but I've seen countless Deaf students who are otherwise very smart get caught trying to pass English 101 so they can proceed with their education. A lot of them never make it last that hurdle and they give up. My brother teaches English at a community college. He had his first Deaf student a few years back. It was her third attempt at passing English 101 and the interpreter had no training and was almost worse than having no one, but she was all they had. My brother was sensitive to Deaf issues because of me and he took a lot of time outside of class going over things with this student and marking her papers in front of her and writing explanations for her to study. He wasn't at all easy on her and she squeaked by with an C and was thrilled because passing the class meant she could eventiqlly get a degree.

Thank you for this post. Based on my limited understanding of linguistics I was having similar thoughts when I was watching this episode. I have ALWAYS had so much empathy for Travis, not having the type of nurturing that every child should have growing up because he was "different".

Edited February 26, 2015 by Scarlett45

[CleoCaesar]

This episode implies that Travis could come out of it with decent English with enough work, but odds are that someone like him would never be able to write very well.

 

This might be a dumb question, but how could Travis graduate high school without knowing basic things like English tenses? I assume at Carlton they taught English as a second language, and in English lit class read all the standard classics students read in high school (The Great Gatsby, 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. etc.). Wouldn't he learn English grammar by reading it, or even watching movies with subtitles?

[shmeep]

This might be a dumb question, but how could Travis graduate high school without knowing basic things like English tenses? I assume at Carlton they taught English as a second language, and in English lit class read all the standard classics students read in high school (The Great Gatsby, 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. etc.). Wouldn't he learn English grammar by reading it, or even watching movies with subtitles?

First of all, I'm sure a lot of hearing students also get shunted through high school with a very limited ability to write well. Nothing new there. Deaf education is pretty sticky. Trust me when I tell you that many of the Deaf people I know with terrible English graduated from college without much improvement.

When I was learning ASL, I also used to wonder why Deaf people couldn't just learn English from reading and watching subtitled movies. I'm sure there are instances of Deaf children who become avid readers and improve their English that way. It's not the norm, though. Our language is fully developed with all of its nuances by all of the incidental things we hear over our lifetime that grow and interconnect within our subconscious minds. Many things that hearing kids pick up without being taught have to be specifically explained to Deaf people--if anyone bothered to explain them at all. When I was interpreting at the high school level, I was shocked by all of the things some of the Deaf students did not know that I assumed everyone knew early in childhood. Many can read with decent understanding without fully understanding how the language works. Many can barely read. Sometimes when I watch TV with my husband and the character uses an idiom or phrase that I don't think anyone has ever explained to my husband, I ask him what he thinks it means. He's almost always wrong but it's very interesting to see how many things are missed when one can't hear. It seems obvious, but when you really think about it, it makes sense.

This is why some of the writing for the Deaf characters is unealistic to me. It's not that they wouldn't be smart, it's that they use a lot of phrases that don't come naturally in sign and the interpretations look convoluted because they were obviously not written by a Deaf person. Emmett, in particular, uses a lot of idioms that I've never seen a Deaf person use because the translation into sign is so awkward. It always bugs me.

Edited February 26, 2015 by shmeep

[CleoCaesar]

Thanks for the very interesting and educational reply, shmeep!

[Eri]

More points for John Kennish this episode! He may be stubborn but his ethics are on point. Although I will say, I felt it was impossible for Daphne to know everything Mingo was saying the entire episode. I muted my television a few times to try and understand and she didn't struggle once., was it perhaps because he talked slowly enough?

