The Fosters - Recap: A House Is Not A Home
Recap and review of The Fosters - Episode 12 - House and Home:
Many of my initial concerns about last week's Winter Premiere were ultimately proven to be unfounded with "House and Home", an episode that illustrates how deftly The Fosters manages to navigate both social issues and family drama, while blending in the teen romance plots that have become one of the hallmarks of ABC Family. It can occasionally leap all over the place in terms of tone, but "House and Home" largely succeeds by presenting a storyline that has far more dramatic weight than I was expecting it to have.
Credit: ABC Family
The storyline in question is Callie (Maia Mitchell) getting moved to a group home for troubled youths. It seems like a fairly rote plot direction on the surface, but it turns into a storyline that has me excited for the future, as we not only get to see Callie yanked from a place where she'd just started to feel comfortable (The Fosters home) and places her in an entirely new context, once again forcing her to be the outsider, and to view things from the perspective of others, as opposed to simply digging deeper into her own introverted persona. And the setup in getting her there is fittingly dramatic as well: Brandon (David Lambert) confesses to kissing Callie, which detonates a figurative bomb in the center of the entire family. Jesus (Jake T. Austin) and Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) are disgusted by what Brandon has done, while both Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum) are absolutely furious with him.
Credit: ABC Family
Brandon, however, doesn't care. He declares that he and Callie are in love, and that he doesn't intend to give up on her as easily as Stef and Lena would. It's such an authentic teenage character beat that I couldn't help but cringe for how accurately it's summed up the dizzying, heightened emotions of teenage love. David Lambert really does a terrific job playing the defiant, borderline petulant Romeo, making him a much more human character than he might otherwise have been, since we know there's a genuinely good guy underneath all that false bravado. He even ends things with Talya (Madisen Beaty), in order to keep from stringing her along any farther than he has already. But Brandon attempting to reconcile his actions doesn't mean that Callie will be coming back to the Fosters: Teri and Lena make an appearance at Callie's court hearing and admit that while Callie has made real progress while under their care, and has been a ray of sunshine in their lives, they simply cannot take Callie back at this time (although they don't reveal why).
Credit: ABC Family
And so Callie ends up in the group home, under the care of Rita (Rosie O'Donnell), the woman in charge of the facility. O'Donnell is stunningly good here, presenting a character that is warm yet challenging. Rita is willing to help these wayward kids, but she isn't willing to turn a blind eye to their B.S. It places Callie in an environment where she can't simply run away from her problems, and placing her here is a storyline decision that essentially forces the character to either grow or devolve. Either way, it'll make for a fascinating journey, particularly considering the variance of characters in the group home, including one person with whom Callie has a past from juvie. The group scenes are terrific, as each of the kids in the circle provide their backstories while also explaining why they feel ostracized. A highlight is a scene in which Rita discusses her addiction: food. This prompts the other kids to wax philosophical about their own addictions, whether it's boys, drugs, or the impulses that placed them here in the first place.
Credit: ABC Family
When one teenager, accused of being addicted to boys, says she hasn't spoken to her boyfriend since coming to the group home, another teenager poignantly responds to the effect of, "Well I haven't smoked meth since I got here, but I'm still an addict." It's keenly-observed social commentary about the crushing nature of addiction, and the denial at its center. It even affects Callie, who refuses to confront her conflicting feelings about Brandon, or face her own culpability in landing herself in this place. When she gets into a shoving match with a transgender teen who identifies as male, Callie gets her privileges revoked, but not without learning a bit about the struggle of those around her, people who have it every bit as hard as she does, if not worse. No, they're not all warm and inviting, but it seems these characters serve a didactic purpose in Callie's life, to teach her about the wide variance of human experience beyond her own. And in that sense, the plot is more than welcome.
Credit: ABC Family
It even reaches a fairly potent climax, as Brandon tracks down the group home and goes to visit, despite Callie losing her visitors' privileges, to the disappointment of a clearly devastated Jude (Hayden Byerly). Brandon waits outside the building, and Callie can no longer hide her contentment, rushing out of the house and leaping into Brandon's arms, holding him tight while all her restrained emotions come flooding back. In that moment, Brandon doesn't seem entirely off the mark when he insinuated that he and Callie are in love. Despite only having one kiss and a bunch of furtive glances to go off of, Brandon recognized the depth of his own feelings reflected in Callie's. Whether it's really love or not, these two characters believe it is, and that's all we really need in order to get some choice drama out of this storyline. Count me in.
Credit: ABC Family
Of course, the rest of the episode struggles to be as interesting, even though I love the relatively mundane nature of the plots. Mariana goes out for crew on the school play (The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams) on the suggestion of an exceedingly handsome senior/theater nerd named Chase. Mariana, who's never had a boyfriend, ends up competing for Chase's affections against Kelsey (Anne Winters), who is right back to her bad girl ways. Although she kept the secret about Mariana being the dealer who gave her the pills that got her sent to rehab, Kelsey isn't exactly giving up her life of crime: she steals a hat from a clothing store by hiding it in Mariana's book bag, without her knowledge. But things actually end up working out pretty well for Mariana, as Chase takes a liking to the hat and gives her all the credit for having picked it out, leaving Kelsey dejected. It's kind of a silly storyline, but fun in its own way, as we rarely get this type of breezy, ancillary subplot. However, it's far less eventful than the business with Jesus, who suffers a bout of exhaustion while playing basketball with Mike (Danny Nucci), sending Lena and Stef into a panic. Once Jesus recovers, the family brainstorms a new extracurricular activity for Jesus to tackle, and they settle on having him join the wrestling team. Okay, so maybe I was wrong about this story being of greater import than Mariana's, as they both seem like relative fluff. But a series like this is built as much on its mundane, slice-of-life moments as it is on its melodramatic, soap opera climaxes. And The Fosters strikes that balance far better than most shows of its ilk.
Credit: ABC Family
"House and Home" gets the second half of season one on the right track, as the character dynamics are as poignant and impactful now as they've ever been, and the stories around those characters are strongly-written, and well-structured. The Fosters is undoubtedly a family program, but it just might be one of my favorites in the genre.