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"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 301 Recap: “Glass Houses”Kitty says it’s not really the letter that’s upset her so much. It’s that Sarah thinks everything comes so easily to Kitty and doesn’t appreciate how she’s struggled. That’s pretty rich coming from her, given Sarah’s the one who’s divorced, has a diabetic/possibly demonic daughter, and a harpie for a new boss. I guess there’s a reason this episode is called “Glass Houses.” Robert points out that maybe Sarah’s not aware of Kitty’s problems because Kitty puts on such a brave face. He suggests she try saying something to her. Agent Skinner’s Office. Kevin says his family had a whale of a weekend at the beach house, and now the whale’s been shattered in a million little pieces that can never be repaired. Skinner’s none to pleased to hear about the damage, and even less pleased to hear they’re losing Ojai as a client.
Kevin goes to sulk in his office, and his secretary comes in to inform him that Tommy’s on the line. No wonder his firm’s billing rate is so high, given they’re apparently paying their office staff to spend time going into attorneys’ offices to announce phone calls in person. Is she going to be right back and let him know if he’s got email? Kevin tells her to tell Tommy he’s in a meeting, even though he’s totally not. Frigid Holly’s frosty office. Nora struts in all business, telling Holly, “Don’t worry. I parked in the visitor’s lot.” Catfight part two! Please, please, please let Nora have a cake in her handbag she’s prepared to fling. If she flings a cake, I’m giving this episode an “A.”
Holly snarks back about how Nora should have made an appointment, and they trade barbs for a while. Nora accuses Holly of breaking the spirit of their deal and micromanaging the business, “poisoning” Tommy, and doing whatever she can to humiliate Nora. Holly smugly responds that Nora’s doing a pretty good job humiliating herself. So far, still no cake in sight, but this is getting really good. Then Nora, all smiles, says that until now she wasn’t sure if she was going to reveal something she’d recently learned. But she figures it’s only a matter of time before Holly finds out, and she wants to make sure she’s there to see Holly’s expression when she hears the news … Nora proceeds to tell Holly that William had another lover besides her and they had a child together.
Okay, no food fight, but that was really pretty excellent. The doorbell rings at McCallister Ranch. Kitty opens the door to find Sarah there, bearing a new letter she wrote herself. Kitty doesn’t let her in because she’s hosting a party of some sort inside. I’m guessing she and Robert have invited all their Republican connections over for a special fundraiser in support of their good friend Sarah Palin. Right now, their guests are having a grand old time gutting a moose and ridiculing anyone smart enough to get into Harvard.
Kitty coldly says it’s too late for the letter, since she already sent the materials to the adoption agency. Realizing just how angry Kitty still is with her, Sarah gets really emotional, telling her how badly she wants to fix things and how much she cares about her. Kitty says she knows all that. The issue between them isn’t how much they love each other. The issue is — get this — trust. Huh? Wha’ choo talkin’ bout, Kitty? Seriously, I have no idea where that came from or what she means by it. We cut to another Sarah voice-over, this time of her reading the new and improved “Dear Birthmother” letter. It’s obviously supposed to be more heartfelt and truthful than the saccharine one Nora penned. But, honestly, it’s all just more of the same “blah, blah, blah” to me. During Sarah’s voice-over, we get one of those montages ABC loves so much where we see all the characters sitting by themselves looking sad and wondering what will happen to them next week.
It caps off with Kitty sitting and reading the letter herself. Robert asks her if everything’s okay. And she says, “It will be. I hope it will be.” End of episode. All in all, I’d give this one a solid B+ and call it a fine start to the season. What did you think?
Submitted by on Sun, 2008-09-28 22:03. |
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Good Episode
Bros before Hos is right.
What about Saul
I was disappointed that aside from a brief appearance at Ojai in the first 15 minutes, we got nothing more about Saul. He didn't even get invited to Laguna and we have no idea what he thinks about the Ryan controversy.
Jere
...when two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong.
--Richard Dawkins
thanks for the recap
I was unable to watch B&S today, so I’m glad I could read a recap. This episode seems interesting. I’m sorry I missed it.
I’m interested in the Tommy/Kevin dynamic. Of all the siblings, Tommy is the one who has least rapport with the others. With the others you can always get that sense of shared family history. We occasionally get to see some of the family connection between him and Sarah, but not that often. That’s why it would be interesting to see more of how this effects Tommy and Kevin’s relationship. (Although it will probably be glossed over, in favor of more screen time for Kitty’s baby making story.)
