S03.E11: First Impressions

[Tara Ariano]

Callie's website draws the interest of an investor; Brandon is approached by a recruiter from Juilliard; Mariana launches her campaign for class president; and Mike discovers AJ is hiding a secret. Meanwhile, Sharon introduces a liberal-minded friend to her family.

[Melgaypet]

Brandon is approached by a recruiter from Juilliard;

 

Ha! Well, of course he is. And what do you want to bet, when good ol' B turns an offer down for whatever contrived reason, this recruiter will not shrug and go talk to the thousands of applicants who desperately want to go to Juilliard, but instead start a full-court press in trying to woo The Best Classical Musician of Our Time. Honestly, at this point I truey find it hilarious.

[Primetimer]

A little too much, as usual.

Read the story

[RedFire2000]

Yeah...they should've killed off Jesus or kept him at boarding school. The new actor is awful and has no personality. His line readings sounds like he's high on drugs.

[DCCFanInKy]

What was the deal with AJ in cuffs in the beginning then nothing happened?  Another fake out?

 

I was willing to give Noah a chance based on his brief appearance in the finale but now....not so much....eh..

Edited January 26, 2016 by DCCFanInKy

[possibilities]

I realize places like Juilliard are expensive, but how come no one on TV ever talks about financial aid? Most places have a huge percentage of the student body receiving help, but tv always acts like the FAFSA doesn't exist. Also, I'm pretty sure even if they have four kids in college, Callie's tuition will be paid by Robert.

 

AJ is Callie's brother almost as much as Brandon is. Why can't she date someone from school if she has to date someone? They don't have Jude falling for Jesus, do they? So what is this nonsense?
 

Giving admin privileges to the evil investor lady was just stupid. The whole point of the website was for peer networking, right? And they don't even know this person. What is she supposed to need that kind of access for? She's not coding, shouldn't be moderating, so... what the hell?

 

Mike and Stef take turns looking the other way on things, depending on which kid is involved at any particular moment.

 

I guess I didn't really like this episode. None of the plots worked for me. The stuff with Lexi and Mariana, Sharon and her obnoxious boyfriend, the terrible cancer reveal. AJ and Ty. Even Jude and Connor.... I don't think I'm just in a bad mood, but I don't think I've ever hated an episode of this show before.

Edited January 26, 2016 by possibilities

[AmandaPanda]

Not feeling the new Jesus. I wasn't a huge fan of the character when Jake played him and I really don't care about him now.

 

As usual, Stef is all for abusing her police authority. I loved how Lena was actually thinking of the other students on the waiting list instead of putting the needs of her children before everyone else. I just wish she had actually stuck to her guns about it.

 

Poor Mike. I hope AJ comes back.

[rue721]

I like Brandon. What sealed the deal for me in this episode was when he asked Callie (very passive aggressively) to tell him if she's dating AJ. He clearly had no idea how to talk to her about how he's feeling. Then, the same thing happened with the audition -- he couldn't bring himself to have a conversation with his moms about it. And then when he finally did talk to them, all he did was go on and on about how bad it would be from their (hypothetical) point-of-view if he did get in. Just say you're excited and hope you get in, Brandon! I find it simultaneously endearing and frustrating how he is constantly worrying about what everyone else will think/want/feel, while being bizarrely secretive and oblivious about what he thinks/wants/feels.

 

Something's also endearing to me about how he thinks. He always jumps to the worst-case-scenario, and assumes it's the truth, and then he usually comes up with some crazy, rogue plan to "fix" the worst-case scenario all by himself. Like when he thought AJ was playing his dad, so he went rogue trying to steal AJ's phone and reveal him. Or when he thought that everyone at Idyllwild was trying to play him, so he went rogue and came up with the Bach ruse and refused to use any pianist for his final performance, etc. Or, in this episode, when he assumed that his moms would have to make him sacrifice going to Julliard for the sake of the other kids, so he wanted to turn his $7500 college fund into $150,000 in a year without them finding out.

 

Anyway, I just hope that he doesn't end up getting with that cocktail waitress, who (legally) must be 21+ years old. He was melting down in 3a, so I kind of expect for him to bottom out completely in 3b, and I'm bracing myself.

 

Otherwise, I thought the Fost & Found website plot was pretty interesting. What is going on with that kid with the glasses? On the one hand, he clearly needs help, so his claim that his living situation is messed up is pretty believable. But something about how he latched onto Jude and Callie is strange. I almost wonder if he's going to try to get with Jude in order to be allowed to stay in the Adams-Foster house. He's mysterious. 