The only storyline I liked was the Travis storyline because of a lot of the things shmeep already mentioned...you know, the things this show was best known for when it started? I feel sorry for Travis but I'm glad they're realistically showing his struggle and the consequence of hearing parents not adapting to their childrens' needs. If anything, after the graduation episode, they should have at least a few brief scenes implying that Travis's mother is continuously communicating with him in her limited ASL.They need to bring more educational plotlines about deaf culture back into the show especially now that we're gaining a greater perspective into what it's like first from a high school level, and now at the hearing-university level. It may save the show time not to have all captions but I'd much prefer a silent all-captioned show with background noise to a hearing drama that is now only incorporating 10% ASL/90% simcom.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Eri

[HeatherinThailand]

This is why some of the writing for the Deaf characters is unealistic to me. It's not that they wouldn't be smart, it's that they use a lot of phrases that don't come naturally in sign and the interpretations look convoluted because they were obviously not written by a Deaf person. Emmett, in particular, uses a lot of idioms that I've never seen a Deaf person use because the translation into sign is so awkward. It always bugs me.

I have noticed throughout the course of this show that Emmett's dialogue in particular is translated into English idioms that he is not in fact using in sign (based on my limited studying of ASL). I always figured they were doing the closest translation for non-deaf viewers but Emmett was using the ASL equivalent. Your input has been very enlightening.

In other news, I was so happy that Bay finally got a win in getting out of the rest of her probation, no matter how improbable that actually is. And I was glad for the happy scenes between Bay and Daphne as well as Regina and Kathryn. I was also glad Regina was like "no, don't worry about what HE wants, what do YOU want?" Always love the Travis scenes and it was nice to see John sort of stepping up as his surrogate dad since he never really had much of a family.

[izabella]

I live in a state where the assistant football coach can molest students and the entire school and most of the town turns a blind eye for years so anything is possible, but I agree--most reputable schools would fire a coach that assisted in cheating right off the bat. Heck, this is a university that expels students without evidence on a he said/she said sexual encounter where the victim in questions isn't a student nor is she sure what happened so it doesn't surprise me that the baseball coach got fired. 

 

It does surprise me that Travis wasn't expelled for being the student who tried to cheat.  I mean, if they have reason to fire the coach then why wouldn't they expel the student?

 

I dunno.  Melody didn't report Travis for buying a keg for that underage drink fest in a campus dorm, so I guess underage people buying beer for underage students in a school dorm is not important.  Neither is Travis cheating. 

 

It's not that I want Travis to be expelled, but it does raise some questions about university policies and when they are enforced or not.

Edited February 26, 2015 by izabella

[Perfect Xero]

Travis never actually got to the point where he tried to turn in the paper though. Unless possession of a paper that you didn't write is against school policy he's in the clear.

[heythere]

It does surprise me that Travis wasn't expelled for being the student who tried to cheat.  I mean, if they have reason to fire the coach then why wouldn't they expel the student?

 

I dunno.  Melody didn't report Travis for buying a keg for that underage drink fest in a campus dorm, so I guess underage people buying beer for underage students in a school dorm is not important.  Neither is Travis cheating. 

 

It's not that I want Travis to be expelled, but it does raise some questions about university policies and when they are enforced or not.

Travis never handed that paper in. Kathryn was reading his latest draft of the paper and brought it to John because it was "too good".  Would you expect to get an F or be otherwise in trouble if someone's parents found you cheating on a paper before you turned it in? They'd probably just tell you to re-write it yourself and do everything they could to make sure you're handing in your own work.

[izabella]

Travis never handed that paper in. Kathryn was reading his latest draft of the paper and brought it to John because it was "too good".  Would you expect to get an F or be otherwise in trouble if someone's parents found you cheating on a paper before you turned it in? They'd probably just tell you to re-write it yourself and do everything they could to make sure you're handing in your own work.

 

I wouldn't, but in this case, the coach was fired, which means university administration knows that the coach procured someone to write Travis's paper, and Travis's paper would be the evidence for that, so yes, I would expect Travis to get in some kind of trouble here. 

[timimouse]

This might be a dumb question, but how could Travis graduate high school without knowing basic things like English tenses? I assume at Carlton they taught English as a second language, and in English lit class read all the standard classics students read in high school (The Great Gatsby, 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. etc.). Wouldn't he learn English grammar by reading it, or even watching movies with subtitles?

