Brothers & Sisters

Well, that was interesting.

If you’ve previously watched this never-aired episode from the first season, available on the DVD set, or if you watched it with me last night … it’s weird going back to the old days, isn’t it?

Sometime toward the end of this week, I’m going to need to look at this would-be second episode side-by-side with what actually did run as the second episode, “An Act of Will,” and figure out what they kept and what they tossed. Some of the scenes were familiar, and some were definitely scrap-able.

Foremost among the latter was the couple of scenes between Justin and Holly. As I recall, what finally aired was a much shorter scene in which Justin confronts Holly out in her garden and gets really not all that much information, just enough to cause him to pop some pills. In “State of the Parties,” though, there are multiple scenes, a silver letter opener to retrieve, and a vindictive Justin yelling at Holly to leave the family alone.

I think the version that actually aired was a big improvement. I liked the way Holly handled Justin in that one, and it set things up for Justin to go to jail and the first official Walker Road Trip to take place. Plus, I’m not sure Dave Annable was really up yet for the amount of soapy acting being called for there. Don’t get me wrong, I think the guy’s adorable and charming and coming along as an actor, but he’s always been better at the humor and snark than at the heavy drama. Another reason I hope this Justin-Tommy-Lena fight is over soon, preferably with her getting hit by a truck.

The other really noticeable change was the funeral prep time. “An Act of Will” opened at the funeral, but in “State of the Parties” we see everyone getting ready — Jonathan being amazingly humble and supportive of Kitty (that didn’t even last the episode); Sarah desperate to have her cell phone with her at all times; Justin getting cufflink assistance from Fawn, of all people; Nora playing the piano while all her kids stand around looking stricken, wondering if maybe Mom has lost it. The scenes were nice, but not exactly indispensable.

The other plot points in the episode all seem to have been tagged as well in “An Act of Will”; I’ll have to watch that one again to see how closely. Saul seems a little harsher, or maybe it’s just that Ron Rifkin’s got an odd accent thing going from time to time. Sarah looks beautiful, not yet embittered by Holly’s machinations and the knowledge that her father was a rat. Speaking of rats, Warren’s introduction makes me eager for the whole TV show plot to be gone and Rob Lowe to arrive, quickly.

That all came about soon enough. This episode doesn’t seem to have been a colossal misstep (as the original pilot must have been), but it’s interesting to see how the show was being fine-tuned and toned into the expert mix of serious and sappy and snappy we know and love today.

I’ll put together a recap of the episode tomorrow, so if you don’t have the DVD and can’t watch along, that should bring you up to speed. Meanwhile, those of you who have viewed it — what did you think?

_{Photo by Terri Mauro}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, State of the Parties, commentary