'Party of Five' Episode 4: Lucia refuses to be the 'mommy' while Valentina steps into her mother's shoes

There was an abundance of drama and romance in the latest episode of Freeform's 'Party of Five'. Yet again, with a compelling plotline, the series took deep dives into the lives of the characters, revealing a few unexplored aspects to their persona. 

While 'Authentic Mexican' saw Valentina Acosta (Elle Paris Legaspi) step into her mother's shoe to be the "girl in the family", Lucia Acosta (Emily Tosta) was seen resisting the sheer thought of being treated differently because of her gender. 

We also saw how Beto Acosta (Niko Guardado) was being more maternal than Lucia, to meet the womanly needs of his little sister Valentina in the absence of their parents. 

Even when he confronted Lucia about being aloof, owing to her increasing interest in Mathew, the latter was rather irked by the idea of women being expected to play a stereotypical role. Her resistance towards the traditional gender roles becomes more evident when she refuses to be praised for her cooking, which Valentina feels is better than their mother's. 

Although Lucia has technically become the female head of the family following her parents’ deportation, she isn’t willing to be bound by the expectations. It isn't that she is being obtuse in understanding Valentina's needs, especially when Gloria Acosta (Fernanda Urrejola) is taking care of someone else’s child in a foreign nation. But Lucia simply does not want to restrict herself with any more "girl stuff".

While Valentina and Lucia's individual opinions about their mother open the room to fair debate, what intrigues us is the latter's stance on certain issues. 

In the previous episodes, she volunteered to help Beto with his academics, trying to be more responsible as a member of the family. In 'Authentic Mexican' all it took her was a phone call from Emilio Acosta (Brandon Larracuente) to evade the girl-on-girl time with Valentina, which didn’t go so well with her younger sister. 

But, Lucia had a leg to stand on when she told Valentina, "It's not about not wanting to spend time with you. It's about not wanting to be mommy. I don't want to be good at the things she's good at because what if it's all that I'm good at?”

'Party of Five' airs on Wednesdays on Freeform.