S03.E05: Tracie & Sammie

[Cranberry]

Actress Tracie Thoms develops an emotional connection with a fan named Sammie.

[Yeldarbe]

Crazy fans have been around forever! It's really scary the lengths that some will go to interact with celebrities. Looking forward to this episode!

[fliptopbox]

As interested as I originally was in this episode it has proved to be a lot more boring than I expected. Anyone else getting a 'meh' feeling about it?

[Turkish]

Well, it was kind of boring compared to last week but that was to be expected. Nothing tops Kidd Cole. Still crazy to me that someone would create a fictional personality, kill them, and then film their own cousin's funeral as proof! That's insane. Not only that but she was catfishing/stalking multiple people with multiple accounts.

 

The other actress' name that they blurred out for some reason was Liz Gilles from Victorious. Apparently, her fans are well-aware of Sammie. She must not have wanted to participate in the episode. I thought Sammie's poems to Marissa were a little creepy and obsessive and I understand why Marissa got creeped out. That said, it pails in comparison to the things I see teen girls write to and about male celebrities. Especially boy-banders. 

 

Somehow I don't believe that Sammie isn't still as involved internet stalking as she claims. Her current twitter(twisted lizbian) was getting bombarded with hate pretty much right after the 10 preview was posted on MTV's website last week. It was so bad Sammie set her profile to private and Tracie was telling people to stop bullying her. Catfish fans are brutal. Two internet wrongs but make a right. 

Edited June 5, 2014 by Turkish

[BeatrixK]

This episode was, clearly, the Catfish equivalent of Al Capone's vault. 

[fliptopbox]

I'm just surprised that any celebrity would want to be involved in such nonsense. I know Tracie Thoms isn't the  most notable actress in the industry, but she has done some major movies. If I were a celebrity I doubt I'd want to go on a show like Catfish and admit some creepy stalker fan got the best of me. Or maybe her career has been kinda slow and she just wanted to feel relevant again? I dunno. Something just strikes me as weird about it.

[Turkish]

I'm just surprised that any celebrity would want to be involved in such nonsense. I know Tracie Thoms isn't the  most notable actress in the industry, but she has done some major movies. If I were a celebrity I doubt I'd want to go on a show like Catfish and admit some creepy stalker fan got the best of me. Or maybe her career has been kinda slow and she just wanted to feel relevant again? I dunno. Something just strikes me as weird about it.

IDK. if we were talking about somebody huge then I would say yeah it would be weird to do this show. Then again, I imagine those celebs get bombarded with creepy fans on a much more regular basis so singling out one(unless they were blatantly outside your house stalking you) wouldn't mean much in the long run. Plus they have probably learned to cope with that level of crazy by now.  Tracie is less well-known. And she wasn't the only celeb Sammie was heavily emotionally invested in so I think it was good that she was exposed in a way and hopefully others will see this episode and maybe think twice about how they behave with celebs on social media. Believe it or not their are far worse people out there than Sammie. I see it everyday in fandoms and I've dipped out of a number of them when I see the creepiness reach ridiculous levels like this. 

 

ETA: The nature of the Tracie/Sammie relationship is an interesting one. Tracie had regular social media interactions with her and seemed to have developed an emotional bond with her. Then the Reese stuff happened. I remember Tracie tweeting about Reese's death when it happened. Lotti did as well. When you scam somebody on that sort of level(fake cancer, death) I can see why Tracie couldn't let it go. 

Edited June 5, 2014 by Turkish

[bref]

Apparently I blinked and missed something. Who was Lotti? Was she the woman who went with Nev and Max to interview Marissa? How did she figure into the story?

[Turkish]

Apparently I blinked and missed something. Who was Lotti? Was she the woman who went with Nev and Max to interview Marissa? How did she figure into the story?

Yeah, Lott was the one you see sitting next to Marissa. Lotti is Tracie's producer friend who was also Catfished by Sammie into believing "Reese" had died. Apparently, Sammie had been helping promote Lotti's movie the same way she had helped Tracie. Lotti reposted the original tweet about Reese's death the other day. I wonder how many people Sammie actually told about Reese having cancer and dying. 

[bref]

Ahhh, thank you. 

 

I loved Tracie Thoms in Rent and Cold Case, but I was a little surprised to see her participating in this show. She's no T-Lights, know what I mean? Girlfriend already has a legit career. I saw absolutely no point in her meeting Sammie but even less so given her declarations of concern about the potential danger of the situation.

[Turkish]

Ahhh, thank you. 

 

I loved Tracie Thoms in Rent and Cold Case, but I was a little surprised to see her participating in this show. She's no T-Lights, know what I mean? Girlfriend already has a legit career. I saw absolutely no point in her meeting Sammie but even less so given her declarations of concern about the potential danger of the situation.

I think they may have exaggerated the "dangereous" part like how Dog the Bounty Hunter used to always get hyped about how the criminals they were going to capture on his show were so "dangerous" but then they always turned out to be lazy meth heads just hiding at their mom's house. We rarely saw him have to justifiably take someone down. 

Edited June 5, 2014 by Turkish

[Persnickety1]

 

I loved Tracie Thoms in Rent and Cold Case, but I was a little surprised to see her participating in this show. She's no T-Lights, know what I mean? Girlfriend already has a legit career. I saw absolutely no point in her meeting Sammie but even less so given her declarations of concern about the potential danger of the situation.

 

Especially considering to my eye she looked pretty proficient with internet skills and even deducing the "funeral" banner from the back of the car could be zoomed in on, the funeral home information gathered, and then calling the funeral home to get more information.

 

I didn't see Nev and Max doing anything particularly challenging to find this girl.  I would think had Tracie Thoms really wanted to find her, she seemed pretty resourceful and could have probably done it on her own.

 

Maybe she has a new project she wanted some early publicity for, get her name and face back out there as a refresher?  Hard to say what motivates people to be on this show.  At least the last couple of episodes haven't been "You're catfish is a WHALE!!!" type of reveal.  Those were getting really old, really fast.  

Edited June 5, 2014 by Persnickety1

[possibilities]

What I'm getting from all of this, which I suppose is obvious (but I am slow sometimes), is that the catfish are usually so caught up in their own loneliness (or whatever) that they don't realize the other person has equally vulnerable feelings and is going to get hurt.

 

When Sammie said she created Reese so she'd have a friend to fangirl with, that was so sad. It doesn't make it right, but it's like: wow, that level of loneliness and self-absorption is really hard for me to even imagine. Moreover, to be doing that and not really understand what you are doing, because you're so caught up in it that you can't even reflect on what led you to do it... again, so sad. It's kind of frightening, really. Now, maybe she just made all that up when Nev et al confronted her, but if I take it at face value, it's a chilling level of self-involvement, but also... a shocking degree of isolation.

 

As a person who's been in situations which I thought made me isolated (like being the only dyke I knew of in my high school, or the only leftwinger in a rightwing environment, or being homebound due to disability for extended periods of time), I honestly never have felt anything even approximating that level of alienation. There was always at least some human-level affiliation in my life at all times, that I never felt even tempted to do anything like make up a whole fake reality to sell as a substitute. And Sammie apparently didn't even realize that her real self was more appealing than the fake! It's just... boggling. That kind of self-esteem deficit just strikes me as... terrifying.

 

Also, it's sad that because there are people faking stuff, honest people have to be kind of paranoid. It interferes with potentially real connections that could actually be being made.

 

It's just so counter-productive!!

 

Sammie didn't seem mean-spirited or sociopathic. She was more like the girl who'd had the car accident and had a fake eye in that she was just insecure and lonely, not getting off on causing pain like Zoe, or looking for financial gain like KiddCole.

 

But with all these people, it seems like the fundamental issue is that they think being someone else is going to make them more appealing and they are so caught up in their own stuff that they don't notice (or in some cases care about) the collateral damage to their acting out of their fantasies.

 

I realize nothing I'm saying is revelatory. But somehow this week's episode drove it home for me in a different way than others have, because I really just did not get how superfan psychology worked until tonight, and how and why someone could do this kind of thing and not just be a totally malicious, shitty person.

 

It's weird because I currently watch a huge amount of TV, and I know that posting about it on places like this puts me in the category of someone who's conducting a lot of conversation in a fan-based universe. But I just don't identify with the insanity I see on "Catfish." I feel like my grip on reality is pretty good. And I know it's possible that not everyone around is 100% who they seem to be, but I don't feel like I'm getting caught up in any undertows, either.