Kevin and Scotty sound adorable. I'm especially sorry I missed it, since we know they're not going to be untroubled for long.
Kitty seemed completely unreasonable this episode. What is the big deal? So Sarah didn’t write the letter. Aren’t adoptive parents supposed to write those letters themselves anyway?
I also love that Holly and Nora get to square off against each other, but I am so glad it’s not about William this time. By now, they should both be OVER that no-good, cheating bastard.
Contrived, I thought
the fire pit
Scotty knows better
Scotty knows better than to stalk Kevin when Kevin is really upset. A lot of guys don't like to be coddled when they're unhappy, especially because it means they have to supress their feelings of hurt and anger so as not to say or do anything harsh to someone they care about. Kevin definitely strikes me as this type (as I am myself incidentally).
All things considered Kevin managed to be more calm with Tommy than a lot of people in his place would have been. I'm hoping they don't resolve this quickly. Tommy was very uncompromising when it came to Justin in the past. Now Tommy is being a total prick to Kevin (and to Sarah for that matter) and his behavior shouldn't be excusable either. He shouldn't be able to be that callous towards his family and then feel free to expect the same treatment he's always gotten from them.
Kevin being angry is to be expected. Scotty will likely try to be the calm one so as to provide Kevin with an achor. All precedent with the Walkers shows that meeting extreme emotion with more extreme emotion only escalates the situation.
I'm more shocked about the fire pit itself. It is so not good from a carbon footprint point of view...
B&S turning into Dynasty?
Steven, you really topped you prior recap work here. This was absolutely hillarious, and on short notice too!
Ah, Holly and Nora will never be the equal of Alexis and Krystle, but I am so glad to see an end to the chumminess and the rise of the age of the catfight. Do the Walkers have a lilly pond?
By the way, didn't Holly used to justify lurking around Ojai based on her large stock holdings? Because I assume that Nora has even larger holdings, even post-merger, given the way she always had to sign off on anything Ojai did. Can't she pull a Holly and demand an office (with an air conditioner) and make a nuisance of herself? Kind of like Alexis in Blake's carriage house.
It is now impossible to like Tommy and I hope he does become a fatality soon. Back in Season 1 he became a whiny little bitch when he felt that Sarah was usurping his rightful place in the family business. Now he thinks it's no big deal edging her out and ejecting Kevin entirely. I don't think it ever did occur to him that there was a reason that, in a city that has more lawyers than rats, his revered father William, who Tommy can never shut up about, opted to hire Kevin on retainer instead of someone else. In Tommy's warped worldview Ojai was always a kingdom that was supposed to pass from William to Tommy as eldest son. I'm just glad that Kevin wasn't a wimp and did basically tell Tommy to piss off.
Kevin and Scotty did rather look like they were doing a remake of The Birdcage now didn't they? Were the rest of the Walker's not outfitted in day-glo then I might have assumed gay baiting on the part of the Wardrobe department. I really, really, loved their little bedroom scene though. They came across as a happy couple and it was very nice to see.
Now, I know this has been asked before but...does McAllister ever actually do any legislating? Because he seems to have more free time than anyone in Congress I have ever heard of and is he ever in Washington or has Congress started doing online voting? That's an even bigger credibility gap than Kevin forgetting that Kitty was once a TV pundit.
I'm over Justin and Rebecca. Actually, I was never into them in the first place. Is it me or are they mostly pointless? But I guess someone has to appeal to the 18-25 demographic.
Poor Sarah. I used to love her but now she's becoming a crazy lady. Granted her children are evil and she has to put up with Tommy and Holly. But one would think that with her background she could get another job. Or just spend her time stalking this Ryan guy.
Who, by the way, had better be eye candy or else I am going to be very pissed. Because as last season's big finale cliffhanger I think he kind of fell flat. We pretty much got that William would have made a good FLDS polygamist and the "shocking" revelation that he was screwing someone else besides the self-important Holly and managed to knock her up was really not a big shock. It was like when they got around to making Star Trek movies and it turned out Kirk had an illegitimate son. All I could think at the time was: "Only one?"
All-in-all a good start to the season. Can't wait for more. Plus now I have HD so I can see that none of them have perfect skin and they're all going grey. I love when people on TV aren't perfect.
True Confession
I'm glad you liked the recap. And, as with TW, I appreciate all the thoughtful commentary on the ep. But I have to admit, ABC was kind enough to give me an advance screener of the episode, so I had a few days to work on this and didn't have to pull an all-nighter. I think they know that AfterElton has a big B&S following and the appreciate our coverage. I just hope they'll continue giving the screeners, because I know people like the recaps on Mondays.
