ABC FamilyTeen Drama about two 16-year-old girls who were switched at birth.Bay was raised in a Big Fancy House by the wealthy John and Kathryn Kennish. Daphne, who went deaf after catching meningitis as a toddler, was raised by single mother Regina Vasquez in a tough neighborhood. Neither girl knew that they weren't biologically related to their families, and in fact didn't know about each other, until Bay requested a DNA test.Now, both families struggle to get along for the girls' sake, and the show takes its drama from that struggle.
This show provides examples of:
Absentee Actor: Sean Berdy gets an onscreen credit for "Las Dos Fridas," but Emmett only appears in the Previously On segment and not in the episode itself.
Absurdly High Stakes Game: Toby loses thousands of dollars in poker because Daphne misread the other players' body language.
For the second time, a character played by Lucas Grabeel weighs his interest in both baseball and the arts, and is criticized for the latter.
Meredith Baxter plays the mom to Lea Thompson's character. Both are most famous for their respective roles playing Michael J. Fox's mother.
In Season 2, Bay crushes on a guy with the same progressive/intermittent hearing loss as Katie Leclerc.
A Friend in Need: Emmett often rides to Daphne's aid when she's gotten herself in a sticky situation. Even after he starts dating Bay, he still genuinely cares about her well-being.
Regina. Even though she's sober for many years, she mentions that she still is one.
Also Simone, who Regina runs into at an AA meeting.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Daphne sneaks out of school to have a drunken make out with Wilke. She later dresses very sultry in order to attract the caustic Chef Jeff.
Melody was the Betty and Olivia was the Veronica to Cameron's Archie.
And earlier in the series, Emmett was the Betty and Wilke was the Veronica to Daphne's Archie. They really seem to like pairing people with the Veronica.
Big Brother Instinct: Toby gives out to Emmett for treating Bay badly. He later has a heart-to-heart with Wilke about the kind of person he has to be to be worth Daphne's time.
Big Fancy House: The Kennish residence, with a nice guest house in the back.
Bilingual Bonus: Daphne and her friends use sign language, which is usually subtitled or interpreted for the audience's benefit; and Daphne's mom and grandmother both speak Spanish.
Specifically, they're signing using ASLnote American Sign Language and SEEnote Signed English Exact, in a mixture called Pidgin Signed English.
Angelo speaks Italian.
Billy Elliot Plot: A minor one, where John prefers Toby's baseball to his music as hobbies and professions.
Birds of a Feather: Emmett and Bay share a passion for art. Then again, both Emmett and Daphne can communicate easier and relate with each other because they are both Deaf and able to sign fluently.
Bittersweet Ending: John wins his state senate campaign by default, but admits that he had hoped he would lose, and that Kathryn should have ran instead of him.
Blessed with Suck: Emmett's father's family is open-minded and giving, but because of their youthfulness he's often forgotten.
Both Sides Have a Point: Both the Kennishes and Vasquezes are forced to realize this during their attempts to live together peacefully.
Break the Cutie: Most of the characters (more or less), but Daphne is the most vulnerable target. Before finding out about the switch, she was very positive and well-adjusted. Afterwards, well....
Even more so in Chef Jeff's kitchen. Since she started working there, Daphne is guaranteed to mess up and freak out Once an Episode.
Bus Crash: Averted. Ty doesn't die in the attack on his unit in Afghanistan.
The Cake Is a Lie: Wilke promises that Guitar Face will open for a notable band, but they end up playing the D Stage.
The Cast Showoff: Lucas Grabeel and Sean Berdy get to show off their musical skills in the fourth episode.
Lea Thompson shows off her singing voice in "Tree of Forgiveness," and ends up singing a duet with Lucas Grabeel.
Chekhov's Gun: The guest house is this in the first episode.
Chekhov's Skill: Daphne's abilities as a human lie detector. They're established early in the first season when Toby takes her to a poker game to help him identify the other players' tells. Later on in the season, she asks Emmett if he cheated on Bay with Simone, and he lies and says it didn't happen. Daphne instantly knows he's lying, and he realizes that she now knows for sure.
Childhood Memory Demolition Team: A variation; Bay and Daphne must work together to save Emmett's motorcycle, which he built with his dad.
Citizenship Marriage: Regina marries Angelo in order to keep him in the country for Bay's sake. However, the two have to keep up the facade that they're happily married and living together, so they don't go to jail for immigration fraud.
Conflict Ball: Good grief, every character has at least one. Some are juggling two or three, when they aren't playing hot potato with another one.
Such as Daphne and Bay fighting over Liam, then Ty, Emmett, and later Noah.
