Season 2 has had its share of drama, it was all building up to this one heartbreaking episode, even since the previous season. Lux has so carefully surrounded herself with impenetrable high walls that it took a direct threat to her best friend’s future for her to tear them down, brick by brick.
If this had been the last time we saw Lux, I think that I would be all right with it. After lifting that huge load off her shoulders, she can be at peace and fully invest herself in a family that supports her, with certainty that their love is unconditional.
First scene. An interrogation room. So not Life Unexpected. Things are about to get really serious. Cate, Ryan and Baze are there with Lux; she’s not being charged with anything, but if Tasha gets arrested, then she may have to testify.
Trey gives his statement to the police and Tasha is charged with assault in the second degree, six years in prison if she’s found guilty. Tasha looks at Lux, pleading with her to say something.
“I’m in This as Deep as You Are.”
Cate gives Saint Ryan a free pass, but he wants to stick around even though they just got back together. After all, he is Cate’s husband and Lux’s stepdad, Tasha’s guardian and the father of Cate’s baby.
Lux still doesn’t want anyone to know what happened when she lived with Trey and Valerie … is she willing to sit and watch how Tasha loses everything? Depending on the seriousness of the crime, Tasha can be charged as a minor or as an adult. According to Trey, they refused to leave his property and when he tried to make them do it, he took a shovel to the head. Lux’s testimony is the only thing that might help.
Jack finds out about what’s really going on. Baze tells him that Lux is still afraid of this guy who was her foster dad and used to hit her. He wants to take matters into his own hands. “More violence isn’t going to fix this,” wise words from Jack. Baze stays in the car, struggling with himself. He looks overwhelmed, powerless, angry and frustrated.
“I’m More Messed Up Than You Realize. If You Really Knew Me, You’d Know That.”
Lux goes to see Trey and asks him not to testify against Tasha or else, the truth of the past will come out. Then, Lux tells Cate that what she said about Trey was a lie, and that Valerie was telling the truth, she was the violent one. Cate doesn’t believe her.
“You Are My Problem, Lux.”
Cate tells Tasha that Lux won’t have her back at the hearing, which means she could go back to juvi. She confronts Lux when she’s with Eric, so it’s understandable that Tasha would think she’s choosing to protect their relationship over her best friend.
“Tell the Truth, for Tasha, and for You.”
At court, Lux explains Tasha was defending her because she knew Trey had hit her before and was afraid he would do it again. The lawyer tries to make her case characterizing Lux as a liar who shouldn’t be trusted.
During recess, Eric wonders why she wouldn’t tell him what was going on. She was afraid that after hearing the truth he would bail. He assures her that nothing she says in there will change how those who love her feel. Later on Lux will ask him if the truth changes anything, he says no … but his face says yes.
“To Be With Her, I Had To Be With Him.”
Lux confesses that she hit Trey in the past, only to stop him, because he forced her to have sex with him. He had threatend to send her back to Sunnyvale if she ever told her mother. One day she refused and hit him. This was when he threw her down the stairs. She told Valerie everything, but she wouldn’t believe her.
Trey interrupts yelling that it was because she knew Lux was a liar and that Lux doesn’t want her new family to know “the kind of girl she really is.” Baze, who’s doing his best trying to control himself, can’t take it anymore. They try to stop him, Jack gets to Trey first and Baze, with all his strength, breaks free and tries to punch him as well. Lux looks from the stand in disbelief.
“Sometimes Violence Is The Only Answer.”
Baze wants to fix things, make it better. Jack tells him that dads can’t always fix things, sometimes all they can do is show up and be there. It no longer matters what happened with Emma before.
“You Couldn’t Lose Me If You Tried.”
Cate wants Lux to know that she could have told her. The thing is, Lux had already lost one mother by telling the truth, she didn’t want to risk it again.
It was easier for Valerie to believe that the problem was Lux and not that her husband was a sick man; her whole life would have fallen apart. Cate asks Valerie to put who was once her daughter first, like any mother would do.
Valerie corroborates Lux’s testimony and the charges against Tasha are dismissed. However, she still has to spend two months in a juvenile facility for all minor offenses. Trey will face jail time. Fern apologizes to Lux; she’s glad she’s OK in spite of everything. Lux also apologizes to Tasha; she was too ashamed of her past.
“Thank You For Not Acting Like Anything Close To a Mum. That’s What Led Me Back To Mine.”
Lux thanks Valerie for telling the truth. And also for not believing her in the past. If she had, Lux probably would never have found Baze and Cate. In a way, she just called Cate mom!
In other news, I knew it! Jack and Emma had a thing. She accuses him of being jealous. Remember she once mentioned she had been in a relationship with a guy who wasn’t there for her, a married man, that is! What happened in the past, it’s the past … or not, now that Lux overheard them …
Gather ‘Round — Time To Say Thank You
Best. Speech. Ever. Baze’s words sum up why this was not only the little show that could, but the little family that could: “If you hadn’t shown up on my doorstep in that little ‘Don’t Bug Me’ shirt and straight-jacketed me into fatherly responsibility, I would have never had to get my act together. I wouldn’t have a real career; I wouldn’t have a real relationship; I would be here trying to smoke out of my bong lamp eating turkey jerky in my boxers.”
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
