Whoosh, Pow, Bang

Season 3, Episode 3

Episode Information

First Aired

March 3, 2021

Viewers (millions)

0.220^[2]

Writer(s)

Nicole Paulhus

Director(s)

Troian Bellisario^[1]

Episode Guide
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"We're all on our own timeline. It does not matter how fast we get there, just that we do. Who cares how long it takes?"

—Davia to Gael

Whoosh, Pow, Bang is the third episode of Season 3 of Good Trouble. The episode aired on March 3, 2021.

Synopsis[]

Callie discovers there’s more to Jerod’s case than she had anticipated. Mariana and the girls come up with their own app. Meanwhile, Davia finds a way to help her students, and Gael takes a job with a renowned artist.

Plot[]

Davia, Gael, and Alice sing happy birthday to Mariana, who sees Callie walking in, looking very confused. Mariana hugs Callie tightly, saying it’s her birthday, though Callie whispers back that it isn’t. Mariana blows out her candles happily.

Alice’s comedy group opens with the members introducing themselves; Derek, Magda, Sanjana, Stacey, Shaun, and Lindsay, all of whom are deeply successful in their respective fields. Alice is the exception to the six-person program, in which everyone realizes she isn’t as successful as the others. The program director makes it clear he is responsible for making or breaking their careers, as the program has made many careers. He rambles about diversity but goes on to stereotype everyone based on their race or identities.

The Byte Club holds a meeting at The Coterie where they toast to being free from the bro-life at Speckulate. They talk about money and how long they can last without an income, with Mariana estimating three months, while Gina and Claire can last two, but Rachel only three-weeks. They use this as motivation to get funded ASAP. Claire points out that a tech incubator is being held in a few weeks, with Rachel having an idea for an eco-friendly bath and beauty product delivery app. Everyone loves the idea which Rachel calls Bulk Beauty, BB for short, and they toast to not needing Evan anymore. Kelly enters with a bouquet of roses for Mariana. She remembers having cookies delivered that says DTF and a letter from Evan, saying he is down to fight for her. Callie asks what she plans to do but Mariana isn’t sure as she can’t tell the team she is dating Evan since they quit in solidarity over him. Mariana asks Kelly not to tell her who the roses are from, though Kelly hasn’t had time to read the card. Mariana opens the card which is from Evan, apologizing again by sending the three-dozen roses. She lies to the Byte Club that the roses are from her moms for her birthday.

Callie waits with Yvonne for their appointment with DA Matthews, only to be informed by the receptionist that the DA was called into an emergency meeting. Callie stops DA Matthews and confronts him on rescheduling twice now and she can’t keep bringing her client down. Hanson offers to cut her fines in half in exchange for fifty additional community service hours, which Callie tries to refute as Yvonne works two jobs and has three kids. He refuses to go any lower with his offer and walks away. Kathleen strolls by on her way into a meeting with DA Matthews for Jerod’s case. In a private room, Calle tells Kathleen that Yvonne wants to take the deal which Kathleen isn’t surprised by but doesn’t want Callie to settle. The DA on Jerod’s case enters.

Davia meets with her fellow teachers at The Coterie where they decide to try a better approach to conflict resolution for restorative justice. She doesn’t understand what it means, so fellow teacher Matt explains it’s just a different way of approaching misbehavior. Davia uses the tools when Andre and a fellow student arrive in her classroom after being caught fighting. Matt helps Davia clean up, asking about how she feels about communal living since he lives alone with a cat. As Davia faces the four students, things get out of hand when they begin throwing the ball at each other. Meanwhile, Kathleen and Callie meet with the DA who offers one year in prison though he’ll only serve six with good behavior. When they leave, Callie is upset that Kathleen isn’t doing more for Jerod as she doesn’t want to go to trial. She doesn’t want to drag Jerod through prison for longer than a year which he will be if they pursue a trial. She tells Callie that Jared should take the deal.

