In the foreground of a shot at the party, "Cousin Catherine" fondles Tommy inappropriately; at the back of the shot, Robert comes in and apologizes for his family to a tense Nora, who says it's fine -- it's nice to be "the tame ones for a change." Robert pauses, then asks if she's still mad at Kitty. She's mad at everyone, Nora says, and she guesses everyone's mad at her. Robert says he'll talk to Kitty, but Nora says she's glad Kitty's moving out, and moving in with Robert. Robert doesn't get it, and Rob Lowe overacts the line, "It's official: all Walker women? Are confusing." Clearly the writers needed a reason for Nora to explain her conflicted emotions here, but that clanked, loudly. Explain Nora does, telling Robert that it's not about Kitty: Nora knows she'll be nearby, but Justin won't. She tells him about her refusal to do Goodbye Day with Justin. Robert tells her that "it's hard to be the one leaving too." His father died when he was overseas in Gulf I, and Robert didn't get to say goodbye: "Things happen in war, Nora. If your son wants to say goodbye I think you should let him." This clanker is better acted, but: eesh. Polish the draft once more next time. The actors on this show can usually save the occasional stinker, but sometimes I think the writing staff leans too hard on them to do that, and that's how you get Highlights dialogue like this. Before it gets any triter, the Macarena starts up on the soundtrack. Weiner starts a conga line, forcing Nora to pry his hands off her patoot several times, and as Robert and Kitty watch the madness unfold, Robert asks, "Do you still think I'm electable?" I wondered that myself, actually, if his family is in fact that sloppy, and Kitty concurs with my assessment: "Probably not." Nora, complaining that she doesn't remember the song "being this long," is then distracted by a guy hurling in a corner. "Cousin Larry! Weak stomach!" Weiner yells, then crashes into a tent pole, which causes the entire tent to fall slowly and cinematically in on itself for that special breed of hilarious TV chaos in which nobody gets hurt. Robert and Kitty have no choice but to start kissing, and so they do.








