Brothers & Sisters: Good news, bad news, worse news
The Walkers don’t do anything by halves on Brother & Sisters. They will take your baby-birthing and raise you a heart attack, then throw in an embezzlement and the appearance of yet another Walker child on the doorstep. Evan — there’s still time. Run! Run like the wind!
Family dinner
The episode starts off auspiciously enough with a Walker family dinner. Rack of lamb, Nora gets everyone together — what could be happening? After yet another spat with Kitty, Robert tells the family that he’s running for governor — but they need to keep their mouths shut, because he won’t announce for another week. Before folks can react, Nora tells them about meeting Ryan, and Saul bitches that Nora gave Ryan a plane ticket and he could be showing up at any moment. (Surely he’d call first?) Cue the harrumphing from the Walker sibs. If only they knew that this was the calmest things were going to get…
The newest Walker
The next day, Kitty finds out that Trish is delivering now, immediately, two weeks early. The family goes a-rushing to the hospital with a list of supplies and accessories. Trish is calm, but all the Walkers are losing their minds. But a couple of key players are missing — Kevin and Robert are still at the office. That’s because The Drudge Report has outed Robert’s run, and Robert decides he needs to announce RIGHT NOW. Small problem: The governor, Robert’s friend, the woman he counseled through her infidelity crisis, has changed her mind. She DOES want to run again, and she’s not at all happy that Robert didn’t tell her he was making his move. She threatens to destroy him.
She’s going to have to get in line, because Kitty is PISSED that Robert isn’t there for the birth of their child. Things get worse when Trish goes from zenlike calm to shrieking banshee in next to no time. Unfortunately, she’s too far along by the time the anesthetist gets to her. No epidural for Trish! She is not happy.
Neither is Kitty, when she discovers that Robert is on TV, live, announcing his candidacy when Trish is about to start pushing. That’s it — she’s done with the man! He always promises to put family first, and it’s all LIES! She’s through! He doesn’t need to show up at all! So Kitty is alone with Trish (and, of course, Nora, and the medical team) when the baby is born. Welcome to the world, kiddo! And boy, are you in for it!
Heart stoppers
Robert really is trying to make it to the hospital — which is a wise idea, because on the way out, he starts sweating, slurring, puking and collapsing. He’s having a heart attack! They rush him to the hospital, where he flatlines on the table. They shock him back to life.
Kitty is remorseful — oh, my poor hubby, if only I could hold him again! I don’t want my last memories of him being of me angry at him. Nora tells her everything will be ok, but she’s really just as discombobulated as the rest of the family. The only one holding it together is Justin, who talks everyone through the various possibilities and ramifications.
When Robert is stabilized, Kitty shows him their new son — and finds out that Robert would rather wait for an experimental treatment than have the heart-bypass surgery that the cardiologist recommends. Kitty puts her foot down — campaign, schmampaign, you missed our son’s birth but I’ll be damned if you miss his life. Robert caves and has the surgery. It goes well, and it looks like everything will be fine, despite the long recovery time (Hey, it takes a while to bounce back from having your chest cracked open and your arteries rejiggered.) He and Kitty consult long enough to name the boy after his birth mother — no, not Trish, but Evan, for her last name. Awww.
Kitty thinks all is well — Robert will take it easy, they’ll get back home and concentrate on the kid. Not so fast — Robert instructs Kevin to tell the press there was just a heart “irregularity,” that it was really no big deal, and that he’s still running. Kitty is devastated, and she tells little Evan that it’s just the two of them from now on.
Crime time
Everyone is getting more and more suspicious about Tommy’s actions. Holly has found out about Tommy’s plan, but there doesn’t seem to be anything she can do about it. She tells her lawyer to start filing whatever he can, and he cautions her that this could destroy the company. Works for me, Holly says…
Rebecca returns home, with David in tow. Holly does NOT take kindly to David’s reappearance, and she’s basically horrid to him. David persists — look, you always were obsessed with William, that’s why we didn’t work. You deserve more than to be second string for decades on end. Give up this thing with the Walkers. Walk away.
Holly seems like she’s willing to follow that advice — but first she stops by Tommy and Julia’s house. When Julia gets the news about Robert, Holly offers to stay with Elizabeth — which give her the opportunity to snoop around. She finally finds evidence that Tommy stole $2 million from the company to buy the orchards that they bought using stock. Oh, Tommy… you’re so screwed.
Which is a problem, because Sarah, Kevin and Saul have finally convinced Tommy that he needs to back away from illegality. He cancels the board meeting he had called to oust Holly, and looks like he’s trying to figure out how to make things right. Too late — Holly calls the cops. They’re collecting documents from his house. This is going to get ugly…
Everyone else
Justin has a couple of revelations: One, he’s most comfortable when he’s the calm voice in a crisis. He hasn’t felt that way since he was a medic in Iraq. He decides he wants to be a doctor. That seems like zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds to me — didn’t he say he dropped out of school, and now he wants to go to med school? What’s wrong with being an EMT or a nurse, something that doesn’t take quite so many years of schooling but is just as vital to people’s well-being? Justin doesn’t care what I think. Stupid TV characters, refusing to hear what I say to the screen…
Second revelation: He loves Rebecca. She loves him, too. So everything’s great, right? Yeah, about that — first, Holly is working to destroy Tommy, which Rebecca knows about. She doesn’t say anything about it. That may be because before she can mention anything, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Ryan. Boy, did HE pick a fun time to visit…
Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends
- All the Walker siblings are suspicious about Nora’s motives for the sumptuous family dinner. “Don’t you think it’s possible that your mother wants to have her children here without an agenda?” Saul asks. “No,” everyone replies. When Nora tries to make the same argument later, Saul chimes in on the “No!” with everyone else. Heh.
- Sarah decides this dinner must be about her. “Oh, what a novel conclusion,” Kevin snarks. No, really, Sarah says — Greenatopia is kicking ass to the extent that I paid off the second mortgage on my house! Congrats, folks say, but…”No offense, that’s roast chicken at best,” Tommy says.
- The family is shocked that Nora decides that what Ryan really needs is to meet his half siblings. We’re all miserable and unhappy! they say. Just you wait…
- Kevin anticipates Robert’s needs at work. “When was the last time I told you you were doing a good job?” Robert says. “You’ve NEVER told me that,” Kevin replies. Up until now, Kevin, we really haven’t seen you DO a good job, so shut it. After some more praising, Kevin says, “This is getting a little awkward — you want to hug or something?” “No!” Robert cries. Heh.
- I have never given birth. I understand it hurts like hell. However, must every single TV show on the planet include a pregnant woman howling for drugs? Robert has a headache, and Kevin finds him the aspirin. If he were in my office, he’d be dead — I’m an Advil girl, all the way. It’s candy coated!
- The makeup people do a great job of making Robert look near death in the parking garage. He’s drenched with sweat and completely disheveled. Apparently, the ambulance was equipped with a shower or spa facillities, because he looked much fresher when they got him to the hospital. He even managed to make flatlining and jerking under the paddles look good!
- Trish takes off quickly after giving birth. I’m getting the sense she wants nothing to do with the baby — or possibly the Walkers — ever again.
- Nora tells Kitty the most important thing she can learn about motherhood: “Rule number one — when the baby naps, you nap.” Damn straight!
- Yes, I know — technically, Evan is a McAllister, not a Walker. But let’s be honest, here — the Walker contingent is much more important — and vocal — and will have a much greater influence on the poor kid than anything Robert does.
Spoiler Junkie 