The Fosters - Series Premiere Recap: Family Matters

Recap and review of The Fosters - Series Premiere - Pilot:

I'll never stop crossing my fingers for the possibility of Bunheads returning, but for now, another show has been slotted in its place. And, thankfully, it's not bad. It's not bad at all. The Fosters is the kind of family drama that's a perfect fit for ABC Family, a spiritual companion, of sorts, to Switched at Birth, in how it explores the complicated dynamics of interconnected family units. The pilot is one of the more fast-moving introductory episodes I've seen in over a year, doling out exposition at a quick rate, in order to get the details of the story out of the way so we can get into the plot. And there's a lot of plot here. Almost too much to fit into one hour. Yet the episodes does an admirable enough job keeping things cohesive, while also cutting to the chase, with regards to developing these characters' personalities, backstories and personal struggles. It wasn't the best pilot I've seen all season, but it's probably the one pilot that best inspires optimism about the direction of the show, going forward. The Fosters has a lot of heart, right off the bat, and it will live or die by viewers' connection to that heart-driven structure. For now, it makes for a compelling pilot episode.

Credit: ABC

The series is unique in its diversity, in terms of both race and sexuality. Stef (Teri Polo) lives in a quaint suburban home with her partner, Lena (Sherri Saum). Together, the have three kids: Brandon (David Lambert) is Stef's biological son from her previous marriage, while Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Jesus (Jake T. Austin) are twins who’ve been legally adopted by the couple. Within the first half of the episode, we learn that Stef is a police officer, Lena is the vice principal at the kids' charter school, Brandon has a piano recital lined up for a $5,000 scholarship, and Mariana is trying to set up a meeting with her birth mother, without Jesus's knowledge. It's a lot to take in by itself, but dropped into the middle of this family unit is Callie (Maia Mitchell), a troubled juvenile delinquent in need of a place to stay for the next few weeks. Compelled by the desperate, teary-eyed, world-weary look on Callie's face, Lena decides to take the girl in. No stranger to foster homes, and having been roughed up by the other girls in juvie, Callie approaches the world adversarially, assuming that no one has her best interest at heart. She's combative from the minute she enters Lena's home, referring to her and Stef as "dykes," and then stating that Brandon is the only real son, since they obviously picked up Mariana and Jesus at the 99 Cent Store. Callie is a girl with a chip on her shoulder, and a secret she's concealing from her new foster family, and this leads to the bulk of the episode's plot.

Credit: ABC Family

We learn that Callie's only goal is to get back to her little brother, Jude, who remains in the abusive home from which Callie escaped -- unintentionally, of course. Turns out, Callie attacked their foster father when she found him beating Jude. When the cops came, he put the blame for the incident on her, getting Callie sent to juvie for her troubles. And so Brandon, compelled by his mother's insistence that he needs to "step up" in their household now that Callie is around, decides to help her get back to her former home to rescue Jude. Parallel to this storyline is Mariana's attempts to reunite with the birth mother who abandoned her and Jesus. This creates conflict when Mariana is shown stealing Jesus's medication in order to sell it on the streets for the money to meet with her biological mother. The story leads to a pair of solid scenes: the first of which sees Jesus grilling Mariana over her stupidity in wanting to reunite with the woman who was never really a mother to them; in the second, Mariana meets with Ana, her birth mother. It's a complicated scene fraught with shame, as Mariana feels guilt over having betrayed the women that adopted her, and Ana feels shame at having to take money from the daughter she abandoned. Both actresses play the scene remarkably well, as it's a meeting both parties want (even need, for peace of mind), but which neither is exactly comfortable with, or happy about having.

Credit: ABC Family

There's a lot to like about this pilot. In addition to the aforementioned storylines, there is a real feeling that this is a lived-in world with authentic relationships. Stef and Lena are a terrific pairing, played with warmth and maturity by Polo and Saum, while Maia Mitchell shows a raw-nerved ferocity as Callie, depicting her desperation and damage in a single look. Jake T. Austin and Cierra Ramirez are also remarkably convincing as siblings, and they both bring their own, separate intensity to the pairing. Even David Lambert, who isn't giving much in the way of showy material, makes the most of his screentime as Brandon. In particular, Lambert makes Brandon instantly likable in the scene where he uses the music of his piano to explain to Callie how the disparate personalities of his mixed family blend into a cohesive unit. It's easily the best thing in the episode, alongside watching Polo and Saum portray the love of a gay couple that addresses the changing landscape of the American family without feeling contrived or sensationalistic. There's richness in these characterizations, and the actors are the show's biggest assets.

Credit: ABC Family

However, I found the climax to be a bit of a letdown, if only because the gunpoint standoff between Brandon/Callie and Callie's foster father felt like something out of an entirely different show than the one we'd been watching. Only after the conflict is resolved, with Stef arriving on the scene with Mike, her police partner/Brandon's biological father, that the show drifts back to its sweet spot. Callie's foster father is placed under arrest, and Stef and Lena decide to take Jude in. In the episode's most touching moment, Stef tells Callie that she needn't act so recklessly with her own life. "You're not worthless," she tells the girl. And it serves as a mission statement for the series, in a lot of ways. The show offers a look into the foster system, sure; but at a deeper level, the show explores the issues of self-worth plaguing children who are abandoned, mistreated, or left without people who are unconditionally compelled to care about them. It's a story about unconditional love, and I found that remarkably moving.

Credit: ABC Family

This pilot wasn't the best I've seen all year, but there's tons of promise here. From the actors, to the nuanced characterization beneath the surface of each scene, and the potential on display for a deeper set of storylines, The Fosters is definitely a show that should be on the radar of anyone looking for a compelling, family-oriented saga.