Good Trouble Season 1 | Episode 10 “Re-Birthday” Review

It’s Davia’s birthday on Good Trouble this week, so you know she has an epic bar crawl challenge planned for her Coterie gang and their plus ones. Of course, no birthday party is complete without its fair share of drama and questionable relationships. There’s the whole Callie-Gael-Bryan-Jamie love rectangle. Then there’s Alice and Sumi’s whole situation. Dennis even comes between Jeff and Davia. At least Malika’s on the right track with Isaac. Mariana’s also bonding with Raj during the party. Oh, and a surprise appearance from another Adams Foster sibling, Brandon, who comes with his own problems.

So, let’s break down these relationships!

Love Rectangle

The love rectangle between Jamie, Callie, Gael and Bryan has been going on for a while, but it seems that Callie and Gael have finally made their choices. Previously, we saw them decide to stop distracting each other, and then they had an explosive argument that Bryan witnessed. Now, Jamie is Callie’s plus one and Bryan is Gael’s. Things get interesting when Jamie questions why Callie didn’t tell him about her no longer seeing Gael. To her, it’s irrelevant to her and Jamie. Her answer prompts him to ask that defining “what are we” question because being “friends with sometimes benefits on her terms” isn’t working for him anymore. He wants more, and that’s been obvious since they first connected on The Fosters. Thankfully, at the end of the episode, she texts him that she’s ready for some exclusivity. Yesss!! Jamie and callie all the way please! 😊

Things aren’t as simple for Bryan and Gael. They’re exclusive now, but Bryan has some warranted trust issues after witnessing Callie being the one to break up with Gael. He sees the way Gael keeps eyeing Callie and Jamie all night, and I guess decides to make Gael jealous by kissing Callie for the “kiss a stranger or someone you’ve never kissed before” challenge. Well, it works. Gael storms out of the club. Davia encourages Bryan not to feel insecure about his relationship since Gael chose him, but he keeps remembering that fight. Later, after Callie and Gael apologize and agree to get to know each other as friends, Bryan asks Gael if he still would have been chosen had Callie not broken up with him. Gael assures him that he doesn’t regret his choice, but if Bryan doesn’t trust him, then their relationship won’t work. They’re okay right now, but I have a feeling it won’t stay this way for long.

Self Respect

It’s Davia’s birthday and she’ll cry and mope over a married man if she wants to. That’s not the case the whole party, she does actually enjoy herself, but she’s also bummed Jeff totally bailed on her birthday. At least, to her knowledge he did. Actually, he did come into town to surprise her, but Dennis intervened with a punch to the face. Davia learns this when Jeff calls her after she texts him towards the end of the night. When she confronts Dennis about it, he says he told Jeff that she’s trying to move on, love and respect herself, and believe that she’s worthy of love fully and exclusively because she is worthy of that love. He told Jeff that if he’s not that person for her, then he should leave, and Jeff did. Davia doesn’t seem to appreciate Dennis’ kind words, though, as she questions what he knows about love or self-respect since he hates himself. Just when I was annoyed with her, Davia realizes that Dennis was right. She pushes Jeff off her when they’re making out and says she can’t be in a relationship anymore that’s going nowhere year after year. As he’s about to leave, though, he says he’s leaving his wife. Ugh. I really hope she doesn’t fall for this BS.

Other Notes:

• This might be an unpopular opinion, but I found Brandon’s storyline for this episode to be random and irrelevant? It didn’t really connect to any other storyline like Jesus’ or Stef and Lena’s did. Sure, as a fan of The Fosters, it’s nice to get an update on his life and marriage struggles, but him being thrown into the episode as a “Coache” (Uber/Lyft) driver is just random. I do sympathize with him, though. He’s married into a rich family and his wife got a job before she even graduated. Meanwhile, he’s struggling to make his own money. On top of that, Eliza’s always gone/working, so he’s lonely. Driving people around makes him feel less so. Callie encourages him to talk to his wife about what he’s been feeling, which Dennis also advised him to do.

• I am 100% here for Malika and Isaac. The way he’s trying to “courtship” her. The way he wants to know her mind, not just her body. Their chemistry and playful competitiveness. I’m here for it all.
• After Sumi invites herself to be Alice’s plus one to the party, she pretty much plays on Alice’s feelings by reminiscing on their good memories together. She even kisses her to “clean Alice’s pallet” after Gael kissed her for the “kiss a stranger or someone you’ve never kissed before” challenge. Malika confronts Alice about letting Sumi take advantage of her and encourages her to take a risk with Joey. Thankfully, Alice gets the message and practically begs Joey for that second date through a series of voicemails, one of which she says she’s 100% over Sumi. Unfortunately, Sumi overheard that, and now I worry she’ll do something.
• Raj is Mariana’s plus one since they’ve gotten a lot closer after he went to bat for her at work. I’m totally here for this friendship. I think Raj still wants more, but personally, I’m rooting for Mariana and Evan (Speckulate CEO). 😊

Good Trouble airs Tuesdays at 8/9c on Freeform!

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