The episode was called “Stay With Me”, but personally I think it should have been called “Hour of Heartbreak”. Seriously, everyone was miserable!
Taylor, Ofe, Carter, Crash, Max, Grant, Elizabeth, and David! All of them, miserable at one point or another in last week’s episode!
While there was a quite a bit that happened (including Elizabeth going on a date and Grant telling Taylor about his therapy sessions) the main things I want to talk about today are Crash/Carter and Taylor/Ofe.
After discovering that Max was right about Crash’s uncle and the drugs, Carter and Max manage to convince Elizabeth to let Crash stay with them for one night. Now, previous to this I had been kind of iffy about Crash and what his motives were. But then last week I started to like him, thinking, “Alright, maybe he is a good guy now, or at least trying to be”. Then he left. Gone, Never to be seen again? Who knows!
After Crash’s uncle shows up at Carter’s house and threatens them, Crash tells Elizabeth everything about his uncle’s crimes before he leaves in the middle of the night and joins the military. I felt so bad for Carter here. Things finally seemed to be looking up and then things come crashing (no pun intended) down.
I think when Elizabeth worried about Carter and Crash’s relationship and the possibility of Crash leaving her daughter, she probably didn’t think it would be so Carter was safe.
“I’m not going to accept him because he’s going to break your heart. And I don’t want you to get hurt.”
– Elizabeth Wilson
I’m really hoping Crash will come back at some point because I was actually starting to like him. I think it’s probably a safe assumption that we’ll see him again since we see that as the bus Crash is on is pulling away, his uncle is sitting there in a car watching him.
I don’t think Lori’s the biggest threat anymore.
Probably the biggest thing that happened in last week’s episode was between Taylor and Ofe. After Taylor takes some of Ofe’s drugs (which she stole from him) she ends up passing out at Ofe’s house. Ofe is, understandably, quite upset and frustrated by this because he genuinely likes Taylor and she practically admits that she’s just been using him.
“You’re not my boyfriend!” – Taylor
“Clearly not…” – Ofe
I was so mad at Taylor here. I know that she’s dealing with a lot, but Ofe has been nothing but sweet to her. When she told him she’d been feeling sick, Ofe worried that she might be pregnant and his response was: “I’d make a great dad.” I was both awe-ing and laughing. He ends up breaking off their friends with benefits deal, stating that he’s scared she’s going to end up breaking his heart.
His face was so sad! Like come on, someone give Ofe a hug! He’s so nice and so sweet and I just wanted to protect him from getting hurt.
I’m really hoping things will start looking up soon, but it is Finding Carter so I suspect tonight’s episode will consist of sadness and lies.
You know an episode is going to go well when someone lies in the first five minutes before the theme song even plays.
Side Note: I don’t think I’ve said this yet, so can we just take a moment to acknowledge how awesome the Finding Carter theme song is? Like, I love when a show has an equally good theme song and soundtrack and I love this song!
Alright, back to the episode. This episode seemed to be a bit slower than the others so far. I don’t want to say it was boring because it definitely wasn’t, but there didn’t seem to be as much going as there has been over the course of the season.
The episode started off introducing a new character, Abby, the new guidance counselor who Carter immediately hates and who Gabe wants to sleep with very badly. Congratulations Abby, you’ve been here five seconds and it’s already apparent that things aren’t going to end well.
Abby meets with Carter and her parents to discuss Carter’s skipping school and her dropping GPA. I mean, come on. Carter pretty much had it right, she’s been on the planet all of seventeen years, been kidnapped twice, and just got her kidnapper institutionalized. Can you really blame her for not doing her homework? They want Carter to take her SATs and, after a lot of resistance on Carter’s part and a lot of encouragement on, surprisingly, Crash’s part, Carter ends up going to the test.
That’s another thing entirely. Carter and Crash. GAH! I want to hate him so badly because of everything he did last season and I still feel like something is going to happen, but then they’re so cute together! It’s like, “Okay, please let Crash be good. But no, I don’t like Crash! But they’re so cute together!” He’s really shifty though, especially when Carter talks about Lori, so while I’m holding out hope, it’s not very strong.
I’m also still holding out hope for Max and Taylor, though that too is slowly dwindling as Max and Bird seem to be getting pretty cozy. We already knew that the pair were living together after Max left Taylor’s house and, despite dealing with some money issues this episode, the pair made up and seem to be closer than ever. I’ve got to admit, I’m not a big fan of Bird. I don’t know why, she’s just… I don’t know.
Apparently Taylor doesn’t know either because despite still being seriously hung up on Max, she went on a date with Ofe. We haven’t seen enough of Ofe yet and I’m really glad we’re getting to know his character better. He’s seriously so adorable and you can tell he likes Taylor. And can I just say, I never thought I would find someone trading drugs for a giant pink bear to be so adorable, but it happened! Seriously Taylor, I know you’re dealing with a lot right now, but please don’t hurt Ofe.
But seriously, Taylor is dealing with a lot. She found out about David’s affair with Lori (I forgot she didn’t know) and while at first she was angry in the end she said she actually wishes she didn’t know now. I think this is something we can all relate to. Maybe not this exact situation of our dad sleeping with our twin sister’s kidnapper, but you know, finding out something and then wishing we didn’t know.
We saw a little of Grnt this episode when he joined Taylor and Ofe at the county fair. Once again he was left to his own devices as his sisters went off with their dates and friends. However, he wasn’t alone long as he ran into Reagan! This is the girl he was FaceTime-ing in season one who I completely forgot existed and was very confused as to who she was until they mentioned talking on Skype. Things didn’t exactly end well though when all of Grant’s anger and frustration finally seemed to explode a little when he yelled at Reagan. I’m not sure who I felt worse for.
