Brothers & Sisters

Love interests haven’t been high on the plotline list for Rebecca, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still do a bit of a check-up. What romantic misery does the Walker half-sis have in her past and future?

Older Married Guy
When Rebecca’s existence was first discovered by the Walkers, Holly said she was away at school. But really, as she confessed to Justin later, she had gone after her married lover — a man she had started dating at 16, when he was her teacher — and was coming home because he got found out by his wife for the second time and killed himself. That’s back when Rebecca was bad news, and not a boring scold. Prognosis: Becca told this story on herself to confess her complicity in the kiss with Joe. We’ve never heard anything about it since, though. Will it ever spin a plot in which some of this guy’s kin crop up? Or in which she goes for another older married guy? Or in which Holly gets the kid some counseling? It seems like kind of a big thing to never mention again.

Joe
Speaking of older married guys. There was never anything romantic between Rebecca and Joe, although she would have taken things further than a kiss if Joe hadn’t chickened out come to his senses. Later, she admitted she mostly went after the guy to get back at Sarah. Maybe she likes her older married guys a little more well-groomed. Prognosis: Since Joe’s probably gone from the show, there’s not likely to be any further interaction from these two. But if Sarah ever wants to cause trouble in Joe’s relationship with his ex/current wife, maybe she could send Rebecca over for some guitar lessons.

Justin
Yeah, yeah, we already went over this dreadful do-NOT-go-there possibility in the listing of Justin’s love interests. But since then, I’ve seen this spoiler from Kristin at E! and … oh, dear. The way this potential romance is being talked about — coming as the result of something shocking — really makes it seem as though Justin’s Walker-dom is at risk. But it’s still hard to reconcile all these different stories, because though it would be dumbfounding that they would pursue a plotline so disruptive and tacky, it’s certainly not something that no one’s thought about or suspected (with dismay, sure, but still). Prognosis: So who knows. Maybe it’s just misinformation. Or maybe they’ve figured out a way to transmit mass hypnosis over the airways so that we love a Justin and Rebecca romance. Better be powerful.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Emily Van Camp, Rebecca, Dave Annable, John Pyper-Ferguson

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — we’ve run out of legitimate siblings and come to The Other Walker.

Origins: For much of Season 1, William’s daughter with Holly was just a photo in the Ojai house and an initial in William’s Top Secret computer password. Then she came back to town, and things got complicated.

Progress: Though Sarah, Kevin, and Tommy wanted to keep Rebecca’s existence a secret from Nora, Saul broke the pact and clued his sister in, and Nora told Justin and Kitty. Justin immediately befriended the girl, and Nora had her over for dinner. The Sibling Acceptance Train might have been derailed when Rebecca and Sarah’s husband, Joe, kissed after Game Night, but Joe seems to have gotten most of the blame for that, and Rebecca went on to move in with Nora, serve as Justin’s nursemaid when he came home from war, and be a bridesmaid for Kitty.

Current Status: Now that she’s mostly accepted in that big family, even making her peace with Sarah, Rebecca’s starting to think that Wiliam might not be her father after all, what with mom’s old friend David sniffing around (not to be confused with David the contractor who Nora was dating; really, aren’t there enough names to choose from without using this one twice?)

Concerns: Spoilers indicate that a DNA test will be deciding the issue of Becca’s paternity once and for all, and I am certainly in favor of that, as long as it turns out to confirm her Walker-ness. Otherwise, pretty much every plotline since the character’s introduction has been a gigantic waste of time. But assuming that the results do confirm that William’s her daddy, I think the fact that she’s addressing this directly and in a definitive way speaks well of her, and of the writers for getting this possibility out of the way. Then we can turn to getting Rebecca’s spirit back. I don’t want her to go back to being all evil and vixeny or anything, but she should be able to claim her birthright now of being outspoken and critical and witty.

Prognosis: I look forward to seeing Rebecca build deeper relationships with her new siblings — particularly Justin, but the others as well. Also, like Justin, she needs to get a job. And a boyfriend who is not related to her. (Hey, maybe that’s why she wants to make sure she and David don’t share DNA.)

Second Opinion: Where do you see the character of Rebecca going? Share your thoughts in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Rebecca, Emily Van Camp

How bad is Rebecca’s new haircut? So bad that Entertainment Weekly named it the worst new hairstyle of the TV season. Now, Emily VanCamp’s a pretty girl, and she hardly looks ugly with bangs. And as haircuts go, this isn’t as dramatic a change as, say, Felicity cutting all her hair off between seasons, or as crummy-looking as the helmet hair the Brothers & Sisters stylists inflicted on Sally Field for some flashbacks last season.

Still, I’ll agree that Rebecca’s new haircut is troubling, but less because of the bangs than what it seems to have done to the character. Is she one of those people who believes that a new ‘do can change your whole personality? Because when she went from wavy and wild locks to straight hair and bangs, her demeanor seems to have gotten a lot more straight and less wild, too. Did she go to a hair salon in Stepford or something?

Both Harper women have been toned down this season, and I’m not sure it’s for the best. I don’t want them to be evil. I don’t want Rebecca to have to suffer forever for her indiscretion with Joe, and I think Justin owes her an apology pretty quick for the way he treated her at the intervention. I don’t want Holly to be reviled, and I’d like Sarah to be able to stop hating on her at every opportunity.

Still, their lack of manipulativeness this season is kind of disconcerting. They’ve settled down a little too much. Somebody better adjust the settings, or they’ll end up in that Land of Characters We Don’t Have Much Use For, killing time with Julia while the Walkers dysfunction madly without them.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Rebecca, Emily VanCamp

Some Brothers & Sisters news to occupy us while we cross our fingers that a last-minute bargaining session might avert the writer’s strike now scheduled to begin a minute after midnight on Monday morning.

On a cheery note, AfterElton is reporting that Eric Winter is indeed skedaddling right back to B&S after the wreck of Viva Laughlin, and will be appearing as soon as Episode 11 (for reference, tomorrow night is Episode 6). There’s kind of a melancholy interview with Winter on Hollywood Joe in which he shares how much he loved Laughlin and how, while he understands B&S fans wishing it poorly, he would have liked it to last. It makes me feel a little guilty … but not that much, ’cause I’m busy doing a little yes! dance that Jason is coming back. (Thanks to Scott for e-mailing me about the AfterElton item, and assuring me that the strike will probably not derail his comeback episode.)

Greg Berlanti, who left as B&S show-runner to start Dirty Sexy Money, will be splitting his creative self up some more by taking on directing duties for a Green Lantern movie (one of his co-writers will be Marc Guggenheim, who according to IMDb co-wrote the “Three Parties” and “Mistakes Were Made Part 2″ episodes of B&S.) Sure hope this doesn’t mean Berlanti will be even less involved in B&S’s creative direction. Of course, if the “S” word happens, nobody may be doing much of anything. Berlanti is quoted in an L.A. Times blog item as expressing concern for his many employees during the potential walk-out. “I want to keep our crew and our actors and everybody working as long as possible to make these shows great. If a strike happens, no one ever wants it to happen, I want the people that work for me to survive it.” I’m not that familiar with the Green Lantern, but doesn’t he have some powers that could be used to, like, overpower evil producers and networks and make them cough up some dough?

(more…)