The Fosters – Highs & Lows

By starrymag | August 10, 2016

By: Taylor Gates

 

Brandon (David Lambert) and Mike (Danny Nucci) walk into Mike’s apartment to have dinner. Spying a bra draped over the couch, they quickly realize that AJ (Tom Williamson) is also home with Callie (Maia Mitchell) in his bedroom. Mike tries to approach the situation in the least awkward way possible, knocking on the door and asking AJ if pizza is okay for dinner. Once the two join him and Brandon in the living room, Mike invites Callie to stay for dinner. She declines the invitation and hurries out, leaving the three men to stand around uncomfortably. As Callie is leaving, she reaches into her bag and finds that somebody has stashed her bra inside.

 

At the Adams Foster dinner table, Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) rants about how the robotics team needs to be working 24/7 in order to be ready for competition in time. Callie comes in late, saying she was doing homework with AJ but lost track of time. She also reveals that Brandon is at Mike’s for dinner.

 

Lena (Sherri Saum) wonders where Gabe (Brandon Quinn) has been, as he’s supposed to be renovating their house. Jesus (Noah Centineo) jumps to his defense, saying he was there when he got home yesterday, but the moms aren’t impressed with the speed at which he’s working. That night, Jesus goes into the garage and calls Gabe. Gabe says he hasn’t been feeling well lately, but Jesus tells him he really needs to finish the job. Gabe promises to show up tomorrow.

 

In the moms’ bedroom, Stef (Teri Polo) looks for new houses, but is having no luck. Lena suggests they look at apartment, but Stef thinks everyone living on top of each other is just asking for World War III. Stef wants to talk to the IRS about the situation, but Lena worries they’ll throw her dad in jail if all the stress he’s under doesn’t kill him first. Stef says they can take on more jobs if they need to and Lena suggests she ask her mom for help. Stef flat out refuses to go to her mother. Lena doesn’t understand how Stef could ask her to hang her parents out to dry.

 

Mariana lurks into the kitchen and pops a few of Jesus’ ADHD pills. Great, we all know how well stealing those suckers turned out in Season One.

 

Mason (Benjamin Freitas) is wreaking havoc on Brandon’s keyboard and sheet music while Cortney (Denyse Tontz) half-heartedly tells him to stop. She also reminds Brandon to pick Mason up from preschool, as she can’t miss work again and they can’t ask Eddie (Tip Scarry) for help until the custody thing is settled.

 

Stef tells Mike she’s thinking about trying to become a detective since it pays more and Mike tells Stef about Callie and AJ having sex. Stef is glad they’re at least doing it someplace safe, but tells Mike to have a conversation with AJ about using condoms. Mike, clearly still not entirely comfortable with it happening under his roof, reluctantly agrees. He wonders if it was awkward for Brandon, but Stef tells him their fling was a long time ago and they’re siblings. Plus, he’s now living with his girlfriend. She also drops the bomb about Brandon paying for Cortney’s stuff.

 

Jesus goes home on his lunch break. Seeing that Gabe is not there, he calls him, but Gabe doesn’t pick up. Mariana texts Jesus saying she needs him at STEAM club, but Jesus uses the excuse that he forgot his gym clothes and had to run home. He promises to be there after school and starts working on the garage to cover for Gabe.

 

Jude buys pot from a girl who has a little drug business in her locker. She doesn’t have edibles so he gets some rolled joints instead.

 

Mike stops by Cortney’s house where he tries to convince her to encourage Brandon to move back home—Brandon has always felt the need to try and save people. Cortney is defensive, saying she doesn’t need any saving. Plus, she doesn’t know what she could say to Brandon. Mike suggests she tell him it’s confusing for Mason to live with a man who isn’t his father, but Cortney shoots back that Brandon is the one confused about his family. She drops the Brallie bomb, telling Mike that Stef and Lena are blaming him for everything that happened with Callie. Cortney is tired of everyone treating Brandon like he’s the selfish one when really he’s just trying to make things easier on everyone else.

 

Jesus continues doing construction work on the house, accidentally hitting himself in the face and falling over when using one of the power tools. Mariana continues to text him, caps lock and exclamation points abound.

 

Callie visits Kyle (Adam Irigoyen) in juvie, telling him that even though things didn’t pan out with Molloy that she still might have a plan. The missing page in the forensics report said the killer was right-handed and Kyle is left-handed. If they can prove the attorney intentionally left that out they could possibly get Kyle’s case reopened. Kyle is overwhelmed with emotion and hope.

 

Mariana yells at the robotics team for making mistakes and Emma (Amanda Leighton) calls her out for being testy. She also brings up the fact that she’s still visiting Nick, but Mariana refuses to talk about it. Jesus walks in, immediately getting chewed out by Mariana for being late. Emma is concerned about his head, which is bandaged up and gives him some aspirin. Jesus admits he hurt it using a nail gun while covering for Gabe—he thinks he’s really sick and too good of a guy to just blow them off. Emma tells Jesus he’s a good guy for helping his dad and he asks her if he’s good enough to get another chance with her. Emma says she hasn’t had time to think about that and the two are interrupted by Mariana barking more orders and nabbing some aspirin, too. Mariana also pops a few more of Jesus’ pills along with the aspirin.

