Stitchers delivers an emotional roller coaster of an episode with “Paternis.” At first, it seems like it’s just going to focus on Cameron’s family — specifically, his past and (lack of) present relationship with his father — but instead we get a look at other characters’ past familial relationships as well. By the end of it, there are upheavals in nearly every relationship on the show (even if some people may not know it yet).
Camille is waiting (quite impatiently and with arms outstretched to catch it) for the other shoe to drop in her relationship with Amanda, while Linus is too focused on any potential good in his relationship with Ivy (Maggie may be on the road to trusting her and may be letting her work with the team!) to not keep texting her even though she’s not replying. But is an accidental slip going to be what’s most damaging for one of the team’s relationships?
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The Truth About the Past
As has been established, Cameron’s father, James Miller, is in jail after being behind a huge Ponzi scheme, and flashbacks show when he was arrested. In the present, Cameron tries to visit his father in prison, but after he waits for two hours, the fire alarm goes off and he has to leave.
Just as he’s wondering why he decided to see his dad now, Maggie calls Cameron to tell him that his father is in lockdown. He’s been accused of killing a prison guard, Gary Parsons, but he claims he acted in self-defense. Maggie has used her authority to order a stitch.
Kirsten sees that Parsons was well-liked by everyone, and he and James did each other favors. (James helped with his tax return and Parsons brought him lasagna.) Someone called him and wanted to know if “Bruce” tried to get to Miller. The death memory confirms James’ story of self-defense. What Kirsten doesn’t tell Cameron during the stitch is that his father knew he was there and told Parsons to let him go home.
Parsons had cancer and his medical bills were piling up, but suddenly they were paid off. Scott Bruce could be the “Bruce” mentioned in the stitch; he invested and lost all his money (and his marriage) thanks to James. Could he have paid Gary to kill James?
Based on Camille and Fisher’s conversation with Scott, no. He says he owes his life to James because he only cared about money, but he made the choice to invest with him, and now he cares about what really matters. Plus, he lives in a trailer park and there’s no way he has the money to pay off Gary.
Since Cameron can’t go to see his father since NSA or people might think he’s a snitch, he poses as James’ lawyer. James tries to get him to leave, but Cameron refuses, instead asking who “Bruce” is, if he knows anyone who’d pay Gary to kill him and where he put the $30 million that was unaccounted for after he was caught. James just tells his son to leave for his own good. “Right, because you’ve always done such a good job at protecting me,” Cameron says before doing just that. But as he does, a guard calls someone to report his visit.
That night, two men burst into Cameron’s apartment wanting to know what his father told him. Linus returns with takeout at the right moment, but what were they hoping to get from Cameron?
Kirsten stitches into Parsons again and sees a guy promising that his medical bills will be paid. Parsons also called someone to report that “Bruce” was there to see Miller and pulled the fire alarm to get him out of there. When Kirsten tells Cameron this, he realizes he’s Bruce.
When James was arrested, the SEC agent, Joe Zeiss, told Cameron he was being brave like Bruce Wayne. Zeiss paid Gary to kill James. The agent stole the $30 million and hid it and blackmailed Miller to take the blame in exchange for Cameron’s safety.
They bring James in, and Cameron tells him that they’ve figured out the truth. He’s going to arrest Zeiss, and his father doesn’t have to protect him anymore. James admits that he made mistakes and never set out to hurt anyone, but he deserves to be in jail for what he did. But not for what he didn’t do, his son points out, and it looks like this is the first step to repairing their relationship.
As for Zeiss’ arrest, we don’t see it because his son is there when Cameron shows up with Fisher. Not wanting to see him go through what he himself went through as a kid, Cameron tells Fisher that they’ll come back.
Accidental Betrayal
While going over what happened while she was away, Maggie asks Cameron about Camille running a few stitches. He was working through concerns about Kirsten’s safety. He then asks about the device he found and tries to get her to tell him who’s picking the cases. That’s classified, she says. Bu when he pushes, arguing that they could get Kirsten’s mother out of her cryogenic tank if he could talk to the person on the other end and adjust their stitches, he lets it slip that Kirsten knows where her mother is.
