The Fosters – Invisible

By starrymag | January 22, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

Stef (Teri Polo) drives Callie (Maia Mitchell), Jude (Hayden Byerly) and Brandon (David Lambert) to school. Unfortunately, there’s still no news on Ximena’s (Lisseth Chavez) DACA status and they’re not sure where her parents are being detained. On the bright side, Grace (Meg DeLacy) is being released from the hospital and will hopefully be cured within weeks. Lena (Sherri Saum) drives Poppy (Nandy Martin), Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Jesus (Noah Centineo). Jesus and Poppy both have reason to be nervous—this is Poppy’s first day at Anchor Beach and Jesus’ first day with paraprofessional aid David (Kevin Christy).

 

Mariana is disappointed when she sees a pro-Anchor Beach Academy banner hanging in the hallway. She tries not to get too worried, as almost everyone she knows supports keeping it a charter. Emma (Amanda Leighton) writes Jesus’ locker combination on his arm just in case he forgets it due to his short term memory loss. Later in the week he forgets his locker number and almost loses it in the hallway.

 

Wyatt (Alex Saxon) gives Mariana an Edible Arrangement to apologize for being high and drunk at prom as well as telling everyone he took her virginity. He asks if he can take her out on a real date, promising to stay sober during it if she agrees.

 

Lena tries to convince Monica (Zylan Brooks), the board member with the deciding vote, to keep Anchor Beach a charter. She reminds her she was one of the school’s founding members, having written the first draft of the mission statement on construction paper during her kid’s playdate. Monica agrees. Lena and Monte (Annika Marks) celebrate, but it’s not enough to get Monte to stay. She’s afraid if she sticks around they would find a reason to fire her eventually.

 

Jesus and his aid get off to a rocky start. David makes him sit in the front of the classroom when he wants to sit in the back with Poppy and chastises him for not taking thorough enough notes. Although his teachers are understanding and willing to work with him, both David and his classmates shame him and call him lazy.

 

Aaron (Elliot Fletcher) surprises Callie with a picnic on the beach, which makes Callie think he’s toeing the line of their “just friends” agreement. Callie tells him she’s decided to start out as a social work major and then transfer to the art program. She wants to be brave and try to get into the art program right away but figures she should play in safe, not confident she could finish her portfolio in time with everything going on with Ximena. Later that night, she drives to Aaron’s house, wanting to talk. She leaves when she spies him getting off a motorcycle with another girl.

 

Grace’s mom (Nia Peeples) announces she’s going to movie in for the time being since she can’t afford a hotel indefinitely and Grace is going to need 24/7 care during her treatment. Grace’s mom overhears Grace and Brandon talking about sex and says it’s off the table since it’s risky in Grace’s condition. She and Grace have a huge fight, Grace saying it’s not up to her.

 

Jude breaks the news to Taylor (Izabela Vidovic) that he’s taking the video game job. Jude thinks she should be happy for him, but Taylor is hurt, saying she would never treat him like this. Jude meets with celebrity gamer Declan (Tyler Alvarez) that day, and they immediately hit it off. Jude, however, realizes it doesn’t feel right to work without Taylor. Declan says he’ll talk to the company and make them agree to have Taylor join as well.

 

Aiden (Adam King) and Mariana face off at lunch. Aiden lists the advantages of going private: an olympic-sized swimming pool, a better STEAM program, more connected college counselors. Mariana assures them that a private education isn’t necessarily a better one and having students from all different backgrounds is what makes them great.

 

Callie and Poppy visit Ximena. She assures them that everyone at the church is really nice, but she’s starting to feel like a caged animal. She’s also frustrated she hasn’t heard anything back from her lawyer. Art professor Helen (Emily Kosloski) stops by to bring Ximena supplies. While she’s there, Callie tells her about her choice to delay her art school application. Helen advises against it, saying it’s much harder to get in through transferring than it is by getting accepted directly because it looks like you’re less serious about your craft. If she wants a chance, she has to apply now. Callie is discouraged but determined to finish her portfolio in time.

