Awkward family supper time! Nora, Saul, Justin, Annie, Tommy, Rose, Luc and Sarah are all gathered around the dinner table. Luc has a big announcement: He and Sarah have set a date for the wedding! Save the Date, America: May 15. I expect an engraved invitation complete with tissue paper and calligraphy hand delivered to my doorstep no later than next week. Saul makes the grave error of asking about business and Rose tells him all about their brilliant house flipping plan. Immediately Sarah gets her puss on and starts making sour comments, but everyone else loves the idea. Annie even has a cousin who does it. Justin warns her not to take sides, which is annoying. At this point, I hope Annie runs off with Dr. Africa. I mean, Justin is certainly not turning on the charm and, frankly, is giving her no reason to stay. Then Sarah starts in and bitterly bitches about Tommy and money and working together. Then Justin starts being a dick, too, still about the softball game. Annie tries to make light of it, with some good-natured teasing, but Justin is having none of it. The Walkers all laugh that he has always been wildly competitive. Um, there's competitive and there's fist fights on the field. No excuses!
Out of the blue, Nora suggests that Sarah hire Tommy at the radio station, which is BEYOND awkward. I mean, Tommy lives in Seattle, has a girlfriend, a home, a daughter who lives there, and supposedly a job, why the heck should Sarah be forced to hire her brother? Then the Walkers kick it up a notch. Tommy goes balls out putting Sarah on the spot and she returns the assault with a no holds barred volley: Did you just come to raid the piggybank and run back to Seattle? This is such delightful dinner party conversation. Don't you wish you could go to a Walker dinner party? Maybe they can create a Walker dinner party ride at Disneyworld where everyone can just hurl insults at each other in front of strangers. Tommy breaks the big news: He and Rose are engaged. He just wanted to introduce the family to his beloved fiancé. Everyone feels a little abashed about their behavior what with her being family now. People make very pro forma niceties, but no one really believes it.
Sarah and Nora try to blame Tommy, saying he's been removed from the family for a long time and that it just takes time to reconnect. Way to blame the victim, ladies. Tommy shrieks that it's supposed to be easy to reconnect with family! Tommy stands up to holler better. He reminds them that last year was hard for everyone, but especially him because he was alone. (Actually, I think it was especially hard for Kitty, what with her dead husband and all. And maybe for Justin, who preferred the war in Afghanistan to another year in his lousy marriage.) Tommy explains that Rose made him happy when nothing else did. He grabs her hand and leaves the table. Did Tommy always not open his mouth when he talked? Or did he just lose all his teeth from whatever wasting disease he contracted from getting smacked with a mackerel? Smackerel?













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