Good Trouble – Doble Quince

By: Marnie Faith

It’s a means for celebration this week as Jazmin (Hailie Sahar) turns thirty! In order to celebrate she decides to throw herself a ‘Doble Quince’ – an ode to both the celebratory fact she’s thirty and also as a result of her missing out on her quinceanera when she was fifteen due to the fact she wasn’t out as a trans woman yet. Jazmin didn’t stop at the celebrations though! Instead of just allowing a day to be solely about herself, she decides to double her party as a fundraising event in aid of dismantling the transgender military ban. Just another nod to the fact Good Trouble is always sure to bring light to the most prominent social issues!

Alice (Sherry Cola) opened this week’s episode introducing the evening with a small set of her own stand up comedy. Though it was sure to earn a humored response from audience members, for Joey (Daisy Eagan) it was a different story. Throughout her set Alice makes multiple remarks towards Joey’s newly established identification with they/them pronouns. She jokes about how she wasn’t even sure about “I/Me” pronouns before questioning how she was supposed to understand her partner’s when she was still discovering herself. Alice is approached later at the party by some fellow queer women, inviting her to their queer women stand-up comedy night. Promising a chance to both network and practice her stand up sets, Alice can’t quite contain her excitement. For Joey; however, it eventually all boils over. The end of the episode sees the pair confront each other where Joey questions how Alice could continue with their relationship when she’s still on her own personal journey of self-discovery. To this Alice barks back the fact she’s not fighting for Joey to stay yet again – she finally stands up for herself! Alice goes on to explain that, admittedly, she doesn’t quite understand it but she’s trying. Though Joey’s insecurities surrounding their fear of Alice leaving them rise to the surface, Alice is quick to remind them that having been through the pain of a messy breakup/game of lesbian cat and mouse with Sumi (Kara Wang), she would never put them through that. The exchange ends with the pair admitting the fact they’re falling in love with each other!

The happy endings where relationships are concerned didn’t stop there! Jazmin spent a heartfelt scene with her boyfriend Zeke (Spencer Neville) explaining how this was the happiest night of her life, to which he assures her that he intends to carry it on long into the evening. Regardless of the fact we’re yet to see much of Zeke, aside from their first encounter, it’s uplifting to see Jazmin being loved and accepted for who she is, and I can only hope Zeke continues to make her happy for a long while. 

For the birthday girl Zeke wasn’t the only important man that’d be making an appearance that night. Throughout the episode, we’re offered the chance to finally gain a glimpse into the Martinez family dynamic. Unfortunately, it’s largely transphobic and unaccepting. Whilst sat around celebrating his abuelo’s birthday, Gael (Tommy Martinez) tries his best to insert an overtly absent Jazmin into the conversation wherever possible. The conversation continues to gravitate back towards an evident issue for the siblings – their father continues to hold her army dog tags hostage. As the flashbacks continue to unfold, we learn that their father (Juan Carlos Cantu) is refusing to give them to her based on the fact he believes they belong to his son. Ultimately, it all boils down to their parents lack of acceptance for Jazmin’s true identity.

The conversations throughout the flashbacks continue back and fourth with Gael defending his sister whilst their parents refuse to acknowledge her as a person. They believe that she “killed” their son and, as a result, is shunned from their family. Evidently unable to listen to them berate his sister any longer, Gael attempts to level the playing field. He reveals that if they believe they only have one child due to the fact Jazmin is trans, then the reality is that they have none because he’s bisexual. 

Eventually, toward the end of the Quince, their abuelo (Alex Fernandez) makes an appearance. He approaches Jazmin and reminds her that he loves her, regardless of her identity, before placing her dog tags around her neck – finally back where they belong. Following this he asks her for a dance – something which clearly meant a lot to both of the Martinez siblings. I don’t believe there was a dry eye in the Coterie watching the dance unfold. 

Unfortunately, things didn’t stay uplifted for long. Following the succession of the Quince, Gael and his abuelo talk everything over. Despite Gael previously confessing to Callie (Maia Mitchell) that “he’s so old school…if he can accept me, it gives me hope my parents will,” it seems that dream wasn’t meant to stick around for long. As the pair bid each other goodbye, their abuelo suggests that he had no choice but to love and accept Jazmin due to the fact that she can’t help her identity; however, Gael has a choice. He can either end up with a woman and make his parents proud or he can end up with a man and break his parents heart.

For Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), a lot of the night’s smooth running fell down to her responsibility. Choosing to collaborate with the oragnizers of Jazmin’s Quince, she uses it as an opportunity to beta run her app for activism. The app allows attendees to donate, bid and view everyone in attendance, in the hopes of raising as much money as possible for a cause that clearly means to much to Jazmin, a veteran herself. Things are rocky from the get go. Whilst forced to small talk with Evan (T.J Linnard), she notices that her app is bugging already. Rushing straight to Raj (Dhruv Uday Singh) for help, the pair sneak away to try and resolve it before the app is needed. Whilst attempting to de-bug the app, the pair experience their first spout as a couple. Raj deems Mariana as micro-managing (there may be some truth in that statement), but continues to take the lead to fix the app. 

Just as all is looking smooth for it’s launch, the pair’s return to the party is spotted by the watchful eye of Evan. Let’s not forget he caught the pair in a very intense moment last week! Mariana continues to dig herself a deeper hole by passing jokes about penetrating the app. Normally they’d be fine, but around someone like Evan (who’s not always the best at picking up sarcasm and humor) they go down as well as you can expect! App wise, everything seems to be running perfectly. The donations are rolling in and Mariana agrees to collaborate with the Black Lives Matter movement to combine their activism with her activism. And the compliments are rolling in. However, another issue arises when Mariana realizes a glitch in the app has caused the total fundraising donation of $10,000 to double up to $20,000 on the progress screens. This leaves the pair in a predicament – do they come clean about the app glitch or try and find another disco ball to steal in hopes of selling it off for the missing $10k? Never a dull moment for #Miraj!

As far as Callie’s concerned, her narratives this week aren’t as different as they’ve been for the last season and a half. She’s still trying to choose between Jamie (Beau Mirchoff) and Gael. Mariana is tired of hearing about it, questioning when she’s going to stop leaving them both hanging for her to decide. Finally, toward the closing of the episode, she comes clean to Gael that she’s seeing Jamie again. He assures her that she didn’t need to reveal that and both are left feeling slightly awkward. Callie goes back to Jamie, assuring him that she chose him over Gael. Evidently unbothered by Callie’s decision, Gael ends the episode by locking lips with the ex-love of his life Elijah (Denim Richards). 

For Malika (Zuri Adele), it seems as though whilst her relationship with Isaac (Sarunas J. Jackson) is going swimmingly at this point (hint: he told her she’s “his woman!” They’re officially exclusive!) it doesn’t make for plain sailing for her. Between her growing involvement in activism, her recent discovery of her father and trying to protect younger brother Dom (J. Mallory McCree) from all of the above – she certainly has her work cut out. Isaac reminds her that it’s not selfish for her to take some time to focus on herself and her future, but it seems as though she’ll never listen. Instead, Malika chooses to throw herself further into the Black Lives Matter activism, embracing more of the invisible activism she learns about, and focuses on how she can contribute towards being the change.  

The end of the episode sees Malika’s father come by the Coterie looking for somewhere to crash following his eviction notice. Perfect timing – just as Dom was leaving! Their first encounter is less than happy. Dom is quick to remind him that he’s no son of his before scolding Malika for trying to protect him in the first place.