Review: The Fosters 4x19 "Who Knows"

4,993 words

38 minute read

Originally written: April 5, 2017

STEF, LENA AND BRANDON - MOMS' ROOM - SAME NIGHT

Stef: What was this letter doing in your pocket?

Tonia:  Nothing!  You know, Jesus just was telling Brandon what a good brother he was, so Brandon reciprocated and Jesus thought better of frisking him…

Review: The Fosters 4x18 "Dirty Laundry"

3,218 words

25 minute read

Originally written: March 29, 2017

MARIANA APPROACHING GABE OUTSIDE HIS APARTMENT.  HE APPEARS TO BE PACKING HIS THINGS

Mariana: Gabe!  Hey!  What's going on?  What are you doing?  I...tried calling you but your phone's disconnected...

Gabe: Uh, yeah.  I am, uh, moving.  Got a job in Lake Tahoe, so...

Mariana:  Wait.  You what?  Were you gonna tell us?

Gabe:  Of course.  Yeah.  Just...it happened really fast and...  So, why were you looking for me?

Mariana:  Jesus and I wanna build this massive treehouse and - I don't know - I thought that you could help.  

Tonia:  Uh-oh.  Mariana found you, Gabe.  And you don’t seem like you’re doing well.  Hope you’re okay.  (I’m also with Mariana, please don’t leave without saying anything.  That’s so hard.)

Review: Speechless 2x05 "N-I--NIGHTMARE ON D-I--DIMEO STREET"

758 words

6 minute read

On the Halloween episode of Speechless, JJ, Ray and Dylan are all looking for the Halloween candy, while their parents are out.  In a moment of positive representation, we see JJ finding the candy with the help of a Gopher type tool.

[Image is: a pumpkin-shaped bowl full of candy corn beside jack-o-lantern stencils for eyes and a smile]

Disability on The Fosters

94 words

1 minute read

5x17-5x19 Stef / Grace / Jesus

5x16 Giving Up The Ghost

5x14-5x15 Scars - Mother's Day

5x13 Line In The Sand

5x12 #IWasMadeInAmerica

5x11 - Invisible

5x10 - Sanctuary

5B - Promo

5x09 - Prom

5x08 - Engaged

5x07 - Chasing Waterfalls

5x06 - Welcome to the Jungler

5x05 - Telling

5x04 - Too Fast, Too Furious

5x03 - Contact

5x02 - Exterminate Her

5x01 - Resist

4x20 - Until Tomorrow

4x19 - Who Knows

4x18 - Dirty Laundry

4x17 - Diamond in the Rough

4x16 - The Long Haul

4x15 - Sex Ed

4x14 - Doors and Windows

4x13 - Cruel and Unusual

***

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Review: The Fosters 4x17 "Diamond in the Rough"

4,287 words

33 minute read

Originally written: March 22, 2017

JESUS AND LENA - DINING ROOM TABLE - RUNNING FLASHCARDS

Lena: [holds up a picture of a car]

Jesus:  [sighs, softly] Car.

Lena:  Good.  [holds up a picture of a lamp]

Jesus:  L-l-lamp.

Lena:  Nice.  [holds up a card that reads 'pony']

Jesus:  Where's the--the picture?

Lena:  Nope.  No picture this time.  What's it say?

Tara: I have soooooo many feelings about this scene.  It is obvious to me that Lena has been tipped off about Jesus’s reading difficulties.  For the record, this is a really crappy way to confirm said difficulties.  I would even go so far as to say that it’s cruel.  Forcing Jesus to do something he is not physically able to do?  Actively humiliating him, when a one-on-one conversation would accomplish the same thing?  I expect far more of Lena, who has a background in child psychology and education.  

Also, just the way she is speaking to him - terse and not at all warm.  The whole situation is super disheartening.

Tonia:  Agreed.  Lena's going out of her way here to humiliate Jesus here, which is in no way okay.  

Review: The Fosters 5B Promo

563 words

4 minute read

Lena (to Jesus):  Honey, you're not broken.  And I promise you that we're gonna stop making you feel that way.

It's four seconds.  But it's a powerful four seconds that I need more than 280 characters to talk about.

Review: The Little Mermaid

2,861 words

22 minute read

Ever since I first watched Disney's The Little Mermaid in theaters when I was eight, I have strongly connected to Ariel's story.  A girl who longs for a connection to people who walk, and for legs that work like everyone else's, not a tail / walker / wheelchair / crutches?  I totally related.  I felt bonded to Ariel from the first moment I saw her:

[This is me, at eight years old, the year The Little Mermaid was released in theaters.  I was in awe.]

Though I am sure my review of this movie would have been profoundly different had I done it as a third grader, I'm doing it now, and I will do my best to share my initial thoughts on what spoke to me and why, as I remember it.