Episode Report Card Pablo G: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Foster Parent Trap
By Pablo G | Season 2 | Episode 17 | Aired on 03.24.2013
Declan and Charlotte walk together on their prep school campus with Charlie droning on and on about Eli and the Amanda Clarke Foundation. Dec's preoccupied with his brother's situation and isn't really listening or thinking about what Charlotte's saying. He agrees to allow Eli to use the Stowaway for the announcement of the foundation's partnership with Meredith because he's distracted when he spots Trey, the guy who originally brought him in contact with Kenny. When Dec and Charlotte part ways, Declan walks toward Trey and pretends to accidentally bump into him so he can pickpocket Trey's phone. That's what years of being greasy gets you -- +1 sneak. Dec checks the phone's contacts and finds Kenny's number, and we find that Declan wears a huge ring on his thumb for some reason.
Nolan has brought Padma into a room at Nolcorp to break the news to her that she'll be going away without him. He assures her that she'll have plenty of money and nothing to worry about, but Padma doesn't care about any of that. She doesn't want to fly off somewhere and never see Nolan again. She tells him she loves him. "And I love you, too... so much. Hey... this isn't the way things end for us. Someday, you'll be sitting on a beach somewhere and you'll find out that the Initiative was exposed and the threat is gone," Nolan comforts her. "You better be walking down that beach ten seconds later," Padma manages a smile. Nolan: "I'll be running." OK, fine. That's finally some decent love writing for these two.
Ems and Eli arrive in the suburbs at Meredith's foster home. Emanda's got her hair done up in a bun and has on giant sunglasses in hopes she won't be recognized. She tells Eli that they have to leave at the first sign of recognition. They get past introductions in the driveway with Meredith seeming to accept Ems as Emily Thorne. Once inside, Ms. Hayward explains that she'll lose her home without full payment by the end of the month. Emanda assures her that won't be an issue, with Eli adding they will be presenting Meredith with a check at a press conference tomorrow. Ems asks if there are any personal items of Amanda's left in the house, but they supposedly all burned up in the fire. Sensing they're at an impasse for their plot, Eli speaks up that he'd like for Meredith to introduce him to some of the current foster kids, and Emanda excuses herself to go make a fake phone call so she can have a look around. Once they're alone, Eli's tone changes to be more sinister as he tells Meredith that they can milk the Graysons for lots of money, and he's not helping her out of the goodness of his heart. He expects a 60 percent kickback from these donations.