"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 303 Recap: “Tug of War”

I won’t keep you in suspense. For any of you who haven’t watched yet, I want to start off by immediately reassuring you that this week’s episode is a huge — and much welcome — improvement over last week. Here’s why …

1) Kitty and Robert are barely in it.

2) Absolutely no mention is made of Ryan Lafferty.

3) There’s no dinner party where some unsuspecting guest is forced to witness the Walkers whine and dine. That has to be a first for this show.

Instead, time is freed up for Kevin, Sarah, Saul, and even Justin to get more interesting storylines than they’ve had in a long time. Which makes me very happy. In general, this episode went a long way toward reminding me of what I like about this show, and how at its best, it can still find ways to engage us in these characters’ personal dramas.

We open at Ojai-Walker Foods-Landing, where a tense meeting is already in progress. On one side, Sarah and Saul. On the other, Holly and her mini-me henchman, Tommy. Holly’s latest evil plan is to “rebrand” the food division by renaming it. She thinks with a fancier name, they can jack up the prices and solve all their financial problems. I don’t think she realizes that, in today’s economy, people aren’t going to be so keen to fork over major dollars for “Holly ’n Tommy’s Good Fer What Ails Ya Fruit Cocktail,” even with a classy name like that.

Her other big idea is to convert a bunch of food acreage into vineyard, since wine is more profitable. I think she’s right on this one, because, in today’s economy, alcohol is pretty much going to be at the top of most people’s food pyramids.

Sarah accuses Holly of doing whatever she can to destroy the last vestiges of her family’s company. So Tommy comes to Holly’s defense, and it’s all fairly familiar. Except that this time, Saul doesn’t just sit there looking constipated and actually gets up to leave.

By the way, for the occasion of this urgent meeting, Saul has busted out his most hideous V-neck sweater and blazer combo yet. I’m always in complete awe of his wardrobe. It’s not just a case of someone throwing on clothes at random without concern for how it looks and coming off like a slob. It’s more like someone deliberately placing colors and patterns together that are so diametrically opposed they induce a sense of vertigo. I used to think he did this just to allay suspicion about his sexuality, figuring people would take one look at him and assume there’s no way a gay man would ever dress like that. But given he’s now officially out and still dressing himself this way, I’ve finally figured out that it’s a deliberate negotiating tactic. Right now, he’s hoping the sight of him in these clothes will incapacitate Holly with an instantaneous aneurysm.

No such luck, though. So Saul, realizing Holly and Tommy are just going to take their plan to the board regardless of whatever arguments he and Sarah come up with, says, “I’m not gonna take it,” and storms out. Good for him.

Cut to Nora on the phone, while feverishly mopping her kitchen floor with the fierce determination, intense concentration, and super-human elbow grease of a crime scene clean-up technician. I’m not buying this for a second. This woman has caterers on speed dial. There’s no way she’s cleaning her own house.

She’s on the phone with Kitty who’s in New York, meeting with publishers about her book. Kitty says she’s having second thoughts over whether she wants to quit her job to publish it, and WHO CARES ABOUT ANY OF THIS? Unless it turns out that Kitty plagiarized the whole thing and gets bitch-slapped for it by Oprah on national television, I don’t want to hear another word about this dopey storyline.

Nora’s still worried about her run-in with Robert after last week’s social worker debacle, but Kitty reassures her that he’s got bigger problems right now. Specifically, he’s become obsessed with their new neighbors for keeping bee hives on their property.