Brothers and Sisters: Grapes of Wrath

Before I begin with this review, I would also like to remind you that the Brothers and Sisters writers run a blog and post some great pictures of what happens behind the scenes. For instance, I got to see pictures of them prepping Sally Field and Patricia Wettig for their food fight weeks ago.

I chose a picture of Joe to use for this review because even though a lot of things happened, I think everything hinged on Joe. The brothers and Saul reflect that perhaps since William isn't there anymore, they feel they have to step up into protective roles with their sisters and Nora. However, I think they have missed something that the creators of the show have not. The real reason they have been shutting Joe out is because Joe is the new William. Sarah, not even knowing consciously that William has been cheating on their mother for twenty years, has gone out of her way to become what Nora is not. Sarah is a driven, hard-biting career woman. But at the end of the day, Sarah still finds herself married to her father.

It's tacky and fairly harmless that Mark kisses Holly in the orchard. That was simply a great catalyst for Nora and Holly to have it out, finally. However, it is significant that Holly was off in the orchard while Nora was tending the home fires. Mark felt lonely and left out, and there Holly was. There are all kinds of little parallels to William's relationship with both Holly and Nora like this, but I don't think it's heavy handed. Sure, Mark got a kiss out of it, but then he felt badly and Nora dumped him. Nora was right in her fight with Holly. Ultimately, William always came home to Nora. And that is what Nora has to show for herself.

Joe is present in another way when Kitty starts freaking out about taking her own plunge into marriage. She keeps using Sarah as an excuse not to go forward; she doesn't want Sarah to find out she is on the precipice. At first I thought it was to protect Sarah's feelings. But I think Kitty was afraid Sarah would try to talk her out of it, tell her not to do it. Kitty can stand up to Kevin, but not to Sarah. So, I think that makes Sarah's reaction particularly powerful. By choosing to embrace her own marriage, by choosing not to turn her back on Joe because of his mistake, Sarah is, in essence, giving Kitty permission to get married too. (Just humor me and pretend you didn't see the previews for next week, okay?)

Can I just insert a criticism of the episode? I think it was a cop out to have Kitty take Kevin's painkillers and miss all the fireworks. I understand that Flockhart tries to keep to a part-time filming schedule, but that was lame. And once again, Balthazar Getty is so under-used. Even though I feel a twin train wreck approaching, finally, we will get to see him in action.

I wrote a lot about how well this show handles fights last week so I don't really want to spend a lot of time talking about Holly and Nora's fight except to talk about the end. The difference, I think, between very young adults fighting and people who have more experience is that I think with two younger women, they would have continued laughing and probably embraced or something. But Holly's dissolving into tears and suddenly whispering what she missed the most about William was just beautiful. That is what the fight was ultimately about - William has left them with this mess. It's not over yet. There have been so few television shows (or movies) that have dealt realistically or effectively with the mess that the death of a parent can bring, or the endless holes in lives that a death like William's leaves. It is the underlying thread of this show, and I think that is one of the best things about it. The show never forgets what it is about.

Again, no matter what their differences are, nobody else can understand her grief but her nemesis. That statement is equally true for both Nora and Holly. Only, Nora is dealing with it better. Perhaps because she was the wronged party. But did you feel chills when Holly told Nora, "You don't want my daughter living in your house?" We got a glimpse of what a little viper Rebecca is last week. Her apology to Sarah just made me want to slap her. As creepy as that is, Holly's recognition of who Rebecca is, tinged with her concern for her, her jealousy of both the Walkers' relationship with Rebecca and vice versa, all makes it so much more human, so much more worth watching than some of our other viewing choices.

I'm giving this episode, on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being the highest, a 6.