What went down on the latest episode of grown-ish? Get all the tea with Sesi‘s weekly recaps.
Typically, our fave shows like to drag out answers to teasers well into a season, making sure we all tune in each week to see if that night’s the night all will be unveiled. But grown-ish? Nah. They stay upfront with their reveals, and we high-key appreciate them for that, tbh. Pre-season 3, it was, “OMG, who’s pregnant?!” Season 3 premiere: Nomi. This time around, it was, “OMG, who’s getting married?” Season 4 premiere: Zoey and Aaron.
And as Zoey’s intro voiceover continues last week’s discussion of fate and how hard it worked to bring her and Aaron together, we get a closer look into their last-minute wedding ceremony: candelabras in a dimly lit church, glowing cross behind the altar, as Zo and Aaron stand before a pastor who pronounces them husband and wife.
The romantic vibes come to an abrupt stop, though, when we’re thrown back to where we last saw the couple — on the beach, surrounded by the po-po. The newlyweds are put in the back of a police van, and the “best first date of her life” is officially over.
At the police HQ, Zoey starts to freak out and asks what are the chances this could even happen? Aaron side-eyes her hard like, “I think the chances are pretty good if you steal a giant piñata in the middle of a resort town.” Recognizing coming at her like that may not be the best way to keep things calm, he adds the cops probably just want money, and then, he and Zo will be free to go. But Zoey reminds him, even if that is the case, they’re broke, so…
Meanwhile, at the quince Doug and Luca unintentionally crashed, Doug gets a call from Aaron, but his phone is in his pocket, and he doesn’t even notice. His focus is on getting Luca to shut up about the secret to making tres leches, so they can bounce out the party, like now. Then, his date pulls him onto the dance floor, and Doug’s suddenly cool with kickin’ it a lil’ longer.
Back at the hotel villa, Zoey’s blown up her friends’ phones at least four times. Still, no answer. For a crew that’s legit always on their phones, though, it’s odd that nobody’s around to pick up when two of their crew are in crisis mode. Just sayin’.
Anyway, instead, Jazz, Ana, Nomi, and Vivek are sitting in the main room of their suite talking ’bout how Ana should absolutely not run away from her problems by hopping on a flight in the middle of the night to head back home. Javi enters the room at that point and asks Ana to please talk to him for a minute. She ignores him and this is super awkward rn. Vivek reads the room, pulls Javi aside, and invites him to roll out for awhile.
The girls return to their convo, and Nomi tells Ana she’s trippin’ for trying to send herself packing. Javi should be the one to go, fr fr. After all, she reminds her, he gave her an STD, not the other way around.
Didn’t he?
DIDN’T HE?!
Nope. Not at all. (The look on Jazz and Nomi’s faces when Ana reveals the real, tho.) But he could have given her one if he had contracted it, and that’s why Ana’s argument is rational — j/k it’s not in the slightest.
Over in lockup — well, the common area of the jailhouse, anyway — Zoey keeps keeping on with her spiral, but honestly, same if we ever ended up in that situation, so no judgment on that part. Aaron keeps on trying to calm her down. For one thing, he says, they’re not handcuffed like the other people in the room. Then, he decides to go talk it out with the guard at the desk to see if he can help expedite their release. But, his talk turns into more of a bribe, so it’s mugshots and handcuffs for ya’ boy. And a whooollle lot of arguing for the both of them.
Y’all. It hasn’t even been eight hours, and they’re already talking about how hard it is to be married to each other!
Someone who’s not having a hard time? Doug. Still at the quince, he seems to be #winning on the romance front (with his grown woman date, just to be clear) and having a much better time. Still, nobody has noticed the calls that’ve been going unanswered all night.
Well, no one except Zo and Aaron, obvi, because they’re still sitting up in the joint. Zoey’s falling asleep in her chair, while Aaron sits frustrated and handcuffed to his. He’s cooled down a bit since their argument but begins to really think about what they just did, re: get married on a whim. He tells Zoey when they’re together, they seem to not be themselves. They do impulsive things they otherwise would never do and get into trouble. Zoey says that’s not at all true, but Aaron breaks it on down: He sat back and said nada when she stole the piñata, he didn’t protest the random marriage idea, and now, they’re being held in a Mexican jail.
Through her tears, Zoey says at least it only took two weeks to learn how they really feel about each other. (And this is definitely the worst wedding night/honeymoon kickoff we’ve ever seen in life.)
Back at the villa, by the pool, Javi gives Vivek the rundown on what happened between him and Ana, and Vivek actually doles out some pretty solid advice — lying is never it, so don’t do it. He should know, considering the messiness he got into with his girlfriend and his not-term-paper sales.
In the midst of her own mess of a night, Zoey makes a decision. She lets the guards know she’s the one who stole the piñata. They tell Aaron he’s free to go. But, when he finds out Zoey can’t leave with him, he tries to fight for her. The police take Zoey to the back for her own set of mugshots. Aaron continues to cape for his girl but is told he can either come back for her in the morning or be thrown in a cell, too. He takes option 1.
Ana and Javi have a difficult choice to make, too, and Javi decides he should leave. Maybe, they can figure things out when Ana returns to L.A.
The next morning, when Zoey is released, who does she find waiting for her? Ar-bear! Turns out, he spent the entire night on a bench just outside the jail, so she wouldn’t be left there alone. They hug and we awwwww.
As they wait for their ride back to vacay mode, Aaron asks Zoey why she took the full blame. She says he always rallies for her, always has her back, so she felt like it was finally her turn to hold it down for him. (Also, she is the one who stole the piñata and set that chain of events in motion, so fair.) In terms of love after lockup, in this case, it’s a yes — after they get “unmarried,” of course.
Joining their friends back at the villa for breakfast, Zoey and Aaron decide to keep their emotional roller-coaster of a night to themselves. Happy to see them back in the mix after being MIA all night, the crew agrees to do all the activities Zoey wants to do together, after all, and they cheers to senior year.
Before the credits roll, though, Vivek makes an ominous announcement. It looks like Covid has arrived in grown-ish world. “We’ll be fine,” says Nomi. And on that note of dramatic irony, we end our scene.
Catch up on the episodes you’ve missed here.
Main Image: Courtesy of Freeform
