Recap/Review: ‘Good Trouble’ 2×18

“Our manifesto is simple: heal the trap within to heal the trap without.”

Good Trouble’s season two finale took the manifesto of Trap Heals to heart this week as we saw our characters work on themselves in order to try to fix all of the problems within their worlds. 

So without further ado, let’s dive in to this week’s episode!

Callie

This episode picks up right where things left off last week. Callie finds out that Jamie knew all along that they were planning on building a mental health jail at the site of the apartment complex she’s been trying to save. The two of them continue go back and forth on their differing opinions, with neither one of them backing down or changing the other’s mind. 

At Trap Heals, Callie casually asks the Black Lives Matter leaders if they’ve ever heard of Onway International to which Patrisse Cullors informs her that a sector of the company is “building the majority of prisons, jails and detention centers in the US.” This, of course, does not sit well with Callie.

The next morning, Callie confronts Jamie about whether or not he works for this particular sector of Onway. When he tells her he works for “not-for-profit prisons” instead of flat-out denying it, you can see her heart drop. Jamie tells her that this is one area where they’re going to have to respectfully agree to disagree but Callie doesn’t say anything as Jamie walks away. 

Instead, she calls Mariana over to give her some advice. While Mariana cautions her against potentially blowing up a relationship with someone she loves, she tells her that whatever she chooses should be what she believes in the most. It’s a nice moment between these two sisters who FINALLY made up after Mariana admits that she read Callie’s confession about wanting to be best friends with her sister again.

Jamie returns home from work and tells Callie that the tenants turned down Onway’s offer after some activist showed up and told them they planned to build a mental health jail. Callie clearly had her hand in that outcome as she already has her bags packed and decides to move back in to The Coterie, where she belongs. Although Callie and Jamie technically have not broken up yet, this scene is just writing on the wall for whats to come sooner rather than later. 

Later that night, Callie is laying on the couch at the Coterie and decides to head to the roof to clear her head. Gael comes out of his loft for a swim and, in a scene that very much mimics the one from the pilot, jokingly asks Callie whether or not she lives here, to which Callie replies that she just moved in with her sister. Personally, I love a good parallel and am currently shipping these two harder than I ever have. I cannot wait to see what’s to come for them in season 3. 

Mariana

Things kick off with a bang: Evan fires Raj for sending out the anti-woman manifesto. However, it’s not exactly what you think. The two of them, along with Mariana, are actually working together to prove that Alex and Sam are the ones who sent it. Before he “leaves the premises”, Raj turns the camera on his iPad on and ultimately gets them confessing to the crime on video.  

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. At the Trap Heals event, Mariana writes on the confession tree that she has feelings for Evan. Alice asks her where that leaves Raj, but Mariana says that she honestly doesn’t know.

At work the next day, Mariana decides to tell Raj about her feelings for Evan. “I didn’t want to [feel them] because I love you and I don’t want to because I want to be with you,” she tells him. He thanks her for her honesty and then comes clean having feelings for Isabella, which we see him tell Isabella herself at Trap Heals in a flashback. “And I’m not sure I don’t want to,” he continues. TEA SPILLED, Y’ALL. 

Mariana then confronts Isabella about the whole thing. “Now that I look back on a lot of things, I’m pretty sure you let him fall for you,” she tells her. But Isabella denies it, saying that maybe Mariana threw Raj at her so that she didn’t feel so bad about having feelings for her boss. Mariana suggests that they not live together anymore but since Isabella claims that she did nothing wrong, she’s not leaving.

Mariana, along with the rest of the Coterie ladies, are trying to figure out what to do about Isabella problem when Davia confesses that she saw Isabella hang her confession on the tree and couldn’t help but read it. Apparently, Isabella confessed to having sex with her roommate’s boyfriend. We never saw any scene that would have even remotely come close to ending with Raj and Isabella having sex so here’s my theory: Isabella had sex with a previous roommate’s boyfriend (or didn’t have sex with anyone’s boyfriend) but is just conveniently writing this now as a way to breakup Raj and Mariana. 

After hearing the news, Mariana heads back to Speckulate later that night (presumably – she’s wearing different clothes than the Coterie scene that took place prior to this so it’s hard to say when this sequence actually takes place) and Evan asks her what she’s doing there. Without saying anything, she leans in and kisses him. The two of them start taking each other’s clothes off and making their way to the couch for some sexy time. it’s ridiculous how much chemistry these two have, especially compared to the Raj/Mariana relationship. I absolutely cannot wait to see what’s in store for them when the show returns for season 3. 

Malika

Isaac accepts Malika’s invitation to attend Trap Heals, but is still feeling anxious so he’s hesitant to jump right in and party the night away. Malika encourages him to check out the healers and acupuncturists that Trap Heals offers and he says he’ll consider it; all he’s focused on is trying to be there for her. “I know you are,” she tells him. “But you can’t be here for me if you’re not taking care of yourself.” 

In addition to trying to help Isaac, Malika is also feeling the weight of her family issues. Both Dom and her dad accept their invitations to attend Trap Heals, but Dom still really wants nothing to with their dad based on their hella awkward interaction. Malika gives her dad back the Christmas gift that he gave to her to give to Dom. She tells him that if he wants Dom to have it, he has to give it to him himself. 

Dom and their dad finally have their long awaited heart-to-heart. Their dad gives him the Christmas gift, which was a model Mustang that was reminiscent of one Dom saw at a car show when he was a kid and loved. Their dad apologizes for not being there when he needed him. “I never forgot about you,” he tells him. “After 10 years in prison, I forgot how to be a father and how to be close to anyone.” Dom ultimately accepts his apology and is wiling to give him another chance.

The next day, Malika and Isaac are hanging out and she admits that she saw him go to one of the healers at Trap Heals. He tells her that he’s heard her this whole time and that he’s going to take her advice and seek professional help. Knowing that Isaac has decided to take care of himself, she decides this is the right time to come clean about the fact that she’s going to trial. She keeps chanting to herself “I got this”, like she’s trying to convince herself that that’s true, but Isaac just simply tells her, “No mam. We got this.” I was worried about how Isaac would react to this news, based on how he acted earlier this season, but he handled this perfectly. Isaac and Malika continue to remain total #relationshipgoals. 

Other Thoughts

• Some of the best stuff Good Trouble has done this season has been the scenes with Dennis in the group therapy sessions. Josh Pence deserves ALL of the awards.
• Speaking of Dennis, I legit SCREAMED when Dennis finally came clean to Davia about his feelings for her and they finally kissed. I’m so excited to see what a relationship between them looks like in season 3.
• Gael’s idea on what to do for with Jacob mural is perfect and made me cry for a good solid five minutes. 
• Good on Alice for FINALLY standing up to Lindsay. They’ve totally taken advantage of her and I can’t wait to see Alice clean the floor with them during this audition. 

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

Good Trouble airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Freeform.