Brothers & Sisters

This week, with all the characters checked-up on, I’m going to do some looking ahead to what I’d like to see more of in upcoming episodes of Brothers & Sisters — sometimes specific stories, sometimes general directions. (On Saturday, we’ll get to what we don’t want.)

Today, I’ll enter a plea for reeling the siblings back in from all their individual and not-so-interesting plot ponds and plopping them back into the family pool. Not literally, ’cause that’s been done. But it’s a rare scene involving one Walker sibling that wouldn’t be better with two Walker siblings, or three or four, or the whole darn dingy bunch. The fun and the emotion increase exponentially. So why has everybody been wandering around on their own so much lately?

The glory of this show is its ensemble — more than its writing, which ranges from terrific to okay, and certainly more than its plotting, which ranges from moving to wacky to oh-please-don’t-do-that! The actors are all very capable on their own, but put them together around a table, or in a car or a bar or a party that’s doomed, and it’s magic more often than not. The cast has built up a real family feeling, and great timing for all those flying zingers. That, to me, is what sets the show apart, and it’s what I watch for more than anything else.

Sure, we all have our favorite characters. If you’re a Kevin fan, you probably don’t mind scenes that are all about his love life. If you cherish Sarah, you’re probably into her marriage or business drama. If you’re carrying a torch for Rob Lowe, you’re probably okay with Robert and Kitty out on the campaign trail.

But even then — more Walkers = more fun. The plot with Kevin being insecure around Scotty’s friends could have played out any number of family-free ways, but adding Sarah into the mix made it so much better. Kitty’s phone conversations with her mom were some of the best parts of her on-the-trail storylines. And even though the idea of doing Justin’s detoxing at home overnight was silly, the interactions among the different family members, especially Kevin and Tommy, made it worth it.

See that, writers? I’m easy. I’ll forgive a lot if you throw a few road trips my way, and from the way the spoiler drums have been beating, it sounds like you’re going to need a lot of forgiveness. The previews of the sibs buzzing around trying to spoil Nora’s going-away-with-Isaac plans look promising. More of that, please. Not to sound like some conservative pundit, but let’s focus on keeping the family together.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC