'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
Brothers and Sisters: History Repeating
(S02E03) My TiVo didn't start taping this episode on time, so I missed about the first three minutes of the show when I was putting my kids to bed. If I missed something significant, please forgive me (and let me know in the comments!).Tonight was a more Tommy-centric episode, and was also uniquely, for Brothers and Sisters, devoid of slapstick. I know, I know. I take this show too seriously. It's a soap opera. It's supposed to be melodramatic. But I really enjoyed the fact that they played this episode straight. Though, I will admit that when I saw that next week promises more "antics," I was also a bit relieved by that because this episode was really intense.
Tommy's marriage to Julia continues to crumble. Her parents are in town to take her home with them for awhile, and her father is a complete jerk. He is clearly one of those men who doesn't think any man could be good enough for his daughter, especially if he is dishing out dirt to a stand-up guy like Tommy. The guy has a pig-headed, wrong-minded, old-fashioned idea that if his little girl isn't happy, it must be her husband's fault. Yeah, because we are all capable of making other people happy all the time.
I think Saul has it right: Julia is grieving and she needs to do it in her own way. I don't think post-partum depression should be ruled out either; that could be a real double-whammy. But I don't think it's surprising that Julia is angry and depressed. It would be strange if she weren't. And it's probably better for her to get some perspective-- well, better for her in the long term. Probably not necessarily for the marriage. If Julia blames Tommy for William's death, however, the marriage might not survive anyway.
I don't like how obvious it is that Lina has been hired to be some kind of blond surrogate wife to Tommy. Who calls their boss at home in the evening to touch base with them? Can't she send him an email? Surely he has a blackberry or some way to check it. Either that, or certainly news about the dry-cleaner discount can wait until tomorrow morning. That is the soap opera part of the show: Oh, Tommy's wife, whom he just told is the love of his life, has gone to stay with her parents, so Tommy can't keep his pants zipped in the meantime? Realism aside, it's just a boring cliche. Let's do something more interesting. I was glad that Tommy decided to head over to Nora's house for ice cream sundaes instead of pouring his heart out to Lina.
Raise your hand if you are proud of Kevin for dodging Scotty's kiss? But it's the same thing: Kevin's boyfriend is in Malaysia, so let's have his cute ex-lover be all charming and life-changing and romantic. Don't get me wrong: I don't think everybody should be celibate. In fact, I don't know that Kevin should necessarily wait for Jason to get back from Malaysia. I suppose it depends on whether he wants to marry Jason and be with him for the rest of his life, and I don't know that Kevin even knows the depth of his commitment yet. Is it prudish to say that I care less about someone who is in a long-distance relationship straying than I do about a married person? Yeah? Well, okay.
I loved how Kitty handled Courtney. I suspected that she might be bluffing, and I loved that she was. I was actually surprised that Robert wasn't wearing a wire when he was talking to Courtney. He basically got her to admit that she was lying when he told her that she was looking for a book deal. And I don't think wearing a wire would have been a bad move for him in this situation. Oh, look at the reviewer's shaky moral ground!
There is no reason for Robert to lie to Kitty about his relationship with the nanny...well, except that that would make him possibly more likely to cheat on her during their marriage. So, he may be telling the truth about Nanny Bridget. But I not-to-secretly hope that we haven't heard the end of this storyline, if for no other reason than I don't think that anyone is as perfect as Robert McAllister appears to be. Surely lying about his heroics in the helicopter can't be the only skeleton in his closet. And, as we learned last season, he is very very good at hiding things for a long, long time.
I was moved by Justin's storyline. I think that would be an impossible situation to be in. Having battled to fight an addiction and won, having gone through the hell of life as an addict: It must seem like anything would be preferable to looking that in the face again. I don't know much about addiction, but I do know that addiction if life-long, right? So, to take the drugs again basically puts him back to where he was in terms of having to get back off them again? However, if they monitor the dose, it's a matter of degree? The degree of hell he'll go through? He can go through hell now with the pain, or later fighting the addiction again?
I don't know what I would have done if I were Nora-- but it is a horrible, horrible thing to see your child in pain. I would probably want him to make himself feel better and hope we could all handle it too. It's a testament to her faith in Justin's better nature-- and perhaps also a misplaced faith in her own ability to control everything. But regardless, she was motivated by wanting what was best for her child, and motivated by love. Nora is by far the most consistent character on the show. You know what? I think she would be a cool mother to have.
| Yes, of course it is. | |
|---|---|
| No, he's telling the truth. |
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