S02.E05: Wake Up Call

[Tara Ariano]

Carter is in danger of flunking out of school; Taylor discovers the truth of David's past; tensions rise at the town fair; and Max's new job poses a threat.

[Primetimer]

The kids freak about SATs, the grown-ups get their freak on, and Crash's hair is super-freaky. Yow.

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[GaT]

I have to say I agree with Carter & I can't understand how any of the adults really expect her to be a good student. She saw Max get shot by her boyfriend, she got drugged & kidnapped by Lori, again. she found out her father had an affair with Lori, her parents are separated, one of her best friends had all her possessions repossessed by the cops, she had to commit her mother to a mental institution (they just threw that in there) & they don't understand why she's missing school? 

[OrientalAmish]

Sarah, once again, you are on point about Crash's hair! LOL

Crash went half-ass with that one wispy curled bang!

He didn't even curled the end! He thinks we won't notice, but WE see YOU! He reminds me of those girls with those wispy curls that you would see in the 70's! Hell, I think he made a good looking girl!

 

I love how you made reference to 90210 + Dawson's Creek because those were my jams when I was growing up!

 

"Then all the kids just breeze out of the house all "don't wait up" the night before SATs, which start at half past ass in the morning if memory serves, and when Carter gets home and has a breakdown about her future, Elizabeth's like, let me "comfort" you with my own parenting anxiety about not knowing how to comfort you. Did you just have these kids yesterday, Detective? And that aspires-to-farce slap-and-tickle horseshit with Kyle, ugh. BYE FELICIA." <--- LOLROFLLMAO!

Edited April 29, 2015 by OrientalAmish

[Kat]

 

Could Wardrobe just get Grant a t-shirt that says, "I'm growing it out"?

Hee! Thanks for that giggle, Sarah.

 

This show is so infuriating because it has SO MUCH potential. Every week there are always at least 5 or 6 scenes where I point to the tv and say "Look, right there, that was well done!', and then the very next scene will be handled so ridiculously that I hang my head and sigh.

 

But I can't say that I'm not crazy addicted to this show and that I don't enjoy the hell out of it, so I guess I don't have a lot of grounds for criticism. And the power of Alex Saxon's beautiful hair is something to be feared.

[OrientalAmish]

How dare Taylor one-up me by doing IT in the library! I have yet to have done that + I'm in my 30's! I like how nobody seems to be in the library, either.... Oh wait, nobody goes there any more....LOL

 

Oh David, your affairs IS your family's business.....

Edited April 29, 2015 by OrientalAmish

[OrientalAmish]

In the "makeout" scene between Elizabeth + Kyle, is she slobbering on the side of his mouth or cheek? Whatever it is, it is not sexy.... ;-x

Edited April 29, 2015 by OrientalAmish

[Wap406]

David and Elizabeth win the award for worst parents. I always find myself shaking my head whenever they interact with their children. I love how Elizabeth questioned her mother for connecting Grant with a therapist when in all honesty, all three of her children should be seeing one.

When I applied for college, I think SAT scores were encouraged for schools in the Northeast and on the west coast, where as all the Midwestern colleges I applied for were big on ACT. I'm pretty sure Virginia encourages students to take the SATs over the ACTs.

[OrientalAmish]

My personal favorite scene was when the barely seventeen year old Carter comes home and Elizabeth cries, 'Carter! Have you been drinking!' and Carter confirms that, yes she has. Elizabeth's brilliant parenting response?  'You have SATs in the morning!'  (I paraphrase)  Seriously, the amount of drinking and partying these kids do that E and D know about and simply ignore is epic.  They are so self-absorbed in their own teenage level love affairs and relationship that I guess they don't have the mental energy to worry about the kids and underage drinking. 

 

I know, right? I think this is like the 2nd or 3rd time that there was any kind of concern over Carter drinking.... I think if the SATs didn't happen to be the next day, Elizabeth could care less.... She just be kinda frustrated that she had to stop slobbering on Kyle like a dog....@ least when it comes to Carter because they probably expect her to be drinking + what not... The parents probably already guessed that Carter + crew aren't just chillin' sober when they are out, especially, @ Bird's "sanctuary".... If it was Taylor, then, they might be a little shocked, but not really that concerned because they know her mostly as a goody-goody until Carter came back into their lives....

[KaveDweller]

My personal favorite scene was when the barely seventeen year old Carter comes home and Elizabeth cries, 'Carter! Have you been drinking!' and Carter confirms that, yes she has. Elizabeth's brilliant parenting response?  'You have SATs in the morning!'  (I paraphrase)  Seriously, the amount of drinking and partying these kids do that E and D know about and simply ignore is epic.  They are so self-absorbed in their own teenage level love affairs and relationship that I guess they don't have the mental energy to worry about the kids and underage drinking. 

 

On another note, I am not sure I've seen the level of casual drug dealing on this show on any teen show, ever. Crash is a drug dealer (reformed, for the last ten seconds or so) and apparently so is Ofe.  And Taylor seems to have stolen his stash from his locker if my suspicion is correct. She certainly is acting like she has, not that her parents would notice that either. 

