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Brothers and Sisters

Episode Report Card

Sars: B+ | 888 USERS: B-

YOU GRADE IT

Wasting away again in Arti-ritaville

By Sars | Season 1 | Episode 18 | Aired on 2007.04.08

In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description!

It's still pretty frosty between Kitty and McCallister; after a minor scuffle over his upcoming speech -- she wants to stress his big hero moment in Gulf I; he's not comfortable with that -- she's sent to his home town of Castroville, a.k.a. The Artichoke Capital of the World. Sarah volunteers herself to go with Kitty, and it's not hard to predict what's going to happen, given that Sarah + road trip = boozy quotable fun times. Sure enough, that's what happens -- they wind up in a bar, drinking "arti-ritas" (hee), and then get invited to a high-school kegger. Over the course of the trip, Kitty also harasses McCallister's high-school sweetheart, who drops some knowledge on Kitty about McCallister's genuine big hero moment, years ago. Afterwards, Kitty admits that she's falling in love with McCallister, and he tells her the truth about the Gulf I hero moment.

Nora, meanwhile, is after Professor Coyote, but makes the mistake of taking prowling advice from Margot Kidder, who sends her to a faculty party Coyote invited her to in a dress cut down to there and up to there. (Nora's wearing the dress, not Coyote, but I can't be shagged to rewrite the sentence.) (It's trampy, but it looks hot. Get it, Sally Field!) Then Nora finds out Professor Coyote is boinking a younger student, so she ranks him out for that in class, and then they go out in the hall and fight about it, and then he asks her out on a real date. Which, okay, but I miss Treat Williams, and also Coyote's earring is goofy.

Justin and Rebecca try to bond. Rebecca invites Justin to a party, which he's not entirely psyched for because it's his first post-rehab shindig. Good instincts, "J" -- Rebecca gets trashola'd and bitter in Justin's direction, and then Justin gets in a fight with the host, who is a skeeze. Nora also tries to bond, a little, with Rebecca, who is a bit weirded out but it seems like some baby steps are taken.

And now, some bad news: it's the end of the road for Chad and Kevin. Chad's all set to fire his manager, and in the course of saying so he finds out that Kevin met with Donald and blah blah from last week. Chad gets mad, and Kevin in turn gets SUPER mad way out of proportion to the fight they're actually having (read: uses it as an excuse to push Chad away some more) and throws around words like "panic" and "drama" and storms out. But not before Jason Lewis bites off the line "You're an ASS, Kevin. You know that?" Yes, we did. We love him anyway, but: amen, pretty. Then Chad posts an open letter on his website, outing himself, and Kevin is actually impressed and goes over to apologize, but Chad is pretty much done with him.

In the good-news department: no Tommy and Julia. So bored with that storyline, you guys. Berlanti: send 'em to England to live with Brenda Walsh, for realsies.

Want more? The full recap starts right below!

Hey, guys! Before we get to the ep, a quick thanks to the lovely and dangerous Joe R for last week's excellent recap. Also, a word of warning: I haven't seen all the previous episodes yet, so I may express confusion over past plot points, but I'll get caught up shortly.

So, previously on Brothers & Sisters: Professor Coyote liked Nora's writing; Chad prepared to out himself, and Chad's manager scared Kevin by telling him that, if Chad came out, Kevin would be stuck with him for life; Nora snarled at Justin about "hanging out with" Rebecca; Kevin yoinked a hair from Rebecca for DNA-testing purposes, and Rebecca called him on it, then announced that she's not a part of the Walker family and never will be; Senator MisSpellister icily told Kitty he thought they had a connection, but he guesses he was wrong.

As West Wing-y soaring patriotic music plays, McCallister rehearses his announcement speech, all about missions and what's at stake and the courage of the American people. He segues into talking about his "crewmates, and the veterans here today," and the lessons he learned in Gulf I about America, and how, when they got back to the States, "we had a simple saying: 'Every day is an extra.'" Rob Lowe delivers that line as though he's in an SNL skit, which is a neat little acting choice. Then, a pause; McCallister bows his head, the Muted Trombones of Heroism die out on the soundtrack, and he mutters, "No, we didn't." Then, louder: "No. Who put this in here? Because God knows I didn't." In the house seats, Kitty says to the staffer next to her that she thinks they're going to have to take "about a fifteen." The staffer corrects her that it's "take five," and she's like, "Not in this case, alas," and walks reluctantly up to the podium. McCallister's all, I thought we weren't mentioning "the damn helicopter." Kitty points out that the entire announcement "centers around [his] heroism" in the helicopter rescue. McCallister objects to it as "grandstanding" that "reduces" him to a "prop," and then he insults the writing. Kitty throws a brow and informs him, "Campaigning is grandstanding, and if you're a prop you're a heroic one, and if you're mad at me, don't take it out on the speechwriter -- you have been cold, and you have been distant." Good points all. McCallister responds that he's three days away from kicking off his presidential campaign, so he's "a little tense." Also a good point. McCallister asks if they have to have this conversation here. "We're whis-pering," Kitty says. "In front of an open mic," McCallister says. Well, yeah. And, open mic or no, the other staffers will know what's going on. They live in the world and can read body language. Nice discretion, Kitty.