The Fosters - Summer Finale 2014 - Recap: The Selfish Ones
Recap and review of The Fosters - Summer Finale 2014 - Someone's Little Sister:
We don't get to choose where we come from, or whom we come from, and so blood relations are often fraught with complication. We have no control over whether we're born white or black, to a drug addict or to a rich guy, with a brother/sister or with no siblings at all. "Someone's Little Sister" is The Fosters illustrating that although we don't have a choice in where we're from, we often have a choice in where we stay. We can choose to have relationships with people, just as easily as we can choose to refuse them.
Naturally, this was a pretty dramatic Summer Finale, as we dealt with a series of startling revelations. Yet none was bigger than Sophia (Bailee Madison) revealing that although Robert (Kerr Smith) did sign the papers to allow Callie (Maia Mitchell) to be adopted, she took them out of the mail and ripped them to pieces. Although the show may not have telegraphed a development quite this insane, it has illustrated two things over the course of the second season so far: 1) that Sophia is enamored with Callie, idolizing her as only a little sister can idolize an older, cooler, more experienced sister; and 2) Robert is getting fatherhood pangs as he grows to care more and more about Callie. In short, both Robert and Sophia have gradually been nearing the point where it's simply impossible for them to let Callie go without that decision weighing on them for the rest of their lives. Of course, the catch here is that Sophia is a minor, so it's not like she actually has a say in what happens to Callie beyond sabotaging any efforts for Callie to be free of the Quinns. Robert, however, is the adult, so he's the one who actually has a choice. He could sign the papers again, but he simply doesn't want to. Yet the compelling part of this dilemma is in Robert's reasons for refusing to sign the papers a second time. Is he refusing because he truly believes he and his family are what's best for Callie? Or is he so attached to Callie, and so filled with regret over never having gotten to be her father, that he simply can't let her go, for his own sake? In short, are his reasons motivated by selflessness or selfishness?
The conflict between selfishness and selflessness is at the heart of "Someone's Little Sister", and it makes for an interesting Summer Finale. Case in point, much of Callie's storyline is centered on her decision to selflessly help Rita (Rosie O'Donnell) get the help she needs to raise money for a new Girls United house. She does this by swallowing her pride and asking Robert for help, which he gladly offers in the form of a fundraiser at his lavish mansion, with all his rich friends attending to open their wallets for the cause. Brandon (David Lambert) even offers the services of his band, Someone's Little Sister, for the fundraiser. It's a selfless moment that briefly distracts from his own storyline this week, as he gets into a big argument with Lou (Ashley Argota) over her lack of faith in romance, as Brandon has written a gushy love song only for Lou to argue that it should be colder and less "You're the only one!"-like. However, Brandon ends up offending Lou when he rewrites the song and indirectly implies she's promiscuous, leading to a back-and-forth argument that ends in a kiss, because of course it does. Granted, the kiss was a long time in coming, but I'm not sure I'm feeling this pairing all that much. And I don't think it's either Lambert or Argota's fault, it's just not a very strong romance, in my opinion. That said, I did get a kick out of how, by the time the fundraiser comes around, their new song contains the lovey-dovey lyrics, which Lou sings with a big, dopey grin on her face, in-between flirty glances back at Brandon on the keyboard.
Credit: ABC Family
But back to Callie: in helping out Rita, she's brought into further contact with the Quinns, to the point where she even spends the night over at their house, sharing a bed with Sophia and being adorably sisterly with her as they joke about haunted rooms in the mansion. I really can't stress enough how perfect Mitchell and Madison are as sisters, or how well Madison sells Sophia's starry-eyed infatuation with having a big sister as cool as Callie. It's tremendous, and does so much of the work of selling Sophia's later actions, to where you can be mad at her for what she did, while still understanding why, in her sheltered, 14-year-old mind, it would have made sense to do it. And, truthfully, Sophia's actions might not have ever come to light had Rita not convinced Callie that she should acknowledge Robert as her father at the fundraiser, arguing that it would be wrong to pass up an opportunity to have a relationship with a birth father who not only wants to be in her life but actually show her love. Callie acknowledges that Robert is her biological father, and that Sophia is her sister, and you could just see Robert and Sophia's hearts swell.
For Robert and Sophia, they see this as confirmation that Callie wants them in her life as more than just acquaintances, whereas Callie is basically just showing them the respect of acknowledgment and thanks...and nothing more. So when Sophia reveals to Callie that she ripped up the adoption papers, she expects Callie will be thrilled. And Robert is hoping Callie will understand when he tells her he can't bring himself to sign them again. But in their selfishness, they've misread the situation and have only upset Callie further. She vows she'll never live in Robert's house or call him her father ever again, just before completely breaking Sophia's heart by calling her "a spoiled little brat." It's the harshest we've seen Callie be towards another person in some time, and it's not like it's entirely unjustified, in the heat of the moment. But Robert and Sophia have their justifications, however selfish or misguided those might be. Callie's words cut deep, and I'm actually pretty worried about Sophia, who is last seen with a tear-streaked face, locking herself away in the bathroom to do God only knows what. As for Callie, she storms away from the fundraiser, chased by Brandon. He tracks her down and calms her down by saying that no matter what happens, she'll always be a part of their family. But Callie laments that she'll never be adopted, which is painful for her due to how much she's given up: it's at that moment that she and Brandon kiss, since -- well, if he's not going to be your brother anyway...
