Brothers & Sisters: Mistakes Were Made (part II)

(S01E09) If you are looking for the post the correlates to Part I, it isn't there. We have just begun covering Brothers & Sisters, so, I am going to attempt to do two things with this review: Summarize my impressions of the season thus far, and talk about the most recent episode. There will likely be a lot of overlap. I am going to do a brief introduction of all of the main characters here, as well, because there are a lot of them, and it will help us all if we have a reference guide, especially new viewers.

Meet the Walkers. It was so nice of the entire cast and main producer of Thirtysomething Alias to jump ship over to Brothers and Sisters, don't you think? We have dynamic duo Ken Olin (producer) and his lovely, talented wife Patricia Wettig, who has the loathsome role of William Walker's mistress. But I am getting ahead of myself.

William Walker (Tom Skerritt) is the patriarch of the family, and he dies during the first episode. The ensuing fall out from his death provides the set up of he show. Like the father on Arrested Development, he has embezzled millions of dollars from his family company, and now the kids have to clean up the mess.

Nora Holden (Sally Field) is the matriarch, and the glue that holds the family together.

Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin of Alias) is Nora's brother.

Holly (Patricia Wettig of Alias) had a long term affair with William, and bore him a child. Of course, she lied about it and told him the daughter wasn't his, but everybody knows that isn't true. We haven't met the daughter. Yet.

Kitty (Calista Flockhart) is a Republican, TV pundit, who has a tumultuous relationship with Nora, and was Daddy's Little Girl.

Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) just got brought into the company and discovered that Daddy was an adulterous embezzler. She is married, has two kids, and has a soul mate who is not her husband.

Tommy (Balthazar Getty of Alias) is the VP of the company, married to Julia, and infertile.

Kevin (Matthew Rhys) is gay and a lawyer.

Justin (Dave Annable) is a drug addict and Iraqi war veteran.

Treat Williams often appears as a contractor and potential) love interest for Nora.

So far, the show has centered around three basic themes: The Family's Relationships With Each Other; Daddy's Big Mistakes; The Family's Love Relationships with Other People (we won't talk as much about the third in this post because the other two themes vastly outweigh it-- don't your relationships with your mother and siblings take precedence over the relationships you have with your spouse and/or children?)

Nora and Kitty don't get along, because obviously, if Kitty hadn't been a Republican, Justin wouldn't have gone to war and caused Nora so much worry.

Sarah is bossy and generally gets along with everyone, but isn't particularly close to any of the siblings. She mostly hangs out with Kevin and Tommy, though, and they talk about The Business. Sarah first found out about Holly and now knows about the Other Daughter, and is determined not to tell Nora about it. I love Rachel Griffiths, and I have since her appearance in Muriel's Wedding. She is always a pleasure to watch, but this show is a struggle for her so far. She hasn't really found her character yet, hasn't really found her feet. I suspect that if this show continues for a couple of years, we will start to view the actors as more of a family, but so far, they haven't gelled yet. And I don't know whether that is an issue of time, writing, or a little of both. There are just a lot of balls up in the air in every episode, and it's hard to get to know the characters when there are so damn many of them.

This is the first show I have ever seen Calista Flockhart on; I missed all of Ally McBeal. But she is a compelling actress, and her scenes with Sally Field are pretty convincing. They have found their footing and have established a nice, messy, mother/daughter relationship with each other, that is simultaneously hurtful and loving.

I have to admit that read and cackled my way through Heather Havrilesky's review of the show last week in Salon.com. Yet, I find myself watching the show week after week anyway. There are some highly annoying parts of the show, thanks to the stupidity of the writers, and the actors gamely try to get through it anyway: There was a benefit that all of the kids hate that their mother bullied them all into going to anyway. And Holly the Mistress was there, and runs in their circles and hangs out with Saul of all people. Hello? What the hell? Justin has a drug addiction and OD's in one episode and donates sperm, along with Kevin, to help out Tommy in another episode. That is more drama in two or three weeks than I may have had in my entire life.

Then, there is the weekend that everyone insists they can't to up to the Ranch where they spent their childhoods and then one by one, very conveniently, they all end up there together anyway. And stay, cook, bicker, eat, love, laugh, cry anyway. And have sex in embarrassing places, get caught, etc.

On this week's episode, Sarah, Tommy, and Kevin all go on a road trip to try to figure out why their very smart father (who is also an adulterous embezzler) bought a piece of land with the money he stole. It's because he can re-sell it to the Army for twice what they need to pay off his debts! Woo hoo! Screw the Army for allowing their drug addict brother to sign up! And Kitty admits on air that she softballed an interview with a Senator in the hope that he would pull strings to get her brother out of this war that needs "to be re-examined," because she said so. Because we should support it when she says so, and now she doesn't think so anymore. And she.didn't. get. fired. I want that job! Me! Me! Back on the ranch, the siblings have a car breakdown and have to go honkytonk with a bunch of military men, so poor Rachel Griffiths can dance and sing and shoot pool (I am so sorry, Rachel, you deserve better), and Kevin can pick up the one gay army guy in the place. Uh huh.

As I am trying to explain the show, I find that it is one of those things that doesn't actually translate well to the page. It is the opposite of the guy from the dating service who looks fantastic on paper and then guffaws like a donkey and has chronic halitosis in real life. Despite how silly and annoying Brothers & Sisters seems on paper (how do they write this with a straight face?), there is something easy enough (easy=warm? familiar? cozy?) and likeable enough about this family, about their dynamics, about this show to keep me coming back for more every week.

I will continue watching and see if I can figure out exactly what that je ne sois quoi is. When I do? You'll be the first to know.