Freeform’s Party of Five takes a Look at How Five Siblings Cope When Their Family is Torn Apart
By Desiree Nestor
Freeform’s new show Party of Five is modern take on the 90’s show by the same name. The parents of five children living in Los Angeles get deported to Mexico. The children are left all alone to look after themselves, look out for one another, and stay in touch with their parents despite the two-thousand-mile difference.
The oldest of the five, Emilio, was forced to quit his band and move back home. This was in order to look after his younger siblings. Teenage twins Lucia and Beto are left to manage their academics, social life, and love life. That is, without their parents. Seventh-grade Valentina desperately misses her mom with whom she shared a special bond. Emilio, Beto, Lucia, and Valentina, have all been tasked with looking after and caring for their baby brother Rafa. Since they were ripped apart from their parents these five siblings have been dealing with a mountain of issues.
Emilio was forced to give up his promising music career and run his father’s restaurant. And a social worker threatened to split up Beto, Lucia, and Valentina into foster homes if their academic performance dropped.
The struggles of everyday life continue to impact Emilo, Lucia, Beto, and Valentino, except now they must do it without their parents. Nine episodes into the season, and there have been hook-ups, heartbreaks, ER visits, and activism fundraisers and catering gig faux pas. That’s to be expected. The family is going through tons of changes. Emilio who once lived the lifestyle of a player, seems to be more willing to settle down now that he’s got four kids to look after. Beto seems to be falling in love, and Lucia is coping with her feelings towards an older woman. While Beto, Emilo, and Lucia hide their issues from their parents who are struggling to find work, as they adjust to life back in Mexico, Valentina has become overly dependent on phone calls with her mom.
The season is coming to an end, and several bombs have been dropped. The family dynamics are changing a lot on both sides of the border. Also who knows how Emilio, Beto, Lucia, and Valentina are going to change. Hopefully, in the last two episodes of the season, things get better for the Acosta family, as they adjust to their new lives.
The Season One finale of Party of Five airs tonight on Freeform. No second season for the show has announced. So could tonight be the show’s series finale? Tune in to see!
