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"Brothers & Sisters" Recap Episode 214:"Double Negative"Cut to Walker Foods. Graham is in Saul’s office and both men are looking awfully glum. Sarah arrives at work in much better spirits than the night before. After her Mom’s pep talk, Sarah has decided to ignore her concerns and have faith in Saul and Graham’s decision-making skills. She’s now wholeheartedly on board with the Golden Plum deal. Oh the irony, because Saul and Graham have just received word: Golden Plum has filed for bankruptcy. This is a problem because Walker Foods has signed a bunch of deals with subcontractors. Deals they have to honor. They are on the hook for 20 million dollars. Hey! This seems awfully familiar to me. Didn’t they start Brothers & Sisters with Walker Foods on the brink of bankruptcy, 20 million in the red? Hmm. Maybe they can raid the employee pension fund again.
Cut to Robert and Kitty’s house. Kitty is in bed looking wistfully over her rice cake pictures. Robert comes in, a spring in his step. He says he’s ready to try and get pregnant again.
Kitty looks at him dubiously. She was obviously rattled by Congressman Taylor’s perceptive comments the night before.
Kitty and Robert have a decent scene here. She admits that it would be hard sharing him with the entire country, and he tells her he doesn’t want to lose her. Kitty waves the rice cake pictures at him.
Cut to the beach where Justin is giving Rebecca rudimentary surfing lessons. Mostly though, it just looks like he’s staring at her ass.
I know I said I was cool with this whole Justin/Rebecca romance thing, but only if and when they both know they aren’t related. Since Rebecca lied to him and Justin still believes she’s his sister, it’s sort of skeevy for him to be checking out her body. I say the sooner he finds out the truth the better. Fade out. Special note: There are only two episodes left for this season, and the good news is I’m told Kevin and Scotty are pretty much front and center for both of them. Wouldn’t you know it, things are getting interesting on B&S just when I’m hanging up my recapping hat for good. Next week, my colleague Snicks will be recapping the show, and the following week our own Steven Franks will cover the season finale! You might be familiar with Snicks from his great work on our blog, and Steven has been writing the hilarious Season 2 Torchwood recaps right here on AfterElton.com. Me, I’ll still be around doing other things on the site, but I’m really looking forward to Snicks’ and Steven’s take on this show. Heartfelt thanks to all the folks who have been reading these recaps. I’ve really appreciated your comments and suggestions over the past year and a half. Writing these things — all 34 of them — has for the most part been a labor of love. Although come to think of it, with all the effort involved I probably should’ve written a book instead. I’m such an idiot! Anyway, thanks again. Dennis Submitted by on Tue, 2008-04-29 19:41. |
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ICK
The rebecca and justin thing really ruined this episode for me. the worst was justin's sudden attraction towards her...geez, came out of nowhere.
otherwise, it was an OK episode. I am sick of the kitty/robert baby stuff though. I hate when shows do this to women...make them nothing but baby obsessed....like, it's all she seems to think about. hate it.
Final Recap - Worst. Plot. Twist. Ever.
Thanks for all the laughs over the two seasons, Dennis. Before you go, I see you reverted to Baby Cabbage. I thought you were going to call her Kim Chee (which I thought was hysterical)?
My least favorite episode of the season. Perhaps in the history of the series. De-Walkering Rebecca was a sh*tty, cheap way to allow Justin to do the horizontal bop with her. The whole thing is beyond skeezy. It's a daytime drama plot contrivance. When does the Walker pool get filled with quicksand for Holly to nearly drown in?
Way too much McKitty time (again) and yes, we have done the Ojai is nearly bankrupt story before too.
Kevin and Scotty eeked out 3 minutes of screentime that showed virtually no movement toward this "amazing" finale that is to be their wedding. Kevin "may never be ready for that" makes the wedding in two episodes even more difficult palate. I was optimistic about this storyline until I learned there isn't too much Kevin/Scotty development in the next episode. Way too rushed, the gay couple gets the short end of the editing stick again.
