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Welcome back, folks. Dennis here, ready to recap episode 01:06 of Brother’s & Sisters. Lets get started, shall we?
The Bedroom –The show opens with Tommy Walker and wife Julia naked in bed having an afternoon quickie. Julia straddles her husband in some sort of sexual position out of a game of nude Twister. My guess is they’ve made it to page 87 of the Kama Sutra manual. Instead it turns out the couple is trying to make a baby, and this awkward position is supposed to be conducive to pregnancy. Maybe that’s why so many teenagers get pregnant in the backseats of cars. Good luck, you two. If all else fails, consider a trip to Malawi. The scene cuts to later that evening at older sister Sarah’s house. Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) has called a meeting to get the rest of her siblings to join her in boycotting Momma Nora’s annual black tie charity benefit.
Kevin: I was kind of looking forward to it this year. You know, the theme is “Back to Broadway” and who doesn’t love a musical?
Maybe he was being sarcastic, but Kevin sounded earnest here. If he was serious, then the comment is out of character. Just last week he told Scotty that he “wasn’t born loving musical theater.” Instead, it took years of gay boot camp to make him come to appreciate it. Sarah explains that the company has to foot the bill to sponsor a table and Walker Produce can’t afford it this year. Kitty (Calista Flockhart) pricks up her elfin ears at this – she doesn’t yet know about the 12 million dollars missing from the employee pension fund. Sarah just hasn’t found the right time to tell Kitty her beloved daddy was an embezzler. She’s probably saving it until they are having a big fight and she really wants to hurt Kitty. That’s how I’d break the news anyway. The scene ends with all the Walker siblings agreeing to stand up to Momma Nora (Sally Field) and boycott the charity event. Gosh, I wonder how that’s going to pan out? Later, Kitty gets Sarah alone and asks about the company’s financial problems. Of all the siblings, Kitty was closest to her father. Sarah doesn’t want to tell her the truth about dear old Dad so she makes light of the financial problems. Come on, Sarah! It’s Ally McBeal! Crush her! Crush her now! Don’t you know how long I’ve waited to see that happen? Cut to the next day where we see Momma Nora hosting a meeting for the charity dinner planning committee. Now that’s some exciting TV! Everyone is in a tizzy because Howie Mandel, who was supposed to MC the event, pulled out at the last minute. I guess with the success of Deal or No Deal, this sort of gig is beneath him. I don’t about you, but I’m relieved. Nora assures everyone that she’s got it covered. She has a secret weapon she can tap for a replacement. Everyone assumes she’s talking about her daughter Kitty (Calista Flockhart), who is a right-wing politic pundit on a show called Red, White & Blue. Given Nora’s liberal politics, I suspect she’d rather break bread with her dead husband’s mistress, Holly, than give Kitty the exposure. Among the committee members seated at the table are married couple Margaret (Meredith Baxter-Birney) and Harry (Robert Foxworthy). (I kept looking for some washed up sitcom child star—say Fred Savage—to appear.) Poor Nora is seated next to Harry who is a shameless lech. Even though wife Margaret is close by, he proceeds to grope Nora under the table. How sweet! Nora is shocked but keeps her cool in front of her old friend, Margaret. She calls Harry into the kitchen to help with coffee and tells him to keeps his hands to himself. Yeah, that’ll stop a guy like Harry. That and a two-by-four to the head. Corporate headquarters for Walker Produce. I’m not entirely clear on what they do there except sit around and wring their hands over the 12 million missing from the employee pension fund. Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) takes a meeting with a forensic accountant hired to figure out where the missing money went. I keep thinking Saul should call up Sidney Bristow from Alias to come find the money. She’d wear some great costume and shoot folks in the leg until she found the loot. Instead of that, though, the accountant traces the money trail to a numbered offshore bank account. The account can be accessed online with a password between five and eight characters long. If this were Lost, those numbers would be very significant. Thankfully, this isn’t Lost. So assuming the 12 million is still in the account, the only way Uncle Saul can get to it is to figure out what the secret password is. Hmm. a password between five and eight characters long. Now I’m thinking Uncle Saul should call in Marshall, Alias’s resident computer genius, for a quick hack. Is it a bad thing I keep thinking of Alias? The Walker mansion– Sarah has stopped by and Nora is in the middle of telling her daughter how the lecherous Harry groped her under the table. Sarah is dubious.
Sarah: Are you sure? Maybe he just grazed you.
Nora is offended that her daughter questions her veracity.
Nora: What makes everybody think that I’m a psychosexual hysteric?”
My guess? Your indelible performance in Sybil.
Sarah finally gets around to breaking the news to Nora that the company can’t afford to sponsor a table at the charity dinner. Oh, and all of the Walker kids want to bow out because they hate the event. Nora gets teary explaining how important the dinner is to her. What is it with mothers and the crying? Nora: One night every year I get to play out this secret fantasy of mine. I get to pretend we’re that great American family. Our own version of the Kennedys! Sarah: You know how that ended, right? Sarah relents and agrees to go. She also has the company pony up $35,000 to sponsor a table. So there broke and she’s spending money they don’t have. I think Sarah should run for Congress.