‘The Fosters’ season 4, episode 1 review: Nick, a gun, and lingering fear
Say what you will about some horror-based TV shows that are out there, but Monday night’s new episode of “The Fosters” may have been among one of the most terrifying hours we have watched in some time. It was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching to watch, and we assume that one of the biggest reasons why is primarily due to the fact that it felt so true to live and paced in such a way that it allowed pain, doubt, and fear to dwell inside your brain.
The terror of the hour truly began when it was revealed that Nick was acting unstable, and had arrived to school without actually going to class. He met briefly with Mariana, and not long after, it was determined that he had taken his father’s gun and was on the loose on-campus with it.
There was not a single bullet fired by Nick over the course of the hour; instead, the only one that was came from a substitute teacher who had brought a gun to school for some reason. Yet, the fact that Nick ended the hour still at-large is terrifying in its own way. Maybe he doesn’t intend to kill anyone; maybe he’s just confused, left untreated, and wants answers in the most demanding way possible. He’s unspeakably dangerous, and it’s a testament to the writing just how uncomfortable this episode was, not knowing how the Adams Foster family was going to handle this crisis or if they were all going to survive.
Eventually the lockdown at the school ended, and the entirety of the student body went home. That is, at least for now, where the story has left off, now that Stef has looked through the home and everyone is inside; yet, Nick is nearby.
Through all of this story, there were some other matters addressed, including Callie admitting everything to Lena and Stef about Brandon and Jude briefly making contact in crisis to Connor before moving on. Both of these stories had their moments, but they each pale in comparison to the sense of heavy drama and terror we felt watching this, especially in the specter of so much real-life gun violence. We don’t want to say we “loved” this episode, mostly because that seems like the wrong word to say critically about the subject matter. What we will say is that it was a pitch-perfect fictional recounting of a terrible event, something that would generate these sort of emotions. It’s remarkable how numb we are to most TV violence, and yet how real all of this felt. Grade: A.
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