‘Good Trouble’ 1×09 recap: Malika makes amends in emotional episode

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Good Trouble Season 1 Episode 9 titled “Willful Blindness”. Please do not read if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk.

Tuesday’s episode of Good Trouble brought tears, frustration, and amends for our beloved characters as the show once again proved that growing up is hard to do.

The episode  sees Malika (Zuri Adele) finally come face to face with her mother. Malika’s brother Dom (J. Mallory McCree) comes to her job with a letter from their mother. Okay first of all, how hard was it to watch her face go from excited when she thought her brother was there to genuinely see her to sad when he mentioned their mom? So sad.

Malika talks with Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), who can relate to Malika’s struggles for anyone who remembers all of the ups and downs she had with Ana throughout The Fosters run. Malika decides to not read the letter and goes to see her mom in person.

Malika goes over to her mom’s house and this scene really had my emotions all over the place. Her mom is very manipulative and that was evident in this particular scene. Her mom still blames Malika for calling CPS when her and Dom were little, saying she betrayed the family. However, she’s willing to apologize if Malika does. As we know, Malika wants nothing to do with her mom but she does want a relationship with Dom. So she sacrifices her own happiness for a relationship with her brother. Her mom then says she owes her money and this causes Malika to have a breakdown in her car afterward.

While crying in her car, she sees Dom run to buy their mom some beer. So clearly, their mom is not clean and is just using Dom. The siblings get into a fight over this; Malika begs Dom to leave and come back with her, but he refuses.

Meanwhile, Callie (Maia Mitchell) was extremely annoying this week. First, in regards to Rebecca’s (Molly McCook) scandal, Callie says if someone is being victimized like Rebecca is, it is up to the people in power to do something about it. However, it almost felt as if Callie wanted to tell Rebecca’s story for her and that was definitely not the right way to go about it. Rebecca’s story is her own and she should tell it if and when she is ready to.

Rebecca does file a sexual harassment complaint against Judge Handelman and informs Judge Wilson (Roger Bart) of her decision, even hinting about how he knows and is doing nothing about it. She ultimately decides to leave her clerkship with Wilson early, taking the job in Denver to give herself a fresh start. The show did an excellent job of tackling the massive #MeToo movement with this storyline.

Callie also gets into it with Gael (Tommy Martinez), but not the fun kind. A few episodes ago, Callie wanted to stop having sex with him to focus on work, but now she’s coming up with any excuse she can to show up in his loft. Gael calls her out on what she is doing, saying the second she is done playing out her “Latino lover fantasy, [she] has time for good ol’ All American Jamie”. But Callie isn’t having it. I mean, as someone who likes these two together – he is right. Callie is playing with him and using him for her advantage. In my opinion, that’s just not cool.

Episode Notes:

• Judge Wilson files a complaint against Judge Handelman, which is good. But the bad news? Wilson ruled in against letting Jamal Thompson’s family see Officer Griffin’s personnel files. Not good news, especially considering what Callie knows about his son’s case.
• Anyone else wish Stef was part of the cast again? She really could have been great in that Malika scene with her mother.

What did you make of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Good Trouble airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.