Tonight on MTV their drama series Finding Carter premieres with it season premiere and a double episode the first episode called, “Pilot” and the second called, “The Birds.” On tonight’s episode Carter must adjust to life with new parents, a twin sister and a new school.
For those of you who are not familiar with the show, Finding Carter is a new unconventional family drama that centers on Carter, a teenage girl who thinks she has the perfect life until one night after a police bust at a high school party she is told that the woman who she believes to be her biological mother actually abducted her as a toddler. Now Carter must return to the family who thought they had lost her. As she navigates brand-new parents, a twin sister, high school and boys, Carter vows to find Lori before the police capture the only mom she’s ever known and put her behind bars.
On tonight’s episode unsettling details about a kidnapping emerge in the opener of this series, in which a teen is reunited with her family after discovering that the woman she thought was her mother had actually abducted her as a child.
Be sure to tune in for FINDING CARTER on MTV at 10 PM EST and check here for a live recap of this all new show. Hit up the comments to tell us what you think of this new show called Finding Carter.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
Carter and her mom enjoy Fro-Yo after a movie and she gets a text from Max. Lori tells her to go hang with her friends and to have fun. Turns out they’re breaking and entering. They break into a carousel, turn on the lights and the power and climb aboard. Max tells Carter that they should be friends with benefits and she says all they ever was were benefits and he says she’s overthinking it. They start to kiss but then the cops are there to bust them. They lock them up. Carter tells her friends they’ll just let them off with a warning.
The cop comes in and says next time this happens, they have to face a judge but tonight, it’s just their parents. But Carter he holds back and says her mom isn’t there yet. He leaves her in the cell. Next day, a social worker comes to talk to her and she says she just wants to go home. The woman, Susan Sherman, says they’re looking for her. Susan asks if her mom goes by the name Lori Stevens and says that’s not her real name and Carter Stevens isn’t her name either.
Susan tells her she was abducted when she was three. She says the woman she thinks is her mother is actually her kidnapper and Carter says that’s crazy. She freaks out and says she just wants to go home. Susan says she’ll be going home but not to the home she’s accustomed to. They ask if the name Linden Wilson means anything to her and says that’s her real name. Carter says there must be a glitch.
They show her her mug shot from last night and then her a month before she was kidnapped. She says it may not be her and they tell her it’s clearly her ear and then they show her a fingerprint match from her toys when she was a child and then from when she was arrested. She says her mom is amazing and she still wants her no matter what. Susan says her real parents are there and are anxious to meet her. She says she’s not ready but they let them in.
A man and woman come in and call her Linden and tell her she’s beautiful. Her mom asks if she remembers her and David, her husband tells her that she needs time. They ask if she remembers her twin sister Taylor. She’s staggered to hear that she has a sister. They show Liz and David a photo of the Lori and Liz recognizes her. David says they know her.
In the car, Carter thinks about her mom Lori, the only mom she knows. Liz is on the phone ranting and Carter says she sounds like a cop and David says she’s a detective. Liz is setting up a reward for her arrest. They tell her that her kidnapper told them her name was Janet and she did home care and was critical of her for not spending enough time with her girls. She tells them she wants them to call her Carter. David says that name reminds them of a difficult time and she tells them her whole life has been ripped away and that the name is all she has left. They agree.
They pull up to the house and there is a crush of press there. Liz shoves past them and Toby, David’s literary agent, is there and introduces himself. Then Buddy and Joan, her grandparents, are also there hugging her. She calls him Papa and hugs him. He tells her welcome home baby girl. Joan also hugs her and she says she’ll remember her soon. They tell Liz to put the phone down and then she turns and sees Taylor and asks if she has a brother.
Grant says he’s not shocked and David says to hold back the sarcasm. Grant says he’s the replacement child. She asks Taylor if she remembers her and she says no. She asks them all to call her Carter. Toby sneaks in the back door and asks to talk to David. They tell her that David wrote a best-selling book about her. She asks what about her and Liz says it’s called Losing Linden. She says she’ll read it after she finishes Anna Karenina but then admits she’s not reading that.
Toby says this is a godsend and David says he needs to focus on having his daughter back. Toby says this could be a huge payday and could take care of his financial crisis. He reminds him he took a $500k advance and he can write a book – Finding Linden. He says her name is Carter now. Toby says fine and tells him to start writing Finding Carter.
Carter looks at a photo of her and her fake mom and thinks back to their time together. Liz asks if she can come in and she brings her some food. She says her grandmother is out there making waffles and omelets and she doesn’t know what she likes to eat. She says she didn’t want to subject her to a family onslaught. She tells her she and Taylor could take the car and go check out the town. Carter reminds her she already has friends.
