Retcon Patrol: 1-08 “Mistakes Were Made 1″ 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 8. Read Part 1 and Part 2 if you need to catch up, then dive right in here with Part 3.
15:01
Says Kitty: “Mother, if you were to meet someone, anyone, even a street person, even, upon whom you could regularly unleash your enthusiasm and your poopy emerald smoothies, I think there is nobody in this family who is going to complain.” So true. Unless, of course, he wants to move her to Washington, D.C. In which case, there will be whining.
15:42
Sarah says, “People don’t just punch each other in the face in the middle of a soccer game.” Well, maybe not the kids. The parents in the stands, though, for sure.
16:06
Boy, if that’s all Sarah’s got in the coaxing-teens-to-open-up department, she’s gonna be toast when Paige gets to that age.
16:09
Do they have Gabe stashed in the attic? The ceiling slopes kind of sharply. But he’s got a bed and a beanbag chair, so he’s good.
16:11
Nice “screwed-up youth” segue from Gabe slamming the door to Justin searching his apartment for drugs. See, this is what happens when you clean the place up. You can’t find anything.
17:01
Why exactly was it humiliating for Holly to give all Rebecca’s information? Just what did go on with that weird password guy?
17:10
Holly was beginning to fall for Saul, but now thinks he was only in it for the clues about the money. And I should be paying close attention to all this tense talk between the two, but I find myself distracted by the shirt Holly’s wearing, with a shiny hummingbird above the left breast. It looks like that kind of iron-on transfer that was big when I was in high school in the ’70s. I know Holly’s still a gal on a budget at this point, but … honey, update the wardrobe.
17:18
Saul says he’s already fallen for Holly, and swears it’s not a lie. Well … apparently it is, but is it a lie to Holly or himself, or to us? The writers have admitted they didn’t start out making Uncle Saul gay, and watching this the first time through I thought the guy probably did have a longtime crush on his brother-in-law’s girl, but didn’t know what to do with her once he got her. Now, with the extra subtext of the tacked-on “Saul’s gay” plot, I think these scenes actually make more sense, and it’s less annoying that the relationship never went anywhere. If you’re trying to deny to yourself that you’re gay, being “in love” with an inaccessible woman is probably a reasonable way to get through the day. Until your brother-in-law suddenly drops dead, and she’s not so inaccessible.
17:31
But when he tells Holly “I’m on your side”? That’s lying. I don’t think he’s on anybody’s side but his own.
17:44
Don’t know whether this kiss was deliberately intended to be awkward, but … yikes. Chemistry, not so much. At one point, it looks like Holly is going to fall over. It does look rather much like the kiss of a guy who’s pep-talking to himself, “Okay. I can do this”
18:30
Alright, here, as she expresses her disillusionment with the war, the character of Kitty starts to morph from a righteous conservative to sort of a liberal’s dream of a conservative. Which is to say, not so much of one. I suppose it’s inevitable, given the likely political leanings of the writing staff, but the idea of diverse political views in a family, and loving someone whose beliefs you find reprehensible, got watered down. I guess they tried to flare them up again with the gay marriage issue between Kitty and Kevin, but by that time it seemed more an exercise for the sake of conflict than a belief system.
18:54
It occurs to me that one of the reasons Justin is the way he is is because the Walkers have always scurried to save him from the consequences of his bad decisions. He only ever had to face them once, and that’s just because Nora overplayed her hand — he was ready to sign the papers rescinding his enlistment. Somebody needs to step up and say, “This sucks, but take responsibility.” It wound up being McCallister, but I wish it had been Kitty, right here from the first.
19:31
Even if we didn’t know this was going to be a drug deal by Justin’s Troubled Look, and the scruffy guy he meets, and the lack of eye contact during chit chat, we’d know it by the fact that the guy asks about Fawn. She’s the muse of his Dark Side.
19:44
The drug dealer’s name is Shawn. Which rhymes with Fawn!
19:58
Shawn is a full-service scumbag, able to give you drugs and fake passports. But Justin, no matter where you go, there is no way you won’t be you. Bummer, dude.
Photo: ABC.com
Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Mistakes Were Made Part 1
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