Retcon Patrol: 1-07 “Northern Exposure” Part 3
Today we continue our search for inconsistent or comment-worthy moments in the Brothers & Sisters first season with a look at the third part of Episode 7. Read Part 1 and Part 2 if you need to catch up, then dive right in here with Part 3.
16:42
Not sure why Kitty would need to lie to her mother about why she and Warren are there. Wasn’t Nora desperate for one of her children to hook up with the guy?
16:43
Kitty says she and Warren are going to be preparing for a big interview, and Nora asks if that’s “the euphemism of choice these days.” No, but that’s going to become a really overused joke on this show. I can think of at least twice in coming episodes when something along those lines is used. I’m gonna start a count.
17:00
Nora to Kitty: “You’re the journalist. Lie!”
17:21
And Kevin, being the lawyer, cross-examines. Watch this scene again and note Scotty’s many cute facial expressions. Nice reaction work by Luke Macfarlane.
17:48
Love it that Kevin mentions Amber. Nice callback to the previous episode, where they danced.
18:06
Well, you’ve got to give the Walkers this: They may have gone from one couple’s romantic weekend to five couples’ ruined one, but there’s always enough wine to go around.
18:41
If “the roads are like rivers,” to the degree that everybody’s stuck, how did our last soggy straggling couple, Justin and Tyler, make it here to be Couple #6?
18:58
Why is Sarah wearing a hat and gloves as she walks in to breakfast? Was she sleeping in the treehouse?
19:03
So which Walker do we believe snored like a freight train? Kevin? Kitty? Some other culprit?
19:22
Justin didn’t pack clothes, but Tyler is very cutely and completely attired. Catholic girls may not be “good,” but they know how to pack.
19:34
Tommy wants Kevin to help him clear some brush so they can play football. And yeah, it’s just a ruse to get him outside to ask for sperm. (Is that the euphemism of choice these days? No.) Still, do we imagine the Walkers doing the Perfect American Family thing of playing football on the lawn together? I can see Tommy and William being into it, absolutely, maybe Justin, maybe Sarah, but the rest of the clan? Badminton, I’d believe.
19:50
More non-family-member reaction work here, in embarrassed response to Tommy’s refusal to accept Justin’s help: First Tyler comforts Justin, then Scotty gives a wincing smile, then Warren looks … annoyed that this is interrupting his newspaper reading? Hard to say. You’ve got to feel for Tyler the most here — at least Scotty and Warren have been to a Walker gathering, and know what to expect.
20:11
Whoa — Tommy has a tattoo! I mean, I’m pretty sure that it’s Balthazar Getty who has the tattoo, and it is in no way part of Tommy’s character, but … a little longer with the T-shirt sleeves, wardrobe department, or we’re going to need some backstory on that.
20:15
Tommy: “Can you hand me a screwdriver? You know what a screwdriver looks like?”
Kevin (and all of us playing at home): “It’s orange and it comes in a glass filled with ice.”
20:22
That thing where Tommy laughs for a minute, then snaps his fingers and stops cold? That’s a little scary. Is that left over from Alias or something?
20:35
I guess those clothes Tyler had on before were PJ-ish in nature, because she’s wearing something completely different now. So she packed a lot. Envisioning a different sort of weekend than Justin, apparently.
20:47
Justin is such a doofus. He’s there with his sexy girlfriend, who also happens to be his BOSS, and that seems to him like a good time to smoke a joint, and be sarcastic about it besides. Old habits die hard.
21:03
Justin says he doesn’t care what his family thinks, and Tyler says she thinks it’s all he cares about. And again, I ask, if she’s so smart, what’s she doing with this guy? Working out some high school issues, must be.
21:21
Andy Stochansky’s “That Summer” accompanies Justin and Tyler getting down to what they’d originally planned. May I just say, freeze-framing a scene with two actors kissing so you can type out the song title from the closed-captioning is not an advisable thing to do. Some things you do not need to examine in detail.
21:30
How much would you have loved it if David had just stayed in that pink bathrobe the whole time? Shame the dryer worked.
21:43
David has clearly never been to a Walker get-together, because he thinks it’s a good thing when Nora says it’s going to be a “sensational meal.”
22:06
Kitty describes her family as “songs around the piano during the holidays, touch football in the summertime.” Why have we, in two seasons, never seen such activity? I mean, I know the kids are grown now, but if these are family traditions, I have a hard time believing Nora would not force them at gunpoint to continue them. Instead, we’ve just had a lot of golf.
22:28
When Kitty gives Warren her inspirational speech on Why I Am a Republican, how come she doesn’t add, “Oh, and you know, my father was, too. And my brother.” Wouldn’t Dad’s affiliation, at least, have had something to do with it?
22:51
Oh, Warren, Warren, Warren. Lying that you told Amber about your weekend with Kitty. Don’t you know nothing ever stays a secret in Walker-land?
23:07
Sarah thinks maybe they should hire a medium instead of a forensic accountant. And I will always mourn the drunken Ouija Board scene that we never got.
23:19
And there it is! The debut of The Picture. It’s Kitty! No, it’s Tommy! No, it’s Justin! No, it’s Rebecca! No, it’s Ryan! Will the real baby please stand up?
23:26
Alright, here’s a problem. Sarah says that’s her dad’s car in the picture, and pinpoints it as one he got in ‘79. Now, if the picture is supposed to be of Ryan … that means William was there with his car when the picture was taken? I had kind of gotten the impression from “Prior Commitments” that William hadn’t had much contact with the kid. Hmm. Just a drive-by photo shooting, perhaps.
23:39
Sarah wishes she knew Joe in high school, he must have been hot. That haircut would probably have worked a lot better for him back in 1979.
23:52
Sarah says attic sex is much better than treehouse sex. Actually, they both sound dirty to me, and not in a good way.
25:21
I feel kind of sorry for Getty and Rhys having to act this “Brother, can you spare some sperm?” scene; it’s like a plotline that wandered in from Desperate Housewives.
25:30
Speaking of treehouse sex, here come Justin and Tyler crashing down. That’s two siblings caught in public sex in two episodes. What, do they think this is HBO?
Photo: ABC.com
Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Northern Exposure
July 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
This was one of the better episodes. I rather liked Tyler, which probably made me root for Justin even though he was a mess. I think she was still seeing the high school boy he used to be. With all his problems, he must be one exhausting boyfriend.
I run very hot/cold with Justin. He has some endearing personality traits but I get tired of his self-pity. He seems like a person who will always have problems because he makes poor choices.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Yup! What he needs is a kick in the a** and get a job! Perhaps get some selfrespect again.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Yup, stop moping around Nora’s house and do something productive. It might keep him away from women like Lena and move his attention away from Rebecca.
July 15th, 2008 at 5:25 am
I say bring Tyler back in S3. Always liked her though she may be too good for Justin.