There are a lot of reasons Freeform probably decided to go with a Fosters spinoff about Callie and Mariana, but one of the reasons for sure had to be the onscreen chemistry between Maia Mitchell and Cierra Ramirez. Whether fighting or friendly, dealing with the hard stuff, or, you know, trying not to lose it when forced to wear traditional Dutch garb at a small family party, Mitchell and Ramirez have an easy, natural back-and-forth. Their scenes always have a snap to them.
That chemistry is fully on display in “Making a Metamour.†Now that Mariana is working as Kathleen’s receptionist (seriously, such a fun, smart move), Mariana is all up in Callie’s business in every sense of the word. Callie is always going to Callie, so at first, she is nothing but annoyed at her sister’s presence around the office. It’s understandable, of course, since Mariana doesn’t hesitate to talk about Callie’s two stints in juvie or that time she took a bat to her foster father’s car. Tony and Rowan love this new stream of info on their colleague — they even test out yet another nickname, Criminal Callie, but thankfully it doesn’t stick because it’s terrible. Callie was worried that Mariana working at her law firm would lead to awkward situations like this, and that worry comes true almost immediately.
But Mariana had her concerns about working with her sister, too. Mostly, she was worried that Callie would underestimate her. That worry also comes to fruition pretty quickly. As Callie, Rowan, and Tony are interviewing Tommy’s classmates who were at the party where Zack died to see if any of the statements they gave the police are off, Mariana keeps texting Callie things she’s noticing about the people they’re questioning: One guy is definitely on steroids, she should ask about “roid rageâ€; another smells like weed, she should ask if he was high at the party in question; etc. Callie uses some of this info, but mostly finds her sister’s intrusions annoying.
But it turns out Mariana is actually onto something with the last person they interview: Katie, Tommy’s girlfriend. Katie is there to convince the jury that Tommy is a sweet boy who would never hurt his best friend. Although she can’t say she was with Tommy every second of the party, she knows he’s innocent. When Callie asks about Tommy and Zack’s relationship, and if anyone had issues with Zack, Katie starts crying because she knows Tommy would never do anything like this. Mariana is sure Katie’s faking it — she even demonstrates how easy it is to fake cry, much to Tony and Rowan’s delight. Something’s up with Katie, and Mariana is sure of it.
She’s so sure of it that she goes on a social-media deep dive and learns that Katie never followed Zack on any social-media platforms, and that’s super-suspect for a high-schooler not to follow their boyfriend’s best friend unless something’s up. Even Callie has to admit that’s something they should look into. Callie’s under a lot of pressure because, as Kathleen made clear, there’s a lot on the line here (Kathleen has a big outburst about it at one point). Not only could a 19-year-old go to prison for life for something he didn’t do, but Kathleen knows that if they lose this trial, Tommy’s dad won’t tell her where his sister Denise is, and finding Denise alive is the only way for Kathleen to get out of her troubles with the FBI. With evidence piling up against Tommy, they need to find another possible suspect.
When Callie and Mariana look further into Katie’s social-media accounts, they find that Katie has a private finsta (a fake or secret Instagram account, for us olds), and they’re sure she must be hiding some incriminating photos from the party on it. Mariana suggests talking to Katie’s friend Izzie rather than bringing in Katie again, and it’s the right call. It’s Mariana and Callie who end up questioning Izzie, and Mariana is a natural. She puts Izzie at ease and gets her to admit that Katie didn’t like Zack at all and Tommy would do whatever Zack asked. Rowan and Tony watch in awe at the “sleuthing sisters†doing their thing, and when Tony said he’d watch a sleuthing sisters show, wow, I felt that.
When Mariana brings up the finsta to Izzie, Izzie gets cagey, says that she doesn’t know anything about it and needs to get going, basically confirming the Adams Foster sisters’ suspicions that there’s some incriminating stuff on there that might be pertinent to the case. Callie presents their hunch to Kathleen, and good on Callie to make sure Kathleen believes it was a full team effort — she’s not throwing Tony and Rowan under the bus because she’s a team player. Also, she probably wants them to knock it off with the fucking nicknames already.
