“GROWN-ISH” SEASON 3 EPISODE 13 RECAP
The juicy drama in this episode of Grown-ish comes when Doug sees Jazz sitting with Ana and Sky
This new energy in Grown-ish is slightly more mature and reserved. So much so, the last few episodes have been a bit slow and tepid but, also comfy. Nothing major and exciting has really happened save for a few things here and there: Zoey (Yara Shahidi) returned back from her styling gig hoping to find Aaron (Trevor Jackson) waiting for her but, he moved on with Rochelle (Raigan Harris), his girlfriend; Ana (Francia Raisa) is now celibate and a new born Christian, Jazz (Chloe Bailey) and Doug (Diggy Simmons) are going through a separation period to allow her to focus on her athletic goals, and Sky (Halle Bailey) is still Sky. Oh, let’s not forget, Vivek (Jordan Buhat) got a girlfriend and her name is Heidi (Kirrilee Berger)!
In episode 13 of Grown-ish, Sky and Jazz return with good news: they won their competition and Jazz had her first one-night stand. As they should, the other girls were confused since she said she needed to separate from Doug to focus but apparently, she didn’t stay true to her word. In any case, it was junior vs senior field day so the plan was to have fun but, without Zoey since she’s a drop-out.
In the meantime, Aaron was asked to see a school representative about his on-going protest over Cal-U’s investment in private prisons. They wanted to discuss their issue with his outspoken dissent since it was bringing to much negative media attention to the university. To circumvent his displeasure with their lengthy divestiture plan, they offered him the opportunity to sell out: trade his student loans for a big drawback. “There is no catch you would just sign a standard non-disclosure agreement and moving forward, we politely ask you to refrain from speaking publicly against the university,” the representative explained. “That’s all.”
On the other hand, Vivek used the field day event to sell drugs, hoping to pawn Heidi off to Doug so that she wouldn’t be upset with his side business. The entire time they’re there, he tries to slyly sell his products without her realizing but, her frustration builds when she sees that he’s distracted.
In any case, the juicy drama in this episode of Grown-ish comes when Doug sees Jazz sitting with Ana and Sky. He is immediately excited to congratulate her but so is her one-night stand Ricky (Lavel Schley) so, in the end they both go up to her. Gotta say, Jazz is really good at lying. She handled herself very well when both of them were trying to get her attention. In fact, when Doug suggested that he thought Ricky was interested in her, she quickly laughed and changed the subject, saying that Ricky was just an overzealous team mate. Jazz’s lie is made worse be
cause Doug went to give her a sincere praise for her achievement but all she could think about was her dishonesty. It’s amazing how much Doug loves her. (Side note: Simmons is so pretty.)
The Aaron/ Zoey saga picks up with Zoey explaining her discomfort after the warning she got from Rochelle (Raigan Harris), Aaron’s new girlfriend. To be fair, Rochelle should have actually discussed her insecurities directly with Aaron but instead, she thought it would be easier to confront Zoey which put Zoey in an awkward position. She obviously didn’t want to be the girl who breaks up their relationship especially after Aaron’s scathing and honest rejection but she didn’t have clear guideline on what she was allowed to do and when— but imagine if she did attempt to break them up, Aaron would be livid (remember when he tried to defend his right to mindlessly use Ana for sex?)
So, while feeling sad about missing out on everything and since she couldn’t join the other girls for their school function, Zoey decided to go to the school’s bar/café where she ends up meeting Aaron.
Aaron volunteered information about his conundrum and asked her opinion so she gave it and the entire time they’re talking; he looks at her seriously and adoringly is if she was saying something prophetic. It’s a little detail here but, when she tries to leave, he immediately asks where she’s going, an instinctive need to comfort himself in her absence, which makes it so obvious that he still has feelings for her.
Later, we find that Vivek has managed to piss off Heidi by staying distracted during their entire time on field and also, when Jazz and the girls return home, she finds flowers from Doug with a sweet note about their approaching finish line. Feeling ashamed, Jazz goes to confess the truth.
In the meantime, Vivek tries to tell Heidi about his drug dealing business but since she doesn’t respond warmly, he pretends that he was actually selling term papers instead. This bit feels like a commentary about the fact that there is such a stigma around drugs and drug dealing, even though selling term papers is arguably just as bad, but for whatever reason Heidi’s OK with it. In the end, she even asks him if he can write one for her.
During Vivek’s farse, Aaron was busying making a pros and cons list with Rochelle but unlike Vivek, Aaron wasn’t as slick. When he was trying to justify his need to keep doing the list, he casually brought up the fact that he discussed his issue with Zoey first. Rochelle responded by leaving his room, explaining that she felt hurt. Of course, Aaron was just sitting there stumped, acting confused when we all know that his sensitive ass would have also been upset if the scenario was switched had it been him and Zoey instead of him and Rochelle. He’s just not that into Rochelle, she comes as a second thought for him.
Doug discovered that he might also be a second thought for Jazz when she went over to confess that she slept with Ricky. Then, he dropped the bomb shell that he hadn’t slept with anyone since he was waiting on her, at her request. Of course, she went home to cry with her friends but as usual, Zoey had to disappear again. She’s a part-time friend now. (It’s funny that she messed up Aaron’s relationship by accident then dipped.)