Switched at Birth Review: Escalating Tensions

Switched at Birth should be admired as a show not afraid to take a gamble on serious issues. Just because it is a drama aimed at a specific demographic doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken the time to delve deep into touchy subjects. For its final season the show has chosen to examine escalating racial tensions on college campuses. The title card for the beginning of this week’s episode specifically says it is inspired by real events at multiple college campuses all over the country. This is a prevalent, serious issue that isn’t going away and thus should get the recognition it deserves, even if it is on a fictional show. Perhaps because this particular story is told from the perspective of one of the show’s protagonists, we’re predisposed to see her point of view. The problem is that her point of view is ignorant, though she gets an education rather quickly.

There is some light drama to recap before everything else. Bay neglects to tell Travis that she is talking to Emmett. She even goes so far as to ask her new boss for permission to use the tattoo studio (a word I use purposely to honor places who value original artistry) after hours to give Emmett his first tattoo as a project for his photography class. These two in close proximity is always going to tempt fate, especially with an experience so personal as to have a part of Bay permanently with Emmett forever. Bay doesn’t think of that, she’s too distracted finding out her new boss is stealing her original designs. She even has to put that on the back-burner when Travis confronts her about Emmett’s tattoo. To be fair, Travis is under some stress now that John has hired Chris Warren as his replacement for starting on the team. Travis couldn’t expect things to be the same after almost a year away in China. Melody even pulls the parental card to help Travis get a fair shot at pitching, but his game just isn’t where it used to be. The fact that he finds out about Bay and Emmett’s interaction right before his tryout probably didn’t help his chances. If he doesn’t get that temper under control, he’ll be one hundred percent responsible for the state of his life.

Kathryn doesn’t get a say in either of her daughters’ stressful situations because she’s dealing with a horrendous one of her own. She’s forced to suffer through the most misogynistic dinner of her life with a very handsy donor. John would clean his clock if he heard half of the things this guy said to his wife. No amount of money is worth that kind of harassment. “Playing with the big boys” is a cop-out for putting a woman in that kind of uncomfortable situation.

Like her mother, Daphne learns quickly the environment she’s placed herself in. Daphne and Sharee have different reactions to a threat made to the UMKC Black Student Union. Daphne believes in free speech, and that’s all well and good. The problem is that she can’t relate others’ suppression of free speech with violence. She can’t even relate to this growing up deaf because Daphne did not grow up in a time when being deaf was considered so great a disability that people were institutionalized and restrained. Daphne is ignorant, but because she’s been sheltered. Case in point, Sharee tells Daphne to leave it alone even though Daphne thinks they should report the incident to Professor Murrillo, who is the new Associate Dean. Remember Professor Murrillo, the one who told Daphne her deafness made her chances at a career in medicine slim, then had a fantastic follow-up during Lily’s baby shower arguing that Down syndrome would one day be eradicated! Then once Daphne is in front of her again, of course she says she’ll reconsider giving Daphne school credit for her work in China.

Daphne just keeps pushing because she doesn’t understand the reality of being black. She thinks taking the matter to administration and going through proper channels is the solution, especially when a threat is made directly against her. Case in point: the black student who threatens Daphne is expelled, and the white students who threaten all the black students are suspended for 3 days with a fine. Murrillo would prefer the matter go away quietly, but Iris’s hunger strike ends and Sharee’s arrest threaten any notion of that happening. Why are women like this allowed to work at a university level ‘for the cause’?

Is Switched at Birth doing a good job of showing double-standards and the importance of the racial bias storyline?