An emotional goodbye for Farrah sets the tone.
Teen Mom finally cracked through my glacial heart this season in this episode that focused on Farrah and Sophia’s trek to visit the grave of her deceased ex, Derek. Two years after his death in a car accident, Farrah realized it was time to take her daughter to his final resting place and get some real closure on that chapter of her life.
With the gentle support of her mom and Derek’s family, Farrah was brave enough to say goodbye to not only Derek but the “what-ifs” of her life if Derek was still around. It was hugely affecting to watch Farrah mourn the father of her child and see how far she’s come as a single mother and a young woman trying to find her path at a very young age. While Farrah can certainly be selfish and bratty, in this episode she looked like a mom and a lot more grown-up lamenting how Sophia will never know her dad or understand really what she lost. It felt like a benchmark moment for Farrah and a milestone she needed to hit so she can move forward now after graduating with her associate’s degree.
Catelynn and Tyler also moved forward for the better with Tyler finally graduating high school. Of all the kids featured on Teen Mom, I may like Tyler the most. For such a young man with a troublesome home life, he’s got a great heart and the rare gift of self-reflection. At a graduation party with his friends, Tyler sits down with his mom and thanks her for making him stick with school. It’s the rare teen that can see already how much it means to be a good parent even when your kid fights you. While he may not have his daughter to raise, you really get the sense that Tyler is still thinking like a parent and trying to live better so he can be a good example to her in the future. Catelynn is also on the right track as she passed the necessary World History class to graduate in the spring so she can walk with Tyler at graduation in May.
On the other hand Maci seems a little stuck. She’s falling behind in school because parenting Bentley is a full-time job, as well the distractions that come with spending time with Kyle who is still at home all day because he can’t find a job. As she cooks for them and they play with Bentley, her journalism classes get pushed to the wayside and she admits to her friend that she’s not that upset about it. Her goal to graduate with a degree is taking a lot longer than expected to accomplish, so her patience is waning and she admits she would rather be a stay-at-home mom now instead.
I think I missed somewhere exactly how she’s living in an apartment, paying for school and meeting living expenses with little to no child support. I know MTV pays the women so that’s fine, but aside from that, it’s clear Maci is being very short-sighted about long-term plans for caring for Bentley past the show if she doesn’t improve her situation. There’s also the specter of court costs looming as Ryan tells his lawyer he wants to push forward with zapping Maci with a custody fight so their mediation agreement can become legal. Ryan has a point about wanting to make their parenting equal by law, but his actions still smack of being petty. Maybe it’s because Ryan never shows much emotion so he doesn’t help himself in terms of gaining viewer sympathy on the show.
Lastly, Amber and Gary head to a Child Services meeting over custody of Leah. Amber’s new house still isn’t kid ready, but when it is, she’ll get Leah back. For moral support, Amber asked her mom and cousin to be with her at the meeting. However that went sour fast when Amber’s mom started verbally poking at her already nervous daughter so old wounds got opened anew.
After the meeting, Amber tore into her mom for being so nasty and belligerent in the meeting (we now see where Amber’s temper comes from). Mom got insulted and the yelling increased until she finally left with bad feelings aroused once more between the two. Watching them fight, you can see that Amber really doesn’t have much of a positive role model for how to handle and keep her emotions in check. It’s sad and you can’t help worrying about poor Leah, knowing unless Amber breaks the cycle this path may repeat itself once more.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.