I really hope you've all watched The Fosters since my last recap because it's somehow managed to be even more amazing, and don’t you deserve to treat yourself? It certainly looks like lots of people are, with the announcement Tuesday that more episodes have been ordered. Success! Now there will be Fosters forever! But before I throw a small renewal party, here’s a recap of this week’s episode, “Vigil.”
This was a big week in Fosters-land. Basically everything happened, even though there's sure to be a helluva lot more on the way. When we last saw the gang, policewoman Stef and her fellow policeman and ex-husband Mike had charged the house/drug den of her foster children Jesus and Mariana’s birth mom, believing Jesus was inside. Gunshots were heard and then the show went away for an entire week. Well, the wait is over, and everything’s horrible! Stef’s been shot by birth mom Ana’s creepy boyfriend, who Mike then shoots and kills. Stef tries to tell Mike something as she bleeds out on the floor, but Mike tells her not to speak as he calls an ambulance. The only comfort during this nail-biter of a moment is that we do indeed know Stef is a main character and this isn’t Game of Thrones, so there’s a pretty good chance she’s safe. Unfortunately, yelling this at the characters onscreen tends to prove useless.
Jesus, meanwhile, is not in the house where his mother just got shot trying to save him. He’s meeting Ana at a women’s shelter where he’s secured a room for her. She arrives late, saying her boyfriend wouldn’t let her leave, but she escaped. She agrees to stay but asks for money for a toothbrush (aka drugs) first.
Jesus complies, and the audience members collectively shake their head in sad disappointment. Back at home, Lena doesn’t understand why Mariana would go behind her back when the family was arranging for the kids to meet their birth mom. We don’t get the answer yet because Jesus finally calls and the girls go to pick him up at the shelter. In the car, Lena gets a call from Mike that’s so ominous she immediately takes it off speakerphone.
Then, the cheery theme song plays while I continue to try to yell at the characters that everything’s going to be okay because Teri Polo is top billed.
Still, it’s not looking so good for Stef who’s covered in blood while medics yell ‘oh god, this is bad’ hospital jargon at each other. Lena and the twins join Mike in the waiting room, and there’s a moment of ‘Mr. Foster, your wife-‘ that is quickly cut off by Lena swooping in and informing the doctor she’s Stef’s domestic partner. For a moment, I thought the episode might take the turn of Lena not being able to see Stef due to their non-married status, but luckily this hospital wasn’t feeling that kind of horrible unfairness and there was no conflict on that front. We learn that Stef’s still in the danger-zone, (clearly there’s no copyright on the phrase “She’s lost a lot of blood”) and the family must resort to fearful waiting.
Mariana immediately blames herself, Lena seems to also blame Mariana, and the twins suddenly seem uncomfortably alienated. Mike’s involvement in the whole situation is under scrutiny, and Brandon and Callie finally arrive at the hospital. We’re all in this together, folks.
Lena is eventually allowed to see Stef, who’s awake but not doing super hot.
Just when you think this entire episode is going to be about pained, stressful waiting we get the lovely surprise of flashback time! In a pleasant yellow-ish glow we see early 2000s Stef and Lena (differentiated respectively by bangs and straightened hair) as they meet for the first time when Stef takes a tour of Lena’s school for Brandon. At this point, Brandon is five and Stef is still married to Mike.
There’s a special place in my heart for fuzzy flashbacks that reveal character details, so it’s a nice break from the tenseness of the day. It’s short, though, and immediately we’re forced back into the depressing hospital. Lena tells the kids she believes Stef’s going to be okay, though her underlying rage and hurt battle her attempt to stay calm. Brandon’s rage and hurt is a little less underlying, and he attacks Jesus and Mariana for causing the whole situation. “We took you in when no one else wanted you,” is probably not going to win the award for most comforting phrase in times of potential grief, and luckily the maturely stoic Callie pulls him away before things get too violent.
Mike’s situation continues to get complicated when he’s interrogated by two detectives who inform him he should have called for backup, and suggest he was just using his position on the force to intimidate Ana. There are a few jabs about foster children and lesbians by the ignorant detectives, but Mike straightens them out and makes himself a little more likable in the process.
The family is then hit with tons of great news. There are bullet fragments around Stef’s spine that must be surgically removed, though there’s a risk of paralysis.
I honestly believe The Fosters would go there, so at this point I’m planning out the second season with Stef in a wheelchair. Also, we learn Ana wasn’t at the women’s shelter as Jesus had hoped. Everything’s going so well! Can we please just have another sunshine-y flashback now?
The family is allowed to see Stef, but Callie stays behind. We also learn that she never told Jude what happened -- she thinks it’s better if he doesn’t know. Lena puts Brandon in charge of the family and sends the kids home while she stays with Stef. Every scene with Lena and Stef together is heartbreaking, especially as Lena admits to a knocked-out Stef that she’s having trouble forgiving Mariana and Jesus for their involvement. Just as I’m about to reach for some tissues, we get another flashback, this time of the first moment Stef meets Jesus and Mariana as little kids who were left at the police station when their last foster home didn’t want them.
