The Fosters – Sanctuary

By starrymag | January 15, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

AJ (Tom Williamson) calls Dawn (Kara Royster), explaining why he had to abandon her at prom. He gives Callie (Maia Mitchell) the opportunity to call Aaron (Elliot Fletcher), but she suspiciously refuses. Ximena (Lisseth Chavez) is panicking that nobody is answering her calls, but Callie tries to calm her down, asking about the plan her family made. Ximena calls her lawyer and Callie notices the police car’s lights have gone off outside.

 

The officers tell Stef (Teri Polo) that they hope she’s planning on going in the church and arresting Ximena. They accuse her of being in on the plan, but Stef reminds them they don’t have a warrant and are on a witch hunt, especially since Ximena has DACA status. The officers tell Stef that it expired, which is news to her. Stef goes inside and confronts her about it, and Ximena admits she was worried about giving the government her new address. She reapplied awhile go but hasn’t received anything in the mail yet, hoping her lawyer will know what to do. While Ximena talks on the phone with Poppy, Stef chastises Callie for going behind her back instead of trusting her to handle things. She warns her and AJ not to leave the church until they figure out what to do.

 

Lena (Sherri Saum) stops Poppy (Nandy Martin) from getting in a limo home, telling her about Ximena’s situation. Poppy freaks out, saying that her phone is dead. Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) gives her her cell phone so she can get in contact with Ximena while Lena drives her home. To make matters worse, Ximena hasn’t been able to get ahold of her parents.

 

Poppy sees ICE agents arresting her parents outside of her house and goes to talk to them despite Lena’s warning. The agents tell Mariana to stop recording with her phone, but Lena encourages her to continue since it’s well within her rights. Since Ximena is Poppy’s legal guardian, the agents have to send her to CPS. Lena offers to take her back to their house, but she’s not allowed despite being a licensed foster parent.

 

After hearing what happened to her parents, Ximena is determined to sneak out of the church to take care of Poppy. Callie finally convinces her to stay hidden so she herself doesn’t get detained. Ximena’s lawyer tells her that figuring out her DACA status might take awhile. Ximena is frustrated and worried about Poppy. She regrets ever reapplying for DACA and trusting the government. Her lawyer recommends spreading the word and making Ximena’s case as visible as possible—the one thing ICE is scared of is public outcry.

 

Mike (Danny Nucci) tells Stef the ICE agents outside the church are getting more and more impatient. Stef feeds them a lie about releasing Ximena after her breathalyzer came back negative, therefore giving her the right to claim sanctuary since she didn’t flee custody. Stef calls the cops out for targeting Ximena just because she spoke out at a rally. AJ wants to find a way to sneak Ximena out, but Callie wants to trust Stef this time. Their patience pays off, as the cops agree not to cooperate with ICE. Callie goes live on Facebook, interviewing Ximena about the terrible way she and her family were treated. She encourages everyone to share the video in order to get her story out there.

 

Back at the house, Jesus (Noah Centineo) and a drunk Emma (Amanda Leighton) get pretty cuddly while talking to Logan (Christopher Meyer), Olivia (Joi Liaye), Jude (Hayden Byerly), and Noah (Kalama Epstein). Emma lets it slip that Olivia sent Mariana a nasty DM. That’s not the only secret that gets spilled, either. Jude tells them about Monte (Annika Marks) coming by and announcing she got another job and might take Lena with her. Mariana asks Lena about it, and she gives her the same speech she gave Jude: that she needs to keep her options open.

 

Brandon (David Lambert) wakes up in Grace’s (Meg DeLacy) bed alone. He hears her in the bathroom and goes to check on her. She says she thinks she might have the flu and Brandon gets nervous it might be more serious, calling Grace’s mom Susan (Nia Peeples). Susan takes Grace’s temperature and, seeing it’s 102 degrees, wants to take her to the hospital. When Brandon agrees, Grace gets suspicious and quickly finds out he knows about her leukemia. Assuming Brandon went above and beyond for prom out of pity, she tells him to leave.

 

When Brandon gets home, Lena goes to talk to him. He breaks down, telling her about Grace’s illness. Lena tells him he did the right thing by calling Grace’s mom. Brandon doesn’t understand why she didn’t want him to know, as it doesn’t change the way he feels about her. Lena says she might not necessarily trust that, telling him he needs to show her.

