Their Family Is About To Be Torn Apart

Splattered blood, dripping IV’s, a flatlining heart monitor. Showing the aftermath of Crash and Carter running away together, Tuesday night's Finding Carter looks more like a Grey’s Anatomy episode than an MTV show. But with virginities being lost, already-edited secret books being found, and a whole lot of lies and betrayal in last week’s episode, the show has clearly learned more than just visual cues from Shonda Rhimes: When you want to amp up the drama, throw in a mentally unstable gunslinger.

Tonight’s promo makes it clear Crash and Carter don't get very far on their Bonnie and Clyde joy ride, thanks to a clear shot of blood all over the Quik’N’Easy’s dollar-store trinkets, but how will the shot reverberate — literally and figuratively — around the already very damaged Wilson family once the trigger’s finally been pulled?

Taylor

Bustle writer Christine Distasio developed a great theory on how Max could be Crash's shooting victim, which would spell emotional disaster for Taylor. She just lost her virginity to this guy while wearing a mud mask and listening to an awful R&B song — if that’s not love, I don’t know what is. And the theory makes sense in the context of the preview, when Taylor yells at Carter that “all you’ve done is hurt me.” The shooting, no matter who’s at the other end of the bullet, clearly screws with the twin sisters’ already fragile relationship. Finding Carter has been pushing the storyline that Taylor is slowly losing her patented self-control, and the shooting seems like the perfect storm for the perfect daughter to finally combust.

Elizabeth & David

Elizabeth and David are nowhere to be seen in the promo, but Taylor’s statement proves the shooting will somehow affect the whole family. Will it bring Elizabeth and David closer together, hoping to provide a united front as their splintered family continues to fall apart? Or will this finally be the, ahem, smoking gun that Elizabeth needs to dump David and reunite with her true love Kyle (no shame, I’m shipping them). With Cynthia Watros hinting that we’re going to be learning a lot more about Elizabeth's backstory in Season 2, maybe we’ll get to see the origins of a love rekindled by the end of this season.

Carter

With the burn of Elizabeth and David’s betrayals still fresh, the only person Carter felt she could trust was Crash. What does she do now that he’s gone? As Taylor blames Carter for ruining their family, it seems like the perfect time for Carter to decide the Wilsons would be better off without her (“I’m a grenade!” she’ll shout, and then remember that no, this is not The Fault in Our Stars). And who better to run away from your family with than the woman who took you away from them in the first place?

And wait, what about Grant?

Poor, poor Grant. His dad punched his cookies, his mom ditched his bake sale. MTV refuses to give this kid a break. Which is why I’m offering up an alternative theory: I think Grant is the one who actually gets shot by Crash. After getting ignored by his family again, Grant makes his way to the Quick’N’Easy to hang out with Max, and gets caught in the line of fire. After all, what Taylor says is, “all you’ve done is hurt me, and our family.”

Images: MTV