What Happens to Tabitha Foster in Trinkets Season 2?
Tabitha's season two journey is all about rediscovering her worth and embracing her true self. She's no longer with Brady and initially continues her romance with Lula (Henry Zaga) from the first instalment. But Lula suddenly disappears, and Tabitha later discerns that he ghosted her because he stole her credit card information and ran up the bill (smh, trash). Tabitha then develops a relationship with Moe's brother, Ben, who returns from military school. The pair try to keep their fling a secret, but it eventually comes to light and creates a rift between Tabitha and Moe. The two best friends take some time apart before they hash things out, allowing Tabitha and Ben to continue seeing each other. However, Tabitha ultimately decides to be single and figure herself out.
Meanwhile, Brady makes several attempts to get Tabitha back, but she's completely over his sh*t. (I can't be the only one who slow clapped when she pulled a knife on him for getting hostile with Moe at the Halloween party and yelled, "You don't f*ck with me, and you don't ever f*ck with my girls, OK?"). Finding out that he's blackmailing Moe into stealing an exam certainly doesn't help his case, either. And further adding insult to injury, the jock starts dating Tabitha's ex-best friend, Kayla (Jessica Lynn Skinner). Tabitha tries to subtly warn Kayla about Brady's abusive behaviour, but her former friend doesn't take her words to heart — at first.
In her home life, Tabitha wrestles with her parents' split after her father's infidelity in season one. She's very cold toward her dad at first, but becomes open to mending their relationship. She and her mother develop a closer bond from the get-go, and through that, Tabitha gains a better understanding of herself as a Black woman. And after talking to her fellow classmate and yearbook staffer Marquise (Austin Crute) about being two of the few Black kids at their school, she decides to get her hair braided to embrace a sense of cultural ownership. It hardly scratches the surface of what could've been a deeper exploration of Tabitha's identity, but the 'do is cute, and her heightened self-assurance following the salon trip is one of the season's highlights, IMO.
Her newfound confidence helps her think of a plan to tell the whole school about her, Elodie, and Moe's exam nabbing, as well as Brady's abuse. The trio unites at the school at midnight to assemble an installation that displays photos of Tabitha's bruises caused by Brady and derogatory texts that he's sent her. They also confess to stealing the test in a letter that reads, "We don't expect you to like us, or even understand us, but we just want the truth to be known. Because we may be thieves, but we're not liars. We stole the test. But it's part of a bigger story." The following day, everyone sees the arrangement, and Kayla, who becomes a target of Brady's wrath, breaks up with him on the spot.
While the school reacts to the shocking exhibit, Tabitha drives Moe and Elodie to the beach where Elodie sprinkles her mom's ashes. Later, Tabitha hangs a picture of the trio's matching triangle tattoos in an art gallery and admires it.