Catfish Season 3 Episode 8 – Miranda and Cameryn
All I can say is that I am SO RELIEVED that the names of our subjects this week are a bit easier to spell than last week… why do people like to make up names/ spell normal names oddly just to make them different? Is the world so inundated with names that people feel the need to change the spelling just to be hipster?
The synopsis of tonight’s show reads as follows: “A woman searches for answers about a man she met online”. At this point, I feel as if the plot summaries should say something like “tonight, you’ll find the same plot that happened last week magically happens again this week”. Folks, I love this show, but that’s the basic gist of it.
The boys open their email and get an email from a girl named Miranda who (coincidentally) is in Minnesota, just like them! Wow producers are magicians! She explains in her email that she has been talking to a man named “Cameryn”, who she enjoys talking to. But when she was in the town in California that he claimed to be living in, he came clean and said that his name was James. Obviously, this made her suspicious, but she is hoping that if the calls Nev Schulman and Max Joseph, she will be able to meet him.
While on video chat, Miranda explains that she used their voodoo Catfish Google image search protocol, and found another picture of the guy who eventually confessed to be James, not Cameryn… lots of names being thrown around here. I’m already confused. Cameryn/James has never been able to video chat because…guess what? He always has a crappy internet connection.
The boys arrive, and Miranda, a hippie/Goth amalgamation, answers the door. The boys talk to her mom, and she is excited to see what is going on with Cameryn/James. It is revealed that Miranda’s mom has Crohn’s disease, a terminal illness. Cameryn explained to Miranda when she told him about her mom that his sister had Leukemia, so she felt that they could relate. Miranda went to college in California, and she was excited to meet Cameryn. Things got weird when she moved there, and he avoided her. She further explains that when she did the image search, she found the “James” profile. Eventually, she had to move back to Minnesota, and had no one to talk to, so she turned back to her online relationship. She found out that “James” lives in Atlanta.
Miranda shows Nev and Max her and James’ Internet conversations, and it’s INSANELY long. She confesses that she is thinking of marrying the man on the other side of the computer but “you need to meet someone to marry them”. Really? I didn’t know that meeting someone was a requirement anymore…
Nev and Max say that if they find out that Cameryn/James is taking advantage of Miranda, they will be very upset. They get ready to investigate, but they don’t think it’ll take long because Miranda already did her own search. They do an image search, and they get no hits on multiple pictures. They do a regular Facebook search for a James, and find one who lives in Georgia. They then do a Google search with James’ full name, and find a sexual offender with the same name. The man has multiple charges, one including attempting to meet with a minor. Oh gosh, the man is a creeper. I really hope they don’t travel somewhere to meet with a sex offender. It does say that the man is currently incarcerated, so Nev doesn’t think that he would have the opportunity to talk to Miranda online as freely as he is. Next, they do a phone number search, and get one hit from a person in Georgia, who’s name then has a connection with an Asian man named James. Coincidence?
Nev and Max go to meet Miranda, and they talk to her best friend and her sister. Her sister wants her to give up on James and find someone real, but Miranda refuses. (ps. Miranda is wearing one of those chokers that I wore circa 1999…awesome!) They go to a café, and Nev and Max show her all that they had found when the researched. Miranda says that it’s possible that James could be any of the people that they found, and won’t be satisfied until she meets him face to face. Nev offers to call him to offer a visit, and Miranda gives him permission.
Nev calls, and James answers. Nev asks James if he wants to meet her, and he is very hesitant. He says he does love her, but he has a lot going on. Nev says that if James doesn’t meet Miranda now, she has to move on. James realizes that Nev is right, and says that he can find time for them to come to Atlanta. Miranda is excited that he wants to meet, and says that her instinct is telling her that James is real. Awwww, honey… (This is the moment where I would pat her on the head and secretly call her therapist).
They arrive in Atlanta, and Miranda calls James, only to be sent directly to voicemail… this does not bode well. The next morning, Nev tells the cameras that they haven’t heard from James since before they left, and that he’s been ignoring Miranda as well. They’re worried that James will be a no show, but all of the messages that Nev leaves for him say “no pressure”. Uh yeah, hairy man, there is pressure. It’s called traveling all the way to Atlanta from Minnesota to meet him.
Whoa can we talk about how Nev and Max have a BATHTUB IN THE CORNER OF THEIR ROOM?! I think it’s the honeymoon suite and the boys are enjoying their traveling a bit more than we think…
Nev gets a bunch of texts messages from James, and it says that James wants to meet Miranda, but his family is preventing him. He says he can’t risk his family just to meet someone, so he wants to Skype first. Max is visibly pissed because they flew all the way to Atlanta just for the guy to back out. They tell Miranda, and she is extremely upset. They make the Skype call, and then get a text asking if he can Skype with only them first… that’s super catfishy!
And TA DA! When the camera comes on, it isn’t James, but a girl named Gabby! She reveals that she was both James and Cameryn, and she says that she considers Miranda her best friend. Nev further questions Gabby, and she reveals that she might have romantic feelings for Miranda, and that she’s just unsure about her sexuality. She is afraid that Miranda won’t feel the same way. Miranda gets in front of the computer and asks why they can’t just meet face to face. Gabby agrees to meet them in person because she feels like she owes it to Miranda after three years. Nev bluntly tells Miranda that she doesn’t have a boyfriend anymore.
The next morning, Nev, Max, and Miranda meet, and Miranda says that Gabby texted her to meet at a park. She says that it still feels like she is talking to James. Miranda is being extremely understanding, because she saw how difficult it was for her best friend to come out, but she still can’t make excuses for Gabby’s behavior. They arrive at the park, but Gabby is a no show again. Miranda gets a text from Gabby simply saying, “I’m sorry”. She texts again and says that she definitely can’t come. Miranda is sad, and says that she feels like an idiot. Max comforts her by saying that at the time, Miranda needed someone, and now it’s time for all of this to be put behind her.
One month later, Nev and Max Skype with Gabby, and she says that she feels terrible for doing what she did to Miranda, but now they’re developing a friendship over Snapchat…
Miranda says that she understands where Gabby was coming from, and Max says that he would assume that there are no more romantic vibes, but Miranda says that they’ve actually been flirting and that Gabby is visiting her soon…I thought her family didn’t support that? Well good for them!!!
TELL US – What do you guys think about this week’s episode?
Photo Credit: MTV
