The Fosters – EQ

By starrymag | March 1, 2016

By: Taylor Gates

 

This episode begins at the breakfast table where we learn that Stef (Teri Polo) is going to teach a class dealing with Emotional Intelligence as part of a youth outreach program. Her students will be children who have the choice between this and juvie.

 

Brandon (David Lambert) comes in carrying a poster for his Romeo and Juliet musical. It turns out Mat designed it, which leads Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) to make a snarky comment about how that must’ve been hard with Zoey’s (Anna Grace Barlow) tongue down his throat. She’s still salty about the fact that Brandon refused to issue the “no dating policy,” but Brandon says she’s just jealous and she’s dating Nick now. Mariana says she isn’t dating him; they went on one date and it was a disaster.

 

Lena (Sherri Saum) changes the subject, reiterating how lovely she thinks Brandon’s poster is. He says he didn’t realize how much time his Senior project would take (throwing shade at currently slacking Callie, perhaps?) before promising he won’t let his Juilliard audition slip through the cracks. He asks Lena if they could start rehearsing on the gym stage as the art room is getting a bit too cozy, and Lena says she’ll ask Monte about it later.

 

Jesus (Noah Centineo) won’t be riding with the other kids to school, as his first period is cancelled, and Stef announces that AJ will be staying with them for awhile.

 

Callie (Maia Mitchell) stays after breakfast, informing the moms that she and AJ are now dating. Brandon walks in on this announcement, making both of them uncomfortable. Stef and Lena thank her for telling them, saying the two aren’t allowed to hang out behind closed doors.

 

Home alone, Jesus spikes his orange juice with vodka before slipping it in his backpack and heading out.

 

At school, Callie promises Brandon that she was going to tell him about AJ (Tom Williamson). Brandon says it’s okay and reveals that he is also currently in a relationship, this time with an older girl.

 

Nick (Louis Hunter) finds Mariana in the hallway, asking her to forgive him for the other night. He argues he was totally in control of the car and that the guy in the other lane was hitting on her. Mariana disagrees, saying they all could have been killed. She snaps that he has no “emotional intelligence” whatsoever. Burn.

 

Lena and Monte (Annika Marks) are having a tension-filled discussion about budget issues. Monte says they can take some money from the community outreach fund since Sally got all the materials donated. Monte says they’ll start the project this week, but she’ll keep her distance so there’s no perception of impropriety. Lena asks Monte if Brandon could use the gym for rehearsal. Monte grants her approval, but warns that some students think the play is inappropriate and might have to be cancelled.

 

Callie gets home from school and spies AJ doing Calculus homework. It turns out he is a math whiz, which helps him with his art. He demonstrates by drawing an impressive portrait of Callie using ratio rules. He tells her that, not only is she a work of art, but also a mathematical equation he has yet to solve. Callie is much less impressed with his pickup lines than she is with his drawing.

 

Brandon accidentally walks in on their conversation, quickly scurrying to the garage as to not prolong the awkwardness. Callie tells AJ she told her moms about them and he is delighted she thought whatever they have going on was worth telling her parents about.

 

Lena joins Brandon in the garage, breaking the news that some students are protesting his work as the suicide could be a trigger for some students. Brandon is livid—this is Shakespeare, after all, and he called it a tragedy for a reason. Plus, if this doesn’t happen then he can’t graduate. Lena tells Brandon not to take matters into his own hands. She promises she’ll fight it and handle it for him.

 

Stef is teaching her Emotional Intelligence class and it isn’t going too well. She tells them all to do an exercise that consists of writing positive traits about themselves starting with the letters of their name. She demonstrates with her own on the board, and when she gets to “T” a boy in the back, Javier, suggests she write “tits.” Stef, to her credit, manages to keep her composure and ignore this. She helps another student with their work, but Javier stands up and goes over to look at the food Stef brought.

 

This riles up some of the other class members as well. They complain the last teacher brought in chips and donuts, not a vegetable tray. Stef tells him to sit down, but he talks back, saying the whole point of this class is to tell her how he feels. Stef, although annoyed, rolls with it. She asks him to describe the emotion he’s feeling. He answers mad and she asks him if disappointment makes him feel mad. He answers affirmatively, thinking the appropriate way to deal with this is to throw the hummus in the trash. She tells him to get out. He argues, saying the judge ordered him to be there, but she holds firm. She tells the rest of the class they can leave, too, if they’d rather be in juvie than there. They all stay, a little frightened at Stef’s level of badass.

 

Mariana rants to Callie about the prospect of the musical being shut down. If they start censoring everything, how will anyone ever learn to think for themselves? Callie says Lena won’t let that happen and Mariana hopes she’s right. She spies another portrait on Callie’s bedside table, teasing her about her relationship with AJ.

 

Mariana gets a text from Nick, complaining about his obsessiveness lately. She then hears the sound of rocks hitting her window and spies Nick outside. She runs downstairs to confront him, reminding him that her mother is a cop. Nick says that’s why he’s been trying to call, gesturing to a drunk and puking Jesus. Mariana blames Nick for him getting wasted before asking Callie how they’re going to get him upstairs.

