S05.E01: Resist

[AmandaPanda]

Quote

Stef frantically searches for Callie after she offers to help Diamond; Jesus unleashes his anger after discovering Brandon helped Emma with a deeply personal decision; Mariana leads the charge against Anchor Beach Charter's privatization.

[Lady Calypso]

So, that was...a premiere. We spent about 20 minutes of the 42 minutes with Callie/Stef, and everyone else got to fight over the other 22'ish minutes. Seriously, I had no care in the world to watch Stef's (what felt like) bazillion scenes, trying to find Callie, as well as Callie's idiocy in the motel room with Daddy and Diamond. It was a scary situation, sure, but she made several mistakes, especially when she decided that she was going to declare that her mom, a cop, was on her way, even though she had no idea. She got damn lucky that Daddy didn't just grab that gun and cut his losses. Now, I get the reaction because she was probably having flashbacks to Liam, but don't go from that to actually standing up and declaring the truth. 

This better be the end of Callie's troubles. I cannot take another Callie storyline like this. I need a break. 

Also, Mariana, girl, you are causing some more issues. What a surprise. I'm not really here for this whole private school debacle, or seeing more of Nick's dad. Seriously, who campaigned for more of that family? Which means Nick is surely showing up again somehow, which means I get even more annoyed. Nobody in that situation handled it well. The board does know that they could have just walked around them, right? They didn't have a hundred people blocking their way. They could have just found another way around them. Also, they were peacefully protesting. No need to get pissy about it. Also, we're stuck with Monte. Great. I don't know who I hate more; her or pissy principal wannabe. 

Jesus' storyline is all that I care about, but I hope we don't get forced more solo scenes with Gabe and Ana. I hope that was the end of that because they're not main characters and I don't care about them outside of the twins. I'm already sick of Ana, who's been around since the beginning. I like Gabe in small doses, but I really don't want to see more of him if I don't have to. I also don't know what they're trying to do with him in relation to the twins. Also, if we're forced to see them stick around, can we at least get more of a balance with Ana/Jesus scenes and Gabe/Mariana scenes? It annoyed me when Ana only interacted with Mariana for the last four seasons. 

Lena is...really not good at her caretaking job. She seems to lose her patience quite often with Jesus, as a reactionary response. It's not a bad idea, because no parent is perfect with such a new situation so Lena immediately yelling at Jesus before realizing that it might have to do with his TBI feels realistic. She's still in her learning stage. It's too bad that they dismissed the whole caretaker route and Lena's back at work. I mean, that whole thing took about a month or so, even though the doctor said she'd have to be his caretaker for months. It feels a little lazy that they're dropping it in favour of other pointless stories, as if the writers don't really have a need for it. 

And...Brandon's had enough of Jesus' shit after he destroyed his room. 

I'm not really sure how I feel about this premiere yet. I guess I'm mostly cynical about it. 

[UNOSEZ]

No A.J or mike... Bleh... Jesus going aggro marks maybe the first time ever I was in Brandon's side... Marianna is still horrible so is her bio mom. Jude was cool maybe he's finally growing up... Sad to see in the promos that Callie is still with that dude who hounded her while she had a boyfriend.. Never was  fan of him... Looking forward to more Monte... Hopefully some mike and A.J and Gabe... 

[balmz]

decent episode, was delighted when jude got sprayed, also jesus smashing brandon's room was awesome, hate jude and brandon so much, gabe's already being a better and more fair parent to jesus then stef and lena ever were, also seeing jesus in his underwear was nice, you know they would win more people over to noah c as jesus if they had him shirtless and in his underwear more like jake was, that was really jake's only appeal

[LisaM]

I fast forwarded all of the Callie in danger/Stef racing to rescue her scenes and tuned in to see Stef warning Callie about winding up dead. I so hope that this is the end of the SuperCallie saves the world storyline; I would far prefer to see Callie trying to move forward with the normal teenage drama instead of the Kyle/Diamond/Troy/going to jail/Justina life in danger drama. 

I did enjoy the Anchor Beach storyline, which seems a lot more realistic. I can easily see a school with a beachfront setting being the subject of privatization. I wouldn't mind Monte sticking around if she and Lena can figure out how to save the day.

Speaking of Lena, I understand why TPTB chose not to keep Jesus in a facility for storyline purposes but he really needs ongoing therapy and assistance as he recovers from the TBI. This has the potential to be a great story; I hope that it doesn't turn into just a Jesus/Emma/Brandon one. 