 

Stef visits Lena in her office, revealing that she called her mom to ask for financial help. Sharon (Annie Potts) offered to sell the condo and move in with Will, but the two agree they can’t let her do that. Lena also called the IRS and they said they would withstand the lean on the home if they could come up with $2,000 a month. However, that would mean they would have to work nights and weekends and never see the kids. They decide it wouldn’t be worth it, agreeing to call the realtor after talking to the kids.

 

Callie walks in the house to see Brandon trying (and failing) to get Mason to stay still so he can practice. She also thanks him for putting her bra in her bag for her. She then walks into the kitchen to see Jude (Hayden Byerly) shoveling chips into his mouth. She smells the marijuana on him, quickly ushering him upstairs before moms get home.

 

When Brandon finishes playing and turns around, he discovers Mason is gone. He frantically runs to the backyard to look for him. Stef finds him first, as he’s their bathroom playing with her makeup. Stef and Lena sit everyone down in the living room and reveal they’re selling the house for financial reasons. Mason keeps causing a ruckus during the conversation, leading Stef to tell Brandon that someone needs to tell Cortney how to parent her kid. Brandon grabs Mason and storms out. Jesus’ head injury causes him to pass out.

 

Mason spills juice all over Brandon’s keyboard and he freaks out. Cortney said it was just an accident, but Brandon thinks he needs a time out. Cortney demands that Brandon stop yelling at Mason and tells him it isn’t his place to discipline her son. Brandon tells her she doesn’t set any boundaries and Cortney huffs that she’s glad she now knows what he thinks of her as a mom.

 

At the hospital, Emma assures Mariana that Jesus’ situation is probably nothing serious. Mariana complains she has a headache too, admitting that she took some of Jesus’ ADHD pills. Emma tells her that was a dumb move, as that’s like being on speed. Mariana says she’s just so stressed and needed to stay focused, but Emma tells her she’s already perfect. Plus, the point of the competition is to have fun and learn. Mariana promises she won’t take any more.

 

The doctor (Mayank Saxena) shows the family a CAT scan of Jesus’ head—it turns out there’s a nail embedded in his frontal lobe. It’s not life-threatening, but it could possibly impair his speech. He probably didn’t know he did anything more than nick himself because of the head’s nervous system and the top surgeon is on the way to work on him. Emma admits that he was working with a nail gun on the garage while covering for Gabe and Stef and Lena go in to see Jesus. Meanwhile, Gabe comes into the waiting room and all the kids are extremely salty at him. Mariana says if Jesus isn’t okay, it’s all on him.

 

Callie asks Jude if he gets high all the time now. After some threatening that she’s going to tell moms, Jude admits that this is his first time smoking it, but he has done edibles before. After some more coercing, he says Noah (Kalama Epstein) has a medical marijuana card his mom got him for anxiety. Jude thinks it’s better than pills since at least it’s natural. He says he used it before his test and got an A. Callie is unimpressed, saying if he uses it again she’ll go straight to moms.

 

AJ asks if he should be worried about Callie and Aaron (Elliot Fletcher) texting all the time. Callie says he shouldn’t, pissed that the Juvenile Justice won’t take Kyle’s case since the right-handed forensics report isn’t enough. AJ is worried about Callie involving herself so much, but she refuses to let Kyle go to maximum security prison where he’ll be treated like garbage every day.

 

Mike tells AJ he’s not comfortable with him and Callie being intimate under his roof.

 

On her way to the bathroom, Callie runs into Noah and his mom. She is there since she’s a volunteer chaplain at the hospital. Callie snitches on Noah, telling his mom that it’s her business if she buys her son pot, but she would like it to stay away from Jude.

 

The whole family goes into see Jesus, who plays a prank on them by pretending he can’t speak coherently anymore. Apparently the nail went up his nose and into his brain. Lena bans him from using power tools for the rest of his life and Mariana relays the message that Emma says she’s “done thinking about it, and the answer is yes.”

 

Noah texts Jude about Callie tattling to his mom. Jude is pissed—after all the stupid things Callie has done that he has kept quiet about, she tells on him the second he makes a mistake? He won’t tell her anything ever again and warns her to stay out of his life.

 

Stef gathers the family around Jesus’ bed saying that even though they’re sad about the house, home is where they’re all together. Lena thinks she sounds like a greeting card.

 

Stef comes home to find Gabe working in the garage. She tears into him by saying the fact he didn’t honor his commitments put her son in harm’s way. He says he appreciates everything they’ve done for him, but he’s been struggling lately. He says it’s been hard even getting out of bed in the morning and Stef thinks he might be suffering from depression. He thinks it’s stupid for men to feel the way he does, but Stef begs him to talk to her so he can get better. He thought getting off the list would make everything normal, but he can’t help but think of all the years he wasted on it—time he’ll never get back. Stef suggests he get help so he doesn’t waste any more. He tells her he really needs to finish his work.

 

Callie goes to talk to Patrick Molloy (Chad Todhunter) again, but he tells her he doesn’t remember anything. She says an innocent kid will go to jail unless he talks, but he tells her to leave him alone. Callie brings up the fact that her mom is a cop, saying she knows he was arrested and had his charges dropped right before Kyle’s trial. He gets up in Callie’s face, telling her to leave. The car wash manager steps in and Callie tells him he is employing a child molester. Callie leaves, but warns Molloy that this isn’t over. Molloy calls up a mysterious person and says that Callie knows about the deal they made. The person on the other line says they’ll handle Callie.