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S03.E12: Mixed Messages

Tara Ariano

By Tara Ariano
in The Fosters [V]

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Tara Ariano

Tara Ariano

Brandon is upset when he learns that someone knows his secret with Callie. Meanwhile, Sharon disagrees with how Stef should handle her diagnosis; and the tension between Mariana and Lexi escalates as their campaigns for junior class president continue.
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ShortyMac

ShortyMac

I really enjoyed the Stef/Lena/Sharon stuff. Everyone's emotions are running high and the actors are doing a great job. I really feel for all of them. I wish they hadn't cut the hand-holding and hug with Stef/Lena that we'd seen before. I missed seeing that affection. I reeeeeeally hope Stef comes clean about having the mutated BRCA-1 gene soon. I get that Stef's feeling overwhelmed, but that's not something you hide from your wife. I knew as soon as Sharon mentioned having pre-cancerous cells in her uterus that Stef had a mutated gene; I and others have speculated about that since the plot was brought up in 3A. I love this story line.

 

Didn't like the Mike-Stef discussion about Stef's boobs...just weird and unnecessary. 

 

Jesus is still making poor decisions, but I can see why he'd welcome that feeling of danger and the adrenaline rush after the accident. It's BS that he misses out on wrestling because of what happened at Flintwood and that "he gave into peer pressure," a lame reason, in which he chose to stop taking the steroids on his own and told his moms, while Brandon lashes out at Jesus and Mariana ("we took you in when no one else wanted you, and this is what you do?"), violates a restraining order, steals money from his dad, bribes Ana, sells fake IDs, gets arrested, also gives into peer pressure with the pot brownie, and secretly goes to Mexico without a passport, but he gets to go on tour (he was allowed to go), go to Idyllwild, etc. with no parental punishment ever. Pfft.

 

Hoping the Mariana/Lexi drama is over because it was weak and pointless. Just let them be friends.

 

Liked the little scene with Sharon and Jude.

 

I love Daphne and she made a good point about the post possibly being about Liam.

 

Brandon/Callie...ugh.

 

Brandon, Cortney, and surfing...Zzzz...musical...Zzzz...

 

Can't believe Callie is being so trusting of Justina. I liked her reaction to hearing AJ ran away. Interesting to see her on the other side of that as she is the one who has run in the past.

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ShadowFacts

ShadowFacts

I realized with this episode that I don't care at all about any of the teen romances, nor much of anything else.  Jesus must have taken stupid pills along with the steroids.  Mariana is kind of the only interesting young character anymore, but the school election thing is a snoozer. I can't get into cancer storylines very much, though I think the acting is fine. 

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Glade

Glade

(edited)

It appears that Callie still hasn't accepted Robert's car yet.  I liked the surfing and Brandon's wetsuit, it's great that he's opening up and trying something new.  But I'm still waiting for that clip of lifeguard Wyatt running down the beach in his bathing suit, his hair flapping in the wind as he goes off to rescue some lucky person.

 

Callie, those clothes...they were like vintage 1991 Riki Lake, that awful oversized red jacket, the straight hair and dark eye-makeup... That woman had to have been making fun of her, trying to make her look ridiculous/fake. We all know that she can dress up and look sophisticated without appearing like a child trying to play dress up.

 

As I recall, the wrestling was supposed to help Hesuis manage his ADHD, so perhaps banning him from it for stupid reasons as a 'punishment' is wrong in more ways then one?  Do you have an alternative sport in mind other then 'go out and take care of your adrenaline any way you can, and by the way, don't open up to us about how you ultimately resisted peer pressure and stopped doing something dangerous, because we'll bring down the axe!'  ugh.  The new actor is inhabiting the role more, and at least he is resisting his ex-girlfriends.

Edited by Glade
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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

I actually think I like the new Jesus. Steph and Lena really need to encourage him to find a new outlet, if wrestling is off the table. This new kid screams Bad Influence Friend. 

 

I liked the Steph and Mike conversation by the church. And the stuff with the cancer is more interesting than I thought it would be. Its too bad this cancer is happening right when Callie is being taken advantage of by this evil lady. Normally I would think Steph would have at least run a background check on her.

 

As always, we need more Jude. Always more Jude.  

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rue721

rue721

I really enjoyed the Stef/Lena/Sharon stuff. Everyone's emotions are running high and the actors are doing a great job. I really feel for all of them.

 

The storyline is more interesting than I'd expected. I wonder if Stef is happy that her only biological child is a son, so she's unlikely to have passed the gene on?

 

The debates over which treatment option she should choose were interesting. I don't really understand what a lumpectomy or radiation would target, though, since she doesn't actually have any cancerous tumors or anything yet?

 

I liked the surfing and Brandon's wetsuit, it's great that he's opening up and trying something new.  But I'm still waiting for that clip of lifeguard Wyatt running down the beach in his bathing suit, his hair flapping in the wind as he goes off to rescue some lucky person.

 

Agreed. Now that Finding Carter has been cancelled, I hope that Wyatt will be back on The Fosters full time!

 

I thought the thing with the (ill-fitting) wetsuit was kind of hilarious. I like the surfing cocktail waitress, and I guess she could plausibly be only 19 or 20, and therefore not WAYYYY too old for Brandon. But I still hope that they don't hook up. He needs to be on his own for a while, and also, she seems like she's out of his league (in that she seems really independent and adult).

 

Callie was right, imo, that Brandon likes when she's "the poor little foster girl," because he likes saving bird with a broken wing types. His speech about how she should go out in the world and "fly" seemed genuine to me, and I think he 100% meant it -- but I don't think he would know how to be with someone who is out there "flying" in the real world, either. His and Callie's dynamic has basically been that he tries to be there for her regardless of the consequences, but if she doesn't NEED him and is doing well in her own right, then how can that dynamic continue? I don't think that Brandon's the type to want to make other people feel small in order to feel big (he seems genuinely kind to me), but I think he does need to feel needed. (That's even where I think a lot of his whining and "woe is me" bullshit comes from. He's constantly emphasizing what other people are getting from him -- even when, realistically, it's not all that much or anything at all! -- because apparently, being in the position of giving rather than taking means A LOT to him. A sign of a control freak imo, but I digress).

 

I don't think that Brandon was right that Callie was dragging him down, though. I think she's been inappropriate and distant in some ways, and I can see how that would be difficult for him to deal with, but how has she *dragged him down*?

 

(When I say "inappropriate," I mostly mean stuff like how she'll come into his room to talk to him just whenever, even at private moments like when he's getting dressed or sleeping. I doubt she would know why that's inappropriate, and he never enforces any boundaries at all with her, because they're both TERRIBLE at boundaries, so I don't blame her really. But it's still not an OK situation imo -- not healthy for either of them. I also think she's been coldly distant with him about the issue of them sleeping together, and even though I can empathize with her reaction more than with his, I still feel bad for him when he starts freaking out and trying to reassure her that they "didn't do anything wrong," and that nobody will ever find out about it, and she basically sits there like a stone and seems to not care at all).

 

I felt terrible for both of them when they were discussing how the foster brother that the internet bully was referring to might be Liam rather than Brandon. I mean, great, the internet bully is referring to either her rapist or her secret shame pseudo-boyfriend. Of course it's much better to be the secret shame than to be the rapist, but truthfully, neither of those are GOOD things to be, y'know?

 

Anyway, I'm still very curious about who this internet bully is. I don't have any good guesses, though.

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Perfect Xero

Perfect Xero

I'm over Preachy Lena.  I'm over whiny Brandon.   And I agree that he gets away with a lot more than Jesus and Mariana.

 

Mariana who, as we were reminded in this episode, stole her brother's ADHD medication and solid it at school (and then stood back and allowed him to take the fall)?

 

It's hardly just Brandon who gets away with doing crazy things on this show.

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LisaM

LisaM

I really liked the Stef/Lena/Sharon breast cancer storyline - and particularly the complication of the BRCA-1 gene issue. Stef and Lena's conversation regarding mastectomy rang very true to me. I also liked Jude calling Lena "mama" so casually. Cracked up at Brandon in the ill-fitting wet suit. I don't mind the girlfriend from the bar. She has to be at least 21 in order to serve drinks, right?

 

Otherwise: too much Brandon/Callie moping, too much Mariana/Lexi drama (which I admit I FFd through). The new guy driving with Jesus looks like he is much older than the twins. Speaking of the new Jesus, I like him much better than JTA.

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ShortyMac

ShortyMac

(edited)

Mariana who, as we were reminded in this episode, stole her brother's ADHD medication and solid it at school (and then stood back and allowed him to take the fall)?

 

It's hardly just Brandon who gets away with doing crazy things on this show.

 

Kelsey told Principal Sanchez and Mariana had to quit doing costumes for the school play and she was suspended from school for a week. She was ultimately punished, just not right away. 

 

I really liked the Stef/Lena/Sharon breast cancer storyline - and particularly the complication of the BRCA-1 gene issue. Stef and Lena's conversation regarding mastectomy rang very true to me. I also liked Jude calling Lena "mama" so casually.

 

Otherwise: too much Brandon/Callie moping, too much Mariana/Lexi drama (which I admit I FFd through). The new guy driving with Jesus looks like he is much older than the twins. Speaking of the new Jesus, I like him much better than JTA.

 

 

Agreed with all of this. Stef's "are you not going to be attracted to me anymore" to Lena in that small, broken voice? That hurt me. Stef is overwhelmed and scared. She doesn't want to deal with the situation, but she has to. She seemed so small and un-Stef-like in that scene. She feels so powerless over what's happening to her. I mean, she doesn't have it in her to even explode at Mike over AJ and Ty. But she's still trying to put on a brave face for the sake of everyone else.

Edited by ShortyMac
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rue721

rue721

(edited)

I don't mind the girlfriend from the bar. She has to be at least 21 in order to serve drinks, right?

 

18 to serve, 21 to pour. You can start waiting tables at 18 (at a place that serves alcohol), but you can't start bartending until 21.

 

I figured she was at least 21 years old because, iIrc, when Brandon met her for the first time at the Smokehouse, she was standing behind the bar and he ordered Sharon's champagne cocktail from her.

Edited by rue721
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izabella

izabella

I hate cancer story lines.  Cancer totally sucks, doctors aren't able to offer any real "treatment" - just slash and burn attempts to treat, and you have to do something as treatment that's going to make you feel like like death and which literally does bring you as close to death without killing you as possible even though you don't actually feel sick at all from the cancer (yet).  At least with heart problems or diabetes there ARE treatments, medications, and ways to manage the condition.  Cancer isn't something you manage; you have to carve, burn, and poison your body in order to get some extra years of life.

 

All that is a long way to say I wish they hadn't brought it into the Fosters because the adults are the only people I like on this show, and I don't want to see them mired in a depressing cancer struggle, even if it ends well on the show. 

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ShortyMac

ShortyMac

I hate cancer story lines.  Cancer totally sucks, doctors aren't able to offer any real "treatment" - just slash and burn attempts to treat, and you have to do something as treatment that's going to make you feel like like death and which literally does bring you as close to death without killing you as possible even though you don't actually feel sick at all from the cancer (yet).  At least with heart problems or diabetes there ARE treatments, medications, and ways to manage the condition.  Cancer isn't something you manage; you have to carve, burn, and poison your body in order to get some extra years of life.

 

All that is a long way to say I wish they hadn't brought it into the Fosters because the adults are the only people I like on this show, and I don't want to see them mired in a depressing cancer struggle, even if it ends well on the show. 

 

I get what you're saying, but I'm enjoying seeing what we're getting out of Teri, Sherri, and Annie as artists. I love that we're getting a GOOD story line for the adults for once (that sperm donor/Timothy thing was garbage and the Monte/kiss/secret thing went on forever). Yeah, it's dramatic and it can be depressing, but cancer affects everyone and I'm interested to see where this show takes the topic.

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Perfect Xero

Perfect Xero

Kelsey told Principal Sanchez and Mariana had to quit doing costumes for the school play and she was suspended from school for a week. She was ultimately punished, just not right away. 

 

Well, that's what the school did to her. I don't recall Stef and Lena doing anything to her other than acting slightly upset and making her take Callie with her to a party a week later, but maybe I'm forgetting something.

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Eeksquire

Eeksquire

Coming late to the party, since I just got to the episode tonight, but: I was waiting for Stef to tell Mike about her diagnosis and actually, I didn't think it was creepy at all.  Awkward, yes, but in a believable way (and only, really, because Stef put it in the "you haven't seen them in awhile" direction as a "humorous" misdirection to avoid the serious conversation).  I actually think that Mike is probably in the best position to be truly supportive of Stef without, as they say, a dog in the fight, like either Lena or Stef's mom.  The fact that she was very calm about Ty and AJ being missing is probably the only thing that could signal Mike as to how serious things are.

 

Also, in re Jesus: Different actor, same stupid character.

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