 

Stef, still in pain from her surgery, tells Lena she wants to see if they can find another officer to take her teaching job as it feels like a little too much work right now. Lena tells her she wouldn’t mind at all before the two are interrupted by Mariana knocking at their door.

 

She distracts them by saying she needs advice, asking them whether she should dye her hair for the part of Juliet. Stef and Lena hear some noises outside—Callie and AJ helping Jesus to his room—but Mariana pretends to be insulted about their lack of attention on her, keeping them inside the room. Callie thanks a shirtless AJ for helping them out, as he could get in real trouble for this. Callie then walks in the moms’ bedrom, wishing them all goodnight – obviously Mariana’s cue to leave. It’s pretty clear Stef and Lena aren’t buying most of it and feel something’s up.

 

After the great coverup, Callie gets a voicemail from Rita’s daughter, Chloe (Marcella Lintz-Pope). She says that Rita changed her number again and won’t answer her calls. She wants Callie to tell her goodbye for her, as she thinks they’ll both be better without her around.

 

Callie shows up to Rita’s (Rosie O’Donnell) house the next day, asking her if she ever called Chloe back. Callie is scared that Chloe really might hurt herself, but Rita invites her inside to explain. She says the first time Chloe did something like this, she dropped everything. Afterwards, Chloe promised she would get help if Rita wrote her a check. Rita says she fell for it again and again until she finally got it—she wasn’t helping her daughter by enabling this.

 

Callie is upset and confused by Rita’s behavior. She thinks a mother should take all suicide threats seriously and keep trying to talk to her even if she doesn’t give her money. Callie accuses Rita of always having a “my way or the highway” attitude and Rita thinks this is more about her disagreeing with Callie’s reform bill. Callie resents this, saying that since Chloe’s dad killed himself, she didn’t think Rita would want to take any chances.

 

Brandon spies a petition in the hallway titled “Suicide Isn’t Sexy.” She learns that Sally Benton (Pepi Sonuga) is behind this and confronts her. She says that his play glamorizes suicide—she was personally touched by it when her best friend’s older sister hung herself. Brandon isn’t having it, ripping up her poster and saying the play is Shakespeare and put on more than any other play at schools. Sally still doesn’t think it’s right and warns him her protest is not over.

 

Mariana and Jesus are walking down the hallways and Mariana comments that he still smells like a frat house. Jesus says she has no room to judge since she’s been drunk before, but she says it’s different since she was at a party, not by herself on a Monday. Jesus tells her to leave him alone and she goes to talk to Nick. She apologizes for biting his head off, as Jesus told her he wasn’t drinking with him. Nick apologizes again for the other date, impressing her by using Emotional Intelligence language. He asks her out again, and she agrees.

 

Brandon has been called into Monte and Lena’s office for his confrontation with Sally. Lena chastises him for his behavior, but tells Monte she understands his frustration since he’s worked so hard. Monte says she may be right, but she feels like they should let the students decide. They’ll bring the issue to the Honor Board.

 

Callie visits Chloe at the motel she’s living at, still worried she might try to end her life. Chloe says she just got fired from her job and can’t get unemployment because her boss is saying she quit. Callie feels bad but isn’t sure how she can help. Chloe wants to know if Callie talked to her mom. Callie says she did; she assures Chloe that Rita cares about her, but is having a hard time since Chloe left messages like this before. Chloe calls Rita a liar, saying she could care less if she were on the street or dead. After some concerned questions from Callie, she promises she’s not planning on hurting herself. However, she begs Callie to loan her some money for an apartment.

 

Stef and Lena break out the vodka—they think they deserve a cocktail after the days each of them has had. However, the first sip leaves them disappointed as it tastes like it’s been watered down. Stef swears she’s going to dust the bottle for prints to figure out which kid did this since she was really looking forward to having a drink. Lena suggests it might have been Sharon. She does like her cocktails, after all. Maybe she didn’t want them to know how much. At first Stef feels this is absurd, but after some pondering, feels this might actually be a plausible theory.

 

The doorbell rings and Lena opens it to find Gabe (Brandon Quinn) holding up an intoxicated Jesus. Lena puts Jesus in bed before joining Stef and Gabe in the living room. Gabe is panicking, informing them he could get in a lot of trouble for being around Jesus. He says if Jesus keeps showing up, he’s going to have to find another job, and the one he currently has was hard enough to get. Gabe admits that what he did with Ana was a mistake, but he served his time and asserts they were in love back then. He begs them to keep Jesus away from him. Stef and Lena promise they’ll take care of it, thanking him again for bringing Jesus home before walking him out. Mariana happens to be coming in the door right as Gabe is going out, resulting in a short, awkward meeting between the two.

