Brothers & Sisters

“I feel like we’re both doing the same thing. We’re making compromises for a greater purpose.”

Jason McCallister says those words to his brother, Robert, toward the end of last Sunday’s episode of Brothers & Sisters, and since lines of dialog that contain the title of the episode ought, by my reckoning, to have something important to say about what we’re seeing, I’m going to use that as the theme for this recap.

Most obviously, for the greater purpose of helping us forget how annoying their storyline has been of late, the Powers That Be have compromised the role of Tommy and Julia on the show by leaving them completely out of the loop this week. Not even so much as a name check. Sure, Robert was missing last week, but at least he got a talking-head shot on the TV and a discussion of his handsomeness. Apparently, Tommy and Julia are getting their marriage counseling in Malaysia, and we already know the phone service stinks.

Perhaps for the greater purpose of keeping their options open regarding Danny Glover’s continued presence on the show, those same PTB have also compromised the integrity of ABC press releases by excising promised scenes in which Nora was to have found out Something Bad about Isaac. Fortunately, ABC press releases don’t have all that much integrity to begin with, so no harm done there. The loss kind of marginalized Nora, reducing her to phone conversations and Advising the Young People, but her telling Kitty to suck it up and be a mom to her sick stepkids was certainly more fun than yet another round of romantic disillusionment.

On to what we did see. First, foremost, and funniest, we saw Sarah compromise her resistance toward Graham for the greater purpose of getting over her divorce, and Kevin compromise his dignity for the greater purpose of getting Scotty’s friends to like him. Those pals see Kevin as a stuffed shirt who’s hurt their friend in the past, so when Sarah — smarting from the arrival of her divorce papers, and from the news that Joe’s taking his girlfriend/ex-wife to Paris instead of her — wants to go out, get wild, and do what Walkers do best (drink!), Kevin takes her to the gay karaoke bar where he knows Scotty and crew will be.

Of course, you can bring the repressed lawyer to the karaoke bar, but you can’t make him sing. Sarah tries to find them a nice duet, but when he drags his feet, she goes solo, belting out Cher’s “Believe” to the delight of the crowd. Road Trip Sarah is in the house! After her number, Scotty’s friends are Sarah’s new best buddies, too, and they persuade her to call the office and have her divorce papers brought over this very second for signing. Of course, Graham answers the phone, and of course, he winds up bringing the papers over himself. Graham, meet Road Trip Sarah. Girl’s a lot more fun with a great deal of tequila in her.

Kevin finally gets enough tequila in him to get up on the stage, but too much to do more than croak pathetically to “What’s New, Pussycat” and “You Were Always on My Mind.” It’s a pretty horrifying performance, but in a way, that’s just what was called for. Scotty’s friends allow as how they no longer hate the guy, and Scotty hops onstage to put Kevin out of his misery and take him home. Graham doesn’t need much persuading to take drunk Sarah to his place, and the next we see of them, she’s gathering her garments and sneaking, no, wait, strutting out of his place in the morning.

It’s good that somebody in this family is having fun, because out on the campaign trail, there’s not much time or energy for romance. Robert’s still the Republican front-runner, but he’s being chased by somebody named Taylor, who was previously a dark horse but picked up some speed after spilling Adamson’s secret and attacking Robert hard. Feeling her candidate needs a little morale boost, Kitty arranges for his kids and his brother to join him in Michigan. But that has mixed results — while Robert’s happy to see them, and gets some good PR from going to a carnival with his kids, Jack and Sophie and Kitty soon come down with the flu, and Jason realizes (with Travis’s help — thanks, Travis!) that Isaac is the guy who outed him. Unhappy campers all around.

Kitty, stuck in a hotel room with the kids, calls her mommy to whine about it, but Nora’s been there, done that: She reminds Kitty of the time little Kitty had the chicken pox, then expands her memory with the fact that Sarah and Tommy and Kevin had the chicken pox at the same time, and Nora had a cold, and William was away on business. She advises her daughter that sometimes, you just have to suck it up … or rather, compromise your own need for rest and recuperation for the greater purpose of providing loving care to your children. Kitty does that, in her way, by finally losing patience with the kids and yelling at them. And maybe all they needed was tough love, because pretty soon they’re at peace together in a spirit of compromise.

The compromises Robert’s having to live with aren’t quite so peaceful. He argues with Jason over the fact that he’s compromised by employing Isaac, someone who hurt his brother. He admits that, while he doesn’t personally care that Jason’s gay, it would be easier for his campaigning if that wasn’t so. Then he meets with an old “friend,” and has compromise come around and bite him: This particular buddy, the governor of Michigan, had promised to endorse Robert — and that endorsement was the reason Robert came to Michigan to campaign — but will now compromise their friendship and his beliefs out of fear that Taylor will punish him for it.

Robert’s feeling pretty disheartened about politics when he talks to Jason again, but his brother has already forgiven him, and gives him the speech about compromises, and about how he went in to politics to serve — not for money, not for power (oh, really? The Most Ambitious Man You Will Ever Meet?). It all seems like the perfect opportunity for Robert to wash his hands of the race, and when we see him next, he’s laying on the floor with his children, playing Uno and seeming unperturbed by the election results coming in. But here’s the twist: He wins, without the endorsement and without playing dirty. On to Super Tuesday! Which, in this Walker universe, is in, what now, April? May?

Speaking of gay brothers, Saul comes to Nora’s for lunch but is uncompromising in his refusal to satisfy her with any information about the man he once loved or the crisis he seems to be having now. He does, though, go to Milo’s apartment, and finds there someone else entirely. Evan, played by new celebrity guest star Enrico Colantoni, is house-sitting for Milo, and knows all about Saul. As the two discuss the past and present, it becomes clear that both Milo and Saul have made compromises in their lives for what seemed to them a greater purpose — a marriage for Milo, and, I don’t know, maybe not having to tell his mother he’s gay for Saul — but turned out to just be a lifetime of loneliness. Will they try again when Milo returns, or does Evan represent Saul’s future? To let us know that would be to resolve the only long-running storyline we’ve got this season, and the writers aren’t about to make that compromise.

Rebecca’s about ready to compromise and seek a job or further education, for the greater purpose of getting Nora and Holly off her back. Besides, as Justin points out in his one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene, the job of lazy good-for-nothing is taken. Nora suggests photography, and Rebecca takes advantage of that to work her way in a little more with David, her mom’s old boyfriend But Not Your Father, Dear. They spend some time chatting and looking through old pictures of David and Holly with dates on the back, and taking photos, and sharing professional advice and old times. Back home, Rebecca photographs her mother while grilling her on just exactly when she dated William and David and whether there was any overlap. No, no, no, Holly assures her again, he’s not your dad.

The subject of paternity doesn’t come up when Holly goes to visit David herself. She lets David kiss her, but it’s hard to tell if there’s still a spark. Still seems like she’d be pretty glad if he left town, pronto. Maybe too late, though, because Rebecca’s back home going over the photos she took of her mother, and the photos David took of her years ago, and by the look on her face it appears as though she’s found something significant, but … boy, if they were dropping hints about what it is, I sure missed them. Let’s hope that over the break, Holly and Becca compromise and order up some DNA testing, for the greater purpose of getting this stupid is-she-or-isn’t-she-a-Walker subplot over pronto.

For more recaps of “Compromises,” check these sites:

• TV Guide
• Entertainment Weekly
• TV Squad
• Television Without Pity
• AfterElton

and come back here tomorrow for a round-up of memorable lines.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, The Feast of the Epiphany, recaps