TV Review - The Fosters: Season 2

(l-r) David Lambert, Cierra Ramirez, Jake T. Austin,
Maia Mitchell and Hayden Byerly

Problems I had in Season 1 continue into Season 2, which has aspects that I wish the writers would drop. Unfortunately, they've sewn the seeds for these things, so they have to be reconciled.

David Lambert plays Brandon, the 16-year-old and eldest son of a lesbian couple that have become a foster family for four children. Two of whom have yet to be fully adopted.

At the end of last season, Brandon was attacked and his hand was supremely injured. This is serious because Brandon is an aspiring pianist and needs the use of his right hand. He could get surgery to fix it, but he runs the risk of losing the use of his hand all together. Meanwhile he has to hide the fact that he had sex with his father's girlfriend on the night that his father lost his sobriety.

Why the writers are doing all this to him and with him is mind-boggling. He is the least interesting character. In a show about foster children having to adjust to a new home, too much attention is given to Brandon who is the only one who isn't a foster child. He's the biological child of Stef Foster, played by Teri Polo, one of the lesbian moms here.

Brandon's struggles always pale in comparison or are always eclipsed by the struggles of the others. Hayden Byerly who plays Jude, the youngest of the foster children, is actually the most interesting and sadly he gets the least screen time, all because the show would rather see Brandon be sad about stuff or pine or be awkward with girls he could never be with.

Jude is a young boy who is perhaps wrestling with his sexuality. He has feelings for Conner, played by Gavin MacIntosh, and the show could do more with exploring it, but rather only gives us drips and drabs of it. Hopefully, the show will do more with Jude but we'll see. The most recent episodes have Jude being mute, which means even less for Jude.

Sherri Saum who plays Lena Adams, the other lesbian mom, is lovely. She's always good any time she's on screen. I could watch a show just about her. She's a great partner and counterpart to Polo. It's good chemistry. I love how Saum is with the children. She has a definite rapport with them.

The show seems to be drifting with Jesus and Mariana, played by Jake T. Austin and Cierra Ramirez respectively, the Hispanic twins. They're currently just placeholders. Again, hopefully the series will build to something, but they don't do more than have them dealing with typical teenager problems like fitting in or accepting the personalities of others. I honestly lost serious interest in Jesus' love triangle with Mariana's cheerleader friends. The twins might be interesting again if their biological mom is thrown back into the mix.

Finally, there's Callie, played by Maia Mitchell. She's the most troubled of all the foster children. Last year, when her character was put it in a group home, I thought the show was fantastic. It was like a teenage version of Orange is the New Black, and it was firing on almost all of its cylinders.

This year, Callie has to confront her biological father, Robert Quinn, played by Kerr Smith. I like Smith, but he is perhaps too young to play Callie's father, despite the grey that is naturally or unnaturally in his hair. It's obvious where this is going to go, but I'd be curious to see her chose to live with him. Yet, that's unlikely to happen.

Three Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Mondays at 9PM on ABC Family.