Kathleen’s impressed and tells them to keep at it. The sisters’ next step is to get Katie to accept their follower request on her finsta account (Mariana made up an account, “caturdaynightlive,†to entice the cat lover). It works! They see that yes, there are pictures from the party on the account! This could be exactly what they need to help clear Tommy! Those girls did it! Well, almost. Katie deletes her account before they can get a closer look at the pictures. Izzie must have tipped her off. Not to worry, the Adams Foster sisters work so well together, it’s only a matter of time before they figure out what’s going on with Katie. Their moms would be so proud!
Hey, speaking of close teammates, Malika is officially in her first poly relationship! She tells Dyonte that Isaac chose to leave and she’s choosing to move forward with her life. That means she wants to pursue a relationship with Dyonte. It also means that she wants to have sex with him real bad. Friends, it is steamy. Unfortunately for Malika, this relationship isn’t just hot humping — the next day, Dyonte asks if Malika would be up for a metamour date. In poly relationships, “metamour†is a term for your partner’s partner — Dyonte wants Malika and Tanya to meet. It’s a way to keep everything transparent, sure, but also sounds pretty awkward, especially for someone who is new to all of this.
Still, Malika goes to meet Tanya for a drink. It’s not so bad! The two hit it off and seem to get along. Tanya loves how passionate Malika is about her work at Dignity and Power Now and even mentions that she’d love to donate her time and marketing skills, but Dyonte’s never taken her up on it. Malika, perhaps just feeling good from the easy conversation, tells Tanya she should definitely come do that. That feels like a mistake, but what do I know?!?
The only bump this meetup hits is when Malika starts talking about Dyonte’s work at DPN and it becomes clear he hasn’t shared all of this with Tanya. She seems a bit put off. Perhaps that’s why the next night, just as Malika and Dyonte are about to have sex again, she texts Dyonte their signal for “I really need you right now.†It’s an agreement they have, and since Malika knows that Tanya is Dyonte’s primary, she tells him it’s fine. She knows he needs to go.
The next day at work, Dyonte apologizes and Malika finally gets honest with him: This poly stuff is hard for her! It’s all so new and they’re moving really fast. She wasn’t at all ready to meet Tanya and only agreed to it because she “didn’t want to do poly wrong.†Dyonte assures Malika there isn’t a wrong way to do this and that she needs to be comfortable, too. They can slow things down. Of course, that might be difficult now that Tanya has arrived to volunteer at DPN. She and Dyonte seem excited; Malika, not so much.
Family Dinner
• The Davia and Andre relationship remains a highlight. She’s so proud watching him get passionate about standing up against policing at their school, but when a protest he plans doesn’t go well, Davia ends up chatting with Andre’s mom, who is worried that although Davia cares about Andre, she might not be the best mentor for him as he dips his toe further in activism. He needs someone who understands what activism means for him, a young Black boy, and Davia can’t do that. Davia agrees — Davia has grown so much over three seasons, hasn’t she? — and so she hooks him up with Malika. Malika gets Andre involved with a student group at Dignity and Power Now and Andre is thriving.
• Davia and Matt are playing footsies under the desk now? FOOTSIES?! It’s almost too adorable. It’s no secret I’m very pro Davia and Dennis reuniting because those two bring some HEAT, but Matt is so, so sweet, and he adores Davia, and he says he can be extremely patient as she gets her house in order. Matt is making a real strong play here, okay?
• Oh wow, Rowan and Tony are right: That Charles Sackett guy from Kathleen’s old law firm who shows up to complain about the FBI looking into their books and also to creepily hit on Kathleen for old times’ sake has definitely earned the nickname Sack of Shit.
• Gael — who is definitely the father of Isabella’s baby — ends up going back to Yuri to take him up on his offer to paint pieces for Yuri to sign his name so that Gael can get a cut. Yuri punishes him a bit at first but also wants to teach him, it seems? I mean, he still wants to plagiarize Gael’s work, so let’s not give him too much credit.
• Because of their wildly different schedules, Callie and Gael haven’t had much time for one another, and it definitely doesn’t help that their shower sex gets interrupted by Isabella puking in the nearby toilet. Isabella decides to do something nice for them and sets up breakfast so the two can spend time together. Everybody’s being so kind to each other these days!
• These 20-somethings out here feeling old because they have to pay taxes and don’t get all of the youths’ hashtags? Bless their hearts. Wait until they start getting gray hairs, have hangovers that last a week, and have to get their cholesterol checked.
• “You act kind of old sometimes, but we are still mostly young.†Mariana isn’t wrong about Callie, guys.