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S05.E04: Brandon & McKenna

Tara Ariano

By Tara Ariano
in Catfish [V]

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HunterHunted

HunterHunted

Oh this one was so insidious. Poor depressed Brandon with the broken heart who is healing and learning to love again thanks to sweet McKenna. Next we learn that there is no McKenna and Brandon is being stalked by his ex's obsessed former best friend. Finally we learn that his "stalker", Kharece, is obsessed with Brandon because he's been hooking up with her in secret and treating her like trash in public. Such a twisty narrative. Our catfishee is the secret villain of the episode. Brandon was a douche.

  • Love 11
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Venee

Venee

Oh this one was so insidious. Poor depressed Brandon with the broken heart who is healing and learning to love again thanks to sweet McKenna. Next we learn that there is no McKenna and Brandon is being stalked by his ex's obsessed former best friend. Finally we learn that his "stalker", Kharece, is obsessed with Brandon because he's been hooking up with her in secret and treating her like trash in public. Such a twisty narrative. Our catfishee is the secret villain of the episode. Brandon was a douche.

Yep that sums it up in a nutshell! In a totally superficial observation. Neve and Karuche look adorable together. .

  • Love 1
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GaT

GaT

Oh this one was so insidious. Poor depressed Brandon with the broken heart who is healing and learning to love again thanks to sweet McKenna. Next we learn that there is no McKenna and Brandon is being stalked by his ex's obsessed former best friend. Finally we learn that his "stalker", Kharece, is obsessed with Brandon because he's been hooking up with her in secret and treating her like trash in public. Such a twisty narrative. Our catfishee is the secret villain of the episode. Brandon was a douche.

But Kharece was a moron. She (& her friends) kept trying to talk Brandon into wanting her, & she just wouldn't hear that he didn't. Even when they did the follow ups she still wouldn't give up "I think he misses me more than he admits" NO HE DOESN'T, he does not want you to be his girlfriend, he has no romantic feelings for you at all, the best you'll ever be is an easy source of sex, but he does not want to date you, he told you to your face, with your girlfriends sitting next to you, on national TV, that he doesn't think of you that way. How did you not hear him?

  • Love 5
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Neurochick

Neurochick

(edited)

But Kharece was a moron. She (& her friends) kept trying to talk Brandon into wanting her, & she just wouldn't hear that he didn't. Even when they did the follow ups she still wouldn't give up "I think he misses me more than he admits" NO HE DOESN'T, he does not want you to be his girlfriend, he has no romantic feelings for you at all, the best you'll ever be is an easy source of sex, but he does not want to date you, he told you to your face, with your girlfriends sitting next to you, on national TV, that he doesn't think of you that way. How did you not hear him?

 

Brandon was an idiot.  People are not always the same when it comes to sex.  To Brandon, it was just sex, but to Kharece it was love.  Once he realized Kharece was really in love with him, he should have shut that down immediately.  I have a feeling Brandon didn't want to give up the sex, so he kept it going. 

 

Edited by Neurochick
  • Love 4
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gunderda

gunderda

I'm curious as to why he didn't find her girlfriend material but was just fine screwing around with her. 

She was a pretty girl. Makes me wonder if she used to be the fat girl or just super awkward/nerdy.  He's obviously embarrassed that he had to confess that they've been hooking up FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS. 

 

I missed how old they were... were they still in high school or just recently graduated?

  • Love 2
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Shannon Sheh

Shannon Sheh

"Yeah, but it's YOU," says Brandon. Uuuuuuuuugh, she is not blameless but HE REALLY FUCKING SUCKS.

He is a monster. I mean she's not blameless, true but that's straight up cruel for the sake of being cruel. He's gross.

  • Love 10
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EuropeanGirl

EuropeanGirl

Sorry, I forgot that the airtime is on Thursday and that I watch it on Friday here. It was said that he is 18 years old and works in construction, I think?