 

Brandon visits Grace in the hospital, reassuring her that he had been planning all the prom stuff even before he knew she was sick and apologizing for not tell her he knew. Grace says that, ever since was diagnosed when she was nine, she could hardly remember a time she wasn’t just the sick girl. He never looked at her with pity, and she loved and didn’t want to change that. Grace knows she needs to move back in with her mom and assumes their relationship is over, but Brandon is determined to make long distance work.

 

Stef tells Callie, AJ, and Ximena that Pastor Nicole is going to get them some bedding. She and Mike will be outside in the car keeping an eye on ICE all night. Stef doesn’t understand why the agents aren’t leaving, and Ximena’s lawyer tells her they might be trying to get warrants for Callie and AJ’s arrest since they helped transport Ximena. Stef confronts the agents, and they say that they can take their kids home if they bring Ximena outside. Stef calls Lena, updating her and saying she thinks the agents are bluffing about arresting Callie and AJ. While hanging out in the car with Mike, he notices she is having trouble remembering to breathe. It happened a lot when they were married, but he hasn’t seen her do it since.

 

Pastor Nicole brings the kids some clean clothes from their clothing drive, saying she’s available if anyone wants to talk or pray. Ximena thanks her but says she doesn’t know how to pray to a god who allows her family to be torn apart. Pastor Nicole says she doesn’t either—the god she believes in doesn’t control everything on earth. Instead, she believes in a god who is within.

 

Callie apologizes to AJ for getting him mixed up in everything. She admits she can’t just stand by and let bad things happen to people. She just hopes her family isn’t disappointed in her. AJ admits he went to check on Callie after a fight with his prom date, and Callie says that she and Aaron got into a fight because of him. She muses that she was going to go make up with Aaron before she spotted immigration, but maybe it’s better that she doesn’t try to patch things up. AJ says that he thought being with someone else would make getting over Callie easier, but it hasn’t worked so far. Maybe it takes time, or maybe he doesn’t want to.

 

Ximena and Callie talk alone in their sleeping bags. After some prying, Callie tells Ximena she and AJ do have some history. When Ximena tells Callie he’s hot, Callie jokingly asks if she’s interested. Ximena tells her she’s gay, laughing when she realizes she just came out in a church. Though this is her worst nightmare, she’s thankful she’s not going through it alone.

 

While they’re getting ready for bed, Emma asks Mariana what she saw on her phone before Callie’s live stream popped up. Mariana hesitantly tells her about Nick knowing who destroyed the model and how to save Anchor Beach. Emma doesn’t believe it, thinking he just wants an excuse to get back in touch with her. Mariana promises not to do anything rash or stupid.

 

Jude is worried about not knowing if Callie is okay. Noah tries to reassure him by saying both of their moms are with her. Plus, no matter what happens, he will always be there for Jude. The two exchange “I love you”s.

 

The next morning, a whole crowd of people gather outside the church to protest ICE and support Ximena, Mariana and Lena included. The FBI also arrive, but luckily they’re there to tell ICE to go home. Although Callie wants to stay with Ximena until her DACA status gets approved, Stef and Lena remind her she still has to finish school and complete her college applications. Ximena thanks Callie for staying with her, and Callie promises to come back and visit her whenever she can. When they get outside, Aaron is there waiting to talk to Callie. He tells her he’s glad she’s okay, asking if they two of them are all right. Callie tells him that there’s nothing going on between her and AJ anymore. She really cares about Aaron but wants to take a big step back. They jumped into things quickly, which is making them have trust issues and be nasty to each other. She wants to rebuild their relationship from the ground up, starting as friends first, and Aaron agrees.

 

Brandon ends up spending the night at the hospital, and the next morning Grace’s doctor comes in and says that Grace is a perfect candidate for a new treatment called gene therapy that works in over 80% of patients. The only downside is some of the side effects could be life threatening. Grace immediately agrees even though her mom wants more time to think it over. Susan goes into the hallway to catch her breath and Brandon follows her. She tells him how scary Grace’s situation is and how they have virtually no support system. Brandon says they can rely on him to help and be there.

 

Overhearing Lena making plans to visit Monte’s new school on the phone, Mariana texts Nick and asks her what exactly he knows. Stef is still having trouble remembering to breathe at home but hides it from Lena.

 

Callie video chats with Ximena, asking if she can edit a profile of her using the live stream video and footage Mariana took of Poppy and her parents. Ximena agrees, thanking her. She asks how Poppy is doing, and Callie tells her to ask her herself, putting the camera on her. The Adams Fosters are going to foster her until Ximena is able to take care of her again. The whole family promises to be there for Ximena, volunteering to bring food and activities to do so she doesn’t get too stir crazy in the church.