Favorite Characters: Mariana Adams Foster (The Fosters)

When I started watching The Fosters, I wasn’t a fan of Mariana – however, I suspect I wasn’t really supposed to be.  At the start of the series, she’s drawn as a fairly typical shallow teenage girl.  She’s materialistic, does stupid things for boys, and lets her desire to be popular dictate what she does.  To make matters worse, she initially gives Callie, our eyes into the show, the brush-off.  Nothing about her screams “awesome character,” but oh, the characterizations, they are a-changin’.  (Some Mariana-related spoilers.)

Let’s be real:  when the show begins, Mariana is kind of a brat.  In addition to copping attitude with Callie, some of her other shining season one moments include 1) pocketing her brother’s Ritalin to sell at school and 2) backing down from dancing with her moms at the lavish quinceañera they throw for her.  It’s not all hopeless, though.  It isn’t long before she’s more welcoming to Callie, and she instantly regrets not dancing with Stef and Lena, making it up to them later in the evening.  And the money she gets from selling pills?  It’s to give to her junkie birth mother, who has Mariana wrapped around her manipulative little finger – a stupid and dangerous thing to do, yes, but understandable for a girl who, despite her loving family, can’t shake the feeling that she doesn’t belong like she should, that she’s not worth being wanted.

So yeah, Mariana is messed up.  She has issues and flaws, and her flaws have issues.  She pulls brain-headed moves when she gets too gaga over guys (someone told her to put her underwear in a boy’s pocket at a party, and she thought it was good advice – yeah.)  She feels uncomfortable connecting to her Mexican heritage because she feels her only link to it is her aforementioned junkie birth mother who essentially chose getting high over raising her children.  She compromises herself painfully easily in the hope of being better liked, and, along with many of the Adams Fosters, she has a talent for self-sabotage.

However, she’s also pretty great.  Some of it is seeing her learn to brave her flaws and work through her issues, but beyond that, the show has definitely taken her in cooler, more creative directions than where she was when she started.  I initially side-eyed Mariana’s “dance team” exploits in season 2.  My grounds were pretty reasonable.  She joins, not really because she’s all that interested in dancing, but as part of her desire to belong/fit in/be popular.  She attempts to mold herself into a rough copy of the other dance team girls.  When she overhears a teammate telling another girl that she only made the team due to affirmative action, she dyes her hair blond in an attempt to downplay her ethnicity.  Not having proven to be a natural dancer, she’s ready to throw her hands up and write herself off as hopeless.

Yet, in the midst of all that, Mariana keeps going.  She works her butt off, she immerses herself in the routines, and she learns not to take crap from two-faced girls who make assumptions about her.  Around the same time, she joins another school club – STEM.  As you might imagine, this one doesn’t have the same popularity associations.  Nope, Mariana joins because she’s capable, and she codes because she likes it.  By the end of season 2, she’s applying her coding skills to her dance routines to put on an incredible spectacle at competition.  And that’s what I love.  She’s girly and techie.  She’s insecure, but she’s learning to stand up for herself.  She likes to look sexy, but she doesn’t go further with guys than she’s ready to.  She’s damaged and caring, naïve and intelligent.  She’s not just one thing; she’s so much more.

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.

Relationship Spotlight: Stef Foster & Lena Adams (The Fosters)

It’s not too often that you find a teen drama that genuinely treats its adult characters as people, but The Fosters really delivers with Stef and Lena.  Though, like the others, their plots can sometimes be dragged down by melodrama, the matriarchs manage their brood with loving support, and the relationship between the two frequently serves as the heart of the show.

Stef and Lena are a fine example of an odd couple that just works.  They’re very different people, and when they have conflicts, those differences can fuel it, but a lot of the time, each complements the other with their individual strengths.  Police officer Stef is a fiercely protective mama bear with deep emotions she often has trouble expressing, and Lena, assistant principal at the kids’ school, is a caring nurturer whose eagerness to keep everyone happy means she sometimes presses down her own pain, annoyance, or concern.  Both are flawed women, but when they work as a team, their separate qualities go well together and usually get the job done.