Anyway, for one, I don't know what she sees in him. I guess that typical hot-cold game she got from him kept her that/this long? Maybe the casual sex had her hoping that there can be something more, like many girls hope for in that type of situation. I really hope she has moved on.

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Racj82

Racj82

Look, this is all started in high school. People (not saying anyone here specifically) love to give the excuse that they're teenagers. They don't know any better. By that logic, Brandon is also being a teenager. He got to actively get laid in high school by someone that he knew would never go anywhere. Hardly evil.

 

What Brandon did was wrong but he also showed exactly who he was with his I'm nice to you in private/distance myself from you in public. If everyone else tells you he doesn't like you and you need to make a fake profile to be with someone, then you are just setting yourself up for this. I'll be honest that I've long since given up apathy for people that keep setting themselves up for punishment because they are "in love". I don't care if they are a teenager or a adult.

 

Superficially speaking, McKenna is very pretty.  Personality wise, he seemed to like her. So, he's stupid. But, if it's not there, it's not there. She also seemed to be clingy as all hell. So maturity on both parties will do them good in the future.

 

I don't want to make it seem like I'm condoning Brandon's actions. I do not. I don't believe in treating people like that. But, I just don't think what he did is insidious. Just rude and immature as hell. McKenna also opened herself for this. People can only treat you how you allowed yourself to be treated.

 

Now I finally got to see what they were going on about in the clip show more clearly in regards to Kerrueche and Nev. That boy is smitten.

  • Love 2
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Ikki

Ikki

So, I only read the summaries, but I'm curious...was Brandon hooking up with Kharece while he was in his last relationship? The one that left him "heartbroken"?

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leighdear

leighdear

I think they were all about 20.  And it was obvious to me that Kharece was about 20 pounds too overweight for him.  Pretty girl, but I guarantee he thought she wasn't hot enough to date in public, but good enough for secret hookups.  And the douchenozzle was just fine with it.  Also, they appear to live in a tiny community where everybody knows and hangs with everybody else.  

That whole group will be going in the same circles for the next 20 years, but will have a slew of inter-related marriages, kids and divorces.  

  • Love 3
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marny

marny

I was cringing for Kharece.  Honey, you shouldn't have to try to convince a guy to like you/date you.  And if he's treating you like crap, maybe he isn't someone you want to date? I really hope she meets a friend in college who gets her to understand this because Nikki and the other friend were dropping the ball.

  • Love 4
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lavenderpenguin

lavenderpenguin

(edited)

This was painful to watch. It's clear that Kharece thought Brandon might "see the light" once he realized he was talking to her all along, but once a person decides that they aren't interested in you romantically, that's usually it. I've rarely seen anyone change their mind drastically about dating/not dating someone. Even in the cases where it did happen, it was awfully obvious that the person wasn't invested and was simply bidding their time until someone better came along. 

 

On an unrelated note, Karrueche looked beautiful.

Edited by lavenderpenguin
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Venee

Venee

Now I finally got to see what they were going on about in the clip show more clearly in regards to Kerrueche and Nev. That boy is smitten.

See my comment above lol! I picked up on that big time!
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guilfoyleatpp

guilfoyleatpp

OMG, I've known these people

Not these two particular people, but when I was in my early 20's...yeah.

 

They're both desperate and undesirable in their own ways. He bangs her because she lets him and she lets him because she lives under the delusion that he will, one day, magically convert into a boyfriend type.

In the meantime they get drunk and screw.

 

Eventually she'll find a dude who says the right things but is uglier and she'll marry him while cheating with Brandon, if he agrees to it. Then she'll get divorced from the ugly dude and Brandon will have nothing to do with her again.

 

And then they'll turn 35. 

 

the end.

  • Love 3
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Venee

Venee

OMG, I've known these people

Not these two particular people, but when I was in my early 20's...yeah.

They're both desperate and undesirable in their own ways. He bangs her because she lets him and she lets him because she lives under the delusion that he will, one day, magically convert into a boyfriend type.

