Good Trouble Season 5 Episode 4 Review: Under Pressure
Jasmine Blu
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Moms make everything better.
Stef and Lena showing up to support Mariana through a difficult decision was easily the highlight of Good Trouble Season 5 Episode 4. No matter how bleak things are, it always feels good when the moms are around.
And while on the one hand, Evan took the turn for the better, the soap operatic maneuver of him losing his memory and not knowing who Mariana is, well, it's looking rather bleak for the time being.
They scaled the hour back to focus on Mariana, Joaquin, Alice, and Gael, all with their respective difficult situations to navigate.
The less serious and emotionally taxing storyline was that of Alice's ongoing work with the Ferret trio.
She's still trying to navigate a work environment that's antiquated at best with elder men who have their own way of doing things and don't abide by our current standards of HR-friendly work environments.
And while it's not to say that they should get left off the hook because they're older and used to certain things, Alice can best make peace with this current move in her career by meeting them halfway and knowing what she's getting into with them.
They're an outdated bunch who casually throw around words like "toots." But there's a line between getting aggravated by the inappropriateness of it or simply accepting it as the term of endearment that they're more often than not meaning and giving as good as she gets.
With that trio, if this installment didn't teach Alice anything, it's that she has to meet them halfway and give it to them as much as they do her.
It's how she can continue to work with them, reaching a point of equity in the whole thing and for her own peace of mind.
At best, it instills a sense of boundaries so that they know what to say and not and how not to cross any of them, and at worse, it devolves into a good old fashion game of the dozens, and she can match all the things that bug her about them by Uno Reversing it.
The trio isn't a malicious bunch, just an obnoxious one. And Alice was a bit too uptight and neurotic about the whole deadline situation without understanding that one of the first rules of writing is to follow the inspiration and know when to take a break.
Morty, was it Morty? His advice to her was correct. Sometimes, to solve a problem, you do have to step away.
This group has been doing this work for years, and they have their own process. Surely, they've been meeting their deadlines this entire time, and Alice could've extended them some more grace and trust instead of panicking.
This Boomer/Gen Z partnership can be quite copacetic for all parties if they cut each other some slack. And fortunately, Alice is coming around to that, and she's not quitting.
Joaquin: Silas, hey. If you ever come near my sister again, I'll kill you.
Silas: A death threat in a police station? That's a bold move. Let me give you a word of advice, stay off my farm and away from girls, and tell Jenna she's always welcome to come home.
Gael isn't giving up parenting either, but he has some growing pains with this new arrangement with Jazmin and Spencer. It's like he wants to be the sole parent without having the work of being the sole parent, and he can't have it both ways.
It's an adjustment period for him as he deals with getting to know Lyriq and settling into a routine with Spencer and Jazmin. But one thing is undeniably true, and it's that his sister and brother-in-law ADORE that baby.
They were beaming with excitement and pure adoration and love.
I get why they don't want to cut Gael out of the picture with this whole baby thing, but it makes you happy to see how happy they are with Lyriq. They were meant to be parents.
Kelly: It's just a simple algorithm.
Alice: Simple and algorithm don't go together.
Gael kept trying to make things easier on them or mitigating an infant doing what it does, but you can tell that Jazmin and Spencer are genuinely content with all aspects of this process.
They know what to expect with a child, including babies crying all night and not getting enough sleep.
Gael flipping out about them going through with Lyriq's checkup when he overslept was immature on his part. All of this is what co-parenting means.
He won't be able to be there for every milestone or daily minutiae, and Jazmin and Spencer are more than capable of handling things.
It made no sense for them to reschedule an appointment when they were already there so he could be there. Nor did it make sense for them not to allow Gael to sleep.
The whole idea of this is that he knows he can't do it on his own, and they're all leaning on each other, and Gael needs to allow himself to be helped without feeling it's a reflection of who and what he is as a father.
Blessedly, the hour has wrapped up some of the Yuri stuff. He had grown so obnoxious and loathsome that I don't know how long we could've gone on with him.
But in true Yuri fashion, he delivered mixed feelings when he left Gael and his studio so he could go to Australia to be with his daughter, but he screwed him out of money from future pieces.
It's all nice and swell that Yuri thinks he has more money than God and doesn't need his art show, but Gael doesn't, and he knows it, and Gael is a new dad.
This means the literal starving artist has three months to work on his own art under his own name in Yuri's studio before the lease is up and to pull off an art show of his own.
