TV Recap: Natalia Grace Doesn't Settle In Well in "Good American Family" Episode 2

The first episode of Hulu’s Good American Family ended with Kristine Bennett thinking she just saw her newly adopted daughter, Natalia Grace, standing at the foot of her bed brandishing a knife. Did that really happen? Episode 2 doesn’t necessarily answer that question, but it does find Kristine venturing down a dangerous path of conspiracy theories about the newest member of her family. Here’s a recap of the second half of the two-part premiere.

Episode 2: “Jump the Jitters Out" - Written by Katie Robbins

The events of this episode are based on Kristine and Michael Barnett’s version of events.

2019

Detective Brandon Drysdale (Dulé Hill) visits Michael Barnett (Mark Duplass) at his home, with Michael opting to talk at the backyard picnic table rather than inside. Drysdale pulls out a recorder to document the interview. Michael’s wife, Jennifer (Kim Shaw), brings them refreshments. Michael shares that he and Jen have been married for a few years, but it still feels like the honeymoon phase. “She’s the complete opposite of my first," he says. Drysdale uses this natural segue to ask about Kristine. Michael says she’s a liar and that everything she says about him is untrue. Drysdale asks for Michael’s side of the story. Michael shares that Kristine has sole custody of their boys and has made them not want to see him. Drysdale asks about their daughter. “They don’t even speak," he says. Drysdale shifts the conversation to Natalia, asking how things got so ugly. “I don’t even know where to start," he explains.

Kristine Barnett (Ellen Pompeo) sits in an interrogation room with Drysdale following her arrest, who plays Michael’s interview for her. She hears her ex-husband describe her as having a savior complex, saying that’s the only reason she wanted to adopt Natalia. Kristine tells Drysdale that he can’t trust a word Michael says.

2010 - 2 Weeks After Bringing Natalia Home

It’s the middle of the night. Kristine believes she just saw Natalia Grace (Imogen Faith Reid) at the foot of her bed brandishing a knife. She considers waking Michael up, but instead goes to Natalia’s room alone. Natalia seems to be sleeping, cuddling with Hercules. Kristine quietly searches around Natalia in bed for a knife, accidentally waking her up. Kristine asks her if she was just in her room. “I don’t think so," Natalia responds, looking confused. Kristine asks to see Hercules, but Natalia doesn’t want to hand him over. Kristine tries to make it a game, saying it’ll be like a doctor’s checkup. “We hate doctors," Natalia says, getting upset. Kristine tries to pull Hercules away, which causes Natalia to scream. Michael rushes in, confused by the scene, but Kristine seems insistent on inspecting the plush, and he convinces Natalia to let Hercules go. Kristine squeezes all over the plush, finding nothing suspicious. Kristine exits. Michael tries to calm Natalia down, saying Kristine puts ice cream in their cereal on the first day of school, giving her something to look forward to in the morning. He tucks Natalia back in.

Kristine races to the kitchen, pulling open the knife drawer, which is organized in such a way that it would be instantly obvious if one was missing. All of the knives are there. Michael comes down, asking what’s going on. Kristine tells him what she thought she saw but that she feels crazy because all the knives are there. He chalks it up to stress, but Kristine feels like this was real. He reminds her that she’s not her dad, but Kristine is mad at herself for getting frustrated easily with Natalia. “How am I supposed to be her mother if I can’t talk to her?" she asks. Michael reminds her of her success with Jacob. She fears she lost her touch, but he says nobody cares for kids like she does, and Natalia needs her. He shifts some of the blame onto himself and the funk he was in after losing Blanca. He asks his wife to let him take care of her for a while. She agrees. They embrace and begin to make love in the kitchen.

At breakfast, Ethan (Azriel Dalman) can’t find his plush cow Bessie, which he was going to bring to school for show and tell. Jacob (Alas Dalman) has his Princeton interview, and Kristine tells him she laid a suit out for him.

Michael goes to Natalia’s room, finding that she borrowed Ethan’s clothes without asking rather than wearing what Kristine laid out for her. She says it’s a dress for a 5-year-old and that she doesn’t want the kids to think she’s a baby. Michael jokes that he thought she was 45 when they first met, which makes her laugh. She asks if he can take her to school instead of Mom, but he tells her an executive is coming, and he can’t be late. But he teaches Natalia his trick for getting rid of anxiety, saying she needs to “jump the jitters out," singing that phrase as he jumps up and down, wiggling his head and arms. He then gets on the floor to do the worm, but he sees something alarming under Natalia’s bed… Ethan’s stuffed cow has been torn apart, its head is off. He asks Natalia what happened. “I was just playing with it," she says, begging him not to tell Mom. Just then, Kristine calls for them, it’s time to head to school. Michael agrees to keep this a secret. He takes Natalia out to the minivan. Kristine comments that Natalia isn’t wearing the dress she picked out.

Natalia looks embarrassed in front of the school as Kristine makes her hold a corkboard with letters tacked on, proclaiming it her first day of school. Inside the school, an administrator (Jennifer Lafleur) tells Kristine that Natalia’s Ukrainian birth certificate looks fake to her and that they don’t have enough school records to properly place her. Dr. Wachter (Kyle Bornheimer) enters the office, whom Kristine knows from when Wes and Ethan were in 1st Grade. He offers to have Natalia join his class until they can do some testing and determine the appropriate class for her. He looks at the limited paperwork and notices the phone numbers for Natalia’s vaccination records are from New Jersey, and the dates were redacted, which is odd. Dr. Wachter asks Natalia if she wants Mommy to walk her to class. She says no, she’s a big girl. Kristine looks a little hurt by that.

At Circuit City, Michael trains Jennifer and Andre (Kario Marcel) about the newest TV models in stock. Andre compliments Michael’s TV knowledge, saying this is why he’s getting a promotion, a conclusion based on a corporate executive coming to meet with him. Kristine calls Mike, telling him that Natalia almost couldn’t be enrolled due to her vaccination dates being redacted, and she adds that the records are from New Jersey instead of South Carolina.

After working with Shawn (Indra Juniper), Kristine meets with Val (Sarayu Blue) to give her a recap of their session. Val tells Kristine that the reporter called her for a quote, and she referred to Kristine as “Indiana’s miracle worker." Kristine hopes the article will boost enrollment at Jacob’s Place.

On her way to pick up Jacob for his Princeton interview, Kristine tries to call First Path and discovers that the number is no longer in service. She searches for the organization online and is struck by the aggregated 1-star review the adoption agency has. She calls Sandy, and the call goes to voicemail. She leaves a message saying they need the dates of Natalia’s vaccinations to enroll her in school, and she also asks if First Path is closed.

Jacob is impressing his Princeton interviewer Wyatt (Kor Wren), who majored in French. Kristine has to step out when her phone rings. Sandy tells Kristine that she needs to stop asking questions to avoid being implicated, asking her not to call again. Kristine is barely back in the room with Jacob when her phone rings again. This time, it’s Natalia’s school.

Natalia rammed several students with her walker, and Dr. Wachter feels betrayed that Kristine didn’t warn him about her behavioral issues. Kristine says there haven’t been any, and she theorizes that the kids Natalia rammed must’ve been teasing her. However, Dr. Wachter says his understanding is it was the other way around, that Natalia was bullying the other students. He refuses to let Natalia back until they have more information about her past school experience.

Natalia sits behind Kristine on the ride home. Kristine tries to get Natalia’s side of the story, but Natalia ignores her questions, kicking her feet and humming a song. Kristine asks about Natalia’s previous family and if she lived in South Carolina or New Jersey. Natalia tells Kristine she’s not allowed to ask, but Kristine says they’re family, and she can tell her anything. “I don’t remember, “Natalia says, banging on the car door. Kristine asks her to stop, saying it’s not safe. She asks if Natalia was happy with her previous family. "I was just sad to leave," she responds before opening the sliding back door of the minivan while it’s in motion! Kristine nearly gets in an accident as she pulls over, getting out of the car and screaming at Natalia about how dangerous that was. Natalia ignores Kristine, resuming her humming and leg kicking.

Later that night, Kristine sits with Jacob in the living room while he works. On her laptop, she looks up First Path and finds articles that accuse the organization of falsifying adoption records, including lying about the age of adopted children. Other stories are from parents who never received the children they adopted. She finds a post from a woman who lives nearby, finding her on Facebook and sending her a direct message. Michael gets home from work, seeming happy and excited to hear how Jacob’s Princeton interview went. He asks about Natalia’s first day. “She did great," Kristine lies. Michael brought the leftover cake home from Jennifer’s baby shower at work. He goes upstairs to check on Natalia, who is sleeping.

Jacob asks his mom why she lied about Natalia’s suspension. She tells him that she doesn’t want to ruin his happiness. Jacob questions her happiness, pointing out that she was binge-eating cookies and wasn’t focused on him during his interview. She apologizes for all the calls. He tells her he had fun and hopes he gets in. She says she’s not sure she’s ready to give him up to dorm life. When her computer dings, Kristine checks her messages. She already has a response from the other mom, who says she had to give her daughter back and can’t say any more online.

When Michael joins Kristine in bed, he tells her that Natalia feels like the missing piece of their family. He loves the way she falls asleep with her head on his tummy. Kristine asks Michael to take Natalia to work with him tomorrow, saying the school needs her full vaccination records before she can return. He tells her that corporate is coming tomorrow. Kristine says her only other option is to call her mom, a thought that seems to scare Michael. He will see if one of his coworkers can watch Natalia when corporate comes.

