5 Things We Learned During Switched at Birth 5×09

Credit: Freeform/Kelsey McNeal

In Switched at Birth 5×09, Daphne and Regina had to make tough choices, and another Ghost of Switchmas Past showed up. Read on for five things we learned during Switched at Birth 5×09, “The Wolf is Waiting.”

1. John steps up to the plate.

So apparently the guy Travis punched at last episode’s turn-on-the-lights party filed a complaint with the UMKC Athletics Department – and his father is a major donor who threatens to take his money elsewhere unless Travis gets kicked off the baseball team. John reluctantly complies, telling Travis to get to the bottom of his anger issues or they’ll keep causing problems. Travis thanks him and notes, “You’ve always taken care of me. I won’t forget it.” With those words in his mind, John contacts a friend of his and gets Travis a spot on a professional baseball team – in Japan.

2. Daphne buys time.

After Daphne voiced her suspicions about steroid use at UMKC in last week’s episode, all student athletes are ordered to undergo a mandatory drug test. In Switched at Birth 5×09, Daphne draws upon her medical knowledge to try to help Chris beat the system, but the technician doing the testing knows all the tricks. Luckily, Daphne is the one logging everyone’s samples at the health center – but is she willing to compromise her ethics for Chris? A conversation with Chris’ proud aunt and another with Bay help her make her choice, and she “drops” Chris’ sample, giving him time to get the steroids out of his system before being retested.

Daphne: “It’s wrong, helping someone cheat, right?”
Bay: “Is it cheating to help someone who doesn’t ever get a fair shake to begin with? You didn’t see when they pinned [Chris] down for trying to steal his own bike. … When your medical career was on the line, I took the bullet for you. I didn’t even hesitate and I would do it again in a second.”

3. Travis faces the truth.

During dinner at Travis’ biological mom’s house, the uncle who molested Travis as a kid shows up. Bay and Travis quickly leave, but Karen knows something’s up and drops by the tattoo shop to ask Bay if she did something wrong. “Whatever it is, I just want to know.” Buoyed by John’s advice and Bay’s support, Travis eventually opens up. Karen says some of the absolute worst things you can say to someone in Travis’ position, but his emotional outburst eventually convinces her. After Bay shows her the sign for “believe,” she tells her son she believes him and they hug.

4. Eric’s back… one year later.

Remember Eric, former co-owner of The Cracked Mug and current fugitive? Well, he reappears to grab a stash of money hidden under the floorboards in Daphne and Bay’s apartment (which Bay really could’ve used last week). Getting the money isn’t his only motive for visiting, though. He admits he’s sick of being on the run with his son and, with his ex-wife in jail, he’s planning to leave the country. Although Regina declines to go with him, they share a passionate kiss and he says he’s staying at a motel if she changes her mind. Somehow, I doubt this is over…

5. Switched at Birth ends next week!

So this isn’t exactly a bombshell, but after five seasons and more than 100 episodes, the Switched at Birth series finale airs next week. Here’s what Katie Leclerc (Daphne Vasquez) had to say about it when we interviewed her back in January:

Oh my goodness, I love our season finale. Truly, as a fan of the show, as a person who dropped everything when we would get scripts in our email so I could find out what happened next, it is the finale that I wanted after five seasons.

What are some of your favorite Switched at Birth moments? How do you hope the show will end? Tune in to Freeform next Tuesday at 9/8c for the final episode!