My ThoughtsOn In the Dark Episode 4

This post is a bit late because I just now figured out how to search in the app for the episodes of the show. If you search the CW app for the title of the episode you will find it. I missed last week’s episode and just got caught up. Let me quickly add here though I forgot to mention something I liked in the third episode. A big thank you shout out goes out to my twin for reminding me about that! When Murphy was hanging out with the high school girls instead of being at the assembly to raise money for the guide dog school her parents work at, the girls took time to tell Murphy what she looked like. One of them even told her she was obsessed with her hair which I thought is such a young girl thing to say. I really liked how they told her what she looked like. Moving on now to episode number four. What an episode! Holy cow, my brain! The episode was all over the place which means this post will be that way as well. Let’s get into it.

The episode begins with a playful interaction between Tyson and his mother. She is teasing him about going on a date, but she realizes that she has in fact been in the dark about her son’s involvement with drugs. This is really sad and any good mother would be upset about it. Then we switch to Max, Murphy’s boyfriend, cooking for them and her roommate and best friend, Jess. The friendship between Murphy and Jess is starting to remind me of my friendship between my good friend Helene and me. When Jess helps Murphy get food, part of me has split feelings on this. Murphy can do things on her own so I feel like Jess should be careful, but at the same time, we all need help sometimes. My favorite part of the cooking scene was when Max tries telling Murphy where her water is on the table by saying, “It’s right there.” Jess responds by telling Max that Murphy doesn’t know what that means. She was so quick about it that it gave me a good laugh. Jess is a little snapfire! Is that a thing? I don’t know, but she’s a little sassy! I thought of Helene because she would have taken it upon herself to educate people that good, clear directions are helpful.

There is a flashback to this guy getting shot and Tyson’s cousin taking him away from the situation as quickly as possible. This made me believe that Tyson killed this person, but later in the episode his cousin says Tyson witnessed this guy getting killed. The female cop and Chloe’s dad are trying to figure out who shot this person and Chloe’s father sees a connection between the two cases. He tells the female cop the ways in which he believes this shooting and Tyson missing are related and she tells him not to talk to Tyson’s cousin about Tyson at all. She wants him to focus on this case but he’s doing what any good cop should do and discuss any connections he may have found. In the episode we find out that the female cop is sleeping with Tyson’s cousin so that explains her behavior. Crazy!

Murphy obviously still wants to know what happened to her friend, so she tries talking Jess into going to see Jamie, believed to be Tyson’s girlfriend. Jess cannot bring Murphy so she has Max take her. Jess tells her this isn’t a good idea but she does it anyhow. When Murphy and Max arrive at Jamie’s house, Murphy starts talking to this girl as if she’s Jamie. Girl you should never assume! She was definitely being pushy. This girl’s dad comes out and asks them to leave and tells them he’ll call the police if they don’t. Murphy talks to the father a little more and finds out that he is Tyson’s father. He tells her that Tyson is alive, he quit his job and left town. We learn that Chloe’s father has a thing for Murphy. What? This would be an interesting relationship if Murphy ever dated him, but she would definitely need to grow up first.

Something else interesting is Chloe hanging out with Murphy at her house. Chloe says she knows Murphy didn’t just come over to eat and spend time with her, she knew she was up to something. Murphy and Chloe end up using her dad’s police computer to get Jamie’s address so Murphy can go find out some more information about Tyson. Chloe tells Murphy she’ll help her with her dad’s computer because she would’ve just been with her babysitter. What? Chloe is fourteen! She definitely doesn’t need a babysitter! A lot of people are really funny about leaving blind people alone though. In a house, an apartment, in college, people get weird. I remember in college this one girl would call my reader and friend to tell her I was in the hallway. I understand trying to help, but do you think that she can make it across campus any faster? In this episode we see some invasion of privacy going on. Murphy lies to her mother and says she’s missing the puppy graduation at the guide dog school because she has decided to get herself into therapy. Girl, don’t you need it! Her mother later finds out from another coworker, Felix that she is actually with her boyfriend. Murphy’s mom, not knowing Murphy had a boyfriend, goes through Jess’s phone and finds Max’s number. Jess keeps her from calling him by telling her stories about where Murphy is. Jess then admits she put a tracking app on Murphy’s phone so she could see where her best friend and Max went. I have mixed feelings on this. I understand being concerned and looking out for someone’s safety, but I also feel like tracking someone and someone going through your phone is invading someone’s privacy. Unless you really can’t, find another way to get Max’s number and any addresses you might need. Murphy isn’t twelve. What I want to know though, is how does Murphy not know Jess put a tracking app on her phone? She uses speech! The only way she might not know is if Jess put the app on a page of apps she knows Murphy wouldn’t check. Even though part of me thinks it is an invasion of privacy, I do understand safety absolutely comes first. Blind women have a high chance of being assaulted, so I get it. I see both sides to this.