I'll keep watching, hoping for better and expecting the worst. That way, I'll never be disappointed. Kevin and Scotty are cute together and maybe they'll find someone kind of hot for Saul.
Great recap Dennis! I liked this episode too....
Which of course bring me to why Rebbeca's father did not say a thing to Holly. Before the commercial break he promises to Rebecca that it's all going to be OK, so I am guessing that part of making it OK is to put Rebecca's wishes first. I assume that she tells him that she wants to remain a Walker and not to tell Holly a thing as he owes at least that to her. He decides to leave instead of being present to continue lying.
This hurts as he's not only dumping his baby mama (I can't stand that term so I'll add it to annoy myself), but dumping the right to a child who he's kind of digging as she's a cool chick.
Very California granola empowering here as Rebecca has been lied to and now she wants to maintain this new role that she has. She also gets to punish Holly along the way, she's makes sense. Rebecca is too cool to keep this secret for too long, and it will of course lead to Justin being upset at her for keeping this from him and Justin decides that he only has eyes for me in my own little fantasy of a life with Justin and his older lookalike Jack from Lost. We three live happily ever after.
Coming blog attractions: Guillermo's Media Guillotine
http://springintoaction.typepad.com/
One Tiny Mistake
Sarah waves the rice cake pictures at him.you mean Kitty?
This is totally my favourite episode this season too.Thanx for your hard work,great recap.
Yep, I meant Kitty.
I think I would like this
Some B&S observations
One: Congressman Taylor actually acted like a believable Republican presidential candidate! Which was really refreshing given that Robert was constantly being depicted as some kind of liberal Kennedy-esque figure whose credentials as a GOP politician, much less presidential candidate, required just too much suspension of disbelief to buy into.
Two: Justin needs a better storyline than Rebecca. Really, the only thing he does in this family these days is lust after his supposed sister.
Three: Praise B&S as much as you want, they still play up some gay stereotypes. No, I don't mean Scotty. Putting aside kinky yellow spandex, did anyone else notice Kevin's whining about how sore he was from surfing? Okay, let's recap. He's the only Walker that I can ever recall having set foot in a gym. Tommy generally sits parked at his desk and God alone knows what Justin does. Granted they both surf more than Kevin does. But it just seems to me that painting him as the least physically fit of his brothers plays to a stereotype.
Four: I'm hoping we're done with Kitty/Robert and Justin/Rebecca for at least the next two episodes, because as of the end of this episode I don't see a lot of movement towards why Kevin and Scotty would get "married" (partnered, domesticated, whatever). So much time was squandered on Congressman Pork Rinds and McAsIfICare and the I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Incest duo that we didn't really see much development in Kevin/Scotty (again) this week and they're supposed to be getting married in two weeks.
Overall it was an okay episode, but unlike some folks I didn't really care for it. Rebecca didn't really need to be resolved this season, given that a next one is lined up. McAsIfICare's VP prospects also didn't need to be resolved yet (God knows McCain hasn't named a VP candidate yet!), or it could have been spread out into smaller bits.
Great recap as always Dennis!
gay stereotype
I presume you're referring to the stereotype that gays aren't much into sports. Yes, Kevin works out at a gym (mostly for vanity's sake) and has dabbled in sports including golf and surfing. But physical fitness from a gym doesn't automatically confer proficiency in sports. Kevin is probably an indifferent surfer who wipes out a lot so it's quite believable that he'd be sore after a few hours of surfing.
As for the de-Walkering Rebecca storyline, the seed for this possibility was sown way back in the episode when Kevin was dubious about her Walker creds and pulled a hair from her for DNA testing. It was always a bit convenient that almost everyone seemed to accept her as a Walker sibling with minimal objections.
Gay Stereotypes
Kevin also couldn't golf worth a lick in the previous ep, although golfing is more of a skill than a sport.
What about Scotty? "Stitches for bitches"? Sounding like a "12-year old girl"? Did they really have to go there, turning him into the "wife"?
And it seems that the length of Scotty's bangs are proportional to his nellyness.
