"Brothers & Sisters" Episode 311 Recap: "A Father Dreams"

Previously on Brothers & Sisters … I have no clue what happened. It was eons ago and since then I’ve burned off countless brain cells at a series of never-ending holiday parties, each one more drunken and depressing than the last. I think the last episode that aired had something to do with a big holiday meal, and some sort of hospital procedure, and something having to do with somebody’s sperm. Oh wait, that was New Year’s Eve.

We open with Kevin lying in bed, awakened by deafening sounds from a baby monitor on his nightstand of a seriously pissed-off baby shrieking away somewhere. Right off the bat, it’s clear this is some sort of fantasy/dream sequence, because Kevin doesn’t do what any rational person would and fling the monitor to the wall, turn over and get back to sleep. Instead, he gets up clutching his side and walks downstairs to investigate.

The camerawork gets all Blair Witchy and funky to clue us in on the fact we’re in dreamland. Oh right, now I remember. The last episode we saw ended with that infamous “scenes from next week” clip that launched a thousand panicked blog posts, the one of Kevin sucking face with Julia that had everybody in a tizzy like the PTB were actually going to send Kevin off to ex-gay camp and come back lusting after his sister-in-law.

It was always clear to me that this was going to be some sort of dream sequence, the only question being whether it would be Kevin’s or Tommy’s. Given Tommy’s rampant insecurities about his masculinity and unstated but glaringly-obvious-even-to-the-blind- issues with having a gay brother, my money would have been on him.

But, surprise! It’s Kevin doing all the dreaming. Dream Kevin climbs down the stairs at his momma’s house to investigate the crying baby, and comes into the kitchen to find Nora throwing a Silence of the Lambs theme party, as she holds up this huge slab of liver she’s cooking in Kevin’s honor. Gross.

This reminds me how much I loathe TV dream sequences. The first one I ever saw was that episode of MASH all about everybody’s dreams, and at the time I thought it was wicked cool. That was because I was in 8th grade and had an English teacher who thought he’d get students to give him positive evaluations by spending all semester analyzing symbols in movies, including an entire week spent on symbolism in Saturday Night Fever. (“The bridge is a symbol of … a bridge.”)

Since then, though, having suffered through countless dream-oriented, very-special episodes, I’ve come to understand they’re just an excuse for writers to show off a rudimentary understanding of Freud and/or write while totally stoned (cough cough … The Sopranos … cough).

The most nightmarish thing about Kevin’s dream here, by the way, isn’t the Liver Flambé a la Nora, but the fact that she’s serving it up to Justin, Senator Prettyboy, and Julia, and I can’t for the life of me imagine what sort of unholy common goal would bring that motley crew together. It’s like an episode of The Surreal Life featuring TV’s most unpopular spouses.