There were two points during this where Murphy’s sarcasm made me laugh. Murphy needs to use the bathroom and Max asks her if she needs help. She says something along the lines of, “Yes, I’ve never peed a day in my life”. To be honest, there isn’t many things I like about Murphy, but I’m waiting to see what else they do with her character. She is crazy! Somehow she gets the lock on the stall stuck and ends up crawling on the floor to get out. Max comes in because she was in there a long time and tries to help her. Instead of acting like a normal person and taking him up on it, she yells at him for being in a woman’s bathroom and tells him she doesn’t want his help. Hello? Girl! Get out your phone and call your boyfriend. Tell him you’re stuck. Or you know, make some noise with your cane so someone knows you’re having issues and you clearly need some help. She has way too much pride going on.

Another time we see Murphy acting crazy is when she and Max are out to eat. He offers to help her and again she doesn’t take it. He suggests she take her cane and she responds with, “I can hear the china!” Are you out of your mind? She puts her hands all over the food and asks someone about the food she has. You do not go putting your hands on everything in public like that! You definitely should have gotten help instead. Max isn’t the only one who tries helping her get food and she refuses again. Max and Murphy start fighting and they’re asked to leave. Can you really blame them? I’d kick them out too. The manager places his hands on Murphy and tells her she needs to leave. She hits him and Max reminds him she has asked him not to touch her. She also hits Max by mistake thinking it was the manager. Girl, that’s twice now you have hurt your boyfriend! I understand looking beyond someone’s baggage, but what is wrong with Max that he is with someone this crazy? Max freaks out because the police are now involved and he has a record. Murphy speaks to the officer and turns the whole thing around. Instead of talking about her crazy behavior, she tells the cop that the place is not accessible, she didn’t have a Braille menu and plays it off as though she was the one getting hurt. We knew she was manipulative didn’t we?

I want to talk about Max. I don’t like that he has a record, that’s never good. That aside, I am liking Max a lot more than I did in the last episode where I didn’t quite know what to make of him. I can appreciate Max because he got the memo on when to offer help and when not to. I think that he has his crazy moments too though. Let’s talk about the time he let Murphy drive his car. He hardly told her what to do. They almost got into a crash. That’s just crazy, especially on a busy, open road. Let’s back up to the bathroom scene again for a second. When Max leaves Murphy, he is told to move his car. He tells the mechanic to tell Murphy he moved his car. Dude. Your girlfriend is blind. He should have moved his car, come back to wait for her and either physically or voice guided her to the vehicle. Murphy comes out of the bathroom and asks where Max went. As typical of a sighted person, the mechanic says, “Over there,” and she is trying to figure out where “over there” is. She did ask but she should have been much better about that. She should have said she is blind and explained that she has no clue what “over there” means. She makes her way outside looking for her boyfriend and almost gets hit by a car. Max runs out to grab her and they yell at the driver. Again though, Max should have at least given her some information about where he was. I know they were fighting, but that wasn’t cool. The last point where Murphy’s sarcasm made me laugh is when they were crossing a street after she almost got hit by a car. Max tells her she can take his arm and offers to help her cross the street. She comments how she has never crossed a street in her life and that she doesn’t need his help. Girl, you almost got hit by a car! I’d take help after that! She needs to calm down. His background aside, Max really does have the perfect balance of helping and not helping.

Lastly, I want to talk about the puppy raiser who had difficulty giving up the dog she had. This woman observes that Murphy left her guide dog, Pretzel, at the school all day so she must not have really needed him. Murphy mentions that she almost died and if she had her dog that wouldn’t have happened. I thought this was good because just because somebody doesn’t always take their dog or cane everywhere doesn’t mean they don’t completely need them. The woman tells Felix and Jess that the dog has a problem because he begs for food. She expresses how she plans on keeping the dog and Felix goes right into the fact that she signed a contract so she isn’t able to keep him. I mean, okay, but you couldn’t start off by saying how giving them back is hard so you could understand why she’d be emotional? Way to go by the books dude! Murphy’s mom talks to this woman about how rude her daughter is and unloads everything on her about Murphy going with Max. This was a bit weird, but if you look under it all, you’ll be able to see she was trying to say in a very strange way that letting go is hard. It is hard for her to let go of Murphy and let her go with people she doesn’t know, and it’s hard for this woman to let go of the dog she’s helped raise.

For those of you watching the show, what do you think of it so far? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is there anything else I should be blogging about? Please let me know. Leave me a comment right here on my website or find me on Twitter at mirandaloakley. I’m also on Facebook at Miranda Oakley, but I just ask that if you send me a friend request that you send me a message and tell me who you are and how you found me.

Best,

Miranda ❤