The Fosters - Recap: Their Family Is Not Like Ours, They're Lucky

Credit: ABC Family

Getting to know all these people as individuals makes it all the more effective when they're brought back together as the family unit they are, even while that unit is often complicated and in danger of fracture. "Vigil" is the strongest episode of the season so far, not simply for its high-stakes central storyline. While it's certainly a strong story, we know good and well that Stef (Teri Polo) is going to pull through. But the consequences of her shooting and how everyone responds to the circumstances is what drives the drama, not the question of her well-being itself. This is an effective approach not only in how it ties together the family-centric plots of the season, but also in how it allows the relationship storylines to advance, little by little. The episode also works in a remarkable little last-minute twist that propels things over the top and makes this a penultimate episode that next week's summer finale will have a hard time topping.

Things pick up right where we left off from last week's cliffhanger, as we see what happened in Ana's house. Stef and Mike (Danny Nucci) split up while searching the house, doing a sweep of the first floor. Stef comes face-to-face with Ana's boyfriend, who gets off a shot that hits her in the chest. We hear another shot as Mike rounds the corner. When he reaches Stef, he locks eyes with Ana's boyfriend and opens fire, popping off three shots to the perp's chest, killing him instantly. Stef is trying to say something, but she's incoherent due to her injury, and Mike is pleading with her to save her strength while he calls for backup. We follow each of the respective family members as they get the news about what's happened to Stef, including Jesus (Jake T. Austin), who it turns out was with Ana (Alexandra Barreto), though downtown, not at her house. He gave her sixteen bucks to get to a women's shelter, though we're later told she opted not to actually stay at one, rendering Jesus's generosity useless. Worse, he's faced with the guilt of inadvertently causing his foster mother to be shot, a guilt that's matched only by that of Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), who fears she set this entire incident in motion by contacting her birth mother in the first place. For his part, Brandon (David Lambert) is furious with his siblings, asking them what the hell they were thinking, seeking out Ana. Callie (Maia Mitchell) tries to keep Brandon from saying something he'll regret, but he's too angry to be reined in. And he's not exactly wrong to be furious, even if Mariana and Jesus had no way of knowing what the result of their actions would be. It's a realistic, believable conflict that resonates immediately.

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However, while Brandon remains furious with his siblings over what's happened, Callie is able to talk him down later that night by reminding him of the story of when Stef and Lena (Sherri Saum) asked him if it would be okay with him if they adopted Mariana and Jesus. Little Brandon was perfectly agreeable to his parents adopting the twins, since they had plenty of love to go around. Being reminded of the past snaps Brandon back to his senses, and he makes amends with his siblings. Even Jude (Hayden Byerly) comes back home from a sleepover at Colin's to be there for his new family. As he and Callie try to get sleep that night, they remember their late mother, and Jude eventually worries that Stef might die just like she did. Poignantly, Callie assures her brother that Stef will be fine by saying, "Their family is not like ours. They're lucky." It's a heartbreaking scene in an episode that has more than its share of moving moments.

But the relationship issues also get a bit of advancement, as Callie and Brandon have a near-kiss in the kitchen while she's making biscuits and gravy for the family, her version of "comfort food." Brandon asks Callie about her mother and she reveals that her mother died in a car accident. Her father had been driving drunk and ran a red light, crashing into another vehicle and injuring a slew of others, in addition to killing her mother. Callie's father is now in prison, and he's long since stopped answering all of her letters. Brandon wonders if her father will come back for her and Jude once he's released, but Callie doesn't have any expectations about their family getting back together. Brandon offers his sympathies to Callie, and the two share a look. He pushes her hair back as if to lean in for a kiss, but Wyatt (Alex Saxon) happens upon the scene before anything more can happen. However, Wyatt has seen all he needs to see, and later tells Callie that things aren't going to work out between them because she obviously has feelings for Brandon. To his own surprise, Wyatt convinces her that she needs to seize the moment and go after Brandon, because she deserves happiness. Emboldened by Wyatt's encouragement, she rushes to meet with Brandon in the hospital, where he and the rest of the family are anxiously awaiting news on how Stef's surgery went. But, of course, right as she's about to reach Brandon to tell him how she feels, in walks Talya (Madisen Beaty) to comfort him. Ah, so close and yet so far.

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On the relationship front, the episode handles the adult pairings through flashbacks that go a long way in filling us in on the pasts of these characters. We see Stef and Lena's first meeting, the dissolution of Stef and Mike's marriage, and the cementing of Stef and Lena's bond. It's a trio of flashbacks that might have been corny in any other circumstance, given the somewhat awkward styling choices employed to make everyone look younger. Yet the flashbacks flesh out these characters in the present, as Stef wakes up after surgery and asks Lena to marry her, realizing that she wants to make things official after having come so close to losing her own life. The flashbacks also serve other functions; for example, the Mike flashbacks help explain, in a certain sense, why he became an alcoholic, as I would argue it's being implied that he considers himself a failure, at some level, as both a husband and a father. It's hardly a concrete explanation or anything, but it's easier to see that he uses drinking to deal with the psychological effects of his shortcomings.

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Of course, though Mike is able to finally confront his drinking problem at the end of the episode by attending an A.A. meeting -- but only after Brandon discovers alcohol in his father's coffee, and declares himself "through with" Mike -- it may be too little, too late. Internal Affairs is already investigating the shooting, and Mike's boss fears Mike's drinking is affecting his work performance. To make matters worse, Ana is now claiming she was in the house and snuck out the window, but not before witnessing the shooting. This all builds to the climactic reveal at the end of the episode, as Stef accesses her repressed memories of the shooting. It turns out that the extra shot we heard while Mike was rounding the corner wasn't Ana's boyfriend shooting at Stef a second time, it was Ana's boyfriend realizing he justs hot a cop, and dropping his gun in shock. As it hit the floor, the gun fired off another shot. Mike then entered the room and, without thinking about it, shot Ana's boyfriend three times. Stef had tried to tell Mike that he'd just shot and killed an unarmed man, but as it tends to be with life, things just moved too fast. Will Stef tell Internal Affairs what she knows? Or will she compromise her moral compass to keep Mike from facing suspension, or worse?

"Vigil" is strong from top-to-bottom, and marks the best of The Fosters this season. Next week's summer finale has a tall order ahead of it, as Stef and Lena's nuptials are likely to set the stage for some explosive drama. It should be fun to see how this show approaches climactic, season-ending moments. It's already got the smaller moments right.