Back in real time, Jesus and Mariana go through their old stuff and find a poem their moms gave them on their adoption day. The line, “No, we didn’t give you the gift of life, life gave us the gift of you,” wins my favorite of the episode, and the most depressing follows quickly after when Mariana looks tearfully at Jesus and asks, “What if they don’t want us anymore?” Jesus doesn’t have an answer.
The two kids have always seemed like such an integral part of the family it’s deeply affecting to see that maybe they don’t see themselves in the same way.
Callie confronts Brandon about forgiving his siblings, as he doesn’t know what it’s like not to be loved by your birth parents and to not understand why. Callie’s dropping real talk on Brandon all over the place, and when he apologizes to Jesus and Mariana it seems like he’s finally learned a lesson.
Something I love about The Fosters (among the many things I could rant about for weeks) is that there’s really no separation between them as biological/foster/adopted siblings. This episode brought to light that in a world where, if Lena really did feel strongly enough, Jesus and Mariana’s position in the family could be in jeopardy. The worst part is this is an actual reality for kids in the foster system.
Jude finally finds out about Stef and walks home from a sleepover to be with the family.
While they’re all trying to sleep, Jude reveals to Callie that the situation feels oddly familiar. He asks if Stef’s going to die, and Callie replies, “This family’s not like ours, they’re lucky.” In the morning, Brandon, who overheard the conversation, asks Callie about why she’s in The Foster system, though he lets her know she doesn’t have to tell him if she doesn’t want to. I love a good backstory and have been waiting for Callie’s for a while, so you better tell him, girl. She goes on to explain that her mother died in a car accident where her father was driving drunk. He’d run a red light and hit another car, killing some of the people in that one as well. Now, he’s in jail for manslaughter. Brandon somehow makes the conversation all sexual tension-y, but it’s interrupted by Callie’s rebel-ish boyfriend Wyatt, who’s brought donuts.
Just as I’m starting to like Wyatt I’m beginning to feel like this is not going to end well.
Stef is taken into surgery and the family returns to waiting mode. The police chief confronts Mike about his drinking and suggests his behavior is affecting his work. Mike says he’ll take care of it, but ‘taking care of it’ apparently means spiking his coffee.
We get another flashback here where the bang-clad Stef informs Mike for the first time their marriage hasn’t been working because she’s a lesbian.
I’m all over these incredibly revealing flashbacks today. Can we make this a more regular thing? Actually getting to see these moments in the characters’ lives really does a lot for bringing the audience closer to them.
Wyatt gives Callie his blessing to go after Brandon since he knows she’d rather be with him, and Callie doesn’t tell him it’s not true so much as explain it’s not possible. Wyatt encourages her to seize the day, and Callie actually follows through, though her triumphant march to Brandon in the hospital hall is ruined by his annoyingly on-again-off-again girlfriend Talya. Talya, go away. Where did you come from? You are not even in this episode.
My annoyance at Brandya reuniting was slightly soothed when it was revealed that Stef’s surgery was successful. Brandon’s joy at the news about his mother is dampened when he learns the secret of his father’s coffee. In another flashback, Lena informs Stef they need to end things because she will not be involved with a married woman. Stef tells Lena that she’s come out to most of the people in her life and told them about their relationship.
All these beautiful moments are almost too much at this point. Something horrible’s got to happen soon, right? Or maybe I really am just watching too much Game of Thrones.
Yet, somehow, instead of something horrible, the best possible moment occurs next. The first thing Stef does when she awakens is ask Lena to marry her (and it's all very Grey's Anatomy 'Song Beneath the Song') If you’re not moved by this you’re moved by nothing, I tell ya. Or you’re just not as invested in fictional characters on ABC Family as I am, but to each their own. After, Lena has a heart-to-heart with Mariana that’s basically summed up in the line, “DNA doesn’t make a family, love does,” and all is forgiven to the point where it seems completely impossible that Lena would have ever considered anything else.
Sidenote: for a fun drinking game, go on The Fosters Facebook page and take a shot every time they quote that line. Be careful and pace yourself!
Ana is finally found and reveals that she was in the house when Stef was shot. She’s a possible witness, though a faulty one. Still, Mike seems safe as it’s announced the worst problem he and Stef will encounter from going rogue on the house is a couple days suspension for not calling for back up. Stef confirms Mike’s story to the police, Lena tells Ana to stay away from the family forever, and Brandon tells Mike he’s cutting him off.
Mike ends up going to AA at the end of the episode, though, so maybe there’s hope.
The cliffhanger of the episode flashes back to the moment from last week of Stef entering the bedroom and getting shot by Ana’s boyfriend. He drops his gun and it goes off just as Mike runs into the room and shoots him. If someone can explain why this exact sequence of events is incredibly important, please do so, as I really can’t tell why the boyfriend’s gun going off on its own is super important. Still, the promo for next week’s episode, the last till January (and officially the thing I’m most looking forward to in 2014), is more then enough to leave me hanging. Lena and Stef have their wedding ceremony! Someone catches Brandon and Callie kissing! This can never end well! I’m probably one of the few to ever say this and mean it, but why can’t every day be Monday?
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