I really liked Ana and Gabe's conversation about being bio parents and their ongoing - or not ongoing - role in the twins' lives. I also liked the Ana/Mariana discussion about the therapy debacle. 

Noticed that Danny Nucci's name is no longer in the opening credits. I wonder if this means that Ana and Mike will no longer be a couple and that Mike's role will be phased out?

Biggest issue with the premiere: not enough Stef/Lena time. 

[Cassandre]

I'm so mad at the writers right now. I was talking with some people on monday telling them how much I love this show and the reasons why I love it. Do I have to take back all I said now ? Because the show I was talking about doesn't look like the premiere I just saw. I was prepared to hate this episode. Hopefully I just disliked it, because you know... Stef talking some sense to Callie, Jude defending HIS sister... 

But I don't understand the message the writers are sending to the viewers. Especially to gay moms.  Jennifer Lopez recently told (again) the reasons why she agreed to produce The Fosters. The most important reason is that her aunt didn't have the chance to grow up with a show like The Fosters. A show that represented people like her. She was a lesbian and she always felt alone. Today we have (at least I do) the chance to see two lesbian moms raising their kids on TV. At first that was what it was about.  Now the message the writers are sending is "even if you are two moms and you love your kids you'll still have to need the kid's bio dad at some point because you are not enough" I mean right ? Stef is so busy looking for Callie and Lena can't manage Jesus because he wants his daddy to be there. And guess what  Gabe said "Jesus needs me".  And sure, Lena is going to be the bad guy because she wants to parent her son. Stef used to be the bad guy and Lena the one who the kids came to. They could just keep this between Stef and Lena. But no, you need to be 999 women and at least one man  to raise 5 kids. I can't take it. 

[Lady Calypso]

2 hours ago, Cassandre said:

But I don't understand the message the writers are sending to the viewers. Especially to gay moms.  Jennifer Lopez recently told (again) the reasons why she agreed to produce The Fosters. The most important reason is that her aunt didn't have the chance to grow up with a show like The Fosters. A show that represented people like her. She was a lesbian and she always felt alone. Today we have (at least I do) the chance to see two lesbian moms raising their kids on TV. At first that was what it was about.  Now the message the writers are sending is "even if you are two moms and you love your kids you'll still have to need the kid's bio dad at some point because you are not enough" I mean right ? Stef is so busy looking for Callie and Lena can't manage Jesus because he wants his daddy to be there. And guess what  Gabe said "Jesus needs me".  And sure, Lena is going to be the bad guy because she wants to parent her son. Stef used to be the bad guy and Lena the one who the kids came to. They could just keep this between Stef and Lena. But no, you need to be 999 women and at least one man  to raise 5 kids. I can't take it. 

The problem isn't even just about Gabe having to stick around because "Jesus needs [him]", as poorly evidenced by this episode, since Gabe really only said one line to Jesus and suddenly, he thinks that he needs to be there. It's the whole biological aspect as well. Ana's been around since season 1 and Mariana's been attached to her since the very beginning. For some reason, Stef/Lena aren't enough and the whole damn biological aspect needs to stick around. I wanted more Jesus/mom scenes, because we've gotten so few of those over the course of the series. Now we're getting stuck with Jesus/Gabe scenes? Why? Why is it that Jesus can't interact with his adoptive family more? That's the main question I have. 

We could have had a really strong storyline of Lena actually quitting her job and taking care of Jesus. We could have seen Lena/Jesus scenes, and see her struggling and him trying to find ways to get better. But no, that opportunity's lost, because they wanted to explore the private school aspect, so they need Lena for that. That's what disappoints me. They can follow through with CSI: Callie for twenty+ episodes, and they can deal with Brandon's several love interests each season, but god forbid Jesus can have a storyline with one of his moms and it's treated like a one episode issue before other storylines get saddled on. 

Mike's the only biological parent that I want to see on the show. I want Ana to go away because she's been annoying me since season 1, and now I want Gabe to go away because he's taking away from Stef/Lena interacting with Jesus. So this story better end with Gabe actually going to Toledo, and taking Ana and Isabella with him. 

[Cassandre]

5 hours ago, LisaM said:

Biggest issue with the premiere: not enough Stef/Lena time. 

