Brothers & Sisters

As a follow-up to the recap, here are some memorable lines from the episode “Matriarchy.” Did I miss your favorites? Add them in the comments.

Justin: Bro, I’m a recovering addict who’s going to Iraq in 10 days.
Tommy: That’s my point exactly, a military man, going off to war? You could get some serious sympathy action.

Justin: It’s like what they say, life is what happens in between big sets.
Tommy: Who says that?
Justin: I have no idea, but it sounded pretty poetic in my head.

Saul: This is the “meet the ring” dinner.

Nora: Have you seen this list? Your darling fiance has decided to invite the entire state of California. Honey, I really don’t think he should be using his engagement party as a way to get votes.
Kitty: Mom, he’s only inviting his family.
Nora: Were the McCallisters part of a breeding experiment?

Kitty: Mom, do you remember the vineyard? I don’t want another pastry smackdown.
Nora: Oh, that tension is all settled now.
Kitty: Well, for the record, I really want this marriage to happen.

Robert: Jace, why don’t you help Nora out with the party?
Jason: And the connection would be … gay person, brilliant party planner?
Robert: Tell me I’m wrong.
Jason: No. And I’m glad to be of service.
Kitty: Wow, how come I didn’t get a nice brother like that? How come I got stuck with Larry, Moe and Curly?
Robert: Don’t forget, he’s already met Moe.
Kitty: Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking, fixing you two up.
Jason: I’m sure I just caught Kevin on a bad day.
Kitty: No, he’s always like that. Well, anyway, at least I’m marrying into a nice normal family.

Nora: You know, “I told you so” is so ungracious.

Kevin: I know he hates musicals, but after he sees “Wicked,” everything will change.

Nora: You know, I’ve been talking to the others. You took Tommy surfing the other day. You took Sarah and the kids to the zoo. You’ve asked me to go to the museum tomorrow. What are you going to do with Kitty, take her to the Reagan library?

Justin: Life’s not permanent and you of all people should know it, so don’t be telling me I can’t say goodbye to my family.

Nora: Justin, you told me how you talk to soldiers on the battlefield, that you look in their eyes and you promise them that they’re going to live. Why can’t you give yourself the same benefit of the doubt? Why?
Justin: Because I was lying, Mom.

Catering-Hall Guy: Like the bougainvillea, it’s bright and pink.
Kevin: You know what, it’s just a little antacid pink.
Catering-Hall Guy: Your mother absolutely fell in love with it on our virtual tour.
Kevin: Really. Does the virtual tour include a picture of the carpet?

Jason: I was told I’d be meeting your mother, but it looks like both sides sent the gay scouts instead.

Catering-Hall Guy: The Bougainvillea Court is famous for its character and texture.
Kevin: If by character and texture you mean cockroaches and columns, then yeah, you’re really on the money.
Jason: Kevin …
Kevin: Oh, come on, you hate this as much as I do. It’s like the first fifteen minutes of Extreme Home Makeover, before they tear the house down.

Nora: Who is this “we” we’re talking about?
Kevin: Jason McCallister and I. My future whatever-in-law.
Saul: That’s the senator’s brother. He hates you.
Kevin: He doesn’t hate me.
Saul: Oh, no, he hates you.
Kevin: He does not hate me, it’s a secret crush turned inside out. Anyway, we both share the gay party planning gene, so all you have to do is relax.

Sarah: So, Mom, I’ve decided that I don’t think I should be the primary toaster. No, come on, I’m always the one talking, and quite frankly, I’m sick of me. Let’s give someone else a chance.
Justin: There’s a new one.
Sarah: Shut up, dirtbag.

Nora: All right, I want you all to leave until you have something positive to tell me!
Justin: We’re going to see “Wicked.”
Kevin: Yay!
Tommy: It’s not enough you’re going to Iraq?

Sarah: Holly’s coming?
Nora: Sarah, get over it. We’ve all moved on.
Sarah: That’s easy for you to say, Mom. I haven’t had the chance to hurl food at her. No offense, Rebecca.
Rebecca: None taken.

Sarah: Wow, it’s like the Passive-Aggressive Olympics here.

Kitty: Thank God! Thank God I’m getting out of this prison.
Nora: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, sweetie.
Rebecca: Wow. Wow, that was amazing.

Sarah: Come on, Cooper. I’m sure Mrs. Harper has better things to do than lurk behind stuff.

Sarah: So why are you being so nice?
Holly: Well, I feel that we have more in common than we’re willing to acknowledge. And I’m tired of hating you, and of you hating me.

