Favorite Characters: Jude Jacob (The Fosters)

I’m such a fan of Jude.  As I’ve said, hearing about him and his plot with Connor is a major reason I started watching The Fosters, and if anything, he’s better than the word-of-mouth.  Just a hugely loveable character, and I love seeing him grow throughout the show.  (Some spoilers.)

Jude has spent half of his life in foster care.  He’s been in seven different schools and numerous foster homes, and constantly moving around has left him behind grade-wise and with hardly any possessions.  His mom is dead, his dad is in jail, and for six years, his only sense of home has been his sister Callie, but even she’s not a guarantee.  At the start of the series, Callie is in juvie for what she did to protect Jude from an abusive foster father – she was removed from the house, and Jude was left alone with the man who beat him.  Time and again, the system has failed him.

That said, Jude is amazingly resilient.  He’s loving, gives so much of himself, and consciously, bravely chooses to hold to hope and happiness.  Despite his frequent uprooting, he quickly starts forging relationships with the Fosters and at his new school.  It’s some time before he considers the other kids his siblings or Stef and Lena his moms, but he isn’t holding back or wary of getting attached.  Similarly, while he doesn’t have many friends at school, he’s pretty all-in in his friendship, and later romance, with Connor. Jude, I think, is a “better to have loved and lost” type – although he’s lost so much in a short time, he keeps reaching out and making new connections.

That’s not to say his experiences don’t affect him.  They do.  He’s initially over-eager to do chores at the Fosters, thinking that pitching in will signify that he’s more than just passing through, and his fastidiously good behavior is a bid to be “kept” (in fact, one of Lena and Stef’s first indications that Jude feels like a member of the family is when he’s comfortable enough to be a little less dutiful.)  His fears and stresses can manifest in unconventional ways, like when, fearing that he’s going to be pulled out of the house soon, he starts hoarding food under his bed.

However, things like a desire to help out and obedience don’t send up red flags, and hiding food can go unnoticed for quite a while.  It’s not that Jude is untroubled; it’s that he doesn’t show it in the more obvious that Callie does, and as such, people can miss it.  The general thought is that Jude is be fine because he’s always fine.  He’s always good and caring and considerate and optimistic, so there’s no need to worry about him, when the truth is that he has the same kinds of feelings as Callie.  It’s just that he hides them more, and so he needs can go unmet because no one knows about them This holds true with Connor as well; for a long time, their relationship is, for Jude, confusingly and frustratingly undefined, but Connor doesn’t think about he might be hurting Jude because Jude pretends to be okay with it. 

As far as his sexuality goes, I love how authentic Jude feels.  He’s not a stereotype, but he’s also not self-consciously written/acted against a stereotype, either.  He can like video games and nail polish, and his mannerisms are unmacho without being particularly gay-coded.  He’s also young enough that he’s still figuring things out, which I really like (it’s great that he’s with the Fosters, who are supportive and reassuring – I love the conservation he has with Lena when he starts to wonder if he’s gay.)  This aspect is especially nice when you pair it with stuff like coming to school with painted nails, because even if he’s still questioning and doesn’t have a handy-dandy label prepared for himself, he’s still brave enough to be who he is, whoever that turns out to be.