WHY WHY WHY???
I wanted to love this Christmas episode so much! I'm a fan. But this episode was sooooooo botched and messed up. 1) Why did they feel compelled to do a flash back for the whole episode? It was confusing and frustrating and made no sense. All of the sudden Brandon has a cast and then I'm taken out of the story flow trying to rack my brain to remember what was up with the cast. The last thing we knew about him, he was playing in the rock band because he couldn't play classical anymore. This step back in time was MEGA awkward and confusing and broke the story flow! Also, it was super hokey to fade into the past ala Wayne's World. The whole series has been somewhat realistic, so to have an entire episode set in a flashback in Brandon's mind seemed like lazy and inept storytelling.
2) Why would Steph all of the sudden become so petty and worry who got the dad's money. That was totally out of character. It made me hate her and think she was a jerk (again, out of character).
3) Why was so much time spent with some unknown neighbor guy with the Xmas lights? This was a dumb plot and it was at the expense of being with our regular characters.
4) Why did all the kids sit at the dinner table like an audience during the phony fight about the earrings? Lena and Steph could have had that fight somewhere else. It was lame how the fight took place at the table and all the kids had to sit there like idiots not saying anything. Wouldn't they interject or try to de-escalate the tension. It was really silly to seeing all the kids sitting there like a bunch of dopes without any reaction or involvement. To see this type of scene done correctly, just watch an episode of Parenthood. This scene made Steph look like a loser and a jerk. The whole scene was so heavy-handed and ridiculous that I didn't buy any of it.
5) Why was Daphne's plot so forced? She kidnapped her daugther, then nothing happened. It was a non-starter. There was no point to that. It would have made more sense to focus on Rosie O'Donnel or something. Instead, you have this kidnapping and returning with no point. Perhaps she should have engaged with the adopting mom some how to give it more purpose and raise the emotional stakes. It really felt forced 6) Where the heck was Mike? I mean, we get a lot of time with the "wise" neighbor lighting guy but no mention of Mike. That's silly.
7) Why would Jesus even care about xmas decorations? It seems TOTALLY out of character and completely forced.
8) Just like Daphne, the Jude plot whet nowhere. He steals a bracelet and then returns it but gets rewarded with a discount. This seemed oddly out of character for him and it never played into the family dynamic at all. It was a bogus plot beat that, just like Daphne and the Lights Guy, took away from valuable time exploring real family issues. 9) Why did the reveal of Jesus's xmas display feel so phony and dumb? It seemed like they were going for this "wow" realization of what an amazing display he made, but it just seemed annoying and manipulative. By the way, why did the writers force him to sleep in a tent in the yard instead of keeping him in the house where the story could have explored more of his character in the context of the family.
Bottom line: I actually changed my cable plan in order to subscribe to ABC Family so I could watch The Fosters Xmas. But it wasn’t worth it because it made me hate the show all of the sudden. Especially, when the ambulance shows up for Callie’s sister who tried to kill herself! The ambulance had NO SETUP in the xmas episode so it felt empty and manipulative.
WHY WHY WHY?
