Tonight's A plot is, of course, Game Night. The Walkers have a Game Night rivalry -- and I mean a rivalry; both families have jerseys, and there's a trophy involved -- with the Jones family. The Jones family is, as one Walker puts it, "the bizarro Walkers," with five grown kids the same ages as the Walker siblings (the Kitty analog, Lizzie, is played quite hilariously by Jenna Elfman), and the competition is as fierce and passive-aggressive as you'd expect. In addition, Kitty is attempting to avenge a prior Game Night humiliation involving a biffed trivia question about Gerald Ford, about which her sibs are still teasing her and about which she is totally humorless.
Meanwhile, Justin -- despite the messy denouement of last week's hang-out, which isn't mentioned -- is trying to get his brothers and sisters to interact more with Rebecca. They're not terribly keen, but they make an effort (all except Kitty, who wants nothing to do with Rebecca), albeit an awkward one, and Sarah ends up inviting Rebecca to Game Night; Rebecca ends up in the Kitty role, missing a question about Juliet's last name, and this inspires something of a détente between Rebecca and Kitty.
But what you really want to hear about is the upshot of the ooky Joe-and-Rebecca promo moment, so here's what happens: Joe reaches out to Rebecca at Game Night, saying he knows how she feels being kind of on the outside when all the Walkers are together. They bond over guitar-playing, and he offers to lend her a guitar (Sarah suggested that Rebecca borrow one from him earlier in the episode). Rebecca goes over to the Whedons' to borrow it, Joe shows her a tough chord, there is a long look between them, and then we cut away. Later, Justin stops by Rebecca's because he says she sounded like shit on the phone, and after making Justin swear to tell no one, she tells him that Joe kissed her.
So, yeah, ew, but! 1. We didn't see Joe kiss her, and 2. we did see Rebecca tell Joe that she'd had a thing with a professor, a guy older than Joe, at Northwestern. I'm not saying it didn't happen; I'm not saying Rebecca's definitely a shadeball. I'm justâ¦saying.
Elsewhere, Kitty sets Kevin up on a blind date with McCallister's brother, Jason, despite being told not to do any such thing by McCallister and Kevin, and on top of that she doesn't tell Kevin that "Jason M." even is McCallister's brother, so Kevin unwittingly torpedoes their date by insulting McCallister at florid length, Jason bails, and Kevin and McCallister both get pissed at Kitty. I hope we see Jason again, though, because the actor actually sounds a lot like Rob Lowe and it would be a shame to waste that casting.
Tommy is in the episode, but basically gets nothing to do. Professor Coyote is mercifully absent. Perry King plays the patriarch of the Jones clan and has aged about 20 years worth since we last saw him in Titans, which was only five years ago.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously: McCallister admitted that he's running for president; Sarah felt that she wasn't "enough for" Joe; Nora yelled at Justin for hanging out with Rebecca; Justin told Rebecca he's used to being the bad influence in the family; Kitty asked McCallister if his brother is single; Justin comforted Kevin about the Chad break-up; McCallister confessed the truth about the helicopter "rescue."
At McCallister HQ, the chief of staff (I think his name is "Gary," so that's what I'll call him) is assigning friends-and-family debriefs to Kitty. Kitty is allegedly a political consultant, but for exposition's sake, she has to pretend she doesn't get what this is for, so Gary explains: the best defense against "bimbo eruptions," Whitewater-type revelations, et cetera is to know about and spin them in advance. Gary's on the family detail, and mentions how he got "an earful" from the ex-wife over the last two days; Kitty fishes for details on that, but gets stonewalled, which she has to admit is just as well.
Cut to an unenthusiastic Kitty in a side office, asking a scruffy cutie if he can remember any embarrassing incidents, "hazing rituals," pranks, anything like that. Scruffy says no -- but the Senator wet the bed a few times. Kitty perks up and starts giggling all, "Good one!", but Scruffy's all, "Not joking over here," and as Kitty looks worried, Scruffy adds, "Oh, and we used to take baths together. That part I don't remember so well, but" -- and he throws Kitty a tiny wink here -- "I got pictures." Kitty, struggling to contain a Tasmanian-Devil-esque splutter fit: "I mean, was that some sort of a, a fraternity-brother kind of thing?" More a brother-brother kind of thing, Scruffy says, which is nice of him to do for Kitty's benefit since the rest of us got there like a week ago, but despite the prankster clarinets hooting wryly all around her, Kitty is still confused until Scruffy introduces himself as Jason McCallister. Kitty is delighted, babbles a bit about the source of the confusion, and finishes with, "You're the gay brother!" Well put, Ambassador. "You're... Kitty!" Jason responds brightly. I like this guy already: cute, kind of sarky, looks a little like Rob Lowe and sounds a lot like him too. So, Jason says McCallister has a lot of nice things to say about Kitty. Kitty asks if McCallister mentioned that she has a gay brother. No, Jason says, "but congratulations!" Kitty blows right past that little dig to ask if he's single, and we cut from Jason's "... eesh" face...