Brothers & Sisters

As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the episode “You Get What You Need.” Did I miss one of your favorites? Share it in the comments.

Rebecca: Maybe she has an explanation.
Justin: This is your mom we’re talking about here.

Scott: You’ve met my parents.
Kevin: Yes, I have, and they do scare me, so I won’t antagonize them by French-kissing you in front of them.

Nora: If I was so secure, how come I married a man who never encouraged me to be anything except a wife and a mother?

Nora: Why do these people need visual aids? Why can’t they just sit there and listen? And supposedly it’s bad form if you put more than six words on a slide. That’s not communicating, it’s haiku.

Nora: What is it? Not enjoying your retirement?
Saul: I am. I’m enjoying it perfectly. I enjoyed my walk today, a cup of coffee, I enjoyed reading the newspaper.
Nora: Saul, you have all of this fabulous time now, you have to figure out what you want to do with it. Be creative. Set a new goal.
Saul: Okay. I’ll take a nap.

Kevin’s Co-Worker: Please, don’t be self-effacing. I hate humility. It disgusts me. Just be happy you won. It’s the American way.

Sarah: Mom, I really don’t have time to deal with a family crisis right now, I’m stuck in my own Supernanny episode, minus the Supernanny.

Sarah: We could swap, you know. I get the grant, you get the kids.
Nora: I’ve been making that deal my whole life. I’ll pass.

Sarah: Mom, you’re letting these people intimidate you. It’s a confidence game. Just go and talk to them like they’re … Wallace.
Nora: The butcher?
Sarah: Yeah. I’ve seen you march right up to that counter, you’re direct, you know what you want, and you never accept anything less than the best cut.

Holly: You’re not messed up. I mean, look who you chose. I never had a boyfriend who was nice and kind and available. I mean, no one that I ever really liked. But Rebecca, you’re not like me. Thank God!

Kevin: Where did you go?
Scotty: The Wax Museum. We passed in front of Liberace, none of us said a word.

Nora: I know I have never run a business. But let me tell you, Mr. Goldschmidt, I have run a household of seven. I know, it’s an unpaid and unappreciated position, but I defy you, or any of your people I spoke with this morning, to do what I did for the past 40-some-odd years. I organized the schedules of five extremely well-rounded children. I ran carpools and bake sales and Bluebird groups. I negotiated and mandated and coddled, all at the same time. Not to mention what I had to do for my husband to keep him happy and productive. And I did all of this without ever taking a sick day. The problem is, no one values the experience of a stay-at-home parent, which is truly a shame, because basically, running this “big enterprise,” as you put it, would be a day at the beach for me.

Tommy: You know, another thing is Rebecca. She’s sweet, I love her like a sister turned not sister and now my brother’s girlfriend, and she does a great job, but it just feels like their family business.

Saul: I just want you to know that if there ever comes a time when you want Holly gone …
Tommy: You’re gonna rub her out? … She’s a co-owner.
Saul: Sarah would come back in a second.
Tommy: What are you talking about?
Saul: If getting rid of Holly becomes a goal of yours, I want you to know that I would make it mine, too.

Rebecca: I just don’t see a reason for her to lie to me.
Justin: It’s never stopped her before.

Justin: I’m sorry, I’m just having a tough time realizing how you go from, “Uh oh, my psycho mom is onto something” to “I believe everything she says, she’s a changed woman.”

Kevin: I have options. You see, your two heroes here, they offered me a job, and guess what? Surprise, surprise. Your gay Democrat son-in-law is going to take it.
Scotty: You’re going to work for him?
Robert: Try to be a little less enthusiastic.
Kevin: Yes, I am, because someone has to cross the aisle, or nothing gets done.

Scotty: I asked for one weekend, Kevin. One. Our entire lives are about your family. My parents visit us for the first time and you can’t show an ounce of restraint?
Kevin: I know.
Scotty: What is wrong with you? I mean, first you introduce yourself by barging into their house on our wedding day, then you completely flip out at dinner. And after I put up with your endless work hours, your obsession over making partner, you blithely announce at dinner you’re quitting your job … to work for a Republican!

Kevin: I didn’t make partner. They gave it to someone else. And I couldn’t say anything at dinner because I was so humiliated. This is by no means an excuse. But when I left work, all I could think of was getting to you, because I knew once I’d see you, I would feel okay. And when I got there, the only pair of eyes that I wanted to see were yours, because all I wanted was a hug. I don’t blame you at all, because we agreed, no P.D.A.
Scotty: Come here.

Kevin: What happened to the Secret Service?
Robert: I’m not running for president anymore. Nobody cares if you shoot me.

Robert: Hey, I’ll give a reference to whoever you’d like. I think you’d make a great barista.

Kevin: I spent a long time demonizing you. When I first met Scotty’s parents, I realized that demonizing someone can cut both ways. Now, I’m not saying I can change that, but I do have a knack for stirring things up.
Kitty: Right, which I don’t think is such a great qualification.
Kevin: I don’t think you think that, otherwise you wouldn’t have offered me the job. I think you have to admit, the other night was kinda amazing. Because to tell the truth, Scotty’s parents and I are in a much better place now than if we talked about elk for three hours.
Robert: Quail. But go ahead.
Kevin: Okay, all I’m asking is that you hear me out, and if we meet in the middle, that’s good enough for me.

For more recaps and memorable lines, visit the pages for Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, You Get What You Need, recap, memorable lines

What they need? Not so much. Some Walkers got what they think they want this time around — say, Kitty and Robert getting that Communications Director job slot filled by their preferred candidate — and some of them got not much of anything. But what they need? Nah. No more than we got what we need — an episode that offers something more than plotline heavy lifting to get us to where we’re supposed to be this season.

Kevin wants to make partner in his law firm, and to make a good impression on his visiting in-laws. Kevin needs to be appreciated for who he is, something that his law-firm boss has made pretty clear he won’t ever be on the job, and his mother-in-law has no interest in even attempting. Kevin gets a job in which he’s guaranteed to be hated by the majority of his co-workers, and appreciated by the senator only so much as he will be prepared to argue constantly. At first, it looks like the partnership is in the bag — the boss asks him to a cocktail party at which the new partner is to be announced, and Kevin is so sure he’s getting it that he rocks a little disco move in his office. The cocktail party messes up plans with the visiting Wally and Bertha Wandell, but he tries to make it right by inviting their idols, Kitty and Robert, along for the late dinner. Of course, by the time Kevin gets to the dinner, his partnership dreams have been dashed; the slimy boss, at the cocktail party, casually mentions he’d been outvoted and the prize is going somewhere else. So Kevin is in no mood to make nice to Scotty’s mother, who’s more interested in whining about not sitting on the restaurant’s fabled patio and seeing stars, and chatting up the starry McCallisters right there at her table, than in acknowledging her son’s relationship. Kevin finally throws a little tantrum, declaring that he turned the partnership down to accept Robert’s job offer, which has neither the desired effect of making him look better to Bertha or making McCallister look worse. The in-laws scurry off to the hotel Kevin forgot to book for them their motel in Silverlake, and the next morning Wally, anyway, is fairly conciliatory. Kevin’s still going to work for Robert, though, with the caveat that the senator must be willing to always hear him out and meet him halfway. Yeah, good luck with that.

Tommy wants to get his family back in the business, apparently, now that he’s successfully driven them all out. After suggesting to Sarah last week that she might come back, if not now then when Holly’s gone, he spends most of this episode having his heretofore unheard of regular get-together with Saul. Tommy needs a thwack upside the head, but what Tommy gets from his uncle is enough glasses of wine to confess that he still resents how Holly came into the business and he wants her out — and a kind of unsettling offer from Saul that if getting rid of Holly becomes Tommy’s priority, Saul will make it his priority, too. Oooh. If Saul hadn’t proved so ineffectual at pretty much everything he’s done throughout the run of this show, that might actually be scary.

Nora wants 17 million dollars to start her charitable domicile for the families of sick children. Nora needs to take some classes in business management and PowerPoint, and also do a little Googling on Ronald McDonald House, which famously does the same dang thing she’s proposing. Nora gets the money by giving a big speech on how managing a household with five overachieving children (well, four, plus a drug addict/layabout, which is plenty challenging, too) and a hard-working husband (who, okay, maybe she didn’t manage all that well) is exactly like running a multi-million-dollar charitable endeavor. Or maybe she gets it because the donor feels sorry for William Walker’s widow. That’s the only reason she even got the interview; the committee listening to her presentation felt, reasonably, like it was pretty ambitious for her to think she could do this. William’s name got her foot in the door, and surely it’s going to be Saul’s expertise, and maybe Sarah’s, that’s going to keep the endeavor afloat. That is, if Saul doesn’t take up a new, post-retirement career as a hit man.

Rebecca wants to resume her relationship with her mom, for some dumb reason. Rebecca needs some proof that Holly’s for real with the “no more lies” business, and uses the file she found with Ryan’s private documents as a test to see if Holly will ‘fess up about it. She assures a skeptical Justin that, if Holly fails to acknowledge that she dug up info on the latest-model Walker, Rebecca will be done with her. Since Tommy’s busy drinking with Saul, Rebecca winds up accompanying Mom on a trip to the winery, where she shows her skills in label design or some such. They crack open a bottle before leaving (show of hands: How many were hoping they’d be killed in a drunk-driving wreck on the way home? Dreamers.), and that’s the perfect opportunity for Becca to casually slip Ryan’s name into the conversation. Rebecca gets her confirmation of Holly’s “honesty,” as her mother right away mentions that she got the boy’s documents and thought about looking him up, but has decided not to do so. Um-hmm. Rebecca, now celebrating her one-day birthday, beams about how honest her mother was in admitting to deceitfully gathering private information that she couldn’t possibly have gotten by truthful means. They go on to chat about Rebecca’s (non-existent) sex life with Justin, and what a worthier suitor he is than the unavailable and inappropriate sorts Holly always picked. When Rebecca returns to her fella, he’s unhappy that she’s started consuming the Holly Kool-Aid again, and they argue — their argument leading, as arguments so often do on TV shows, to sex. Now that that’s taken care of, they can work together to come to a solution to the File on Ryan problem: They invite their mothers to lunch, give Nora the file, and leave to let them fight it out. Sadly, no food is thrown, just another in an endless series of sarcastic taunting matches. It’s clear, though, that Nora’s going to have to seek out Ryan after all, lest Holly make it to Bakersfield before her.

Sarah wants a job to get her away from home, at first; then, when she gets an offer, she wants to stay home and have blessed moments with Cooper, like examining a caterpillar together. She turns down the blah, low-paying job the headhunter finds her and holds out for something worth forsaking caterpillars for. But Sarah needs some income, doesn’t she? Did she get a nice severance package for quitting Ojai? Isn’t she paying Joe alimony? If she could have gotten along on pleasant caterpillar days before, why did she stay working for that worm Holly for so long? Sarah gets a nice stay-at-home mom buzz this week, but isn’t it time to really get her life together yet?

Julia wants and needs a storyline, already. Julia get zero screen time, it being Scotty’s turn on the spouse list. Are we ever going to see those two in the same room together again?

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, You Get What You Need, recap

Every so often, like when I’m procrastinating with writing a recap, I like to stop by the ABC.com site and see how they’ve tweaked the Walker Family Tree. That’s the current alignment above, and I see that since I last wrote about it in September, they’ve seen the need as I did to add Scotty as Kevin’s spouse, and dot the line between Sarah and Joe to show that they’re spouses no longer. This configuration isn’t going to last long — gotta make room for Ryan, alas, and for Kitty and Robert’s baby-to-be-adopted. When they do all that rearranging, a few more suggestions:

• Yeah, okay, there’s really no place for her but at the top, yet having that photo of Ida up there by herself next to “The Walker Family” makes her look like the Walker matriarch, which she’s not. She’s also the only single-episode character to make the chart, which means she really doesn’t need to be there. If a Holden parent is necessary to link Saul and Nora, give her a name card like Gabe and Elizabeth, both of whom have appeared in more episodes.

• Speaking of stepkids, how come Gabe, who’s long gone from the show, gets a branch, but Robert’s kids, who will likely be stopping by now and again, do not? Make room for Sophie and Jack, please.

• Maybe I’m obsessed with symmetry or something, but it seems odd that, for all the married couples, the Walkers are in the center and the spouses are on the sides, except for Kevin and Scotty, who are flipped. Flip ‘em back, I say.

• Those little doily things discreetly indicating the core members of the Walker clan? Are weird. If Nora and William and their kids must be set apart, how about a different color frame around the picture?

• I know they’re not going anywhere, but … technically, now that Rebecca’s not a Walker, she and Holly are not part of the Walker Family Tree. Unless, of course, Justin and Rebecca get hitched before the next redesign. They’re so very conveniently on the same line there.

Photo: ABC.com

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Walker family tree

The underwhelming writer’s blog Bloggers & Sisters has a new interview up with Luke MacFarlane. As written by an intern who doesn’t appear to have watched the show very much, the interview continues the impression that the blog’s a very low priority for the show’s creative team (as it should be, because they’re clearly having enough trouble coming up with plotlines that don’t tick the fans off, without having to blog decently as well). Still, there’s a nice picture of MacFarlane, and he comes off as a polite guy who’s grateful to have a job … a lot more like the current Scotty than the original version.

On that topic, I found this quote about Scotty’s evolution interesting:

“He’s definitely changed a lot. It’s interesting with TV because you kind of jump in and you really don’t know where the narrative is going to go, so you make bold choices, and you kind of get to tweak as you go along. And unlike with a play script, you don’t know where it ends. So yeah, he’s definitely changed a lot. I think Scotty’s now less concerned with sticking his nose in other people’s business. I think he’s become more confident in himself.”

Of course, if you’re not sticking your nose in other people’s business on this show, you have absolutely nothing to do, so perhaps a little more tweaking is called for. I do think this explanation makes sense, though, for why the current incarnation of the character is so much tamer than the Season 1 edition. That bolder Scotty was a great foil for Kevin, but he was the kind of character built to make a big impression and leave in a huff. You try to play a permanent relationship that way, and it’s going to get old fast. I actually thought Season 2 Scotty was a nice compromise — much less judgmental and defensive, but still capable of, say, getting into a fight with a cop or sabotaging a meeting between Kevin and an old flame. He had a little wacky Walker-ness that he lacks now that he’s an actual Walker-in-law. At the moment, he’s in danger of acquiring Julia Disease and fading into the wallpaper when he’s not being sweetly supportive.

Speaking of sticking your nose in unpleasant places, MSNBC quotes an item from the National Enquirer that … well, I’ll just quote MSNBC: “Sally Field has found a diplomatic way to keep everyone minty fresh on the set of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters. According to the National Enquirer, the two-time Oscar winner hands all her co-stars breath mints before the cameras start rolling. ‘It’s a long day,’ Field allegedly tells her cast mates. ‘And I’m not saying you have bad breath, but it only takes one stink-flower to ruin the garden.’” Nora couldn’t have said it better herself.

Brothers and Sisters, Luke MacFarlane, Sally Field, gossip

A few quick thoughts on last night’s Brothers and Sisters episode. Tune in during the coming week for a recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

• Okay, if Justin and Rebecca have to have sex, so be it. But the old “argument giving way to mad passion” lead-in? Really? I guess it saves Justin on massage oil and candles. Still, I wish the agreement that settled the writer’s strike had included a clause forbidding further use of this overdone plot device by anyone, ever.

• Other plot devices needing to die a quick death: Bickering between Nora and Holly. Really, the food fight should have been the argument that ended all arguments. It took their sarcasm and sniping to its logical conclusion, got some laughs out of it, and ended on a note of true emotion. To see them just go back to the same ol’ round-and-round again seems wrong.

• Is the Senator’s office going to become the new Ojai Foods? It’s starting to look like a Walker family business. Surely there’s a job there somewhere for Sarah and Saul. (Actually, isn’t marketing Sarah’s thing? She’d probably be more qualified as a communications director than Kevin.)

• I have all kinds of problems with this job Kevin’s supposed to have in McCallister’s office, but to be shallow for a minute: I’m really going to miss that beautiful set of Kevin’s office at the law firm. So pretty with all the windows. It was a nice calm spot for Walkers to meet and discuss things away from the family hub. I’ll also miss the idea that Kevin had a whole other life away from the family in which he was, you know, competent.

• Did it seem to anybody else like this was a very fragmented episode? There were more plot threads than usual, I think, or else they were especially chopped up.

• Boy, is Rebecca a pushover when it comes to her mom. I hate that they’re bonding again already. I’d have thought that Holly sneaking around and getting info on Ryan would automatically violate the “no lying” rule; I guess there’s a clause that gives Holly a pass on devious behavior as long as she confesses to it. I’m glad Rebecca did at least let Nora in on the plot, but if she’s going to start trusting her mom, she’s on the Express Train to Pain again.

