When you hear Switched At Birth, what comes to mind? A Lifetime movie perhaps? Well this series was anything but that. In watching the series finale I thought back to the very first time I watched it, way back in 2011. At first I was a little skeptical, a tv show that incorporates American Sign Language (ASL)? I had only ever seen my niece and her mother have conversations in ASL as my niece was deaf. Sisters that were switched at birth and were raised with different families? How Lifetime can you get? But I tuned in anyway, it seemed intriguing in a weird sort of way. And after the first few episodes, I fell in love.
The series finale was definitely a beautiful send off for both main families (the Kennish's and the Vasquez's). Daphne perservered despite a very ignorant person interviewing her for an internship, and she's still working towards being a doctor. Bay and her father were finally able to come to terms about Bay's job as a tattoo artist. Regina was reunited with her former boyfriend Eric, who ends up turning himself in to the cops and letting Regina raise his son Will until he gets out in a few years (He's been on the run ever since he took his son away from his mother for his son's safety). John and Katherine (J & K) had a little bit of a rough patch at the end when Katherine found out that John knew that Bay wasn't their biological daughter. But in the end, he explained that although he knew, he wasn't going to leave them because they're his family, no matter what. Toby, (Bay's brother), finally found fulfillment in his life by deciding to be an advocate for people with Downs Syndrome like his son Carlton. And finally, Travis and Emmett, they finally reconciled after the whole I was dating Bay but I still liked her debacle. Travis gets a big break thanks to John, being able to play baseball in Japan! And Emmett is going with him, to further his photography and keep Travis company too. All in all, I was happy with how each story arc ended, they did enough that it didn't feel like too much. I hate series finales that try to cram in every possible thing they can think of and there's no room to wonder.
What I will miss most about the show is the fact that it forced me to focus like no other tv program has even been able to do. In order to catch everything, you have to watch the entire episode, you can't look away and check your phone, answer a text, etc. because there are large chunks of dialogue that happen in ASL and if you're not looking, you'll miss the subtitles and be so lost. So I am grateful to the show for forcing me to be in the present, at least for that one hour.