John suing the hospital for an apology.
Regina and Kathryn fighting over whether or not Regina can date Bruce.
Regina and Kathryn fighting, period.
Regina and everyone fighting.
Toby and his gambling woes.
Emmett and his mom disagreeing about him taking speech therapy and dating Bay.
Angelo showing up and pretty much making everyone upset, though Bay eventually warms to him.
Bay and Emmett having a huge spat about Emmett's living arrangements...which happens at the same time that Toby and Simone have a spat about Simone's trustworthiness, leading to Emmett and Simone sleeping together.
Toby shoving Emmett for cheating on Bay with Simone.
Continuity Nod: To Emmett and Daphne being fans of Deaf horror films when they make a "Dawn of the Deaf". Also, when Daphne's room is shown you can see the poster Emmett gave her in an earlier episode.
Cool Car: The Kennishes have a whole fleet: a BMW convertible for the kids, Kathryn's Mercedes G-Wagen, and John's Porsche Panamera (which was an Aston Martin in the pilot). This all might be justified—John is a former major league baseball star, and currently owns a successful chain of car washes.
Cool Loser: Daphne sees herself as a loser after dressing more sultry and failing to get Chef Jeff's attention, even though she's a basketball star and very social.
Curtains Match the Window: The biological Vasquezes have dark hair and dark eyes. Both Daphne and Kathryn have red/strawberry blonde hair.
Cut Himself Shaving: Bay and Emmett get cut on some barbed wire during an attempt to tag an unused billboard. Bay explains her wounds as a nasty rosebush incident, and Emmett tells his mother he fell on a sprinkler head playing football at his friend's house.
Dance of Romance: John and Kathryn reconcile with one of these while chaperoning at the Carlton prom.
Dark Secret: The Kennishes kind of suspected that Regina knew something about the switch. And they were right. Around the time of Daphne's meningitis infection in 1998, Angelo had Daphne DNA tested, and Regina figured out then that the hospital had switched the girls at birth in 1995. Fearing that, as a poor alcoholic, she'd lose Daphne, Regina kept the secret to herself. Later, she hired a private investigator to track down Bay, and watched Bay from afar for several years. And now it's not a secret anymore.
Later, when Regina begins drinking again she tries to keeps this a secret as well.
So is Simone and Emmett sleeping together. Both felt too guilty to tell anyone else, though everyone finds out eventually anyway.
Kathryn and John disapprove of Bay's relationship with the older Ty. They are "relieved" when he joins the army.
Melody greatly disapproves of hearing/Deaf relationships. That said, she eventually warms to Bay when Emmett dates her.
Toby thinks this trope is in play after Elisa tries to jump his bones in a hot tub — she forgot to tell him that her mom is his dad's opponent in the election, and she opposes her mom's policies. That said, Elisa genuinely was interested in Toby.
Disappeared Dad: Bay's biological father, Angelo. She's not happy about this. He eventually shows up out of the blue in the midseason finale, after reading about the switch in a newspaper. Then disappears again. Then comes back. You can understand why Regina told him she wants off his roller coaster of comings and goings.
Do Not Adjust Your Set: "Uprising" starts with a bumper which announces that "there's nothing wrong with your TV", all of the episode's dialogue is delivered in ASL, and that the only spoken conversations are in the first scene.
Dream Sequence: Daphne has a dream in which the switch never happened. Regina dreams she is at her and Angelo's wedding and Patrick is marrying them.
Expy: Chef Jeff is a blunt, no-nonsense chef with a short temper, leading to comparisons to Gordon Ramsay.
Even The Subtitler Is Stumped: A season 2 episode has a scene where the usual subtitles for sign language are barely working. This is to show Bay's POV and how much trouble she has following what a teacher is signing to the class.
For Want of a Nail: Touched on every so often, as Bay, Daphne, and their families wonder how the girls would have ended up had the switch not taken place. Notable when Emmett and Daphne talk about Bay in the first episode:
Emmett: [signing] Who's that?
Daphne: [signing] Me, in another life.
It's later touched on in a Dream Sequence. Daphne dreams that the switch never happened, and that she was Bay and Bay was Daphne.
Fourth Date Marriage: Nikki and Toby get engaged after dating for only three months, having just recently broken up over their religious differences. Not to mention Toby was making out with Elisa two episodes ago. Needless to say, John and Kathryn aren't happy about it.
From Bad to Worse: Daphne's already having a bad day, having just found out about Emmett and Bay dating. Then Angelo shows up to see Bay.