• That Tommy-Saul truth session was pretty bizarre, wasn’t it? Really, how much would you love to have Saul put out a hit on Holly? Let’s take up a collection.

• Nora has a lot to learn about soliciting charitable donations, and the first lesson should be: If you have a sentimental connection that you can use to talk money out of people, oh my goodness, you do not disdain it. Put William’s name up high in your letters and your speeches and milk that SOB’s memory for all it’s worth. It might as well do you some good.

_{Photo: ABC}

Brothers and Sisters, You Get What You Need, ABC

New episode tonight! Here’s what ABC’s press release says we have to look forward to:

“You Get What You Need - Rebecca’s trust in her mother is put to the ultimate test when a file on Ryan Lafferty turns up in Holly’s possession. Meanwhile, Kevin has an uncomfortable first outing with Scotty’s conservative and disapproving parents, on Brothers & Sisters, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Brothers & Sisters stars Dave Annable as Justin Walker, Maxwell Perry Cotton as Cooper Whedon, Kerris Lilla Dorsey as Paige, Sally Field as Nora Holden, Calista Flockhart as Kitty Walker, Balthazar Getty as Thomas Walker, Rachel Griffiths as Sarah Whedon, Luke Macfarlane as Scotty Wandell, Rob Lowe as Senator Robert McCallister, Sarah Jane Morris as Julia Walker, Matthew Rhys as Kevin Walker, Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden, Emily VanCamp as Rebecca Harper and Patricia Wettig as Holly Harper.

“Guest starring are Michael O’Keefe as Wally Wandell, Jayne Brook as Bertha Wandell, Mitch Pileggi as Browne Carter, Ned Vaughn as Michael Gradstein, Andy Hoff as Aaron Ziven, Elizabeth Prestel as the paralegal, Kulap Vilaysack as Gail, Howard S. Miller as the senior partner, Tom Kopache as Berkeley Goldschmidt, Vinny Chibber as the waiter, Maia Danziger as Dierdre Holder and Geoffrey Wade as the board members.

“‘You Get What You Need’ was written by David Marshall Grant and Cliff Olin and directed by Chad Lowe.”

The return of the Wandells seems promising, and it’s good to see the Lowe clan joining the Olin clan in family participation. On the other hand, I’d kind of like to go a little longer before another Holly/Nora confrontation, and a lot longer indeed before any Justin/Rebecca sex (or mother-daughter discussion thereof). We’ll see if they can pull it all off in a way that doesn’t make me want to hit the mute button.

Meanwhile, to finish up with last week’s episode, here are five scenes I’d have liked to have seen. Maybe they got left on the cutting room floor?

1. Sarah pointing out — to Tommy, to Julia, to anybody — that she was supportive of Tommy when he quit, and she was supportive of him to the board before she quit, and when in the heck is somebody going to be supportive of her? All she ever seems to get is grief and guilt.

2. Kevin secretly getting that G.I. Joe doll back from the kid he gifted with it to spite the senator, because all brother-in-law-tweaking aside, it’s probably worth something.

3. The Joneses stopping by the yard sale and making catty remarks about the Walkers’ stuff and their need to sell it.

4. Holly stopping by the yard sale and buying up things of William’s, much to everyone’s chagrin.

5. Somebody spiking the lemonade to loosen up the buyers. It is a Walker event, after all.

Brothers and Sisters, Everything Must Go, You Get What You Need

Five questions about last Sunday’s episode — “Everything Must Go” — still rattling around in my brain:

1. Has Tommy forgotten about the time he quit? A lot’s happened since then, sure, but I can still remember the last time Ojai Foods was reeling because of the bad financial dealings of its leader, and a sibling quit out of unhappiness with a decision on the company’s direction. But that time, it was Tommy jumping ship while Ojai was still wobbling from William’s indiscretions, protesting the decision not to put Ojai in the wine business by leaving to start a winery himself. Couldn’t have been easy for Sarah and Saul to lose Tommy’s experience and business relationships, but they were at least a little gracious about it. Learn a lesson, fella.

2. Did Tommy really get over Sarah coming in over his head at the company? Yeah, he says so now, but it sure didn’t seem to be the case when he left to start the winery. Nor, in fact, when he came swooping back in with Holly to share power with Sarah and “save the company.” It was a sweet moment in this episode, but I call BS.

3. Did William really have his mistress’s painting hanging in his home study? That really is pretty slug-like. Then again, maybe he had it stuck in the back of the garage behind the break-dance pants and time capsules. Would that we could still stick Holly there.

4. Has Holly really been lying to Rebecca her whole life? If William Walker really was her father, then Holly was lying Rebecca’s whole life until that revelation. If William Walker wasn’t, then she was lying from the point of that revelation until the DNA test. But based on what we know now, Holly was telling the truth about her father being some director through most of Rebecca’s life. So the kindergarten field trips and junior-high vacations don’t seem particularly tainted.

5. Since when is Ojai Foods “neutral ground”? Holly suggests it is for her and Rebecca, but I don’t know; when you’re feeling manipulated by your mom, is the place of business she’s overtaken out of manipulativeness and revenge really the spot you want to start your reconciling in? Holly could probably get her minions to lock Rebecca up in a warehouse at any time.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Everything Must Go, commentary

As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the episode “Everything Must Go.” Did I miss one of your favorites? Share it in the comments.

Julia: I just figured with both Sarah and Saul gone, you’d be working even more.
Tommy: Well, there’s no one there second-guessing my every decision, so the work gets done in half the time.

Saul: What could be better, huh?
Sarah: A Tommy Walker doll, with little pins to stick in his eyes.
Kevin: Not fair. If it weren’t for Tommy kicking us out of the family business, this glorious day wouldn’t be possible.

Saul: She doesn’t need to live in a memorial to the man who betrayed her, Justin.
Justin: You know what, there’s more than that. There was love there. There were good times.
Saul: And he screwed that up, didn’t he.

Nora: Whose kneepads are these?
Kevin: I think Sarah used those as breasts all through middle school.
Sarah: Oh, yeah, right, like I needed them. I’d be very careful, Kevin Walker, I just found your break dance pants.

Kevin: Oh my god. “Da Doo Ron Ron.” I loved Shaun Cassidy. Remember this?
Sarah: Fondly. It was my record.
Kevin: Don’t think so. “Property of Kevin Walker” right there, babe.
Sarah: Ah, yeah, that’s because after I left for college, you pilfered my room, babe, and put your lame “Property of Kevin Walker” labels over everything so I’d never get it back.

Tommy: So this is how it’s going to be now.
Sarah: What, you expect me to chitchat like nothing’s happened?
Tommy: You quit. You left me scrambling to salvage Ojai after you –
Sarah: After I what, put the company in jeopardy? I know, Tommy, thank you. I know.
Tommy: Nobody asked you to leave.
Sarah: You made it pretty hard for me to stay, and you know it.
Tommy: The only reason you quit is ’cause you can’t stand not being the boss.
Sarah: No. I quit because I couldn’t stand watching what you were doing to Ojai.
Tommy: What I was doing? Saving the company? I mean, that’s all I’ve tried to do here. Nobody seems to see that.
Sarah: Right.
Tommy: I mean, that’s what Dad would have done.
Sarah: Oh, right, of course. That’s why he left you in charge … Oh, no, wait … he didn’t.
Tommy: Wow, you really want to go there?
Sarah: Just be honest with yourself, Tommy. You’ve never gotten over the fact that Dad brought me in over you.
Tommy: Screw you. You just can’t stomach the fact that you failed.
Sarah: You’re pathetic, Tommy. You’re just Holly’s little bitch.

Rebecca: I love how much you can tell about the people in a house by their yard sales. It’s like a window into their lives.
Justin: Great, so the whole neighborhood’s gonna know how my mom feels about my dad.

Tommy: Ojai could make 100 million dollars and Sarah would still say I was wrong. It makes her feel better about her own screw-ups.

Kevin: Remember Halloween when I was 10?
Kitty: Oh, yeah, the Hulk. And you wore those embarrassing denim gauchos.
Kevin: They weren’t gauchos. My pants split open when I couldn’t contain my rage.
Kitty: Yeah, well, all I remember is green makeup all over the walls.
Kevin: Well, thank you for ruining my one macho childhood memory.

Kevin: You know what? I think it’s creepy. I’m surprised Mom’s held on to all this stuff for so long. If Scotty cheated on me multiple times, I’d build a bonfire and throw it all on.
Kitty: Yeah, well, I’ll be sure to warn Scotty about that.

Kevin: He needs to support you. You’ve supported him zealously from the first day you met. You’ve pumped him up, now it’s his turn to pump you.
Kitty: I think that’s sweet.

Nora: I’m not angry, or hurt or upset. Honestly, the only thing I feel is relief.
Justin: You’re relieved that Dad slept around.
Nora: All right, I felt betrayed when I first found out about Holly. And then, as time went on, I … I started to believe that he really loved her. I mean, he was with her for 20 years. And it would … it would just go around and around in my head. What did she give him that I didn’t? And now I know — she didn’t give him anything that I didn’t, because your father didn’t love Holly. He didn’t love me. He was a cheat, plain and simple. It was his problem, not mine.

Kevin (discussing old GI Joe with Robert): You know what, I’ll probably just hold on to him. I don’t think he has any tours left in him.
Robert: He’s going to sit on a bookshelf and have some R and R.
Kevin: You say that now. Next thing you know, he’s off fighting an endless and unnecessary war.

Justin: Dawn, right? I’m Justin. I used to babysit you, remember?
Dawn: Uh, I don’t remember you babysitting. I do remember you putting me to bed two hours before my bedtime and you and your friends partying in the family room.
Justin: But I did check on you.

Robert: I met you on a soundstage discussing politics. We courted through strategy sessions. We flirted in campaign rallies. We’d wake up and go to sleep on message, and I don’t know where we are without that.

Rebecca: I hate that when I look at you all I see is lies. I don’t get to remember that summer. I don’t get to remember kindergarten field trips or Easter egg hunts in the backyard. I remember how you lied to me my entire life. You’re my mom. You’re the only family I have. I don’t know how to get that back.

Sarah: God, how many summers did we work there?
Tommy: And Christmases, and spring breaks.
Sarah: Why didn’t we just go surfing like Justin? Or do London, like Kitty? Or stay home, sulk, listen to Depeche Mode like Kevin? Why did we always work?
Tommy: It never felt like work to me.
Sarah: Yeah. Me neither.

Robert: He’s perfect. He’s smart, he’s informed, he’s a pain in the ass.

Kevin: Have I just walked into an alternate universe where being a gay liberal democrat qualifies you to work for a Republican senator?

Kevin: Even if I did want a career in politics, which I don’t, I truly believe that you and your ilk are destroying this country. And if I had access to this office, I would send damaging e-mails from your computer in the hope I could bring down you and your entire party.

Robert: If you really believe that me and my ilk are ruining the country, now’s your chance to do something about it. Get in the game. Change my mind. Argue with me. Either that, or you can spend the next forty years sniping at me from across the dinner table.

Tommy: You know, I did get over Dad bringing you into the company. After a while, it just felt right. Like when we were kids. Even when we were fighting. It’s just not the same with Holly.
Sarah: I’m sure you’ll get used to it.
Tommy: Or, you and I could give it another shot. Holly won’t be there forever.
Sarah: I’m not holding my breath.
Tommy: You never know.

