The Fosters – Justify

By starrymag | August 4, 2016

By: Taylor Gates

 

Lena (Sherri Saum) doesn’t understand how there could be a lean on their home when it’s her father (Bruce Davison) that owes the IRS money. Stef (Teri Polo) explains that since Stewart loaned them money to buy the house, it applies to his situation. The IRS won’t go after the debtor’s primary residence so he and Dana’s (Lorraine Toussaint) place is safe. He explains they would be more than willing to sell their house, but they’re already in deep water with the mortgage. He plans to meet with a professional financial adviser and promises to work something out.

 

Stef asks Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) if she knows why Nick (Louis Hunter) would get the impression she wants to see him again, as Stef got a call from his doctor—Nick wanted to know when Mariana was going to visit him. Mariana forcefully says she has no idea, asking why the doctors aren’t doing their job. Lena asks Stef if she’s going to tell Mariana that Nick is trying to get released from the hospital, but Stef says that based on her reaction to the phone call news they should probably hold off.

 

Cortney (Denyse Tontz) drives Brandon (David Lambert) to school, ducking down when she spies Lena getting out of the car next to her. Lena comes over and the two awkwardly chat, Cortney revealing her plans to go surfing that afternoon. Lena proceeds to have some real talk with Brandon. She says that sometimes people can mistake a loan for a gift and vice versa so he should be careful when giving money to Cortney.

 

Callie (Maia Mitchell) is irritated by the youths having water balloon fights outside the school. AJ (Tom Williamson) tells her to stop being a Debbie Downer—they’re just Seniors having fun.

 

Jude (Hayden Byerly) is nervous about his math midterm coming up. Taylor (Izabela Vidovic) suggests that he ask Noah (Kalama Epstein) for help studying after they were so close at Lena’s party. Jude tells her they’re probably just friends, but Taylor tells him that’s not what it looked like to her. Jude teases that Noah is an awful dancer and Taylor reveals that he was likely stoned.

 

Nick’s lawyer (Anzu Lawson) petitions to have Nick moved to a different secure facility, but Stef tells the judge he is still a danger to others, namely her daughter. Nick’s dad (Mark Totty) throws a tantrum, saying nobody ever confirmed Nick had a gun and he was victimized by Mariana toying with his affection. Stef exposes Nick for asking to see Mariana, but Nick lies and says he just wants the necklace he gave her back so he can give it to his mom. That’s kind of creepy if you think about it, but okay. He calmly explains he’s not angry at Mariana and is truly sorry for what he did. He just wants to get better so he can pay for his mistakes and get on with life.

 

Eric (Michael Daniel Cassady) drops off Brandon’s Juilliard recommendation letter in Lena’s office. He’s concerned that he hasn’t been practicing in the music room much, but Lena promises he’s been practicing at home and even tried to improve his already excellent SAT scores. Eric says Juilliard doesn’t even require SATs results unless the student is homeschooled.

 

At STEAM club, Jesus (Noah Centineo) messes up a calculation and Emma (Amanda Leighton) roasts him for it, saying he needs to ask for clarification if he doesn’t understand something. Aiden (Adam Kang) obnoxiously asks Mariana if they can order fancy wheels for their robot, questioning her ability to drive with them. Mariana distractedly and frustrated gives in and tells Aiden he can order the special wheels and drive on competition day. Emma asks Mariana why she handed over the reins, but Mariana shortly tells her not to second guess her decisions. Mariana gets a text from Nick about him moving locations. Jesus inquires about who she’s talking to, but Mariana freaks and yells at him to mind his own business.

 

Lena comes home and drags Brandon for taking the SATs for another kid. She schools him on what academic fraud means: no Juilliard or college at all. Plus, Lena is ethically and professionally obligated to report it so she’s going to be the one to ruin her son’s entire future.

 

Brandon explains that Cortney needs a lawyer in order to keep custody of her son, but Lena says the fact he keeps justifying his actions is a sign he’s lost his sense of right and wrong.

 

Stef gives Callie the scoop—Kyle’s (Adam Irigoyen) alibi witness, Patrick Molloy (Chad Todhunter) was arrested for lewd acts with a minor a few months before Kyle’s trial and the charges were dropped.

 

Noah and Jude are playing video games and Noah is doing a pretty tragic job. He keeps eating candy and Jude asks if he has the munchies. Noah explains that he’s not high at the moment, but he was at Lena’s party. He has a medical marijuana card for his anxiety, but likes to save a little extra on the side for fun. He promises to bring some over the next day.

 

Callie tells Aaron (Elliot Fletcher) what Stef told her. It’s possible the detective on Kyle’s case might have put a child molester back on the streets in order to close his case. Molloy will never admit to this as he could still be charged and possibly go to jail. They’re back to square one, but Callie took it upon herself to get the rest of Kyle’s files in order to scrounge up some new evidence.

 

Brandon and Cortney take a long walk on the beach. Brandon tells her how traumatized he is from Lena’s fit of rage. Cortney mopes a little before giving Brandon $900; she sold her surfboard and gear to start paying him back.

 

Stef tells Lena she chatted with Dana about the financial situation. Surprise! Stewart owes the IRS almost $300,00 because he lost money in the stock market and then make a lot of bad, high-risk investments. He also took out a third mortgage and hasn’t paid his income taxes in four years. Lena realizes her father made mistakes, but she doesn’t appreciate Stef and her mother ganging up on him. Stef says he needs to go home and face his wife while they figure out how to save the house. Lena refuses to kick him out; no matter how much Stef and Dana doubt him because he has always come through for them.

