Bright Light #2.5: Focusing on Cate
When we first set out to write this series on Life Unexpected, we planned out four different entries, one each week of August. But we just have too much to say! Last week, we posted about Lux and now here we are with our thoughts about Cate. Again, we wrote this one a little different. FF begins writing about Cate’s character, and RV finishes with Cate’s relationships with Baze and Ryan. (Thank God we have word limits for one another, these could have gone on forever!)
Thanks for reading! And in even more exciting news, we are less than a month away from Life Unexpected Season 2 premiere!
Funfetti: I could have easily been Cate in high school. I belonged in the overachieving, book-loving group. Frankly, I think there are more of us than the popular girls with the right clothes and hunky boyfriends. One night for Cate, the geek gets the hunk guy. This is when the earth tilts out of control and Lux is conceived.
At some point in every one’s lives there is a defining moment. Cate has had two.
No one knows what they would do in this position until it happens to them. It was a decision worth applauding (I’ve seen too many Pregnant at 16 horror stories). She knew she was incapable of being a good parent and gave Lux up for adoption, totally believing the right parents could come along (isn’t this what we all think?)
So we’re not sure how Cate got through high school (although she was valedictorian) onto college and became a radio personality. Seems like an interesting career path for someone who was so guarded, who kept such a huge secret for so long.
And who could blame her? She confronted Baze about her pregnancy (was she more like Lux back then?) only to be shot down. It was worse than not having him notice her, or asking her to dance. That kind of rejection never disappears. It always has a way of creeping back … even when you think it’s gone.
Then there is life defining moment #2. Lux shows up, causing all of Cate’s insecurities to come flooding back, more so than ever before. Because even though she fits so well into the persona she has created for herself…the old Cate is still there.
She wants to make up for all her past mistakes. Anyone would. But she goes about it in the wrong way. All these big gestures - buying the winter formal dress, guaranteeing she could get Bug a job - it’s like wrapping things up with a bow will conceal the guts of the situation. Like why she blames Baze for everything terrible in her life, why she is scared of Ryan, and why she never inquired about Lux’s whereabouts.
In other words, she is a mess. But we are all messes. Unlike some, Cate fesses up. And she tries again.
It’s normal to feel 16 sometimes. And I like that about Cate. We are all lost, scared, insecure, trying to figure things out. More than once in our lives. It just doesn’t end when you give a child away for adoption or get a diploma or your dream job. It doesn’t even end when you become a mother.
It’s ironic. Lux, at first, caused her to shy away, disengage and now with Lux’s reappearance, she has been forced to reconnect beyond any way she has before. She’s been given a second chance.
Red Velvet: Baze vs. Ryan - we knew (even before Cate did) that eventually it would come to this. There’s always a love triangle right? What makes this more compelling is that there’s no obvious right choice. At first, Ryan seems like “the one.” He must be the most understanding guy EVER. Aside from one slight freak out (and his [justified] anger at Cate for cheating on him), he pretty much embraced the appearance of his fiance’s 15-year-old daughter without question. He became another father figure in Lux’s life and gave her great advice on all things Cate. I don’t know many guys who would do that. (Especially after never knowing Cate had been pregnant in high school!) But he did. He also forgave Cate for cheating on him, accepted her irrational jealousy regarding Baze and was even willing to postpone his own wedding if Lux wasn’t ready. Ryan is kind of.. perfect. He’s the embodiment of all the stability and love Cate has been craving her whole life. So why isn’t he the obvious choice?
Chemistry. That chemistry that’s just there in every scene between Cate and Baze - whether they’re fighting or sharing a rare tender moment. They have a connection that can’t be ignored. For Cate, their past alone brings up so much for her. She gets pregnant by the one guy she always dreamed of being with, only to have him turn her away when she needed him most. There was never any closure. Then Lux shows up and everything changes. Cate changes, Baze changes. And we can see this in every passing episode. Especially how they’ve gotten under each other’s skin. When Cate finds him half-naked with her boss and they confront each other on what their own night together meant. When she tells him about the Monday after the formal back in high school. When she approaches him, Zima in hand, wanting to be friends. Her crying in his arms. Holding hands after being reinstated as parents. With all that in mind, you can’t say that Baze isn’t a real choice for her too.
Technically, Cate’s already made her choice. She married Ryan (with Baze throwing open the church doors at the last minute). It will be (very!) interesting to see how this love triangle is handled now that marriage is involved. But somehow, I don’t think it’s end of Baze and Cate just yet.
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