Brothers & Sisters (4.14) "The Pasadena Primary" or "A Tale of Two Towels"

Who rocked it better?

We open up on Kitty and Robert as they plan world domination by getting her elected to the U.S. Senate. This seems like a really bad idea as the notion of the Senate actually getting anything done is hilarious. It's so cute that they actually believe this is true, sort of like kids believing in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus. Except that they are adults and supposedly smarter than this

Robert wants to know if Kitty has come out to her family as a Senate candidate yet, and makes a “Don’t Ask (them), Tell Them” joke which the writers no doubt thought was cute.

Meanwhile, over at Scotty's restaurant, Scotty is planning some Taste of Pasadena event with Nora to boost his flagging restaurant, but he's so despondent, he can’t help imagining what his restaurant will look like as a Banana Republic once they go out of business.

I love how she mothers him. I want Sally Field as my mommy-in-law.

Nora, in chirpy Sally Field/Flying Nun mode, seems to think a celebrity chef night with her and the mayor cooking is going to launch his career and save the restaurant. Does she realize that not all the dinner guests will be drunk like a Walker family dinner? Food quality might matter that night.

Naturally, complications ensue as Scotty gets a call informing him the mayor of Pasadena is currently snowed in in Chicago and might not make it. This could potentially be embarrassing if he told his staff he was “hiking the Appalachian Trail.”

It turns out Kevin is exempt from the flashy dinner as he’s being forced to take his much-improved haircut to his 20 year high school reunion. He doesn’t want to go relive old memories of being a fat ‘mo. Hmm, I wonder if he's been watching High School Reunion on TV Land and knows most folks attending will probably be exactly like they were in high school.

Too bad for Kevin, everyone else in his family wants to go though, so Kitty forces her way in as his date.

But first we learn about yet another Walker tradition to go along with secret mistresses, dying in pools and drinking because of the first two. In this case, it's having the whole family "vote" on certain issues.

In this case, it's about whether or not Kitty should run for office, but what I really want to see are flashbacks to each Walker sibling hearing their family's input on to whom they should lose their virginity. 

She's got the "I'm not disappointed face" down.

But instead, in perfect training for life in the Senate, Kitty fails to muster the necessary supermajority of Walkers in the kitchen primary to make her think she can win a Senate seat. This depresses her as much as it depresses President Obama in the real Senate. Everyone blames Nora for casting the single nay vote, and Robert begins a lobbying effort waged against her worthy of the pharmaceutical industry.

In that other storyline about Holly and Ojai foods — no, not that one about Ryan who has vanished after coughing up his stem sells — Holly tries stalling the cattle rancher on the sale of Ojai, and nearly loses David over it. Which isn’t good since Ken Olin runs the show these days.