And when Kirsten goes to visit her mother later in the episode, she’s gone. She fears that Stinger found her, but Cameron admits that he let her location slip to Maggie. She trusted him with the most important thing in the world. “How could you betray me?” Kirsten asks him before leaving to be with someone she can trust (Ivy).
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And the Shoe Drops
“Paternis” also offers flashbacks to Camille’s childhood, when she scammed people out of money to help her “fix” her broken bike on the side of the road and told the police that her brother’s drugs were hers that she found on the street. (And it’s not like he was the best brother; he told her that no one liked her after she saved him from being arrested.) “No one’s happy in a trailer park,” she tells Fisher at one point.
Fighting off a woman with a knife is easy for Camille, she admits to Fisher, but waiting for the other shoe to drop in her relationship with Amanda is scary. And she inadvertently causes it to drop. When Amanda notices her distance while they’re kissing, Camille admits that the case is bringing up bad memories and asks her why she likes her. Why does anyone like her? Camille continues, objecting to Amanda telling her she’s beautiful, smart, funny, kinder than she thinks and honest. She hides how she feels all the time, Camille confesses, and maybe the fact that Amanda thinks she doesn’t with her is a sign of how good she is at scamming people. She’s pushing her away, Amanda argues, because she’s afraid of getting close and getting hurt.
Kirsten coming home interrupts their conversation, and the roommates’ conversation about Ivy is easily a direct reflection of Camille’s own relationship with her sibling. “There are days when I actually miss the old feelings-challenged you because now you have this, like, huge emotional blind spot where, when it comes to certain people, you actually care too much,” Camille says.
People lie all the time, so just because Ivy says she’s done with Stinger doesn’t mean she actually is. And while Kirsten thinks she’s supposed to protect her sister, Camille argues that Ivy is an adult and doesn’t need her baby sister protecting her, just like Camille shouldn’t have had to protect her brother.
After apologizing to Amanda for how she acted, Camille admits that she’s “bad” at taking off her armor, but she thinks Amanda is worth taking a shot on. The only problem? It’s not what Amanda wants to hear. She doesn’t want to be anyone’s “shot,” and she walks away.
Ghosting — But for a Good Reason?
There are also flashbacks to Linus’ childhood, when he had no friends (bragging about knowing pi to the 185th digit didn’t help), but there was hope with his parents’ new jobs in LA. He’d have all the friends he wanted there, his dad told him, but Linus would’ve been “happy with one.” That didn’t work out, but while he had his parents, he still just wanted friends.
But while he has friends now, things aren’t going so well for Linus on the relationship front. Ivy’s not responding to his texts, and he’s worried that something happened to her or he’s coming off too strong. He even ends up leaving her a voicemail to let her know that he’s there for her whenever she needs him to be.
It turns out that Stinger has been texting and calling Ivy, and he even shows up at her place uninvited. “We’re all each other have,” he says, but she corrects him: she has a sister, friends and a man who loves her. She hasn’t spoken to Linus because she’s worried he won’t trust her if he finds out that Stinger’s been talking to her. Stinger wants her to stay close to Linus and make him trust her so they can find out where Jacqueline is, but Ivy refuses. However, before he leaves, Stinger wonders how her new friends would feel if they found out who was really behind the young Cameron anomaly.
What do you think about the reveal that Cameron’s father has been protecting him? How do you think Kirsten and Cameron will get past his accidental betrayal? Do you think there’s still hope for Camille and Amanda, or Linus and Ivy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Stitchers season 3 airs Mondays at 9/8c on Freeform. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of Freeform)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
If it’s on TV — especially if it’s a procedural or superhero show — chances are Meredith watches it. She has a love for all things fiction, starting from a young age with ER and The X-Files on the small screen and the Nancy Drew books. Arrow kicked off the Arrowverse and her true passion for all things heroes. She’s enjoyed getting into the minds of serial killers since Criminal Minds, so it should be no surprise that her latest obsession is Prodigal Son.
