ABC Family's The Fosters - Episode 1.21 Adoption Day
Stef and Mike are faced with the repercussions of a shocking revelations, and the fallout could destroy lives and relationships. Callie contemplates her upcoming adoption and Brandon's frustration leads him to make another regrettable decision. Meanwhile, Mariana supports a friends a difficult decision, Jesus resolves to make a change for the better, and Jude gets asked out on a date.
You know, a lot of bad stuff happens to Callie. This year she has been trying to take charge of her own life and figure out what she needs in order to be the best version of herself. At the beginning, she thought she could live life on her own. She could support herself and be with Brandon at the same time. But ultimately, she realized that what she really needed was a family who would support her and love her and allow her to make mistakes and grown into that best version of herself. And yet, even though she found exactly what she was looking for in the Fosters, bad stuff was still happening to her. Brandon was still pining at her and living at his dad's to make it seem less weird. Her classmates tried to humiliate her at the Winter Dance in a very criminal way. And now, she can't be adopted because the man she thought was her father is in fact not. Instead someone else is her real father. Thusly, Adoption Day can't happen for her and it just sucks. She stays strong for Jude and pushes for him to be adopted. But it all still seems like a lot of bad things happening all the time for her. Rita is the best person to point out how much it sucks but she needs to remain hopeful that better pastures are in the near future. So even though she's not officially adopted, she ends the episode in a really happy place. She's happy for Jude while still having the continued love and support of the entire Foster family. Plus, she has Liam who really is this great guy.Unfortunately, things don't end up so good for Brandon. He's had one very strange season where he mostly was this whiny teenager still clinging to something that everyone else had largely moved past. His infatuation with Callie is so self-destructive. He did things this season that shocked his family and had some really big consequences. The journey was rough however. I really didn't know how all it was going to be tied together until the conclusion of last week's episode. And things only blow up more in the finale. He gets the confirmation from Callie that things are never ever going to happen between them ever again. And he is set spiraling more than ever before. Dani is there for him like a mother - getting him into bed and setting the alarm so he doesn't miss his audition for the junior symphony. Which just makes it so odd when they kiss and start undress. Granted that dynamic has always had this weird energy all season but it just feels so icky. And later on she continues to be so supportive of the family. She finds Mike and helps care for him after a night of drinking and who knows what else - that blood can't be good, right? And then, he goes out and nails the audition as his mom watches proudly in the audience. He makes the cut and Callie is proud for him. His life is still a mess and his parents can't really trust him like they did before. But at least he has found his music again and has this opportunity to give his life a stronger purpose in the future. And then, we just sit back and watch as that chance is literally beaten out of his hands. As if things couldn't possibly get worse for him, they do. It may not redeem the decisions he made this season. But it does elicit sympathy.
Those two stories were quite profound in the finale. But in other plot developments, Stef and Lena argue over having a baby again, Mariana helps Zac give his mother the help she needs, Jesus tries to fix things with Emma and Jude gets asked out on a date but starts questioning his sexuality. The Stef and Lena argument raised a lot of valid concerns. They have five teenagers who all acted out and missing up and caught up in stuff that aren't always well-equipped to deal with. A baby is something that Lena has always wanted and yet how is adding a toddler to this mix going to make things any less complicated. Unfortunately, that choice is taken away from them because Lena is pregnant. They kinda have to all be on board with it now.
I'll still assert that the Jesus and Mariana stories were utterly pointless. They are exactly right back where they were when they started this season. The journey they had wasn't meaningful or dramatic or changed their outlook on live. I loved that the finale addressed the subtext about Jude's sexuality but didn't give a straightforward answer to it. That thread has the potential to be really interesting but it should also take its time to stem out from something organic. But at the end of the day, Jude got adopted and still is close friends with Connor. And it's so good seeing him be so happy.
Some more thoughts:
- "Adoption Day" was written by Bradley Bredeweg & Peter Paige and directed by Norman Buckley.
- Timothy's sudden change about not wanting to be the sperm donor was just that, sudden! It was probably one too many complications for that story.
- So what do you guys think did Mike hurt or even kill Ana? I'm doubtful that it's going to be that simple. But it's an answer I expect within the first few minutes of the season two opener.
- One thing that really surprised me with these winter episodes is how far the ratings dropped. It was the breakout hit of the summer. Now, it has fallen to some very low levels. Things will have to rebound in the summer for the show to last for that much longer.
