Brothers & Sisters

Kitty’s book was ultimately spared from the flames, but there was plenty to burn in this second episode of the third season of Brothers & Sisters. What was kicking up smoke?

Burning curiosity: That’s what caused the most trouble with Kitty’s book. Robert’s curiosity about who on his staff would be doing something so inappropriate as shopping a book put Kitty in a bit of a panic, since the one being so inappropriate as to shop a book was she. In a fit of ditziness she confessed to Kevin that she “accidentally” wrote a book — that is, let an agent-friend look at her journal jottings, which got shaped into something publishable — and then tore off to deal with her other current source of panic, the need to impress a social worker from the adoption agency with the childproofness of her home. Left behind was her briefcase, with the manuscript handily sticking out a side pocket.

Well, of course, you don’t have to issue much of an invitation for a Walker to snoop. Or leave much time for them to get offended. Kevin quickly finds references to family members, and gets upset about his. After he huffs off, Kitty calls asking after her briefcase, and when Nora goes to look for it she finds the MS Kevin’s wrapped in a dishtowel. She also reads and is inflamed, and the outrage spreads through the family like wildfire. How dare Kitty call Nora a happy homemaker, Kevin argumentative, Tommy a retro white guy, Justin impulsive! Tommy’d like to sue, if only there was a lawyer in the family who was still speaking with him.

Kitty’s comeuppance comes when the brooding brood, who’ve all gathered at Casa McCallister to impress the social worker at a Nora-cooked family dinner, can’t contain their sarcasm and annoyance. They also can’t contain the food, which Nora loaded with cayenne instead of paprika in her book-fueled distraction. Nora knocks a glass of water on the social worker before the woman can singe her mouth with the chicken, and the professional knows enough to get the heck out of there. When she’s gone, Nora starts in on Kitty and Robert lashes right back at her and her children, calling them on their inability to behave like grown-ups for one damn dinner. “You’re adults! Get a filter!” he cries. Aw, but what would be the fun in that?

Kitty and her mom make up the next day when Nora reads the nice dedication and eventually, the entire book, which she declares to be wonderful. (See, she’s a loving mom to Kitty after all.) Robert reads the book and thinks it’s great, too, though Kitty should have told him about it, and she’ll have to leave his staff if she publishes it. And the social worker apparently isn’t holding a grudge either, because the McCallisters are approved to adopt. So in the end, all that’s burnt is some perfectly nice chicken. Whether Robert’s relationship with his in-laws is singed a little remains to be seen.

Burning desire: That’s what Rebecca and Justin should be feeling for each other, given that the writers torched the entire first season just to get the two of them together. But after a makeout session on the couch at Rebecca’s place, Justin’s starting to feel spooked about the prospect of sex with his former-half-sister. He goes to Sarah for advice, because when it’s relationship talk you need, the person you want to seek out is the sibling who is recently divorced in part because her husband kissed your girlfriend. It’s true, though, that Sarah gives better advice — take it slow — than Tommy, who’s all “What’s wrong with you? Get busy!”

Though Rebecca proposes an overnight in Santa Barbara after the Kitty dinner, it turns out she has similar reservations about moving too quickly. I guess the most radical gesture of commitment two messed-up young people can make these days is to not rush into sex. Or maybe Rebecca’s secretly getting a second opinion on that paternity test, just to be sure.

Burning the midnight oil: That’s what Holly claimed to be doing at Ojai, and what she accused Sarah of shirking on as she piled her rival’s desk with hellish-sounding busywork. The project that’s really got Holly’s attention, though, is locating that William spawn Nora sprung on her at the end of the last episode. She first tries to work her wiles on Saul, bringing him a donut and coffee and forced cheeriness in an effort to get the goods on his newly discovered nephew-in-law. Saul will have none of it — the cheeriness and questions, that is, and I hope the donut and coffee, too, because who knows what potion she might have slipped in them — and brushes her off.

So Holly finds another sap to flirt with, some business acquaintance who conveniently has access to information like phone numbers and addresses. She claims Ryan is a friend of her daughter, and bats her eyelashes and her cleavage, and the sap would promise to kidnap Ryan and bring him bound and beaten to her lair if she asked. But all she wants to know is where to find him, which is too bad since Nora’s decided not to.

Burning bridges: Nora doesn’t want to create more collateral damage, as Kitty described Rebecca in her book. And Rebecca doesn’t want to be any part of her mother’s bad works. So when Holly makes a big show of calling Rebecca in and gifting her with her $2 million trust find, no strings attached, the girl naturally knows there are strings galore. So Rebecca — who has an apartment and a car and no apparent job — takes the money and quickly delivers it to Nora, who argues with her a little but then promises to put it aside for her. I can’t think Holly’s going to be any too happy about that when she finds out, and it should widen the rift between mother and daughter and Harper and Walker. Maybe she’ll get the dough back as ransom for Ryan.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, Book Burning, recap