Finally after a two week hiatus, Catfish: The TV Show is back with its season finale, and boy is it a doozy. Nev introduces us to Mike, a Jersey boy with a talent for art who has been hit with some hard times recently. His girl broke up with him to be a lesbian and he had to move back in with his parents. During this down period the one bright spot in his life was his relationship with Felicia, a fellow Jersey-ian that he met on the internet. Unfortunately every time he has tried to make a meeting happen she has always gotten cold feet, or in one extreme case, she got in a car accident, and recently she had moved all the way to Florida, making a meeting next to impossible without Nev’s help.
Making things more complicated for Nev and Max, Mike doesn’t have a Facebook page. He says he just ‘never signed up.’ I know a few people like that in real life (read: like 2 people out of everyone I’ve ever met), so I guess they exist, but STILL. That is weird. Really weird. He does he stalk his ex girlfriend and keep tabs on all the kids he went to high school with and they sad state of their lives?
The poor kid is such a kicked little puppy that Nev and Max seem more concerned than usual about him getting hurt. It seems like Mike might be set up for some soul-crushing pain, but Nev&Max are on the case. They had back to their hotel room and find Felicia’s Facebook (because unlike Mike she believes in social networking). From her page, she seems to actually be who she says she is, but Nev&Max are skeptical about the beauty boutique she claims to own in Florida. There is nothing about it on her page and even though they find the phone number for the store online, it is disconnected when they try to call.
In some of their best detective work to date, the guys find out from Mike when her ‘accident’ would have occurred so they can snoop through her pictures in search of evidence of the injuries she claimed to sustain. Finding none, Nev&Max are more skeptical than ever. They believe that Felicia is a real person, but she is clearly lying about some pretty big things.
The next day, Nev gets a call from one of Felicia’s IRL friends who tells them that Felicia does in fact live in Florida, but she’s lived there for much longer than she originally claimed. The friend also drops the bomb that Felicia has lied to guys online in the past and sweet Mike might not be the only one she is currently talking to. Nev&Max are very concerned that she is not serious enough. They want to protect Mike as much as possible because he really seems like such a delicate soul.
Mike is a little let down by the bad news from the guys, but of course the meeting with Felicia is still happening. This wouldn’t be the season finale if it didn’t. Nev calls up Felicia, who doesn’t think it is a great time to meet. But Nev guilts her into it by pointing out that Mike has made her a priority and she should make him one too. Damn Nev, laying it on hard.
The boys and sweet Mike had down to Florida and straight over to Felicia’s place. For once it is hard to tell who is more nervous, Mike or Nev&Max. Their concern for this kid is touching. He is too sensitive to have his heart broken again.
When they knock on the door, Felicia answers and it is really actually her, just as we thought. But when Mike suspects that they take a tour around Orlando, Felicia breaks the news that she is a liar. She explains that she lived in Orlando for much longer than she initially told him (which doesn’t seem like TOO big a secret) and that she does not own any store; she just made it up because she needed an excuse for why she wasn’t hanging out with him.
Nev, being the tough cop that he is, asks why she chose to lie about such stupid stuff and she explains that she has been a compulsive internet liar. In fact, Mike is the guy she has been the most honest with. Mike is a little hurt by her lies, but he asks for a clean slate and wants to approach the whole thing with a bit more caution. Nev suggests Mike take Felicia on a date that night after he talks to her and Mike is reluctantly up for it.
On his one on one with Felicia, Nev learns that she just wanted attention because she was ignored by her mother. She is searching for love and attention and used to be willing to lie to get it from people online. We thought Mike was the broken one, but Felicia seems to have her own share of issues too.
Later that night Mike and Felicia go on their date and they both seems pretty excited. Things are going alright then out of nowhere ‘sweet’ Mike drops the bomb that he is pretty angry about what she did. Felicia understands and wants to know if they can get past it and get a real relationship going, because she doesn’t want to invest in something that isn’t going to go anywhere.
Mike says he doesn’t know if he wants the same thing and Felicia gets pissed. She doesn’t like that Mike isn’t being straightforward and Mike starts nervously twisting his napkin. And that’s when the date gets rocky. Felicia decides to bounce and Mike feels awkward because she won’t give him time to himself. But things pick up when they head outside and Mike is able to better explain himself. He wants to start as friends and work their way up from there. Felicia feels better and the date goes on. Could this be love???
At the two month check up Felicia and Mike are still talking and had a planned meet up and after Nev talks to them, the words on the screen tell us the when she came to visit her and Mike became boyfriend and girlfriend and she is hoping to move to Jersey soon!! LOVE GUYS! LOVE IN THE FINALE!!!!!
This is really the best way for the first season of Catfish: The TV Show to end. Now who’s ready for the reunion special?