I've been watching this show for a while now and I have to admit it has become my "comfort food" TV show, meaning that it tends to be a nice break from most of the other TV shows I watch which more often than not are bleak and depressing.
For those don't know, The Fosters is a family drama centered on two moms (Stef and Lena) and their five kids: Brandon (Stef's biological son from a previous marriage), Jesus and Mariana (twins that Stef and Lena adopted a few years back) and Callie and Jude (foster kids staying with...The Fosters. Yes, the show is about a foster family named "The Fosters". Try not to let it bother you).
Anyway, this most recent episode, appropriately titled "The Fallout" deals with the fallout (get it?) of Jesus having sex with his girlfriend (who happens to be his sister's best friend) Lexi. Stef (a cop) had given Lexi the Morning After pill in order to keep her partner Lena (the vice-principal of the school the kids go to) from getting in trouble with the school board and, naturally, because she didn't want their son to be a father at the age of 15. Mariana, queen of bad mistakes, had drunkenly told Lexi's parents that Jesus and Lexi had been having sex.
Caught up? Okay. The first story line moving forward here is that Lexi has run away from home after her parents had arranged for her to move to Texas (a bit extreme just because your daughter lost her virginity before getting married, no?). Turns out Lexi and her parents are undocumented (illegal immigrants) so the Riveras (Lexi's parents) ask Stef for help in finding her because going to the cops would cause them even more trouble. The problem with this story is that it feels a bit forced. The Fosters, as a show, tends to deal with or discuss social issues in almost every episode, but it doesn't usually come off as contrived as it does here.
The second big story of the episode deals with Callie and the fact that Liam, the son of a Foster family she had been living with two years ago is afraid she'll tell people (especially his new foster sister, Sarah) about how he raped her and then blamed everything on her. This story has been building for a few episodes now, and while it was predictable, it was handled fairly well. Rape is never an easy thing to discuss on TV and Callie's reluctance to talk about it is understandable. The problem she faces now is that, since no one believed her in the past, she's afraid no one will believe her now. This is amplified when she tries to tell Sarah (Liam's current foster sister and potentially his next victim) in order to warn her about Liam. Sadly, Liam has already gotten inside Sarah's head and convinced her that Callie has made up the story and is only doing this to hurt Liam. This story doesn't get wrapped up in a neat bow and it looks to be a big part of next week's episode as well since at the end of this episode tells Stef and Lena the truth about Liam in the hopes of saving Sarah.
The third story centers around Callie's younger brother Jude. Two episodes back, Jude had bullied in school for wearing blue nail polish but managed to make a new friend, Connor, in the process. While this story takes a backseat to the other two, fans of Jude will no doubt be happy to see his friendship with Connor progress. I've seen people on Twitter and Facebook posting pictures of themselves wearing blue nail polish in support of Jude as the show seems to be hinting at the fact that he might be gay (it was mentioned way back in the pilot episode that he got in trouble with his previous foster father for wearing a dress). I'm not sure that we'll ever see Jude "come out" or if this will ever be addressed head on, but if it is, it would be the first time I've ever seen such a young gay character (I think he's around 9 or 10 years old) on television. If that happens to be the case, kudos to the writers and the actor (Hayden Byerly) for being brave enough to show it on television.
I know that's a lot to follow, especially if you haven't seen the show before. This episode felt a bit heavy handed when it brought up the idea that Lexi's family were illegal immigrants, but the stories with Callie and Jude were handled well. Also, I'm glad to see Mariana come to her senses about her birth mom, Ana, who's been using Mariana for Mariana to feed her drug addiction (even encouraging her to steal from her family so she can sell off their stuff for money). Over the previous six episodes Mariana made some really dumb mistakes and let other people take the fall for her when the consequences became apparent. Hopefully this will be a step towards her making smarter decisions in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment