When Jade Cline was cast on Teen Mom 2, there were concerns that the newcomer wouldn't be able to generate enough drama to fill the void created by by the absence of Jenelle Evans.
But while Jade's life might not be as tumultuous as Jenelle's (really, whose is?), she's certainly no slouch in the conflict department.
Jade was chosen to serve as a more relatable, aspirational version of Jenelle.
She has just as many negative influences in her orbit, but so far at least, she hasn't given into the sort of destructive behavior that made Jenelle such a divisive figure (and cost her her gig on TM2).
In a way, Jade offers up a more suspenseful version of Jenelle's story.
Will she be able to rise above her upbringing and provide a better life for her 2-year-old daughter Kloie?
She seems focused on doing so, but as last night's episode of TM2 reminded, it won't be an easy task.
Back in May, Jade's mother and stepfather were arrested for possession of methamphetamine.
They were eventually charged with five counts of possession, including possession of paraphernalia, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a controlled substance.
Last night, viewers witnessed the intense moment when Jade got a phone call from her mom begging her to come bail her out of jail.
“Jade, please come bond me out of jail, please,” said Christy Smith.
“What the f--k. You’re in jail?” Jade replied.
“Come bond me out for 500 and I’ll pay you back,” Smith continued.
“What the f--k, Mom, I don’t have $500 right now," Cline replied (remember, this was before she was announced as a new TM2 cast member).
“Jade, please, please come get me out. I’ll pay you every dime back,” Smith implored.
“I’m going to have to come up with the money somehow because I don’t have it. Oh my gosh. I’m going to have to figure out it," Cline said, obviously distressed.
Cline teased some intense moments involving her troubled parents when she was officially cast on the show back in June.
“In my new season, both of my parents were just incarcerated,” Cline said at the time.
“They’ve been strung out for so long, they’re like binge addicts, where they’ll binge [on drugs] and then they’ll be okay. And then it’s like a fairytale for like a month and it’s like I have my mom back, my mommy is back.”
“It hurts because I’ve grown up and I haven’t had my mom there,” she added.
“My heart was hurting because my real dad committed suicide when I was 6 months old.”
From there, Jade went on to describe her heartache over the loss of her biological father:
“I feel like my real dad never loved me enough to stay and now I feel like, even when I have a second chance at a father, I feel like he never loved me enough to stay clean," she said.
The timing reminds fans that MTV was eager to get Jace back on camera, as the scene was filmed just days after Jenelle was fired.
Cline has quickly become an unexpected fan favorite, and for many viewers, the intense drama of her stoyline serves as a reminder of what made the Teen Mom franchise so popular in the first place.