 

Back in the 1990s, I published a bunch of stuff and got a fair amount of feedback from people. Some of them seemed fishy to me, but most of them seemed very sincere. I wonder if I was just lucky, or deluded, or if things have changed since the 1990s. I really never felt so paranoid until I started watching this show. I know I've dealt with some crazies and imposters online, but in general the people I've gotten at all involved with through long distance situations past the most superficial level have panned out as for real and what they seemed to be. It's spooky just how deep the well of weird and dysfunctional this show makes me feel the world is, at this point. I thought I was already fairly cynical, but watching Catfish makes me feel like I have not even begun to plumb the depths of crazy that's available. It even makes me a little paranoid about people I meet in person, like: just what the hell unimaginable shit is behind your curtains, people?!

Edited June 5, 2014 by possibilities

[Turkish]

Sammie creating Reese wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't gone the extra mile of "killing her off" for attention and sympathy. I'm sure their are quite a lot of people who have multiple profiles. And I understand her feeling lonely and wanting a friend. I just don't understand the faking cancer and dying thing. I think these types of things also ruin it for other fans. Like what if some fan who actually does have cancer wants to get in touch with Tracie, or any celeb for that matter, but you have got people out their like Sammie/Reese who are faking. Who is to say Tracie is going to believe the next person coming along with a cancer story. Or just a regular fan who is not obsessive and just wants to interact with a celeb. There is a reason some of them don't communicate with "the little people". This is also why I always say you can never trust anybody on the internet. For anything apparently. 

[GaT]

 

As interested as I originally was in this episode it has proved to be a lot more boring than I expected. Anyone else getting a 'meh' feeling about it?

Yeah, I thought this was going to be a lot more interesting, I think the romance stuff works a lot better.

 

I loved Tracie Thoms in Rent and Cold Case

Ahh, Cold Case, I was trying to figure out where I knew her from. I also think that Tracie being on Catfish is a little strange. Not only was she pretty good at figuring things out for herself, but there was no reason to do this so publicly. She could have easily hired a PI, I'm sure she knows security people who could have helped her, there were probably lots of other options besides going on Catfish, so it feels a little publicity seeking to me, especially when they made sure to film her singing.

[LotusFlower]

That's what stood out for me, too - the staged singing at the club where Nev and Max met up with Tracie. Hey, Catfish is a hit show on MTV. Do an episode where you're featured as a stalked actress and singer with a "zealous" fan base? Why not? I hadn't seen her since Cold Case.

[Turkish]

That's a fair criticism. I haven't seen her promoting the episode like crazy anywhere though. Other than on her twitter. To be fair so did Lotti and Marissa. As for what she's been up to lately she is in Tarantino's Live musical show in LA, which I assume is what she was rehearsing for in that scene. She's also going to be in that new Annie movie adaptation but the tv show she shot a pilot for didn't get picked up for fall. So there's that. 

Edited June 5, 2014 by Turkish

[possibilities]

I understand her feeling lonely and wanting a friend. I just don't understand the faking cancer and dying thing.

I think involving other people in your imaginary reality (without their consent) is kind of morally and psychologically disastrous. Killing off an imaginary person for sympathy is truly the end of the spectrum on that, but even at a lesser level, leading other people to believe a whole made up reality with a cast of imaginary characters they think are real is fucked up.

 

Maybe Thoms wanted to do the show for publicity, but I don't really mind. I mean, it's not like it makes her look so great, really. She comes off fine, but she's also publically showing a vulnerability. Also, I can imagine she might want to show fans how things look from the celebrity's point of view, and warn others of the effect of this kind of behavior (and the specific existence of Sammie)? If the drama played out in public, maybe she wanted to confront it in public, to reclaim her public boundaries about it. I can imagine that just quietly figuring it out would not erase the sting of the public aspects of what happened. And if it gives her a few seconds of singing on camera, that's okay. I like her voice!

[Turkish]

 

Maybe Thoms wanted to do the show for publicity, but I don't really mind. I mean, it's not like it makes her look so great, really. She comes off fine, but she's also publically showing a vulnerability. Also, I can imagine she might want to show fans how things look from the celebrity's point of view, and warn others of the effect of this kind of behavior (and the specific existence of Sammie)? If the drama played out in public, maybe she wanted to confront it in public, to reclaim her public boundaries about it. I can imagine that just quietly figuring it out would not erase the sting of the public aspects of what happened. And if it gives her a few seconds of singing on camera, that's okay. I like her voice!

