"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 203 Recap: “History Repeating”

Cut back to the Walker mansion Nora is railing yet again about the virtues of barbiturates. At last, Justin relents and tells her to fill the prescription. Anything to shut her up.

Nora: (relieved) It’ll be okay Justin, I swear. I asked your sponsor to come by tomorrow, and I’ll monitor your meds.

Apparently, the sponsor is known to raid medicine cabinets.

Cut to Tommy’s house. He’s all alone. The phone rings.

Tommy: Honey?
Lena: No, it’s Lena. It’s been crazy around here and I thought I’d catch up with you. Are you okay?

What did I tell ya. Julia’s carcass isn’t even cold yet, and Lena comes swooping in.

Cut to the Walker mansion kitchen. Tommy and Kevin have stopped by and Nora wants to make hot fudge sundaes. She’s celebrating because she finally got Justin sedated.

Nora: He had 160 milligrams about two hours ago. A pain level of seven would be about a two by now. God I hate knowing so much about this stuff.

Nora takes a bowl of ice cream up to Rebecca and thanks her for helping to convince Justin to take the pain meds.

Rebecca: Nora, I have a lot of friends who are addicts. And when they head back down this road – sorry, but everything changes. You have to lock things up. Count his pills. He may not be Justin for awhile.

Cut to the kitchen where Kevin and Tommy are arguing over who played Tiny Tim in their elementary school Christmas Carol production. Justin comes in. He’s a little foggy but no longer in agony. No doubt he'll be bumping into furniture all the time but not feeling it. Frankly, I like this foggy version of Justin much better. Call him Justin 3.0. Nora watches him pensively. What has she done?

Episode 202 grade: B-

This was a tough episode to grade. It gets high marks for some great acting and dialog, but the storylines are not all that compelling. The major drama in this episode (and the last) is whether Justin will maybe, possibly, temporarily, get hooked on painkillers. That doesn’t seem like it's enough to carry a night-time drama.

I know the show’s writers probably want to avoid outrageous storylines that might “jump the shark,” but for everyone’s sake they should at least run up and kick it once in a while. Let’s hope for more exciting fare next week.

Brothers & Sisters returns next Sunday, October 21^st.