In the meantime they get drunk and screw.

Eventually she'll find a dude who says the right things but is uglier and she'll marry him while cheating with Brandon, if he agrees to it. Then she'll get divorced from the ugly dude and Brandon will have nothing to do with her again.

And then they'll turn 35.

the end.

THIS

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langway

langway

My boyfriend was in a fuck buddy situation all through high school and even after high school. This girl, despite dating others, was completely infatuated with my boyfriend. If he would get out of a relationship, she would immediately end hers so they could "fall back on each other" like they always did. When I came in the picture, I put my foot down. This bitch would blow his phone up constantly. She's now dating my boyfriend's best friend and no one understands why this is fucking weird. Whatever.

Anyways, I can see it from his side and her side, but eventually, you gotta respect yourself and realize when someone is a dick to you, don't let them put their dick in you.

  • Love 2
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Guest LaLaXx

Guest LaLaXx

@langway, your boyfriend sounds pretty desperate and lame to keep going back to that pathetic girl you are trying to bash. You got a winner!

  • Love 8
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possibilities

possibilities

I always say that if someone is a dick to others, he'll be a dick to you, too. Just give it a little time. And even if you are really the one exception, do you really want to be with someone who's a shitball who takes advantage of those he deems to be "less worthy"?

 

I found this episode to be disturbing but enlightening.

 

Some people are not interested in reality and will not face facts unless forced-- and maybe not even then, in some cases. It explains so much about politics and so many other things I did not understand. I don't know how the curiosity and courage is beaten out of people to this degree, but I'm afraid to find out because it hurts just to watch it at a distance once it's already done. Going through the whole experience from its beginnings can only be worse.

 

These rules are apparently not self-evident, but should be:

 

1. If you are communicating with someone who lives 10 minutes away from you, there is no excuse for not getting together in person.

 

2. If you are in any kind of relationship with someone and they refuse to tell you what city they live in, that is an irrefutable sign that the relationship is doomed for one reason or another, none of them fixable.

 

3. If someone has been hooking up with you in private but ignoring you in public, they do not respect you and you deserve better and should move on.

 

4. If all of your friends, and all of the friends of the person you are hooking up with, are saying the relationship is degrading to you, and that your hook-up partner does not like you or respect you or take your relationship seriously, and you need to seriously consider that they are telling you the truth, and at the very least have a direct conversation about it with the hook up partner directly, to clarify why your view and everyone else's do not match.

 

5. If you are in a relationship with someone and are not getting what you want, and cannot talk about it with them (even after four years!) you need to accept that you are not going to get what you want, and that you do not trust the person, and that it is time to MOVE ON.

 

6. If you are hooking up with someone for 4 years, and they are hanging around all the time, it is not credible to claim you don't have any feelings for them and that you didn't realize they had feelings for you. You cannot be blindsided when they confess that they do, and act like they are crazy to think you might have feelings for them.

 

7. If you have to lie about your identity in order to get someone to pay attention to you, they don't respect you and you should move on.

 

We might need to start teaching this stuff in school.

  • Love 6
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ethalfrida

ethalfrida

 

We might need to start teaching this stuff in school.

They used to teach us these things in Home Ec when I was in school but then it was decided our personal rights were being violated so they stopped. 

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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

I doubt that Kharece's house was in any shape for filming or she wouldn't have had Nev and crew come to a friend's place instead. Even there, they probably had to do a little tidying (aka stashing junk in another room).

 

There's nothing like having a Not-Max to appreciate Max more. How soon can Nev go on vacation?

  • Love 1
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Neurochick

Neurochick

Some people are not interested in reality and will not face facts unless forced-- and maybe not even then, in some cases. It explains so much about politics and so many other things I did not understand. I don't know how the curiosity and courage is beaten out of people to this degree, but I'm afraid to find out because it hurts just to watch it at a distance once it's already done. Going through the whole experience from its beginnings can only be worse.

