The Fosters - Recap: It's the Bigger Love of the Family
Recap and review of The Fosters - Episode 14 - Family Day:
Family is a complicated thing to really quantify when blood isn't involved. Hell, it can be hard when blood is involved. But The Fosters has excelled at illustrating how a family can be more than just a shared genetic unit. A family can be something you choose to be a part of. "Family Day" is one of the strongest episodes of the season, not simply for how it addresses the need for support structures, but for how it makes clear that a person must want to be a part of those structures if they're to have any hope of actually getting anything out of them.
Credit: ABC Family
Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum) approach Jude (Hayden Byerly) to talk to him about his adoption. They still want to go through with it, but they're being realistic about their chances of being able to adopt Callie as well, and so they ask if he'd still want to be adopted if it meant it would just be him. This is an interesting take since one of the hoariest adages of all time is about how "You don't get to choose your family." Yet Jude does. He's in the rare position to decide whether or not he wants to be Jude Foster. And it's an effective way of depicting the strangeness of his situation, since he'd spent a long time viewing things in terms of whether or not he'd be accepted by this family. And now he's the one whose acceptance must be won -- Jude essentially holds all the cards (his change in attitude is illustrated quite subtly via snacks, of all things. Last week, he was hoarding what meager food he had out of fear he'd be sent away at a moment's notice. This week, he's got an entire roll of string cheese packages to idle away the time). It's this newfound feeling of power that brings Jude into direct conflict with Jesus (Jake T. Austin), who constantly finds himself annoyed by the boy's presence: first when Jude barges in on him while he's trying to take shirtless pics for Lexi (just roll with it), and later, when Jude interrupts Jesus's Skype session with Emma, his friend from the wrestling team.
Credit: ABC Family
Jude and Jesus blow up at each other the way a big brother and little brother would. Well, except when Jude lashes out by throwing a book at Jesus, an unexpected outburst that kind of surprised me, actually, since Jude had been portrayed as such a meek kid before. But it's a fitting illustration of Jude's newfound sense of belonging that he can be so familiar with Jesus. Hell, Stef and Lena are positively thrilled that Jude is fighting with Jesus the way a little brother fights with his big brother, since it means he's finally beginning to feel like he's a part of their family. And he does, as he tells Callie (Maia Mitchell) during family day that he plans on accepting the Fosters' offer to adopt him. Maia Mitchell is fantastic here, as her face runs the gamut of emotions in the blink of an eye, from joy to sadness to disappointment with her own choices. Jude feels Callie has been trying to shut him out, but she insists she's only been trying to protect him, and I suppose it's as good a reason as any for Jude to recognize just how badly he needs a family structure. His decision to join the Fosters is framed as the right decision, in stark contrast to Callie's continued rebellion against the makeshift family she's rejected in the group home.
Credit: ABC Family
During Family Day, Callie is visited by the entire Foster clan, including Brandon (David Lambert), who has convinced Stef and Lena that he just wants to put this entire drama behind him so they can all be a family again. But he's still clearly in love with Callie, all the more so once he learns that she didn't send that breakup text from last week, it was simply Cole pretending to be her. Completely in the throes of their own infatuation, and high on the possibilities presented by Callie's possible independence (with an apartment of her own to show for it, maybe), Callie and Brandon start talking about their future, such as where they're going to put Brandon's keyboard, or where the LCD TV will go. It's all a lot of youthful optimism, but it's incredibly sweet in its own way, particularly once Brandon serenades Callie with his guitar. But as bright and optimistic as things seem, the fact remains that Callie is still breaking the rules of the group home and expecting everyone else to cover for her. And her housemates are slowly getting fed up with it. As is Rita (Rosie O'Donnell), who tries to talk some sense into Callie by relating her own story of how she ruined a good thing in her life, cheating on the only boyfriend who ever truly loved her. (I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Rosie O'Donnell is positively killing it in this role. Such a great addition to the show, as she adds to the series without hijacking the spotlight)
Credit: ABC Family
But Rita's story doesn't seem to reach Callie, at least not in any serious way. However, what does finally cause Callie to start considering the circumstances of someone else in the group home is the plight of Cole, who sneaks out to procure prescription hormone therapy drugs from dealers. He basically guilt trips Callie into letting him use her phone to call the dealer after recounting the fairly heartbreaking story of how his parents kicked him out of the house for not acting more like a girl, leaving him to spend ten months doing what he had to in order to survive. Naturally, the fact that it's a guilt-trip doesn't make any less sad, or any less true, so Callie allows Cole to use her phone -- and it's a decision that results in tragedy. Cole ends up accidentally overdosing on the hormones, which cause a seizure that nearly kills him. Callie admits to her role in the near-tragedy, prompting the rest of the house to essentially call her out on her B.S., basically saying that all she does is break rules and ask them to cover for her. They also accuse her of not taking group seriously, as she only says the bare minimum in order to get by, if she even says anything at all. Her housemates resent that she's being so flippant about group when she has a perfect loving family willing to look out for her. And so we loop back around to the theme, as Callie is being accused of rejecting this makeshift family unit, and it's up to her to choose whether or not she wants to accept entry into this family. Ultimately, Callie turns over her phone to Rita as a sign that she's ready to give the group home a real shot, admitting that this is where she needs to be. It's a powerful moment, made all the more effective by the recognition that Callie is potentially giving up Brandon in order to do this. But family has to come first for Callie, in this instance, even if it is a family she's only just met.
Credit: ABC Family
The other big story of the episode, other than the subtle hints of a potential eating disorder storyline for Jesus (since he is attempting to drop to a lower weight class for the wrestling team and spends the entire episode refusing food), is Lena's realization that she wants to have a baby of her own body. And so she visits an OB-GYN and asks, during her checkup, if it's possible for someone at her age to become pregnant. The doctor sees no reason why it shouldn't be, but she runs some tests to be sure, and the results place the matter in strict, dramatic terms: if Lena wants to have a baby, it's going to need to be now. Lena makes the decision to start taking prenatal vitamins without consulting Stef first, or even telling her about her intentions, as the two have a wedge driven between them as a result of a disagreement Stef had with her father -- a disagreement that has Lena siding against Stef. This is the one storyline centered around one's inability to choose one's own family, as Stef still isn't over her father's lack of support for her marriage. He says he's been respectful of Stef's decision, and even tries to make amends with a new car, but Stef doesn't equate respect with support, and sends him away after a heated argument. Sadly, things get downright tragic, as the episode concludes with Stef returning to her father's house to apologize only to discover his dead body, having quietly passed away while watching football in his recliner. I probably should have seen this coming, but I admit I was blindsided by it. Again, not everyone gets to choose their family, but that doesn't mean they don't love the people they end up with, even if there are rough patches here and there. It'll be interesting to see how this death changes Stef, and whether it will impact Lena's decision to move forward with having a child, as Lena is pretty much putting Stef in a position to acquire another family member she didn't necessarily choose.
Credit: ABC Family
"Family Day" is a potent hour of television, as The Fosters illustrates the nature of family through the agency of choice, since one might argue the family we choose can be every bit as strong as the family into which we're born.