The Fosters – Uncharted Territory

By starrymag | August 28, 2017

By: Taylor Gates

 

Cortney (Denyse Tontz) texts Brandon (David Lambert), wanting to talk about what he saw between her and Gabe (Brandon Quinn), but he brushes it off and tells her everything is fine. Mariana wants to throw a “second chances” themed engagement party for Mike (Danny Nucci) and Ana (Alexandra Barreto) in their backyard, but Stef (Teri Polo) isn’t too thrilled about the idea considering Mike (Danny Nucci) is her ex-husband. Stef asks Gabe if Jesus (Noah Centineo) has talked to him about Emma (Amanda Leighton), and he tells her he made a wooden ring for Jesus to give to her. Cortney and Gabe are relieved Brandon hasn’t told the moms about them.

 

Once all the kids leave for school, Stef tells Lena (Sherri Saum) about the promise ring Jesus gave Emma. Lena is suspicious it was an engagement ring, but Stef doesn’t think Emma would agree to something like that. Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) overhears this as she’s packing up her books. Neighbor Dean (Reggie Austin) comes in, telling Stef and Lena that he looked over their documents and they are now able to take Lena’s dad’s name off the house title. Stef thinks this is smart in case Stewart (Bruce Davidson) gets in financial trouble again but Lena isn’t so sure. They agree to discuss it over dinner.

 

Callie (Maia Mitchell) presents her self-portrait project to the class but receives scathing reviews. They don’t think Callie knows what the piece wants to be and criticize her for not taking the pictures herself. Ximena (Lisseth Chavez) stands up for her and her professor (Emily Kosloski) gives Callie a chance to defend her work. Callie doesn’t know how to do this and her professor tells her to work on it since she will have to in her admission interviews.

 

Noah (Kamala Harris) goes to Jude’s (Hayden Byerly) house and says he’s not sure he can be with someone who’s going to lie to him and put him second to video games. Jude pleads with him to give him another chance, promising he’ll start making more time for him. Noah reluctantly agrees and they head to Jude’s room where Taylor (Izabela Vidovic) is setting up for their video gaming stream. Jude asks to move their hangout to tomorrow and Taylor sadly agrees.

 

Dean is late for a meeting with Stef, forcing her and Tess (Kristen Ariza) to awkwardly socialize.

 

At dinner with Lena’s parents, Callie proclaims that she needs the car in order to take a hiking trip with Aaron (Elliot Fletcher). Brandon insists he needs it more because he’s going to work. Mariana thinks they need another car, but Stef says the only reason they can even afford three is because grandpa Frank gave them the Prius. Dana (Lorraine Toussaint) asks Mariana if she has a boyfriend and Jude tells them about Logan (Christopher Meyer). Mariana reminds him he already has a girlfriend, and Stewart says Dana already had a boyfriend when he met her too. Jude teases Stef about Logan’s mom being her first girlfriend, and Stef corrects him, saying it was just a crush—her father saw to that. After some pressuring from Lena’s mom, she admits Frank made her go to church counseling after seeing them cuddling on the couch, which saddens Dana.

 

Stewart is progressively forgetful throughout the dinner and Lena is visibly concerned. Stef also announces they’re putting the home in a trust to protect the kids. They almost bring up the fact that they want to take Stewart’s name off the title but decide not to do it in front of the children. The dinner ends with Mariana irritatedly telling everyone that Jesus is engaged.

 

After dinner, Dana suggests that Stef and Lena take away Jesus’ treehouse building privileges if he won’t go back to school in order to have another incentive besides Emma, but they think that would cause Jesus to go full rebellion mode. Stewart falls asleep during their conversation, which Dana attributes to having an early flight. Stef and Lena talk in the kitchen, Stef telling Lena they need to talk to Stewart about the title ASAP. She encourages Lena to ask Dana what she thinks. Stef goes back in the living room to get the remaining dishes and Stewart wakes up. He apologizes for how Frank reacted when he found out she was gay and says he just wanted Lena to know how much he still loved her after she came out. Stewart says he sees Stef as a daughter too and is so proud of her.

 

Lena brings up the house situation to Dana. Dana says they’re now doing fine financially since she took over their accounts. She is, however, glad she brought it up—if the money they loaned Stef and Lena for the house was in their account it would be earning interest and it only seems fair they start paying them back somehow.

 

In their bedroom, Stef explodes, saying that money was a gift and never truly a loan. Now they’re going to have to put Stewart’s name on the trust. Stef promises to talk to Dean about it the next day but hopes she doesn’t get caught in another awkward conversation with Tess in the process. Lena suggests the two talk about what happened in high school but Stef doesn’t want to rehash old drama.

 

Grace (Meg DeLacy) and Brandon go over their set list and Grace notices Brandon seems distracted. He tells her he’s worried about Cortney since she doesn’t have the greatest taste in men. Grace says she did pick Brandon so it’s certainly not all bad.