For more recaps and memorable lines, visit the pages for Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Everything Must Go, recap, memorable lines

Well, not everything. Nora’s annoyance at Robert has yet to go. Holly didn’t go from Ojai yet — although eventually she must, right? — and the nice furniture that Rebecca bought but cannot possibly afford did not yet go out the door under repossession. But many things did go away or make moves in that direction in “Everything Must Go,” the garage-sale-themed fourth episode of the third season of Brothers & Sisters. What must go?

Kitty must go from Senator McCallister’s office staff, despite the fact that none of the highly qualified interviewees she brings in to meet him fits his exacting but grouchily articulated standards. If Kitty was as perceptive as, say, your average at-home viewer, she would know that what her hubby wants is someone who will be unafraid to disagree with him, in general, and will talk against a pork-laden bill he’s uncomfortable voting for, in particular. It’s sort of a fairy-tale set-up: The first person to talk against that bill will get the Communications Director glass slipper. And who should it be but Kevin?

The snippy brother-in-law is already ticked at Robert because of the dinner-table confrontation a couple of episodes back, and more so because he interprets Kitty’s concern over Robert not wanting to replace her as a lack of support for her book (which everybody’s hatred for is what sparked Robert’s dinner-table tirade in defense of Kitty, but we’re way past that part now). When they run into each other at Nora’s lawn sale, Kevin wastes no time telling the senator how bad the bill is, and how despicable he is for voting for it. And before you know it, Robert’s invited his brother’s ex over to the office to offer him a job. Kitty’s initially shocked at the suggestion, but quickly warms to it, maybe because it gets her off the hook. Kevin’s just shocked, and we’ll have to wait ’til next episode to see whether the shoe fits.

The Rebecca-Holly estrangement must go … for the moment, anyway. Holly did what any good businesswoman with a temping daughter who won’t speak to her would do, and orders up a sullen 20something from the temp agency. Rebecca has to go or lose what pathetic small amount of work she has, and soon she’s a regular member of the Ojai filing pool. Seeing how hard her mom is working apparently softens the non-Walker girl. When she finds a painting at Nora’s yard sale that looks familiar, she brings it to her mom and, sure enough, it’s a Holly Harper original. Bonding briefly over the scene in the painting, and memories of dabbling in art together, Rebecca puts aside her resentment of Holly’s lifetime of lying and begrudgingly agrees to resume their relationship — based on Holly’s promise to be completely honest from here on out.

Ha! Like that’s going to last. Holly meets with her infatuated information peddler and gets a Top Secret file on Ryan Lafferty. Since, of course, finding that file would completely destroy the trust that Rebecca is once again starting to have in her, Holly naturally leaves the folder on her desk under a bunch of other folders, which she then tells Rebecca to fetch and file. Almost as if Holly planned it, Rebecca does indeed notice the intel on her illegitimate-Walker replacement. Did Holly plan it? It’ll take another episode to find out.

The Sarah-Tommy feud must go and be buried with a time capsule that Nora had stashed in the garage. Sarah’s in no mood for reconciliation early in the episode, when she and Saul are rousted out of their unemployed poolside relaxation (and Kevin’s, on a rare day off) by Nora’s garage-emptying regime. Tommy reports for duty as well, and tries to reminisce with his sis over the time capsule that he and Sarah planted together as kids. Pretty quickly, though, they’re back to recriminations over Sarah’s departure and Tommy’s status as “Holly’s little bitch.”

Tommy finds Sarah’s hostility reason enough to ditch out of lawn sale duty, but he sends his wife and baby to go stand out in the sun to sell junk for a quarter in his place. Maybe out of resentment for that, Julia lets Sarah have it about her attitude toward Tommy, the martyr-man who is Just Trying to Save the Company and getting nothing but grief over it. (We’re back to Season 1 Julia who thought her husband could do no wrong, I see.) Hearing her sister-in-law speak more than two sentences in a row shocks Sarah into reconsidering her resentment, and she brings the salvaged time capsule to Tommy. They reminisce about old times working in the orchards, add their children’s pics to the box, and bury it along with the hatchet.

Nora’s feelings for William must go, but it’s not quite as easy as slapping a $.25 sticker on them and tossing them on a table. She starts out just wanting to clear out his office to make it the HQ for her new charity venture, but when it becomes clear that the garage is too stuffed full of stuff to hold it, she decides to put a price on everything and sell it to any bypasser with two bits. Justin’s distressed to see all of his childhood memories marked down to move, and to see his mother so eager to unload every last trace of his dad.

He’s unexpectedly wise about that, because when it’s all over, and the tables have all been cleared and the mementos have all been sold and the last of the free lemonade has been consumed, Nora finds that her anger and hurt over William’s infidelities is still hanging around. Having every trace of him gone makes her tearful in spite of himself, so it’s a good thing Justin rescued the ugly ceramic monkey that William gave her on their honeymoon. Anytime she’s feeling nostalgic, she can look at that and say, “Man, that’s a piece of junk. What a cheap SOB he was,” and feel better.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, Everything Must Go, recap

Again with the Entertainment Weekly! For the second week in a row, there was some Brothers & Sisters-related material in the magazine, this time an actual review of the show that earned a caricature of Sally Field on the Table of Contents page.

The two-page review opened the TV section, with a big photo of Sarah and Nora on the left-hand page and a smaller picture of Kevin and Scotty on the right (this cute one), and a nice B+ rating. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s really not so much a thoughtful consideration of the show as a cutesie attempt to use it as commentary on the current political scene. It’s as if they turned Kitty’s book into a short magazine article, leaving the stuff that got everybody ticked and ditching the rest.