 

I wasn't into the Jude/Connor storyline, because everyone seems to have forgotten that Connor's dad is pretty horrible. It seems irresponsible to me that everyone would pressure him to stay with his intractable, homophobic father who has been called out by the school admin in the past for beating Connor up. Unless the actor wants off the show, though, I think that it's going to turn out pretty fast that his mother isn't able to take care of him, and that he has to move back in with his dad. His mom seemed pretty checked out even before she moved away, so that seems like the most likely scenario to me.

 

Of course AJ would go off with Ty, after their grandma had died and Ty was the only family he had left. But I don't really understand why Ty would even want AJ to leave with him at this point. Once Mike was paying thousands of dollars for their grandma's funeral, Ty must have realized that AJ had a pretty amazing setup with him. Since Ty seems to genuinely love AJ, why would he insist on AJ leaving that behind? And if Ty is really so selfish that he didn't care if it was better for AJ if he stayed with Mike, why would he want to be saddled with his little brother as he goes on the lamb or whatever he's doing? I would understand all this irrationality more if they were really young kids, like elementary school aged. But as teens/adults?

 

Mariana and Jesus's storylines were incredibly boring and I don't care. Mariana's SLs are usually my favorite (even the dance team one, and the hair bleaching one). But this class president thing is just blah. I also have no investment in Lexi or in Jesus's academic performance. Honestly.

 

Stef's stage zero cancer diganosis was kind of an anti-climax. If they're going to do a sickness storyline, I'd prefer if she had something that affected her daily life and identity more over the long term. Like an auto-immune disease maybe. That seems more interesting from a story perspective because it's not as predictable or temporary-feeling and would affect the other characters and Stef's overall lifestyle more. YMMV.

 

ETA:

 

I love that Stef's mom is on the show now, too.

 

I love all the storylines about Lena's family, too, and I hope that the show expands to include ALL the Adams/Fosters.

Edited January 26, 2016 by rue721

[Valny]

Aw crap, I didn't know it was back on again tonight!

[Glade]

I totally agree, rue721, about Brandon.  Having grown up with an alcoholic parent, he totally has that complex down.

 

It really bothers me that everyone's acting as if Connor's dad was just a nice guy who was a little uncomfortable with his son's sexuality.  He was a homophobic bully, constantly yelling at his son and regularly beating/humiliating him.  Are the writers trying to pretend that that storyline never happened?  If his mother is going to treat him better, that's a pretty compelling reason to leave, and I wouldn't ask him not to go.
 

I don't know about the new Jesus yet, he hasn't made much of an impression, though if his character is taking a turn away from girl drama that's a good thing.   I never like the twins story lines very much, especially when they're about Marianas school activities. 

 

I really wasn't expecting AJ to just get onto that bus with Tai.  He's in a really dark place having just lost his grandmother, but hopefully it won't take him long to realize that his brother isn't really where he wants to be.

 

I guess that investor woman is actually from one of the private foster corporations, and is trying to co-opt Callie's website to protect her profits.  Having the boy with the glasses moved to a group home so he won't speak out against them fits with that as well.  Is he supposed to be the one who claimed that Callie slept with Brandon?  Did Jude slip something about their past relationship?

[buckboard]

Steph, the most suspicious cop/mother on TV, doesn't run a background check of the foster group woman before letting her give Callie $50,000 and giving her access as an administrator to Callie's web site?

Lexi is living in Central America for over a year and then she comes back and immediately runs for class president? Will half of the kids even remember who she is?

Edited January 26, 2016 by buckboard

[ShortyMac]

I guess that investor woman is actually from one of the private foster corporations, and is trying to co-opt Callie's website to protect her profits.  Having the boy with the glasses moved to a group home so he won't speak out against them fits with that as well.  Is he supposed to be the one who claimed that Callie slept with Brandon?  Did Jude slip something about their past relationship?

 

Ooh, really interesting theory.

 

Steph, the most suspicious cop/mother on TV, doesn't look run a background check of the foster group woman before letting her give Callie $50,000 and giving her access as an administrator to Callie's web site?

 

Seriously.

 

***

 

This episode as just okay. Way too much going on.

 

Noah's delivery is a little flat, but I like him as Jesus.

 

I hate Monte and wish she would go away.

 

I feel like the stuff with AJ could've waited another episode. I just don't see any chemistry with him and Callie together.

 

Too much Brandon/Callie. I hate that the promo for 03x12 is all them.