 

Seriously, all three kids are pretty much crashing and burning around them and neither parent has the slightest inkling because they are too self-involved to notice.  When mom is making out on the couch with her long time lover and sees one of her kids has come home from a date on the night before SATs and her only response is dammit, she's home early so we have to stop now, that my friends is not stellar parenting. 

 

These are junior year SATs so I get that they are not as important as the senior year variety because you can just take them again once you get a baseline for how completely unprepared you are, but still. They ALL go out the night before, no one does any studying at all.  That just doesn't sound normal to me. 

 

Question: This family is in the northeast. Don't they focus on the ACT in the northeast or am I hopelessly out of date on that.  I seem to recall SATs were bigger in the West and ACTs were bigger in the east. Anyone know the current deal on that:?

 

I'm in the Northeast and we did the SATs not the ACTs.  Grated that was years and years ago.  

 

So does Grant's online girlfriend live in their town? For some reason I thought she lived far away, hence the online relationship.

[CaliforniaLove]

It seems like only yesterday Taylor was getting her first kiss from a game of spin-the-bottle. Now she's the aloof half of a "friends with benefits" situation. Um...go Taylor?

Crash looks like Bob's Big Boy.

[AdorkableWitch]

My personal favorite scene was when the barely seventeen year old Carter comes home and Elizabeth cries, 'Carter! Have you been drinking!' and Carter confirms that, yes she has. Elizabeth's brilliant parenting response? 'You have SATs in the morning!' (I paraphrase) Seriously, the amount of drinking and partying these kids do that E and D know about and simply ignore is epic. They are so self-absorbed in their own teenage level love affairs and relationship that I guess they don't have the mental energy to worry about the kids and underage drinking.

On another note, I am not sure I've seen the level of casual drug dealing on this show on any teen show, ever. Crash is a drug dealer (reformed, for the last ten seconds or so) and apparently so is Ofe. And Taylor seems to have stolen his stash from his locker if my suspicion is correct. She certainly is acting like she has, not that her parents would notice that either.

Seriously, all three kids are pretty much crashing and burning around them and neither parent has the slightest inkling because they are too self-involved to notice. When mom is making out on the couch with her long time lover and sees one of her kids has come home from a date on the night before SATs and her only response is dammit, she's home early so we have to stop now, that my friends is not stellar parenting.

These are junior year SATs so I get that they are not as important as the senior year variety because you can just take them again once you get a baseline for how completely unprepared you are, but still. They ALL go out the night before, no one does any studying at all. That just doesn't sound normal to me.

Question: This family is in the northeast. Don't they focus on the ACT in the northeast or am I hopelessly out of date on that. I seem to recall SATs were bigger in the West and ACTs were bigger in the east. Anyone know the current deal on that:?

The ACTs are in the southern and Midwest states, while the SATs are the northeast and west coast.

[RachelKM]

FUCK OFF CRASH!!!  And what the fuck is the show trying to say about him anyway? Every third sentence is how much he's changed and the he's "turned his life around" and yet he also moves cocaine.... or is he so stupid that he thinks there was nothing dodgy about that situation?  It took Max 2 seconds to notice something was up. 

[lion10]

Finding Carter frustrates me because I feel like with a little more work, it could be a really good show.  But it's missing a crucial piece that could elevate it and I don't know what it is.  I think the focus may be too scattered.  We know why Lori kidnapped Carter and we know how David was involved, though he may still be hiding something.  So the main thrust of the series is already petering out 1.5 seasons in and to replace it, we get Skins-lite?  It may just be my association with Kathryn Prescott, but the focus on everyone, especially the teens, with their own stories that aren't necessarily connected together reminds me a lot of Skins, but without the special something that made it Skins.  Anyone else feel the same?

[Cranberry]

It amuses me that we're all complaining about how this show feels like it's being written by kids, when Skins was actually written by kids (average age on the writing team was 21, and they had several teenage consultants) and was miles better than this disjointed mess. Kathryn Prescott is so wasted here.

[kat165]

It's far too late now, but this show could have been so much better if they'd stopped after the first episode and gave some thought to what they were doing/where they were going. They could have milked the original set-up far into the 2nd season, and we wouldn't now be seeing Crash and his stupid uncle's drama, Carter's awful friends' troubles, etc.

 

If they'd slowed it down after Carter got busted in ep two and spent more time on her going back to her original family and how to blend her back in - that would have been more than enough for the 1st season. They went by this all too fast. And it was an interesting premise. They should have rolled with it.

 

Carter fit into school and a group of friends much too quickly which, I think, led to the boring sideline stories of Bird's jealousy, accusing Carter of stealing some family jewels, her parents running out on her due to IRS crap, etc. And all the crap with Crash.

The 2nd season could have dealt with the further Lorie drama when she tries to kidnap Carter again & the father's affair with her, etc.

 

I'm still not getting why Taylor broke up with Max. Because he chooses to forgive Crash? Is that it? That's ridiculous. Their whole break-up is ridiculous. And I don't really get her motivation for friends with benefits with Ofe or her suddenly taking study buddies. I do like what the Ofe character is adding. I could care less about Crash and his troubles & was hoping once he got on that
bus we'd never have to see him again.

 

I also don't know why I'm still watching this show. Although some of the characters/actors are engaging.