(S02E02) My husband tells me that Heather Havrilesky has written in Salon that Brothers and Sisters is manipulative. She writes, "'Brothers & Sisters' is emotional Frogger. Luckily, I loathe these beautiful, wealthy, loving, empathetic humans and so it brings me deep joy to watch them suffer."

I, however, persist in liking Brothers and Sisters, manipulation and all. That isn't to say that I don't get irritated with the show, as readers who followed my posts last year can attest. I was irritated tonight with the blatant manipulation of opening the show with a funeral, when last week's episode left us in some doubt about whether or not the youngest Walker (oops, second-to-youngest), Justin, was killed in Iraq.

(S01E18) This episode was a lot more light-hearted than last week's show, and I have to admit, I am kind of a sucker for the drama. But there was a lot to like in this episode too. Like Sarah, for once. Sarah let her hair down, got drunk on ar-ti-ritas, and got to have some fun, which went a long way in undoing her strident bitchiness that threatens to drown the character in dislike-ability.

But, oh, ick ick ick! Oh god, please don't make Robert McCallister a saint or anymore of a good guy. The fact that he let people think he was a hero when he was scared under heavy fire and didn't really want to evacuate those people just humanizes him a bit. How can anybody be that good looking and that wonderful? It's too much really.

(S01E16) Oh, Kevin, how can you be so stupid! Threatening to bury that little jerk in litigation was a total lack of denial about Chad being gay. Jeez! The way to approach it would have been to say you're going to sue him for ruining YOUR reputation. Then, it would have seemed more like neither of you are gay. And you call yourself a lawyer?