by Ariana Romero | via Refinery29
There were a lot of reasons not to love Zoey Johnson’s (Yara Shahidi) first big grown-ish relationship. I mean, where do I start with Cash Mooney (Da’Vinchi)? Is it the manipulation of her virginity for his own branding? Or the fact Cash was cool with Zoey ditching her life to follow him on his journey… before it all got too real? And then there’s the simple fact he’s an academic fraud. All together, Cash’s litany of red flags made me glad to know we were going into this week’s episode with Zoey fresh off her breakup with the low-key selfish athlete.
Yet, we can’t say the same for our heroine, who’s been wallowing in self pity and heartbreak in the Dorito-dusted cave once known as her room. For three weeks. Three weeks! That is at least triple the amount of time she was with Cash, if not quadruple. At least we can all be happy Zoey is still properly wrapping her braids, even in the midst of her emotional crisis (the subtle, unapologetic Blackness of grown-ish’s natural hair parade oftentimes feels revolutionary).
That emotional crisis is what leads the rest of the comedy’s wonderful ladies — Ana Torres (Francia Raisa), Nomi Segal (Emily Arlook), and Foster sisters Jazz (Chloe Bailey) and Sky (Halle Bailey) — to Zoey’s room for an intervention. After all, this is Ana’s impossibly cavernous dorm room too, you know? After Nomi threatens to broadcast Zoey’s hellscape of pizza boxes and “sad-ass white lady movies” to the world, she agrees to drag herself out of bed and go to a party with her friends. It sure seems like our favorite girls are headed towards a night of cheap vodka shots and hot outfits until electricity ruins everyone’s fun.
Once a blackout randomly strikes Cal U, an all-made-up Zoey is back in bed, pajamas on, faster than Drake could say, “Sweatpants, hair tied, chillin’ with no make-up on.”
With everyone squarely in for the evening, it’s time for these BFFs to have a good, long conversation about Zoey’s heartbreak, bringing us to grown-ish version of a bottle episode. Ana tries to be understanding. The Fosters need Zoey to snap out of her quest to become a single trans-fat. Nomi, ever the realist/realest, reminds everyone she also just went through a tough breakup but is still living her life.
Can someone please ask Nomi how she’s doing? Like maybe Zoey, who couldn’t even be bothered to remember her alleged best friend’s (now ex) boyfriend’s name last week (it’s Dave! Big Dave!).
Click HERE to read the rest of the recap, “Un-Break My Heart.”