 

Aaron inquires about Callie’s Senior project, but Callie says the whole thing seems lame now. She changes the subject, showing Aaron the forensics report saying Mrs. Johnson was found face down in her living room in a pool of blood, bludgeoned in the head with a garden axe. However, there was no sign of forced entry. Kyle’s DNA was all over the murder weapon, but the fact he did yard work for the woman kind of negates that evidence. The forensic report is also missing a page, which is pretty sketchy. Lena comes in the garage and goes off on Callie for not working on her Senior project. Callie says she wants to change it to be about juvenile justice, but Lena isn’t having it. She’s already changed her project three times and there was a reason she wanted to tackle this topic. She essentially kicks Aaron out and tells Callie to stop making excuses and commit to the project and the family. Yikes.

 

Craig (Michael Traynor) is confused why the robotics team chose the wheels they did, as they’ll never work for the course. Mariana apologizes and promises to swap them out, reluctantly delegating basic coding duties to Aiden.

 

Jude asks Brandon if he’s ever had pot. Brandon admits he did but didn’t like it, as it felt like an acid trip. He backtracks though saying he’s never done acid and Jude shouldn’t either. He says he had to call Lena to pick him up; she wasn’t angry, but he felt pretty stupid.

 

Emma and Jesus talk in Emma’s car. She doesn’t understand what teenage boy gives up no-strings-attached sex, but Jesus snaps that she can get her friends with benefits perks from someone else. Jesus accuses Emma of not dating him since he’s not smart enough for her, but Emma shoots back that it’s because he broke her heart. She only broke up with him because she didn’t think he was into her. Jesus says he only hooked up with Hayley (Caitlin Carver) because he didn’t think Emma liked him. Their conversation is cut short when they see Mariana going up to a chain link fence to meet Nick.

 

Jude talks to Noah, grabbing a gummy worm while they talk. He admits he’s not ready to smoke pot, and Noah’s eyes widen—they’re not smoking pot, but eating it in the gummy worms.

 

Brandon tells Lena that he returned the money and made the kid promise to take the test himself and use whatever score he earned. Lena doesn’t give him the pat on the back he was vying for, telling him she’s still concerned and his character is much easier kept than recovered.

 

Noah and Jude speak into fans and talk about feeling their bones inside their skin. Stef comes in, picking up the gummy worms and telling Jude not to ruin his appetite. Jude and Noah laugh about Stef being “the po-po” (police) before kissing.

 

Stewart proposes a risky investment to get out of debt and save the house, but Lena tells him she can’t support it. She admits they talked to Dana and know how much he owes and they can’t afford for him to be wrong again. Stewart mumbles that if he still had his life insurance he could drive off a cliff and solve everything. Lena tells him not to say that, as they would never be okay without him. He tears up, saying all he ever wanted to do was take care of his family.

 

Callie is working on her Senior project, pinning pictures of her old foster homes on a large canvas. It finally gets too difficult and emotional for her and she sobs while slashing it with a box cutter. Aaron walks in on her, timidly asking if it was something he said.

 

Stef tells Mariana and Jesus that Nick has been moved to a group home for boys although if he is okay mentally still remains to be seen. He’s still under lock and key and has no access to phones and computers, but if he tries to contact one of them they need to let her know. Stef assures them she’ll be closely monitoring his activities, but Mariana says she’s not worried.

 

Callie tells Aaron that her project is like the most depressing scrapbook ever and she hates that it’s her story. Aaron tells her she can’t pretend like it never happened. He’s transgender and when he sees pictures from before his transition all he sees is how sad he was. He wants to erase the first sixteen years of his life, but he can’t. He tells Callie she needs to love and accept younger, more damaged Callie. Callie tells Aaron she has a transgender friend and he jokingly gives her a hard time since they don’t all know each other. They then laugh about the fact he actually does know Cole. Aaron tells Callie he originally came to share the missing page of Kyle’s file, as he got the police department to fax it over. However, there is no remarkable information so the exclusion from the file was likely just an oversight.

 

Jesus confronts Mariana about seeing Nick. She’s furious that he followed her, but she tells him she is Nick’s only reason for living and if he didn’t have her, he would end it all. She promises to breakup with him eventually and doesn’t understand the harm in him thinking she’s his girlfriend as long as he’s locked up.

 

Lena tells Stef she thinks they’re going to have to help Stewart get out of his mess, but Stef doesn’t know what they can do.

 

Callie stitches her project back together and takes another look at the forensic report. Not finding anything substantial, she returns it to the box, defeated.

 

At school, Taylor asks Jude if he’s still nervous about the midterm, but Jude says he’s all good as he snacks on some pot worms.

 

Mariana is done with Aiden’s shenanigans—he wrote the code in a program nobody but he knows. He asks her why she’s acting like a bitch and she replies that bitches get things done. She threatens to kick him off the team if he doesn’t redo his work in another program, but he throws a hissy fit and storms off along with the majority of the team.

 

Callie throws a water balloon at AJ in the hallway to prove she can be fun. Before heading to class, she spies the picture of herself with Jude and Kyle in her locker and gets an epiphany. She calls Aaron and explains that Kyle is a lefty. The forensics report; however, said the killer was right-handed.

 

A realtor comes to look at the Adams Foster house telling Stef and Lena she would love to work with them on selling their home.