B&S Stereotypes
Yeah, I was generally inclined to overlook Scotty since he's been kind of nelly since the beginning so it's kind of an established aspect of his character.
But the way that Kevin is consistently depicted as the least physically able of his brothers kind of annoys me. They also like to draw attention to it as much as possible. Kevin whining about playing touch football in season one. His apparent ineptitude at golf. Now he's whining about being sore after surfing. It's like they never miss a chance a highlight his lack of physical skill or stamina.
They also play up his love of theatre (Wicked in particular) to an almost comical extent. He can cook better than any Walker except Nora and possibly Sarah. He owns a Liza throw pillow.... Need I go on?
Maybe I'm just in a bad mood towards the B&S crowd because Kevin and Scotty are about to do something majorly significant in their relationship and they're getting virtually no air time so that instead we can have more Rebecca/Justin/Holly/David nonsense. That's lowering my willingness to overlook some things.
I tried to reply to your
You can attribute the bad
You can attribute the bad dialogue writing to Liz Tigelaar. She's the same one who gave that "Prada glasses" comment to Scotty in episode 2.04. The "Stitches for Bitches" is her doing as well.
KC
Maintainer of Luke MacFarlane OnlineThanks
Kevin & Scotty
KC
Maintainer of Luke MacFarlane Online
Re: K/S
But it sounds like emotionally significant scenes between the two, and you neglect to mention that the episode drives forward the Saul plot and features an extremely significant Kevin/Saul scene that, in turn, powerfully affects Kevin and his relationship with Scotty.
I, myself, am looking forward to it.
Coffee cup(s) not a continuity glitch
Justin *was* holding two coffee cups during the entire scene. When he was knocking on the door, one cup was balanced on top of the other, which is exactly what people do in this situation.
I for one really like the idea of Justin and Rebecca as a couple, although I would've rather seen Rebecca as a Walker and Justin as the non-Walker. It fits his frictional back-story with Papa William perfectly. I remember thinking back in the first season that the way they played Justin's perception that his father was disappointed in him could foreshadow a later revelation that Nora once strayed in retaliation to William's (initial) affair.
I've enjoyed the Kitty/Robert storyline more than the reviewer has, and I definitely enjoyed the turn of events these last two episodes. But I really find the Sarah/Graham storyline to be a total snoozefest. After seeing Steven Weber in much better roles in "Once and Again" and "Studio 60", among others, this role seems too insubstantial. And I hate that he comes at the expense of Joe, played brilliantly by John Pyper-Ferguson.
Thank You!
With a second look,I think you got that right.
Don`t know if I can post a picture here,Let me have a try.
Justin Non-Walker
I know I would have preferred Justin not being a Walker to Rebecca not being one... I guess they have chemistry, but I really like Rebecca as a Walker-come-lately. But Justin being the result of Nora having an affair, I must say ran through my mind also early in the first season.
And BTW, AsA3DollarBill, I love your Donna Troy Avatar! Classic New Teen Titans rule! 8)
(Okay, hopefully I've expressed enough geekiness for today!)
Geekiness rules
Last week I wrote a lengthy,
Last week I wrote a lengthy, somewhat witty response to the episode summary, but when I pressed "submit" it got lost to a Page Cannot Be Displayed.
So rather than do that again, I'll just make a brief comment: Was anyone else a bit put-off that Scotty injured himself so badly that he needed stitches and yet never bothered to call Kevin to let him know he was in the hospital?
zanefan...
True, but one would think
eh....
That scene?!
well, it's....
It's obvious kitty/robert/Justin/rebecca have gotten more screentime lately....
i hope that 2.16 doesn't focus much on anyone else but kevin on scotty since it's their day...i think what i mean is....I don't wanna sit through scene after scene of kitty propping her legs up and hoping for a baby....sheesh
B&S: Everything but Kevin/Scotty
My big worry when I first heard about this domestic partnership was that it was going to look lame to straight audiences (and to me) because they were combining it with this whole Scotty-needs-insurance thing and then rushing ahead with it. My misgivings got worse when I saw the spoiler pics of them getting hitch in Nora's den before a casual dress crowd.
