Has Uncle Saul been back-burnered?
I’ve been reading reaction around the Web to Jon Robin Baitz’s Huffington Post blogs on his ouster from the everyday running of Brothers & Sisters, and some speculation on how it might affect the show’s storylines. Particularly of interest have been the ongoing discussion in the Television Without Pity forums, and a long article on the AfterElton site.
There seems to be some consensus among posters and commenters that Sally Field is too prominent for age-ism to force Nora’s stories to the sidelines, and that Kevin is too much a part of the ensemble to have his love life given short shrift. What people tend to settle on is a conclusion that, with Baitz’s departure around episode 3, Uncle Saul’s coming-out story has been pushed to the back burner.
This Saul development, introduced in last year’s “Matriarchy,” certainly has been proceeding at a slower pace than other plots, and that can make it seem neglected. Really, though, it’s simply the only plot positioned in “Matriarchy” that hasn’t been dispatched with undue haste. Could be that’s actually a good thing.
Good for Ron Rifkin, anyway, because it gives him a reason to be around. Saul has always been a back-burner character that the writers can’t seem to find anything to do with. I feel like he’s been closer to the front-burner this season, with more consistency to his character. This isn’t a guy who would leap out of the closet after decades of denial. Most episodes this season have had small, important developments on the Saul front. There’s a definite feeling that, with him having made a revelation to Nora, and hearing from Holly that we can’t help who we love, he may be building to an announcement. I don’t think you could argue that the plot has been dropped.
Whereas everything else from Matriarchy? History. Justin’s gone to war, come back, recovered. Rebecca’s moved home. Kitty’s married. Sarah’s divorced. Kevin’s ditched Jason for Scotty. Julia’s run away and come back, apparently over her depression. Presumably, the damage done by the tent and the marauding McCallisters has been all filled in, too.
Really, if anybody’s been sidelined this season, I’d have to say it was Rebecca — the youngest of the brothers and sisters, and presumably the one who would have been pushed most to the forefront if the youth movement that Baitz seems to allege was really afoot. At the end of last season, she was messed up and dangerous, but for most of this one, she’s been a meek little helper with bangs. By “Holy Matrimony!” she was starting to get her spirit back. But if the network was really pushing for a younger demo, they’d have had her and Justin sharing a beach house with Lena and making friends with surf bunnies by now.
Whoops, don’t want to give ABC any ideas.
Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Jon Robin Baitz, Ron Rifkin
January 6th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Interesting. I have to agree that it feels much more natural for this to be a slowly drawn storyline and not just a ‘Uncle Saul’s gay!’ revelation at a Walker family dinner. I can’t say it’s a storyline that I’m that much interested in though, because nothing against Rifkin, it’s just the character has done so little that I find it difficult to care one way or the other.
Baitz was at the helm for all of S1 when Saul was barely used so I don’t think you can quite say that NOW Saul is being badly used because of Baitz’s departure — if he’s never been that important to begin with! You make a good point in saying that the other S2 storylines all ended quite quickly, too, so I don’t really see that argument.
I think Julia is the character that gets the worst deal on the show; that poor actress need not have turned up for this season as most of her drama seems to happen off-screen.
I agree about Rebecca, too. I think her character has always been a bit ill-formed and it started when they had her force herself on Joe which consequently didn’t fit with her judgy behavior towards Lena, really. I think that Joe/Rebecca thing was a big mistake that lost the character a lot of ground, when she was shaky to begin with.
Bring on the next episode!
January 6th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Agreed, Terri. While I personally hope there is some substantial movement on Saul’s storyline in the remaining 3 episodes, I don’t think it’s been dropped. He came out to Nora in 2.07 and Holly all but told him to pursue his same-sex feelings in 2.09. The writers are moving slowly, but the storyline is still there.