The Fosters Recap: The Family Bands Together When Foster System Failures Threaten a Friend

This week's episode of The Fosters is riddled with several new plot lines, each more intensely dramatic than the next! Whether or not Mariana's new penchant for mathematic brilliance falls at the top or bottom of that spectrum remains to be seen, but let's start from the beginning. Due to a systematic snafu, Callie might not be able to graduate on time. This only adds to the pile of crap Callie's had to deal with lately, so naturally she's mega-bummed that nothing will apparently ever go her way. Not on the mega-bummed scale is Mariana, who bursts in to gleefully announced she got a 98 on her math placement test, which is considered super high. So high, in fact, that the school's math club asks her to join and she immediately excels. That means that not only is Mariana a superstar dancer, she's also a certified genius. Congrats, Mariana. In a world where life is really hard for everyone else, you are presently passing with flying colors!

We get a cameo from Girls United fave Kiara when Callie receives a 911 call from her at her new foster home where she and the family are being held up by a drug addict with a knife. Kiara goes to stay with the Adams Fosters while they try to figure out just what happened, but she seems pretty sure her foster family had something to do with the drug addled knife weilder. Callie and Kiara have a heart-to-heart about how tough their lives truly are, but try to end the conversation on a positive note. Speaking of returning faces, Wyatt and his incredible hair are back this week, and not too thrilled to see Callie post break-up. 

Back at work, Lena and Timothy catch up and Timothy apologizes for being not as present in her life after she lost the baby. They seem to be getting on better terms, but just then the school's principal asks Lena to tell Timothy he needs to alter his curriculum so the students do better and the school can get the grants it needs. Timothy refuses to change his curriculum, and the principal isn't exactly married to keeping Timothy on as a teacher in that case. More on that later, however, because  Jesus is the true relationship struggle-bus right now after his attempt to reconcile with Haley after missing her dance competition goes pretty badly. He does divulge to her that he missed it because he was sneaking into Anna's AA meeting and learned that she's pregnant. When Haley asks who the dad is, he suddenly starts to ponder the very random idea that it could potentially be Mike. Seems like a long shot, but a long shot that could be jam packed with epic drama, so it might be true!

Mariana officially joins the smart student math club and finds that Jesus' adorable ex Emma is a member too. She and Mariana start to get along, although Mariana quickly finds herself hiding her braininess when she learns her boyfriend got the lower score of 92 on his math score. To make him feel better, she tells him she got an 88, which also means that she needs to somehow get out of the principal announcing her badass math score at an upcoming assembly. When Lena finds out that Mariana lied about how randomly smart she's been in this episode to a man, she tells her that she should never change herself anyone, and Mariana finally divulges to Mat that she in fact got a 98. He's a little bummed that she lied to him, but understands what she was going through and they kiss and make up. Yay for everything once again going great for Mariana!

Brandon continues his quest to let his parents let him go on tour with his band over the summer, but Callie lingers around to remind him about how important the prestigious music camp he was accepted to could be to his career. But Brandon has a lot more to think about this episode when Stef and Lena ask him to take Jesus to Alateen meetings for kids with parents who are addicts. Brandon agrees, but quickly lets Jesus in on the pizza place he hangs out at when his moms believe he's at Alateen. However, after Brandon learns what terrible life choices Jesus has been making and reflects on his own as well, he and Jesus decide they probably do need Alateen and head on over. Good life choices, boys!

Stef, Lena, and Mike continue attempting to figure out what happened with Kiara's foster family and a way to stop her from having to return. However, since there's no proof the parents were involved in drugs, it looks like Kiara will be forced to go back. Kiara's rightfully concerned about this, especially since she knows the family is aware she's the one who called the police. We also learn a little bit about the Foster system, and how there are sketchy private fostering systems that allow some leeway on what's acceptable in a family simply so they can make money. Stef decides to take matters into her own hands and she and Mike go to interrogate the family. Unfortunately, despite believing the family is involved in drugs, Stef and Mike can't get the proper evidence and are forced to leave the situation alone for the time being. Callie tries to help by taking Kiara to a drop-off center for fosters kids, but filing her information for new housing could take weeks that they don't have.

After Wyatt and Callie's previous fight, he's pulled himself together and once again asks Callie to run away with him and escape all the Robert Quinn/adoption mess that's been plaguing her. Later, Callie sneaks out that night with a suitcase, and we poor viewers are overwhelmed with a huge case of the "Been There, Done Thats." However, it turns out that Callie was actually just going to drop off some of Wyatt's stuff and beg him not to run away and instead finish school. Good life choices all around! Things are even going well for Stef as she attempts to find something wrong with Kiara's foster family and she and Mike eventually find a last-minute loophole that gets the family evicted, meaning the foster children can't return to them. Only problem is, Kiara didn't get the info in time and runs away. Here's hoping Callie can communicate the slightly hopeful news to her in episodes to come. 

As the episode comes to a close, Stef tells Lena she's considering returning to Mike as a partner at work, and Lena's a little uncomfortable with this. They move on enough to discuss Brandon's band's potential tour, and Lena announces that she believes it may actually be good for him and look impressive to potential colleges. Of course, that would mean it would have to go well and Brandon's track record with things going well is pretty rough, but that's a problem for another day. Callie, who really does seem to be on an upswing, returns to the drop-off center not to yell at anyone but instead to volunteer. Could things finally be looking up for dear Callie? Either way, she kinda smiled this week for once, so let's consider this a win. Until next week, Fosters fans!