“Brothers & Sisters” Episode 210 Recap: “Feast of the Epiphany”

Vet: What I’m wondering is why didn’t you admit the truth before now? Why did you claim credit for a rescue you didn’t want to attempt?
McWaffler: Well, first of all I didn’t take credit for it. But you’re absolutely right. My silence accomplished the same thing. The truth is, I didn’t know how to explain to the world and, more importantly, to the families of the men who died….

Ooh, this town hall meeting thing is not going well. It’s almost a relief that we cut away to Sarah’s office.

She’s meeting with Graham again. This is a business meeting but the conversation turns personal.

Sarah: Can I ask you something? What‘s the longest relationship you’ve ever been in?
Graham: Six years.
Sarah: Did you ever cheat?
Graham: No. Well, I guess it depends on how you define cheating.

Sarah drags out the old soap box at this point and rails on about how spouses need to be completely honest with their mates and how you can’t build a relationship on a dishonest foundation.

Graham: So what about you? Did you ever cheat?
Sarah: What, me cheat? Never! Not in ten years of marriage. I didn’t.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Graham: You say “no” but I think there’s something you’re not telling me.

Cut back to the town hall meeting where McAllister continues to take his lumps with the motley mob of war vets. Back at campaign headquarters, Kitty and Mumbles are watching the live town hall conference on a laptop, and along with it real-time public opinion graphing. The graph line is trending ever downward, which makes me think it must be tracking my level of interest in the whole McAllister presidential campaign storyline.

But slowly, almost miraculously, the mood in the hall begins to turn; the questions grow less strident. A few vets start nodding their heads in unison with McAllister, and Kitty and Mumbles' real-time graph begins to trend upwards.

McAllister delivers a heartfelt mea culpa about how he froze under pressure. But he was 25 and he won’t make the same mistake again. Also, he did what any other soldier would have done. Boiled down to its essence, his argument seems to be that people can show their “support for the troops” by forgiving him and voting for him as President.

Oh, it’s a bunch of hooey. Hooey, I tell you! And when a cranky old vet hobbles out of his chair to give McAllister a standing ovation, I want to throw something at the screen.

Back at campaign headquarters Kitty tells Mumbles he’s a genius for setting up this town hall event.

Mumbles: Yer boys net show bed eifer.