Liz says that’s a two hour drive and offers to drive her. Carter asks if someone has to be in the car with her and Liz sits and tells her she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make their relationship work. Carter says trusting her would help. Later, she peels out with the car and says it was a joke. David says it was a good one and she speeds off. David reminds her she wouldn’t let the daughter they do know taking off with their car.
Liz calls the station to activate the tracker they put on her car. Carter meets Max at the carousel and they see it’s been closed for the season. She’s bummed. She says no one is answering her texts and Max says people are freaked out. She says her name isn’t her name, her mom isn’t her mom and apparently her friends aren’t her friends. He pulls out a joint. Kyle, the cop who’s following, her reports back to Liz and says she’s just sitting there.
Carter tells Max she hates the mom in the family but says her twin is okay. Max tells her this isn’t goodbye and she curls into his lap. Kyle watches all this but then Max spots him and says there’s a guy creeping on them and watching them in the side view mirror. Carter yells at him and and says her mom is a cop and that she’ll find him. Max says they probably shouldn’t have had the weed and Carter says her other mom is a felon and that’s who she takes after.
Carter comes in and tells her twin it’s official – she’s the good daughter. Taylor says she does most of the cooking and Carter says it’s fantastic. She tells Taylor she likes to bake. Taylor says she meets her friends at a yogurt place and they agree to leave. Liz and David come in and says she’s back and Carter says according to the FBI this is where she lives. Carter asks if the creeper following her was sent by them and Liz denies it and says she trusts her.
The girls leave for fro-yo. Carter sees a mom and daughter and has pangs missing her other mom. She asks the sample guy how she gets a job there and Zubin says she just needs to talk to him. She says it’s the opportunity of a lifetime for him and says she’ll be there tomorrow. Taylor introduces her long lost sister to her friend Gabe who says she must be majorly freaked out. He asks if it would help to go to a party. She says yes and Taylor says she’s never been to one. Carter says she’s glad she didn’t grow up there and they head out.
There’s a bunch of booze and sexie selfies going on. Carter gives her sister tips on partying and she wows Taylor’s school friends with her antics. Taylor sits with Gabe and asks what he’s drinking and he says it’s something lethal. She takes a drink and says she can’t taste the booze and he says that’s why it’s lethal. She pulls her hair down and tries to get his attention but he’s checking out her sister.
Taylor says it’s fun watching him stare at her sister and he says he can’t help be intrigued. He asks what it was like and she says she lived in an apartment in Pennsylvania, she wasn’t sold into slavery. She says she’s not sure how happy Carter is to be back with them. She says she’s never done anything fun because she grew up living in fear of the terrible thing that happened to her sister that turns out wasn’t terrible at all. Taylor downs a drink and says she’s making up for lost time. She goes to join the party.
Gabe drops the girls off and he tells Carter his favorite movie is Mean Girls and quotes it to prove it to her. He tells her it’s a secret. He tells her she’s cool and she says he is too. He tells her he’s sorry it’s been so rough on her and says at least she made one new friend. Carter says he’s her first one there and admits it’s not so bad. He leans in for a kiss but she stops him and he says he can take it slow.
Carter says she can’t do that to Taylor and he asks what. He doesn’t get it and she tells him that Taylor likes him and he says they’ve been friends since second grade and she’s like his sister. There’s a knock on her window and a flashlight shining in. They ask where Taylor is and she’s in the back. Carter says she’s drunk and may have had a pot brownie. They tell Gabe to go home. Carter thanks him and says she had fun and he says he’d like to do it again. Carter says we’ll see and asks if her mom is still there.
Liz says she doesn’t want her passing her bad habits on to Taylor and Carter asks what about her doesn’t she like. She says to name something about her that she does like or anything about her at all. Liz says she’s trying to get to know her but she won’t let her. Carter tells her she’s a stiff control freak who operates from a place of fear. She says her mom told her every day that she loved her and she hasn’t heard her say it once to any member of her family.
Grant is there and she says she’s sorry that he heard it. He says it’s their fault that she’s that way. He says she was kidnapped and he was born 10 weeks early and almost died and that was going to be Liz’s second dead kid since everyone assumed she was already dead. Gabe says he thinks it will get better and Carter says not to hold his breath but he says he can for five minutes.
