Previously on The Fosters, Stef got cancer and handled it in the most Stef way possible, which was: to not talk about it and pretend it wasn’t happening and to focus instead on dealing out justice to all the people in the world who’d every hurt her babies, starting with arresting Ty. Mariana joined Brandon’s Romeo and Juliet rock opera. Callie got into accidental cahoots with a foster care advocacy bad seed. Jude felt sad about Connor. Grandma Annie decided to stay for a while. And Jesus couldn’t figure out which end of a hammer you’re supposed to hit stuff with, so he went off searching for his birth dad.
Stef and Lena are at the doctor talking about the specifics of Stef’s mastectomy. And bravo to these writers for not shying away from showing an anatomically correct breast on TV and for talking about the physical details of having this kind of massive, intensive surgery and the process of reconstruction. Lena’s taking in every word, but Stef’s staring at anything besides the doctor — picture frames, knicknacks, piggybanks — and imagining herself swimming naked in a kid-free pool on a cancer-free Sunday. When the doctor asks if she has any questions, she says, “Nope.” And that is also what she says when she gets home and her mom is ready to discuss her cancer with the whole family. She wants to wait until the surgery is scheduled to tell the kids and honestly she’s not worried about them finding out on accident because at least once person has been standing in this kitchen hooting “CANCER!” for the last 72 hours.
What did the grape say when the hippopotamus stood on it?
What?
Nothing, it just let out a little wine.
The main problem with giving a TV lesbian cancer is it almost universally leads to that TV lesbian dying, and because the trope that has hurt us the most over the years is Bury Your Gays, there’s no way to praise a cancer storyline, no matter how well it’s written and no matter how true to life it is. But since The Fosters is obviously not going to kill Stef, I feel okay saying how beautifully I think this show is handling her story, especially the part where she and Lena grapple with it as a couple. This episode was so real it made me feel sick (in a good way).
Anyway, they don’t have time to dwell on the cancer. For one thing, Callie had some time before school today to stop by jail and talk to AJ, but he has not included her on his allowed-t0-visit list, so Callie pulls a Brandon and storms home and blames Stef for being Cop Stef and not Mom Stef (as if either of those things are extricable from her identity!). And then it gets worse because Mariana comes clomping downstairs and asks Lena if she’s having an affair with Monty, because guess what? Everyone on Twitter’s saying it’s true and shipping it and there’s totally a flash animation of Lena and Monty bumping up on each other. Lena says no! Don’t be ridiculous! And her phone rings and it’s Monty and Stef’s eyeballs almost roll right out of her head and onto the floor and out the door and down the street and into the sea.
Mariana’s gonna stop this Lena/Monty hashtag with a whole other hashtag, and tag her hate on Tumblr.
I think I’m a Gryffindor/Slytherin hybrid.
That is not even close to being a thing.
Also before school, because I guess she wakes up at like 3:00 am, Callie is having a meeting with the duplicitous foster care advocate who’s name I can’t remember. Let’s stay on theme and call her Ms. Polonius. She tells Callie not to worry that people are being moderated very strictly on Fost and Found, it’s for their own good, the internet can get real mean, and anyway, if it weren’t for her superior team of moderators, that rumor about Callie would still be posted in the forum. The one about how she slept with her foster brother. And, you know, just by the way, it’s not like they’re cross-referencing the California foster care address database with the IP addresses used by kids who post on Fost and Found to match-up usernames with foster kids and monitor everything they say, buuuuut they know someone was masquerading as AJ and catfishing Callie and that person was using Jude’s computer in this very house. So, like, just this once they’re doing that thing she says they’re not doing.
Ms. Polonius is t-r-o-u-b-l-e.
Callie doesn’t register that, though. She rages upstairs to find Jack on Jude’s computer and she rips into him about faking his identity. Jack doesn’t want Jude to know because he wants to be Jude’s friend. One reason is because Jude is the best human on the planet and being his best friend would be like getting loved by a human puppy. And another reason is the older dudes in his group home are beating the shit out of him. He’s actually bleeding from his ribs, and when Callie pulls up his shirt to see what the fuck is going on there, she also discovers that he’s covered in bruises. Obviously Jude wants to go straight to Stef with this information, but Callie’s still reeling about AJ, so she leads Jack right into the mouth of the beast! She makes him tell Ms. Polonius!
Ms. Polonius says she’ll “take care” of “this little brat” for good “this time.” Callie wants to know what she means by that, but Ms. Polonius tells her not to worry about it; it’s just a thing grown-ups say.
Stef, what if Ezra Fitz is just too romantic for his own good?
