“GROWN-ISH” SEASON THREE EPISODE 15 RECAP: LOVE IS BLOOMING
This episode of Grown-ish is about major change for all the character but especially Nomi (Emily Arlook) and it basically touches on all the forgotten storylines, with a dash of Luka (Luka Sabbat).
Early on in episode 15, we pick up with Nomi as she is playing with her daughter Luna, just as she receives a text message from her one-night-stand and Luna’s father, Phil (Tommy O’Brien). It’s the perfect introduction to the murky energy in this episode of Grown-ish.
Ana (Francia Raisa) is obviously happy to learn that Phil is back in town but Nomi is obviously not happy with the news especially because Phil wants to see her. Still, Ana insists that it’s important to meet Phil again to get a better sense of who he is to understand how it would affect Luna. Off-handedly, Nomi tells Ana to go on the date for her and so, Ana takes on the challenge under some warped idea of helping Luna in the future, should she want to know more about her father. Is Ana right to try to insert herself into this situation?
“This isn’t for my validation or my entertainment. This is for your daughter because whether or not you want to know, some day she will,” Ana tells Nomi. Adding, “it would be nice if someone had those answers and that someone should be you,” she said. “The person who claims to be putting her best interests first because right now, it doesn’t seem like you are.”
Isn’t it precious how everyone loves to act self-righteous in Grown-ish about other people’s life when they are all a hot mess? Crazy.
Anyways while all of this was going on, Zoey (Yara Shahidi) is on tour with Joey Badass (as himself), and yet, she’s caught up on the phone because she misses home. Joey ends up being a support, suggesting that she should purge her feelings out to her tour family, so she takes his advice and talks to him about everything.
Back on campus, Ana goes to see Phil and interrogate him on all his vices so that she can report back to Nomi. She ends up being so intimidating and annoying, she runs him off.
Fair warning, this entire episode of Grown-ish flips flops between all the other characters. In one moment, while everyone was meeting up to watch Jazz (Chloe Bailey) and Sky ( Halle Bailey) qualify for the Olympics, the boys actually hold Aaron’s (Trevor Jackson) bad boyfriend behaviour into account by pointing out how terrible he made Rochelle (Raigan Harris) feel. Then in the next moment, Nomi tries to meet Phil, only to learn that he left after Ana interrogated him. So, she calls him back to attempt honesty instead of ghosting him. When they meet, Phil uses this opportunity to court Nomi again by reminding her of their one-night-stand.
In the meantime, Aaron, addresses his mistake with Rochelle with a corny list of random details that no one knows (probably because they’re not important), to show how much he cares about her. She falls for it. Importantly, he also announced that he wasn’t going to hang out with Zoey anymore, a tall promise since he’s in love with her.
During this time, Zoey is going through trouble of her own on tour. The next day, when she went to work, people started to treat her differently. Then she learned that her coworkers were gossiping about the idea of her sleeping with her boss. Turns out that she got so drunk during their purging moment, she left his tour bus really early in the morning so, she ended up looking a bit unprofessional. Her styling client Indigo (Saweetie) gave her two options: handle yourself professionally or get out. Her decision was to leave and go back to school. Joey promised that her job was still there if she needed it. She’s hella lucky.
Now, we can all agree that Nomi and Phil have good chemistry but she really makes bad decisions. After reconnecting with Phil, instead of telling him that he is a father, she slept with him again and then reported back to Luka about the details. In the end, Luka was focused more co-parenting with two other parents than on the ethics of the situation and advised her to stay silent about the whole situation.
But in any case, finally, back home, Zoey ushers change with her arrival. First: Aaron reached out to Zoey to announce that he would be distancing himself from her. She in turn, confessed that she was in love with him just as Sky was succeeding to qualify for the Olympics and Jazz was disqualifying. They shared a kiss, what a cliché. Second: Nomi finally told Phil about Luna.
This show is just so predictable and heavy with stereotypes, especially the ending. But gotta say, the acting is getting so much better with each season.