The Catfish (Episode) That Got Away

I like the MTV show Catfish. But I don't have cable or satellite, so in order to watch them on my Roku I either have to wait 3 weeks to watch them on Hulu+ or pay a couple bucks to Amazon to watch them right after they air. I decided not to wait for the last 4 episodes and shelled out the dollars. But there was one episode that I realized hadn't been shown on MTV. I checked with the fine forum posters of Television Without Pity and no one else had seen it. The episode is no longer available for purchase on Amazon, so I'm one of few people who have seen this episode. I decided to recap it for those who cared.

The episode begins with Nev and Max in what seems to be a hotel room. Nev is saying that he has over 1200 unread emails. He reads one from Stephanie who wrote that she has been talking to David for seven months. Her parents had recently gotten divorced and David has been helping her deal with it. She said he is the “Only person she can talk to.”

David & Stephanie both live in L.A. area (22.4 miles away from each other.) David makes excuses on why they can’t get together. S. is feeling like she’s been lied to. She states she has trust issues because she’s been lied to by men in previous relationships.

Nev likes her story because he feels like Stephanie is “calling men out. [saying] ‘Am I ever going to meet a man who treats me right.’” So Nev & Max skype Stephanie:

Stephanie met David on Facebook. He contacted her. Things progressed. Stephanie opened up to David and shared her feelings. When Stephanie brought up skyping, David would change the subject. She is doubting that he is being truthful, but she really likes him. 

Nev & Max are excited to go back to L.A. Nev told the crew that they were “going home.”

Cue the adorable travel montage.

Max and Nev drive over to Stephanie’s house in the Nev Utility Vehicle. Nev says, “As much as Stephanie likes David, she is also acutely aware that something doesn’t feel right.” 

Max says, “innocent until proven guilty.”

And they arrive at Stephanie's house...

After introductions, Nev asks “on a scale of 1 to googley eyed, where would you say you are with your feelings toward David?” Stephanie first confirms that “googley eyed” is a 10. She then answers “9.”
Stephanie said that guys from her past were all bad & David is not like that. He gives her advice & makes her feel special. She said she doesn’t love David because she doesn’t believe in love. She believes she can’t fall in love. She thinks this is because of her parents divorce. She thinks her dad cheated on her mom. Parents had been married for 42 years. She thought that if a guy like her dad could be unfaithful, any guy could do the same to her. She thinks when she talks to David, she can escape from her problems. He’s like a superhero. If she finds out everything he’s said about himself is true that she’d put her “stuff to the side” and realize that not all guys are bad. Nev asks what if some of the stuff he said is not true. Stephanie said “Cut!” while making a scissor motion.

Stephanie said she hates liars.

Nev & Stephanie look at David’s Facebook page. Not many pictures or posts. He has only 63 friends.

Stephanie & David had talked about meeting up, but he would always cancel at the last minute because he was called in to work at the Staple Center. 

Stephanie said that David knows a lot about her, but that she knows nothing about him. Max said, “You’re worried.” Stephanie said that she’s scared to find out the truth about him. Nev asked her if she wants to be in love with David. Stephanie barely nodded. He then said, “You want him to be in love with you.” Stephanie nodded slightly less. Nev said, “So if it doesn’t work out with David, then you’ve missed out on a chance at love.” Stephanie said, “Exactly.”

Nev said that he’s hopeful & Stephanie said that she is staying positive. Nev wants it to work out for her. He said that she deserves it. Stephanie’s response: “Okay. Cool.” 

So Max & Nev leave to use their mad Googling skills. In the Nev Utility Vehicle, Nev says, “If she gets burned by this guy, I don’t know how long before she’s ready or even interested in getting ‘in’ again.”

They go back to Nev’s place. Apparently he has a house in L.A. 

Nev gets online to do the Google image search on David’s picture. Lots of hits on the image. Max, “A lot of girl blogs saying ‘this guy is hot.’” Nev finds a blog:

they named me .. Cayron

From Brooklyn to Jersey

FANBA$E

They find a Twitter account for Cayron and thought it was probably the same guy.

They look for more pictures because Cayron could be the fake one. They found a trove of pictures and wondered why he wouldn’t have sent Stephanie more pictures. Nev shook his head sadly and said that it was “bad news” and that he “wasn’t liking the way it was going.” 

Nev says he doesn’t get why anyone would go that far with a lie. He said there was nothing else to do at that point but to call David. Nev calls and gives the spiel about being a friend of Stephanie & doing an MTV documentary on internet relationships. He tries to get David to agree to meet Stephanie. Nev asks why he thinks that they haven’t met up yet. David says that it’s because she lives far from where he stays at. Nev & Max exchange a doubtful look because it’s only a 22.4 mile distance. 

Nev said that they were hoping that they could arrange a meeting. David said, “Okay.”