Once the kids and Lena are at school, Stef tells Grandma Annie she wants her to have power of attorney, in case things go all the way to the worst, like if this were The L Word and Dana got cancer at the beginning of an episode and died at the end of it, or like how that happened to Naomi and in Skins Fire, or—nope. Nope. Calm. I’m calm. I am a talented, brilliant musk ox. I am a poetic noble land mermaid. The moods of my life will not be dictated to me by reckless, callous, simpleminded television writers. The story is alive inside my mind and I deserve to bask in its untarnished rightness. Skins Fire never happened. Skins Fire never happened. I am a glowing sun goddess. Skins Fire never happened.
Right.
So.
Grandma Annie tells Stef it’s not going to come to that, but she’s happy Stef trusts her with this thing. Mostly, though, Stef is not dying and it’s going to be okay. Also she tells Stef stop Stefing everything and pushing Lena away when she needs her the most.
Anchor Beach is full of its usual dramas. Mat and Mariana are falling in love again doing their play. Jesus’ new reckless friend is falling in love with Mariana too, in between doing donuts in the school parking lot and getting sentenced to clean the entire parking lot with a sponge. (Mariana’s head of the Wizengamot now!) And Jude is still forlorn and alone because Connor is still a million miles away.
Lena what in the world is wrong? I’ve never seen you cry!
I’m trying to keep it together for Stef, but we think Callie ships Bellamy and Clarke.
Monty whirls into Lena’s office to see if she saw that hilarious meme about them going around social media today, and Lena loses her mind, snapping that Monty better not have been the one who sent the original tweet; and then breaking down and crying about how Stef is sick and she’s going to need some time off, at least a week probably. At least a week. Monty’s face falls and she says Lena can take all the time she needs, and the way she slumps back down the hall, it’s kind of like she thought maybe Lena would really love her one day. Like maybe if Stef hadn’t gotten cancer, she and Lena had a chance. Oh, Monty. I love you, girl, but stop.
When Lena gets home, Grandma Annie says not to worry about how Stef is giving her power of attorney, because if anything comes up, they’ll just work through it together, and anyway, it’s not like they’re having a competition for Stef’s love. I mean. Lena knew that right? About the power of attorney? Because Stef said she was going to go to Anchor Beach and tell Lena about it at lunch, and it’s after lunch and Lena’s home, so she knew, right?
Actually, no. She did not not. But she pretends she did. She zips upstairs to confront Stef about it, but Stef’s just lying in the bed and staring at the ceiling and saying that she wants to be alone. Stefanie! Listen to your mother!
Maybe everyone doesn’t have to ship Clexa.
Yes, they do.
Lena finds her later, sitting at the kitchen table, “getting her affairs in order,” and also kind of making a grumpy face. Lena makes a grumpy face back at her. Why didn’t Stef tell her about the power of attorney thing? Well, she was going to, but when she came by Lena’s office, she was in there with Monty with the door closed. Stef knows nothing’s going on with them, she really does, but she’s got all these insecurities about how maybe Lena’s not going to find her attractive anymore and maybe even fall out of love with her, after the mastectomy, and if Monty’s there and still crushing on Lena, I mean? What’s gonna happen then?
Now here’s the best thing about Romeo and Juliet: When Romeo starts up with his bullshit outside Juliet’s window, she tells him she’s not interested in inconsequential moon-swearing and Petrarchan sonnets. It’s rote. It’s a template. It’s love by numbers. Juliet wants to be loved in a way that’s not quantifiable. It’s silly to think she and Romeo get there, all ten minutes they spent together before they murdered each other, but it’s a wonderful sentiment and, ironically, it’s exactly what mature love looks like. Childish love is a checklist of things a person is or does, or ways they make you feel. Mature love is the alchemy of the life you build together. If I tell you I treasure my partner’s intellect and sharp wit and gentle way with animals, and you bring me a girl who’s smarter and funnier and even more gentle with animals, am I going to leave my partner for her? No. Don’t be ridiculous. She is more than the things I can count. We are our the undefinable, unexplainable magic of the life we’ve made together.
That’s what Lena tells Stef. All the quantifiable reasons she loves her, and all the unmeasurable ways she loves her. She asks what she can do for Stef and Stef jokes that Lena can take her swimming.
After school, Jude and Callie take Jack to meet up with Ms. Polonius and his arm’s broken now. Brandon goes to work and plays the piano and orders a Shirley Temple and tries to make out with the surfing bartender. When she says “it’s complicated,” she means it, though: She’s got a two-year-old. Jesus works on building that house with his dad, and then confesses to his dad that he’s his dad, and then runs right out of there when his dad is like, “You better run right out of here; I am literally legally not allowed to see you.” (Mariana finds him in the sex offender registry later. I’m guessing Ana was underage when she got pregnant?) And Callie vists Ty in jail, since AJ won’t see her, and tells him to release his stranglehold on his brother so he can be with a foster family who can take care of him until Ty gets out of here.
