Good Trouble Season 1 | Episode 9 “Willful Blindness” Review

This week’s episode of Good Trouble takes a break from focusing on Callie and Mariana’s adulting struggles. Instead, it focuses on some of the other characters’ stories. Rebecca’s conflicted about coming forward about Judge Handelman. Malika’s conflicted about forgiving her mother. Alice is conflicted about her remaining feelings for Sumi. And Gael is conflicted about how to promote his art. There’s a lot of tears and frustration for these characters, but hey, sometimes that’s life.

Me Too

Last we saw about Rebecca’s story of sexual assault, she was asking Callie to keep quiet and Callie was asking Judge Wilson for a favor. Well, turns out that favor was her telling Wilson that she’s heard rumors about Handelman and how he’s not supposed to have female clerks, but he does. When Rebecca realizes that Wilson knows, she confronts Callie about it, but Callie only tries to convince her that people of power should do something when someone else may be in trouble, otherwise they’re complicit. While I’m sure Callie’s heart is in the right place by wanting to protect future female clerks from Handelman, she shouldn’t have pushed Rebecca so hard. This is Rebecca’s story to tell in her own time. So, I’m glad Rebecca didn’t let Callie’s persuasion completely influence her decision to come forward.

What does encourage Rebecca to file a sexual harassment complaint against Handelman, though, is a talk with her mother. They discuss how Handelman has a new female clerk, how Rebecca’s grandpa got her out of there, and her new job offers. Her mom believes that people have “taken it too far with this ‘Me Too’ movement thing” and that Rebecca shouldn’t come forward about Handelman. It’s not her problem to worry about now. She also says how lucky Rebecca is to have a family name that can help her succeed in life. Rebecca has two job offers on the table: one, with a prestigious and well-known firm; another with a lesser known firm in Denver. As expected, her mother expects Rebecca to take the more prestigious firm.

With Callie’s and her mother’s words ringing in her ears, Rebecca ultimately decides to file the complaint against Handelman. She also coyly convinces Wilson that he should also file a complaint, which he does. Callie learns this after finding out that Rebecca chose Denver. In a letter left for Callie, Rebecca thanks her for the encouragement and, even though they don’t share the same political values, she respects Callie. I’m happy with how this storyline concluded. A privileged judge will hopefully pay the consequences of his actions, and Rebecca gets to have a fresh start without the weight of what happened to her weighing her down.

She’s Not Sorry

We’ve all seen the struggle that Malika has gone through with trying to decide if she should see her ailing birth mother. That confliction comes primarily from just wanting her brother to be in her life. So, when he shows up with a letter from their mother for her, that confliction only grows stronger. After some advice from Mariana about her own struggles with her birth mother, Malika wanting to spend time with her brother ultimately wins out. She goes to their house without reading the letter and saying that whatever her mother had to say in the letter, she can say it in person. Too bad it’s not what Malka was hoping to hear. She forgives Malika for calling CPS when they had no electricity or food. In return, she wants an apology and forgiveness from Malika.

Malika apologizes and forgives her mother, even gives her money, but only for the sake of her brother. She says as much when she watches him leave and then return home with a case of beer. Clearly their mom isn’t as sober as they said she was. Dom defends her by saying at least it’s not the pills, and if he doesn’t get the beer for her, then she’ll just get it herself. Malika begs him to see that their mom is just using him and to stop falling for it. He won’t, though, because she’s the only mother they have. Malika argues that she’s not. There are other women out there who will be there and support him, cue her supporting Jamal Thompson’s mom in the courtroom after telling Callie she wouldn’t be there.

Not Over Sumi

I can’t wait for the day Alice is finally able to move on from Sumi, come out to her parents and just have the happiness that she deserves. She was on the verge of it with Joey, but then Meera had to ask for help planning a surprise bridal shower for Sumi. Then her mom is just the worst and least accepting person on the planet. Sumi didn’t help that situation either by announcing she was engaged… to a man named Myron. Then Alice gets this amazing opportunity to be on a comedy radio show, thanks to Joey, but Meera hears her talking about her and Sumi on Joey’s show, causing this huge blow up fight. So, Alice told Joey that she couldn’t do the show because she can’t talk about Sumi. She asks Joey if they can still get their 2^nd date, but Joey says it won’t work because Alice still isn’t over her ex. ☹

Be an Inspiration

When Gael mentions to Bryan that if he doesn’t fill the gallery with people interested in his art, then he won’t be invited, Bryan suggests Gael uses his face and body to help promote himself – especially to the queer community. This leaves Gael conflicted on how he wants to present himself and his art. He doesn’t like the idea of using his good looks to market his art or branding himself as a queer artist. Mariana suggests that he reach out to the Latinx community because he and his art can be seen as an inspiration. By the end of the episode, Bryan takes some photos of him blending into his artwork to post on Instagram. It’s still unclear how he’s leaning in terms of how to promote his art, but after his heated argument with Callie, I have a feeling he’ll be leaning towards Bryan’s opinions a lot.

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

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