By KAMMs Moore-Mitchell
Last week’s episode presented a lot of questions that needed answers. This week we got those answers, except that with every answer came at least another question – if not two.
The big question is were you ready? Because I wasn’t. I was prepared and still not ready for the emotional roller coaster that left me stranded at the top as I watched the ride operator walk to his mother’s Subaru in the employee parking lot as the park shut down for the night.
Frustration is one of very the first stops on this ride. Less than two minutes in I find myself pausing it to take notes. Usually pausing isn’t required. I paused it and started writing, “stupidity, selfishness, cluelessness, spoiled, privilege – what is wrong with Brandon Foster?!”
Now didn’t we talk last week about Stef’s blindness due to privilege? Clearly the episode was shot long before that daring accusation was made, but it’s as Mike & Stef’s post-Brandon conversation was a direct response. “She said ‘your son’…and I just assumed it was Jesus; never occurred to me that it could be Brandon.” Hmm, you don’t say, Stef!
Stef closes the conversation by telling Mike she wants Brandon to move back home, which could very easily be a setup for the re-emergence of the Wyllie-Brallie love triangle.
Luckily for Wyllie shippers, Wyatt’s direct question about Brallie gets a direct response from Callie – “No.” Callie kisses Wyatt because talk is cheap and showing is always better than telling. Or something like that.
Even though the finale gave Callie a good note to end on it’s not without a surprise run-in with Murphy’s Law. The soon-to-be Adams Foster finds out not only that the man she knew as her father isn’t actually her father, but also because of this she can’t get adopted until they find the man listed on her birth certificate.
Apparently The Fosters wants us to believe that as complicated as the adoption process is that they are just finding Callie’s birth certificate and checking it for the first time – on the day of her adoption.
Only because they’ve done so many other things right do The Fosters get a pass on this one.
(ABC FAMILY/Ron Tom)
HAYDEN BYERLY, MAIA MITCHELL
Oh Dani. Dear Dani. Let’s just say her ulterior motive is finally clear. The thing about it though, I’m not even sure if her ulterior motive was clear to her. Sure she’s much younger than Mike and Brandon is pretty close to an adult. But almost doesn’t count and I’m quite certain this makes her a pedophile.
You had to know when Mike broke kicked her out at the beginning of the episode that her time with The Fosters wasn’t done at that point.
All of those questions posed about Zac and his mother, Amanda – the answer to all of them is Zac knew his mother was suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s this whole time. And like most children of single parents who are ill, he’s been in denial and riding the avoidance Ferris wheel instead of dealing with the issue. Because dealing with the issue and admitting how much his mother’s illness has progressed means moving in with his dad – in Arizona.
The best part of the situation is perhaps the caring and gentle, yet persistent nudge from Mariana to get his mother help and likewise keep him safe. Even knowing that it would mean she would likely lose her boyfriend, Mariana cared enough about him to take mature actions, regardless of her own happiness. Uhh can someone show Brandon what healthy teen love looks like?
This Jude and Connor thing – I knew it! Or maybe I didn’t. Wait – what did I know? This is really the sum of my thoughts on this matter. I thought they were just friends, they gravitated toward one another because Connor is a decent person who got Jude. Perhaps this is still true. But it sounds like Jude isn’t so sure either.
The best part of Jude’s situation is his conversation with Lena, who is pregnant by a sperm donor who has decided he can no longer sign away his parental rights. Yep, looks like the subject of Lena’s man crush might be a little too perfect.
Back to Jude – he wants to know when she knew she was gay in hopes he can figure out his own feelings. Lena starts off by telling him his feelings of jealousy over his best friend are normal then quickly corrects herself and makes it a point not to use the word “normal.”
Love it! I see what you did there Fosters. Even feminists make mistakes, parents, advocates, allies – humans make mistakes. When it comes to the words we use on a regular basis, especially when speaking to youth, we have to be mindful of the words we choose – they build foundations of esteem and assemble frameworks that help determine how comfortable or free a person feels to be who they are and be confident about it.
This is another great example of The Fosters getting it right! A great nuanced moment that kills two or more birds with one stone.
While we’re on the subject can we take a moment to discuss Hayden Byerly’s acting chops? The scene between he and Maia Mitchell who plays Callie was believable and moving. Their growth as individual characters and siblings was on full display as Jude struggled with the decision to leave his sister behind when they found she wouldn’t be getting adopted that day.
(ABC FAMILY/Ron Tom)
CIERRA RAMIREZ, JAKE T. AUSTIN
The totality of Brandon’s current plight could use an entire write-up unto itself. At the beginning of the episode he finishes his confession, Mike and Stef are clearly disappointed and more importantly concerned for about the legal ramifications of Brandon’s actions for all three parties involved.
Throughout the episode we see the damage of Brandon’s decisions of mass destruction. Mike dumps Dani for her role in enabling Brandon’s poor choices and failing to do the responsible adult thing and tell his parent instead of lie.
Even though Vico, who is a son of great wealth and privilege, has parents who all but make the situation go away, his father is decent enough to employ at least once consequence by forcing him to quit wrestling. This may not seem like a big deal except that Vico, who is eager to get from under his father’s son, was banking on getting scouted for college. The ph balance of the privileged tears that Vico is spilling is all types of off; those tears will leave you parched and dehydrated.
See, this one is not on the young Adams Foster. Vico, you smoke marijuana (and I’m assuming without a medical card), you chose to commit a felony over and over again, and you chose to retaliate, which is essentially and finally what set off the bombs that Brandon has been dropping the whole second half of the season. And now you mad? Sorry, Vico. This one’s on you.
You sort of think it’s over – that maybe Vico has learned his lesson and his apparent anger will blow over in due time. But the wisdom of Lena Adams Foster prevails again as she foreshadows – sort of – the brutal beating of her eldest son.
Vico and his boys jumped Brandon in an eye-for-an-eye attack that ends after they crush Brandon’s hand in his car door. This comes just moments after he tells Callie of his successful audition resulting in an offer to join the junior symphony. Ouch.
This is how the episode ends. Cliffhangers we expected, though I’m not sure we expected the ones we got.
The fate of Brandon’s future in music hangs in the balance, the Jemma ship finally set sail – though we don’t know where its headed – when Jesus decided to go back on his meds after a caring urging from Mariana. He approaches Emma and shares this information, which leads to her acceptance and a kiss between the two. I love that Emma held out until he got his life together. She’s worth that much.
The last scene we see of a drunken relapsed Mike being cared for by Dani who is rinsing blood from his hands and asking what he did. Later we find out that Ana never made it to her extortion meeting with Stef who had every intention to catch her on a wire. Ana is missing and Mike’s hand is bloody. Perhaps the two aren’t related – still that’s the cliffhanger we got.
A week is a long time to be stuck at the top of an emotional Ferris wheel let alone three months in the middle of a sky-scraper-high twist of a roller coaster. Still it looks like we’re going to have to wait to get answers to these new questions.
Let’s meet up again June 16 when The Fosters returns with its second season. Someone find the ride operator and make sure he’s at the meet-up. The suspense is killing me.
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