And even if Callie is straight, we’re all going to love her just the same.
Finally, at home, Lena and Stef and Grandma Annie sit the kids down and tell them about Stef’s cancer. They’re stunned. And terrified. They group hug and go to their rooms and stare out the windows and pray. Except for Callie and Mariana. They curl up under the same blanket like sisters do and look up cancer treatments together on the internet. They want to know what’s happening. They want to know what they can do.
Lena, though. She takes Stef swimming. They break into a neighbor’s backyard and goad each other into skinny dipping, and it’s slow-mo water cuddles and chlorine caresses, and it’s wonderful and it’s perfect. Back at home, they have sex, like Grandma Annie told them to do. Sweet and slow and familiar, familiar, familiar. So earned. So real. So right. Everyone of the tears I cried about it, so deserved.
Juliet and Juliet.
Sonnet #69.
Suck on that, Bill Shakespeare.
Next week: I don’t care. I’m going to rewatch this scene a hundred times, until all my cries have been cried.
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For the love of GOD Brandon, a Romeo and Juliet musical already exists. It’s called West Side Story. Do you think you are better than Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins? Wait. You probably do. Never mind.
Thank god Stef stopped Steffing things up for a change, that was a beautiful end to the episode. More of that please, and less of Brandon being insufferable!
(And less of this 90210 wannabe who is not good enough for Marianna. Don’t fall for his shit girl, you’re worth twelve of him!)
HA! I hadn’t even made the West Side Story connection, but you are so right! Only Brandon would be arrogant enough to think that he can do better than Sondheim.
Not only is he not good enough for Mariana he looks as old as her and Jesus’ dad
I realized while I was watching this episode that I’m a Stef. Which…oh dear, that means I’m a Coach Taylor, doesn’t it? And that means…OH GOD, you don’t think I’ll ever have a daughter like Julie Taylor, do you?!?
Beautiful recap. I really loved most of this episode, and as I was reading your recap, I loved every single word of it. And, oh.
I’ve just noticed that you didn’t mention Brandon. :D
No Brandon. Better that way. I wanted to strangle him when he was slowing the bartender down during the inventory.
LAST ONE IN THE POOL IS ON TOP TONIGHT
Greatest line. Greatest line ever.
I like that Stef and Lena are canonically both bottoms who still make it worth.
I had to put the captions on to make sure I heard that part right. But who are we kidding, Lena is so on top. Stef seems like she is always in charge, in my experience that means in the bedroom things are quite the opposite. Only person she lets see that vulnerable side is Lena.
Yup, so accurate
“We are the undefinable, unexplainable magic of the life we’ve made together.” NO, YOU’RE CRYING.
Right? Heather is amazing
Sonnet #69 *giggles*
I feel like the minute that Stef said “Group Hug!” to her babies to the last shot of Lena and Stef together in bed to close the episode, I did not take a breath. I did not blink. I clutched my pillow to my chest and time stood still.
———————————
Also, Callie and Mariana in bed together like sisters, doing the hard research, and pro-actively figuring out where they can best help- Gah! I love them together. They have each other’s back and can take on the world. I really do think they are a Super Hero team that could take on the world.
I say we keep them and we keep Jude (once he is over Conor). Jesus and Brandon just detract from their shining glory.
I concur, I am so over Brandon and Jesus.
i’m getting more more tired of Jesus. He should go back to wrestling Academy and stay there.
Callie and Mariana researching together was adorable
You guys, this episode; I can’t even. My wife has cancer. That is the first time I’ve typed that. I’ve had to type other things in other circumstances, but that’s the first time I’ve typed those words.
I’ve been afraid to watch these episodes, because I love this show and I love these women, but, honestly, I didn’t think that watching a cancer story would be okay for me right now. (and it may or may not turn out to be). It is unfolding relatively slowly, so I think they are still in shock. The next events haven’t ramped up yet and we aren’t sure where they’re going with this. But in the meantime they gave the pool scene; which is so completely in character for this show, for these women. I can only assume that the show-runners and these actors will handle this as deftly as they’ve handled other things previously, which is to say I expect they will keep intact Lena’s optimistic nature (or her attempts to be so) and the preciousness of their love (and their awareness of that preciousness).
