Brothers & Sisters

Boy, was this an aptly titled episode. There was plenty of bad news to go around, from marital treachery to a deadly accident to, um, kind of a bad date. One of these things is not like the others, but apparently you just gotta have a C plot.

The bad news is, Joe kissed Rebecca. Yep, he did. The greasy-haired musician does not deny it, and Justin threatens to tell Sarah about it if Joe won’t, because he is now the Truth Police. The good news is, Joe seems to take his responsibility seriously, enlisting Kevin to babysit so that he can take Sarah camping and find a way to ‘fess up. Despite Sarah’s obvious lack of affection for roughing it, those two crazy kids spend some quality time and realize they still love each other.

The bad news is, Joe has enough nerve to go skinny-dipping on a public beach, but not enough nerve to tell Sarah he kissed her sister. Justin, on the other hand, is plenty free with the info, cluing in Kevin, who suggests Rebecca may be lying. Justin returns to Rebecca for more details, and Rebecca kicks him out for doubting her. And the worse news is, Holly overhears their argument, puts two and two together right quick, and delights in spilling the beans to Sarah.

The good news is, Sarah confronts Joe about it right away, and he finally comes clean. The bad news is, he’s a complete passive aggressive ass about it, twisting things around to make it all Sarah’s fault for, I don’t know, wanting a house and kids and a faithful husband.

The good news is, given what a jerk he’s been, I don’t feel too bad when he finally flashes back to the truth — that he did indeed kiss the girl, but she wasn’t exactly upset about it, staying put for a second kiss and clearly being pleased with herself. The bad news is, she’s now worked her way into the Walker home, moving in at Justin’s suggestion after fighting with Holly, who for all her “Keep your husband away from my little girl!” protestations to Sarah knows exactly what that child’s capable of.

The good news is, even as her sister’s marriage crumbles, Kitty’s love life’s looking up. She’s finally taking charge of her grumpy senator boyfriend, calling him on his bad attitude with the staff and forcing him to take a day off at his ranch. Since they’ll be driving to the hacienda, Kitty lets the beleaguered young speechwriter Robert’s been picking on take the helicopter home for a night off from senatorial abuse. The bad news is, she also sends the kid to his doom, because while she’s giving her guy a fireside massage, the chopper’s crashing in a fiery wreck.

The good news is, despite his reluctance to make political hay from a tragedy (and here the West Wing portion of my brain plays back Moira Kelly saying, “But it’s such good hay!”), the senator makes a speech that honors his staffer’s memory, makes the senator himself look wise and sensitive, and so moves Kitty that she proposes marriage. Neither one of them can quite believe that, but after he gets over looking stunned, Robert seems pleased, and although there’s no answer by episode’s end, it’s pretty likely there’ll be more good news soon.

The bad news is, Nora’s not looking so lucky in love. She failed her writing class with the lecherous professor, who offers to raise her grade if she’ll date him. The good news is, although she does go through with the date, she sees through his flirtatious act and cuts him off again, getting her grade without losing her virtue.

The bad news is, she buys his apology, and agrees to go out with him again in the future. And the worse news is, in an episode full of tragedy, heartbreak, deceit and emotion, we had to occasionally break for this really lame and unnecessary plotline.

The good news is, according to the promos, Nora looks poised to smack Holly in the puss with a cake. The bad news is, we have to wait a whole week for it.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, recap, Bad News