Finding Carter
Finding Carter- Now You See Me (1×04)
Carter Stevens is the center of attention! But what if that attention isn’t good? When people aren’t talking about how she was kidnapped at the young age of 3, their looking at a huge portrait of her rotting face at the schools art gallery. A portrait painted by Bird, which Carter was completely disgusted with. Despite knowing how upset it made her bff, Bird still hung up thousands (and I mean thousands) of colored copies all over the schools hallways the next day. Honestly, the painting wasn’t bad. ‘m not sure why Carter hated it so much. Isn’t it kind of cool to be someones muse? Apparently, that’s not the kind of attention she wants to be getting. So she skipped class and spent the next 6 hours taking down posters with Gabe, who ultimately got a thank you kiss, only to find that Bird put them all back up. The confusion and anger was building inside, but it wasn’t until Bird pushed her and told her the world doesn’t revolve around her did Carter really snap. A girl-fight ensued in the hallway, with the boys desperately trying to break them up before the art professor came out and ordered them to stop and makeup. This was really the beginning of their deeply rooted friendship.
Up until this episode, we knew Carter had made friends and formed a clique in her new school, but we never really saw her bond with anyone that wasn’t an attractive male. When she referred to Bird as her best friend, I was a little iffy because they didn’t seem like best friends to me before. The fight bonded them though and we got to learn about someone other then Carter for a change. Bird’s parents were rich.. but being rich always comes with a price. Her house was gorgeous and modern, but empty, as her parents were rarely home. The huge wad of cash meant that they didn’t plan on coming home for a couple of weeks. For someone who comes from a huge family, Carter wasn’t feeling the lonely vibe and invited Bird to her house. Even though the Wilson household has trouble figuring out how to function as a family, they have the whole open arms to strangers thing down solid. They proved it with Max and now with Bird, who was also making an effort to become friends with Taylor. Yeah, it’s weird seeing people acknowledge her presence but maybe she’ll finally grow into her own skin and realize that it isn’t hard being social.
As her apology, Bird promised Carter that she would paint her another portrait. When she put down her sketchbook to go to the “loo”, Carter took a peak and found a bunch of pages with the same, creepy, dark face on each of them. Bird got super upset that Carter went through her stuff but eventually confessed something she hadn’t told anyone before; she was raped by a man who wore the same mask she was drawing over and over again. Art was her healing process. After the rape, she couldn’t bring herself to draw anything else though. That is until Carter inspired her art gallery piece. She admitted that the whole time, she never imagined Carter’s face as the decaying one. She drew it as a symbol of herself, she just couldn’t bring herself to use her own face. The piece was a look inside her twisted life. Carter might be suffering in public, but Bird is suffering internally.
Max realized his time as the Wilson’s house guest was up when he tried to thank them by doing their laundry and accidentally dyed everything red. Ah, mixing colors. Laundry 101. Elizabeth was a bit upset by his mistake, but realized his heart was in the right place and actually looked a little upset to hear he was going. During his stay she showed him a lot of motherly love– the kind of love she hasn’t really shown Carter yet. The whole family was really sad to see him leave, especially Grant who saw him as his brother and best friend and Taylor, who had a major crush on him. Throughout his stay with the Wilson’s, Max changed a lot, especially after falling for Taylor who “caught him by surprise.” He wasn’t able to say goodbye to Carter so he opted for a phone call when he stopped at the gas station. That’s when he saw Lori, who was attempting to be discreet but was really just donning a horrible disguise. Just goes to show you that the police in this town aren’t really that alert. Maybe that’s because their too busy screwing their co-workers, but more on that in a minute.
Lori explained that she’s been in town this whole time, snooping on Carter and trying to get fake identities so they could run away together again.(For god’s sake she followed Max! Stalked him!) Max was a little taken aback by Lori’s desperation. Was she really trying to get Carter back? After everything that happened, she still believed things could go back to the way they were? Max was definitely a little scared and frankly, so was I. When we first met Lori at the yogurt shop, she seemed like a normal loving mother but now, she had that crazy look in her eye. That little deranged look. Max told her that Carter seemed to be doing well and even got to keep her name, even though it wasn’t her real one. “Of course it is,” she snapped as if she was living in denial. She’s so motivated to get her daughter back that she doesn’t realize her daughter is living a much better life now. What if her daughter doesn’t want to go back to her old life? I’m patiently waiting to get some background on Lori and her motives to kidnap Carter in the first place!Max ultimately returned to the Wilson household at the end of the episode, with a job in town and hopes of finding a place. He liked it here, he was going to stick around. (And probably tell Carter of her mothers plans!)
Carter toned down her attitude a little this week, which was the ultimate sign that she was finally accepting her new life and family. It doesn’t even feel like a new family at all right? Carter seems to feel the same way because when Max asked what she would do if Lori wanted to give her her old life back Carter responded with “whose Lori?”. For a girl who was acting out because she missed her mother, she sure forgot about her quickly. The fact that she forgot her own mother really upset her, as she ran to her room to look at the picture in her desk and reassure herself that it was real. She didn’t forget her “mom”. Although I believe it was a healthy break through– a realization that sometimes you can move on and love other people. This family felt so right. She went from being this hysterical, rebellious, “pity me” teen to becoming a pretty okay daughter who seemed worried about Elizabeth’s reaction when she found out all of her friends were sleeping over. After all the stuff she pulled in the beginning, that’s really what she’s scared of? Elizabeth’s reaction was surprising on so many levels. She wasn’t upset, she didn’t care that boys were sleeping over or that her whole living room was in rags. She actually even smiled and said have fun. All because she got laid at work.