That's why I loved the moment when Stef came back home to Lena. It's like after you travelled around the world you come back home to the people you love, here her wife.

It was a little thing, but I loved it. I love them. 

 

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

For some reason, Stef/Lena aren't enough and the whole damn biological aspect needs to stick around.  

And I don't get why the writers would do that. They are gay themselves but to me it feels now like it's not Ok to keep the bio parents outside your kids life. After all it's not like Stef and Lena want Gabe around (Or the other ones). And it kills me to see Gabe and Ana hanging out in their house while they are not there. 

 

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

We could have had a really strong storyline of Lena actually quitting her job and taking care of Jesus. We could have seen Lena/Jesus scenes, and see her struggling and him trying to find ways to get better. But no, that opportunity's lost, because they wanted to explore the private school aspect, so they need Lena for that. That's what disappoints me. They can follow through with CSI: Callie for twenty+ episodes, and they can deal with Brandon's several love interests each season, but god forbid Jesus can have a storyline with one of his moms and it's treated like a one episode issue before other storylines get saddled on. 

It seems to me that Jesus has a problem with Lena in particular. The thing with Gabe is also that Jesus responds more to him than to his parents.  Callie has always been on Stef and Lena's side when it came to Robert. Ana is there since day one but I've never felt what I feel about Gabe with her.  That's what I don't like with Gabe. It's like what Stef was saying in the camping episode when she was complaining about being the mom the kids were afraid of. Lena was the cool mom, the easy mom. Gabe is not a parent he is just going to be cool with Jesus (I'm not comparing Lena and him, Lena doesn't like conflicts as she had said) but Gabe doesn't know what to do. He will just do whatever Jesus wants. I don't want to see Jesus yelling at Lena, anymore. As you say we could have get a Lena/Jesus storyline, Stef and Lena could have handled this together. I know they have other kids with problems but I remember when Frankie died the kids asked what they could do to help... same when Stef got cancer. Now Jesus is sick and Callie should know better her moms can't deal with her drama because her brother needs them.  Callie creates her drama. But without Gabe what happened to Jesus would never have happened. Just like without Ana Stef would never have got shot. (I should be happy, actually the show shows that bio parents are trouble...) 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Cassandre

[tennisgurl]

PLEASE tell me this is the end of Callie being the stupidest person on the entire planet?!?! I mean, this girl has zero self preservation skills, even going beyond her stupid choice to go off with Diamond in the first place. Telling Daddy her cop mom is on her way? Before she was sure that Steph was coming? When he had a gun within reach? Stef was right about Callie being lucky, its truly amazing this girl is actually still alive. I hope and pray we can focus on Callie actually being with her family (I think we had, what, one conversation between Callie and Jude last season?) and dealing with her issues, instead of Callie Saves the World.

Mariana is seriously still doing her stupid Twitter thing? Does she never learn anything, ever? Well, at least her trying to save the school from privatization is better then her Twitter war with herself or whatever was going on with her last year. The protest was pretty good, and its not a bad storyline, even if its not exactly going for subtlety. The one thing I don't get is why the crazy kids dad is at all invested in this. His kid doesn't even go there (after he almost shot it up!), he seems to have an actual job, why is he doing this? I can understand wanna be principle guy (wants a bigger paycheck probably) but what's this guys deal? And why even bother with security, the protestors were just standing there chanting? They could have just gone out the back way. Idiots. I guess...he's just evil.

Glad that the air was cleared between Jesus and Brandon, but now Brandon seems to be fully Over It when it comes to dealing with Jesus. Maybe if Lena was back to doing her caretaking thing, this wouldn't be so bad?

Hoping that this batch of episodes will focus on the family, and NOT endless pointless melodrama.

[possibilities]

6 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

The one thing I don't get is why the crazy kids dad is at all invested in this. His kid doesn't even go there (after he almost shot it up!), he seems to have an actual job, why is he doing this?

My guess is revenge.

[tennisgurl]

3 minutes ago, possibilities said:

My guess is revenge.

I guess that's the only thing we can really gather, although I would like to hear why he blames the school for his son falling apart. Unless its specifically to screw with the Foster family, because his son was arrested stalking Mariana, in which case, he's even more of an asshole than when he was just an Evil Businessman.

[LisaM]

My guess is that there is money to be made by taking Anchor Beach private. 

