Recap/Review: “Good Trouble” 3×04

This week, we step away from The Coterie as the Adams-Foster family (minus Jesus) is reunited for a goodbye party for Eliza and Brandon at the Hunter mansion ahead of them leaving for their year in Amsterdam. 

But is it really an Adams-Foster/Hunter gathering without a few secrets coming out? I think not.

So with that being said, let’s jump into this recap, shall we?

Nothing Says Family Time Like… Dutch Clogs?!?

Mariana and Callie are reminded this week that while family time can be nice, it can also be super stressful. 

Callie is hesitant about attending the party in the first place because she’s worried about things being awkward with Jamie. But she decides to go anyway because it’s for Brandon and Eliza. 

Callie’s instincts were right. Things are really awkward between her and Jamie. But the tension between them is not the only tension in the house. Everyone seems to be keeping secrets from their parents and not even the ridiculous costumes can provide as a light-hearted distraction.

At dinner, everything comes out. Jamie informs his family that not only has he recently changed his voter registration from Republican to Independent, but also that he recently “quit” his job at the law firm and is now unemployed; Mariana shares that she also recently quit Speckulate after Act-ivism was taken over by white supremacists; Carter informs his parents that he’s transferring to UCLA for their film program (but also for Jude); Brandon and Eliza are still moving to Amsterdam but for Brandon’s job working with a composer, not hers like originally planned; and Callie shares that she’s quit her job at Legal Aid to work with Kathleen Gale and how she’s now working on Jerod’s defense team. 

One of the best scenes of the episode features all of the Adams Foster women — and eventually Brandon, too — hiding out in the bathroom to get away from the Hunter family craziness. In this scene, we see Stef and Lena quickly digest everything their kids revealed at the dinner table and quickly go to work comforting them. They remind them that even though it might not feel like it, they are doing just fine in life. Stef even gives Callie some advice re: the Jamie situation – it’s hard to be with someone who is so different from you and you need to figure out what you are and are not willing to compromise on.

Things end with Callie and Jamie having sex and talking about what went wrong between them. Callie points out that Jamie once told her that their values aligned “where it counted” but that proved be untrue when he lied to the tenants. If she has to compromise her morals to be with him, that’s not love. Jamie counters that Callie always felt like she was “compromising herself to be with [him]”.  Anyway, not a super great way to leave things.

Connor returns!

Yes, you read that headline right. Connor, who we last saw way back in season 3 of The Fosters, is on the wait staff for the caterers that have been hired for the party.

Everyone is shocked to see Connor again, especially Jude. Even though it’s been years since Connor moved to LA with his mom, it’s honestly like no time has passed. All throughout dinner, Connor and Jude make eyes at each other, silently laughing together at the Hunter family like old friends would do. They even share a kiss that had die-hard Jonnor fans everywhere screaming. 

But Jude stops him and tells him that he’s with Carter now. And now that Carter is out now to his dad (after a heartfelt and beautiful conversation between the two of them), he and Jude decide they want to be exclusive, even though it looks like it might include long distance in the future since Jude encouraged him not to follow him to UCLA just for the sake of their relationship.

Other Thoughts

• I really miss Jesus at these family reunions. I know Noah Centineo is super busy, but he can come back anytime now. K thanks.
• Eliza and Jamie’s dad making a joke about white supremacy – not cool. And thank gosh Callie called him out for it.
• So now that Stef and Lena know about Mariana dating Evan, I need to see all of them meet in some official capacity. 
• Corey returns and seeing him back with the Adams-Foster family was such a delight! I also love that Stef and Lena are going to foster his four-year-old half sister to prevent her from going in the system! 
• This week’s episode very much felt like an episode of The Fosters disguised as an episode of Good Trouble. I certainly won’t complain if we get one of these types of episodes every season. 

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

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