I don't have a problem with her using the show for publicity. In all honestly I think all of these Catfish people are after some camera time. Otherwise this show wouldn't even exist without applicants. It does concern me though she she allowed them to film her house. I wouldn't. People are crazy. I was reading some of the twitter reaction to this episode and a couple of Tracie's fans were saying that they had warned Tracie about Sammie a long time ago and she should have believed them. I imagine that made Tracie feel like she got duped and that's probably why she's still thinking about it all this time later. If I were a celebrity and somebody told me they had cancer and then died only to find out it was all a scam I would be pissed and feel incredibly stupid for falling for that too. Sammie was also known to Liz Gilles fans as well. Nev posted a picture of her shrine to Liz after the episode aired. Sammie had quite a few followers as a result of her fangirling so it's not like she didn't have an online presence/friends as a result of all of this. She was definitely out for attention from a multitude of people. 

[Cranberry]

I agree that Tracie likely wanted to warn people about Sammie and shine a spotlight on inappropriate fan behavior. She also seemed to want to meet Sammie in person and see what was going on, but safely. Going with Nev, Max, and a whole crew was fairly safe, and she got the added bonus of having all of the travel paid for (and not having to pay a PI to find Sammie, either). Of course she got some publicity out of it, as well, so it was a win win situation for her.

 

That poor Glee project girl... she may not have been catfished, but she got the creepier mail. It didn't sound like Sammie sent Tracie any fanfiction or heart-shaped love poems. At least Marissa never engaged with Sammie.

[Pixel]

Tracie Thoms is just sweet and adorable. I've loved her since I first saw her as Jaye's BFF in Wonderfalls.  I was wondering if she was doing this to promote something, but she really doesn't have anything upcoming that is tied to MTV or anything. Maybe she's just a fan of the show, had a situation that fit, and thought it would be good exposure for her.  Can't blame a girl for wanting to keep her name out there!

[Whimsy]

I agree that Tracie likely wanted to warn people about Sammie and shine a spotlight on inappropriate fan behavior. She also seemed to want to meet Sammie in person and see what was going on, but safely. Going with Nev, Max, and a whole crew was fairly safe, and she got the added bonus of having all of the travel paid for (and not having to pay a PI to find Sammie, either). Of course she got some publicity out of it, as well, so it was a win win situation for her.

 

That poor Glee project girl... she may not have been catfished, but she got the creepier mail. It didn't sound like Sammie sent Tracie any fanfiction or heart-shaped love poems. At least Marissa never engaged with Sammie.

 

I really enjoyed Marissa on Glee Project.  I didn't know she was involved in this story when I started watching the episode, so I was surprised when she popped up in it.  Honestly, I was more concerned about Marissa.  She is much younger and relatively new to stardom (versus Tracie's much longer career) and she looked terrified.  She said Sammie was her most "zealous" fan, twice.  Zealous is not a positive word, in my opinion.  Then, the letter about "loving hard", or whatever, to a total stranger??  That was freaky. 

 

I kind of didn't buy her story.  She said she was an only child so she was a loner.  The way she said it made it kind of sound like because she was an only child OF COURSE she was a loner.  TONS of people are only children and are not loners.  I'm not saying she wasn't a loner and didn't feel isolated, etc.  But, it wasn't because she was an only child.  There was obviously other stuff.  To clarify, I believed a lot of what she was trying to convey, she just wasn't very articulate, in my opinion.  So, when they said she was a wonderful writer I was very confused.

 

Tracie may not be super relevant right now- but she will always have a soft spot in my heart for playing Mahandra on Wonderfalls.  Once of my most favorite shows of all time.

[Tara Ariano]

Here's my post on the (very boring) episode.

[TheEditrixHasSpoken]

I'm just now hate watching all back episodes based solely on the hilarity that is @Tara's recaps, plus the EHG "Fat Ass Kelly Price" masterpiece. I look forward to following this crep & dreck with you all and being part of the bottom-feeding Catfish community. 

ps. Following this watch via Tara's twitter was fantastic; I knew it'd be a stellar write up--did NOT disappoint! Stop reeling me in. . .oh, just shoot me. 

[gunderda]

I thought the episode overall was boring also.  Fairly interesting in terms of seeing who all this guy is hooked up to and the different stuff she did, but there was no "OMG" moment.

 

2nd episode in a row where the catfish is using real photos of themselves and their basic real info so they're easy to find.

[poeticlicensed]

I must be showing my age, but I found it incredible that "celebrities" actually interact on such a personal level with fans. I guess it's the result of social media, but I would think that most celebrities, knowing that there are crazy people out there, would actually contact fans. I remember being young and the only way to contact a fan was by writing a letter. If you were lucky, you got what was essentially a form letter back and maybe an autographed picture. 

 

Overall the who thing was meh. I kind of got lost when we started with  Sammie and Tracie and ended up with Marissa(?) and Sammie. Sammie was a sad case, she seemed like an incredibly lonely and isolated person.

 

It seems that next week we are back to romantic catfishers.  

[fliptopbox]

That's what was so surprising to me about it all. Why would a celebrity (even one as obscure as Tracie Thoms) interact with one of her fans on that personal of a level? Even with Twitter and Facebook and the like, it's still extremely rare. You wouldn't catch Kim Kardashian doing that. And she's not famous for any real good reason. It seems like Tracie had some sort of ulterior motive for being on Catfish, because Sammie left enough info out there that if Tracie wanted to put the whole story together she would be able to...without the assistance of Nev and Max. Also, it's not like she couldn't afford her own plane ticket to Philly to track that girl down. Basically that whole episode was one giant "look at me, I'm Tracie Thoms!!!".

[Nancybeth]

I kept waiting for it to turn into something more.  Like, Tracie had given this woman money to help with her friends' funeral costs, or there was some proof that Sammie was actually (physically) stalking her or Marissa and they were in real danger.  Or it was a guy!  I don't know, but it turned out to be really incredibly boring. 

[Cranberry]

I remember being young and the only way to contact a fan was by writing a letter. If you were lucky, you got what was essentially a form letter back and maybe an autographed picture. 

 

Ah, the good old days. I remember that in the '90s, I received postcards from Home Improvement's Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In the mid-2000s, I got emails from a couple of Wonderfalls stars when I was running Save Wonderfalls (that show is where I first saw Tracie, too; I loved her as Mahandra), although I mostly interacted with the producers then. Nowadays celebs are live-tweeting TV shows and replying to tons of individual fans every week. It's interesting that they'd develop a deeper relationship with some of them over Twitter, though. It doesn't seem like the best medium for that, with the 140-character limit and thousands of other people spamming them with "OMG I love you so much plz retweet this so I can die happy" kind of stuff.

[Turkish]

 

Nowadays celebs are live-tweeting TV shows and replying to tons of individual fans every week. It's interesting that they'd develop a deeper relationship with some of them over Twitter, though. It doesn't seem like the best medium for that, with the 140-character limit and thousands of other people spamming them with "OMG I love you so much plz retweet this so I can die happy" kind of stuff.

Social media is free publicity for celebrities these days so of course they take advantage of it. Most celebs have twitter and/or instagram. I mean Diane Keaton has a twitter. Cher has a twitter. Retta from Parks and Rec is famous for live tweeting her favorite tv shows and replying to fans. The executive producer of One Life to Live is always fighting with fans on twitter for hating his storylines. Where he finds the time I do not know. My point is, I don't find it strange at all that celebrities interact with fans. I just think it's a dangerous game that encourages entitlement to a certain type of attention and if they don't get it you are a "bad celebrity".

 

Kim Kardashian doesn't tweet fans I suspect because she doesn't really care about them. She does however frequently use her twitter to promote products and supposedly gets paid to do so. Which reminds me most companies also have twitters that they use to promote their products, occasionally offer deals and interact with customers. I can't count the number of times I've seen people tweet airlines complaining and they actually respond which is crazy to me considering some of the complaints.  

 

We just live in a different era. I grew up without the internet at home or smart phones or social media. The young ones today are spoiled. 

[LotusFlower]

Plus, as Tracie even said, social media is particularly useful for indie projects - things that don't have studio backing and need word-of-mouth and fan involvement to get off the ground or succeed.

[EllieH]

Reading Tara's write- up of this episode was a bizarre experience for me, as I got a short bit in and was thinking "I've heard about this scam before!" WRONG, I had not heard about this particular scam before, I had heard about unrelated scam involving cast members from Rent  and a lady who scammed them via the internet (complete with a "friend" posting and a character dying), which was profiled on an episode of This American Life (for just the transcript, its down in Act 3) from back in 2000!  Its a little dated, talking about internet listservs, but same general idea.

[YoureSoUrban]

 

Especially considering to my eye she looked pretty proficient with internet skills and even deducing the "funeral" banner from the back of the car could be zoomed in on, the funeral home information gathered, and then calling the funeral home to get more information.