It’s safe to say Elizabeth and David are having problems as a couple. I was a little surprised to find out their actually broke, but I guess it makes sense considering only one of them actually has an income. I like David, but this week he seemed a little odd to me. After finding out that he was going to get a huge check, he went and told the girls they wanted to buy them a car without consulting his wife. Then he took it even further and bought a used car, once again not consulting his wife. Communication is key in relationships and lack of communication means lack of trust and love, especially when your significant other won’t even let you in on what he’s working on. The car purchase sent them into debt and Elizabeth had to ask her mother for money to get the girls a car. How embarrassing. When she finally decided to mention their marital troubles to David, and how she was hurt that he didn’t trust her enough to tell her what he was working on, he kind of brushed her off, which led her to pick up her affair with Kyle. She even told him that she and David were over, something that wasn’t discussed by both of them. Was she telling the truth? Sleeping with Kyle really put her in good spirits and maybe the reason she’s been such a bad mother is because she’s not happy in life. But what crappy timing. Just as things started calming down with Carter and everyone was acting like a family, she’s going to go mess it up. You know Carter would be on David’s side if this were too happen, only until she found out that he was actually writing a tell-all book titled Finding Carter after saying he wasn’t going to. And what happens when she finds out her mom is sleeping with Gabe’s dad and she sort of wants to date Gabe? It doesn’t look pretty.
Finding Carter continues to spiral out of control thanks to Carter’s dumb actions. I mean we can all agree, someone needs to finally put Carter in her place. At 17, we think we have all the answers, when we really know absolutely nothing. Carter wants to be independent, but when things get hard, she always falls back on her mom. This week, both moms came to the rescue and seeing them work together for their daughter was on of my favorite parts of the season.
We pick up in the aftermath of Carter’s party, where Bird’s boyfriend overdosed on molly and died. When I say that Carter makes only dumb decisions, refusing to move Seth’s body was one of the smartest. Jackson desperately wanted to move it so the blame wouldn’t be put on them. He then repeatedly tried to persuade Carter that they did nothing wrong, but in fact, he’s the one who sold Seth the drugs, not Ben like Carter initially believed.
They were taken into questioning and thankfully, Carter didn’t fall into their trap and admit to anything. Since she wasn’t on good terms with Liz, she phoned Lori for help, who in turn called Liz because really, she was the only one who could get Carter out of this mess. And the mess was big- if the police pinned this on her she could be tried as an adult for manslaughter. Oh how quickly things went downhill.
When found out that her boyfriend was dealing at the party and lied to her about it, she was done with him. His ex was right, Jackson is scum. In order to find some proof, Carter took Max to snoop around the bar and find the pills. Max unscrewed the faucet and they found traces, which wasn’t enough to actually prove anything. But at least she knew the truth. Jackson walked in and figured something was off, so he turned her into the cops. What a douche bag!
That’s when Liz and Lori decided to team up and take this guy down. Liz went in as the cop trying to persuade Jackson to fess up. When he didn’t Lori used the “insane” card, stole Liz’s gun and pointed it at him until he confessed. All of it was heard by the detectives parked outside. And that’s how the cookie crumbles. You know, it’s really incredible that Carter still has such a good team surrounding her after all the bull she’s pulled.
Naturally, Bird spent the whole episode grieving her boyfriend. She decided to throw him an Irish style memorial and all the friends, who like Carter make equally bad decisions, helped out. After all was said and done, Bird finally broke down and told Carter and Taylor the truth- she’s pregnant with Jackon’s baby. That was super predictable but maybe this will be the wake up call these teens need. Maybe she’ll even let Damon help her raise the kid!
But the drama is not over! As Carter left Bird’s place, Jackson was hiding out and spying on her. That’s bad news. I’m not sure why the cops released him, after all he admitted to selling the drugs and that batch is connected to several other murders. But any who, now that he’s free, he’ll be coming for revenge and no one is safe, especially not Carter.
Carter and Taylor are both going through some pretty serious stuff on this weeks Finding Carter.
Taylor, Gabe and Damon take a road trip together to visit a possible college over the weekend. Things are going pretty well until they get invited to their tour leaders frat party. The minute he asked Taylor to get her a drink, I knew we were headed for trouble. The show deals with a lot of touchy subjects, but seeing a guy drug and try to rape Taylor just really made my blood boil. The worst part- this kind of stuff actually happens. “Good guys” take advantage of girls all the time and not all of them have their angel Gabe to save the day. Thankfully, Taylor did. He scooped her right up and left, but not before giving the scumbag what he deserved. Gabe may have had a hard year, but honestly, he’s a stand up guy. Taylor woke up on the ride home confused, but when she heard what happened, she begged Gabe not to tell Max. I will just say, secrets have a way of getting out and honestly, this is nothing to be ashamed about.
