The Fosters Recap: Summer Finale is a Bit of a Bummer Finale

If you didn't expect some kind of cliffhanger from The Fosters Summer finale last night, you must never have watched an episode of television. Unfortunately, the note we ended on was a more than a little frustrating (not that plot point again...), but nonetheless, our Monday nights are going to be a little less heart-wrenching and addictingly dramatic now that we have to wait for The Fosters to return. Kicking off the finale was Rosie O'Donell's Girl's United leader Rita, who explains to Callie that it's looking bleak for a Girl's United comeback following the semi-accidental incineration of their last home. Callie can't handle that Rita's just giving up, and plots with Daphne to organize some sort of fundraiser. But since baking cookies or washing cars isn't going to quite raise enough money to fund a whole house, it looks like Callie might have to turn to a certain super-rich biological father...

You best believe this season won't end without a family breakfast. Mariana accuses Hayley of milking her parents' divorce so she can hang out with Jesus, but it's Jude who chimes in, claiming it isn't just girls who are needy, but Connor can be too. The adorable comparison is interrupted by Callie, who announces that Robert Quinn has decided to hold a funraiser for Girl's United. And there's even better news; Robert signed the abandonment papers, meaning Callie is now free to get adopted. Woo! (But not really, because this is The Fosters and we're never allowed to 'woo!' for too long.)

Brandon and the band get ready to play their next big gig - Robert's fundraiser - but practice is interupted when Lou runs off to a date. Mat lets Brandon know that Lou has a history of dating dudes in the band and that Brandon really needs to be careful. This shouldn't be a problem, since Brandon's never made a bad choice in his life. Mariana asks Stef and Lena if they can go ahead and set up a meeting with Ana, but Jesus isn't on board with the reunion. He's still upset (rightfully) that Ana's the reason Stef got shot and believes she'll never change. When the kids are out of the room, Lena reflects on her own bitterness towards Ana, a women who was able to have children and couldn't take care of them. 

Now that Lena's returned from her "seventh grade camping trip"/pregnancy leave, it's time to return to work! The new principal introduces herself and actually sets things off on a pretty solid note when she explains she knows Lena must be bitter about them hiring a business woman instead of an educator. She declares she wants to work closely with Lena and will give her authority over all curriculum. The pairing is so good, in fact, it almost seems to good to be true (and probably will be!) Jude breaks up the merry arrangement to pull Lena aside to discuss an issue with Connor. Turns out Connor has a bruise on his face, and Lena believes it's his father who did the bruising. Connor's dad insists he accidentally got the bruise when running away from a spanking, and that this wouldn't have even happened if Connor hadn't been allowed to share a tent with Jude on their camping trip. Connor apparently had to be punished for breaking his dad's rule not to spend time with Jude, but Lena obviously disagrees and labels his dad a bully. When this is relayed to Stef, she weirdly doesn't agree with Lena that they should try to fight Connor's dad, and actually opts for Jude to get other friends whose families will be more accepting. That was very un-Stef of you, Stef. Jude catches up privately with Connor, who isn't thrilled Jude and Lena found out that he still gets spanked. However, he's much more nervous that Jude might have told her "what we did." Jude's silent about that, but our interest is piqued. Is Jonnor a thing now? Can Jonner please be a thing?

Mariana discovers Jesus' horrible 'Hayley' tattoo, and to keep her from outting his poor life choices, he agrees to meet with Ana. The meeting is set up in a jiffy and Ana begins her AA-inspired apology to her children by listing all the terrible things she's done to them. When there's too many to count, she puts the note down and admits she loved getting high more than her children. She declares her gratitude to Stef and Lena for taking care of her kids and raising them so well, but Mariana's not having the tearful apology. Venomously, she declares Ana a "very sad stranger," and abandons the meeting, leaving Jesus to comfort his weeping birth mom. Ana insists he shouldn't be comforting her after all she put him through, but they still hug it out anyway.

Later that night, Mariana asks Lena why she wanted a child of her own when she had once told her that "DNA doesn't make a family." Lena insists that, even though she had wanted her own child, she realized that, "You only carry a baby in your belly for nine month, but you carry your child in your heart forever." As far as she is concerned, Mariana's as much of her child as humanly possible, and everything seems just a little bit better. We are so going to miss Lena's pep talks during the fall hiatus.

Earlier in the day Lena had gotten into a tiff with the seemingly awesome new principal over how to handle the situation with Connor's dad. The principal thinks they can't really act against the him for setting rules about who Connor hangs out with, but Lena is still too offended by him labeling a young, as-of-presently unlabeled child's sexuality and making assumptions about him. Still, considering Lena's position as vice principal, it's a conflict of interest to get too involved. But it isn't a conflict of interest if Lena's not vice principal anymore, and Stef's just as surprised as we are at the revelation that Lena has quit her job. 

Brandon's new take on writing lyrics is apparently 'passive aggression,' and he expresses his feelings on Lou's romantic past by writing lyrics for her that aren't exactly flattering. She yells at him for making uneducated assumptions based on what Mat told him, but the fight ends quickly in the kiss we've been waiting for all season. That night, Callie's out of the house sleeping at the Quinn's, and Sophia asks if she still cares about Brandon. Callie says he's her best friend and will soon be her brother, but Sophia's not having it. Sophia's not having a lot of things, actually, and is uncomfortable about Callie's refusal to call Robert 'Dad.' Callie tells her that no matter what, they'll always be sisters and the two snuggle in for a (soon-to-be-doomed) sleepover.

Alrighty, everyone, it's fundraiser time! And better yet, it's also the return of Brunette Mariana, which is so important ABC Family even determined it needed a tweetable #MarianasHair hashtag. Still, the fundraiser must go on despite earth-shattering hair choices, and Robert Quinn steps up to explain to his rich friends how he found out about Girls United 'from a friend.' He then hands the reigns over to Brandon's band for a while (like, a long while). Rita, truly touched by the fundraiser, checks in with Callie, and asks her if she really wants to leave Robert out of her life when it's obvious he and his family love her. She explains that maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing to let Robert be a father to her, and Callie's so swayed that when she goes to make a short speech she announces to everyone that Robert is indeed her father and Sophia is her sister. What a lovely (and fleeting) moment.

At this point, there's only a few minutes left in the episode and far too much drama to pack in. Jude admits to Lena he heard Stef talking about her quitting her job, and wonders if it's because of him. He goes on to admit that he and Connor did do something in the tent that night, but because season finales are endlessly frustrating, we won't know what that was for a while. Speaking of endlessly frustrating, Sophia, thrilled that Callie acknowledged the Quinns as her family, pulls Callie aside and announces that they truly can be a family since she took Robert's abandonment papers out of the mail and shredded them. Awesome move, Sophia! Clearly Callie isn't happy about this and asks Robert how long it will take to get new papers. Because it's a Fosters finale, life has to suck for Callie, so Robert tells her that now that he's gotten to know and love Callie, he wouldn't sign the papers again. To cap off this season of madness, when Callie storms off she's intercepted by Brandon, whose attempts to calm her down are cut off by the resurgence of a plot point from seasons past. Callie tearfully admits maybe she should get adopted by the Quinns because she's already given up so much to be adopted by the Fosters. Oh no, Callie, don't! Don't! No! Well, fine, I guess this is what we have to look forward to next season. Happy finale, Fosters fans!