Credit: ABC Family
This was a solid storyline in which Callie essentially decides to go with her heart after realizing that she just can't win against the system. It's almost a defeatist storyline that we shouldn't really be rooting for, since we shouldn't want Callie to give up anymore than Callie wanted Rita to give up earlier in the episode. Yet Brandon and Callie finding their way back to each other should introduce a renewed conflict of interest, not only within the Foster household, but within their respective relationships, as I can't imagine Lou or Wyatt are going to be happy about this (actually, I could kind of envision Wyatt being okay with it if it's what really makes Callie happy. Wyatt is just so unflappably chill most of the time, barring last week's scuffle). I have no idea where this is going in the interim, but I still maintain that this series ends with Brandon making Callie a Foster through marriage, and if that's where they're headed, it makes sense to eventually come back to the Brandon/Callie romance.
As for the rest of the episode, the selfishness/selflessness theme comes out in interesting ways. Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) wants to see Ana (Alexandra Barreto), and ropes Jesus (Jake T. Austin) into coming along as a condition of keeping his new "Hayley" tattoo a secret. Yet once she gets there, it seems like it was less about actually hearing Ana out, and more about getting to say what she wanted to say to the birth mother she hates. It's an irrevocably dark moment for Mariana when she tells Ana that she feels nothing for her, and that she's simply a sad, desperate human being. That said, it was something Mariana needed to say, given how much anger and resentment had been building up over a lifetime of neglect. But it still doesn't change the harshness of what was said. Even Jesus, who didn't want to come in the first place, is moved to stick up for Ana. However, Ana takes her punishment all the same, insisting that it's not Jesus's job to take care of her -- it wasn't when he was a child, and it isn't now. Stef (Teri Polo) seems to recognize the change in Ana, yet it's Lena (Sherri Saum) who helps Mariana come to grips with where she comes from: when Mariana laments having not come from Lena, it's Lena who assures her that even if she did carry her for nine months, she wouldn't love Mariana any less or more than she does right now. It's a beautiful moment of assurance that helps Mariana to recognize that while her blood ties are her origins, those ties don't define her. By the time the fundraiser rolls around, Mariana is back to being a brunette, as if accepting the influence of Ana on her life, for better or worse, and realizing the futility of pretending it doesn't exist.
Credit: ABC Family
However, Lena has trouble separating her selfish motivations from the greater good of her family, as she gets into an argument with the new principal over how Connor's father is bullying him. Jude (Hayden Byerly) reveals that Connor has a bruise over his eye, and when both father and son are called into the office, he admits the injury happened by accident after Connor tried to run away during a spanking. The spanking was apparently over Connor having spent a night, unchaperoned, inside a tent with Jude during the overnight school camping trip. Basically, Connor's father believes Jude is gay and doesn't want him around Connor, which absolutely infuriates Lena, who wants to file a complaint with the state. But the principal rightly notes the conflict of interest there, and the resulting argument over what constitutes bullying and what constitutes abuse of power leads to Lena quitting a job she loves over a matter of principle. Stef is understandably livid with Lena, and feels she's only doing this because of the combined loss of the baby and of the head principal position at the school.
As Stef explains to Mike (Danny Nucci), all this loss has likely caused Lena to begin seeking other ways to assert control in her life. And I think she's probably right, although Jude still feels awful about everything, feeling this is all his fault. And he feels even worse considering that he and Connor did do something "wrong" that night in the tent, although we don't learn what. Because I don't see this show ever having a protagonist -- even an adolescent -- labeling same-sex practices as "wrong", I'm doubting they did anything sexual. But still, what could they have done? And is Lena being selfish in taking a paycheck away from her family on a matter of principle? Hell, Stef makes an excellent point in saying she could have filed the complaint herself, since there would have been no conflict of interest with the school. Had Lena actually talked it over with Stef before making such a rash decision, I think it could have turned out a lot better. Maybe Connor's father is in the wrong for making assumptions about Jude, but Lena is in the wrong as well for acting without thinking about how her actions would affect the rest of her family. Yet not everyone can be selfless this week, and not all selflessness is rewarded.
The Fosters is off for the rest of the year, but "Someone's Little Sister" was an excellent send-off for a Summer Finale. The circumstances of the characters are shifting dramatically, to where major change is likely in store. And I like that about a family drama, as it's all too easy to fall back into the familiar. After all, this is a show that could easily thrive by sticking with the status quo, but it continually challenges the characters by putting them in situations of compelling dramatic complexity. I loved "Someone's Little Sister", and I've unabashedly loved the first half of The Fosters Season 2.