The Fosters Episode 212 Recap: The Great Wall of Body Pillows

Callie attends a custody hearing with a judge and Stef and Lena and Robert and Sophia and Jill. Just an old white man deciding her entire fate after listening to testimony from a dozen people who aren’t her. Welcome to being a woman in America, Callie! The judge says Callie can stay with Lena and Stef until the season finale, but she has to hang out with the Quinns at least every other episode. Callie says fine, she’ll do that, but only with Robert and definitely not with Sophia, who seems like maybe she’s got some stuff going on that her parents need to pay attention to, instead of focusing on Callie.

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“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “That we should buy a second helicopter?” “Yes!”

Dance Regionals are full of drama! For one thing, the group’s leader wants to pull Mariana’s solo after rearranging everyone’s solos just yesterday! Well, but Tia’s not having that dictatorial garbage! She quits, on Mariana’s behalf! But Mariana does not quit! Instead, she uses her superbrain to do complicated geometry on the fly to compensate for losing a team member in their dance configuration! She keeps her solo! She nails it! They win Regionals!

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#EndOfMen

But see, Mariana was playing the long game. She read the rules because of her superbrain and the rules say a team is qualified for Nationals even if only one dancer was on the Regionals team, so she’s gonna start her own team with Tia. (And makeout with her, fingers crossed.)

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Better.

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Best.

Everyone cheers in the audience, except for:

Jesus, who skipped the competition to go support Anna at AA, where he found out she is pregnant with a baby and that’s how come she finally got clean.

And Callie, who is working at the food truck, where Sophia finds her and threatens to kill herself if Callie won’t be her full-time sister. Callie thinks she’s full of shit, so she turns around to do her server-type duties — and Sophia walks right the hell out into traffic and causes a pileup of cars. Holy Degrassi, Sophia! What the shit! Her parents come running, of course, and she weaves a yarn about how she fought with Callie and was too upset to pay attention to the dozens of vehicles whizzing by. It seems like Callie is going to let her lie go unchecked, but at the last second, she tells them the truth.

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That is so weird. Even the inside of your nose looks like mine.

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We’re sestras! I told you!

This girl who plays Sophia is really great. Her eyes just go dead and she’s like, “I can’t handle life anymore. Sometimes I just want to be not alive.” It could come off really melodramatic and manipulative, this whole thing, but instead it’s super sad and true to life. Robert breaks down when Jill takes Sophia to the car, and Callie puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

At home, Stef and Lena look every one of their kids in the eyes over and dinner and tell them if they ever get lost in the fog of depression, or if they ever feel like all their hope is gone, they have to come to them so they can help them. It’s a tough conversation and the show doesn’t ease up on it by being self-deprecating or lightening the mood with a joke. It’s a hard, uncomfortable thing to talk about, but we have to talk about it. And as a person who has struggled with depression her whole life, and whose life has been changed forever by a loved one committing suicide, I really, really appreciate this frankness. It’s brave to let that sit in the air for such a pronounced beat.

And, look, if you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or know someone who is, reach out for help. Do it over the phone or on the internet or through text message or whatever. Just do it. There’s no one in the world more you-er than you; and we need you!

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Guess I’ll go outside and listen to Brandon chide me for not being able to commit to things now. Can’t imagine why it’s hard for me to COMMIT to things.

Jesus lies about why he missed Regionals, Brandon tries to convince his moms to let him go on a band tour this summer, and Callie and Brandon decide to call it quits again. I don’t know where Jude is, and neither does Lena; she just wants to break down the pillow wall and make-up with her wife. Or, hells bells, man, maybe she just wants a bubble bath and a nap. I’ll bet she feels like she’s been stuck in a crowd with people firing cannons at her all day. I’ll bet she feels like she’s trapped in some lightning crossfire. Someone should write a song about it.

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Clear eyes, full hearts, I took down the pillow wall.

Next week: Lena explains to Mariana why boys aren’t good enough for her, and Rapunzel tries to get Callie to run away with him again.

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

10 Comments

  1. Best recap ever. As I was watching The Fosters last night, I was thinking, “I am having too many emotions right now and I really need an Autostraddle recap to process them!” And I pretty much laughed hysterically the entire time I was reading this, so thank you.

  2. As much as I dislike Sophia and her being a brat, I agree and I gotta give kudos to the actress as she is really good! Her declaration of her suicidal thoughts can be easily seen as an empty threat but man, when she walked into traffic just like that, I felt my heart jump out of my ribcage, I thought that was the end of Sophia. And I really admire what Callie did, to tell Robert and Jill the truth about Sophia’s suicidal ideation – I felt that she genuinely did that to get Sophia help, not to make things complicated. As a person who also had suffered from mild depression before and had 2 friends commit suicide at an early age, I can say that it is really important to recognize signs and to always have somebody to talk to and be that somebody they can talk to. All in all, this episode was great – felt lots of feelings and was written beautifully. PS at the end when there was the PSA, I almost forgot Maia aka Callie is ‘Strayan IRL, I just love her accent. Thanks for the recap!

  3. Bailee Madison, who plays Sophia, is good but the best thing about this show is always Stef and Lena.
    Great recap, amazing work. I really like this show and I couldn’t be happier Heather is recapping this.

  4. THEY HAD GIRLS IN THE TENT AND MADE OUT WITH THEM? WHAT? WHAT, NO?! I waited for MONTHS for this Jonnor moment and what? I will not accept this. I will not.

    On a different topic: I really disliked Sophia til this episode, but I don’t think she is just a spoiled brat, she is a sad sad spoiled brat and Bailee Madison is doing great.

  5. Hi hello someone PLEASE tell me what this reference is in the caption to the town full of lesbians? This is a reference, right? I want to read/watch/otherverb whatever it is it’s referring to!

    • I believe it’s a reference to Pretty Little Liars, which has an oddly disproportionate number of queer ladyfolk in town.

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