Alice and CBTV group meet though she doesn’t understand everything they are doing. The director reveals that only five of them will go to the showcase, with two of them going home. He tells them to bring in a character for the writers that will help inspire them to write for the actors. Once the class is dismissed everyone talks about how bad Scott is, with the group confronting Lindsay on Alice’s deal. Lindsay claims she gave Alice her first big break but she’s a total newbie, with everyone agreeing and betting that she will go home first. Alice listens from behind the curtain. At school, Davia eavesdrops on Matt talking with his students and how easily he relates to them. At the Coterie, Gael’s friends from art school text him about their big breaks making him sulk. Davia arrives ready for wine though he isn’t ready to talk. She opens up about struggling with the restorative justice program which he is familiar with, as he did that in art school. Kelly brings in a huge set of balloons forcing her to lie to Gael and Davia that it’s her birthday since the Byte Club girls are still there. Callie meets with Jerod to get more information about Deputy Gaffney, with Jerod claiming the deputy took the medicine for himself. He doesn’t give much information as he just wants to go home. She claims they’re still working on it but he needs to be patient. Mariana brings the gifts to Evan.

Alice, Davia, and Gael sing happy birthday to Mariana as Callie walks in. The girls go to their room where Callie is amused by the situation Mariana has managed to get herself in. She also thinks Mariana should tell Evan to stop giving her gifts, though she already talked to Evan. She recalls entering Evan’s apartment which is grand and expensive. He knows the gifts aren’t enough to make up for not shutting down the app, but tells her that he hired a group of moderators to police the hate speech. Speckulate also pulled their promotion for the app with all the profits being donated to the ACLU, which should ensure that the app burns itself out in a few months. She smiles and asks to jump on his trampoline and he joins her in jumping. They proceed to kiss and have sex on the trampoline. At the Coterie, she explains that Evan technically isn’t her boss anymore so she just has to keep her personal and professional lives separate. She plans to tell the fight team girls about her relationship if she and Evan are still dating by the time they get their seed money. A humored Callie reminds Mariana that she can’t celebrate her birthday this year.

Alice brushes her teeth when Lindsay comes in prompting Alice to admit she is doubting her comedic skills after overhearing the CBTV group. Lindsay suggests not giving up just because she had a bad day. They didn’t want Alice to quit, they just didn’t want to compete with her to get into the program. Lindsay leaves so Alice tries to figure out a character for the program. She answers a facetime call from her mom.

Gael shows the teens Jean-Michel Basquiat’s graffiti art and how he put his feelings into his art. Gael admits to relating to the need to put his feelings into art since he wasn’t good at putting his feelings into words. Davia thought instead of a talking circle they would try the art, though a girl is reluctant to draw he assures her she can do it. The teens excitedly look at the materials just as Matt comes to the door, though Davia closes her door and brushes him off. The CBTC group watches the skits that unfold, with Scott choosing Lindsay and Alice for the next skit. Lindsay opts for a country person while Alice draws inspiration from her mother, remembering a conversation with Trea the previous night. Trea is selling makeup to get a divorce since her husband chews loud, leaves glasses of water everywhere, and more. Alice does amazing with her skit, outshining even Lindsay.

Davia helps Gael cleanup while they talk about his art, with him feeling as though he’s fallen behind his friends. He didn’t do an internship because he needed to get a job to pay off his student loans. She asks if he can do the internship now with him knowing of someone who is looking. She assures him that everyone is on their timeline so it doesn’t matter how fast they get there, just that they do.

Mariana can’t focus on a meeting with her team as she remembers things with Evan after the trampoline, where she told him about the app idea. He doesn’t think it’s a good idea as their coders without experience in retails so they would be in over their heads. He suggests starting with something small to gain capital, like a game app. She’s a little offended by his honesty but he’s confused as she told him not to hold back, which she explains was sarcasm. He doesn't understand sarcasm. He explains that the idea itself is fine but it’s too big of an idea to start with, apologizing for his bluntness. She relays all of this to her team members who agree with her and starting small, creating the next Candy Crush.

Davia rounds a corner and runs into Matt and drops her brushes. He makes a corny joke though she apologizes for being rude earlier. Still, his humorous remarks keep things light. She admits to failing her first attempt and bringing Gael in for help, which she thinks is cheating. He assures her it’s not and admits that he doesn’t play Minecraft or any video games, he merely watched influencers on YouTube. Principal Solomon walks by and suggests she check her email which informs her that her contract has been renewed. She is ecstatic alongside Matt, who thinks they should get drinks to celebrate.