And i'm so with you on Ryan -- I want eye candy too. In a perfect world, they'd cast either cheyenne Jackson or Brad Rowe and I'd be very happy.
With our luck...
It'll be Tom Skerrit with Botox and a dye job (just kidding).
Seriously though, Ryan had better be a feast for the eyes or else I will be massively annoyed. Because otherwise I'm with Kitty on this one, there's no reason to go looking for yet another potential Walker sibling.
I sympathized with Kitty here (which I don't normally do). Sarah seems to have plenty of time to obsess over this Ryan fellow and yet she can't bang out a quick reference letter for Kitty's adoption process. It's not as if finding Ryan would really help Sarah in the war on Holly. If William actually knew about Ryan (as is implied) and left money to Holly anyway it means that it didn't hinge on his belief that Rebecca was his.
Tommy is funny in a way. He claims he's all about proving himself, but he's really always subordinated himself to others. When William was alive Tommy was his lackey. When they first had Ojai in trouble in season one and Sarah offered to let him take over he backed down and let her take the responsibility. Now he's a remora riding around on the shark that is Holly. It seems like he really does want to drive all the other Walkers out of Ojai so that he'll be the only one there. Then he and Holly can commiserate about how they were the only ones who really knew William. Pathetic.
Scotty is a saint as everyone noticed. But he's always been accomodating and even-tempered. That was one of the things Kevin said he loved about him right before proposing. Besides, a smart person knows not to get dragged down into the Walker quagmire. Scotty just sits a safe distance from the mess and waits patiently pull Kevin out. In my opinion it demonstrates that he has more common sense than any of them.
I'm so jealous of your insider privileges! Getting early screenings. Lucky dude! But it all works out because you had this most excellent recap waiting for us. Thanks!
Good Episode....
I loooovvvved the scenes between Holly and Nora. So deliciously bitchy, soap drama at it's best. The show needs to keep up the rivalry between these two ladies, they are really great together and have wonderful chemistry.
I found it strange that Saul wasn't invited for the weekened, but the rest of the family was? What was up with that?
Even when he's a prick, Tommy is still boring. Nothing can make me care about this guy. Can the show promise that he's the major character that's going to die? Please? Actually, I still contend that Tommy will die... and it'll be his death that will spur the family into finally tracking down Ryan, who will no doubt be a smokin' hot mess.
Yes, the Scotty/Kevin rapport is cute and all, but it'll get old real fast. I can only take cute for so long. Bring on the drama, thank you! It's why I watch soaps!
The Rebecca/Justin relationship isn't just icky, it's not very interesting. I like both Justin and Rebecca as characters, but as a couple, they are boring. I prefer they broke up and remained best friends who helped each other through life's woes and miseries. I think they work best as that. And I bet in the end, that's how they wind up.
When did Sarah become such a mess? She always seemed so much stronger and together than what we're seeing now. I hope she gets back into shape real soon. I love Sarah and I don't like seeing her like this.
Good episode though. Great writing and the acting is wonderful as always. Looking forward to the new season.
And I loved seeing Mitch Pileggi. He's still got it going on......
Well...
The death rumors coupled with the rumors about the real paternity of Tommy's daughter becoming an issue I doubt he's long for this world. Tommy dying would certainly bring about such questions.
Fun times with the Walkers
Good premiere episode IMHO. I will say that in defense of the apparent non-existence of Kevin and Scotty's sex life, the producers have done a pretty good job showing Kevin in previous relationships where scenes of him involve a bed and some nekkid menz...
Although, I have been thinking about possible storylines for the new kid Ryan. My thoughts are either he's A) a fierce tranny who's been working it on the runway for a good couple years now. Or B) a boring straighty-mcstraight-straight and has about as much personality as Tommy, Rebecca, and Justin put together. Whomever Ryan turns out to be will be just fine with me (i.e. I've already started thinking of some possible tranistion names.
Oh, and one last thing... LOVE a good ole cat fight! Please make it a running shtick!!
Are we supposed to believe
Excellent recap
Do my eyes deceive me?
The House
I knew I'd seen the house before, it took a while to remember it from "the Dying Gaul". I'm sure I've seen it in plenty of TV shows and movies.
About the recap, spot on! Last seasons premier was pretty awful IMO and I stopped watching for most of last season. Kevin and Scotty's relationship drew me back in. I'm glad this seasons premier was such fun.
