"Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers & Sisters": The good, the bad, and the proposal

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on May 5, 2008

Brothers & Sisters aired the next-to-last episode of the season last night, and it was an important night for Kevin (played by Matthew Rhys), Scotty (played by the out Luke McFarlane), and Saul (Ron Rifkin). Look for a full recap of Moral Hazard later, but it was too juicy an episode not to post about this morning. Uncle Saul is in the doghouse for single-handedly destroying the family business, so he has a few drinks, and "accidentally" wraps his car around a tree. He calls Kevin from jail, and the two of them have a fantastic conversation in Kevin's car, where Saul finally, officially comes out.

Kevin comes home to Scotty, and after witnessing all the dysfunction in his family, finally realizes how fortunate he is to have someone who is "kind, and caring, and changes the lightbulbs". He then asks Scotty to marry him (on one knee, no less), and Scotty does the absolute cutest "clutching the pearls" I've ever seen. The episode ends with Scotty saying "yes", and a very hot, close-up kiss. It was nearly perfect. *sigh*.

Unfortunately, to get to the sublime, we had to go through the ridiculous.

Trying to compare Kevin and Scotty with Desperate Housewives' Bob (Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Kevin Rahm) is like comparing apples with garishly dressed oranges, but when you have two gay couples back to back on high profile network shows, it's impossible to avoid. In this episode, Eva Longoria (whose Gabrielle character grows more monstrous with each episode) suspects her new tenant (played by Justine Bateman), is turning her home into a brothel, and enlists the aid of Bob and Lee to get to the truth. What follows is eye-rollingly predictable, with Lee trying to play a straight "john" and Gabby screaming for him to "butch up!" (what, is she moonlighting as a judge on Step It Up And Dance?)

It ends with Lee on the ground, having the crap kicked out of him by two women, and ... that's it for Bob and Lee on this episode.

And seriously ... what the HELL were they wearing?