Kathleen and Callie meet with the DA where Kathleen refuses his deal due to Jerod’s claims that Deputy Gaffney took his medication. They think Deputy Gaffney planned to sell the anti-psychotics to addicts. When mixed with cocaine or meth the euphoria experienced is heightened. They have a potential pattern since Deputy Gaffney was fired from a corrections job in New Mexico for suspicion of stealing inmates’ medication. Kathleen remarks how great Callie is despite having just passed the bar. The DA notes that suspicion isn’t proof, but is willing to give a deal for six months jail time for Jerod. Kathleen asks for his real best offer, his bottom line, which is three months plus time served, which gets him released in 30 days. She thanks him for going out on a limb for her, but decides to take the case to trial.

At CBTV, Derek remarks that Alice stole the scene from Lindsay so everyone is on the chopping block now. They go to leave when Alice stops them, praising their country's fly-fishing skit. Lindsay notes that the writers don’t think so but she’s lucky as she has her ethnicity to fall back on. Callie confronts Kathleen about going to trial since it means Jerod would be in prison longer. Kathleen explains that they could get the city to settle for millions with a lawsuit as they can expand their caseload. She refuses to take the offer to Jerod, as she knows that when he gets out he’ll have money for a home and follow-up care as opposed to what he’ll have if he takes the deal.

Gael arrives for his new internship and meets Gideon, Yuri’s intern who he fires when Gael arrives. He is doing a project about the aurora borealis and wants to use Norsemen tools for his project, instructing Gael to get them. He then asks Gideon why he hasn’t left yet. Davia takes a photo of herself with champagne and a black dress, texting Dennis that she got her third year but wishes he were there to celebrate. She hesitates as she remembers refusing Matt’s offer for drinks due to her complicated relationship with Dennis. Matt understands that a girl like Davia isn’t single, but thinks whoever she is dating - guy, girl, or person - that they’re lucky. She also remembers Dennis telling her he isn’t coming back to the Coterie. In the present, Davia alters her text to Dennis to just say she got her third year.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Maia Mitchell as Callie Adams Foster
Cierra Ramirez as Mariana Adams Foster
Tommy Martinez as Gael Martinez
Emma Hunton as Davia Moss
Sherry Cola as Alice Kwan
Zuri Adele as Malika Williams (credit only)
Beau Mirchoff as Jamie Hunter (credit only)
Josh Pence as Dennis Cooper (stock footage)

Guest Starring[]

T.J. Linnard as Evan Speck
Craig Parker as Yuri Elwin
River Butcher as Lindsay Brady
Erik Stocklin as Matt
Yaani King Mondschein as Chisa
Anastasia Leddick as Kelly
Maisie Klompus as Rachel Boyle
Seri DeYoung as Claire Badgley
Rachel Rosenbloom as Gina Spero
Chris L. McKenna as Marc Rothman
Lee Chen as Trea Kwan
Blake Webb as Jerod Murphy
Terrell Ransom Jr. as Andre Johnson
Tim Martin Gleason as Principal Dan Solomon
Aisha Alfa as Jordan
Stephen Guarino as Scott Farrell
Marissa Rivera as Magdalena 'Magda'
Nabeel Muscatwalla as Derek
Zainne Saleh as Sanjana
Nicole Dele as Stacey
Kye Tamm as Shaun
Constance Zimmer as Kathleen Gale

Co-Starring[]

Shondalia White as Yvonne Byers
Jaidyn-Bleau as Nysh
Christopher Cendana as Carlos
T.K. Richardson as Darell
Giovanni Goree as Jorge
Andrew Ortega as Anthony
Kyvon Esmaili as DA Matthews
Ricky Titus-Lam as Gideon
Jennifer Kindhouse as Receptionist

Notes and Trivia[]

This is the third episode of Good Trouble to feature a birthday, though the first to celebrate a fake birthday. Previously celebrated were Davia Moss in Re-Birthday and Malika Williams in Twenty-Fine.
- This is the first episode to feature a celebration for Mariana Adams Foster's birthday since The Fosters episode, Sixteen. Since she fakes her birthday, it is the first to feature a falsified date.
- This episode puts the timeline around March or April, since Valentine's Day was celebrated in Palentine's Day and Callie's claims that Mariana's birthday isn't for another few weeks.
Erik Stocklin's first wardrobe fitting had to be done over Zoom due to COVID-19 protocols. In fact, he wore his own clothes for most of the episode.^[3] It was also the outfit he wore while auditioning over Zoom.^[4]
The episode title refers to a skit that Alice's comedy group performed, where the members "sent" one another energy with the words, "whoosh, pow, bang" and hand gestures.
- The exercise expressed in the episode is a variation of a real life improv exercise.