Scotty showed class...
by not drowning all his in-laws in the pool, or smothering them with pillows in their sleep. I was half expecting he would snap and yell, "g@d-d#$n-it! I fixed this breakfast specially for you all, sit your asses down, and eat it!" Perhaps in the next episode Scotty will visit everyone who left the beach house early and give them each a pie to the face ninja-style, as only a chef can do. :P
Scotty/Kevin "Marriage"
I was wondering how they were going to handle the question of whether Kevin and Scotty were legally married. Last year's season finale aired right before the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. They made a big point of saying that it was a commitment ceremony (backed up by a legal Domestic Partnership) not a marriage.
Fast Forward to this season's opener and now everyone is using the term "married" as if that's what it always was. They even went so far as to use a voice-over to say the word "married" after the original "I now pronounce you..." Couldn't they have at least said that after the Supreme Court's decision they went and got a legal marriage? Are they once again trying to avoid dealing with the real-world political issue of same-sex marriage at the expense of their credibility?
Re: Same-Sex Marriage
They shot the first several episodes of Season 3 right after the Season 2 finale (beginning in late April). Which means the first 3-4 episodes of this season were already filmed or written before the CA decision was handed down.
In AfterElton's interview with showrunners Monica & Alison, they confirm the show will address the court decision. But we shouldn't expect it for another few episodes because of the timing of when these episodes were filmed.
Thanks for the recap
Due to a horrifically painful sinus infection, I was in bed by 8pm last night and had to miss the episode (and no DVR where I'm at), so I'm mightily grateful for the recap.
Based on that, I can tell you I'm already bored with the Kitty adoption storyline--in fact, I'd already forgotten it, all I could retain from last season was Kevin/Scotty, Justin/Rebecca, and the Ryan revelation.
Are we to assume that Ryan is in the same age range as Rebecca, or is he older or younger? Let's just hope he's hot!
Check out my blog: http://radicalsexy.blogspot.com/
Worst. Senator. Ever.
Does anyone else think that Senator McCallister has to be one of the most ineffective US Senators in history? Why is he NEVER in Washigton DC? I know Senators come home a lot but its a little redic they never even mention anything about him commuting to Washington.
On another note, I think they should make Julia and Scotty become bffs and have weekly therapy/lunches to deal with being Walker in-laws. Maybe that could give Julia some much needed dimension.
Great to have them back!
I don't agree with people saying Sarah has lost her plot, not for the reason that you guys have said though. I think it's perfectly logical that she went on looking for this Ryan person - her made a bad bad deal for Ojai, followed by being "devoured" by the Holly shark and shrunk from a full CEO to one-third of a CEO - what better to distract her? It ties in nicely where she doesn't even know the Tommy-and-Holly plot of de-partnerizing Kevin from his firm.
I also don't agree with the general consensus here about Justin and Rebbecca. I think they are cute together. After the big Scovin wedding, someone's supposed to carry on the torch and become the dating ones. Might I add Justin/Dave is looking more yummy each day? Emily's a good actress.The Nora-and-Holly face-off!! Just can't get enough of it. You gotta hand it to the older ginger to bring the spice! Love it when Nora says "Yes you do", like a spear into the Holy ice queen's heart. Holly is the evil witch that has to stay!Does anyone think that the Walker gene just stopped with Nora and the big-bad-from-the-grave wolf? First Tommy is infertile now that Kitty is too?! LOL.
I think the theme of season 3 might revolve around the siblings - we already have the Kevin-and-Tommy and Sarah-and-Kitty conflicts. After all, it's only fair where the sibling in trouble in seasons 1 and 2 was Justin and they all focused on him with being listed and drug addiction.
Just love the opening scene - it was crazy!! It makes perfect sense that only someone like Nora would have written such a piece of work. The invitation-to-Laguna scene was bloody funny too.It was such a refreshing scene when Scovin steal a moment for themselves in the bedroom, between all the big Walker moments. Love it when Kevin initiates sex, only to be distracted by Cooper later! Did anyone see that Kevin's shirt doesn't have one last button?! His tummy even shows a little in the bedroom when he is with Scotty. I find Kevin so hot this episode (normally I dig Scotty more) with his red pants and not-fully-buttoned shirt!!!!
I did feel a little bit disappointed but I think I had been expecting too much. I still love it and look forward to what's coming next.
blah
An Old-Fashioned Wedding Would Be Nice