Meanwhile, back home Liz found out that no one really trusts her. David is on his book tour ignoring her calls. She finds out he and Carter went to visit Lori and helped her prove that she was a good parent to Ben. Thanks to Ben, she also finds out that Carter is working at a bar and she’s not pleased. Eventually, she let Carter do it because well, she’s going to do it anyways.
Carter does her best to protect Ben since he is her brother but he’s not making it easy. He’s secretive, he rats her out to her mom and he’s stealing money from her boss Jared. That doesn’t make her situation with him any easier. After all, she just told Jared that she’s actually 17, not 21. So he hired a minor and has been dating one. Yeah, he has every right to be mad. Eventually though, he figures out that Carter has a good head for business and that he can’t afford to loose her. Plus, he’s madly in love. But, he goes behind her back and pretty much threatens Ben for stealing from him. He’s going to need a favor and Ben will pay up. What kind of trouble are these two going to get into?
Is anyone else watching Carter’s new relationship (which I’m totally shipping BTW) and wondering what will happen when Crash returns? I mean, these two were about to move to California together and now she’s dating this new guy. That probably won’t go over very well.
Overall, I’m impressed with the tone the new season is taking. I was scared that after all the Lori drama, there wouldn’t be more to focus on. But now we have an underaged teen working in a bar with her cop mothers approval, she’s dating an older guy, which kind of makes this an illegal relationship. There’s the drama with Gabe and with Taylor and Lori is still screwing things up and possibly the most intriguing, Ben and his sister Reagen, which no one knows about yet. This family just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Carter got served on the finale of Finding Carter! Side note- can you believe we have to wait till OCTOBER for new episodes. I won’t make it…
Lori Stevens is a psychopath- We’ve known that since day one which sucks because it is so hard for Carter to accept. That’s her mother… at least that’s who she thought her mother was her whole life. When she gets papers asking to be a witness in Lori’s trial, she kind of freaks out. First off- what judge is insane enough to think Lori, a kidnapper, could get custody of her daughter? When you move past it, you realize the whole ordeal is pretty screwed up. Carter has to testify in front a jury and Lori is convinced she’s got this in the bag.
You’d think Lori wouldn’t have a plausible case when it comes down to it, but she does. Her insane mind has been working on this since the minute Elizabeth took her “daughter” back. For one, she is Carter’s biological mother. Yes, she was only an “egg donor” but it means more now that she’s actually got a relationship with Carter. While Carter testifies she wants Elizabeth to be her mother, wants her last name to be Wilson and refers to Lori as her kidnapper, she also cannot deny that she does love Lori. Lori’s defense attorney brings Carter’s visit to the hospital when she tried to commit suicide against her, especially the “I love you more” part. She never mistreated Carter, always showed her kindness and was a good mom. That moves the jury.
But it gets worse. The list of witnesses isn’t long in Lori’s case but it does feature Benjamin Wallace. No one knows who he is, but he sure does show up for the court hearing, just after making small talk with Carter outside. When he’s called to the stand he confesses that he’s Lori’s biological son and his father is David Wilson. *Bomb explodes* Yep… he sure did say David Wilson. This family has issues!
Of course that was the cliffhanger and we’re reeling with questions. Is he really the product of Lori and David’s affair? Ew. This isn’t going to go over well with Liz, who just patched things up with David. Did David know? Didn’t he say they had a brief but not-serious fling? Where has Ben been all this time? Was he adopted by someone else? Does this mean he really is Carter and Taylor’s brother? How will the jurors look at this now. Oh man.
Kyle Is Dead- Aside from Carter’s drama, things got kind of dark for Gabe, who lost his father last week. Can you imagine it? I was surprised he was dealing with it so well, until I realized it was all a front. The whole situation is kind of messy considering now Gabe doesn’t have parents and Liz wants to be there for him but he hates her because she screwed over his dad. And of course, Liz just broke up with Kyle right before he was shot taking a bullet for her, so the whole thing is still painful.
Bird’s Parents- Her rents finally come home after doing god knows what, god knows where. It’s crazy to me that her mother leaves her for days on end, but when she comes home she expects Bird to be at her beck and call. It’s also interesting to see someone who portrays herself to be so strong, be so weak around her parents. But despite the added “drama” the storyline doesn’t do much for Bird or the show.
Max Is On the Move- When Bird’s parents returned they kicked out Madison and Max. Madison ultimately decided to go back home and face her parents while Max saved up enough money to move into the apartment that he once had really good memories with Taylor at. She obviously couldn’t move in with him because she’s still in high school, but she did bring him a plant. It’s nice to see them back together and Taylor move past the whole “I slept with your twin sister on accident thing.” Although… I doubt I could ever.
What did you think of the Finding Carter finale? Are you shocked by Lori’s move and her son with David? Will she get custody of Carter? Will Lori have to become part of the family or will they do everything to try to lock her up? Was Ben in the same situation as Carter? He said he’s been dragged around court rooms? Did Lori pull the same thing on him and take him away from his real family and win in court? That would be messed up! Till October.
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