He asked, “Does that sound like something you’d be down to do?” David said, “Yeah.”

Nev got David to say that Sunday would be a good time to meet. David was very big on one word answers.

After Nev hangs up from their call, Max snarks, “I can see what she really likes about him.”

Nev said, “He doesn’t have a tremendous personality on the phone.” Max thinks it’s obvious that David is weirded out by the call because he knows his lies will be called out. Nev acts like it’s surprising that David isn’t excited to meet Stephanie. Max points out that Stephanie had said that she doesn’t know anything about him despite the fact they’ve talked for 7 months.

While Nev is talking about how they need to call Stephanie, he receives a text from David saying that Sunday’s meeting won’t work out for him after all. Max asked if they had scared him. Nev said he didn’t know about that, but that it seemed like David was looking for “an out.” Nev is displeased by this development.

If this episode had aired, then a commercial break would have happened now. And when we came back after the commercial, Max is now seen driving. He talks about how he is actually driving and that he never (never!) gets to drive because Nev is a “driving control freak.”

He goes over to Nev’s house and opens the door and says “hello.” Nev more or less jumps out and startles Max. 

They sit down and discuss that they know that David had stolen Cayron’s pictures. Nev asks if they should call David to ask if he will reconsider meeting up. Max said it’s a good time to give the “last opportunity speech.” They call and David answers. After The Speech, David finally agrees to meet. 

After the call, Nev & Max don’t feel reassured that David will actually go through with the meeting. But they go to find Stephanie to let her know what’s going on. But Max said that they should be prepared for the possibility that Stephanie may decide not to go through with it. Nev is very curious to see her reaction since she had said what she’d do if she found out David was lying. 

Nev drives with Max to where Stephanie is with two of her friends (Barbie & Sonja) at a nail salon. 

Nev asks the friends if they’d spoken with David & what they thought. Barbie said that she thinks he is a nice guy and that it will work out. Sonja said that Stephanie is “happy & herself” when she talks with David and that it is a big deal that she feels she can open this him because of her trust issues. Barbie thinks it is weird that Stephanie & David have been talking all this time without meeting. Stephanie hopes that everything is good news & not bad.

Max & Nev take Stephanie for lunch to tell her what they have learned. They show her what happened when they did the image search and then the “they named me .. Cayron” site and the Twitter page. Stephanie is disappointed. She said she feels kind of betrayed and doesn’t understand why he couldn’t send her a real picture.

Nev tells Stephanie that David has some explaining to do and that he had timidly agreed to possibly meet up the next day. He asked her if that is something she wanted to do. She said,”Kinda no and kinda yeah.” She asked why men have to be so disappointing. Nev said that he wasn’t going to justify what David did, but that she had been looking for someone to talk to as an outlet and that David filled that role. Stephanie agreed with that and when prompted by Nev, she agreed to meet him. Nev said whatever happened the next day, they are there for her. If she gets nervous or upset, that they’d be there for her. Stephanie said that she had to meet him and hoped there were no more lies.

They leave the restaurant and Nev tells her that he’d been through that, too, and that it was scary. Stephanie agreed and said there were no words to describe. She asked him if he had had butterflies when he met his catfish. Nev said he had. She said that she just wanted an honest guy.

Break for a non-existent commercial.

It is the next day and Nev drove Max to Stephanie’s house. He said it was a big day for her and that she needed them. They leave for David’s house. She says she is nervous and that her hands are sweaty. They get to his house and get out. Stephanie tells Nev that he should knock. He asks if she is okay and she hugs Nev.

Nev guides her to David’s house. She stays at the gate and he goes up by himself.

Stephanie says that she just wants to cry as Nev rings the doorbell. After a few moments, someone answers the door. Nev introduces himself and the man says he is Dawuan. He admits that he has been David.

Nev asks Dawuan to come out for a second and he introduces him to Stephanie.

Her body language shows her feelings about Dawuan:



Nev says, “Just to be perfectly clear, you are obviously not the guy in the pictures.” Dawuan shakes his head slightly. Nev said, “Obviously this is a bit of a surprise.” Stephanie said, “Yeah ‘cause you said your name was David. And you said your name is Dawuan and I’m like ‘who’s Dawuan?’” Stephanie said that she’d been honest with him for 7 months and that she had told him that she hates liars.”

Dawuan said he wanted to make sure he was the perfect dude for her. And he didn’t want her to slip away. He said he didn’t mean to hurt her or lie to her. So he was waiting for the right time to tell her the truth. He admitted that he doesn’t work at the Staples Center, but instead works at a movie theatre.

Dawuan said, “this is the real me now.” Stephanie said, “A liar. Right? A liar?”

