Good Trouble Season 1 Episode 10 Review: Re-Birthday
Jasmine Blu
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Davia on her own is an acquired taste, but Davia's birthday parties are pretty damn epic!
The events of her re-birthday bash on Good Trouble Season 1 Episode 10, were an absolute blast, and it was another of those times when you wished you could hang out with The Coterie gang.
Yes, they have a crazy amount of drama, but there is also a lot of love and fun.
The hour also saw a guest appearance by another Foster alum, David Lambert. Oh, Brandon, it was so good to see you; beard and all.
If we're ranking the appearances of Foster-Adams family members, Stef and Lena remain at the top.
For one, they're Stef and Lena, but they were incorporated the best throughout the entire hour managing to share an equal amount of moments and screentime with both girls and connect with a couple of Coterie members too.
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Jude was mostly there for Callie. Jesus was there for Mariana, and he spent a surprising amount of time with Dennis and Rebecca. Brandon, much like Jesus, spent most of his time with Dennis and of course, they slipped in a classic Brallie scene in the end.
Brandon's issues were interesting in his struggle with not being a caretaker. Brandon doesn't know how to NOT be a caretaker, so his marriage to Eliza, Jamie's sister, has been a test for him.
Eliza isn't in the episode, but it was a painful reminder of how very wrong Brandon's marriage to Eliza was. It never felt right, and even here, it doesn't feel right.
On a personal note, Brandon is the Foster kid I relate to and love the most, and that hasn't changed. He's the classic case of someone who was destined to be successful only for life to not work out as planned.
It's frustrating for someone as promising as Brandon to not get what he hoped out of life, but it's also realistic, painfully so.
His wife is a success; she's a talented musician, and she makes the most money and spends most of her time traveling. When he was getting married to Eliza, his financial stability and employment were issues for Eliza's parents.
They wanted a more traditional marriage for Eliza where her husband was the primary breadwinner and supported her.
It's no surprise that Brandon's struggle with this is ongoing. It doesn't matter how evolved most people feel they are, particularly guys when faced with this type of situation, the insecurity, and feelings of emasculation sprout up.
You could feel the shame and embarrassment from him every time he ducked and dodged trying to avoid Jamie. It was disheartening. He's a good guy, and he had nothing of which to feel ashamed.
He's writing and pursuing his dreams, but he doesn't want to be a kept man. Eliza is supporting him while he composes music, but Brandon isn't the type to sit on his hands. He's driving people around for some extra cash and to not feel lonely while Eliza is away.
Fortunately, Dennis and Callie were there to put his situation into perspective and help him out. It warms the heart that Stef was there for Dennis and supportive of him -- a stranger, in ways that no one else probably has been for him in a while, and he returns the favor without trying.
Dennis: If you were bringing in all the bacon, and your wife needed to take the class, would she needed to ask permission?
Brandon: Well no, we'd discuss it.
Dennis: As equals. What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine. That would be if you were the one providing. You know what that makes you? An ass.
Dennis offering advice and guidance to Jesus and Brandon is more meaningful when you think of it that way. Den Dad Dennis was on a roll for the night. More than anything, he seems to be a guy driven to stop others from making the same mistakes that he has made. He doesn't want other people to hurt as he does.
He also fell into the pattern that everyone doling advice fell into during this hour. He gave profound advice to others -- advice he needed to take himself.
He flipped the roles to allow Brandon to consider his situation with Eliza. If he was the successful one who was making all of the money, and she needed to take a class, they would discuss it as equal partners.
Marriage is about a partnership, and Dennis was right about keeping secrets and letting resentments build and fester. It'll drive them apart if they don't talk about those things. Brandon couldn't allow his male pride and ego to screw things up either.
Dennis could speak to him as a man who understood, and Callie spoke to Brandon as his best friend.
It was refreshing for Brandon's visit to not turn into a moment where he was there to support Callie. It's not to say Callie hasn't been supportive of Brandon for years because she has, but he's always the one lending an ear, offering advice, and trying to help her sort through things.
Callie: You're welcome to hang out here. There is always someone to talk to and plenty of drama as you saw.
Brandon: Any of that drama involves that Latin demi-god in the backseat? What was his name?
Callie: Gael, maybe a little.
Brandon: Must be tough living in the same place together.
Callie: Well it's not like we can just avoid running into each other.
Callie knows Brandon's history and how he spent most of his life caring for other people. His caretaker tendencies are neck and neck with her savior complex. For the first time, Brandon is in a relationship with someone where he isn't the white knight, and he doesn't know how to deal with it.
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It was nice to see Callie reassure him and advise him. They have such an easygoing, genuine bond. As expected, he figured out there was something between Callie and the Latin demi-god, Gael.
Were there any Foster fanatics chuckling when he mentioned how difficult it probably is for Callie to live with Gael given her feelings for him? It's not Callie's first trip at the rodeo. While her and Brandon's circumstances were convoluted, Brallie is proof you can make it work when you have to do so.
Callie and Gael made amends, which was necessary particularly Callie's apology. I'm happy they decided to become friends. While they claim there was more to their relationship than sex, it's also true they jumped into bed together the first night Callie was there, and they never took the time to become real friends. They need that.
I like where they are now, but it does shroud their respective other relationships in this uncertainty. Similar to Gael, Jamie spoke his mind and told Callie she needed to make a decision. He has no problem being her friend, but she kept him in limbo, and he wanted to know where their relationship stood because it wasn't working for him.
Look, if you want my legal advice and a confidante, let's be friends, OK? Because friends with sometimes benefits on your terms when you want; it's not working for me.
Jamie
He's a genuinely kind person who accommodated Callie in ways he didn't need to, and he deserved to know where they stood. He shouldn't be treated as a rebound either, so the uncertainty lies there.
He was shockingly fun and easygoing at Davia's bar crawl. While he has never been super uptight, he had a reserved quality to him which made him dancing shirtless with a go-go dancer at a gay bar a delightful surprise!
I cautiously like where the quadrangle is now. Callie is choosing to be serious with Jamie. She's afraid of any romantic relationship it seems, but for now, they work.
My wariness with Gael and Bryan remains. I love them as a couple, but I can't shake Gael using Bryan, and it's not fair to Bryan. Gael was openly jealous of Jamie the entire evening, and by the time Bryan kissed Callie, he had to leave.
As a side note, the kiss was like scratching an itch from Good Trouble Season 1 Episode 2 when Bryan was giving off these very intense vibes of him being a predator and Callie being his prey. I guess you can't fault the guy for wanting to see what the hype was about, but I was grateful Davia shut down his Callie diss rooted in his insecurity.
Bryan point-blank asked Gael if he chose him by default. It's a fair question. It sucks Gael flipped it on Bryan and made it about Bryan trusting him and his feelings. Gael never answered the question.
Despite those concerns, it's hard not to get swept up in the pairing. Bryan is in love with Gael, full-stop, and Gael does care about Bryan. He has a way of treating Bryan as though he's the only person in the room. Gael brings all the sexy with Callie, but the romance comes with Bryan.
Speaking of sexy men and guarded women, Malika and Isaac are an adorable couple. Isaac is her perfect match. Despite how he started things with his bias almost leading to him missing out on a good thing, he is damn near perfect.
I overheard you and Callie arguing the other night. I know she broke up with you. So what I need to know is if she hadn't would you have still chosen me?
Bryan
He's patient with Malika, observant, and kind, and he knows how to call her out and challenge her. He noticed she wasn't opening up to him, but he brought it up in due time.
He didn't badger her about it, but he did let her know how aware he was of her attempts to deflect and keep him out. He didn't mind their surface-level discussions, but he wasn't afraid to bring up how she didn't share anything personal or intimate with him at all.
Malika is a guarded person with a troubled past, and she protects her heart. It's a sign she's with a decent guy if he noticed all of this soon and challenged her on it. It's cute how they made getting to know her better a competition. They work best when they're engaging in some light competition.
Though he lost, Malika respected and appreciated his approach and what he had to say, so she shared with him anyway. I loved how he gently and kindly pointed out the hypocrisy of her advising Alice to do things she couldn't bring herself to do.
It's funny how advice works. It's easier to give it to others, but it's much harder to take heed of it yourself. I was smirking along with Isaac when Malika was giving Alice another pep-talk.
Malika didn't give him much; she told him about her mother being an addict and mentioned how she's not close to her or her brother, but it was a start.
Malika: Oh you don't know me intimately?
Isaac: I know your body. What about your mind?
Malika: What man wants to know a woman's mind?
Isaac: This one.
Malika's advice also prompted Alice to pursue Joey again. She liked Joey, and they had chemistry, but she kept letting Sumi get in the way of things. She also wanted to be upfront about how her being closeted with her parents interferes with her relationships too.
I was proud of her when she called Joey and relieved when Sumi overheard it and walked away. Sumi plays too many games. The first thing she does when Meera is away is finagled her way into being Alice's plus one, kiss her, flirt with her, and reminisce and make moves all night.
Alice cannot move on if Sumi keeps toying with her when she's bored. If she cares about Alice at all, she'll leave Alice be. Alice needs to free herself and move on, and hopefully, she's doing it for real this time with Joey.
Davia is moving on too. It took long enough. Dennis and Davia's relationship is difficult to define. Sometimes, they seem like friends; other times, frenemies describes them better.
It's like they lowkey hate each other, but they also can't NOT be around each other.
It's reminiscent of pigtail pulling schoolyard crushes, to the point of I wonder if they'll do something reckless like sleep with each other by the end of the season, but then they also come across like siblings who fight and hate each other but always have each other's backs too -- because, you know, family.
Malika: You cool being in a place like this?
Isaac: Why wouldn't I be? One of my brothers is gay.
Malika: Oh.
Isaac: And I don't *still* accept him. Just like I don't expect him to accept me for being hetero, and I hate the word straight. It just assumes everything else is bent.
What the heck is it?!
Dennis is not a perfect person, and it's because of that he's one of the most intriguing new characters on this series and a favorite. He's not perfect, and he knows he isn't, but he goes out of his way to make sure people don't repeat his mistakes.
Did he overstep with the Davia and Jeff situation? Yes. He spent the whole night listening to her fret over Jeff not being her friend and didn't say a word about Jeff's visit.
Did I blame him for punching Jeff out and telling him about himself? Hell no. Dennis' protective mode was activated, his self-loathing was activated, and he's still pissed about his "friend" banging his wife.
I'm not saying I giggled in glee when he punched Jeff, but I'm not saying I didn't either. Dennis' words to Jeff were powerful. He gave Jeff the ultimatum Davia couldn't, and Jeff knew everything Dennis said was right.
The heated exchange between Davia and Dennis was intense, but for everything Dennis told her, she was also correct in what she said to him.
Dennis: You want to know what I told him after I hit him?
Davia: You hit him?!
Dennis: I told him that you're trying to move on. I told him you're trying to learn to love yourself, respect yourself, believe that you are worthy of love fully and exclusively, Davia because you are. I told him that if he can't be that person; if he can't be the person that you need, then he should leave. Which he did.
Davia: And what do you know about love and self-respect? You hate yourself, Dennis! How about I start treating myself with respect when you do.
Dennis is unhappy and self-loathing, and what good is telling everyone about themselves if he can't do the same for himself? If he wanted Davia to take steps toward learning to love herself and open herself up to being treated better and knowing her worth, he has to be willing to do the same.
Hell, since they make all the age jokes, it's only right if he as the older one leads by example, yes?
Everything he told Brandon and Davia, he needed to apply to himself, and he took a step towards that when he texted Jennifer. He went from being willing to give her everything in the divorce despite not having the best prospects to financially support himself, to taking a small stand.
Jennifer is a difficult person to make sense of; her interactions with Dennis are of someone who cares deeply for him and wants the best for him. But then she's the person who started a full relationship with one of his friends and never told him.
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Her frosty response to him saying he wanted half of the money from the house was to wonder if he only requested something because of her new relationship and that he should speak to her lawyer from that point forward.
Which is it, Jennifer? If he's giving her everything else in the divorce, and he changed his mind about wanting half of the money from selling their house, which is more than reasonable, why did she get in her feelings?
Maybe there is a part of her pleased with his self-loathing and flagellation because of her lingering blame, hurt, and punishment against him.
Dennis is making some strides in getting his personal life together, and the "glorified dorm of entitled millennials" does help him more than anyone could guess, but I hope he opens up to someone at some point.
Somehow, Jeff weaseled himself into Davia's life again despite Dennis' warnings. Davia fell for him as usual. This time, however, Dennis' words must have sunk in.
Davia: I can't be in a relationship with someone going nowhere year after year. You need to go.
Jeff: What if I told you I'm leaving my wife?
Davia was telling anyone who would listen about her re-birthday, and she was there starting her new year off falling back into old habits. She wanted a fresh start for a reason.
She made a move to call it quits with Jeff, and it could be empowering, but we don't know how she's going to respond to his claim about leaving his wife.
Will she believe him this time? He said all of that to her before; what makes this time any different?
On the wholesome side of things, Mariana took a bit of the backseat once more, but the friendship between Raj and Mariana is precious.
He's now ostracized and teased on their team by Sam and Alex, but he's taking it in stride, and he doesn't regret standing up for Mariana (and himself). He was Mariana's plus one, and he knew it wasn't a date, but you can also tell his feelings for her linger.
She wants to keep him as a friend, but she also has a way of saying things that highlight the heart-eyed elephant in the room.
Their agreed upon 'shipper name is Maraj, and she was the one who settled it. I love how she made light of the situation, and it's a cute 'shipper name.
Do you think there is any chance they could become something more?
Mariana: You know personally I like Miraj as a shipper name.
Raj: Miraj it is.
Tidbits:
- Callie looked gorgeous, and I love it when she's out of her work clothes.
- Gael hugging Malika while they waited to leave for the bar crawl made me think of all the Coterie dynamics the show hasn't explored yet.
- Davia is a handful, for lack of a better word, but I would love to experience one of her birthday bashes! I need a life, as I have never once had such an outing, and it looks like a blast.
- Davia is THAT person who talks about their birthday for two months, celebrates it for the whole month, and expects everyone to treat it like a National holiday.
- Shirtless Beau Mirchoff dancing his heart out is a sight to behold. I could not stop laughing.
- I'm bummed Brandon and Mariana barely had screentime together. Hopefully, Brandon can return to the show on a happier occasion.
- Latin Demi-god is another fantastic nickname for Gael. Forgive me for objectifying the man, but he's gorgeous to the point of distraction.
- Why did Davia purposely exclude Dennis from the festivities but wanted him to be there? What is their deal?!
Over to you, Good Trouble Fanatics! Let's discuss all your thoughts, feelings, and speculation in the comments below!
You can watch Good Trouble online here via TV Fanatic!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