Does this mean he'll be replacing Yuri's art show, or does he have to get one off the ground? It was unclear.
Nevertheless, with Lyriq squared away with his siblings and this unusual opportunity Yuri left him with, we can see Gael make another real go of it with his art and make a name for himself.
The Martinez siblings were on the same page, but Joaquin is struggling with Jenna.
She needs some serious help and therapy, whatever it takes to deprogram her mind after her extensive time living with Silas and his cult.
Joaquin should focus on getting Jenna the help and tools she needs to break that hold rather than holding out for some form of justice for Silas.
Fortunately, Adam is going down for attempted murder after shooting Evan, so we can rest assured that no one is walking scot-free in that regard.
But they can't prove anything with Silas, and Jenna is not only an unreliable witness but a shaky one at best, especially since she's steps away from returning to the Farm.
It's a mess of things. But it's what you'd expect from a cult storyline.
Joaquin's frustration is palpable, and I can't say I don't blame him for it. He's gone through all of this, and so many terrible things have happened to save Jenna, and she's acting as if she didn't want to be saved.
Joaquin feels like his sister is all he has, and even she's not present with him how he wants her to be, which sucks.
You're my sister; I love you. You're all that I have. Please, don't go back to that farm. Please let me get you help.
Joaquin
It also doesn't help that his guilt has him alienating himself from everyone, and others are essentially making it seem like it's his fault that Evan got shot.
I have a problem, for the sake of Mariana is a grown woman with agency who makes her own choices -- it's not fair that her family members get to side-eye Joaquin as if he lured her into this investigation or he's responsible for her rogue move to go to the Farm on her own.
The guilt has been eating Mariana alive, which others have seen, but it's done the same for Joaquin, and it's unfortunate that he's falling through the cracks with no support of his own.
Ironically, he only has Mariana, which trauma bonds them in a complicated way. Now one has to wonder how far that trauma bond will go this season, especially with the latest Evan development.
I did not envy Mariana's choice, and it turned out that even Stef and Lena couldn't agree on what decision she could make.
They couldn't tell her a choice because they didn't know Evan enough to guess what he wanted or which outcome would be best for him.
They only had their own feelings and a previous situation where Stef got shot to operate on, and they had such different opinions about that now as they did back then when it happened.
Stef wanted the best quality of life, and she wouldn't have wanted the surgery if it meant possibly losing mobility in her legs. And Lena, predictably, wants life... she operated from the position of someone who couldn't stand by and lose the person she loved most.
I'm so angry with Evan for putting her in this position in the first place.
Stef
Lena understood Mariana's position better than anyone, even though she and Stef were furious that Evan put Mariana in this position in the first place.
I genuinely would love for the moms to spend some quality time with Evan one day when he gets his memory back so they could get the full experience of this man their daughter loves.
Mariana's Evan Conscience refusing to help her because it was reminding her that it wasn't Evan; it was her brain and conscience was such a solid moment.
Moms suggesting that she got multiple expert opinions was a good call, even though it didn't help make the decision any easier.
But ultimately, Mariana chose surgery because she believed it was the best call, even though it was a significant risk, and things went too well.
We should've known that there would be a consequence if Evan survived the surgery with no complications. And as it stands, that effect is memory loss.
He doesn't recognize who she is. She's probably the love of his life, the person he trusted with all his decisions, and now he doesn't even remember her.
You could see the fear and hurt all over her face at that moment.
Mariana: Hi.
Evan: Who are you?
Mariana: I'm Mariana.
Evan: Do I know you?
Just when you think things couldn't get any more complicated, they through another wrench into everything. And it's a classic trope pulled from a soap opera.
It's so tropey; it's almost laughable. But Cierra Ramirez has been slaying this entire arc as it's given her a chance to show off her range, and even when things have been downright outlandish, it's been riveting to watch her in action.
So, Coma Evan has now transitioned to Amnesiac Evan. Cool, cool, cool. Let's go!
As a side note, I will forever love Stef and Lena with my entire heart, and I adore how casually they manage to assist random members of the Coterie while they're there.
I really don't know how these people function without them, honestly. Hell, how do we function without them?
I keep hearing you tell me to trust my gut, too, so I think you want me to get you the surgery. Just don't die on me, please.
Mariana
Over to you, Good Trouble Fanatics.
How do you feel about the latest turn in Evan's story? Were you happy to see moms again? Should Joaquin give up trying to save his sister? Please don't be shy; let's discuss everything below after you watch Good Trouble online!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