A sample: “Some of the Walkers resemble specific politicians. Nora is a Hillary-esque grande dame coming into her own after suffering years of underestimation, not to mention the public embarrassment of her husband’s infidelity. And here’s a whiff of McCain: Tommy yearns for the chief-executive spot at Ojai Foods but finds himself undermined by a financial crisis — and suddenly overshadowed by a charismatic female outsider (in this case, Patricia Wettig’s Holly). In the Lieberman role, we have Rebecca (Emily VanCamp), the girl the Walkers believed was one of them… but she wasn’t. There’s even an attractive, ever-pleasant spouse: Kevin’s husband, Scotty (Luke Macfarlane), whose robotic cheer would serve him well on the campaign trail.”

You can read the rest of the review at the EW site, if you’re so inclined. It seems a little labored to me, but I guess any publicity is good publicity, and certainly a B+ review is nothing to sneeze at. Sneer a little bit, maybe, but not sneeze.

Brothers and Sisters, Entertainment Weekly

According to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, we sure do, and it’s … um, somebody called Luke Grimes. That’s him in the photo at right, in case you’re called to pick him out of a lineup. Writes Ausiello:

Who the heck is Luke Grimes? Well, he’s the 24-year-old up-and-coming star of films such as All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and Assassination of a High School President. Duh.

(Crickets)

Okay, so he’s not exactly a household name. Something tells me that’s all about to change. According to my B&S mole, the newb is so close to sealing a deal to play Ryan that all that’s left for him to do is dot the “i” on his contract.

Who were you hoping would get the part? Personally, I’m just as glad it’s an actor who doesn’t come with enough name recognition and fan base that it would be hard to can him when if the Ryan plot goes nowhere.

Brothers and Sisters, Luke Grimes

A few quick thoughts on last night’s Brothers and Sisters episode. Tune in during the coming week for a recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

• So the senator’s job offer to Kevin was for real. I’ll bet if he had let Kitty know that one of his job requirements was, “Someone who will argue with and insult me,” all those interviews would have been a lot more interesting.

• Last week Justin can’t deal with his own feelings, and this week he’s all wise about Nora’s. I think he’s not so wise about Rebecca’s feelings about Holly, though. Girlfriend was sending out serious “I can say mean things about my mother, but you can’t” vibes.

• Will people in TV shows never learn to put confidential information someplace confidential? I guess I expect sneakier villainy out of Holly, which makes me wonder if she wanted Rebecca to find the folder with the information on Ryan. Should probably not have sworn never to lie again first, though.

• I’m glad that Tommy and Sarah made up without Sarah actually apologizing. I wish Julia had seemed a little less like a tool of her husband; she could still be on his side and have a more sophisticated appreciation of the issues going on. This is where it would have been nice for the show to have some history of friendship between the sisters-in-law, instead of making Julia so now-you-see-her, now-you-don’t.

• Do they really have lawn sales in big expensive houses like that in Pasadena? I’d think there’d be some sort of city ordinance.

• Nora’s kids get to take whatever they want, but Rebecca has to pay three bucks for the picture. I guess she really is out of the family.

• Interesting that Tommy says “Holly won’t be there forever.” She’s probably thinking the same thing about him. There’s going to be a battle somewhere down the line that’s going to make the whole family rally behind Tommy.

• When Rebecca was saying that what were crates to Justin sounded like furniture to her, I had to laugh. It would be great if that were true — she should have an apartment full of castoff furniture and cinderblock bookshelves and fruit crate end tables. But it’s like the set decorators just couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

_{Photo: ABC}

Brothers and Sisters, Everything Must Go, ABC

New episode tonight! Here’s what ABC’s press release says we have to look forward to:

“Everything Must Go - Nora prepares for her new charity venture by making a clean sweep of all of William’s belongings; a time capsule brings together two estranged siblings; Robert interviews candidates to fill Kitty’s very big shoes; and Holly begins her own investigation into the whereabouts of William’s lost son, on ‘Brothers & Sisters,’ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“‘Brothers & Sisters’ stars Dave Annable as Justin Walker, Maxwell Perry Cotton as Cooper Whedon, Kerris Lilla Dorsey as Paige, Sally Field as Nora Holden, Calista Flockhart as Kitty Walker, Balthazar Getty as Thomas Walker, Rachel Griffiths as Sarah Whedon, Luke Macfarlane as Scotty Wandell, Rob Lowe as Senator Robert McCallister, Sarah Jane Morris as Julia Walker, Matthew Rhys as Kevin Walker, Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden, Emily VanCamp as Rebecca Harper and Patricia Wettig as Holly Harper.

“Guest starring are Marty Ryan as Mike, Doug Purdy as Sean Spicer, Michelle Ongkingco as Dawn McCarty, Tymberlee Chanel as the female staffer, Emil Beheshti as the mail staffer, Barbara Allyne Bennet as the female customer and Gayla Johnson as the secretary. ‘Everything Must Go’ was written by Nancy Won and Michael Foley and directed by Michael Schultz.”

Given ABC’s utter lack of ethics in the crafting of promos, I’m going to assume that Robert’s asking Kevin to be his communications director is a deadpan joke, followed by a complaint about how nobody he’s interviewed is right for the job. That’s just the sort of thing the people who put these teasers together seem to enjoy doing. It’s the only reasonable context I can think of, but maybe I’m wrong.

Meanwhile, to finish up with last week’s episode, here are five scenes I’d have liked to have seen. Maybe they got left on the cutting room floor?

1. Justin sending back the beer and nursing a Coke for several hours.

2. Nora stopping by Justin’s office to bring him lunch and make snarky comments about the recruiting literature.

3. The conversation between Nora and Tommy regarding the changes at Ojai. We heard about it, I’d have liked to have heard it.