Carter is at the fro-yo place which is packed with customers taking selfies. She tells them they can put her on Instagram. David and Gabe shows up and he asks for a picture with her. She agrees and she says it can be the cover of his next book. David says he thought she didn’t want him writing about her and she says the “JK” was silent. He laughs and says he can learn.
Zubin says to be sure to post where Carter works and she agrees and says she wants everyone to know where to find her. I’m assuming she wants her other mom to be able to get to her. David asks what she’s doing and Gabe says she’s sending a message to her other mom. David says he needs to pay more attention to him and Gabe says that would be nice. He calls Liz. She ignores the call. She’s at a hotel.
She meets Kyle there and he asks if she’s mad that Carter saw him and she says it’s not his fault. She says it was a bad idea to begin with and so is this. Kyle says this is was more than idea and tells Liz he loves her and reminds her she’s leaving her husband to be with him and Liz says she can’t now. Kyle says he gets it and says he can wait. She says Carter is back and she has her family together. She says she can’t give it up. She lays down the key card to the room, says she’s sorry and leaves.
David asks Liz if she got his message and she says they’re following up. He says she shouldn’t be there and says if Carter sees her arrest her kidnapper, it will ruin her relationship with her. She says he has no relationship with her either and David says he has a photo with her and shows her the selfie. Liz says she needs to arrest the psycho bitch that stole her baby and ripped out her insides. David tells her it’s okay to not be strong all the time and holds her. She cries into his neck.
At the yogurt shop, Gabe is eating with Taylor comes to sit with him. He compliments her new clothes and she says drinking isn’t as easy as it looks. She asks him to take her to more parties and he asks if Carter can go alone. She says of course but they’re not like the Olsen twins. He says he wants to get to know her better and she asks if he wants to go out with her. He says if she’s okay with it and she says why wouldn’t she be. He says Carter said that he liked her and he told her she’s like her sister. Carter walks up and Taylor gets annoyed and leaves and she asks Gabe what is was about.
Gabe says she said she didn’t like him and Carter says she wonders why and stomps off. She’s told to get back to work and a woman comes up with a container of gummi bears. It’s her kidnapper mom in a blonde wig. She rings her up and she hands over the money with a note on it that says she loves her more. There are sirens outside and Carter takes her to the back. She tells her to take sample and walk out the front door.
Her mom says there are things she needs to know and Carter tells her to go. She sends her out with the samples as Liz comes in. Liz asks Carter where she is and says Lori Stevens won’t get away. She tells her that Lori isn’t exactly Lara Croft. Gabe asks his Dad Kyle what’s going on and then Carter gets it and blows up at Liz. She says she looked her in the eyes and lied to her. She says Lori was there and risked her life to look her in the eyes for five seconds and tell her she loves her. She says to Liz if she wants to find her abductor to look in the mirror because it’s her. Liz is floored.
Carter is dancing and having fun when Max shows up. She hugs him and is thrilled to see him. Gabe is there too and she kisses him. She seems tipsy. Taylor glares at her and she says whoops and that she wasn’t supposed to do it. Tayloy says her being high isn’t cute and then Carter has a seizure. Four days earlier, we see Carter looking at a photo of her and Lori. She thinks about their time together and how much love they shared.
Liz calls Carter downstairs and says it’s time to go. David gives her a look and tells Taylor to bring up her issues at family therapy tonight. Grant says he’s happy she’s there. She comes in and Liz says she can’t go to school in her PJs. She pulls on a skirt as David and Liz leave the room arguing over who will drive the kids. Taylor asks if she just pretended to be wearing her PJs to annoy their mom and Carter says that was just a distraction. She grabs Liz’s car keys and says – this is to annoy her and asks if they want a ride. Taylor tells Grant not to model behavior on Carter.
At school, Carter sits in class and the teacher says they are on a zero policy system with points for infractions. He tells another student to put away her yogurt and says she gets a point. Carter starts breathing heavy and she freaks out. The teacher tells Gabe to take her to the office to call her parents. Out in the hall she stops and says she’s find and says to stop calling Liz her mom. She says to stop telling people his dad almost arrested her kidnapper mom and says she’s just her mom.
He offers to take her into the city since they scored the day off. She says Taylor will be furious if she finds out they spent the day together. Gabe says they won’t find out but then Taylor sees them and glares. Carter looks down at some other kids and asks how it is. Gabe says they call him Ofe – for one freaking eyebrow. She goes down to talk to him.
Ofe is running a gambling pool on when they will catch her mom. Ofe introduces himself and his friend Bird is there and she says they met at the party. She asks why he has a photo of her mom and he says he’s a bookie. He says he also runs fun novelty pools. Ofe says most people are giving her at least six months before she gets caught.