 

Stef and Lena lecture Jesus. Stef asks if he’s an alcoholic, as watering down the vodka bottle is suspicious behavior. She’s also concerned about the fact he’s been secretly meeting his birth father against his wishes. He’s putting Gabe in a bad position where he could be arrested and he’s putting her in an equally bad spot. Whether Gabe deserves to be on the sex offender registry or not doesn’t matter—she’s a cop and the law about him being around minors is quite clear. Jesus apologizes, saying he gets it and it won’t happen again, but Stef doesn’t think he does get it. She yells that Gabe doesn’t want a relationship, which sucks, but life is a bitch sometimes. She grounds him indefinitely before storming out.

 

Lena stays back and takes a softer approach. She says Stef has been through a lot lately, but she’s right about him needing to stay away from Gabe and shape up.

 

Mariana comes in and sits next to Jesus, leaning her head on his shoulder. She comments that Gabe is tall like Jesus. She and Jesus comfort each other.

 

Sally begins the Romeo and Juliet voting. She and Mariana will both abstain since it would be a conflict of interest. Sally starts by pleading her case. She drops statistics about teen suicide and says that the play romanticizes it by portraying it as a way for lovers to be together forever.

 

Brandon then makes his speech, saying that banning a performance is censorship and a step away from banning books. Shakespeare also isn’t romanticizing suicide or ever their relationship—the play isn’t about love, but about two impulsive teenagers making bad choices. The suicide pact at the end wasn’t an act of love but of tragedy.

 

Callie begins clapping, which causes the rest of the room to follow suit. However, the votes are not in their favor, and the honor board is on Sally’s side.

 

Chloe calls Callie, but Callie ignores her call. We then see Chloe in the motel dumping a bottle of pills into her hand.

 

Lena apologizes to Brandon, but Brandon isn’t taking time to wallow. He asks if they could perform the play off-campus. Lena approves, saying it could still count for his project. Mat (Jordan Rodrigues) notes they don’t have enough money to rent a place or the equipment the school has that they need. Mat is ready to give up, and Nick tells Mariana he’s going to try and cheer her up.

 

Stef is making Jesus go with her to one of her EQ classes so he can see what his future will be like if he doesn’t straighten out. They haven’t been able to find a replacement teacher for her yet, and Jesus hasn’t been responding appropriately to anything lately. Jesus is livid and doesn’t think it’s fair, but Stef tells him this is tough love. She tells him to stop arguing and go get ready before she kicks his ass.

 

Lena walks in, telling Stef she’s being way too harsh on Jesus by saying his birth father wanted nothing to do with him was completely uncalled for. Lena realizes Stef is having a hard time, but she doesn’t think Stef is responding to things appropriately lately either.

 

Nick takes Mariana to one of his dad’s warehouses. He wants to teach her how to hoverboard, but Mariana is already a pro. The space is huge and the acoustics are great and Nick encourages her to sing something from her musical. Nick suggests they do the whole play there, confident his dad will say yes. Mariana says he’s her hero and kisses him.

 

Callie checks her voicemail and sees another one from Chloe. On it, Chloe sounds out of it, admitting she did something bad and telling Callie to say goodbye for her. Callie goes to the motel along with an ambulance. She sees Chloe being carried out, unconscious.

 

Stef is reading the definition of Emotional Intelligence from a paper. Jesus is slumped down in the back of the room. Javier walks in and Stef when spies him. Going off-script, she says that Emotional Intelligence is something everyone needs to work on, herself included. She opens up, telling them about her cancer and the fact she felt angry about it.

 

She tells Javier that she overreacted when she threw him out because his breast comment got to her. She says she realizes bad things have happened to all of them. They’re all there to help each other learn to express themselves in more positive ways. She uses herself as a case study, asking suggestions on how she could have reacted better to Javier’s comment. One girl suggested she could have used humor, but Javier says she could have just told him he hurt her feelings.

 

Callie accompanies Rita to the motel where Rita breaks down. She tells Callie was right; she should have taken Chloe’s threats more seriously. Callie understands why she didn’t, as Chloe cried wolf so many times. She also apologizes for the way she talked to Rita. Both of them are so thankful that Chloe is going to be okay. When she walked into the hospital room, Rita really felt like Chloe meant it when she said she needed Rita and wanted help. This time maybe Chloe got her own attention and things will change. The two of them are going to counseling to sort out what to do with all their feelings.

 

She thanks Callie for everything she’s done and they agree to disagree on the foster care bill reform. Rita promises that even when they disagree, she is still so proud of Callie and the person she’s becoming. The two hug it out.

 

Callie sits in the backyard, sorting things out. AJ comes outside, cautiously approaching Callie. She doesn’t want to talk about it, but AJ just goes to sit by her anyway, putting a comforting arm around her. Callie gives him a kiss which Brandon sees from the window.

 

The next day, Brandon hangs up posters for his play. He tells Sally not to worry because they’re doing it off campus and she doesn’t have to come. Sally ignores him, making a beeline for Lena’s office. She comes in crying, asking Lena if she can talk to her. Lena shuts the door and sits down with her, asking what happened. After a few moments, Sally reveals that Monte kissed her.