Some people I don’t really feel bad for are David and Elizabeth. On one hand, I feel bad for everything they’ve been through. But on the other hand, now they’re just bringing everything on themselves. Like, when you’re arguing about how you want to fix your marriage and then one of you has a date show up at the door… *slow clap for David*
Elizabeth: “I want to fix our marriage.” *Makes out with Kyle*
David: “I want to fix our marriage.” *Goes on date with TA*
Both: “Maybe we should see other people.” *Neither really want to see other people*
Like, it’s obvious they still love each other and are just doing this to get back at one another, but I have a hard time feeling bad for them when they do stuff like this.
Alright, so the end of the definitely left off on a bit of a cliffhanger with a couple things happening. First, Gabe is hitting on Abby and was, was that flirting? Was that trying not to flirt though she wanted to? Was that just blatantly not flirting and not being interest? I can’t tell with this show anymore. Whatever it was, you know it’s not going to end well.
Gabe. Stop.
Second, Max took a job at Crash’s uncle’s garage so Crash wouldn’t have to leave Carter only to find that the car has a ton of cocaine in the trunk. At the end of the episode we see Max confront Crash about the car and then the screen goes black. WHAT?! What does this mean? Did Crash know? Was he setting Carter up? Was this a surprise to Crash as well? What’s going to happen now? So many questions!
Alright, last but certainly not least, my favourite scene in the whole episode. Carter comes home from her date with Crash and tells Elizabeth where she was. Elizabeth gets angry about it (which I thought was pretty hypocritical since she was just making out with her secret boyfriend not five minutes ago), but the two soon make up when Carter breaks down.
This is one of the most relatable scenes I think has been in the whole show. Nothing to do with relationships or kidnappings or secrets and lies, it was just a seventeen year old admitting that she has no idea what she’s doing with her life or where she wants to be in the future. And this is something that a lot of people of pretty much any age can relate to.
And Elizabeth had the best reaction. What do you say to your kid who’s freaking out over their future and test scores?
“Okay so bomb it! Bomb it big! And then you can take it again.” – Elizabeth Wilson
Parenting done right.
While this episode was a bit slower than the rest this season, it was just as good as any other we’ve seen. I love that in every single episode we see character progression and development. Also in every episode we’re left with many, many questions by the end of it and have to wait until next week for them to be answered. Only to get more questions after that.
What did you think of last week’s episode? What do you think of Taylor/Ofe? Carter/Crash?
This review was supposed to be up last week, but life kind of got in the way and, one thing after another, here we are. I promise I won’t be waiting until next Tuesday to review tonight’s episode. Hopefully that’ll be up tomorrow (hopefully).
Now, where to start. This episode was once again a very relationship-centered episode. But it was also very Grant-centered which made me very happy!
Elizabeth and David’s relationship has pretty much bitten the dust. Elizabeth kissed Kyle (Gabe’s dad) and when David heard about this he agreed to go out with his TA. Which, can I just say, anyone who watched two weeks ago totally saw that coming. He was flirting with her so hard, like that was not subtle at all. David doesn’t even get points for trying.
I’m kind of holding out hope that they’ll get back together, but honestly, I’m not really expecting it, and part of me also hopes they don’t. Does that sound awful? Probably. On one hand, I would love it if they got back together. But on the other hand, I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did. The only reason they stayed together was because they were looking for Carter. Now they’ve found her and all these secrets are coming out and they need time apart. I just hope they don’t do some miraculous make-up between them. This show has always been so real and I really want them to show that sometimes a family functions better when they’re apart for a little while.
Things were heating up for the teens on the show. Bird and Max seem to be getting along pretty well (I’m curious to see where that goes), Carter kissed Crash (I think his name sums up how their relationship will go), and Taylor did… something… with Ofe in a closet. Dear god please don’t have her get pregnant.
We finally got to see a lot of Grant in this episode! I was so happy about this, Grant gets shoved aside a lot in his family so I was really happy that we got to see how everything is affecting him (it’s not good). Things weren’t really helped when his grandmother took him to lunch to meet one of her friends who also happens to be a shrink. FYI, The best way to get your grandson to trust people and open up to them isn’t by lying to them to get them to the shrink. In the end, Grant agrees to continue seeing the one, but they aren’t going to tell Elizabeth! Yeah, I don’t see that ending well, do you?
Finally, *deep sigh* Lori. She convinced her ex-boyfriend to seek out Carter and convince her to help prove Lori is insane so she’ll go to a hospital instead of prison. Without going too much into what happened, Carter did so and Lori has been declared mentally unstable. I mean, yeah? But then with everything else that’s happened, all the lies, and the guy talking to Lori on the phone after he met with Carter. Is she really unstable? I don’t know anymore. We’ll just have to wait and see what crazy stuff happens next. Oh, did I mention that this whole situation is what reunited Carter and Crash and that it was done behind Elizabeth’s back?
Everything is going to come crashing down. There’s no possible way this can end well. I said in my last review that they keep saying ‘no more secrets’ and then they keep more secrets. That wouldn’t be so bad if this family’s secrets didn’t involve affairs, thousands of dollars, and kidnappings.
What do you think? Are you excited about Carter and Crash? Taylor and Ofe? Or are you just happy Grant got so much screen time?
My review of tonight’s (April 29th) episode should hopefully be up tomorrow night. As will my recap of the Dancing With the Stars 10th Anniversary!
J. Carson Reviews 