Last week we gained some insight into each individual Foster kid’s journey to maturity and self awareness, but the one who seems to be struggling the most with this is Jesus. We catch back up with him while Stef is informing the frustrated teen that they live in a ‘compulsory education state’. Stef threatens to arrest Jesus if he drops out of school without passing the efficiency test, because part of her penance for being absent lately is that she has to play bad cop. Jesus vents to his bio dad while they’re building the treehouse, and even though he’s an approachable ear because of his rocky past, he encourages Jesus not to make decisions that will leave him with as much regret as Gabe has.
Mike and Ana plan to let the kids know of their engagement, but A.J. lets the cat out of the bag to Brandon before he learns from Mike, and Ana clams up to Jesus and Mariana after Jesus reveals that Gabe still has feelings for her. Fret not though, because Brandon swoops in to tell the twins the news even though Anna chokes up. Jesus contemplates whether or not Anna might have withheld the info from them because of what he told her about Gabe, because, duh.
Grace responds to the discovery of Brandon’s bed and breakfast for Cortney and Mason by inviting Cortney to the open mic night where they’re performing. Before the night concludes, the host persuades Cortney to join in, so she takes Brandon with her on stage. While watching their chemistry, Grace chugs a bit too much of the wine Cortney brought along and makes a bit of a fool of herself on the way home. Little does Grace know, Cortney has moved on anyway, as Brandon discovers her making out with Gabe when he bursts into the room thinking it’s Anna instead. Whoops, busted.
After Jesus takes his proficiency test, he approaches Emma with a promise ring, but she shoots it down in response to his decision to drop out of school. Apparently, Emma’s complete rejection is all Jesus needed to commit to whatever it takes to finish high school. I’m glad he decided to stay, but wish the reasons weren’t because of puppy love.
The poignancy of each episode of The Fosters continues to resonate as they tackle current political and social issues that hit home more and more each day. Callie brings Aaron along to the meeting discussing the protest of an ultra conservative speaker being funded by a group at the school. Aaron, a proponent of free speech no matter what the content, opposes the protest, and you can see Callie’s entire body tense in response to his stance.
This scene hits our screens during a week where free speech speculation saturates our televisions, laptops, phones, and radios due to the aftermath of a white supremacist rally over the weekend to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee status in Charlottesville, VA. Having these conversations on a platform like Freeform sparks thought and interaction within the generation of young adults who will be (hopefully) responsibly taking the reins of this country in the near future.
Jude and Taylor show Noah a YouTube star who gives tips for beating a video game while spewing homophobic and racist commentary. When Noah calls out the language, Jude mentions that you have to just ignore those parts because he’s so big and what he’s saying is so helpful. Noah convinces Jude and Taylor to create their own tutorial video in response, slamming the hateful methods the YouTuber is using. However, Jude quickly learns that when you speak out for what’s right, the other side can get pretty ugly in response — new friend requests begin to roll in from people itching to call him a “butt-hurt snowflake”.
Once the trolling floods the internet, Noah removes the video and confronts Jude on his use of the game during the week they had a deal to give up their vices. Jude responds by creating his own channel with Taylor, which features live streams of their gaming, which immediately builds an enthusiastic following. Score one for the butt-hurt snowflakes, am I right?
Over at the precinct, Stef interrogates the man who owns the thumb drive of young boys performing sex acts on camera and requests the names of the men he distributed the videos to. Meanwhile, Callie finds out Kyle has been released from prison and goes to visit him, discovering the poor boy is terrified to even leave his house for fear of being blamed for another crime and ending up in prison again.
Stef approaches Kyle about wearing a wire to infiltrate the community of abusers and nail Detective Grey, but when he attempts to confront one of his old ‘friends’, he’s shut down. Because of this, Kyle is convinced he can’t make a difference and angrily refuses to help Stef any longer.
Over in the land of Mariana versus Callie, Mariana finally reveals the she forged her mom’s signature in order to join the roller derby team. Right as this conversation is happening, Lena stops in to tell Callie that they can’t risk another one of their kids’ safety in a full contact sport. Even though Callie claims she won’t tell, Ximena shows up shortly after and demands to speak to the Moms.
As Mariana braces herself for Ximena to rat her out for the permission form forgery, Ximena instead pleads her case to Lena in Mariana’s behalf to be able to play, because Ximena is just an all-around badass chick. After her job there is done, she and Callie head to the civil disobedience training, where Callie learns that the goal of the protest is to be arrested so that the cause will garner more attention. Now Callie has to yet again decide whether to sacrifice herself and safety for a cause she believes in. Any guesses on what she’ll decide?
What did you think of this week’s episode of The Fosters? Should Callie continue to participate in the civil disobedience plans, or should she lay low to preserve her well-being and not disappoint the Moms again? Sound off in the comments!