That's exactly what turned it from mildly interesting to publicity stunt for me. No way she couldn't do Nev's usual Google or Facebook search. I love Tracie Thoms though. She was great in Deathproof and Cold Case but I had no idea she was a good singer too.

Edited June 6, 2014 by YoureSoUrban

[Pixel]

Teri Hatcher is my cousin. I have that postcard. She's wrapped up in Superman's cape, right?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Sammie's affect seemed weird to me, almost as if she was on a mood-dampening substance. NTTAWWT but maybe she needs some medical attention if she isn't already getting it. Nev and them encouraging her to channel her creativity into writing was interesting. I wonder how long it'll be before one of these Catfish people sells a screenplay or gets a book published (assuming their deal with MTV doesn't prevent them from doing that).

 

And gawd my eyes didn't need to see that brillo pad mess on Nev's chest again. I can't imagine how his girlfriend is okay with it.

[TrininisaScorp]

Yeah, that was less interesting than I thought it would be. 

 

Traci was Mehandra (I shipped her and Lee Pace's character...love)!!  Yet, it wasn't all that interesting of a story; I got fairly bored.  My only place of joy was the bumper of Max and towel clad Nev's yoga.  "This is not helping the rumors"

 

Regarding  celebrity use of social media:  I think it depends on the person and the forum.  I love reading Reddit AmAs and can get behind some instagrams, but I can't with Twitter.  It's just too limited....I don't care to see someone's text-like message, even if it is Tom Hiddleston's, ya know? (okay, maybe Tom's, but that's where I'm drawing the line...hee)

 

Also as my username alludes to, I cringed inwardly when I saw the Trinidadian flag on Sammie's wall.  Come on, my Trini people!  Act right!

Edited June 6, 2014 by TrininisaScorp

[JayCutler]

That episode was horrible. So Nev and Max are just going to hunt down twitter trolls who harass z-list celebrities? And it's supposed to be a shock when they reveal that the internet troll is actually a lonely and weird person in real life? I better stop tweeting mean things to everyone on the Teen Mom cast before they fly out to my town and accuse me of "catfishing."

[Empress1]

She said she was an only child so she was a loner. The way she said it made it kind of sound like because she was an only child OF COURSE she was a loner. TONS of people are only children and are not loners.

It also bugged me that she said she grew up in "this small town, Ardmore" when Ardmore is a Philly suburb. She could hop on the commuter rail and be in Center City Philadelphia in half an hour, and West Philly in less time than that. Lucille from last week looked like she was in North Philly, which is very different socioeconomically from Ardmore, but in terms of distance they're not so far apart.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Empress1

[gunderda]

 My only place of joy was the bumper of Max and towel clad Nev's yoga.  "This is not helping the rumors"

 

That was funny!

[fliptopbox]

Yeah the Ardmore thing bothered me too, like it was some sad little hick town...which it is most definitely not. She could easily take Septa into the city, or to anywhere else on that particular line that she wanted to go. And if she has a car too, that only opens it up further. But they never specified that so I dunno. I'm just tired of everywhere they seem to end up in PA that isn't downtown Philly is turned into some podunk tiny town, when it isn't like that at all. Maybe in western PA....but not the greater Philly area.

[JohnnyGilda]

This ep felt like a Scooby-Doo mystery with Special Guest Star Tracie Thoms, but at least it gave us "Whose funeral was that?!?" -- already the go-to non sequitur around these parts.

[Empress1]

I can't count the number of times I've seen people tweet airlines complaining and they actually respond which is crazy to me considering some of the complaints.

The only way I got responses from Comcast was to tweet and post on Facebook. Calling customer service got me nowhere (which I made clear in my posts). Ditto my friend who cursed out Sears on Facebook for standing up her dishwasher installation time three times. Social media is free publicity - good or bad, and companies don't like to be embarrassed (although Comcast is notorious for its shitty customer service). I can buy Tracie interacting with fans if she's working on indie films with small overall budgets and even smaller publicity budgets. I love live-tweeting Scandal because the cast participating makes it fun.

[possibilities]

the Ardmore thing bothered me too, like it was some sad little hick town...

