The Fosters - Recap: Wrestling With Life
Recap and review of The Fosters - Episode 18 - Escapes and Reversals:
The Fosters feels like it's in a holding pattern until we can begin the proper run-up to the season finale, as the latest episode spends a lot of time setting up the main conflicts for the final episodes of the season. "Escapes and Reversals" is more overtly melodramatic than many episodes have been, and while this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it ends up meaning that the episode loses a bit of the levity that makes The Fosters so enjoyable. Of course, a show often needs to deal with serious issues in order to progress its story further, since audiences aren't likely to stay invested in a story with no stakes. But "Escapes and Reversals" feels like it's missing something, that essential component of liveliness that has characterized the series even in its most serious moments. I mostly enjoyed "Escapes and Reversals," but I can't help but wistfully look ahead to the payoff to all the stories this episode sets up.
Credit: ABC Family
The main point of interest this week is Jesus (Jake T. Austin) deciding to break up with Lexi (Bianca A. Santos) via email, sending it in the morning before he leaves for school. However, everything goes awry when he comes downstairs for breakfast...and finds LEXI in the kitchen to surprise him! She apparently is back from Honduras for the week, and is stoked to spend time with Jesus, which makes this seven different brands of awkward, as Jesus has to continue indulging the relationship even while trying to explain to Emma (Amanda Leighton) the bind he's in. Of course, I'm not exactly sure there's a delicate way to explain to a girl you like that "Hey, my girlfriend is back in town and is really focused on finding a place where we can quietly bone each other." And so he doesn't really provide much of an explanation, since he doesn't really seem to have one himself, given that he has no idea what, exactly, he's going to do about this situation. Emma, however, wastes no time in becoming completely flustered upon meeting Lexi, accidentally slamming her own finger in the door of her locker. Her finger broken, Jesus has to take her spot in the upcoming wrestling meet, a matter that is further complicated by the presence not only of Emma and Lexi, but of his entire family. It's an incredibly tense scene, in large part due to Jesus having taken his meds prior to the match, which has the effect of making him loopy as the contest drags on. I expected some kind of catastrophic occurrence, maybe Jesus collapsing or some other melodramatic twist. But thankfully, we get the happy ending, with Jesus overcoming his adversity and winning the match.
Credit: ABC Family
Okay, maybe the ending isn't entirely happy. Lexi checks her phone and discovers the break-up email Jesus sent. Instead of addressing it like one would assume she would, she instead makes up a story about having kissed someone while in Honduras. Jesus has a hard time believing it, presumably because he'd just told Emma his plans to re-commit to his relationship with Lexi, despite all that's happened. Yet here he is, getting dumped. He explains that he loves Lexi, and she responds that she loves him too, but tearfully adds that it's just too hard to make the long distance relationship work. And so they part ways, with Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) learning from Lexi that there was no boy in Honduras. "But there will be," she declares, intent on moving on with her life, as bittersweet as the break-up has been. It's a fairly realistic teen romance, approaching the relationship with heightened, complicated emotions. In this sense, I actually enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. With that said, Jesus is going to look like such a putz if he goes back to Emma and tries to get with her now. Oh, Jesus.
But Jesus isn't the only Foster for whom things are going downhill in a hurry. Brandon (David Lambert) decides he doesn't want to be in business with Vico anymore, even though Vico returned the computers he stole last week. So Brandon spreads a lie around school and says that the fake ID operation has been compromised. Yet this attempt at making up for his misdeeds doesn't impress Callie (Maia Mitchell), who discovers the fake ID business when she approaches Vico about getting one made for herself. She doesn't intend to really use the fake ID, she's simply going on a fishing expedition for evidence to confirm her fears about what Brandon has been up to. The resulting confrontation between Callie and Brandon is great stuff, as Callie really lays into him for his shortsightedness, and how his actions cost her a friend. Although she doesn't mention it to Brandon, it was actually much worse before the computers were returned, since the possibility of a theft charge for Daphne would have cost her any hope of getting her daughter back from the system. Callie condemns Brandon by saying she has no idea who he is.
Credit: ABC Family
Yet things ultimately improve a bit once Brandon recognizes that he needs to own up to his mistakes. Dani (Marla Sokoloff) says she isn't going to turn Brandon in over the fake ID, but she isn't going to lie for him either. And so Brandon decides it's time to come clean to his dad about the piano lessons, the money, everything. Well, everything except what he ended up using the money for, as he pays back his father without a single word about Ana or the bribe that kept Mike (Danny Nucci) from facing a trial. Mike is mad but understanding, a reaction that is similar to Callie's when Brandon apologizes to her for getting her involved in all the fake ID drama. He explains that the money was intended to be for her apartment, and while Callie declares that he shouldn't have, Brandon insists he'd do anything to make her happy -- because she does know him. It's a bit of a treacly, overly sentimental speech, but Lambert does a good job selling the sincerity, so that it never comes off as corny. It's a delicate tightrope to walk, but he accomplishes it admirably.
But Brandon is not exactly out of the woods yet, as he faces trouble both in his home life and his social life: Dani is poisoning Mike's mind against the Fosters, arguing that going from an only child to one of five has caused Brandon to act out in erratic ways. Not only does she want to move in with Mike, but she wants him to get full custody of Brandon from the Fosters. Dani is pretty much the worst, but this is basically the entire point, as she represents a certain danger to the status quo that is unsettling. Ditto Vico, who learns of Brandon's lies, which have cut into his financial bottom line. He decides to get his revenge by actually having Callie's fake ID manufactured, and I don't see this ending well for anyone. Particularly not for Callie, who has her own troubles this week after Stef and Lena reveal that Callie and Jude's father has signed away his parental rights, which will allow the adoption to go through. This is all well and good, except Jude (Hayden Byerly) resents that Callie didn't tell him their father was out of prison. He resolves to take the court up on the offer to meet with his father...but, apparently, not if Callie does it first. The episode ends with Callie surprising her father at his home, prompting him to remark, completely stunned, that she looks just like her mother. It's a surprisingly impactful end to the episode, and I'm more than a little excited to see how the father-daughter confrontation goes down.
The rest of the episode is a bit meandering: we have Mariana pursuing a relationship with Zac (Julian De La Celle), culminating in a kiss outside Jesus's wrestling meet. However, things are complicated by the sudden arrival of Zac's mother to pick him up. Her disapproval is loud and obvious from the moment she rolls up and sees her son kissing Mariana. By that evening, Zac is appearing on Mariana's front doorstep and explaining that they can't be together, since he apparently doesn't have time for a girlfriend. It's clear to Mariana that he's lying, even after he swears that this decision has nothing to do with his mother. So what's the cause? Is Zac's mother racist? Or does she simply not want her boy seeing a girl with a reputation for promiscuity? Maybe she doesn't want him dating at all! We could have a real creepy situation here. But thankfully, we're spared creepy vibes from the Stef/Lena fertility storyline, as they decide that Tim (Jay Ali) is their guy. This decision only comes after an episode-long continuation of the storyline centering on Stef's feelings of exclusion from Lena's decisions about the baby. But it's eventually resolved, leading to a surprisingly passionate scene in the bedroom, as Stef and Lena kiss like two people who haven't had sex in years. I love that we're at a point in society where this type of relationship can be depicted on a family network without batting an eyelash.
Credit: ABC Family
"Escapes and Reversals" isn't the best The Fosters has produced, but I didn't hate it or anything. It's merely a setup for the final run of episodes this season, as things are looking to change in ways both big and small. Color me excited for what's ahead.