In the season 2 winter finale, Bay gets chewed out by Daphne for speaking to the press after the sit-in, gets dumped by Noah after finding out he has feelings for Daphne, finds out Regina is leaving for rehab, and then has to watch Angelo dedicating himself to taking care of his new daughter, making her realize what she missed out on.
Hidden Depths: Toby turns out to be pretty good at baseball, in addition to being a musician.
High School Dance: Carlton's prom happens in the first season spring finale.
Homage / Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: One of Daphne's favorite movies is Deafenstein, an incredibly cheesy Frankenstein adaptation performed entirely in ASL. It's a takeoff of the Real Life film Deafula, a 1975 version of Dracula done in ASL, with a similar reputation.
Regina. She has a LOT of suitors throughout the course of the show.
Kathryn as well. In one episode, she gets compared to Mary Jane Watson, though the reference is lost on her—she needs to be reassured by Toby that Mary Jane is indeed hot.
Humiliation Conga: Played for Drama with one of the protagonists. Everyone eventually finds out that Regina knew about the switch (and Bay's whereabouts) as far back as 1998. Daphne disowns Regina for lying to her for years. Bay disowns Regina for not trying to be a part of her life. The Kennishes are so put off that they pretty much evict Regina and make plans to take custody of Daphne.
Daphne goes through one too. She finds out that her mother knew about the switch; and then when she realizes that she is in love with Emmett because he has always been there for her, she finds out he is dating Bay.
Hypocrite: Emmett's angered when Daphne disapproves of him and Bay, whereas he's judged every love interest she's had during the show's run.
Bay has basically instructed Daphne to stand aside with every boy from Bay's world she's dated during the show's run - despite the fact that she's dated both Ty and Emmett, friends of Daphne.
I Am Not Spock: Those who've only seen Katie Leclerc act as Daphne find it slightly jarring to hear her speak in promotional material sans Deaf accent.
I Fight for the Strongest Side: Daphne wants to quit the Carlton basketball team because of their lack of determination. She eventually returns, though.
The "I Love You" Stigma: In "Human/Need/Desire," Nikki accidentally blurts out that she loves Toby, then flees in embarrassment before he can say anything. He recipricates the next chance he gets, though she breaks up with him later in the episode.
Deconstructed when the Buckner basketball coach only recruits Daphne to get a grant for a new locker room.
Possibly played straight when Carlton goes to Springfield. Deaf people from all over come to see the match and it's mentioned that a person in Japan was cheering for them.
Defied by Chef Jeff, who tells Daphne that he doesn't buy into it, and was forced to hire her by his superiors. To drive the point home, he tells her she's a hazard to the rest of the kitchen, and demotes her to dishwasher where she won't get in anyone's way.
Lamarck Was Right: Daphne gravitates toward athletic endeavours, as her biological father John is a retired major league ballplayer. She is also a really good cook like her mother Kathryn. Bay is an aspiring artist, a trait that she seems to have inherited from her biological mother Regina.
Daphne even states that she believes she inherited her basketball skills from John.
Last Minute Hookup: Subverted. Emmett and Daphne kiss, but he decides to stay with Bay.
Late Arrival Spoiler: Woe be to anyone who missed the episode "Game On," since ABC Family is already showing previews that deal with the hitherto unforseen twist of Emmett cheating on Bay with Simone.
May-December Romance: Sixteen-year-old Daphne starts a romance with her boss, the much older Chef Jeff, to her family's disapproval. In fact, it's later shown that he was interested in her at first because he thought she was in college; it's only when she tells him that she wants it to happen that he gives in and kisses her.
Before the families reveal to the public that Daphne and Bay were switched, Kathryn's friends think that John has a relationship with Regina.
John, with Sarah Lazar. Daphne calls John out on it when she sees the two together at a restaurant, but he promises her that there's nothing going on, and that he was trying to talk Sarah out of writing her book about the switch. Kathryn also once had the same thoughts about John and Sarah.
The Kennishes' lawyer, which proves to be a plot point since she has a relationship with the hospital director.
Daphne introduces Chef Jeff to her two mothers, Regina and Kathryn. Jeff is unaware of the switch, and thinks the two are a lesbian couple.
My Beloved Smother: Emmett's mom Melody is this, and it's hinted that it's because of her ongoing divorce. It eventually drives Emmett to move in with his father.
Regina follows both Daphne and Bay around at certain points in their lives.
My Sister Is Off Limits: Toby tells Wilke this about Bay and Daphne in the fourth episode, but warms up to the idea of Daphne/Wilke.
