The Fosters - Recap: Belle of the Ball

Yes, the show was always going to build towards romantic tension between Callie (Maia Mitchell) and Brandon (David Lambert), but even while it's expected, it still feels like a natural progression for the story. Part of it is the ease with which Mitchell and Lambert pull off the ambivalent chemistry between Callie and Brandon, but a lot of it is also the way in which the show doesn't make it the sole focus of the series. This is an ensemble show in the best possible way, as everyone has his or her own storylines that are equally substantial in the larger context of the episode. So while "Quinceañera" takes its title from Mariana's traditional Mexican rite of passage, the episode is more about identity, and the ways in which people define themselves, whether it's in how they're seen by others, or in how they see themselves.

Credit: ABC Family

So Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) pretty much spends the entire episode on the edge. Sure, she's initially stoked for her quinceañera, but things quickly begin going wrong as Mariana tries to make heads or tails of her cloudy sense of self. At first, she doesn't want her mothers to dance with her for the traditional father-daughter dance, instead asking Mike (Danny Nucci) to sub in. Then, while preparing to hit the dance floor for the big moment, she overhears Jesus badmouthing her to Lexi (Bianca A. Santos) for refusing to dance with their mothers, and for continuing to meet with their birth mother even after he took the heat for the drug bust. Worst of all for Mariana, she discovers that Lexi is seeing Jesus, and they've gone out of their way to keep it a secret from her. Feeling betrayed by her brother and her best friend, Mariana can hardly keep it together, which leads to a terrific scene in which Mariana and Jesus argue with one another in the middle of their dance. The choreography is basic, but the concept behind it is beautifully executed, as Mariana and Jesus are forced to hash out their conflicting feelings while being forced together by the dance.

Credit: ABC Family

Mariana feels betrayed that Jesus would go after her best friend when he could have had any other girl in school, while Jesus is equally bothered by Mariana's attitude about the whole situation. It's a natural brother-sister conflict that's brought out in melodramatic fashion, but it's still remarkably effective. It's also pretty poignant, particularly once they roll the special video Stef and Lena had made, illustrating Jesus and Mariana's childhood bond, a video that includes Lexi's close friendship with Mariana. Though things don't exactly boil over between brother and sister, Jesus is able to reconnect with Lexi by convincing her that they shouldn't allow Mariana to ruin the party for them. They finally have their first dance together in a sweet little moment. Meanwhile, Mariana makes amends with Stef and Lena, admitting that she was wrong to not share her first dance with them. Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum) insist that there's nothing to forgive, and it brings whatever lingering family issues Mariana fears she's created to a close. Of course, Lena has been having some of her own troubles. Her mother (Lorraine Toussaint) is in town, and though she brings with her a festive sense of cheer, she's awfully pushy about identity. At one point, she declares that Lena has had an easier time as an African-American woman because she had a white father. Lena takes considerable offense at the assertion, and it takes Stef reinforcing her independent sense of identity to bring Lena down from her frustrations. Like Mariana, Lena doesn't appreciate being seen a certain way, and only manages to overcome her own self-doubt through the support of those who know the kind of person she really is.

Credit: ABC Family

Callie is continuing to have her own difficulties in cultivating a concrete identity in her new setting. Callie maintains a lingering fear that everyone's opinion of her will change once the discovery of "what happened with Liam" comes out. But she doesn't have much time to worry about all that, as Mariana has offered her a spot in her quinceañera. Naturally, when Brandon catches a glimpse of Callie in her dress for the party, he's rendered utterly speechless. Lambert does a solid job of conveying his internalized conflict, as he's obviously attracted to Callie, yet Stef's warning about not getting involved with a fellow foster kid lingers in the back of his mind. Things get even more complicated once Talya (Madisen Beaty) reveals that she read Callie's journal and knows about Liam. She threatens Callie and orders her to stay away from Brandon, but this threat doesn't exactly work out the way Tayla plans. Callie goes straight to Brandon and asks him to tell Talya to back off, that she has nothing to worry about. She has no intentions of trying to steal Brandon away from her. Confused, Brandon confronts Talya, who admits to having read her journal. Brandon flips out and breaks up with Talya on the spot, and later admits to Callie that while it may seem as though he dumped Talya for what she did to her, he actually ended things due to the totality of Talya's bad decisions. Callie is worried that Brandon won't think much of her once he learns the truth about Liam, but Brandon insists that none of that matters. Talya tried to tell him, but he didn't want to hear it. "I already know everything I need to know about you."

This affirmation of how Brandon sees her sends Callie over the edge. She flees from him and runs off to the beach, and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's because she can't handle Brandon seeing the real Callie, or perhaps she feels guilty because Brandon has the wrong idea about her. He doesn't know the full story, and until he does, whatever conception he has of just who she is will be incorrect. Regardless, Brandon goes off searching for her and is unable to find her. As it turns out, she decided to take up the offer of Wyatt (Alex Saxon), one of her flirtatious classmates, who invited her to a gathering at the beach. Wyatt has never been shy about his intentions with Callie, and it seems as though Callie is warming up to him. This should create an inverted love triangle. No longer is it two women with feelings for Brandon, but two men with feelings for Callie. It should be interesting to see how the storyline develops.

Credit: ABC Family

"Quinceañera" offers the soapiest of the four episodes of The Fosters so far, yet it's probably my favorite one yet. There's a lot the show does well here, between the romance subplots and the more substantial, family-oriented developments. The ensemble continues to be among the more well fleshed-out new casts on TV right now, and it serves the material in remarkable fashion, as I can't imagine the storylines clicking nearly as well if this cast didn't gel the way this group has. I'm genuinely looking forward to the direction the series chooses to take.