Dawuan said, “Don’t get me wrong. There’ve been times that I wanted to tell you the truth.” Stephanie said again that he was a liar and that there had been many times during the 7 months that he had opportunities to tell her the truth. Dawuan said that at least he was stepping up at that moment to admit his lies. Stephanie said, “Oh yeah. You’re stepping up!”

She asked him what other lies he’d been telling her. Dawuan misread what was appropriate and walked over to take her hand. She took her hand away and said for him not to hug her.

Dawuan apologized and Stephanie said that she hoped he learned from it. He asked for another chance and she said, “Dude, no! You lied!” She told him that he disgusted her at that moment and that he should back away. Nev stepped in and asked to have a moment alone with Stephanie.

Stephanie said she didn’t want to be there anymore. Nev said he understood her feelings. Max stayed with Dawuan. He laments that his dishonesty has caused problems. He said that they had had a good relationship.

Stephanie, from down the block said that he had really liked her, she would have known the truth about him. She said she was stupid for falling for his lies.

Dawuan said that he hadn’t wanted to tell her the truth because Stephanie would have just cut him off. And he hadn’t wanted that to happen.

Nev said that he didn’t think that Dawuan had wanted to hurt Stephanie by lying, and that any decisions that Stephanie made now regarding Dawuan couldn’t be taken back.

Dawuan told Max that he hoped he’d get another chance because he really liked Stephanie.

Nev asked Stephanie what she wanted to do. After a pause, she said, “Leave.” They walk back to Dawuan. Nev tells Dawuan that Stephanie needed some space. And they bid adieu.



 

They ended up going to a church so that Stephanie could pray. Nev asked her what she was praying about. She said that she was asking God to give her strength to be lead to the right path.

Non-commercial break time!

Nev & Max are in the Nev Utility Vehicle driving to Stephanie’s house the next day. She said she was bummed, but had the answers. Nev said that she’d been hard on Dawuan and that he didn’t fault her for that and glad she’d said what she did, but that she knew David Miller was a questionable character and that she’d gone along with his. Stephanie said, “Like an idiot.” Nev said not like an idiot, but as someone who need a confidante – someone to listen. And for 7 months she got something about of the relationship and that that person that Dawuan was being, David, did still exist. Nev said those were small things in the big picture. Stephanie interrupted and said, “Still he lied.” Nev agreed but said it wasn’t fair to be so black & white. Stephanie said, “But that’s how I am. I’m right and he’s wrong. That’s just the way I am. And it’s done.” She made the clean hands move.

Max said that he thought she could be doing herself a disservice if she threw away the connection she had. Stephanie said she’d probably find it somewhere else. Max said, “But you haven’t found it anywhere else to this point. Maybe you owe it to the person whose been helping you out for the past 7 months to maybe hear him out a little more. ” Nev suggested that if she was willing to push herself outside of her comfort zone it may help her to feel a little better about the whole situation. Nev got Stephanie to agree to her Dawuan out. Reluctantly, in my opinion.

Non-commercial break and now the ending…

Nev drives them all back to Dawuan’s house. Stephanie asks Nev to start things off. He goes to the house first by himself, leaving Stephanie with Max. Nev sits with Dawuan who says he created a fake Facebook profile so that he could try to talk to his ex who he still had feelings for. He saw a picture of Stephanie and thought she was cute. They began talking. He feels stupid about lying to Stephanie & ashamed of himself.

Meanwhile, back in the Nev U.V.…

Stephanie asked Max what he’d do in her position. Max said that she should find out more about him and in those 7 months it had been all about her and she hadn’t bothered to get to really know Dawuan. Stephanie said, “That sounds kinda selfish, huh?” Max said that she had needed that help and that Dawuan had given it to her and that had been an amazing gift.

Cut to Dawuan said that he had low self-esteem issues. He said he’d never known his dad and that had messed him up. He said he’d developed strong feelings for Stephanie.

Back to Max & Stephanie. Max said that she should give him a hug. Stephanie said, “That’s the least I can do, right?” And then Max & Stephanie walked over to Dawuan’s house. Nev and Dawuan go outside to where Max and Stephanie were waiting. Nev gives them a few minutes alone.

Dawuan apologized and Stephanie said she’d been pissed off, sad, and disappointed. She thanks him for being there for her.

Dawuan said that he was relieved that he didn’t have to be miserable that he hadn’t been honest. Stephanie thanked him again and they hugged.

As she walked away, Dawuan complemented Stephanie on her boots.

When she’d crossed the street, Max ask how she was. She said he’d been right. Nev said, “Max was right?” Max said, “It happens from time to time.”

As they drove away, Stephanie said she felt at peace.

Two Months Later...

Dawuan has hair.

He’s going to start college to study criminal justice and no longer has the David Miller profile.

The words on the screen say…

 Stephanie says she’s feeling more confident and that she’s no long so negative and angry towards guys.

 And thus the non-aired episode ends.