Shit hit the fan for just about everyone as the summer finale of Good Trouble saw each of our beloved characters facing a dilemma. This episode was titled “Disruptions” and what an appropriate title as very single character and scene had some sort of a disruption that had me mumbling “oh my God” under my breath.
Okay, enough of me rambling. Let’s jump into this recap.
Callie: Fed up, over it, and a new beginning
What an episode this was for Callie. From her personal life to her work life, she was really put through the wringer.
For starters, as we saw in last week’s episode, most of the Coterie girls and Mariana were making fun of her in their group chat. It initially broke her heart, but this week’s episode saw Callie over it.
However, her relationship with Mariana is still pretty broken. Earlier in the episode, we saw Mariana text Callie saying “I need you, can you talk?” but Callie flat out ignored it. However, she didn’t ignore the underlying issues between them for long as the two of them get into what is arguably their biggest fight yet.
“You’re my sister, Mariana. You’re supposed to have my back,” Callie tearfully said.
This is a far cry from last season when Mariana called and Callie dropped everything to be there for her sister. Not this time. Maia Mitchell’s acting here really sells this scene as she conveys just how hurt Callie is by everything Mariana has done.
The final scene of the episode shows Mariana coming home to find out Callie has left and moved in with Jamie. Callie’s letter to her sister is short and to the point, saying she’ll cover her part of the rent until the end of the lease or until Mariana finds a new roommate.
I’ve always been a big Callie and Jamie shipper, but her moving in with him is an awful idea. Why? Because Callie is using Jamie big time and it was obvious in this episode. He is her crutch when anything goes wrong in her life and it’s not fair to him, especially when she still has feelings for Gael.
Things also aren’t better for Callie at work. She’s stuck in the middle between Marcus and Teresa. In fact, it feels as if Marcus is jealous of the bond/mentorship Callie has with Teresa. Marcus says he has a firm willing to take on the class-action suit but Teresa warns her about how difficult and time consuming it will be. Callie discusses it with Jamie, who tells her there will be other cases but her passing the bar should be the top priority. Callie ultimately decides to take on the class action suit with Marcus and Teresa seems to purposely pile her with work out of anger for not heeding her warning.
The first half of season two has made Callie the underdog, but she has always found a way to rise above it, despite her own share of mistakes. I’m excited to see where the rest of season 2 takes her.
Mariana: The truth will set you free – literally!
One of the best parts of the first half of season two is the friendship between Mariana and Evan. After blowing up on him last week, Mariana apologized to him and the two patch things up. Evan even realizes he was overworking her to the point of her having a breakdown in the office.
However, their relationship took a turn in this episode. It is clear Evan has developed feelings for her. She was fixing his hair before a date and he had this longing look at her, forgetting all about the girl he was supposed to be meeting minutes later. When Mariana was helping him pick clothes for his date, he changed in front of her and she had to sneak a peek.
The girl Evan was going on a date with was Amanda, but something felt off about this whole ting. In case you forgot, Angela told Mariana that Amanda and Evan had feelings for each other. However, Amanda was fired and Evan was told she quit due to him being inappropriate with her. Later on, we find out that the “off-feeling” I had was because Amanda is not interested romantically in Evan anymore and is actually suing him for wrongful termination. Evan can’t seem to get a win here but the show does a good job of showing how little control the owner a company truly has.
This is made clear when Angela informs Mariana she had been fired. Mariana runs to Evan’s office, thinking that he was the one who dropped the axe – but it wasn’t! Enter Kendra, who was brought in to help run the company and “fix” the issues within. Now, Angela deserved to be fired due to the fact she knew about the sexual harassment and swept it under the rug. Evan is a nice guy but his Aspergers likely made him trust the wrong people and now he sadly paying for it.
Kendra also dropped a bomb on Mariana. She tells her that she is being removed as team leader for the time being. We don’t get a reason, but I have a feeling it has to do with the next thing she mentions. Kendra is launching an internal investigation into who leaked the employee salaries. Does she think its Mariana? We’ll have to wait until the show returns to find that out.
Between the drama at work and Callie moving out, this was not a good episode for Mariana. It will be very interesting to see how she’ll fix things moving forward.
Gael: The truth hurts
I’m starting this section off by saying I really don’t like Elijah. Gael took Elijah back, despite their rocky past, and this episode proved Elijah to be a manipulative, deceitful, and controlling asshole. Gael is what I call “a feeler”, someone who wears their heart on their sleeve and Elijah seems to have clearly taken advantage of that.