 

Don't really care about Mariana's impending feud with Lexi over being class president.

 

Ugh, my fave Stef is sick. Sherri killed it in that scene when it was revealed: the emotion and sadness and helplessness and trying to hold herself together. And Teri being speechless and looking like the wind was knocked out of her and the doctor's words fading out. Really well done. Basically, it's the only plot I care about at this point. I'm curious where it's going to go and how it will be handled as Peter (Paige) has said that it's not going to be your typical "watch them get chemo" cancer plot.

 

But, I have missed the show and am glad it's back.

[Perfect Xero]

I wish I thought that this show was self aware enough about the way they write Stef to say the juxtaposition of her casual insistence to Lena that it's okay to move Jesus ahead of other students trying to get in to Swanky Beach School because "the school owes [her]" with her insistence on the rules being followed with both her Mother getting her a new doctor and Mike waiting on arresting AJ's brother was intentional comedy.

[omgsowicked]

A lot going on, and the editing was a little weird as well. Hopefully the rest of the episodes are better.

 

I don't follow the press for this show but I did read an interview with Maia and David (Callie and Brandon) (it's in the media thread) and Maia seemed totally over Jake T. Like, no love lost. It seemed to me that Jake checked out of the job, and Noah's engaged, so I really want to give him a fair chance... but he's very deadpan. Zippier than the actor playing AJ, though, I'll give him that. Hopefully he'll improve. His whole steroids story seemed asinine; why couldn't he have just told them that instead of lying about being homesick or flunking out?

 

With Connor leaving, I think they might be setting up that new foster kid to be Jude's next love interest. I'd be just as happy with it staying platonic, works for me either way. He's very... intense. Speaking of love interests, even before the bartender got into frame, I knew it would be a pretty girl who would vibe with Brandon.

 

AJ is Callie's brother almost as much as Brandon is. Why can't she date someone from school if she has to date someone? They don't have Jude falling for Jesus, do they? So what is this nonsense?

 

I agree. It's so in her history to do this, dating foster siblings... I don't recall, didn't Stef and Lena talk to her about her and AJ, when they were caught kissing in the bounce house? I can't remember what that was all about. I like their friendship but romantically, she needs to look into guys she isn't related to via fostering.

 

Definitely got shady vibes from this foster advocate lady. They should have done some more research on her (I'm sure a quick search would show her name associated with the offending foster group organization), and I have no clue why they would make her an admin.

[stopeslite]

I missed the first 15 minutes because I didn't realize it was on. Only found out because I follow one of the actors on twitter and saw a comment about it. (does that mean Switched At Birth is back too? You would think Freeform would have important things like starting date on their website...)

I agree with everyone about everything. Shady foster lady is obviously a private foster care advocate who wants the site to control placements into the private part of the system. Desperate Monte is desperate. Jesus v.2 startled me when I saw him in the house (WHO IS THIS GUY oh....) and he's not any better an actor than Jake was, at least so far.

Lexie is annoying and I don't know why she came back - for all I just complained about Jesus' acting, the way he just noped out of there when he saw Lexie's campaign poster summed up my feelings about her exactly.

Annie Potts is fantastic, but why would she date someone who is so angry and opposed to what her own daughter does for a living?

Speaking of Stef, cancer? Really? They don't have ENOUGH going on in the plotlines of this show? It's like every episode is the result of the writers having a drinking game where they dare each other to fit one more thing in.

Need more Jude. I still can't get over how much older he is now. I liked that he hugged Connor's dad even though I agree that it's a little too pat that his dad would do such a turnaround and everyone would be ok with his history.

More Jude and Mariana, less Brandon and Callie.

[LisaM]

 

I guess that investor woman is actually from one of the private foster corporations, and is trying to co-opt Callie's website to protect her profits.

 

Agreed. Since Stef is preoccupied with her DCIS diagnosis, perhaps Robert Quinn will step in and figure it out?

[Gulftastic]

Why do they need to bother with a romance for Callie? Couldn't they surprise us all by making her campaign to help foster kids be the main focus for her character?

 

I was very glad when Marianna realised which picture and campaign manager was best for her.

 

And Steph in her reading glasses is always welcome.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Gulftastic

[Eeksquire]

 

Lexie is annoying and I don't know why she came back - for all I just complained about Jesus' acting, the way he just noped out of there when he saw Lexie's campaign poster summed up my feelings about her exactly.

Best moment of the show.

 

Not a great episode, but I'm willing to cut it some slack for being the season opener and setting up all the plot lines.  