 

Mariana and Logan toss a football in the backyard. Logan tells her that his girlfriend is still not talking to him because of the selfie he took with Mariana. Mariana helps him plan a grand gesture for her—a video of him jumping and holding up letters that spell out “I love you, Olivia.” At the end, he attaches a video of him sitting shirtless on Mariana’s bed and saying Olivia is the only girl for him.

 

Callie and Aaron go hiking. Callie tells Aaron about art class the previous day and doubts her voice as an artist. She thinks maybe she rushed to take the class to prove something to her moms. When they get to the top of a hill, a bird swoops down next to them. Callie says she used to have dreams of flying when she was young, but now in her dreams she feels like she’s being held back by someone. Aaron suggests maybe she’s holding herself back. The two jump in the waterfall together and swim.

 

Later, Aaron asks Callie if she really doesn’t know who she is. When he looks at her, he sees someone ferociously confident and self-assured. He says she never holds back when fighting for someone else and doesn’t understand why she doesn’t have that same belief in herself. Callie gets emotional, saying she feels like she should know exactly who she is and what she wants. Aaron wraps a blanket around her and comforts her, saying nobody actually knows everything about themselves. She smiles, replying she only needs to know what she wants right now. The two kiss and head back to his house to have sex.

 

Noah comes into Jude’s room just as he and Taylor are about to start playing video games. He’s there an hour early and Taylor gets frustrated, as she feels like Jude is constantly abandoning her or making her third wheel. Jude tells them both to leave and never come back before storming out of the room. Dana comes in to see him sulking in the living room and drags him back upstairs. She makes a firm schedule of the days Jude gets to hang out with each of them.

 

Stef tells Dana that she and Lena were always under the impression the loan was Lena’s early inheritance. They never would have bought the house had they not thought that since they never would have been able to pay it all back. Dana tells them that Stewart always intended it to be a loan, but Stef makes a comment about Stewart’s memory not being what it used to, which gets her chastised by Lena. Stef moves on, saying she wants to take Stewart off the title because they can’t risk another lean. In exchange, they’ll get a lawyer to help them map out their payment plans. Stewart comes inside and tells everyone there’s a surprise in the front: a new car. Dana tells Stewart they can’t afford that and are barely making ends meet. Stewart tells her there’s a holiday bonus coming in soon, but Dana reminds him he’s retired.

 

After the car incident, Dana emotionally tells Stef and Lena that they shouldn’t have to pay back the money, but they insist, wanting to help pay for Stewart’s care. Dana tells Lena the memory loss has been going on for about a year but that she’s never want to talk about it. She’s not ready to lose Stewart. Lena goes to talk to Stewart, and he apologizes for what he said when she came out. He should never have said that he still loved her—he should have said he was proud she knew who she was and couldn’t wait to see who she would spend her life with. Lena thanks him for always making time for her and being a great father.

 

Brandon trips on some of Gabe’s tools and yells at him for being so careless with Mason around. Cortney hears the commotion and comes outside. Gabe tells Cortney that Brandon is mad because he saw them together but Brandon blows up and says that’s not the case. He tells Cortney to have another baby with Gabe if she wants; he doesn’t care.

 

Cortney packs up her car to leave and Brandon apologizes, telling her she doesn’t have to go. Cortney thinks it’s normal for people to be a little jealous when their ex moves on and that it doesn’t mean they want to get back together. They both say they want the other to be happy. Cortney says she shouldn’t be kissing anyone right now anyway, focusing on her child and own life instead. She tells Brandon he’s a good man before driving away.

 

Stef and Tess go on a walk and Stef admits she did have romantic feelings for Tess in high school. She tells her about Frank sending her to the minister and feeling ashamed afterwards. Stef apologizes for distancing herself from Tess, and Tess says she was hurt when Stef cut her out. However, it was a long time ago and Tess never reciprocated those feelings. Realizing she hurt Mike in the past, Stef tells Brandon he should throw Mike and Ana’s engagement party at the house. Brandon swings by Grace’s house and gives her some chocolates.

 

Logan thanks Mariana for helping him with Olivia and Mariana invites him to the engagement party next weekend. Logan says Olivia is in town and asks if they can all go together. Mariana tries to act excited but is clearly disappointed it won’t be just the two of them. Olivia messages Mariana on Instagram telling her to stay away from her man.

 

Jude gets an email from a gaming company asking if he wants to be an ambassador for their product. Jude video chats Taylor to make sure she’s interested before calling them back and confirming. The company, however, is only interested in Jude.

 

In art class, Callie apologizes for being defense during the last class, opening up about being a foster kid and not knowing exactly who she is. She says that the self-portrait is the perfect piece for her to put in her portfolio because she’s okay with not being certain.