"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 305 Recap: “You Get What You Need”

The production credits for this episode are teeming with more intrigue and family drama than we’ve seen in the show itself lately.  

For one thing, it’s written by David Marshall Grant (love him!), one of TV’s first on-screen gays back in the thirtysomething era, so we know the gay stuff will be decent this week. And it’s co-written by Cliff Olin, real-life son of Patricia Wettig, who seems to take perverse pleasure out of writing scenes that emphasize what a slut Holly is.  

And, best of all, it’s directed by Chad Lowe, Senator Prettyboy’s real-life brother, better known as the former-Mr. Hillary Swank. Until she forgot to thank him at the Oscars so he totally divorced her, at least if the tabloids can be believed, and honestly, when can they not? I wonder if Chad has any actual directing experience, or if big bro Robbie threw his weight around and pulled a McCallister to get poor-out-of-work baby bro this boondoggle.  

Justin shows up at Rebecca’s door and leans in to kiss her, but she’s all, “SCALDING HOT LIQUIDS!!! SCALDING HOT LIQUIDS!!!” because they’re both clutching venti-sized cups of coffee to their chests. Justin says, “You know, I can do two things at once,” and I have to rack my brains out trying to remember an incident where we’ve seen any evidence of this. Unless looking pretty and looking dim count as two separate things. 

Rebecca spills the beans about having found the top secret Ryan Lafferty file on her mother’s desk. She and Justin try to figure out what Holly might be up to, and it’s kind of like watching Scooby Doo and Shaggy try to solve the mystery all on their own without the help of Velma, Fred, or anyone else capable of higher reasoning. 

I’m not sure what Holly’s spiking the coffee with at Ojai these days, but Rebecca is strangely rather forgiving of her and willing to give her the benefit of a doubt. But Justin, who’s accustomed to Holly taking lollipops from babies and tying late-rent-payers to train tracks, isn’t having any of that. Rebecca insists she’s going to give her mother a chance to explain herself before jumping to any hasty conclusions.  

Kevin and Scotty’s Fab Gay Apartment. Kevin is running around having a major hissy fit over some missing papers he needs for work. And Scotty has clearly figured out that the only way for him to survive this marriage with his sanity intact is to ignore him. 

Instead, Scotty is wrapped up in trying to figure out activities for his parents’ impending visit, thinking that checking out the famous Queen Mary oceanliner might be fun. My advice to him is that if he’s trying to win over the homophobic ’rents, he might want to avoid anything having to do with queens, marys, or cruising, but it’s just a thought. 

Scotty finally impresses upon Kevin how important it is that his parents — the same ones who boycotted their commitment ceremony — are coming for a visit and that he needs his help to pull off everything without a hitch. Because at least Scotty has watched enough TV to know what typically happens when parents come to visit — hijinks or homicide, take your pick.