Brothers & Sisters

Does anybody else think that maybe these Walkers take this notion of “family” a little too seriously? Just me? Okay. Let’s say blood really is thicker than water. That just means it’s good at gumming up the works.

Tommy, for example, was all happy about his twins-to-be until Rebecca turned up to get him thinking about genetics and DNA and the effects of never knowing who your biological father is. He gets it in his head that finding out which of his brothers’ sperm won the race to father the twins would be the responsible thing to do, although Justin and Kevin don’t want to know and Julia feels Tommy’s the only father they’ll need.

The revelation of the new family member has messed up other Walker relationships, too, with Nora still mad at Sarah and Kevin still testy with Saul. When Nora finds out Justin’s been hanging out with Rebecca, she stops talking to him, too decides the only thing to do is to have another doomed dinner party. It’s the Walker way! Holly, having already had the displeasure of being the guest of dishonor at a family meal, declines, but Rebecca resolves to go it alone. Her conclusion, after watching sibling bickering, having her hair pulled by a DNA-test-minded Kevin, and seeing Nora pelt Kevin with a dinner roll? “You’re all wack!” Perceptive girl.

Kitty misses that incredibly awkward dinner to attend another incredibly awkward dinner, this one with Robert and his two children, one of which — that would be the blond 10-year-old daughter — hates her living guts. Although there is no hair-pulling or dinner-roll pelting at this table, there is a fair amount of bickering and a spilled drink. Kitty, mindful of her own reluctance to admit surprise half-sisters into her family, empathizes with young Sophia and accuses Robert of rushing things to get himself a campaign-ready family in a flash. And for once, Mr. “I’ve got a witty and romantic answer for every one of your doubts, Miss Walker” is hurt and speechless, and kicks her out, maybe until he can find something appropriately zippy to say.

Also concerned with the speed of family formation is Kevin, who finally pushes Chad toward the closet door only to worry about the permanence of their attachment post-debut. When Chad agrees to go public with Kevin at a premiere, Chad’s manager takes a little secret meeting with The Boyfriend and informs Kevin that if Chad walks down the red carpet with him, they might as well be walking down the aisle. Proponent of gay marriage though he may be, Kevin’s not quite ready to pick out china patterns yet, and he hems and haws so much about the premiere that Chad ducks back into the closet and takes a starlet to the show.

Family even manages to mess up Nora’s aspirations at story writing, providing her with such a lot of fodder for fiction that it sounds like a soap opera. Her writing professor, played by new guest star Peter Coyote, suggests she get at the emotion behind the actions, and that turns out to be good advice on more than a compositional note. When she gets in touch with her emotion — and that emotion would be absolute agonizing anger at William, that cheating, babe-fathering scumbag — she realizes she’s directing anger at Sarah because dead dad’s not around to get what’s coming to him. She aims it more appropriately by putting her wedding ring in storage, and throwing William’s into the sea. Ha!

That action works wonders on her writing skills, because at her next class, her teacher and fellow students are rapt at the wonderfulness of her work (and of all the unrealistic things on this show, this takes the cake. I’ve been in college writing classes. Your fellow students never stop being out for blood.) It also restores the balance to her relationship with Sarah, who is now free to ignore her mother’s phone calls like good old normal. Meanwhile, Kevin has decided that in the greater scheme of screw-ups, Saul’s was not worth holding a grudge over. And Tommy puts aside his genetic musings and is ready to be the twins’ one and only papa, although he and Julia can’t help but laugh at the insanity of adding another branch to this nutty clan.

Not all relationships are rosy, though. Rebecca’s still mad at Holly for denying her not only a father but a big ol’ crazy family. Back at work, Robert still hasn’t thought of anything charming to say and so is freezing Kitty out. And Kevin is once again dealing with a ticked-off boyfriend who will not take his calls. You can’t blame those Walker beaux for being annoyed, I guess, although you’d think they might cut Kitty and Kevin some slack in the fear-of-commitment department seeing as their father has just been exposed as a liar and a cheat. Family, guys — everything’s about family with these brothers and sisters. You’ve got to look at the emotion behind the actions.

Original air date: 4/01/07

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Brothers and Sisters, ABC, All in the Family, recap