The pool was beautiful because they were very present with each other. These women are mature enough to remember that they have to recenter themselves and they have to find each other over and over, through the day to day humdrums, and now, also, through this atom bomb of a diagnosis. They make that choice again and again. The show is so wonderful because they make sure to weave this narrative through the seasons, the arcs, etc. It’s what keeps me coming back. Their tenderness with each other even when they have forgotten momentarily or they took it for granted for a minute, they always come back and find it and ground themselves in each other.
Adding cancer to this narrative, I’m interested to see if or how Stef’s general take on the world changes. I’m interested in how Lena’s positivity will be challenged. This whole thing will be like being hit by a train; both for them and for us. But done with the usual tenderness that we expect in those quiet Stef and Lena moments.
And, to be honest, I can’t separate myself enough from my real life to even say truthfully whether I think that the story, the message (that cancer is here, is real, and is more terrible than anyone outside of it can imagine), the gratitude (love as though we were all dying, because we are); is best served by Stef surviving or not.
I want her to survive.
I don’t know if typing the words for the first time helped you or if it just reminded you anew of that train…but I’m praying it’s the former. Thank you for sharing it and echoing the call to love as though we were all dying.
I’m sending all the positivity in your direction, Lynntropy. I hope the days and weeks ahead bring strength, peace and renewed health to you and your wife.
Well, a little bit of both typing it. Thank you so much for your kind words. Really, I appreciate it.
And I know it’s preaching to the choir sometimes to mention present moment love, but I remind others so they’ll remind me back when I’m struggling. (Like this episode reminded us).
Peace and health to you too…
There aren’t enough buckets in the world to put my tears in. I FUCKING CRIED. Our Momma declaring her love for our sweet Stef. Oh God I want that kind of love, so pure and so true! More Stef and Lena moments please!!!
PS I also think it was because Ana was underage when she got pregnant
PPS Super thanks for another awesome recap! *ConsensualGroupHug!*
More Stef and Lena!
Callie, Jude and Mariana can stay too
It’s “Monte”! The one think that makes me cringe when reading these recaps, lol.
I suppose it’s practical I can follow what happens with Brandon in these recaps, in case it has some effect on the rest of the characters later on… Right now I’m just skipping his scenes. And very true about the musical XD So unoriginal and arrogant.
It’s Brandon, so it will probably end up on Broadway
This show would be so much easier if I could just hate Monte instead of yelling at her through the screen while in my heart agreeing that Lena is a gorgeous and nice and kind angel person so I can never be without a smidge of sympathy. EXCEPT STOP MONTE
Thanks for this great recap! I must have rewatched the final 5 minutes four times. So grateful that the writers remembered those of us who watch this for the grownups (and not just in a token here’s-the-moms way).
When Lena told Stef that she’ll love her no matter what and said, “You’re my home.” ???
I’m trying not to be worried, but a death in the family is one thing the show hasn’t tackled yet (and it looks like they’re trying to tackle /everything/).
Stef’s dad died didn’t he? Check that one off the list and get your head to happier thoughts! :)
Yup! death in the family, check
I forgot about that! I am much less worried now, thanks.
I honestly don’t think they would ever kill Stef or Lena or any of the kids. I read an interview with one of the show runners after the car accident, and how Jake T. Austin (I think that’s old Jesus’s name) was going to leave the show so they were considering killing him off, but they said they just couldn’t do that to the people who watch this show. They didn’t want to have any of the kids die. So I don’t think they would do that to Stef.
LOL no offense New Jesus but if you had died I would’ve been fine
Also they could have just kept him at boarding school.
I will never understand why they just didn’t leave him at boarding school!! That was such an easy fix.
Right?!?!
I thought this episode was too beautiful for words but you always prove that wrong Heather! Thank you for this lovely recap. I will also be rewatching and crying more tears than I care to admit!
Thanks for another great recap, Heather!
I loved this episode – I’ve already rewatched it once and likely will again. I’m so glad we finally got some good Stef and Lena scenes. I understand the show has to cater to its teen viewers, but ugh, is it so much to ask for more than one poorly-lit sex scene per season?
I’m really looking forward to the rest of this season now that Stef and Lena have (hopefully?!) resolved the Monte thing once and for all. I’m also hoping for a lot less Brandon, Nick, and Jesus (to a lesser degree – I actually like new Jesus quite a bit), and more Stef, Lena, Mariana, Jude, and Callie.
I’m so scared of Ms. Polonius!! WHAT DOES SHE WANT WITH OUR CALLIE??? (Also, Callie really needs to catch a break! Other than being adopted, she’s had the shittiest luck so far.)
Thank you so much for this recap Heather. The last five minutes were sensational. I love this show so much