Switched at Birth: "The Player's Choice" Review
Switched at Birth: "The Player's Choice" Review

The episode opens with Daphne going for an early morning run at UMKC when she runs into Travis who says he hasn’t even been to bed yet. They talk about what they were doing last night, Travis out with his baseball friends and Daphne doing her homework. Then, Travis tells her that she should have fun while she’s in college, because before she knows it college will be over and she will have missed out.

And in the kitchen of the Kennish house, Bay and Kathryn talk about how Bay was supposed to be painting all the benches for her “Everyday Hero” project. Bay explains that the project is now on hold because the Kansas City Arts Alliance has to do background checks on the people she has picked before she can paint the benches. They continue talking, with Kathryn asking if Bay has heard from Emmett yet, and Bay seems to get sad when she tells Kathryn that she hasn’t heard from him. Kathryn tells her to just give it time and that he will come around. Bay doesn’t have enough time to respond, because then John comes in angry because another assistant of his has quit the coaching staff at UMKC to join Coach Walsh with his new baseball team. John and Kathryn then talk Bay into filling in as an Assistant for the time being.

Back at UMKC, Daphne returns from her run to find another random girl named Royce leaving Mingo’s room and returns to her room and discusses the bad idea of getting involved with someone right down the hall with Iris. Iris tries to suggest to Daphne that they should join a sorority, but at first Daphne disagrees then agrees to meet some people at least.

Meanwhile, Travis and Mary Beth are walking to class when they run into one of the Spirit Girls named Anna who has picked up a few ASL words and signs to Travis “Good game last week.” Mary Beth and Travis talk about her and Mary Beth seems upset because Travis is talking to other girls. She mentions how his “stock is on the rise” meaning that he is becoming more popular, and they run into his friends from the team. He tries to tell them that he can’t go out again since Mary Beth wants to go to a movie, then she signs to him that he can go with them because she doesn’t want to drag him down then walks away.

Back in the main part of the Kennish house, Regina is listening to Kathryn and Toby’s new song for the musical and really seems to like it. Regina, Kathryn, and Toby then go on to talk about how the musical needs a place to put on a showcase and try to round up some potential investors, etc. Regina responds that she and Eric could use the chance to get some people in the door and agrees to talk to Eric about setting a date for it. Kathryn and Toby talk about rehearsals and he says he is going to take Lily out to ask her to move in with him on Thursday. Kathryn tells him she thinks it’s a little soon after Nikki for him to do that, and he tells her that is one of the reasons it didn’t work with Nikki is because they didn’t live together first. Then, Toby becomes annoyed and says he wasn’t asking for his mother’s approval and they drop it.

In Los Angeles, Skye talks to Emmett about how he’s doing since he came back from Kansas City. Emmett tells her that he has signed up to pitch an idea for a student film to one of the professors and asks for her help, which she agrees to. Back at UMKC, Iris and Daphne are trying to decide if they want to join a sorority after beginning to walk through the booths that are set up at campus Rush Week. Iris sees a girl from one of her classes and goes over to introduce herself leaving Daphne alone. One of the girls from Theta Delta Pi comes over to introduce herself and talk to Daphne about joining and they talk about all the help the Thetas could give Daphne.

At the baseball practice, John and Bay are talking about him needing her to make a straight line from third base to home plate when she says that she’s an artist and lines are her thing. However, after John leaves to go check on the players, Bay gets a butt dial video call from Emmett accidentally but thinks that he called her intentionally and is noticeably sad when she discovers he didn’t. They talk for a minute before he says he has to go. Travis is having struggling to pitch and then John tells Bay to video Travis pitching so John can show him what he’s doing wrong.

After John walks away, Bay and Travis talk about what is going on with he and Mary Beth and he tells Bay he may have implied that Mary Beth was his “ball and chain”. Bay tells him he needs to apologize a lot and do it as soon as possible and that she’s not letting him and Mary Beth break up without a fight. In the dorm, Daphne and Mingo talk but Mingo senses Daphne is mad at him although she tries to play like she isn’t. Bay goes to find Mary Beth after practice and tells her that Travis is miserable and can’t pitch and she quips that maybe a spirit girl could help him. Bay asks what they are and she says they are pocket-sized hotties that go to all the games. This makes Bay sense that Mary Beth is concerned that Travis will cheat on her, and Bay tells Mary Beth will never happen. Bay then tries to convince her that she needs to talk to Travis, but she refuses and says that he can come to her if he wants to.

At UMKC Pref Day, Iris interprets for the prep counselor Stephanie and tells Daphne that they have five interviews and then they can pick their top three sororities based on preference. They continue to talk about the process and that Iris only wants to join Lambda and wishes she didn’t have to do four other interviews. Kathryn is outside of the deaf education department putting fliers up about the showcase for “Batter Up” when she sees Lily and one of the instructors from the program being a little too friendly. When Kathryn approaches them, Lily introduces her as Daphne’s mom rather than Toby’s and this makes her a bit uneasy. Lily then offers to take some of the flyers and put them across the other side of the campus before excusing herself to go to a class visit she has scheduled.

Back at Pref Day, Daphne tries to impress the Theta interviewing her and pulls out all sorts of quick whips trying to get recruited to the Thetas including that John Kennish from the Royals is her biological father. Then the interviewer introduces her to Royce, the Rush chair, who is coincidentally the girl that Daphne saw coming out of Mingo’s room. They talk more about Mingo and Royce gets nervous because Daphne starts talking about sleeping with him and then the conversation switches to Daphne being pre-med.

Before leaving UMKC, Kathryn goes to try to find Lily and at first doesn’t find her but then Lily walks in and things are nervous even after Lily says there isn’t anything going on with her and Julian. They finish their conversation with Kathryn saying she doesn’t want Toby to get his heart broken again. At the field, John is telling the team he wants to see them two hours before game time to warm up. Bay and Travis talk about her conversation with Mary Beth and Bay tries to tell him that he needs to show Mary Beth that she is the most important in his life.

At the pref day, Daphne, Iris, and the other girls are placing their votes for the sorority they want to join. Stephanie tells them that they will all make their votes and Iris tells Daphne she is going to put down Lambda only and Daphne then decides to only put down Theta, and they seem to be happy with their decisions.

In Los Angeles, Emmett is forced to text Skye to interpret for him when he realizes that the day he gave the interpreter he got for the interview was wrong. Skye starts to become nervous and says that her ASL is not that good and she’s going to school to become a Director of Photography, not a Director for a movie. Emmett begs her after reminding her she knows his pitch, and she finally agrees.

The day of the game, at the warm-up, Bay decides to cover for Travis after he asks her to when he blows off what John said about everyone being there two hours before hand to go to something for Mary Beth. Daphne and Iris meet with the other girls and Stephanie to see if they got the bid for their sorority and when Daphne doesn’t get a bid she thinks it’s because of the conversation she had with Royce. Iris tells her that the Thetas are idiots for not wanting her after finding out she placed a suicide bid, and Daphne is noticeably upset.

Mary Beth has her ukulele circle at the Cracked Mug (Regina and Eric’s coffee house) and Travis blows off the warm-up for the game to go watch her play. At USC, Emmett and Skye are pitching his idea to Professor Epstein and he doesn’t seem to be impressed by it, and suggests to Emmett that instead of pitching what Emmett thinks he wants to hear he should pitch a movie he would want to watch.

Emmett thinks for a moment and then comes up with an idea for a love story about a deaf boy who falls in love for the first time with a hearing girl. Professor Epstein thinks about the idea for a moment and then tells Emmett he’s intrigued as it is not something that has been done to death, which makes Emmett happy.

Mary Beth’s ukulele circle ends, and she is surprised to see Travis and wants to introduce him, but he tells her he has to go to the game and will have to meet them some other time. When Mary Beth finds out that Anna drove Travis to see her, she tells him that it’s ridiculous that Anna is just a “fan”. Mary Beth then tells Travis that she can’t be the kind of person that is insecure and needy and starts to break up with him. He begs her that he can spend more time with her and less with the team outside of baseball, and she says he’s a freshman in college and he should be able to do whatever he wants with whomever he wants. She also tells him that she will always love him but the relationship just isn’t right, and she walks away crying and begging him to not make it harder than it has to be.

