Finding Carter “Drive” 

Liz is all about control and Carter is all about rebellion. Even though Carter’s been returned to her biological parents, she has no intention of staying there. Her one goal in life is to be at home with her real mother. Knowing this, Gabe snaps a photo or Lori Stevens’ known aliases from his father’s laptop. He recruits Ofe and Bird and eventually Carter to help research the names and Carter recognizes a familiar one. She goes with Gabe to Fredericksburg, which is about an hour away. Lori – alias Katherine Riley – isn’t there anymore, but she was a month ago. The reason she said she was leaving was to go live with her daughter, which is great news for Carter.

In the meantime, as part of her regime of control over her daughter, Liz gives Carter a 10 pm curfew. She follows the letter, but not the spirit of the law. She’s home on time, but she invites her friends over. And one of those (new) friends happens to be Crash, the drug dealer Liz arrested earlier that day. Things seems to be going okay until David sees Crash teaching Grant how to roll a joint. David forcefully shows Crash the door and Carter agrees that he’s gotta go until Liz tells Carter she can never see him again. So to prove a point, she kisses Crash right in front of Liz and her friends – just so they understand each other.

Determined to get her way and realizing that she has to manipulate Carter for that to happen, Liz tries to kick Max out. She actually thinks he’s a great influence on Carter, though, and wouldn’t mind seeing them return to friends with more than occasional benefits. Liz doesn’t seem to realize Taylor has her eye on Max. Even Carter thinks Taylor has a thing for Max. But Taylor knows better than to get in the way of Carter and any guy. Liz’s ploy does work – kind of. Max has now moved to the floor of Carter’s room, but she’s still not interested in being his girlfriend.

Carter really needs to be able to trust an adult right now and unfortunately she picks David. In a lot of ways, he is so good for her. He’s the “cool” dad; she can talk to him and be herself around him. But because we know he’s gathering material for his book – in addition to actually being a father to her- it’s complicated. I just question his motives, wonder if he’s really like this or if he thinks acting like this will make for a better story and more money for his advance. When he meets with his literary agent, David tries to convince his agent to let him fictionalize this story. But the reason publishers are willing to pay so much for Finding Carter, is because it’s true. And they’ll pay even more if David can get Lori to talk.

When Crash comes to Carter’s school to apologize, he admits he taught David to roll the joint so someone in her family would like him. He thinks he’s ruined his chances with Carter, but he hasn’t. So they go for a joy ride. Or Carter thinks it’s a joy ride until Crash admits that they’re in a stolen car. She gets him to pull over to she can get out and calls David to come get her. Even though I have my suspicions and reservations, I feel like David is being genuine in this moment. I love that she apologizes for her behavior. I don’t love that David tells Carter they can keep it a secret from Liz. But the best part of their interaction is Carter calling David her dad and the hug that follows. I do believe that David has nothing but the best of intentions in that moment and they both really needed someone to hold onto. But Lori’s watching them from her car across the street. And she doesn’t look happy at all.

Some great lines:

Liz: “I know that you’ve had to make some huge adjustments in your life and your dad and I have tried to give you a long leash.”
Carter: “I’m on a leash?”
Liz: “Well. You chewed through it.”
Carter: “I am loving this dog analogy.”

Liz: “All I want is to be a good parent.”
Carter: “Ok. Well, I had one of those so I know what it looks like and this isn’t it.”

Taylor: “When it comes to boys you win.”

Finding Carter airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on MTV.