Last week, The Fosters brought us to tears. This week, it brought us to groans of frustration and frightened anticipation for what's in store. Stef, Lena, and Callie have started working with a lawyer to figure out a way to keep Callie with the Adams Fosters. Stef's enraged that Robert knew about the Daphne/Tasha/kidnapping thing and was using that to get Callie to live with him and is willing to do anything to get Callie away from him. Callie believes that they're wasting money trying to stop the inevitable, but Stef has a plan. It involves having Robert investigated and the discovery that he seems to have a secret mistress. What it also should have involved was being more discreet at naming files on your laptop that your wife will definitely find because of your failure at titling things.
During a lovely family teeth-brushing session, the kids review all their current issues. Brandon still hasn't made a choice about the tour vs. Idyllwild, but more importantly Mariana has several issues including not enough people joining her dance team, Jesus potentially going to boarding school, and Callie moving out. At least, on the bright side, Mariana's pretty sure that her moms are going to adopt Anna's baby, and Jesus recommends Emma audition for the dance team since she used to be a cheerleader. When Mariana leaves, Jesus tells his other siblings on the DL that their moms are most likely not going to adopt the baby, which will probably crush Mariana.
At school, Mariana begins the quest of convincing Emma that her dance team isn't just about flaunting sexuality and that she has a great opportunity to get back at all the stuck-up girls who have bullied her and girls like her in the past. Connor and Jude make plans to hang out after school, and Brandon discovers that while he lost his spot at Idyllwild after taking too long to decide, they will allow him to reaudition and will open up a new spot. Lena checks in on the new English teacher and discovers she sounds horrifically boring and everyone looks miserable. To be fair, I've had several wonderful English teachers who are creative and fun while also managing standardized test preparation, but this particular one does seem pretty awful. We feel ya, Mariana.
Callie, Stef, Lena, and Robert meet with the judge, and in a surprising move Robert announces he does believe it's best for Callie to have more time to make her official decision. The judge announces this is acceptable, but Callie needs to have more than once a week visitation and will now also be seeing Robert every other weekend. Well, at least she's not living with him. Lena and Stef see how sketchy this is, and think he's trying to play the hero. However, Stef announces she has a plan of her own; Callie's emanciption. If Callie's emancipated before the waiting period is finished, than she becomes a legal adult and doesn't need Robert's permission to be adopted by the Adams Fosters. Robert wouldn't even have to know about Callie's emancipation. The heated conversation gets defused by the controversial school principal Monty, who ends up with a dinner invitation for that night despite Lena's attempt at an objection. Something about this is not going to go well!
It's the moment we've all been waiting for: Mariana's dance team auditions. Emma shows up (which is great because the more Emma the better), but more surprisingly so does Callie, who has arrived only to support Mariana. Mariana's so thrilled that Callie showed up that, even though she's a pretty rough dancer, Mariana announces she (along with Emma, duh) is on the team. Now, we all know that Maia Mitchell can dance because clearly we've all seen Teen Beach Movie countless times, but we'll roll with this plot point for now. Callie can't dance. Pshhh. Okay, sure.
Brandon goes over to his dad's house to practice piano, but runs into Ana. Ana's pretty embarrassed about accepting the bribe money Brandon gave her a while ago, and doesn't blame him for trying to help Mike. She wants to pay him back, and also tearfully explains that her parents keep sending back letters she wrote them unopened. That night, Brandon tells Mariana that he saw Ana and that he knows their moms aren't going to take Ana's baby. He tells her this in a pretty harsh way, explaining that while they wanted a baby, they don't want "Ana's baby." Oof. Brandon explains that he thinks maybe Ana's parents, who aren't opening the letters, might take the baby instead, and has done some research on how to get in contact. He thinks Mariana should connect with them, and that way she could be in the baby's life. While this plan was very insensitively delivered, it's actually not the worst.
Lena and Stef sit down with Callie and explain the plan about emancipation. However, the conversation needs to be put on hold for the dinner with Monty that no one seems particularly thrilled is happening. We get a lot of her backstory - she went to boarding school and graduated from Yale - and then Mariana brings up the controversial subject of Timothy. After dinner, once the kids are away, Stef and Lena let Monty in on Timothy being their previous sperm donor. Now that she's gotten to know Mariana, Monty brings up understanding why Lena feels so torn about adopting Ana's baby, and Stef goes full-stop, because as far as she knew, they had made the decision not to adopt Ana's baby. Well, now we know why Lena didn't want Monty over for dinner and it makes perfect sense and did indeed end in somewhat of a disaster!
Brandon calls his band together and announces that his moms will no longer let him go on tour. Truth is, he's chosen Idyllwild over the tour, but doesn't want Lou to think he's ditching her. Callie says that he needs to tellLou the truth, and agrees that if he will, she'll tell Mariana she absolutely does not want to be on the dance team. However, when the time actually comes to divulge the truth to Mariana, Callie lies and says she hurt her leg. They both laugh for a moment over how "hard" it will be to replace Callie, before Callie admits she actually was never hurt and Mariana knew that the entire time. They reconcile quickly, and this officially might be the fastest-solved problem the show has ever had. Brandon's confession to Lou doesn't quite go so well, and she storms out without another word. Well, at least Callie and Mariana are buddies again.
Stef and Lena finally have that dramatic one-on-one we've been expecting now that the truth about Ana's baby has been revealed, and Stef tells her that if she wants to keep the idea of adopting Ana's baby on the table they absolutely can, but they have to be honest with each other. Lena's partially worried that if they don't adopt Ana's baby, Mariana will think they love her less, but Stef wants to make sure they're not adopting a baby out of guilt. They reconcile this brief moment of disagreement with a kiss, and our hearts are much more at peace now. Even better, it turns out Monty listened to everyone's argument to keep Timothy and he has been re-hired. Go team Monty! But more importantly, go this team:
We're going to wrap this recap up with Jude's plotline, which got shockingly intense this week. Post-kiss, things seem pretty back to normal between Connor and Jude, though Jude is still confused about their relationship. He's also disturbed that Connor is still getting cozy with is ll' GF Daria. While studying at Jude's house, Connor tells Jude that later that night, he, Daria, and Daria's friend Taylor are going to go toilet paper this other's girl's house, and they want Jude to come. Connor also says that, post toilet-papering, they'll be able to have some alone time. With that, Jude is totally in, but his annoyance at Daria and Connor gets in the way of fun and his ability to connect to Taylor. She understands though, since she tells Jude she knows he has a crush on Connor. Hearing this makes Jude really upset and now he doesn't want to hang out. However, Taylor suggests they all go back to her dad's house, drink, and make out. Everyone's in on this plan, but just as they're getting their drink on, Taylor's dad runs downstairs with a gun and fires literally before taking one second to assess the situation. As for what happens next, we'll have to wait till next week. But let's just take one moment to really think about how that man literally didn't even stop moving down the stairs before firing his weapon. You have a child, man! All you heard was some glass break and you ran downstairs firing before the lights were even on. Pro-tip: this is not a good plan. Ever. And now it's probably going to end really badly and make us all cry. As if we haven't been crying enough!
