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What That Good Trouble Cliffhanger Means for Callie's Romantic Future

Gael is more complicated than expected

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Megan Vick

Well, that was fast!

Good Trouble, Freeform's new spin-off of The Fosters, kicked off with Callie (Maia Mitchell) hopping into bed with Mariana's (Cierra Ramirez) crush -- granted, she didn't know he was Mariana's new crush at the time -- and it seemed inevitable that the two sisters would have to throw down over who had true dibs on their steaming hot new roommate Gael (Tommy Martinez). That was until they caught a peek of Gael hooking up with another guy in his loft apartment. Yeah, things just went from complicated to straight up bonkers.

"That's just the glorious mess that happens in your early adulthood," executive producer Peter Paige tells TV Guide of the situation. "I think it's really exciting to see a bisexual man on television that isn't just a sexual object or a non-sexual object. It's not something that's been explored very often, even in this age of 500+ TV shows a year."

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The shock of seeing Gael with another man will stick around for a moment, and it will cause some important conversations to happen not only between Callie and her new bedroom buddy, but also with her sister. Good Trouble is looking to explore Gael's identity as a bisexual man, which hasn't been explored deeply on television before.

"The love triangle between Callie, Gael and Bryan is really interesting because I haven't seen that on television. I think it's important to show young, bisexual men because there's such a stigma," Mitchell says. "You're going to see those conversations. There's a conversation between Callie and Mariana where Mariana says, 'Are you OK with that? I wouldn't be OK sleeping with someone who has slept with another man.' ... I think Gael is a perfect vehicle for that. He's gorgeous, he's smart, and he's politically motivated, so you're really going to see her fall for this man and see her have to grapple with her jealousy."

Envy is a bit of a new emotion for Callie if you examine her romantic history from The Fosters. She's not usually the one who has to do the chasing, and this new dynamic will have a very deep effect on Callie and her view of romantic relationships.

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"All of the triangles that Callie has been involved in, she's been the point. It's been two people vying for Callie's attention," Paige explains. "There may be another suitor coming down the pike for her, but I think its very interesting for Callie to be one of two people vying for this man. And the other one is a man. There are some fundamental differences in who they are and what they have to offer [Gael]. I think its a fresh and new way for her to look at what she wants out of a relationship."

While Gael's sexuality specifically won't be hard for Callie to deal with, getting back into such murky romantic waters will be a bit much at first. She stayed basically celibate during her five years at college and law school. Now, she's trying to figure out how to be on her own, sleep with her roommate and not get her feelings hurt by his interest in other people.

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"I think there's a few struggles with Callie when it comes to Gael. She's not bi-phobic at all. She's quite an open-minded person," Mitchell clarifies. "I think for her it's about being surprised and not really understanding something. She's been single for so long and refused any kind of emotional relationship with a man. I think she just finds it complicated and confusing, not because he's seeing another man -- but just because of the presence in her life."

Will she be able to make it out of this romantic quagmire with her heart still in-tact?

Good Trouble airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.