For directly preceding the Summer finale, this week's episode of The Fosters is pretty tame. Yes, it had its intense moments, but there's an entire plot point around plumbing so it's not exactly 'house burns down' territory (though we just can't burn a house down every week, can we?). Jude and Lena are still off 'camping,' but don't worry, that means we have more time to enjoy the company of Mariana, who's struggling to pick an outfit for a mysterious date with her outspoken suitor Mat. It's the episode we've all been waiting for, folks!
During a hearty breakfast, the family catches up on their activities for the day/episode. Stef's going to be doing some security work at a funeral, Jesus wants to "work on a paper," and Brandon and Callie are going to go hang out with Lou. We also learn the official fate of Girls United after the fire last week; all the members have been returned to juvie and there doesn't seem to be any plans in the immediate future to get the house back on its feet. Count on this to be important next week. Before breaking off for the day, the kids ask Brandon just why Dani and Mike broke up. Brandon declares it none of their business, and heads off to run an errand at Mike's house. When Brandon arrives, however, Mike hurries him away because he's already got another guest at the apartment: Ana.
Turns out Mike's been helping Ana out with her progress in Alcoholic's Anonymous. She's currently at the 'Amends' stage, and Jesus and Mariana are on the top of that list. Mariana embarks on her surprise date with Mat, only to find he's taken her to a Mexican street festival. Mariana's spent much of these season struggling with her identity, so she's not exactly thrilled with this reveal.
At therapy, Callie recounts her panic attack when trying to sleep with Wyatt, and admits she's now been having panic attacks a few times a week. The therapist points out that Callie may have a problem believing in her own judgement, and thinks that if she trusts herself more she won't panic around Wyatt. Back at the house, Jesus takes Hayley on the "special date" she demanded he come up with in the last episode. When he brings her to the garage where they first slept together, which he's decked out with candles and flower petals, she freaks out and accuses him of only wanting to sleep with her. Enter Stef, home early after her securty work got cancelled, and she forces the two out of the sex garage and out into the world. Unfortunately, sex garage or no sex garage, Hayley is still the worst.
Because the Mexican street festival is definitely the hottest event in town, Brandon, Callie, and Lou show up to spend the day. Callie's also invited Wyatt, because she's decided to take her therapist's advice and trust him in an crowded environment where she would normally have a panic attack. She and Wyatt then go off to have a chow down, where they compete over who can eat the most food from every booth at the festival. This bit serves very little purpose, but it means we get to enjoy more of their flowing, gorgeous hair, so cheers to that!
Mat and Mariana's date continues to go very well when Mat starts schooling her for not knowing who Frida Kahlo is. Mariana defensively explains she wasn't raised in a Latina home and doesn't really listen when Mat tries to explain that Frida Kahlo isn't exactly a Latina-exclusive icon. Meanwhile, Callie nearly has a panic attack over losing Wyatt in the crowd, and when he finds her, she opens up about just why she's been nervous lately. Oh but wait, because apparently everyone is at this festival, Liam's there too. Cue the impending drama.
We get a tiny bit of Lena via a Skype-date with Stef, and she suggests that Stef stop trying to make herself busy and really take some time to just be. Lena reminds Stef that they're both grieving, but Stef dismisses the reminder to go take care of that sink I can't stop telling you all about. The adventure even involves Googling, so we know it's getting so real in Fosters-ville. The best moment in this episode is definitely when Stef makes a video of herself fixing the pipe, complete with a sexy tool-belt dance. The joy, unfortunately, is ruined when the pipe bursts again, but it was so worth it for the minute of Stef sending Lena sensual plumbing videos. More of that in the future, please.
Continuing the trend of going to the festival, Jesus takes Hayley, pretending it's the planned-out second part of their romantic date. This seems to be Lou's plan for Brandon at well, but no matter how much she tries to seduce him Brandon denies the advances, ultimately telling her he's "in a bad place right now." After running into Brandon, Hayley discovers that going to the festival wasn't Jesus's idea, and yells at him once again for just 'using her for sex.' Everyone's love lives fall to the wayside, however, when Wyatt sees Liam and grabs Brandon to help him confront Callie's past attacker. Brandon suggests finding Callie and leaving, but Wyatt wants a more aggressive solution to the problem.
Ana and Mike bond over the experiences they had raising children while struggling with addiction, but Ana's overwhelmed knowing she probably won't get to see Jesus and Mariana again to apologize. She and Mike find a way to fix this problem by showing up at the festival and running into Mariana. Mariana doesn't want to see Ana, and even though Mike insists they talk, she still storms off. She runs in to Mat, who finally confronts her about being offended by the festival. Mariana admits she's uncomfortable and feels like she has no connection to this culture. That night, however, Mariana softens a bit and admits that Ana is her only connection with being Mexican and since she hates Ana, it's affected her appreciation for the culture as well. Mat understands and relates it to his own life, in which his father left his family and hasn't checked in in years. Looks like things could very well be on the upswing for Mariana, who has tried tragically to be in a romantic relationship for nearly 2 seasons.
Wyatt finds Liam, who's just as smug and awful as ever. After Liam tells Wyatt that he didn't rape Callie and "she wanted it," Wyatt punches him in the face. Brandon tries to stop the fight, but is ultimately also inspired to hit Liam in the face. The cops end up breaking the fight up, but Callie's not thrilled that Wyatt used violence to get involved. Even though Wyatt insists he was just trying to protect her, she tells him this isn't the kind of protection she wants and that she was wrong in trusting herself with him. Could Wyatt and Callie be done for good? Seems possible, but we will miss Wyatt's otherworldly hair.
No matter what I implied, this episode isn't entirely about Stef fixing a sink. As she's trying to mend the beyond-help pipe, she finds a baby towel in the towel drawer, and bursts into tears as she clutches it. Just then, Lena calls, and the weepy Stef admits to her wife that even though she didn't know the baby, she still misses her. The two stay on the phone as Stef continues to finally grieve.
Back at the house, Mike and Stef talk to Brandon about getting into a fight with Liam, and Mike tells him he believes Brandon was mostly acting out his aggression over what happened with Dani. He wants Brandon to forgive himself and forgive Mike, and after a pretty solid pep talk, it looks like Brandon may forgive enough to be able to open himself up to Lou pretty soon. Stef then goes to console poor Callie, who's holding herself together pretty well after this traumatic day. "Sometimes you got to let yourself fall apart, and there's no shame in that," is the line of the night. Stef/Callie pep talks may be our favorite thing about The Fosters.
The worst choice of the year award goes to Jesus who, to show his love for the insufferable Hayley, has gotten a tattoo of her name on his ribs. Oh Jesus, always a powerful example of what a 15-year-old boy should definitely not do. Upon arriving home, Mariana tells Stef that she wants to see Ana again, which we all know has not gone so well in the past. Since Ana's 60 days sober, it looks like maybe this may not be a terrible thing, but since the Summer finale is next week, something crazy is definitely about to go down. Honestly, we're not quite sure what we're more freaked out about; the end of summer or the end of The Fosters.
