When a horrified Isabel asks Victor, “what excuse could you possibly have for doing that in my house?” with Adrian sleeping in the next room, Benji tries to defend their actions, insisting that she wouldn’t have reacted like this if she had caught Victor with a girl.
To Isabel and Armando’s surprise, Adrian, who knows a classmate with two gay moms, is extremely progressive and accepting of his brother’s sexuality, but he poses a valid question when he asks why Victor had a girlfriend if he was gay.
When Benji asks if Isabel apologized for the way she reacted last night, Victor immediately comes to his mother’s defense, insisting that she was getting ready to tell Adrian and that it’s embarrassing to catch anyone with their pants down, let alone your own child.
And after Rahim insists that Felix is giving her “all the straight boy signs,” Pilar works up the courage to text her latest crush and ask him to meet up with her at the park after he goes to see his mom in the hospital.
The news leaves her friends and her boyfriend, Andrew, feeling stunned and helpless, especially when Mia reveals that she learned that ugly truth about her father — who will likely become one of the few Black university presidents in the country — a long time ago.
“How can you love your parents when you hate a lot of what they believe in? But you do, because you know how much they sacrificed to build a life for you,” Rahim says, and for the first time ever, Victor feels like he feels seen and heard about something that he hasn’t been able to articulate since coming out.
And while they seem to make up briefly, bonding over a perfect day that they had together last summer, things quickly blow up again when Benji discovers that Victor told Rahim about his alcoholism.
After Felix reveals that his mother, Dawn, has been doing better with a new hospital therapist and says that he’s proud of her for really putting in the work this time, Pilar says that Felix should be proud of himself, too, for being so strong the entire time.
At the church, the other Salazar sibling, Adrian, has an awkward conversation of his own with Father Lawrence that leaves him questioning if Victor — the person he loves more than anyone in the world — is going to hell.
In contrast with her reactions at the start of the season, Isabel’s important growth is underscored in her heated exchange with Father Lawrence, which seems a little more narrative-driven than character-driven but still hits the mark and shows that she is willing to accept Victor for who he is.
Finally, after being urged by Andrew and Lake to fight to stay in Atlanta, Mia has a private conversation with Harold and reveals that her estranged mother, Naomi, emailed her a few days ago, but she hasn’t emailed her back yet because she feels like it would be a betrayal to him.
• Before Pilar kissed him, Felix mentioned that he thought the hospital environment was extremely sterile because Dawn isn’t allowed to have anything that she loves, including Swedish Fish.
• Mia overheard a conversation between Lake and Andrew where Andrew admitted to loving Mia, and she couldn’t help but reveal how she felt as well.