Finding Carter (MTV) (1 Viewer)

MTV dives into ABC Family's usual oeuvre with "Finding Carter", a drama about a teenage girl who discovers that her mother isn't her mother, she's her kidnapper. Kathryn Prescott (the original UK "Skins") stars in the title role.Abducted at age 3 from the front lawn of her family's home, Linden Wilson was raised as Carter Stevens by a woman going by the name of Lori Stevens. And from the glimpses we see, she had a pretty great childhood with her.But after being arrested for a petty crime, her ears trigger a match in a national missing persons database. Her fingerprints and dental records further confirm that she is the three-year-old who went missing and was presumed dead over a decade prior.Suddenly separated from her entire life, she is reunited with her biological family -- all of whom have been profoundly impacted by her disappearance. Her real mother, a police detective, eventually shut down emotionally. Her father, a struggling writer, wrote a bestseller about the family's ordeal. Her twin sister, Taylor, stepped up and took on many of the parental responsibilities that mom and dad abdicated in the aftermath of their loss -- while living a completely straitlaced life in fear that a similar fate would befall her. Her younger brother, Grant, is the self-proclaimed "replacement child." He feels neglected by and invisible to his family, unable step out of the shadow of his sister's absence.Much like "Switched at Birth", it's a brilliant concept that naturally generates drama without the show having to go out of its way to find it. Unlike The Face on the Milk Carton, where the new parents remain blameless in the crime that happened, there is no question that the woman who raised Carter committed an unspeakable crime.But Carter can't, or won't, see it that way. At least through the first two episodes, she is driven by a deep homesickness to be reunited with the life she knew and the mother she loved. And because her biological mother, Elizabeth, is the biggest obstacle preventing that, she antagonizes her, poking ruthlessly at the deep wound at the center of the woman's life.The less of a point of comparison she has with her old life, the more quickly she begins to bond with her new family members. By the end of the second episode, she starts to really connect with her younger brother, who urges her to look at those around her with empathy instead of anger. Her relationship with her twin sister is complicated; they have an instant, intuitive understanding of each other, but common interest in a boy and their very different experiences of this horrible disruption of their lives creates friction and resentment. She also grabs onto her father as a sort of ring buoy, unaware that he's already begun drafting a sequel to his first bestseller focusing on the family's reunion. One of the most moving scenes in the pilot is when she hugs her grandfather and it sparks the first memory of her life before the abduction.The elements of the show outside of the family are less successful. The father's literary agent is beyond callous, to the extent that if he were real he'd never be able to hold onto any clients. Taylor's best friend and crush, Gabe, is of course instantly attracted to Carter and shows an astonishing lack of sensitivity toward his best friend in his pursuit of her. And the fact that he's the son of the police officer that Elizabeth has been having an affair with makes things a little too incestuous. Carter's best friend and ex-boyfriend Max is better, but he lives two hours away so it's open question as to whether we'll be seeing much more of him. The other high school characters are strictly cardboard cutouts at this stage.All in all, not an out and out home run but definitely a show I'll be sticking with for the summer. I'm hoping it deepens and improves over time.

I'm enjoying this show, and many of my issues have been polished away by episode three. I just hope there's some start to the thaw between Carter and Elizabeth soon. I don't think I want to invest in a series-long war between Carter and her biological mother. Both characters have had plenty of moments that humanize and help explain their rather significant faults, but so far neither character has seen the other humanized.I was really hoping Elizabeth was the one she called crying at the side of the road, because it would have been a nice moment for them to connect. I lost a little respect for David when he agreed to cover for Carter. He was more concerned with being the friend parent that bringing the family together with an opportunity to go.One thing that made me really happy was the shot at the end with the kidnapper seething with anger at Carter developing a bond with her biological family. I was really afraid that the show was going to try and make us sympathize with her.Another moment I'm waiting for it when Carter's shell of denial cracks and she has to reconcile this woman she idolized with the horrific crime that was committed. We're still well into the calamity phase of this story, and I'd like to skip ahead to when this family all accepts itself as a family. Because once the show gets there, the heal starts, and that's what really interests me.