 

Tess (Kristen Ariza) texts Stef, saying she and her husband are going to Cabo for the weekend and asking if they wouldn’t mind checking on Logan. This surprises Lena considering what Tess told Stef at prom, but Stef thinks she’s just going through a mid-life crisis. Stef gets short of breath again while putting away her gun and the next day on the job. She gets freaked out and lies to her partner, saying she had a family emergency so she can go home.

 

Logan (Christopher Meyer) informs Mariana that he and Olivia broke up. Mariana apologizes, saying Olivia had nothing to worry about—she wasn’t trying to get with them. Logan tells her he wouldn’t mind if she was. Emma asks Mariana who she’s going to choose between Wyatt and Logan. She also throws Mat (Jordan Rodrigues) into the mix, but Mariana thinks that’s completely over. She reluctantly admits that she texted Nick (Louis Hunter) but promises never to do it again.

 

Jesus asks Poppy how her first day at school was, and she admits the only people who talked to her live in the Adams Foster house. She’s wearing one of her dad’s sweaters since it still smells like him. Jesus comforts her with a hug, which Emma spies from the doorway. Jesus promises it was strictly platonic, and Emma understands but still feels a twinge of jealousy.

 

Stef walks in on Brandon googling whether or not it’s safe to have sex with someone who has leukemia. She tells him she’s proud of him for supporting Grace but he needs to make sure he’s supporting himself as well. Brandon doesn’t want to go to college so he can spend as much time with Grace as possible, but Stef warns him taking care of someone with cancer is stressful. She also tells him that when she had her cancer scare she often didn’t feel very sexual.

 

Brandon is still worried about having sex with Grace, but Grace interprets this as him not being attracted to her anymore. She assures him she’s not something fragile that can be easily broken, promising not to do anything that doesn’t feel good. This assurance makes Brandon feel better, and they have sex before her mom gets home.

 

Drew (Jared Ward) announces that the students have voted no to Anchor Beach Academy. This is exciting news, and Monte and Lena know the board will decide the same thing the next day. Unfortunately, one of the board members blackmails Monte, saying if she doesn’t resign before the board meeting she’ll give her new boss a call, inform her of all the drama that happened at Anchor Beach on her watch, and have her rescind the offer. Lena knows this would give Drew the vote and make it so the school would go private, but Monte can’t risk not getting this job.

 

Ximena rollerblades around the church while Callie records her. Ximena admits she always wants to work hard so she can make her parents proud. Callie is proud of her for being so courageous in the midst of her hardships. Ximena encourages Callie to use her own courage to apply for the college and major she wants. Ximena’s lawyer calls and says her DACA hasn’t been renewed and now it might never be unless she gets a special hearing. If she walks out of the building, she could be detained, and she can’t live in this church forever. Ximena is afraid she’s never going to see her parents again, but Callie promises to help her figure things out.

 

Mat finds Mariana in the school hallway, saying he realizes he made a mistake by breaking up with her. He owns up to being a jealous, insecure jerk who wasn’t understanding enough about the Nick situation. He asks if there’s any way she would give him another chance, and she says she’ll think about it.

 

Aaron comes over to watch Callie submit her art school application. She curiously asks who the girl on his motorcycle was, and Aaron is adamant they’re just friends. Callie tells him he can date whoever he wants, and he says she can as well. They promise to be honest with one another and hug.

 

Stef, Lena, and Jesus attend a support group for disabled teens. Although Jesus has his guard up at first, one girl’s story about how difficult it is for other people to understand her invisible disability really resonates with him, and he ends up leaving the room crying. He admits that every time he can’t do something, their reactions make him feel like he’s broken. They assure him he’s not and promise they’re going to stop making him feel that way.

 

Lena tells Mariana the bad news about privatization, saying there’s nothing they can do unless some board members change their mind before the next day. She texts Nick, and he tells her to meet at his house the next morning. Mariana agrees, but instead Lena shows up, demanding to hear the information that could save Anchor Beach.