Let's Sing Melody's Praises

It must be a challenge for producers of primarily teen-targeted shows not to tip the balance of sympathy too much toward the adults in the young characters' lives. After all, these shows (U.K. Skins excepted) aren't actually written by teenagers; they're written by grown-ups, who may not only have a hard time imagining the problems of teenagers, but who may be parents of teenagers who are probably pains in the ass most of the time, like all teenagers are. I'm not the parent of a teenager, but I am thirty-eight and still the fan of shows that are, I know, for children -- and even so, when such shows focus too much on the characters who are around my own age, I am likely to get bored and quit watching. So given my predilections and prejudices, the achievement Melody Bledsoe represents is all the more impressive.

At first, we (and by "we," I mean me and the high-school sophomores who are actually supposed to be watching Switched At Birth) were probably supposed to dislike Melody (Marlee Matlin). She was abrasive with John (D.W. Moffett) for the way he tried to dominate as a coach of her school's girls' basketball team; she was prejudiced against Bay (Vanessa Marano) for dating Melody's son Emmett (Sean Berdy) because Bay is hearing and Emmett, like Melody, is Deaf. And though Melody might seem tactless by hearing persons' standards, blunt expression is common in Deaf culture (really!) -- besides which, she kept ending up being right. With the commencement of the Kennishes' real relationship to Daphne (Katie LeClerc), whom Melody has known most of Daphne's life, the Kennishes had to learn about Deaf culture quickly, and the Kennishes' privileged background meant that they approached the task with some unconscious arrogance; Melody was integral in preparing John and Bay to be humbled with how much they didn't know.

Eventually, Melody came around on the Kennishes -- even Bay -- and came into her own as kind of a badass. She helped get Emmett back on track after a period of excessive permissiveness facilitated by her ex-husband (Anthony Natale) with loving but firm discipline, making him face the consequences of a vandalism charge by selling his motorcycle to pay the fine. She had a fling with hot younger dude Jeff (Justin Bruening)...which was admittedly a much cooler bedpost notch before he went on to sleep with his employee, high school-aged Daphne.

But the toughest trick Melody has had to pull off is remaining a true, loving confidante to Daphne (particularly after the two became Eskimo sisters). One thing the show does very well is dramatize the reality of growing up the only child of a single parent: though Daphne's mother Regina (Constance Marie) is a very affectionate, capable parent, it can sometimes help for a child to develop parent-ish relationships with other adults, to share their wisdom in a friendly, less judgmental fashion than a parent may tend to exhibit, and obviously Melody has served in this role for an appreciative Daphne. Moreover, because Melody is also employed at Carlton, Daphne's school, she has grounds and authority to get involved in Daphne's life and keep her from making some bad decisions (though, obviously, not all). Never has that been more true than in last night's episode, as Melody took the opportunity, after her Deaf Studies seminar, to tell Daphne some shit she really needed to take in.

Anyone else might scruple to spit "Enough with this guy!" about...a guy she had slept with, to a girl who had also slept with him. But even these messy circumstances couldn't strip Melody of her passion, intensity, or moral authority. And the fact that this amazing character can reside in the body of a woman who once competed on The Celebrity Apprentice should tell you everything you need to know about how unstoppable Melody's awesomeness actually is.