Kevin: What are you doing?
Jason: Looking for a bandaid. One of my cousins cut himself.
Kevin: Well, that doesn’t surprise me. I’m shocked half of them made it to adulthood.
Jason: You think we’re so beneath you, don’t you.
Kevin: I think you’re all insane, yeah, and drunk.
Jason: Yeah, what’s that, like, your fourth margarita? Why don’t you just carry around a pitcher.
Kevin: Well, at least I’m not stealing the flower arrangements.
Jason: Okay, for the record, you’re allowed to take the flower arrangements home at a party.
Kevin: Usually when the party’s over. At the moment one of your cousin’s minivans looks like a florist’s truck.
Jason: Well, your Uncle Saul practically tackled my Aunt Phyllis.
Kevin: Yeah, he was trying to stop her from replacing the shellfish tower with an artichoke mold.
Jason: It’s an artichoke ambrosia.
Kevin: Oh.
Jason: Why are you such an unpleasant person?
Kevin: What do you care?
Jason: I don’t.
Kevin: You didn’t come in here looking for a bandaid, did you. You came in here looking for me.
Jason: Maybe.

Robert: Sorry about my family.
Nora: You never have to apologize for family. Besides, it’s refreshing to be the tame ones for a change.

Robert: It’s hard to be the one leaving, too. I was serving in the first Gulf War when my father died. It was just bad luck, the way it happened, but my point is that, I didn’t get to say goodbye. Things happen in war, Nora. If your son wants to say goodbye, I think you should let him.

Jack: Nora, baby, climb aboard the Love Train.
Nora: Keep your hands off the caboose!

Rebecca: You don’t know everything about me, Justin.
Justin: What does that mean?
Rebecca: Joe wasn’t the only older man.
Justin: Okay.
Rebecca: There was somebody else. He was a teacher. He had a family.
Justin: So how old were you?
Rebecca: Sixteen. Eventually his wife found out, everyone told my mom to press charges but I begged her not to, so she didn’t. And Evan, the guy, moved his family up to Chicago. I thought I could let it go, I did, but then he called to apologize. I hopped on a bus, I went up there, I never went to school there, Justin, he put me up in a hotel so we could … and then a month later, his wife found out again, and … he killed himself.
Justin: Wow. I’m sorry, Rebecca.
Rebecca: So, why don’t you just ask me?
Justin: Ask you what.
Rebecca: If I had something to do with that kiss?
Justin: Did you?
Rebecca: Yeah.

Sarah: I think that tent coming down was a sign that you can’t control everything, which is kind of apropos at an engagement party. Talk about stepping into the great unknown. Two people who happen to love each other are suddenly going to transform themselves into something totally different: a family. A family, God, it’s the best and the worst thing that can ever happen to us. A lot of the times we want to kill each other … okay, most of the time. But the truth is that without each other, we would be truly lost. So I would like to propose a toast to families, to what an amazing and rare thing it is to be part of one so large and beautiful, to my sister, who I love completely, and to Robert, and everyone that you bring to the table. So to our new family that is bigger and better and greater than the sum of its parts.

Kevin: Of all the situations you’ve ever put me in. He’s a minister?
Kitty: Yes, he’s a minister. Have you never met a minister before?
Kevin: I’ve never sucked face with one before.
Kitty: You did not! You did not! You sucked face with him? Kevin! Kevin! That’s great!
Kevin: How could you not have told me about this?
Kitty: Because I didn’t know, Kevin, I didn’t, I didn’t, I swear to God.
Kevin: You know what, you’re the worst “communications director” ever. If he wins the election, you’re going to be the first First Lady to be impeached.

Kitty: Mom, what are you doing in here?
Nora: Resting. Trying to not think about that tent collapsing as a metaphor for my life.
Kitty: You know, Mom, sometimes a tent is just a tent.

Nora: All the people I love come here on their way to and from the big moments of their lives.
Kitty: It’s like, I don’t know, what do they call a safe place where you go to rest and recover and get stronger.
Nora: A spa?

Kitty: Oh, Mom, thank you for letting me stay. It’s been an awful year, but it’s been the best awful year of my life.

Nora: Justin, this is your mother. I’m so angry at you, how could you go off without saying goodbye. I’m sorry I didn’t go to the museum with you. It was so sweet of you to think of something I wanted to do and that’s just like you, thinking of everybody else. You have to stop that, you hear me, I want you to stop that right now.

Nora: What happened here? I thought you guys were manning the house.
Tommy: We tried, but there’s too many of them.
Sarah: I stopped two guys peeing in your pansies.

Nora: I had the whole waterworks in the car, I can’t cry anymore. Luckily, I’ve got the whole cast of Animal House here to distract me.

Nora: With everything we’ve been through this year, what’s a little property damage?

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Matriarchy, memorable lines, recap