4. Nora privately putting in a bad word for Holly with the board members.

5. Holly opening up some secret closet and wickedly putting big X’s over photos of Sarah and Saul.

Brothers and Sisters, Tug of War, Everything Must Go

As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the episode “Tug of War.” Did I miss one of your favorites? Share it in the comments.

Kevin: If, for some godforsaken reason, someone on this planet does want to love, honor, and cherish a lawyer, we can’t be all that bad.

Sarah: It was unbelievable. Tommy just unleashed his inner Donald Trump.

Kevin: You know what? You may be the perfect person to talk to. I mean, no one compromises their beliefs more than politicians, right?

Robert: I have never sold anybody out … unless, of course, I really had to.

Robert: You can lead a very principled life and not do a damn bit of good for anybody.

Saul: This company is changing, and maybe I’m too old to change with it. Or maybe I just don’t want to.

Saul: I’ve been loyal to this family for 40 years, Sarah. I was loyal to your father. I was loyal to Tommy. I’m loyal to you. I almost gave up my entire life out of loyalty to this family.

Kevin: I can do a lot more from a corner office than I can from a cubicle.
Scotty: You’re not in a cubicle, Kevin.
Kevin: That’s a metaphor … Carter all but said if I do this right, I’m there.
Scotty: Does that corner office have a big walk-in closet?

Scotty: I’m asking you to be careful. Look, Kevin, you deserve to make partner. But you also deserve to be who you are. You’ve been working pretty hard at that too, remember?

Nora: Are you angry at Saul for quitting, or angry at yourself for not?

Sarah: I agree. I agree this company is in a very precarious situation. Reallocating that much land is very ambitious. Rebranding our Ojai products even more so. But come on. Ambition is nothing new to this company. My father built Ojai on a wing and a prayer. He didn’t have contingencies. He had a vision. And he was prepared to take risks because he believed in it. I’d like you to consider, what if William Walker was sitting here? Would you be so skeptical?
Board guy: With all due respect, William’s not the one here guiding us.
Sarah: True. Tommy is. And my father taught him everything he knew. Now, doubt me all you want. I got us into the deal that put the company in this precarious position in the first place. And to get out of it, we’re going to need vision. The kind of vision that my father had. Tommy has it. I think we should trust him. I do. And I believe my father would have, too.

Sarah: It doesn’t feel like our company anymore. Ojai always used to feel like home. And now, for many reasons — some of which are my fault — it just, it feels like a job.

Kevin: It was the kind of evening every young associate dreams of. I was the perfect sommelier, I walked them through the advantages of Carter, Wright and Dupres, so much so, by the end of the night, good old Ron practically insisted that I take over the account personally.
Scotty: So you got it.
Kevin: Yeah, I got it. But in a moment of Faustian proportions, I pretended to be straight.
Scotty: Wasn’t that kind of the plan?
Kevin: I think it’s one thing to leave you at home, but it’s certainly another to take advice on how to deal with your new bride.

Scotty: Don’t do it again. Or do, but you can’t play the game and second-guess yourself at the same time. Either accept what you did because it’ll get you what you want, or go in there tomorrow and tell them you’re drawing a line in the sand. Make a decision, I don’t care which one.
Kevin: You’re absolutely right. And I’m gonna go in tomorrow morning and tell Carter exactly what I think.
Scotty: Good. Because I actually did care which one you chose.

Justin: There’s the war, and there’s you. They don’t mix.
Rebecca: As far as I’m concerned, there’s you, and there’s me, and there’s everything in between. That’s a real relationship.

Justin: Look, I feel like Rebecca has only seen this one side of me. And I’m terrified that if she sees this other side, that she’s gonna walk. She’s gonna realize that I’m not good enough for her.
Nora: You can’t pick and choose the parts of yourself you want Rebecca to see and know. Shutting her out won’t help the relationship.
Justin: What will?
Nora: Letting her in.

For more recaps and memorable lines, visit the pages for Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Tug of War, recap, memorable lines

Five questions about last Sunday’s episode — “Tug of War” — still rattling around in my brain:

1. Isn’t Kevin enough of a public figure that lying about his personal life would be risky? Kitty talked about him on the radio, he’s been in gossip columns as Chad’s love interest, he was campaign fodder when Robert was running for president, his family is high-profile and loud-mouthed. It’s possible that the client wouldn’t have heard about Kevin’s sexuality, but not unrealistic that someone in his company might point out to the bigwig that his law firm hasn’t been perfectly … well, straight with him. (Especially after Kitty’s book comes out.)

2. Can corporate officers like Saul and Sarah really just up and leave? If nothing else, I’d think they’d have lots of personal stuff to move out of their offices (which Holly would no doubt require to be inspected by uniformed guards). I’ve worked in cubicles for a few months and still needed a box to take my junk. I’d think Saul, at least, might need a UHaul.

3. Will Nora forgive Robert? Yeah, he was probably out of line yelling at the family, and being all rude to his mother-in-law. And maybe he did misinterpret her (though I’m not so sure). But she’s got to be a little happy to have a son-in-law who will defend her daughter so passionately. Especially after that passive-aggressive mope Joe.

4. Why do Robert and Kitty have to adopt a baby? As opposed to a waiting child, that is. Seems like folks with their personal and financial resources might at least consider adopting an older child in foster care. Aside from sending a really nice message, it would get around the fact that babies make pretty boring TV characters.

5. So did Justin order the beer and not drink it, or drink the beer and lie about it? And how much time elapsed between when he ditched Rebecca and when he rolled home at 1 a.m.? Seems like a lot of time to stare at an unconsumed beverage.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Tug of War, commentary