[Humbugged]

I missed the first 15 minutes because I didn't realize it was on. Only found out because I follow one of the actors on twitter and saw a comment about it. (does that mean Switched At Birth is back too? You would think Freeform would have important things like starting date on their website...)

I agree with everyone about everything. Shady foster lady is obviously a private foster care advocate who wants the site to control placements into the private part of the system. Desperate Monte is desperate. Jesus v.2 startled me when I saw him in the house (WHO IS THIS GUY oh....) and he's not any better an actor than Jake was, at least so far.

Lexie is annoying and I don't know why she came back - for all I just complained about Jesus' acting, the way he just noped out of there when he saw Lexie's campaign poster summed up my feelings about her exactly.

Annie Potts is fantastic, but why would she date someone who is so angry and opposed to what her own daughter does for a living?

Speaking of Stef, cancer? Really? They don't have ENOUGH going on in the plotlines of this show? It's like every episode is the result of the writers having a drinking game where they dare each other to fit one more thing in.

Need more Jude. I still can't get over how much older he is now. I liked that he hugged Connor's dad even though I agree that it's a little too pat that his dad would do such a turnaround and everyone would be ok with his history.

More Jude and Mariana, less Brandon and Callie.

No it's not back yet .Freeform (stupid name) are doing their usual and running a new show with an established one .So The Fosters is paired with Recovery Road on Monday and PLL gets Shadowhunters

[Febgirl]

After watching the opening  montage last night, I said aloud ( to myself)   Welp, that was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.   I felt like I did when I would hate watch 7th Heaven.  I always felt this show had more of a deft hand in shading issues, but last night they were really hammering home the whole  THIS IS GOOD/THIS IS BAD message.

 As for jesus 2.0, I actually like him.  For me, he's more of a grumpy mumbly teenager than the last one, who screamed "teen actor" to me.

.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Febgirl

[evilolive]

 

I loved how Lena was actually thinking of the other students on the waiting list instead of putting the needs of her children before everyone else. I just wish she had actually stuck to her guns about it. ~AmandaPanda

 

So much this. Monte is making a big professional mistake trying to make up to Lena in this way. Really not happy with Lena for this. Mind you, she's already got one kid at Anchor Beach under false pretences (she cheated when she marked Jude's maths entrance exam), so what's one more? Praying it comes back to bite them both in the ass, except it will be the kids who suffer if Lena loses her job, especially if Stef is sick and can't work.

[GenevieveS]

  I always felt this show had more of a deft hand in shading issues, but last night they were really hammering home the whole  THIS IS GOOD/THIS IS BAD message.

.

Thank you for articulating this for me. I was very frustrated with their stance on private foster agencies (disclaimer: my foster license is through a private agency and I think they are way over-simplifying the dynamics of that system) and felt pretty personally attacked. Your statement here is why. They were really beating hard on that "private agencies are only in it for the money" drum. (FWIW, the only private agencies I know of are non-profit. Yes, they are businesses. But they aren't in this to make a bunch of money. I've had a number of state caseworkers tell me that the homes from my agency are worlds better than most of the ones on their state-licensed list, because the agency is subject to some extra state evaluations and can say to the state "No, don't have an available home, try somewhere else" which means they don't have to keep homes on the list if they don't think they meet the standard. The state/county agencies? In my area, they are the ones prone to keeping homes on the list that are borderline, because the alternative for a county caseworker who can't find a home for a child may be to let them sleep in her office.)

[movado23]

That new Jesus is an even worse actor than the last one - how is that possible ?

[tennisgurl]

I just cannot with the Freeform name. Stop trying to make Freeform happen, ABC. Its not going to happen. It sounds like a vice principle trying rap to kids about not smoking. 

 

I`m pretty amazed they waited this long for a cancer story. Its just the kind of dramatic stuff that this show loves so much. 

 

New Jesus is ok, but I feel like they could have found someone better. 

[MaiSoCalled]

I didn't mind that as a former student, Jesus was given priority on the wait list. He left the school on good terms and his grades were acceptable for transferring. Former student Jesus bypassing a wait list makes more sense to me than Callie and Jude getting immediately placed in the nice school.

That said, I liked that Lena didn't want to take advantage of her position, and I think her concern was legitimate.

What I don't like is the implication that Monte let Jesus in as a favor the Lena, and the likely fallout that will come from this.

[Lsk02]

The wait list can't be too bad if Lexie was able to get in after a phone call to Lena. Contradicting storylines there.

