The Fosters - Recap: Speak Now
Recap and review of The Fosters - Episode 13 - Things Unsaid:
The issues at the center of The Fosters, whether the romance or the drug problems, all inevitably boil down to the central theme: family. It'd be easy enough to take every storyline at its own level, but no matter what the situation, the story invariably ends up looping back around to the connections these people have with one another, and the safety or fragility of those connections. "Things Unsaid" explores how these people negotiate their bonds, both tenuous and long lasting. It's a strong episode for the show, which is really growing in the second half of its first season.
Credit: ABC Family
So Callie (Maia Mitchell) has lost all of her privileges in the wake of her decision to go running out of the group home to hug Brandon (David Lambert) at the end of last week's episode. But that doesn't mean either of them is going to give up that easily, even after Brandon is handed a restraining order threatening his arrest if he comes within 100 feet of Callie. During an instructional field trip, Brandon surprises Callie, and meets with her in secret. The tension is high throughout, as Callie and Brandon come within moments of caught red-handed by Rita (Rosie O'Donnell), who has no tolerance for Callie's flagrant flouting of the rules. Had it not been for housemate Daphne -- the girl who'd attacked Callie in juvie in the pilot, and who, here, hurries Brandon along before Rita can see -- Brandon would be on his way to jail. It's part of an episode-long arc in which the group home forms a tenuous family unit, as the girls look out for, and come into conflict with, each other in ways both big and small. For instance, Cole upsets the rest of the group by getting them kicked out of the museum/park where they were having their field trip, all due to the outburst she caused when she insisted on using the men's bathroom (since Cole identifies as male, despite her female biology). Callie sticks up for Cole by making the salient point that the reason the girls are taking out their frustrations on Cole is because they're too busy thinking about themselves and what makes them comfortable or uncomfortable. I'm glad that the series is making a point of restating that, despite her numerous, misguided mistakes over the past several weeks, Callie is still, at heart, a good person.
Credit: ABC Family
But no good deed goes unrewarded, so when Callie learns about an independent living program from Daphne, who is looking to regain custody of her two-year old daughter, she decides to text Brandon to tell him about the idea. She has her cell phone hidden discreetly in a fuse box outside the house, and so she sneaks out to retrieve it...only to be discovered by Cole. Cole orders Callie to hand it over, claiming that it's for her own good. Ultimately, Callie has no choice but to do as he says, as another violation will get her kicked out of the house and sent back to juvie. "Sometimes what's right isn't easy," he tells her, saying that he's going to toss the phone to keep her out of trouble. Yet Cole doesn't toss the phone. Instead, he holds on to it and intercepts a text from Brandon, replying as Callie: "THIS IS OVER. WE'RE DONE." It's hard to tell from the sinister look on Cole's face whether he's actually doing this for Callie's benefit, or if he perhaps is developing feelings for Callie and wants to remove an obstacle to their potential union. Or hey, maybe Cole is just a vindictive person with a chip on his shoulder from years of abuse? Who knows? But it's not as if Callie and Brandon's relationship needed any more obstacles in its way, between the stigma of foster siblings dating, to the restraining order filed against Brandon. I don't even think Romeo and Juliet had it this rough.
Credit: ABC Family
Another person who isn't having the best week is Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), who still has to put up with Kelsey (Anne Winters), who continues to lord the pills incident over her head, as if Mariana is expected to spend the rest of her life making it up to Kelsey for not narcing. She forces Mariana to give up her alone time with Chase (Garrett Clayton) so that she can run lines with him instead. Of course, because this is Kelsey, she ends up screwing this up for herself by getting detention, leaving Mariana to run lines with Chase as expected. Ultimately, the two end up kissing, and not only does the poor stagehand crushing on Mariana see it, but Kelsey sees it as well. Bitter as hell, Kelsey goes right to the principal and spills the beans, not only about the pills but also about the stolen hat from the clothing store last week. Mariana gets suspended, and ends up catching hell from Lena (Sherri Saum) and Stef (Teri Polo), who inform her that she'll no longer be taking part in extracurricular activities. So goodbye Chase!
But the romance storylines pale in comparison to the thematic weight of the more ancillary storylines. It's Stef's first day of work since being shot, and Lena spends the entire day mortified that something terrible is going to happen. Like a complete and utter moron, the school's English teacher goes to Lena and tells her that he heard of a shooting on the police blotter. His rationale is that he wanted Lena to hear it from a friend first, so that she wouldn't worry, but he's apparently too thick to recognize that this is going to have the opposite effect. "I'm sure Stef is okay," the man says, prompting to wonder why the hell he told her in the first place, then. Lena is held in suspense the rest of the day, until Stef finally returns her call, finally setting her mind at ease. Yet Lena never tells Stef about her concerns, and instead plays it off like nothing is wrong. Ultimately, she doesn't realize the error in this thinking until she notices that Jude (Hayden Byerly) is stockpiling food out of concern that he'll be shipped away at any moment. And it's here that Lena realizes that you can't spend every day in fear of what might happen. She tells Jude as much, and assures him that while she can't promise things won't be tough, she can promise that they'll never pull the rug out from under him. He'll always be safe here. It's a lovely sentiment, although Lena is still clearly troubled as she retires to bed with Stef that night. Just because one shouldn't live in fear of the future doesn't mean that the person in question still won't worry about what life may bring around the corner. Hell, she already worries about Jesus (Jake T. Austin), who gets a black eye as the result of a wrestling team hazing ritual gone wrong. This latter incident seems unnecessary and tacked-on, but at the very least, Jesus is getting something to do other than pine over Lexi. His developing friendship with the sole girl on the wrestling team is some of the most charming stuff in the episode.
Credit: ABC Family
As for the rest of the episode, there's a fairly poignant story between Brandon and Mike (Danny Nucci) in which father attempts to talk son out of doing something stupid, causing a huge blow-up. Brandon recalls all the times Mike was a drunk when he was a kid, even driving while under the influence, with six-year-old Brandon in the back seat. It's the resurrection of old demons that exist between the two, and it's clear how much these problems still torture both. Brandon feels his father isn't entirely there for him, while Mike hates that he hasn't had the chance to be there for Brandon as much as he's wanted to. As Mike explains, before handing him the money to continue his piano lessons, Brandon is the love of his life. It isn't that Mike forgot what a bad example he was as an alcoholic, but rather that he was hoping Brandon was too young to remember. But he recognizes that he can't pretend the past didn't happen anymore, and so he intends to be a better father to Brandon. It's all meaningful stuff, and well-done by Nucci, and it leads into the episode's conclusion: just before Brandon receives the fateful text from Cole-as-Callie, he calls his expensive piano instructor and quits, presumably in order to use the money Mike gave him to run away with Callie, or give her some kind of a fresh start. It's an interesting direction for the story to take with the Brandon character, although it's one I don't really see ending well for him.
Credit: ABC Family
"Things Unsaid" keeps The Fosters from stagnating, as the second half of this first season has delivered some terrifically well-plotted material, in addition to the family-centric themes of home and safety. The show proves that family programming doesn't have to be consequence-free, or devoid of stakes.