Mysterious Informant: Angelo had an informant who knew the inner workings of the hospital and had relevant information about the switch. Kathryn eventually suspects that it's a maternity ward nurse who Angelo may have had a fling with.
Myth Arc: The show features a fair amount of continuing Soap Opera-esque storylines about relationships, as it is an ABC Family show and all. But the predominant storyline is the big mystery concerning the switch, and who knows what about it.
No Dialogue Episode: The second season episode "Uprising" isn't exactly lacking dialogue, but it is entirely in ASL, without speech.
Nonuniform Uniform: Buckner Hall's dress code seems to be "as long as it looks kinda-sorta preppy, no matter how revealing it is, it's fine by us."
A particularly egregious example is during one episode where Bay walks around the campus in a tank top and plaid skirt that vaguely resemble the school colors.
No Party Given: John's run for office. He's either an old-school New England style Republican (in Kansas!) or a Blue Dog Democrat - liberal on "live and let live" social issues, fiscally conservative. Good luck getting through the primary!
Off the Wagon: Not long after seeing Simone at an AA meeting, Regina catches a guy buying booze for Simone. After getting chewed out, Simone tells Regina that she fell off the wagon after her indiscretion was spread around the school, and that she felt like she had no friends anymore.
As of episode 2.05, Regina has fallen off the wagon.
Off To Boarding School: Due to Wilke getting low grades and slacking off, his dad threatened him with boarding school several times. His dad eventually does it.
One Dialogue, Two Conversations: A brief one between Bay and Simone. Bay is trying to console Simone about the tournament loss, and Simone is still feeling guilty about hooking up with Emmett. Simone eventually catches on and doesn't reveal what happened.
Bay: So I heard what happened at the tournament... Simone: [HUGE Oh Crap look on her face] Yeah, about that... Bay: Don't worry about it, you shouldn't blame yourself.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Daphne, at times. Her actress, Katie Leclerc, speaks like a hearing person in Real Life because her condition allows her to hear normally on some days.
She speaks like a Hearing person because she grew up hearing—both physically and culturally. Deaf and hard of hearing people have accents, because it's hard to learn a language you can't hear.
She also reacts way more rapidly than most deaf people can.
Operation Jealousy: In "The Declaration of Independence," Daphne flirts with and makes plans with Travis, but only does this to get Chef Jeff's attention.
Papa Wolf: John, to both Daphne and Bay. Angelo even became this when he found out that Daphne was secretly seeing Chef Jeff in the mid-season finale. He punches him in the face and even threaten him to stay away from her if he ever sees her again.
Practice Kiss: Noah suggests to Daphne that they practice kissing before going on stage as Romeo and Juliet. Emmett points out afterward that the kiss looked pretty real, and for Noah, it was. Daphne still denies there was any connection there.
Product Placement: Kathryn revealing her new Camry Hybrid was basically a Toyota commercial, complete with description of Internet features and screenshots.
Given Regina's constant financial woes, at least this means her circa-1990 Camry probably won't be breaking down anytime soon...
Pyrrhic Victory: The school board votes to keep Carlton open, but to expand it to 50% hearing students, and not require those students to learn or use ASL. Daphne and Melody try to convince the other students that the sit-in was a success, and this was the best result they could have hoped for, but it only sort-of works.
Relationship Sabotage: Initially, a pissed off Daphne pretty much tells Bay that she intends to do this to Bay and Emmett. As of late, however, Daphne seems to have backed off with a I Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Regina's attempts to keep custody of Daphne caused John and Kathryn to start a custody battle. However, it could be argued that they would've done it even if she had told her Dark Secret.
Sense Loss Sadness: Daphne feels a little bit of this after her first day taking classes at Buckner Hall.
Sensory Overload: Both Daphne and Emmett are shown to become distressed whenever they're forced to lip-read groups of people all at the same time, like Daphne at her first breakfast with the Kennishes or Emmett at the car wash with Bay.
Shipper on Deck: Regina for Bay and Emmett. In "The Declaration of Independence," Melody for Travis and Daphne. In the same episode, Bay for Toby and Nikki.
Shonen Hair: Toby, to the point where his family compares him to a squirrel.
Bay: If vampires can date humans, I really feel like Deaf people can date hearing. At least neither of us wants to suck the other's blood."
"Shut Up" Kiss: Both Ty, and later Emmett, do this to Bay.
Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Daphne, who has green eyes and red hair (see the image above), much like her biological mother Kathryn. It's all the more jarring when Regina refers to Daphne as having been a blond, blue eyed baby.note Though babies often have lighter hair for the first two years or so.