Also, I live in an actual hick town (we don't even have our own post office), and living here would not be an excuse for catfishing, identity theft, cyber-bullying, faking deaths, or any of the other bad behaviors featured on this show. Seriously, I suspect more of that crap happens in big cities than small towns (like every other crime), but either way, your location is neither an excuse nor an explanation for this kind of thing.

Edited June 6, 2014 by possibilities

[trimthatfat]

Plus, as Tracie even said, social media is particularly useful for indie projects - things that don't have studio backing and need word-of-mouth and fan involvement to get off the ground or succeed.

 

Yeah, a lot of indie films actors/actresses/producers/directors...etc. rely on outlets like Twitter to get the word out about movies. I mean, Veronica Mars was revived because of social media and the push from diehard fans. I don't think anyone could deny the power of social media when it comes to indie projects that don't get promoted on Jimmy Fallon or David Letterman.

 

I found this episode very odd and disjointed. Almost like there was no closure in the end. I do feel badly for Sammie that she created a 'friend' just to have someone to connect with, but filming footage of her relative's funeral and sending it to Tracie? Bizarre and so inappropriate. I would be furious if I were one of her relatives.

 

I don't blame Tracie for using this show to find out more about Sammie. PIs are not cheap at all, particularly if they have to travel out of state. I think she was very emotionally invested (and said as much), so her wanting to get to the bottom of what happened is fair. She clearly thought highly of Sammie before the cancer lie.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

This episode was, clearly, the Catfish equivalent of Al Capone's vault.

Exactly.  This whole season has been so ho-hum I'm kind of wondering (again!) how they're going to continue the show.  The first two seasons were so mesmerizing and this stuff just isn't.

[peachiekeen]

*Yawn* here's hoping next week if more interesting

[Spencer Hastings]

This episode was strange to me. Like many of you, I was expecting more of a shocker that never came. I could be wrong but I think there is a reason for that.

When they first met Sammie, they approached her in the same manner as other Catfishers. "Are you Sammie? Why did you do this? What was your reason?" When she was answering their questions, I turned to my sister and said "Her social cues are way off." I think someone must have noticed the same thing because they backed off really quickly and said they would digest everything before meeting up again the next day. Then as soon as they got into the car, Max pointed out that something was off about her interactions (such as not knowing something is wrong until she's told its wrong). That more or less told me that he suspected she wasn't exactly playing with a full deck. Tracie was still pissed up until that point and then she immediately softened.

When they met up with her again, their demeanor was completely different than it usually is during the second meeting. Instead of antagonizing her like they tend to do, they really tried to get to the bottom of why she was behaving this way. There was no real interrogation and no dirty secrets were revealed. They weren't even concerned with the "this is wrong and creepy" anymore, but instead steered the conversation to "you're really likable and talented on your own." The way they spoke to her and told her all of the good things about herself reminded me of the way that I would speak to my students on the higher end of the spectrum or those who may be developmentally delayed by a few years. Sammie seemed very young. People her age don't make twitter accounts for celebrities or plaster their bedroom walls with posters of Nickelodeon stats. I'm not diagnosing her but something seemed "off" to me.

I also found it interesting that Max and Tracie both got on Twitter to alleviate some of the hate being thrown Sammie's way. Max doesn't typically do that kind of thing (and sometimes he joins in on the jokes about the Catfishers).

Edited June 7, 2014 by Spencer Hastings

[cynicat]

Exactly.  This whole season has been so ho-hum I'm kind of wondering (again!) how they're going to continue the show.  The first two seasons were so mesmerizing and this stuff just isn't.

 

Maybe it's going the route of Intervention.  People got so wise to it that they either wouldn't participate or tried to scam the show.  

[Neurochick]

I don't know if Sammie's "social cues" were off or not.  People are different, not everybody reacts to things the same way.  

 

For me this whole episode seemed off, mainly because of Tracie's reactions and not Sammie's.  Maybe it's because I'm older and have seen all kinds of strange stuff in fandom, but to me, the most offensive thing Sammie did was to take a video of a relative's funeral and send it to Tracie.  As for the fake persona, I've seen that before; I just wondered why did it seem so strange to Tracie.  I guess I'm jaded after seeing the Kidd Cole episode, where someone was seriously scamming people out of real money, this episode seemed meh to me.

[GaT]

 

As for the fake persona, I've seen that before; I just wondered why did it seem so strange to Tracie.

I think it was the part where Sammie created a fake person & then told Tracie that they died & then used a relative's funeral to keep up the deception. That seems pretty strange to me.