Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Good American Family’ follows the story of Natalia Grace and her life with the Barnetts. Instead of giving us a clear picture of the bad guys and the good guys, the show sticks to presenting all aspects of the case. In the first four episodes, we see the point of view of Kristine and Michael Barnett, who bring Natalia home as a child, only to later come to the conclusion that she is, in fact, an adult. With the fifth episode, the show becomes kinder to Natalia as we see the events unfold from her perspective. The sixth episode continues with this and gives us an answer to the mystery that may have started all the problems between Natalia and her adoptive parents.
Natalia Crosses Paths With Cynthia Mans
By the end of the last episode, Natalia is entirely abandoned by the Barnetts. In their last meeting, Kristine pepper sprays Natalia and threatens her not to create trouble for her. The poor girl is forced to accept that she is twenty-two and looks young for her age. Despite her disability, which makes walking a difficult task, she is forced to walk up and down the stairs to her apartment, which is on the first floor. She is forced to walk to the school where she is supposed to get her GED when she should have been at a school for children. As days pass, a depressed Natalia stops going to school and instead just spends her days at a littered place eating whatever measly stuff was left for her.
One of those days, Cynthia Mans sees Natalia sitting alone, her feet bleeding. She reaches out to the girl with the intent of helping her, but Natalia is too scared of Kristine finding out that she talked to someone else, which creates trouble in the process. At first, she tries to dismiss the woman’s efforts to help her, but Cynthia is not so easily swayed, and she succeeds in getting Natalia in her car and drives her to her apartment. While the girl tells her she is an adult, Cynthia can already sense that she is an abandoned child. She helps Natalia up the stairs and asks to be let into the apartment by making an excuse about wanting to pee. Scared that Cynthia will report the poor upkeep of the place to her mother, Natalia is hesitant to let her in but has to relent when the woman doesn’t let go of it. The moment Cynthia enters the apartment, she can see how terribly the girl has been living.
Natalia Develops a Bond With the Mans Family
Cynthia offers to buy some groceries for her with the card that has just arrived in her mail. The more time Natalia spends with her, the more safe and happy she starts to feel. But then, when the time comes to pay for the groceries, Cynthia asks her to pay for it with her new card. In return, she takes Natalia home for dinner and tells her to take the leftovers so she will have something proper to eat. After Cynthia uses her card to pay for the groceries, Natalia becomes wary of her. But then, when she goes to her house and meets her family, she lowers her guard. She sees a vibrant house full of children and happiness. She feels loved and included, and after dinner, ends up staying for a movie. At night, she overhears about Cynthia’s financial troubles and her husband’s, but she also hears concerns about her.
The next time, Cynthia takes Natalia to the doctor because she is concerned about the chronic pain she is constantly in. When the doctor asks about her age and her medical history, Cynthia snaps and claims to be Natalia’s mother. The doctor asks them to get some tests done before she can prescribe something for her pain. In the meantime, she should get a walker. To pay for that, she has to apply for disability, but she reveals that the money has already been sent to her parents. Cynthia tells her to change the name to her own. In the next visit, the doctor reveals that Natalia’s pain problem can be solved by a series of surgeries. She also points out that to be eligible for this surgery, the patient has to be a child, and since Natalia is clearly eligible for it, there is no way she is an adult. She also notes that Natalia’s teeth are still not developed, which means that she is just a child, not even a proper teenager.
Help Arrives for Natalia From an Unexpected Place
It turns out that the doctor became suspicious of Cynthia the last time and has now called the cops. Enter Brandon Drysdale, who immediately starts questioning the Mans and Natalia about the true nature of their relationship and what’s actually going on with her. The presence of a police officer scares Natalia, and she starts regurgitating all the things that Kristine told her to say. In the end, she leaves with the Manses, but not before Drysdale gives her his card. On the way back home, Cynthia gets a call from Kristine, and the latter tells her about all the bad things Natalia did to them. Later, Cynthia sits down with the girl and tells her that she doesn’t believe a word Kristine said and wants to take care of her. They go home, and Natalia finally takes a bath, something that she had never liked when she was in the Barnett household.
It seems that she is finally on her healing journey. In the last scene, we find her at the church next to Cynthia, and she tells her that she is ready to testify. She clearly goes forth with it because the episode has scenes with her talking to Drysdale at the police station, speaking about all the abuse she suffered at Kristine’s hands. She particularly talks about the bloodied socks. Kristine claimed that Natalia was using them to hide her periods, and she later forcibly used a tampon on Natalia to show her how it was used. However, Natalia tells Drysdale that she never really had a period, and the blood stains were because of all the walking she was forced to do around the block as a punishment by Kristine.
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