Carter walks away and says she’s going somewhere where she doesn’t have to think about how bad her life sucks. Bird tells her she knows just the place. She takes her to her art studio she has in a trailer that her parents gave her as a birthday gift. She’s an artist and also throws parties in her studio. Gabe says she did the cool mural in the cafeteria. She asks to borrow her foam bird finger to use at family therapy. Bird says her family tried that and it sucked.
Carter tells Bird her art studio is bigger than her apartment she had with her mom. She says she got fired from the fro-yo shop because people don’t like being watched. She says she doesn’t know how her mom can get in touch with the FBI up her ass. Gabe says they can send a fake text to her phone from her mom on a burner phone. Ofe has a burner and they send a text to her phone that says – love you more. Gabe says that’s phase one.
At family therapy, Liz says she was angry that she took her car keys and reacted badly. She says she went into her room and found the backpack in her room that looks like she’s ready to run away. Liz says she can’t go through it again. The therapist asks how it was – she’s speaking to an empty chair. Next day, David tells Liz that if they want Carter to come to therapy they can’t be mad at her for not coming to therapy.
Carter comes in and Liz asks if she stole her car since it’s not there. Carter has the middle finger toy and Liz chews her out for skipping family therapy and says they’re taking the bus. Liz says they have to deal with this and Carter says she doesn’t like being called this. Carter says she got a little drunk so she didn’t drive. David says that’s responsible but Liz says her stealing her car and then getting drunk isn’t responsible. Then David agrees that it’s not.
Liz wants the foam middle finger gone and Carter takes it when she goes to grab her ride with Gabe. Liz asks David if she put it on her car and he says she didn’t and says it’s a good sign that maybe she feels bad about it. But then we see she stuck it to the front door of the house on her way out. At the police station, Kyle tells Liz she looks stressed. He says he still cares about her and she admits it’s not easy.
He says Lori has been sending text messages to Carter’s cell phone from burners and says they’re local. He tells her to keep an eye on Carter. Liz has Max in an interview room and she asks if she can tape it. He agrees and she turns the camera on. He’s freaked out and he says he wants to say that he liked Lori, her other mom. Liz says she’s not her mom, she’s her kidnapper. Max says he’s not objective. He says he sees what Carter means about her. He says he heard she never laughs.
He says Carter says she’s a person that never laughs and then brags about it. Liz turns the camera off and asks what else she says about her. At home, Carter asks Taylor what’s for dinner. She tells her they should be eating more junk food. Liz comes in and asks what smells good. She says she brought home a guest and she has Max there. She introduces him to Taylor and Grant as Carter’s siblings.
She says she invited Max to stay for a couple of days and Max says his parents okayed it but didn’t believe him that a cop invited him over. Carter asks if she really invited him there and he says it was like a subpoena. Carter is annoyed and says she’s already monitoring her calls and emails and now wants her friends to spy on her. David comes in as she’s leaving and she tells Liz now is a perfect time to put a bug in her room.
Grant goes into Carter’s closet and digs out her backpack and goes through it. He’s not happy. Carter introduces Max to Gabe, Ofe and Bird. Gabe asks if he goes to school and he says he’s been kind of homeschooled without the school part. He says he was interrogated today by Liz and Carter says Gabe’s dad was the one following them. They tell him about their FBI sting.
Gabe says they are in phase two and say they are about to find out how it’s going. Gabe sends another text and says he knows how cops think. Liz is introduced to Grady from the FBI who thinks the texts are coming from her kidnapper. The first word of every sentence leads to a meeting at the food court at the mall today. Liz says she wants to be there but the Captain tells Liz to just keep an eye on Carter. Liz asks Kyle for help but he says he won’t let her lose Carter again.
Liz shows up to school and asks Taylor where Carter is and she says she’s not really going to school. She says she has everyone conned into thinking she has PTSD so she can skip. Liz runs off and Gabe, Ofe and Bird head to the mall. Liz goes home in a huff and looks for the backpack. It’s gone and she panics. David asks what’s going on and she runs out in a panic. Carter comes in eating an apple and asks if there’s peanut butter. David says it’s in the fridge. She says it’s weird. Liz never saw her.
Liz shows up at the mall and tells the Captain her escape backpack is missing and says she’s not at school. Kyle prowls the food court. Liz walks around too. Gabe tells his friends on three. Liz says something doesn’t seem right. He flashes a light and everyone in the food court raises a foam middle finger. The Captain tells her that the message seems to have been meant for her. He says it’s a good thing she was there to get it. Bird videos it for posterity.
