"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 301 Recap: “Glass Houses”

In one of the house’s other 45 bedrooms, Scotty and Kevin at last have a moment alone. Scotty wants a walk on the beach, but Kevin is wary of leaving his family of barbarians unchaperoned.

“You love it!” Scotty gently teases, and Kevin admits he does find that he’s taken to being “lord of the manor.” I certainly hope he doesn’t mean “lord of the manor” in the way they did in that classic Seinfeld episode about “The Contest.” Although given their non-existent sex life so far this weekend, I’m not so certain.

Scotty teases Kevin about how everyone in his family likes to be the center of the attention. Kevin concurs and says it’s amazing none of them went into show business. Heh. It’s a funny line, although perhaps unfortunate that both Kevin and the writers seem to have forgotten Kitty’s forays into radio and television. 

I really like this scene, though, for giving us a chance to see the two of them interacting as a couple and unburdened by the issues we’ve seen coming between them in previous seasons. There’s a natural, comfortable sense of intimacy between them here. I’m glad we’re getting an opportunity to see them enjoying being together before launching into whatever problems are inevitably going to come up for them this season.

Kevin moves their conversation in the direction of a little afternoon delight. Scotty jokingly asks if he’s worried about his family downstairs, since someone might spill something. Moving in to kiss Scotty on the lips (Yay!), Kevin says he’s got it under control.

Cut to Kitty whining that Kevin’s making her do all her boozing outside. Kitty and Sarah are sitting poolside, and even though Sarah spent much of the first part of the episode bitching about the heat, the two of them are now bundled up like a pair of invalids brought outside for one final look at the sea.

Even stranger, Sarah appears to be reading a sleazy supermarket rag called “The National Investigator.” WTF? I would have taken her more for a Business Week or maybe InStyle type reader. Good God, what has happened to Sarah?! Between the bratty kids, poor personal hygiene, inability to do her own writing, and fondness for tabloids, she’s about a can of cheez whiz and a tube top away from being complete and utter trailer trash. It’s like all of a sudden, she’s on My Name Is Earl.

Kitty starts talking about how much she appreciated Sarah’s letter, and especially loved the story about how in the 3rd grade she used to give this little girl all her cookies. Sarah laughs about it and says she thought the story really epitomized Kitty. Kitty then reveals that that story wasn’t in the letter; in fact, it never even happened. And I, for one, can’t believe Sarah fell for that old trick. Has she never seen Columbo?

Sarah: I should have known. You would never give your cookies away.

Kitty is furious with her, especially when she finds out Nora was the one who really wrote the letter. Who was she hoping for? Salman Rushdie?

Sarah doesn’t help matters by saying Kitty’s got nothing to worry about — given Kitty’s fabulous job and house and prettyboy senator husband, she’s certain to get a baby. Their spat quickly spins out of control, as Kitty accuses Sarah of only caring about her own problems. Sarah retaliates that Kitty has no idea the troubles Sarah’s seen. As proof of said troubles, Sarah spills the beans about having discovered the existence of Lil Bastard Ryan.

CRASH! Justin and Sarah go running into the living room to find the demon duo of Paige and Cooper surrounded by broken glass. Apparently, they’d tried to get the whale down from the shelf, and it and several other tsotchkes came crashing to the ground.

Kevin comes in shrieking, “Mom always said don’t play ball in the house! Now there’s a crack in the egg!” Actually, he sputters, “I’m a dead man.” Looking at the children like he’s gearing up to commit nephew-icide, he demands to know who’s responsible. But then Justin, looking for an easy way to assuage his ruthless child blackmailers, takes the fall, saying it was all his fault.