On shows with ensemble casts, it can be hard to give every member his or her own storyline, but The Fosters 2×09 pretty much managed it. Read on for our recap of “Leaky Faucets”:
With Lena and Jude still on their camping trip, the remaining members of the family gather around the kitchen table to discuss their plans for the day. Stef is pulling some overtime, Brandon‘s going to a “music thing” with Someone’s Little Sister singer Lou, Mariana has a date with Mat, and Callie has therapy. (Jesus is mysteriously tight-lipped for reasons that will be revealed later.) Brandon invites Callie to meet him after her session, and she’s reluctant at first but eventually agrees.
Speaking of reluctance, that’s a good way to describe Brandon’s behavior when Stef asks him to drop something off at his father’s apartment. He does so, has a short and awkward conversation with Mike, then leaves. After Mike closes the door, the twins’ estranged mother Ana steps out from her hiding place; she and Mike are going through the program together.
Trust issues
At her therapy session, Callie explains how she freaked out when she and boyfriend Wyatt tried to have sex. She reveals she’s been having regular panic attacks since, and even thought she saw Liam – her former foster brother and rapist. She says she trusts Wyatt, and then her therapist points out that she also thought she could trust Liam, so the problem may have something to do with not trusting her own judgment. Ultimately, Callie needs to trust Wyatt until he gives her a reason not to.
Eager to impress girlfriend Hayley (and take advantage of the empty house), Jesus blindfolds her and leads her to… the garage, a.k.a. the scene of what he calls their first date and she calls their first hookup. Needless to say, the surprise doesn’t go according to plan.
Hayley: “Is this all you think I am? Some girl to get naked with in your garage?”
Jesus: “No! No, this is romantic! Look, flower petals!”
Jesus hastily tries to salvage the situation by claiming this is just part one of the surprise, and he’s planning to take Hayley out. Before he can elaborate, he hears Stef, who’s home from work early and soon discovers them in the garage. He just can’t catch a break in The Fosters 2×09.
A festival of drama
When Mariana finds out that Mat’s taking her to the Santa Cecilia festival, she’s not exactly enthused about the Latin music, food and artwork. Things get awkward when she doesn’t know who Frida Kahlo is, and she frostily informs Mat that she didn’t grow up in a Latin home.
Remember that “music thing” Brandon said he was going to with Lou? Turns out it’s the same festival. Callie shows up with Wyatt in tow, and the group soon splits off into couples. After Callie and Wyatt briefly get separated, she tells him about her panic attacks and he reassures her that she can trust him.
Meanwhile, Lou flirts with Brandon, but he doesn’t reciprocate. Eventually, she confronts him, asking if he’s not over Callie or he’s just not into her. They’re interrupted by Wyatt, who tells Brandon he saw Liam.
As the two of them try to find Liam, they bump into Jesus and Hayley. Jesus’ claim that he’d researched every event happening that weekend and hand-picked this one is quickly discredited when Hayley realizes he just copied his older brother’s plans. Hayley accuses him of being just like every other guy, and Jesus asks what he can do to prove he’s different. Flash forward to that night, when we see Jesus peeling the bandage off a tattoo of Hayley’s name…
Boiling point
Wyatt catches up with Liam and confronts him. When Liam denies raping Callie and says she “wanted it,” Wyatt punches him, then Brandon gets involved. After the fight is broken up, Lou tries holding Brandon’s hand and he pulls away, saying he’s in a bad place and it isn’t her fault or Callie’s.
Wyatt runs after Callie, who witnessed the fight, and claims he was just trying to protect her.
Wyatt: “What did I do wrong?”
Callie: “That’s not the kind of protection I want, Wyatt. I told you, OK? I needed you today. I needed you to be with me. I told myself that I could trust you, but I guess I was wrong. You know how I feel about violence, or do you not remember me screaming at you the last time that you picked a fight with Liam? I can’t even believe we’re having this fight again.”
Wyatt: “I was just trying to take care of you, Callie.”
Callie: “Maybe you don’t know how to do that.”
To avoid being alone with Mat, Mariana breaks away to find the bathroom and ends up bumping into Mike… who’s there with Ana. Ana apologizes to Mariana, but when Mike suggests they sit down and talk, Mariana storms off. When Mat catches up to her, she asks why he brought her to the festival and says she doesn’t feel any connection to it. After she calms down, she explains that she doesn’t hate being Latin, but Ana is her only connection to it and she hates Ana. Mat brings up his father, who abandoned his family when he was a kid, and mentions how much it would mean to get an apology. He buys Mariana a flower from a passing vendor, puts it in her hair and kisses her.
Breaking down walls
Via video chat, Lena tries to persuade Stef to take some time to relax on her day off, and notes that they’re both grieving. Stef agrees, but ends up focusing all her attention on trying to fix a leaky pipe in the bathroom. She thinks she succeeds and makes a hilariously sexy video for Lena – but while she’s still filming, the leak comes back. After struggling to fix the pipe for a while longer, Stef finally bursts into tears. Lena calls back to say she booked a plumber, and when she asks Stef what’s wrong, Stef finally opens up about missing the baby.
When a beaten-up Brandon comes home from the festival, Mike is there giving Stef a heads up about Ana. As Mike tends to a cut on Brandon’s face, he asks Brandon to forgive himself for what happened with Dani and to forgive him for bringing her into their lives. They apologize to each other and hug.
Upstairs, Stef approaches Callie and asks if she’s OK after seeing Liam. In a touching scene that ties back to Stef’s faucet-related breakdown, Stef cradles Callie and tells her she doesn’t have to be strong all the time.
You and me, we’re a lot alike. We think we’ve got to be strong, tough, we think we gotta get on with things and, you know, sometimes you do, and sometimes… sometimes you just gotta let yourself fall apart and there’s no shame in that, not even a little.
In the last scene of The Fosters 2×09, Mariana arrives home and asks if Ana really sent Stef and Lena a letter asking to see the twins. When Stef confirms this, Mariana says she wants to see Ana.
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.