Despite their big, busy family and the seemingly endless stream of high drama that follows them, I love the moments that show them making time for each other.  This is a relationship that really thrives on the small scenes.  As they commiserate about their hectic days over a glass of wine, snuggle in bed together, or flirt playfully between household tasks, their easy, comfortable chemistry jumps off the screen.  They don’t get as many of the big fireworks moments that a lot of their kids do in their various romances, but that’s fine.  They exude the warmth of a couple that’s been together for more than ten years, and though well-aged love isn’t expressed as flashily or ardently as a younger relationship, it’s all the deeper for its longevity.

I hate when Lena and Stef fight by not talking to each other, which sometimes happens.  Although, given their personalities, it’s understandable, they’re so great when they do talk through things, and in agreement or opposition, I vastly prefer them being open about it.  If nothing else, whenever they discuss an issue like rational adults who love each other but are mad, I’m reminded of how rarely you see that on TV (especially on a teen show.)  Instead, it seems characters are much more likely to just yell in one another’s general direction without listening to what the other has to say, and that gets tiring.  Refreshingly, Stef and Lena are often allowed to have actual conversations when one or both is upset, which I love.  And the show has offered up some really interesting things for them to talk about.  Lena’s feelings about being the only member of the family with no biological connection to anyone else, Stef’s struggles with internalized homophobia, their differing approaches to the kids (especially when Brandon’s dad is added into the mix,) difficulties in finding time for intimacy – the list goes on and on.

Plus, I like that their queerness is folded organically into their relationship.  It’s not a Big Thing!, and it doesn’t have to come up constantly, but there are nicely-incorporated little references that are unique to a same-sex couple.  They’re well-aware that some doubt the legitimacy of their right to raise their own children, a repairman in their house asks if they’re sisters (I guess he gets points for not assuming that women of different races couldn’t be related, but still,) and in the midst of an argument, Lena calls Stef out on her heteronormative thinking.  She actually says the words “heteronormative thinking,” which surprised/pleased me as much as hearing the term “neurotypicals” on an episode of Community.  In this way, their orientation feels real, written by people who really know what that means and trust the audience to keep up.  Gotta love that!

Relationship Spotlight: Jude Jacob & Connor Stevens (The Fosters)

Hearing about Jude and his storyline was, honestly, one of the reasons I finally checked out The Fosters.  While, like most things on the show, Jude’s relationship with Connor can be written a bit haphazardly (more often, it feels, this season,) it’s one of the series’ more consistent ongoing arcs, and I enjoy it immensely.  (Relationship-related spoilers.)

With Connor and Jude, one of their plot’s best qualities is also its most maddening:  the slow pace at which it unrolls.  A lot of stories on The Fosters careen around at breakneck speed, which can make them feel inauthentic.  However, since the actors playing Jude and Connor are young enough to be constrained by child labor laws, their screentime, and thus their story’s momentum, is limited by necessity.  This can be great, because it allows this gentle story of a friendship that might be blossoming into first love to play out more naturally.  Jude/Connor doesn’t have a ton of improbably drama piled on top of it to up the ante every week, because there’s drama enough in the plot unfolding.  At the same time, though, weeks go by where all we get of their plot is tantalizing scraps.  So, it’s a conundrum – I want the series to take its time with them and give me a top-shelf story, but I also just want more Jude/Connor!

Jude and Connor intrigue me from their earliest interactions.  Jude is new in school, but, due to his penchant for painting his nails, has already been labeled “the gay kid.”  Connor, by contrast, is what would stereotypically be called more “all-American.”  He’s into sports and videogames (though Jude likes videogames as well, other kids are quick to reduce him to a single trait,) and he’s big enough that he wouldn’t make anyone’s easy target.  With all this going for him, I suppose one could argue that, when he paints his nails in solidarity with his new friend, he comes at it from a place of relative privilege.  I don’t care – that is a ballsy move for a 12-year-old boy, and whether he’s doing it out of friendship or maybe-like-like, it’s a magnificent gesture.

As their plot moves forward, we start to see the first tentative steps toward a deeper relationship between the boys.  Jude is startled by his feelings of jealousy when Connor expresses interest in a girl, and Connor continues to see Jude in secret after his dad forbids their friendship, assuming Jude to be afflicted with “teh gay” and not wanting Connor to “catch it.”  They make shy advances toward each other, physical contact that’s at first easily “explainable,” like jocular tussling, but soon gets bolder, like moving to sit closer to one another for no evident reason.  Their first overtly romantic gesture – holding pinkies at the movie theater while ostensibly on a double date – feels like something out of a Jane Austen novel, a tiny physical connection that, in such a repressed environment, is positively charged with unspoken attraction.

