I watched the pilot episode of “Switched at Birth” on Netflix for two reasons. First, I was in the mood for something sappy and maybe more family-oriented (compared to, say, “New Girl,” which is decidedly NOT). Second, this show had a very high user rating — over 4 stars — which is rare.
My expectations were high, both because of the user ratings and because of the deeply emotional setup (two teenagers discovering they had been switched at birth). I was quite prepared to cry. I’ll even go so far as to say I was in the mood for it.
I expected the ENTIRE pilot episode to show me how they discovered the switch and how they first responded to the realization. This is a shocking, deeply emotional situation that received a sort of hand-waved in the first 5-10 minutes of the show. And now they’re coming over to dinner and we’re getting to know each other.
Okay, obviously by turning this story into a series, that part was coming. But why, in a show that is supposed to be dramatic, do you ignore the first test of both emotions and characters?
The result of glossing over the setup without stopping for tears was that none of the characters came to life and in fact, almost none of the characters are remotely likeable. They came across as lacking depth because they were not shown handling truly deep situations. What remained was pure stereotype — Mr. and Mrs. Millionaire reacting more (at least based on screen time) came across as narrow-minded, snobbish, and racist. Your typical rich cliche. Their daughter, upon discovering that her “real” mother was half Puerto-Rican, lost every ounce of sympathy I might otherwise have felt from her. Meanwhile, on the other side of this equation, we have a deaf girl. The deaf girl was the most likeable member of the cast, but then, it’s hard to dislike a deaf character. She did not rise above her stereotype either and came across as little more than an icon of deaf culture. I might have expected that to some degree, given how little most people know about deaf culture, but again going back to the primary plot problem here — I have no idea how she felt upon discovering that her mom was not her mom. She decided to go to the preppy school near the end of the episode. Why? Her lack of hearing is the only thing defining this girl at the moment.
All in all, the pilot was a disaster, covering situations that should have taken at least 4 hour-long episodes to fully develop. I wanted to like this show, I really did. And maybe the characters will rise above their stereotypes if I watch further, but I don’t see myself doing so for one simple reasons: The writers have already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they do not know how to handle drama.
I do not recommend.