Now my misgivings are screaming like a banshee. Two out of four episodes have passed with minimal development of Kevin/Scotty. Virtually all of their relationship is off-camera and has to be assumed at this point because the lion's share of screen time is being given to Kitty/Robert and Justin/Rebecca/Holly/David. Now I really think that this "wedding" is going to look contrived.
Also, the bitch in me wants to tell Little Miss Republican that her fertility woes are probably her own fault for putting her career ahead of "traditional family values" and not marrying until she's about 40. I know that's harsh and unfair, but I just don't think that Kitty gets called out often enough for her politics. It's the same irony as with Ann Coulter, who gets invited to speak at conservative Christian conventions where they extoll the virtues of "traditional family values" and decry "feminist" women who "selfishly" put their own lives first. Coulter is of course in her 40's, unmarried and childless.
Contrived "Wedding"
B&S is notorious for contrivances, which goes back to what I've said in previous posts: the writing is quite poor at times.
I think part of the problem is that, if I'm not mistaken, they have a relay with the writing team. Two writers will scribe 1 ep, another 2 will write another ep, & so on. What results are choppy storylines, so they have to resolve them quickly with their patented contrivances.
What B&S should do is find a strong core of writers & have the entire team hash out episodes.
If they continue what they've been doing, I'm afraid they'll screw away their audience.
Really! With the way people
Nora's line on page 7
"Nora: ...And then I met Ellen tonight at the benefit. That lady who's son needs leukemia?"
I imagine you meant "has" vice "needs" ;)
That lady whose son has leukemia
Calling Kevin
More Gay Stereotypes
Psionycx - I always find your observations well thought out, but I think you're off base on the contention that Kevin's surfing soreness represents a stereotype. I used to play tennis literally six days a week, usually for hours at a time. I also did yoga. It would be hard to be more physically fit than I was. However, each year following our first touch football game I could barely walk the next day. I'd be hobbling around like an old man. Even though both activities involved running they were different types of running, and used different muscles. Kevin can be as fit as possible, but if he's not a regular surfer he'd be sore as hell. And his regularly surfing brothers would not be sore.
Speaking of stereotypes, it seems wise to remember that most (though not all) gay stereotypes exist because huge numbers of gays fit those stereotypes. The other gay guy in my office literally exhibits every one of them, from fey mannerisms to absolutely no interest in sports. It almost seems that when we object to stereotypes we criticize those people who have those traits. It's simply true that far more gays than straights have fey mannerisms, lack of interest in sports, no aptitude for auto mechanics (that's me!), good taste in clothes, etc. So what? Some people have most of those traits, some have none, some have various combinations. All of which is good. I have a friend who is a total whiz with auto mechanics, but hates sports with a passion. I like sports, but don't know a carburetor from a fuel pump. People are what they are.
Sick of stereotypes
Thing is, it's the acceptance of this sort of thing by people like you that lead the consistent depiction of gays in media this way and of course the public perception that this is the way we all are.
Perhaps this annoys me because we've been through this before with another gay TV lawyer by the name of Will Truman. He began life as a pretty average guy in early seasons of Will & Grace but was written as more and more of a gay minstrel in later seasons as they tried to make him more closely resemble a stereotypical gay than he did in earlier seasons.
Kevin is also being written this way more and more which I'm sure is comical to some people. But it also accounts for why we have a hard time finding depictions of gay men on TV that don't fit into the stereotype.
It's not just the sports thing as I said before. Kevin also fits the stereotype in a whole range of areas and frankly I think it detracts from his value to our community as a character because it reinforces the idea that this is what a gay man is "supposed" to be. He will always be less masculine than a comparable straight man (in this case his two brothers). He will always love musical theatre and divas. He will always be all about interior design and cooking (and in this case superior to his sisters).
This would be less irksome if there were more balanced depictions of gay men on TV to provide some diversity but there really aren't.
"People Like You"
Uh oh...."People like you"....If I were a reflexive thinker I'd have to be offended at that. Fortunately I'm not!
