Good Trouble – Vitamin C

By: Marnie Faith

The episode opens with the #BlackLivesMatter protest happening outside of the court, ahead of the Jamal Thompson case. Lead fearlessly by his mother, Sandra Thompson (Nicki Michaeux), we see her and Malika’s (Zuri Adele) dedication to this cause has ensured a very impressive turn out. Protestors come ready with posters, placards, and voices ready to be heard. Co-Founder of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, Patrisse Cullors, made a guest appearance this week as a speaker at the protest. Her words were heartfelt and thought provoking, leaving viewers really thinking about how closely this narrative has mirrored real life. She was sure to rally the protesters into a “Jamal’s life mattered” chant before long and the tone of the court case was set. They were not going to be silenced on this.

Despite all her dedication and work towards this protest, Malika wasn’t able to present. She and brother Dom (J. Mallory Mcree) are shown in the hospital following the news that their mother had suffered a brain aneurysm which resulted in her being brain dead. They’re informed that if they were to switch life support off she’d be unable to breathe for herself and thus were faced with the decision of whether they let their mom go. Dom, understandably, is overcome by heartbreak. He’s clearly supported their mom for a long while and managed to re-establish a relationship with her. Whereas for Malika, she’s more stoic in the hospital – it’s clear she’s trying her best to be strong for Dom. Eventually, they come to the decision to switch off their mom’s life support machine, but not before they have a chat in which they reminisce on the good times they shared together and Malika’s assurance that he was an incredible son.

Once alone Malika’s finally able to let her guard down and release all the emotions she’s evidently kept in check for Dom’s sake. Though we learnt she never had a good relationship with her mom, it’s understandable still devastating to lose her. She breaks down, but thankfully Sandra is there to comfort her. She admits to Malika that her assurance of needing to be a black superhero wasn’t the best advice to give. Instead, she reminds Malika that they don’t always need to be strong, and instead it’s better to embrace her emotions and allow herself to feel whatever it is she needs to in this time. Sandra reminds Malika that it’s perfectly okay to lean on people, and she isn’t alone in this. Regardless of however skeptical Malika may have been of her advice, it clearly rings true at the end of the episode where Isaac (Sarunas J. Jackson) shows up at her door. Though there isn’t much development for the pair, the fact he showed up suggests they’re going to repair the damage to their relationship. Not only that, but Dom also assures her that he’ll be at her graduation. Hopefully, Malika will get some of the weight lifted off her shoulders next season and she’ll actually be allowed to just be happy and free of responsibility for once!

Over at Speckulate Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) confronts Angela (Heather Mazur) as to why it was she gave her the USB drive of all the male employee’s salaries. She assures Mariana she did it because she wanted to see the company create change; she was tired of living under false pretenses of equality. Having been sworn to secrecy Mariana assembles a Byte Club meeting to discuss their next steps. They all decide to go public with the information, except Casey (Chloe Wepper). Casey voices the fact that she’s been at the company a lot longer than any of them and has had to “deal with a lot of shit to get to where I am now.” She’s reluctant to let the information go public due to the repercussions it’ll have as she doesn’t want to lose a job she’s worked so hard for. With Casey out of Byte Club by her own withdrawal, they decide to go public with it all.

Following the leak Josh (Charlie Bodin) calls an emergency staff meeting demanding to know who leaked all the information. When questioned as to why he doesn’t just raise female and people of color’s salaries to match the white men’s, he directs the blame onto Angela. Following this he attempts to publicly fire her there and then, until Mariana stands up and takes the blame for leaking the information. What happens next is incredible (and only slightly cliche). She’s joined by a cohort of co-workers, including Raj (Dhruv Uday-Singh), who’re also ready to shoulder the blame. Just as Josh is ready to fire them Evan (T.J Linnard) joins the conversation. He inquires as to what’s happened and when Josh tries to blame them to put the company in the firing line, a female employee admits that Josh had tried to kiss her. Mariana runs with this and gets everyone who Josh has made advances towards to admit this. Josh obviously believes he’s the victim in all of this (he literally screams out that he’s a victim…and women are meant to be the dramatic ones). Thankfully, Josh’s career at Speckulate is cut short not long after that.

Mariana’s victories don’t last long. Following her overhearing Alex (Dustin Ingram) suggest that Evan only wants to green light her app development because he wants more from her and that this has happened before, she admits to Evan that she thinks it’s best if she leaves the company. She ponders the idea of publicly funding the money needed to develop her app only for Evan to quash that idea by informing her that any ideas created whilst under Speckulate’s contract belong to him. Looks like Mariana has another battle on her hands in Season Two!

Back at the Coterie the wedding bells are being prepared ahead of Sumi (Kara Wang) and Meera’s (Briana Venskus) wedding…mainly by Alice (Sherry Cola). Following Sumi’s revelation last week that she’s still in love with Alice I’m surprised she even let the wedding planning go this far. As if Alice wasn’t stressed enough, her parents drop by unexpectedly to surprise her. Due to the fact she’s not yet out to them, she panics and makes everyone as heterosexual as possible. Meera is made to kiss Gael (Tommy Martinez) in an attempt to convince Alice’s parents they’re together. Joey (Daisy Ingram) is introduced as Joanna, a resident of the Coterie as to not let onto any suggestions that she and Alice could possibly be together. It all seems to be going okay, until Meera angrily thrashes through a flower covering. Alice was preparing to tell her that Sumi called off the wedding via text. Though Alice comforts Sumi by reassuring her she did the right thing, she also gently reminds her that she doesn’t love her in that way anymore. To add insult to injury, Daisy calls things off with Alice. She says that it’s evident Alice isn’t accepting of the fact she’s gay and to not accept herself is scarier than not being out to her parents.

This all seems to serve as a wake up call Alice desperately needed and that evening she’s seen to call her parents to come out to them. They put her on Facetime and ask if she’s crying because Sumi married Meera. When Alice questions why she’d be upset at that her parents suggest it’d be due to the fact Alice loved Sumi. 

One thing that is still no closer to being resolved; however, is Callie’s (Maia Mitchell) love triangle with Gael and Jamie (Beau Mirchoff). Despite multiple scenes in which they’re dancing together in Callie’s dream world as a means of helping her decide which one to choose, it’s still unclear. Gael even goes as far as admitting that part of the reason he broke up with Bryan (Michael Galante) was because he loved her. He tells Callie he’s never felt like this toward anyone and if there’s even a hint of doubt that Jamie’s the one for her she should leave him for Gael. 

Away from the Coterie we see Dennis (Josh Pence) finally reaches out to Davia (Emma Hunton). She meets him in a facility where he told her that part of the reason he didn’t drive himself off the cliff last episode was due to the voice of Davia in the back of his head telling him not to do anything stupid. The pair share a really heartfelt moment where Davia assures him there’d be a huge void in her life if it wasn’t for him and that he needs to learn to depend on others and share his hurt. 

That isn’t all for Davia this week either as she learns that Vivian (Riley Go) and her father are in fact homeless after the death of her mother. Her father is saving for a deposit on an apartment, but in the meantime they shelter surf and stay on friends couches. Malika tells Viv about her time as a homeless person and Davia assures them both she won’t call CPS and will help them. Not only that, but she ends her whirlwind of an episode with Jeff (Chris Sheffield) in her room. He says that he wanted to fly to LA to tell her face to face he left his wife at long last and is ready to start their relationship properly!

This episode was a perfect round up to the season; Mariana kisses Raj, everyone feels as though they’re finally getting some sort of solace in their personal lives and we end the episode with the Coterie gang around the pool eating what would have been Sumi’s wedding cake, toasting to the Coterie. Season One has been an absolutely incredible watch and I am so excited to see what season two has in store!