 

 

I think some people just want what they want.  Kharece wanted Brandon and didn't care how he treated her because she wanted HIM.   You can tell somebody to move on until you're blue in the face, until they're ready to, they won't and you can't make them.

  • Love 2
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possibilities

possibilities

I agree that some people are obsessive fixaters and you can't reason with them or get them to change their focus with anything you say. I just think it's tragically dysfunctional, dangerous, and sad. Maybe teaching self-esteem and common sense and boundaries is a futile endeavor, whether it's a "rights violation" or not. But teaching critical thinking, self-respect, and some kind of baseline standards of minimal reality-anchoring feels to me like the only hope for at least giving people some alternative structures to choose from. A critical mass of the kind of behavior we saw this week is why the world is such a mess and demogoguery threatens to swallow up what's left of the world. Willful denial of data, clinging to fantasies, shutting out input-- it's not just people's romantic lives that go wrong when this is who they operate. It's everything they do. Or is it compartmenatlized, and people who act like this are actually highly lucid in other areas?

 

I must be the only person who couldn't stand the Max-substitute this week. I found her cutesy mugging incredibly annoying. She wasn't as bad with this week's catfish, but I hated her whenever she was alone with Nev.

  • Love 1
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itainttippithebird

itainttippithebird

(edited)

 

And it was obvious to me that Kharece was about 20 pounds too overweight for him.

 

Really hoping (and mostly assuming) you mean she was 20 pounds over what this moron thought was acceptable for "girlfriend material", rather than she was objectively 20 pounds too overweight to deserve him! When I first read that sentence I lost my mind with rage but then quickly realized that's probably not what you meant. It's hard to tell in these forums sometimes.

 

Regarding comments that these two deserve each other - this guy was a real piece of work. And as sad as Kharece's crush was, to me it is 100% relatable and doesn't make her an idiot who doesn't deserve better. If some dude is boning you (and likely whispering at least a FEW sweet nothings) in secret but kinda cold to you in public, it can be MADDENING, especially if you're a young woman whose sense of self-worth is still pretty fragile. I wince at it, but I've been there, especially when I was a young one. (Except the whole made-up-online-persona thing.)

 

It's hard out there for a teen girl in this heteropatriarchical world!!! (/feminist rant)

Edited by itainttippithebird
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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

The ironic thing is that the "extra pounds" that Brandon sees are likely to move to all the right places over the next few years and he'll be kicking himself for rejecting her. That is if Kharece can keep herself from getting tangled up in what idiots like him think while her body continues to mature.

  • Love 1
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QueBueno

QueBueno

I must be the only person who couldn't stand the Max-substitute this week. I found her cutesy mugging incredibly annoying. She wasn't as bad with this week's catfish, but I hated her whenever she was alone with Nev.

Ugh, I couldn't stand her either, for the same reasons.

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kitten59

kitten59

 

I must be the only person who couldn't stand the Max-substitute this week. I found her cutesy mugging incredibly annoying. She wasn't as bad with this week's catfish, but I hated her whenever she was alone with Nev.

 

 

Ditto. I'd have a difficult time trying to take advice from an ex of Chris Brown..and the "murp murp" shit was  eyeroll inducing.

  • Love 2
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jmonkey

jmonkey

(edited)

There's no sense in piling on this "fuckchop" any more. He's clearly an immature douche. Karece will hopefully find better guys in college and will come to the realization of what an assclown Brandon is. I'm sure she'll feel embarrassed for herself in hindsight. I'm sure in small-town Kalama, Brandon is "the shit" he thinks he is. The rest of the world just sees him as a jerk who led a girl on to enjoy some benefits. I actually think that if Brandon was nicer that he and Karece would've made a nice couple. That Maria chick he was wanking to was way out of his league IMO. 

