Brothers & Sisters

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