[butterbody]

On 7/12/2017 at 3:01 AM, LisaM said:

I fast forwarded all of the Callie in danger/Stef racing to rescue her scenes and tuned in to see Stef warning Callie about winding up dead. I so hope that this is the end of the SuperCallie saves the world storyline; I would far prefer to see Callie trying to move forward with the normal teenage drama instead of the Kyle/Diamond/Troy/going to jail/Justina life in danger drama. 

 

SuperCallieFragileBitchstickAlwaysinaCrisis

[Darknight]

On 7/12/2017 at 8:54 AM, Lady Calypso said:

The problem isn't even just about Gabe having to stick around because "Jesus needs [him]", as poorly evidenced by this episode, since Gabe really only said one line to Jesus and suddenly, he thinks that he needs to be there. It's the whole biological aspect as well. Ana's been around since season 1 and Mariana's been attached to her since the very beginning. For some reason, Stef/Lena aren't enough and the whole damn biological aspect needs to stick around. I wanted more Jesus/mom scenes, because we've gotten so few of those over the course of the series. Now we're getting stuck with Jesus/Gabe scenes? Why? Why is it that Jesus can't interact with his adoptive family more? That's the main question I have. 

We could have had a really strong storyline of Lena actually quitting her job and taking care of Jesus. We could have seen Lena/Jesus scenes, and see her struggling and him trying to find ways to get better. But no, that opportunity's lost, because they wanted to explore the private school aspect, so they need Lena for that. That's what disappoints me. They can follow through with CSI: Callie for twenty+ episodes, and they can deal with Brandon's several love interests each season, but god forbid Jesus can have a storyline with one of his moms and it's treated like a one episode issue before other storylines get saddled on. 

Mike's the only biological parent that I want to see on the show. I want Ana to go away because she's been annoying me since season 1, and now I want Gabe to go away because he's taking away from Stef/Lena interacting with Jesus. So this story better end with Gabe actually going to Toledo, and taking Ana and Isabella with him. 

A lot of adoptees look for their biologicalp families. Especially in the teen years they begin to question and find their identity. So I guess it make sense. But Ana and Gabe should go..

[Perfect Xero]

"Callie, you can't keep doing this stupid stuff! Oh, btw, your latest round of stupid stuff paid off and it's going to get both you and your former foster brother out of jail. And this time you saved Diamond and that other girl. I guess what I'm saying is that your destructive behavior is constantly rewarded and you're proved right in the end and you always manage to avoid any real consequences."

[UNOSEZ]

Nobody fails upward like Callie adams-foster...  Guess the mysteriously absent AJ was right... 

[UNOSEZ]

Seriously... Where are mike and AJ?  On vacation or something.. I get now that He's no longer her boyfriend maybe he isn't important as before and the new neighbor fills the blk guy quita but he was a good friend and a really patient bf especially because everything he said was right as callie jumped right into bed with that smug aaron after they split up.. And even after stalking and harrasing breaking and entering leaving the scene of an accident ignoring her boyfriend and his wishes and concerns and kissing another guy not to mention letting yourself get kidnapped and outing yourself and scared young prostitutes as basically informants to an abusive and violent pimp she still walks away basically unscathed and in a prestigous art program

[Chewy101]

I guess I will have to re-watch, because that episode sucked for me. How on earth are we supposed to care about private school, first world problems, when the writers are also trying to make me care about Callie and her stupid life of DANGER. I feel for Lena and Stef., falling in love with this girl, because she will ruin their lives forever with her self destructive crap. I know she is supposed to be some kind of hero, but I just see a pain in the butt.

The blocking was off, the wrong characters got the main focus, it just seemed off. This show is not doing much service to support the fostering programs, since none of the kids seem to be doing well at all.

On 7/18/2017 at 9:35 PM, Perfect Xero said:

"Callie, you can't keep doing this stupid stuff! Oh, btw, your latest round of stupid stuff paid off and it's going to get both you and your former foster brother out of jail. And this time you saved Diamond and that other girl. I guess what I'm saying is that your destructive behavior is constantly rewarded and you're proved right in the end and you always manage to avoid any real consequences."

This made my head explode. I hate that it's so true.

Plus, I trust Ana as far as I can throw her. It is obvious she is going to hook back up with Gabe and ruin more lives. I wish this show could be more creative in positive areas and not so heavy handed on the boring soap opera stuff.