Silence Is Golden: Season 2 episode "Uprising" is told entirely in American Sign Language. Aside from the prologue and the ending, no sound (aside from the Background Music) can be heard.
Slut Shaming: Someone finds out about Simone's indiscretion with Emmett, and posts it on a Slut Shaming website for the world to see. Toby had long since broken up with Simone over it, but he does call out some classmates for reading the website and being Slut Shamers themselves. Simone later confides in Regina that the slut shaming was the reason why she fell off the wagon.
Social Services Does Not Exist: After Regina's secret comes out, the Kennishes' lawyer advises that it's too late for a custody battle, since by the time it's settled the girls would be eighteen (legal adults in US) anyway.
Also, if this happened in real life it would be national news, with possible federal kidnapping charges for Regina whether the Kennishes forgive her or not.
Subverted in one instance where Social Services almost took Daphne away from Regina.
The show seems to be setting this up with Toby and Elisa, the daughter of Patricia Sawyer, John's opponent in his senate campaign, but this subplot is abandoned when Toby decides to reunite with Nikki instead, and Patricia ends her campaign in favor of spending more time with Elisa, who is revealed to be bipolar.
Stop Helping Me!: Emmett gets offended when Bay tries to interpret and defend him.
Again when Bay tells Melody about Emmett's desire to drop out of high school. And again when Bay expresses concern to Cameron over Emmett's well-being, leading to Cameron giving up Emmett's custody to Melody. To say that Emmett isn't pleased would be an understatement.
That Which Must Not Be Named: Bay's biological father, aka Regina's ex-husband. Regina, Daphne, and Adrianna absolutely refuse to tell Bay anything about him, other than that he left when Daphne was three. However, he does end up showing up.
Their First Time: Repeatedly subverted with Bay, who is (as of the first season spring finale) still a virgin. She backs out of having sex with Ty, since she feels she isn't ready. Later, right around the time she decides she wants to do it with Emmett, they argue about Angelo, and Bay refuses to sleep with him when he gives a half-assed apology. Later on, after hearing about him cheating with Simone, she obviously backs out completely.
Trailers Always Spoil: ABC Family is pretty bad about this when it does its "next week" promos.
A "next week" trailer spoiled the intended Wham Line about Angelo being a fugitive.
Previews for the last leg of the first season blatantly spoiled the very end of "The Declaration of Independence" by way of showing Daphne kissing Jeff.
Previews for "Dressing for the Charade" in season 2 blatantly spoiled Daphne and Travis kissing and becoming a couple.
Translator Buddy: Daphne operates as this for Emmett when he's around the Kennishes.
Emmett worries that if he and Bay keep dating she will come to resent him for making her fit this role.
Unrequited Love Switcheroo: When Emmett gets over Daphne and starts pursuing Bay, Daphne realizes she's loved him all along.
Unusual Euphemism: As a running gag with Emmett, Bay intentionally calls herself a "vegetable" in sign language whenever she means "virgin."
Victim Blaming: All the other characters seem to like to do this with Bay in a minor way.
Vocal Dissonance: Emmett turns out to have a surprisingly deep voice for a teenager, although that also can have something to do with him being deaf—the deeper your voice goes, the easier it is to feel the vibrations and know you're making sound. For instance, compare the pitch of Katie Leclerc's normal voice to Daphne's.
Written-In Infirmity: Constance Marie's wrist injury has been written into the show. In-Universe, the injury was caused by signing so much combined with hairstyling, and has caused conflict between Regina and Daphne because Regina's been unable to sign.
X Meets Y: Emmett's character was described by the producers as "Deaf James Dean." Similarly, Travis has been described in-series as "Deaf Matt Damon."
Invoked by Bay in the first episode, after she discovers the truth. Her parents aren't happy to hear this.
Invoked by Daphne to Regina after she learns Regina knew about the switch.
Played for Drama in "The Shock Of Being Seen." John restricts Bay to homework in the evenings, with no socialization. Angelo happens to walk by and offers to help Bay with her French homework. John says no, but Bay says yes, and implies to John that Angelo is the better father for offering.
Slightly deconstructed later in the episode. When Angelo fesses up and says he covered for Bay sneaking out, John calls him on it and tells him that's NOT how a father is supposed to behave.
Your Cheating Heart: Emmett, after much guilt and deliberation (and being called out on it by Daphne), confesses to Bay during prom that he slept with Simone after the tournament. Unsurprisingly, she doesn't take it well.
In the same episode, Kathryn has an Almost Kiss with Craig the lawyer. He quickly apologizes, but she admits that it wasn't all on him. However, she is horrified by it, and as a result she quickly reconciles with John.
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