And although it’s hard, because I like both boys but especially Jude and want nothing but the best for him, I like that it takes them a long time to figure out exactly what their relationship is and where it’s heading.  It’s tough for them, inspiring confusion in both, fear in Connor, and insecurity in Jude, but it feels real.  I like that they dance around the idea of a “them” and struggle with what they mean to each other, but by the same token, I love it when Jude realizes things can’t keep going the way they are and confronts Connor about it.  For a sensitive boy, Jude can be pretty daring, and it’s so gratifying to see him finally stop accepting the on-off, behind-closed-doors relationship that Connor is apparently so okay with, and tell the boy he likes that he needs more than that.

The Fosters (2013-Present)

*Disclaimer: While I really enjoy Noah Centineo on this show and prefer him as Jesus to Jake T. Austin’s 1.0 version, I acknowledge that it’s not a character he should’ve played. He’s one of a long line of white actors in Hollywood who’ve been cast as Latinx characters, something I didn't realize when I was first watching the series. The show also features a late-series ongoing plot in which an able-bodied actor plays a character with a disability (for the sake of spoilers, I won’t mention who.) How many more times do we need to see this happen?*

 

This ABC Family show has been on my radar since it premiered, but I’ve never taken the time to seek it out until now.  Very glad I did.  It reminds me a lot of Huge or Skins in that, even though the teen drama can sometimes be overwhelming in its sheer, ridiculous insanity, it’s also capable of really great things, with some truly excellent storytelling and wonderfully engaging characters.  (I don’t think I like it as well as Huge or Skins, but I do enjoy it a lot.)

Equal parts teen drama and family drama, The Fosters follows the household of Stef Foster and Lena Adams, two women who’ve been raising a family together for over ten years.  At the start of the series, their own brood – Brandon (Stef’s biological son from a previous marriage) and adopted twins Jesus and Mariana – sees the addition of foster kids Callie and Jude Jacob.  Callie is a girl with a big heart but a long history of hurt and abandonment.  She comes to Stef and Lena’s fresh out of juvie, on her guard and out of her element.  She has no trust for the Fosters until they take in her little brother Jude as well, seeing how unfit his own foster situation is, but it’s still a struggle for her.  In time, though, as everyone adjusts to the new dynamic, Callie sees that they have the potential to become what she’s always longed for:  a forever family.

Make no mistake – this show can be, at times, a mess.  A lot of the romance plots are contrived adolescent nonsense, and the series sometimes feels addicted to melodramatic twists.  Storylines can race along at breakneck speed, piling on drama so fast and so far beyond the point of believability that you can’t help but roll your eyes at the craziness of it all.  That said, when it reins itself in and focuses on characters instead of plot-plot-plot, it’s pretty amazing.  There’s a beautiful narrative to be told here about the different ways to make a family, and the show’s best moments are undeniably the ones that are rooted in its rich potpourri of familial relationships.

I kind of love with all the intersectional dynamics at play here.  For relationships, we have same- and opposite-sex couples, biological and adopted siblings, biological and adopted parents, interracial couples, blended families (Brandon’s dad is still involved in his life and connected with the whole family,) foster relationships, and friendships.  For identity, race (including mixed race,) orientation, family history, gender (included gender norms and gender identity,) societal expectations, and economic background are all factors.  It’s so interesting see Latina Mariana (who was, of course, raised by white Stef and black Lena) navigating the quinceañera her moms throw for her, or to feel the history and kinship that comes through when lesbian Lena has a gentle conversation with questioning Jude about safety, homophobia, and internalized shame.  I also like getting a dramatized crash-course in the foster system – the ways it succeeds, the ways it can fail, and the myriad ways it can affect a child and their upbringing.  Luckily, it opens up to a fairly wide field of supporting characters, so Callie and Jude don’t have to be the sole representatives of an entire system, and other kids’ stories have a chance to be told as well.

Plus, this show has a teenage girl who does both dance and STEM.  Just saying.

Warnings

Language, sexual content (including references to abuse,) drinking and drug use, occasional violence, and thematic elements.