Gael skipped work last week to meet with a potential client and Tuesday’s episode saw him get the job, or so we thought. Later, he gets a call that the deal is off essentially because Elijah had paid for that review on his work and they don’t want that to reflect poorly on their company. Elijah completely destroyed Gael’s reputation and ruined his chance at making some money. The worst part? He seemed to not even care one bit and this led to the pair ending things. For Gael’s sake, I hope it’s for good.
Towards the end of the episode, we see Gael sitting outside in tears. He’s clearly hurt in more ways than one. It truly hurts to see Gael get hurt all over again and the dark place he finishes this first half of the season is really surprising.
Gael also had a massive blow-up with Callie but I don’t really understand why. He confronts Callie about Jamie buying his artwork and says some truly disgusting and hurtful things to her in the process; he goes so far as to call her a mistake, something that likely hurt Callie to the core.
“You were the one I trusted!” he yelled. “The one who I thought had my back but you’re just as full of shit as he is. You chose the right guy because he’s perfect for you.”
I got the sense that for Gael this whole blow up was less about the art and more about his jealousy that Callie chose Jamie over him. I mean, why else would he have so much anger towards Jamie? After all, Jamie helped Gael’s sister pro-bono, supported him at his art event, and bought his piece genuinely because he liked it. I do love Jamie and Callie together, but I don’t think Gael was fair to him there.
I also feel like that right there is why Callie moved out. Gael was likely the last person she thought she had as a friend. She could have lived with her arguments with Mariana and the Coterie girls talking about her, but Gael pushing her away was the last straw.
Davia and Dennis: Hurt feelings
The biggest cliffhanger from last week’s episode surrounded Davia’s feelings for Dennis. She was about to confess her feelings for him but Dennis tells Davia that he and his ex-wife Jennifer are trying to work things out. However, Davia later finds out this was a lie. In fact, they just signed the divorce papers. So what happened?
It looks like Alice may have messed things up. Dennis seems to have figured out Davia has feelings for him thanks to Alice probing him and got scared, thinking its too soon for all this. However, as the episode goes on it looks like it is deeper than that. Thanks to flashbacks, we see Dennis thinking back to his marriage and exactly why it fell apart. To make things even worse, Jennifer tells him she is pregnant and is planning to marry Nate.
This whole ordeal sees Dennis spiral back into depression as he is seen crying and looking at the mosaic he created of his son. Meanwhile, Davia is replaying her mother’s words about her being plus size and Dennis’ answer to the questions. It is clear that Davia thinks she was rejected because of her body and this is the farthest thing from the truth. I do hope these two will be able to open up to each other in the second half of the season.
Alice: Things get complicated
So let’s just jump into this one. I love Alice as a character and her story arc but in tonight’s episode, this was the storyline I cared about the least. Lindsay ends up kissing Alice as she gets ready to do her stand up set. However, it is clear Lindsay has other motives.
We find out that Joey broke up Lindsay and their partner. So it feels as if Lindsay kissed Alice to get back at Joey. Actually, that is exactly what they did. So does this mean Lindsay “helping” Alice with her comedy was all an act? Probably so.
Malika: Decisions and ramifications
Things seem to be getting serious between Issac and Malika and I’m glad. Issac seems like a real good guy and brings out the best in her. So he of course wants their families to meet and she agrees.
However, the Black Lives Matter chapter that she is a part of is being secretive about the disruption they’ve planned and she won’t find out details until the very last minute. Of course it ends up being the same night as her dinner with Issac and his parents, so she is going to try and make both although Issac has no ideas of her prior plans.
Remember a few weeks ago when I asked if we’ve seen the last of Judge Wilson now that Callie has a new job? Well, we got our answer to that! And the answer is no, Wilson is still around.
Malika soon finds out that the event they are protesting is one that is honoring Judge Wilson after getting appointed by the president to the Court of Appeals. Wilson recognizes her instantly and I have a feeling he won’t be as forgiving as he was earlier in season 2.
So, yeah. Shit has hit the fan.
Episode Notes
- Where the heck was Raj this episode? He got 20 seconds of screen time, if that. I do wonder if the writers are setting up for him to move in with Mariana.
- Joey had an affair with Lindsay’s girlfriend, but why didn’t they tell Alice? That’s one of the bigger questions I have moving forward into the second half of the season.
- Wilson seems to be the type of guy Trump would appoint. After all, Wilson is a corrupt man who used the death of a black boy for his own personal gain. I have no doubt that he’s going to be a big part of the second half of the season.
- As for Malika, if she is arrested and bailed out, can you imagine how awkward that family birthday dinner will be?
What did you think of the finale? Let me know in the comments below!
Good Trouble returns this winter for a two hour holiday special.