Good Trouble – Percussions

By starrymag | June 24, 2019

By: Marnie Faith

 

 

Good Trouble is finally back on our screens! In case the happenings of the finale have escaped you during hiatus, here’s a quick run-down. Alice (Sherry Cola) finally came out to her parents following the failed wedding of her best friend Sumi (Kara Wang) and Meera (Briana Venskus), Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) leaked a document regarding Speckulate’s employee’s wages in attempts to highlight the stark gender pay gap evident in the company, Callie (Maia Mitchell) is still caught in a love triangle with Gael (Tommy Martinez) and Jamie (Beau Mirchoff) and, finally, Dennis (Josh Pence) is found to be in hospital following his plans to end his life that were thankfully prevented. Davia (Emma Hunton) showed her solidarity toward his current situation by going to visit and assuring him that it’ll all be okay eventually. Oh, and Mariana finally kisses Raj (Dhruv Uday-Singh)! That’s what you missed on Good Trouble!

 

Jumping straight into the Season Two premiere, things continue to be as hectic as Season One demonstrated. The episode opens with Dennis’ aggressive drum playing consisting of a steady beat that carries the set up of all our much loved Coterie members. Alice is attempting stand up, Callie is being questioned by the authorities, Gael’s recent art review wasn’t well received by critics, Davia is still trying to figure out what to do regarding Jeff (Chris Sheffield) and Mariana is attempting to figure out what to do with her new found knowledge that Raj’s penis is uncircumcised. Just a typical day in Good Trouble if you think about it. 

 

For Alice, life outside of the closet appears to be a confusing one. Season One finale showed that her parents had already figured out the fact she was gay and they seemed pretty supportive about it. However, as the news sinks in it appears this may not be the case. Despite the rainbow parachute they gift her under the guise that they heard “gay people like rainbows,” it would be asking too much for her coming out journey to be plain sailing. Instead, Alice is met with requests from her parents not to cut her hair short, to continue wearing dresses and ensure none of their family find out the news regarding her sexuality. Later in the episode she explains that this comes as a need for her family to “save face.” Anything that steers outside of society’s conformity being frowned upon in Mandarin communities. Not only would the news of her being gay bring shame on Alice, but it’ll also bring shame to her family.

 

For her standup act, in which she is yet to crack an actual joke, Alice uses it as an opportunity to vent about all the problems in her life. She summarizes her situation quite succinctly. She notes, “They’re fine with me being gay as long as I’m not ‘too gay’…So, two steps out of the closet, one step in. Kinda stuck in the door jam.” At least it was the first feature of some actual comedy in her set! 

 

The conflict this creates is that whilst Alice understands that she must keep her sexuality to herself in order to keep her family’s honor, love interest Joey (Daisy Eagan) isn’t okay with that. Joey was largely the reason she came out in Season One – Joey is out and proud and refuses to be with anyone that isn’t. Joey goes one step further to prove this by utilizing pillow talk as a way to come out as non-binary. They explain that they want to change their pronouns to they/them. 

 

Prior to this Alice decides to win their affections back by being out and proud to the extreme…So, she films herself telling strangers on the street that she’s gay and rooting for another chance off Joey, hoping strangers encouragements are enough to give her a third chance. It’s been a whirlwind of an episode for Alice. Just as she was beginning to get her head around the fact that she’s an out and proud lesbian, Joey’s news of their change of gender identity is another contender to throw her parents off their acceptance. She now must worry about how to introduce a “they” to her parents, though expresses thanks to Mandarin for not having gendered terms. 

 

Love is also in the air for Mariana and Raj! They clearly celebrated Mariana’s success at outing Speckulate’s gender pay gap problem in style, in Mariana’s bedroom. The pair seem perfectly content when in their own little bubble; however, that’s as far as the solace seems to go for Mariana. She’s on the receiving end of a whirlwind of backlash from her misogynistic male colleagues due to the fact they believe it’s her fault Josh (Charlie Bodin) got fired. They don’t hold back in the lashings of internet trolling they give her. Raj remarks, “It’s no wonder the females here are always angry when they’re forced to work with misogynists.” 

 

In terms of her app development, the majority of the company still believe it’s only going ahead because she’s sleeping with boss Evan (T.J. Linnard), of course completely unaware of #Maraj. Not only this, but Mariana is also having to deal with the pressure coming from her Byte Club – a club formed for the females of the company. They all believe that she’ll be creating the first all-female tech team to develop her app, completely unaware of the fact she’d already asked Raj to be a part of the development team. 

 

For Dennis, life following his plans to end his life is as challenging as you could imagine. It would appear as though his stint in the hospital has forced him to face his buried grief surrounding the death of his son, Jacob. In a series of flashbacks he’s shown to be a completely different person leading a completely different life. He looks well kept, his hair is tidy, his attire is smart and he appears to be living the white picket fence life with his family. However, it’s clear they’re far from a happy family. Evidently consumed by work, a flashback shows him shouting at Jacob when he asks him to come comfort him during the night, shouting that he’s too busy to care for him. It’s clear that these memories hold a lot of pain and regret for Dennis yet it seems as though he’s becoming more aware of the fact that he can’t continue running from his pain. 

 

As for Davia, things aren’t much brighter for her. Jeff calls her to explain how miserable his life is following the revelation to his wife of the pair. Even his family are mad at him, to absolutely no one’s surprised. He assures Davia that it’ll all be worth it once she returns home to Wisconsin – something we found out she no longer has any intention of doing. She even went as far as admitting to Dennis that she had no feelings for him anymore. As well as the Jeff drama, she’s also taken on the role of Dennis’ emotional crutch. Under the swear of a pinky promise, she is now his go-to person whenever he feels that low again. 

 

Despite all of this happening, it’s Callie and the succession of the Jamal Thompson case that steer the narratives of the premiere episode. The plaintiff’s lawyer has come into possession of Officer Griffin’s personnel file, forcing Judge Wilson (Roger Bart) to consider them as evidence. Wilson immediately suspects Callie is responsible of the plaintiff gaining possession of the files; however, he is reluctant to outrightly accuse her. She later admits to Jamie that she did come into possession of them, but only as a result of them being delivered to her. Upon hearing that Callie didn’t immediately make Judge Wilson aware of this he fumes at the fact she’s risking her entire career. Of course, his patronizing manner is enough to make Callie shut down and refuse to hear anything he has to say, regardless of how right he may be. 

 

It seems as though some of what he said must have sunk in for Callie as she eventually admits to Wilson that the files were delivered to her. Not wishing to sit and hear him reprimand her, she snaps that despite how much he says he isn’t an activist judge he actually is. She reminds him that he chooses conservative precedents out of choice, thereby invalidating any claims he has of being an impartial judge. In the end it seems as though no amount of reprimanding will help justice be served as the officers in question are found not liable for any of the charges. 

 

The episode ends with the Black Lives Matter protest once again being led by Sandra Thompson (Nicki Micheaux) outside of the court house. She announces that “his life did not matter to them…they got to go home to their wives and children…but I will never get to hear him say ‘I love you momma’ again.” This incredible performance concludes with a delivery of one harsh reminder from Sandra saying, “‘If they fear us, it’s okay for them to kill us.” Following this, the familiar chants of “Jamal’s life mattered” once again break out outside of the court house, joined by the voices of the Coterie bunch.

 

As the chants are happening Malika swipes Callie’s keycard and makes her way inside to the judge’s chambers. This all happens completely unbeknownst to Callie, until she’s met by two federal marshalls outside of the Coterie. It looks like we’re in for a compelling season if the premiere episode was anything to go off!