Carter watches the video and tells Max to watch it. She explains the set up and shows him what happens to Liz. She laughs and says it’s the best thing ever. She laughs and Max says she seems so sad. She tells him that Liz is obsessed with putting her mom behind bars. She says she got her back but she’s not happy with that and won’t leave Lori alone. She says she loves her mom more than anything and she lives with someone who would kill her if she could.
Carter says Liz lives to punish her mom and she knows how much it would hurt her but couldn’t care less. Max says he didn’t see it that way and tells Carter she has to tell Liz that. She says her opinion doesn’t matter to her and he says that’s not true. He says all of Liz’s questions in the interrogation were about her.
Carter goes to family therapy and asks how it works. She tells Taylor to go first and Taylor says everyone finds her much more fascinating. Carter say the only thing people find fascinating about her is that she was kidnapped. David asks what she wants them to know. Carter says she has to do this with everyone watching and it’s obvious that she doesn’t fit with the family. Grant says he also feels that way. He says no one acknowledges him and Taylor says she does.
Liz says it’s hard to hear what terrible parents they are and Carter clarifies that David isn’t the issue, just her. Liz asks why not him and Carter says he never lied to her face and he’ll listen to her without being in a room. She says she asked him not to write the book and he’s not. Liz says he’s rubbing it in her face. The therapist says she wants to talk about her mother and Carter says Liz isn’t her mother – she’s the person who is hunting her mother.
Later, Carter is at her desk when Grant comes in. She says that should teach him to invite her to family therapy. Grant says the last time they were there, Liz made a speech to her empty chair about the day she came home and found she was gone. Grant asks if she’ll leave them again and Carter says she doesn’t know. He asks if she would go if Lori showed up. Carter says Lori is her mom and he says he’s her brother and Taylor is her sister and David is her dad.
He says that Liz found her escape backpack. She starts to freak and says Liz is insane for taking it. Carter says Liz is doing everything to push her away. She says she has no idea what this is like for her and is deliberately trying to make her mad and says Liz won’t like her when she’s mad. At Bird’s, Carter plots to get revenge on Liz and talks about cutting holes in her clothes and hiding her stuff. Bird tells her that holding on to anger is bad and says she should just focus on being happy.
Ofe offers her some Molly and says it can improve her mood greatly. He says she needs a vacation. Bird says it’s very clean and good. She says they get it from a guy named Crash and Ofe says if drug dealres were on Yelp, he would be highly rated. She says she won’t do it alone and Bird partakes too. Ofe tells Gabe he needs to take no for an answer about Carter but he says he can’t.
Taylor and Max come into the party and she says she’s not happy about having to tell Carter that she’s grounded. Carter sees Max and runs and jumps into his arms. Then she sees Gabe and gives him a kiss right in front of Taylor. Then she notices Taylor glaring at her and says whoops and that she wasn’t supposed to do that. She says she looks like Liz when she makes that face and Taylor says she’s high and making a fool of herself. She says she liked her better when she thought she was dead.
Carter has a seizure and Taylor apologizes and says she didn’t mean it. They tell her to call 911. Carter wakes up in the hospital. Liz is there and says she can’t lose her again. In her haze, she thinks it’s Lori, but it’s Liz. Carter sees David and Taylor there too and she asks how long she’s been there. David says three years and then says he’s kidding. He says it was a little coma – long enough to scare them to death.
Taylor says all the fun stuff happens to her – abduction, seizure, coma. She asks Taylor if she really kissed Gabe and she says she did. She tells her she doesn’t like Gabe and Taylor says she does and she’ll learn to live with it. David and Taylor leave. Liz tells her she won’t stay but wanted to give her this. It’s a stuffed elephant that squeaks. In family therapy, Carter said she feels like an elephant in a family of penguins.
When she wakes up, Grant is in a chair by her bed. She calls him armadillo – what he said he feels like – and he comes to sit on her bed. He says he should have told her sooner and mayeb she wouldn’t be here. He says he was the one that took her backpack. She asks why and he says he didn’t want her to leave and he really doesn’t want her to die. He says he wants her to be someplace she’s happy and gets that it’s not here. He gives her the backpack and says he put a burner phone in there so she can call him. She hugs him.
David meets Toby and tells him Carter is going to be okay. Toby says the great news is the publisher loves the sample chapter. David plays a recording from the family therapy session. Toby says the next book will be huge. David has an evil look on his face.
THE END!