 

I thought the same things and I'm really glad for the enlightenment on this. It's one thing I really liked about the episode and the show in general... the little bit of education we get about ASL and the deaf community.

 

Travis never handed that paper in. Kathryn was reading his latest draft of the paper and brought it to John because it was "too good".  Would you expect to get an F or be otherwise in trouble if someone's parents found you cheating on a paper before you turned it in? They'd probably just tell you to re-write it yourself and do everything they could to make sure you're handing in your own work.

 

It did cross my mind as to why he would even show it to Kathryn if he didn't write it? Even if she asked to see it, wouldn't he just say that he handed it in already or something? I dunno. I just thought it a bit weird...

Edited February 26, 2015 by timimouse

[timimouse]

On the episode itself, I didn't hate it. I can understand why people thought it was boring because nothing really happened, but after the last two episodes, which were so DRAMA filled, it was a nice break.

By the way, what happened to Kathryn's musical? And Daphne's Chemistry class and tutor fiasco? And Toby's... anything? LoL. I'm glad they recognise the need to get rid of useless story-lines but I'm kind of wondering where the story is going to go now. Feels a bit flat. And for some inexplicable reason, I don't care much about Regina's boyfriend's arc. Oh well, I guess we will see.

[KaveDweller]

It did cross my mind as to why he would even show it to Kathryn if he didn't write it? Even if she asked to see it, wouldn't he just say that he handed it in already or something? I dunno. I just thought it a bit weird...

 

She was probably asking to see a rewrite and he wanted to get her off his back. 

[Perfect Xero]

By the way, what happened to Kathryn's musical? ... And Toby's... anything?

 

Kathryn has had Toby chained up in a room upstairs the last two weeks, writing songs for her baseball erotica musical.

 

"I'm your number one fan. There's nothing to worry about. You're going to be just fine. I will take good care of you. I'm your number one fan."

[stopeslite]

In the case with Travis, there could be a good case made that he was innocent because his coach, who had an extreme amount of power over him, was coercing him to do it. At least, I think it would be a mitigating factor that would make any punishment he'd get a lot less. It's not like he went out looking for a paper to buy; his coach was telling him what to do, and if he wanted to stay on the team, he had to stay in the coach's favor.

[heythere]

It did cross my mind as to why he would even show it to Kathryn if he didn't write it? Even if she asked to see it, wouldn't he just say that he handed it in already or something? I dunno. I just thought it a bit weird...

 

Nacho probably told him about how John and Kathryn happily allowed Bay to take the fall for Daphne's crimes and Travis probably figured if they let Daphne get away with felonies, they'd certainly let him get away with turning in a paper he didn't write.

[Crs97]

And if he did get caught, he could get them to say Bsy switched out the papers without his knowledge. John would be able to convince Bay to sacrifice herself for the good of Travis' pitching arm.

[purplemonkey]

I need Travis to explain to me in simple grammar what happened to that condom. Is ABC Family really telling girls that condoms can get lost up there?

Even if Daphne is just a booty call to Mingo, he should still have introduced her to his friends. That's just plain rude, no matter if they're dating or not.

I liked Bay's art, and I liked that she found a place to express herself and acknowledge the gal at the same time. It just felt like single mom isn't a real character, but just a handy tool to further Bay's storyline.

[Aliconehead]

I need Travis to explain to me in simple grammar what happened to that condom. Is ABC Family really telling girls that condoms can get lost up there?

It happens generally when a guy does not pulled out soon enough after. The condom can slip off and stay inside the girl. Edited March 4, 2015 by Aliconehead

[purplemonkey]

Ok, so that means they were at the clinic to obtain emergency BC, and not to pull the condom out of Daphne. Sorry, at first I didn't realize this meant the condom is deemed ineffective, because I was distracted by this goofy plot device.