"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 302 Recap: “Book Burning”

Ironically, while she’s reading, she’s barely paying attention to the cooking she’s allegedly so proud of, and keeps shaking spices into the pot, setting up a dinner-party snafu gag that’s as old as the “Who’s on first?” bit. Groan.

Justin tries to calm Nora down, but she tells him he should get a load of what Kitty said about him.

We cut to Justin and Nora on the phone with Sarah bitching about everything Kitty’s said about them. Justin’s upset that Kitty called him “impulsive,” “immature,” and “disaffected.” Sarah, still feeling guilty about screwing Kitty over with the adoption recommendation letter, tries to defend Kitty, but nobody wants to hear it. So Nora faxes her parts of the book so she can see for herself.

Sarah reads the faxed pages and thinks they’re all pretty accurate descriptions, if a tad unflattering. But Nora is still on the warpath, upset she’s been called a “liberal fascist.” Then lapsing into plain old fascism, she calls for a good old American book burning.

At this point, Tommy’s in on the act as well, reading pages along with Sarah and taking great offense at being labeled a “throwback to the 50s” and a “traditional man’s man trying to uphold the mantle of his forefathers.” The more we hear of it, the more appalled I am by how much Kitty’s writing sucks. Are they really worried anyone’s going to want to read any of this?

At least Sarah gets in this great zinger at this point. When Tommy wonders if they have any legal claim for libel, Sarah says, “Maybe you should ask Kevin. Oh, no. That’s right. ‘Retro White Guy’ fired him.”

But Tommy actually does have the chutzpah to call Kevin, and when he gets him on the phone, this is Kevin’s response:

Kevin: Oh, don’t even get me started. I’m the obsessive cynic hiding behind identity politics. You know why I’m obsessive? I’m a gay man living in a country where I can’t legally marry the guy I love in 48 states.

Amen to that brother. This leads to one of those classic Walker phone clusterf*cks where they’re all complaining at once. Sarah, still playing peacemaker, suggests that maybe the remarks aren’t so bad when taken in context. I laughed when I heard that because I couldn’t imagine what context could possibly put a positive spin on any of this. Something like … “My family are all selfish, backwards, close-minded, self-deluded idiots. But they’re still way more civilized and intelligent than the rest of the American public, including you suckers reading this crap.”

For once, I’m actually thrilled to have Rebecca make an entrance, since it finally puts a stop to all the bitching. Rebecca asks if they’re all ready to go, and Nora announces to the entire family that they’re going to go to the dinner and be on best behavior to help Kitty get her baby. And afterwards, they can totally tear her a new one.

McCallister Ranch. The awkward silence is deafening as the Social Worker sits making angry marks on a serious-looking yet totally bogus “Adoption Approval Form” of some sort. Kitty offers to get her good and liquored up, but she turns down the offer of a drink. The doorbell rings and Kitty’s beloved family are suddenly there to make all that tension go away with their cheerful demeanors and sparkling conversation skills.

As each Walker enters, they make a snotty comment to Kitty right from her book. Like Kevin wonders if she was worried he’d “fly into a rage,” and Justin blames being late on his “impetuous youth.” By the time Nora comes in, Kitty totally realizes they’ve all seen the book. It’s capped off by Nora shoving a heavy pot in Kitty’s arms and angrily saying, “The chicken’s in the trunk.”