It Isn't What You Think

“It isn’t What You Think” leads us to question what is it that we are thinking so we could know what it isn’t. Life is not what we think it is, and people even less. You think you know someone close to you, well, you really don’t. Everyone has a secret, every single person in the world that you think you know ALL about him/her has a secret you don’t know about. Daphne doesn’t know her mother’s intention on the East Riverside project or how she feels about Angelo’s death, but she thinks she knows and judge her for what she thinks is true, but never really talk about it because she wants to be mad at her.

Regina doesn’t know what Daphne is doing, if Daphne hadn’t tell her about cocaine try out, she wouldn’t ever know, as she doesn’t know now that she is the one responsible for her project to fall down on Coto’s hand. She doesn’t even know that Daphne was accepted at Gallaudet.

Bay doesn’t tell any close friend about her hereditary condition, so her parents and real close friends doesn’t know what she is going through right now. But, we all can bet that all of her parents and Emmett think they know all about her.

When Toby slept with Lily, she was thinking he did that to get her to give a make-up test for Sharee. She wasn’t thinking it was because he was attracted to her.

Tank’s father was so out of the reality when meeting Tank and Bay at dinner. If Tank hadn’t told the truth, he wouldn’t know anything about Tank’s new life.

Bay was thinking that Tank would be mad at her forever, newsflash there, usually men don’t take break ups that deep like girls do. They may not be friends anymore, but they won’t hold onto being mad for a long time. I like their philosophy, life is too short to be holding the grudge for too long. Anyway, if he was that mad at Bay like she thought he was, he wouldn’t be OK in becoming friends again.

But other stories we see on this episode are not just about secrets. Starting with the one of the first scenes when Bay started to look for info on aneurysm, it is scary to know if you have the same problem or not, but for being such a big thing, one usually confesses his/her worry to someone really close, like a sister, brother or the boyfriend, maybe even the parents, not much an ex mad at you that is trying to forget the past to be friends again. In my opinion, that was the biggest flaw of the episode. Bay had many connections closer to her, like Toby and Daphne, Emmett, that was ALWAYS there to listen to her problems and even Marybeth, her best friend could be the chosen person for her to open up to, and she chooses Tank? Who was never REALLY there for her but when she got hurt, who blames her for his depledging his fraternity, who lied and tricked her to say she was still his girlfriend, who, until the dinner, was still mad at her. That is not a profile of a friend or close person you would chose to open about your feelings and scares about your health condition(existent or not), but she did it anyway, at least it was good to see that she does think about her boyfriend’s feelings even when she is with other people. I would too, if I knew I was the one feeling bad about what I did to one person and try to blame that on my boyfriend that has nothing to do with it, and he made really clear about that. It is not Emmett’s fault that she cheated on Tank. If she didn’t want to cheat on him, she should have stopped Emmett before kissing him and starting to take his clothes off. And Emmett deserved to have his celebration with the one he loves the most, an after dinner plan, or a surprise breakfast idea could have been a lovely gesture. Getting into college is not that easy (see Travis), and even though we have seen many times that he had failed in some history tests over the years, he was still accepted in the University he wanted the most. That shows that, if you failed here and there, it doesn’t mean you are a failure, there are always possibilities to come around and still succeed. As Melody said, there are other options to success, plain and simple, that was other message of this episode.

Look at Travis, he didn’t get into Gallaudet University, and right away he started to look for other options. According to Garrett, his success was drop out from school and work in some cargo company. You will only get the success you look for. For Garrett, success for a Deaf person is getting a job that pays well with benefits, but it is obvious to Travis, that is not what he was hoping for, but getting into the “Deaf talk” where people in general think they cannot become a better professional, Travis seems to let go of his dream to get into what he thinks may be the reality. Travis story reflects what we see a lot in the world, and it is not just about Deaf people, but anyone who has some kind of a difficult life. Most people without HS diploma work for minimum wage, some even with the diploma doesn’t get much choice but to fall down for any job to help the income of the family. They forget to dream or try to succeed in life because their reality knocked in and they fall into it.

To succeed you must do things outside your comfort zone:

Tank had to face his father wrath to tell him he depledge his fraternity and is looking forward to find out other things that are good in life.

Lily had to try to help someone by giving her a chance to pass her test. Something she was not happy about due to what she had gone through with her brother, but a small step outside her comfort zone can make her the heroin of Sharee’s life

Regina had to accept Chip Coto’s company to be the one working for the project she wanted to happen. That was definitely not something she would like to do, but getting out there and facing this fear is something she needed to do in order to get what she wanted and think would benefit more people.

Melody, was one of the most challenged character, after talking to Gabe (just a pause here, I loved the idea of having the new couple name Gelody, it sounds cute to me) she was challenged to do something for all the kids she knows that deserve to get into college. Her idea of a Satellite Gallaudet in UMKC was awesome, but it was not after she get off her comfort zone where she is just a counselor for the students and was just doing her job helping them with the application process that she decided to help them even further with organizing other ways to get them in. Who knows how she is going to get this going, but it does give the writers and producers the good excuse to have ALL of the Deaf cast still on the show while they attend the Satellite Gallaudet in UMKC.

As for Daphne storyline, it was a bit difficult to really understand her. She wants to be mad, but she is not that mad. Any small detail turns her head the other way without her even thinking it through. However I have to say that, the more spinning emotionally she is the better Katie Leclerc plays it. The range of emotions that Katie is playing while delivering the lines were the best I have seen in the show so far.

On the technical department, I have to take my Hats Off again for the costume designer Courtney Stern and hair-stylists team. Bay’s hair during dinner with Tank is very nice and so is Melody’s during her date with Gabe. As far as I remember, I’ve never seen Melody with a hair-do other than a ponytail or some free curls. This, specially done, hair style for Melody suited her very nicely. On Bay’s clothes, it was nice to see her on regular clothes for a change. We always see her with stockings and 2 shirts, seeing her on a regular jeans and one piece shirt is calling attention for her usual style. Not just that, but right in the beginning of the episode, she was wearing a shirt that says “Love”, we saw her wearing many shirts with the word “Love” in the beginning of the series around season 1 episodes 1-4, but never again. This small detail just takes us back to that Bay, nice little girl but also scared about the news of her new life, then when she found out about the switch and now when she finds out about her aneurysm inheritance.

Just a small thing I noticed again during the only Bemmett scene of the episode, those extras need to be controlled. It is hard not to see the background extra getting out of the scene from behind Bay in one take and then be there again on the following one..lol

Can we get Deane Bray on the show? She is a doll!

Rachel Shenton and Lucas Gabreel do have some chemistry there. I was always a Tokki fan, but since Nikki is really gone, a Toly or Loby seems to work out pretty well.

Summarizing the episode, don’t judge the book by its cover, things and people are not always what it seems to be or how it shows from the outside and don’t follow others’ steps, make your own. It is hard but it is worthy, as your own success in your life will come once you make it happen, comfortably or not, go beyond and above what you can do and what you know. Look hard for choices and possibilities and take them as you can, make it count!

Here it the promo for episode 19 (next monday)

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