 

I liked Karrueche (another weird "K" name) in this episode. She's no Max, but she was an adequate substitute. I gotta believe she did this to try to repair her public image (like appearing on Catfish will do any kind of damage control). I'm sure from her vantage point that Brandon is a great guy. I mean, she dated Chris Brown, so the bar was pretty low. Brandon may be a jerk, but, to my knowledge, he doesn't beat up women. Kudos to Brandon for that at least. 

Edited by jmonkey
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NanGee

NanGee

I wonder how the parental units reacted to this national display of character by their darling boy and his behavior the last four years. In 20 years, Brandon will still be living in TeenyTown, Washington, probably driving a truck like dear old daddy because that's all the unskilled jobs left in that part of the world. He may be on disability but it won't be work-related; possibly injured in a drunk driving accident. He'll have been divorced 2 or 3 times because his various wife(s) caught him cheating, he'll have 5 or 6 kids and will supposed to be paying child support, but won't be because his budget won't stretch to cover child support and buying beer. Karece will have graduated from college, and be working in a big city (Seattle?) in a pink collar job. A chunk of her salary will go towards therapy sessions, and an on-going budget item will be weekly meetings of Weight Watchers and/or Jenny Craig and/or organic kale salad. I just don't see a happy ending for either of them, and I think Ma and Pa of Brandon are going to be equally unhappy for the next several bits. So sad, too bad.

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AriadneB

AriadneB

  On 3/17/2016 at 10:45 PM, HunterHunted said:

Oh this one was so insidious. Poor depressed Brandon with the broken heart who is healing and learning to love again thanks to sweet McKenna. Next we learn that there is no McKenna and Brandon is being stalked by his ex's obsessed former best friend. Finally we learn that his "stalker", Kharece, is obsessed with Brandon because he's been hooking up with her in secret and treating her like trash in public. Such a twisty narrative. Our catfishee is the secret villain of the episode. Brandon was a douche.

But Kharece was a moron. She (& her friends) kept trying to talk Brandon into wanting her, & she just wouldn't hear that he didn't. Even when they did the follow ups she still wouldn't give up "I think he misses me more than he admits" NO HE DOESN'T, he does not want you to be his girlfriend, he has no romantic feelings for you at all, the best you'll ever be is an easy source of sex, but he does not want to date you, he told you to your face, with your girlfriends sitting next to you, on national TV, that he doesn't think of you that way. How did you not hear him?

That's EXACTLY I don't 100% believe her because at the end she said that she thought he misses her more than he lets on even though what she wanted was for him to explicitly tell her how he felt about her to which he did! He literally gave her an answer to the question she's been wondering about for the past four years and now she doesn't want to buy it? Naw, I don't believe whatsoever after hearing her in the two month follow up!

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ljenkins782

ljenkins782

On 3/17/2016 at 11:45 PM, HunterHunted said:

Oh this one was so insidious. Poor depressed Brandon with the broken heart who is healing and learning to love again thanks to sweet McKenna. Next we learn that there is no McKenna and Brandon is being stalked by his ex's obsessed former best friend. Finally we learn that his "stalker", Kharece, is obsessed with Brandon because he's been hooking up with her in secret and treating her like trash in public. Such a twisty narrative. Our catfishee is the secret villain of the episode. Brandon was a douche.

Just saw this episode on Hulu.

Brandon was such a douche, I can't believe I actually felt a little bit sorry for him at the very beginning. As the episode went on, he began to make me a little nervous. The intensity of his feelings for his ex, followed by this fictional woman, bordered on scary. 

It was revealing when he said something about his read on "McKenna"'s personality stemming from her looks in their photos. From that alone, you could guess that Kharece wasn't going to make the cut. Brandon seems like that classic not-that-cute, not-that-great-a-personality, not-that nice guy who feels life owes him a supermodel and anything less is "settling." 

The weirdest part of it to me is the friend who knew about the entire thing. What kind of a friend doesn't clue her idiot friend in about what a dumb idea this whole thing was?

  • Love 1
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