The Fosters - Recap: All Hand On Deck

There's so much "letter of the law" vs. "spirit of the law" nonsense separating Callie (Maia Mitchell) from becoming a Foster that it's maddening. But that's exactly how it's supposed to be. We should feel incensed that a child is being ripped from a loving home and placed with a "legally acceptable" alternative all because of a lapsed fostering certificate. We should be outraged that the judge has Stef (Teri Polo) wait in the court lobby all day, only to decide that getting home for the night is more important than hearing her case. These are all testaments to how the system has failed kids like Callie and Jude (Hayden Byerly). But that was last week's episode. "Take Me Out" features a less overt battle with bureaucracy than "Things Unknown" did, but it's still an underlying motif that runs throughout the episode, as Callie is forced to take a DNA test to prove she's the daughter of the mysterious Robert Quinn (Kerr Smith) -- who decides not to show up after making Callie and Stef wait interminably. The amount of hoops Callie has to jump through remains ridiculous, and yet so much of her character growth is centralized in how she no longer feels the need to flee when things get tough. She stands and fights. "Take Me Out" is an episode about inner strength, and it illustrates why this show is such a gem.

Credit: ABC Family

I suppose Callie's story is the most succinct representation of the "inner strength" narrative playing out, as she wrestles with Robert Quinn's simultaneous presence/non-presence in her life: he wants her to take a DNA test, but he apparently doesn't want to actually see her; he was there for her conception, but not anything that came after; he'll sign the papers, except he won't sign the papers. It's understandably frustrating. But what haunts Callie most is the implicit rejection that comes from his no-show at the lawyer's office. It's as if she's been judged as worthless by someone she's never met, and has never cared to meet; yet this wounds her because he's still her biological father. And what does it say about her that he doesn't even want to meet? These are questions that I would think many children of estranged or absentee parents wrestle with, and the show depicts this internal struggle with great delicacy and maturity. Even after Callie decides she's not going to allow her life to be dictated by Quinn, there's still the sense that she's nowhere near okay with how he just up and disappeared from her life.

Case in point, she discovers through a Google search that Quinn is the customer who's been visiting her at work and chatting her up about milkshakes, in-between leaving excessive $100 tips and generally looking mournful. She confronts him and basically unleashes all the resentment that's been building up, saying that she doesn't want the money he allegedly has, and that all she's ever needed from him was to sign the papers so she can move on with her life. However, Quinn insists he never even knew about Callie until he was served with the papers by his lawyers. Hell, he didn't even want her to have to go through with the DNA test. That was all cooked up by his family's lawyers. Granted, Callie doesn't believe any of this, but she hears Quinn out anyway, accepting a mysterious letter for her to read when she gets a moment of privacy. Which she does: upon opening the envelope, she reads a letter from Sophia (Bailee Madison), her half-sister. Not unlike Callie, Sophia has wanted a larger family, and a greater sense of belonging. Naturally, this sense of belonging is thrown into greater relief by how much Sophia and Callie look like one another, as Sophia has included a picture of herself with the letter. All of a sudden, Callie's dedication to remaining free of Quinn begins to waver. Yet inner strength is about more than sticking to your guns. It's about being able to let go of your pride and recognize when something might be worth saving, as this potential connection with the Quinn family might be. It should be interesting to see where this goes.

Credit: ABC Family

Also compelling this week is Stef and Lena's clash over Brandon's desire to get surgery to bump the 95% functionality of his hand up to 100%. Stef and Mike (Danny Nucci) forbid the surgery due to the risk of permanent loss of function in Brandon's hand, while Lena (Sherri Saum) strongly disagrees with the decision, siding with Brandon (David Lambert). As Lena tells Brandon, it's his hand, and he should be able to decide whether he gets the surgery or not. However, the show makes a point of illustrating that Lena is sort of in the wrong here. Yes, she's still technically Brandon's mom, and Stef should have included her in the decision. But I don't know what good she thought would come from telling Brandon that she disagreed with Stef and Mike's decision. Stef was right to call Lena out for undermining her authority and going back on their rule of presenting a unified front to the kids. Yet, despite all this, "Take Me Out" digs deeper into the more difficult ends of parenting. Even though her approach was all wrong, Lena's heart was in the right place, and that warrants her thoughts on the matter being heard. Ultimately, Stef relents after talking it out with Lena, and informs Brandon that she's going to talk it over with Mike. However, Brandon reneges on the decision to get the surgery right away, opting to wait to see if the feeling returns to his fingers. Yet this isn't due to any kind of epiphany about the risk involved in the surgery; rather, this is about Brandon running into an old friend whose garage band needs help. They're damn good, but Brandon recognizes they can be better, and the invitation to help out suddenly has him enthusiastic about music again. As far as the story itself is concerned, Stef has the inner strength to hear Lena out and consider Brandon's right to a say in what happens to his hand, even though it's an opinion with which she disagrees strongly; meanwhile, Brandon finds the inner strength not to look for the quickest solution, but to allow time to take its course as he searches for ways to rediscover the enthusiasm he lost. It's great storytelling, whether the plot was laid out that way or not.

Credit: ABC Family

However, not everything in the episode was up to that same standard. I love Emma (Amanda Leighton), but her back-and-forth relationship with Jesus (Jake T. Austin) is wearing a bit thin already, even while there are interesting potential stories there. For example, Emma seems eager to have sex with Jesus, but Jesus is reticent, which begs the question of their readiness for this level of commitment. Jesus knows all too well from the whole Lexi debacle last season that it's hard to be committed so deeply at such a young age. That said, none of that potential for strong storytelling was really evident here. Ditto the stuff with Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), who is as lovably boy crazy as ever, but whose story from last week about cultural assimilation doesn't really find any footing. Jude's storyline fares a bit better, as he finds the strength to stand up for himself after Connor tells him that his father is forbidding him from spending the night at Jude's house because he suspects Jude is gay. "And what if I was gay?" Jude says, only to quickly discover that Connor might actually have as much of a problem with it as his father does. (Poor Jude, there's never a moment where I don't think, "Man, that kid needs a hug."). But even the solid Jude story does nothing to set aside the obnoxious, ongoing mystery of Ana's disappearance and Mike's possible involvement, or Timothy (Jay Ali) landing on the board to decide the next principal. And the less said about Dani (Marla Sokoloff), the better. If I could undo any storyline from last season, it would have been her hookup with Brandon, just because I can't imagine that story ever goes anywhere going.

Credit: ABC Family

With all that said, the negatives of "Take Me Out" are all negatives that are minimized in the shadow of what the episode accomplishes. Sure, I could wax poetic about inner strength, but really, this is just a damn good, well-made, well-acted family drama. And that, in itself, is worthy of praise. In short, I'm thrilled that The Fosters is back.