Kristine invited the First Path mom (Maria Maestas McCann) she’d been messaging to Jacob’s Place to talk. She says the daughter they adopted was allegedly from an abusive family and didn’t speak English, but as she learned to communicate, her memories of life before they adopted her were very different from what First Path told them, and the girl would say things like “You’re not my real mom." She later learned that the girl was told she was going to boarding school when she was put up for adoption through First Path. She’s part of a class action lawsuit against First Path with other parents who accuse the organization of forging birth certificates and records. “You should get a lawyer," she recommends. When Kristine says they don’t have the money, the mom says if Kristine ever worked with a reputable agency before First Path, they may be able to help.

Kristine goes to Secure Children Indiana and meets with Tom (Dominic Burgess), who is able to access Natalia’s records. He says Natalia was brought to the U.S. by New Hope Christian Services, which is a reputable agency with no history of trafficking. He also adds that it’s unlikely for a child with special needs to be trafficked. The most likely scenario is that Natalia’s birth mother was encouraged to put her daughter in an orphanage due to her disabilities. He has access to Natalia’s records and offers to print them with redacted information. Kristine tries to charm him into sharing the unredacted information, but Tom isn’t willing to bend the rules.

Michael tries to make Circuit City fun for Natalia, broadcasting her face on all the TVs through a camera and making her laugh. He introduces her to Jennifer, who talks about how her pregnancy cravings mean they can snack on lots of junk food. Michael goes to his office and tries to pump himself up, telling himself he’s ok and jumping the jitters out. The Circuit City executive (Kelly Sry) arrives, and under the assumption he’s receiving a promotion, Michael brags about the accomplishments of his store. The executive agrees that it’s been a successful location. Michael gets distracted when he sees Natalia wandering outside his office alone. She sneaks into the office without the executive seeing, climbing under Michael’s desk as the executive shares the bad news - Circuit City is going under. Michael isn’t allowed to tell his employees until HR calls them. Once that’s done, they will go into liquidation.

Michael is upset on the drive home, playing Green Day and telling Natalia it’s his angry music and he needs to turn it up loud. He tries to cheer himself up with the thought of getting another job. He asks Natalia not to tell Mommy. “I’ll wait until you’re brave enough to tell her yourself," she promises.

Kristine is in Natalia’s room when Michael brings her home. Kristine went shopping to get Natalia new clothes, the thought of spending money instantly scaring Michael. Kristine shared that she got Natalia’s updated records, and tomorrow will be her second day of school. She tells Natalia they can take new pictures, showing her the updated cork board. Natalia throws a tantrum, saying she doesn’t want to go to school; she wants to go to work with Daddy. She grabs the corkboard and throws it on the floor. Kristine tells Natalia that Michael can do his job without her help. Natalia tells Kristine that Michael has got a big promotion and needs more help. Kristine congratulates Michael but seems sad behind her smile. Michael tells her it’s not a big thing.

The next morning, Kristine is awoken by a phone call from Val, who is excited to share that Jacob is on the front page of the newspaper. Michael sits up excitedly to listen, beaming with pride for his son. Kristine asks what the article says about her center. "His mom even named her daycare after him," Val quotes. Kristine is disappointed, but Val thinks it’s great PR. Ethan comes into their bedroom and Kristine asks him to go get the paper. Moments later, Ethan is screaming on the front porch. Kristine rushes down to find her youngest son sitting on the ground, thumbtacks stuck in his feet, other places pointy-side-up on the porch. Michael rushes over, and Kristine accuses Natalia of doing this with the tacks from the corkboard.

Kristine bandages up Ethan’s feet in the kitchen when her mother (Jenny O’Hara) enters unannounced with Kringle to celebrate Jacob’s article. When she hears about what happened to Ethan, she says the boy is too soft, and God must’ve wanted to give him calluses. Michael comes down after talking to Natalia, saying it was just a prank. Kristine is furious, even more so when her mother takes Michael’s side, saying this is normal behavior for a child Natalia’s age. She says Kristine is blowing this out of proportion and asks her daughter to get her something to cut the Kringle with. Kristine opens the knife drawer… a knife is missing…

Natalia isn’t in her room when Kristine goes upstairs. She starts looking through all of her drawers. She checks around the bed. And then she sees stuffing under the bed. Getting down, she looks under and sees Bessie, Ethan’s missing cow, cut apart by the missing knife, which is there, too. Kristine marches downstairs with the knife and cow head, calling for Natalia and not getting a response.

Again, Kristine’s mom tells her daughter to calm down when she shows them the knife and cut-up stuffed animal she found under Natalia’s bed. Kristine hears a noise in the bathroom just off the kitchen and she storms over, opening the door. Natalia screams for her to close the door. And Kristine does, her face white.

"Michael…" Kristine calls, her face white. “She has hair…" Michael is confused. "Down there," Kristine specifies. “I don’t think she’s a little girl."

Songs Featured:

Next Episode: “Ghosts Everywhere" - Premiering Wednesday, March 26th

Kristine investigates Natalia's age. As she doubles down on her suspicions, Jacob's star rises and Michael's web of lies spins further.