If we're talking strictly comedy characterizations I could agree with you. From Will and Jack to the guy on Ugly Betty to Ms. Garrison on South Park, etc., the stereotypes seem common in comedy. Even those only bother me if the characterization seems somehow mean spirited. (Though I certainly would understand people being unhappy with that sort of stereotyping.)
But I just don't see that at all in non comedy things. Luke and Noah aren't stereotypes; Dylan and Marco on Degrassi aren't stereotypes; John Barrowman; most of the guys on Queer As Folk. I could go on. In fact, I'd argue that non-comedic characterizations go too far the other way. Guys like my friend at work aren't portrayed at all. Which seems sad and somewhat exclusionary to me.
Also, as I said, it's simply a fact that more gay guys display the stereotypical traits than do straight guys. Again, so what? That's not a bad thing. I love sports and am stereotypically straight in other ways. That's neither a good thing nor a bad thing, it's just what I naturally am. But what's wrong with being effeminate? What's wrong with liking theater, or being sensitive, or being a good cook, or crying at sad movies? Gay guys are all of those things in higher percentages than are straight guys. I don't think it helps our community to make gay guys as super macho as straight guys. Just give me a well rounded spectrum, and try to reflect reality. And I think non-comedic media has done a good job of that.
There is some scientific research that seems to show that gay guys are "built differently" than straight guys, just as women are built differently than men. Recognizing that is in no way a criticism of any of the groups. If gay guys are the same genetically as straight guys, or if they're different in some way, I don't care.
This always happens.
This always happens. Someone takes issue with how the gay character always seems to have to be stereotypically gay. Another person takes offense that there's something wrong w/ being stereotypically gay.
Personally, I'd like to see some balance in gay representation (level of "masculinity," racial/ethnic, etc.). You may believe that a high percentage of gay men are stereotypically gay - & that may or may not be true - but in an environment where gay representation on TV is already limited, the gay interior designer, gay hairstylist, gay fashionista, etc. has been overplayed.
Most straight people aren't sophisticated when it comes to us. What they see on TV & in the movies is how they think that all gay people are. The media does our community a disservice if gays are represented only in 1 certain way.
And I'd hate it if our community self-ghettoized ourselves by being satisfied w/ 1-dimensional gay characters.
Hey, I totally agree with
Hey, I totally agree with you. I was not saying that a "high percentage" of gay guys are stereotypically gay. Rather, that there are far more gay guys than straight guys with those traits, and the percentage of gay guys with some of those traits is high enough that it's silly to demand that gay characters not ever have those traits.
I couldn't agree more with the idea of balance. That's the ideal. I think in non-comedic roles that ideal is reasonably well obtained. In fact, it could go too far toward the macho side since fey characters are avoided in dramatic roles. However, I personally would like to see more gay comedic characters be less stereotypical. But the nature of comedy is to exaggerate everything. That's where your comment about the general populace is appropriate. If they see Will and Grace, or South Park, or Ugly Betty they might tend to think that's what all gay people are like. But I just don't see that imbalance in dramatic characterizations.
And about self-ghetto-ization, I've been implying exactly the sentiment you expressed since I started posting here. I think scrutinizing the tiniest details of every characterization, or yelling "homophobia" every time we don't agree with something tends to lead to a self-ghetto-ization.
also...
calvin on Greek isn't a stereotype either. He's a gay man of color which is HARDLYYYY ever seen on tv.
If kevin went around snapping at everything and doing exaggerated hand gestures, then yeah...i guess he could be seen as a stereotype....but just because he's sore after surfing....please.
kevin is far from will truman....or jack in that case. :-P
Kevin is just more studious than sporty
Kevin/Scotty Special Day
Your Last Recap
Dennis, I just wanted to
Dennis, I just wanted to say this was another great recap, and I'm saddened that it will be your last!
I've been reading your B&S recaps for the last year or so, and besides being great on their own, I think they've really helped me enjoy the series more as well.
I hope you're going to be doing something you really enjoy (writing a book maybe?) and will let us all know what you're up to. Good luck! 8)
Thanks CosmicLad!