Fosters: The Fallout

[talkswithwind]

So we got the Liam story.

In case anyone was unclear, this is a Drama. A damned good one, though. We're still on track for the #1 Taboo Subject which hasn't come out yet, but we still have two episodes to go.

• Callie was victimized by Liam to the tune of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 2nd degree. Not that I'm counting. 
• Lexi's family are all undocumented, and from Honduras. Something Lexi didn't know about.
• I can't crack Jude yet, but he has a friend who is doing everything possible to tell him you are awesome and he still isn't getting it. I'm not sure how to parse that whole relationship yet, the actors are still very young.
• Lena's job is on the line (or could be, if the right complaint is filed) which is showing some of the very significant problems that someone In A Position Of Authority can have as a parent. And there are two of 'em in this relationship.
• Mariana is not buying what her birth-mom is selling.
• Jesus was sort of there this episode but not much; everyone else was getting plot.

Callie OMG Callie. She's got a protective streak like whoa, and is beginning to learn that she can't do it all herself. Telling the Moms that she's been raped was a big, big move. Not a lot they can do about it, but Stef is sure as hell going to try because her protective streak is as wide as Callie's is, and parents are kind of funny about the R word. The odds are, what, about even that either Stef or Lena has a sexual assault in their past.

I'm reading a lot of young-Stef in Callie, at least in terms of how she reacts to the world. They certainly had completely different upbringings, but I'm seeing similar character-traits there. Stef is a full adult now and in firm possession of her agency, Callie is still figuring out what resources she now has, and is building the confidence to actually use them.

Lexi made a biiiiig mistake with that INS threat at the end of the episode. You just don't do that to parents, they react unpredictably. And as a teenager, you want predictable parents. Bad-decision-bears moment, confirmed by the teaser for next week.

We're still on track for Callie to have had an abortion in her past. We have confirmed sex, and we've already had our reminder that young people are amazingly fertile. They may yet go there before the season ends, or they could hold out for an Oops later on. We shall see. But they look like they're willing to go there.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

I was really heartbroken for Callie -- the way she told the Liam story earlier made it seem like there was mutual affection, but when we met him last week, everything screamed 'abuser/predator'. I was afraid it would turn out to be this (afraid for Callie's sake, not because it's a bad storytelling choice.) And when it turned out that her concern about the girl in group therapy was that she would be victimized, and the way she solved it -- this show is really good about dealing with complex motives. I'm admiring how nuanced the portrayal of Lexie's parents is, too. And Jude, man, I love that kid. I am trying to think if I've ever seen a show deal with the idea of queerness -- or at least questioning -- in a kid who is (if I'm reading his age right) not in his teens yet. Gay teens on TV tend to emerge fully formed but of course that's not how it works.

[talkswithwind]

I also got the abuse/predator vibe off of Liam in the last episode. We knew there was shame attached to him somehow thanks to the writing-exercise thing[1], and the tension she got in her body language whenever someone mentioned his name. Now we know why, and it was as bad as I was fearing.

She's written as someone who still feels adrift and doesn't see the point in actively engaging in her surroundings as it'll all go away in a couple of weeks. And yet, she's still white-knighting; though in a very immediate way rather than planned out. Thanks to Jude, she's got a mothering instinct going already, which is possibly part of it. She's written like she's in the middle of an island of stability she's only beginning to realize is stable

And then there's Jude (and Connor). Callie's snap at him last episode about taking his nailpolish off before going to school was eerily familiar.

You can do that stuff at home all you want, but not at school dearheart.

I've had parent-friends of mine say that exact line to/about their own children, and for very much the same reason: protection v. bullies. No one likes to see their own children getting harassed over something as easy to fix as personal presentation. It just has the side effect of reinforcing the culture of shame versus gender variant presentation. Stef and Lena seem to get this, Callie doesn't quite yet. And it is awesome that the writers are showing this.

If there is a gay kid in the making here, my money is on Connor.


[1]: If there was ever a more obvious plot-device to get information on stage for later Dramatic Reveal, the writers would be hard pressed to come up with one.

[likeadeuce]

That's a good point about Connor. Jude doesn't really seem to be relating his gender presentation to sexual orientation (and the parents and even Callie have avoided doing this as well; nobody's telling him 'you like nail polish and dresses so you must be gay'); whereas Connor doesn't really seem to be acting on genderqueerness (he wears the nail polish as a gesture of solidarity with Jude) but maybe sees a commonality in Jude's unabashed otherness. Does that make any sense?

[talkswithwind]

Yes, that does make sense. Seeing as that's how I made many friends in school. Yes, there was an uncool-kid clique ;). The way their relationship is framed reads strongly that Connor is attracted to Jude in some way, we just don't know what the nature of that attraction is yet. Is it warm regard about the kid who wore something that'd obviously get him picked on, and didn't back down when the bullies started in, or is it something else?

Also, the fact that Jude is still keeping his go-bag packed is very diagnostic about his headspace.

[likeadeuce]

I hadn't thought about the go bag. Now I am SO sad.

OH JUDE! YOU CAN COME LIVE WITH ME, JUDE!!!

(This would in reality be a terrible idea, I can't even keep a cat from running away, but that's my emotional reaction).