Back at the field, Bay admits that she was covering for Travis and then he shows up barely in time to make the game only to find out that he’s been benched since he wasn’t there for warmups and blew it off to do something for Mary Beth. John and Bay argue when she tries to tell him that the game is too important, and then he walks away angry. After he walks away, Bay asks Travis if it went well and he says no and walks away upset. Not only has he lost his girlfriend, but he’s not pitching in the big game now and looks like he can’t believe he was just benched.

Daphne finds Royce to try to find out why she didn’t get a bid from Theta. Royce tells her that she voted for Daphne and that Tara, the interviewer who talked to Daphne was the one who blackballed her because she thought Daphne was trying too hard. Then, Royce tells her that if she’s looking for someone catty and superficial she should take a look in the mirror.

Toby takes Lily to Vesuvius for dinner and they are done eating their dessert when Toby slides a box across the table. Lily laughs nervously and thinks that he is about to propose to her, but then opens the box to find a key inside and that’s when Toby says he wants her to move in. While at Vesuvius, Lily admits to Toby that she has feelings for someone else and he looks confused. She continues to explain and he looks sad to find out that she’s confused and doesn’t want them to break up.

Daphne goes to the Cracked Mug to talk to Regina about the fact that she didn’t get into a sorority and seems really upset. Regina tells Daphne that she didn’t even know that Daphne was planning on rushing and Daphne says she didn’t plan on it, it just kind of happened. Regina tells Daphne that the Thetas aren’t “her people” and she will find who “her people” are.

Bay goes to find Mary Beth playing her ukulele in her room, and tells her that Travis was late to the game and got benched and his replacement blew the game for them and now Travis is an outcast with the team. Mary Beth says that she didn’t want that to happen but that it’s over. She then goes on to tell Bay that she should be fighting for her own relationship, not Travis’ and Mary Beth’s.

Toby comes back to the Kennish house to find Kathryn playing the piano, and Kathryn asks him how dinner was. He tries to say that it’s just too soon and he and Lily aren’t going to move in together after all. Kathryn seems disappointed, but yet relieved at the same time after hearing this. Then, Toby asks if they can do some work on the musical when Kathryn asks if she can help. They sit down at the piano together and Kathryn looks sad knowing that Toby is bothered by something.

Iris runs into Daphne coming back to the dorm and tells Daphne that she wishes Daphne was on her way to bid night with the Thetas. Then, Mingo tries to flirt with Iris and she walks away. Mingo and Daphne talk about why Daphne isn’t wearing a fancy dress of her own, and she tells him that she decided not to join at first, but then tells him that she didn’t get a bid. Daphne decides not to take Mingo’s offer to play darts when she sees Travis and Natalie walk by. Instead, she tells Mingo she’s hanging with her “tribe”. They all walk away to go to the club and try to cheer Travis up.

In Los Angeles, Emmett is walking around outside of the USC Student Arts Theater nervously until he sees his project has made the cut and Skye tells him congratulations and that she just wants to be his DP. John walks in to see Bay breaking in the leather on new gloves that came in, and they sit down and talk about the athletic director’s visit to the field. John tells her that the search for a coach is still on, and Bay apologizes and says she should have been watching his back.

The episode ends with Bay asking if John can find someone to fill in for her and her telling him that she’s going to L.A. to talk to Emmett.

Reflection:

The end of the relationship between Travis and Mary Beth is really sad, and Mary Beth seems to be acting from reaction to being jealous. She still loves Travis and she should realize he loves her when Bay and her talk, but instead it’s motivating to see that Bay realizes she should have been fighting for her relationship with Emmett instead of spending so much time on Travis and Mary Beth.

Toby and Lily’s relationship may well be over, which isn’t a bad thing considering the fact that Lily has feelings for someone else too. It’s up to her to sort them out but it doesn’t seem like that will happen soon. Toby and Kathryn working on the musical, and Bay and John coaching baseball seem to be bringing them together and giving them more of a bond.

Regina and Iris try to comfort Daphne, who feels rejected by the Thetas, but then Daphne finally realizes who “her people” are and realizes that she doesn’t need a superficial relationship with Mingo either.

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