[ShortyMac]

The wait list can't be too bad if Lexie was able to get in after a phone call to Lena. Contradicting storylines there.

 

Good point.

[Cassandre]

The wait list can't be too bad if Lexie was able to get in after a phone call to Lena. Contradicting storylines there.

 it depends on when she made that phone call. (when her mom did). Lexi said that the first thing she did when they got the visas was to call Lena to make sure she could come back to Anchor Beach. So, actually it depends on when they got their visas. I don't see 'contradicting storylines there'. 

[marceline]

This episode felt all kinds of off to me.

 

Add me to the list of people not feeling the new Jesus. I'm going to give him some time to settle into the role though. Since I couldn't care less about Jesus or his neverending girlfriend drama, I wouldn't care if he was played by Samuel L. Jackson.

 

The scene where Callie gave Lindsay from The Practice administrator privileges almost gave me a stroke. (Confession: I'm a webmaster who handles security for multiple websites in several languages.) I can easily see Callie being that clueless but Mariana? Who is in the STEM club? Nobody's ever talked about hacking and security?

 

The stuff with AJ and his brother felt clunky. I don't know if it was the dialog or just the sheer laziness of all the coincidences coming together at once. But the thing that really got to me was Ty telling AJ that they should leave that night even though their grandmother's funeral was the next day. Who was going to show up to that funeral? Mike and maybe a few people from the nursing home? #TySucks

[Eeksquire]

 

Ty telling AJ that they should leave that night even though their grandmother's funeral was the next day.

I hate this whole storyline.  AJ was never my favorite to begin with, but this storyline has gone from bad to worse.  Frankly, it would be better for dramatic purposes (IMO) if they never found out who the driver of the car was that hit the kids and Ana and let that drive Steph crazy forever - some crimes just never get solved.  

 

The number of story lines that they are trying to wrap up in this neat bow with AJ's brother being the driver of the car that was borrowed from that other kid's father (which: was that the kid that beat up Brandon? I'm pretty sure he came into the plot line somewhere else, but can't remember the details) all of which is nonsense.  Can't we just let AJ be AJ and have normal foster kid issues (and of course, have him fall in love with Callie, because she's apparently irresistible) and let that be enough drama instead of doing this bizarre, half-hearted Callie 2.0 runaway thing "to protect my brother"? It's crazy making and another example of this show veering crazily from extremely well done to totally off the wall.

[LisaM]

Callie needs to date someone from outside of the house. #Nomoredatingfosterbrothers

[SparklesBitch]

I am woefully behind on this show since the powers that be at Fox decided to air the X-Files revival opposite this on Monday nights.....and Dana Scully was my first love (of 23 years!), so she and Mulder won. I'm making an effort to catch up now, though.....and wow, was there a lot happening in this episode!

 

I didn't really care much about any of the kids' storylines at all, so all I'm going to say is why the hell didn't Stef and Lena check out that lady who wanted to give Callie all that money to be part of Fost and Found?? Especially Stef! She's a cop, and a paranoid one at that. Geez.

 

Also, I like AJ a lot. Much like Jude, the kid tugs my cold, dead heartstrings in a way that the rest of them just don't. His likening Callie to Peter Parker not wanting to be Spiderman after he got bit cracked me up. Why oh why did he have to get on that bus with his brother???

 

Loving that Stef's mom is a regular part of the show now....whenever I was getting bored, she perked me right back up. Love her, she's such a breath of fresh air.

 

Even though I've always liked Monte, I won't pretend that I can even begin to defend what she did. However, to even expect her to resign from the school over it? Seriously? Come on now. This is someone's job we're talking about. Glad they "let her" stay.

 

Small moment I liked was Lena getting to play bad cop with Jesus for once. Her "what the hell is going on?" raised voice had me grinning at my computer, all amused. I wish she would have stuck to her guns about his going back to Anchor Beach.

 

Last but certainly not least, Stef's cancer. No thanks, no thanks, no thanks! That scene was beautifully, perfectly played by all three actresses and damn near shattered my heart, but I don't want her to be sick. I'm going to tentatively hang around and see how it plays out, but I don't know. Ugh.  The fact that it's stage zero gives me hope, though I've never heard of that before.

 

Random wondering.....has Brandon ever so casually called Lena "mom" like that before? Maybe I just never noticed, but it made me smile.

[ShortyMac]

Random wondering.....has Brandon ever so casually called Lena "mom" like that before? Maybe I just never noticed, but it made me smile.

 

No, he hasn't. I found it sweet. :)