It pains me to have to admit it, but I think Brothers & Sisters may have jumped the shark. Only a couple of weeks ago I was celebrating because the Walkers were back, but by the third episode into the series (I must have missed ep.2, because Rebecca was mysteriously back in Justin’s bed at the start of ep.3, and she certainly wasn’t there last time I looked) things are not looking good.
For a start, everyone was scattered all over the place, and we know that the Walkers work most entertainingly as a unit. And the things that they’re separately getting up to are just plain silly.
Kitty has, post switching off Robert’s life support, gone to “find herself” at a woodworking camp in the middle of a forest, run by a man who is so nice that everyone assumes he’s gay, but so un-gay that he’s, of course, irresistibly attracted to Kitty. I found myself quite reassured by this – in a changing world, it’s good to know that Kitty’s feminine allure is as deadly as ever.
There was some very stupid stuff about Sarah getting all competitive with some mummies-from-hell at Cooper’s school, which revolved around Cooper playing Romeo in the school play (yawn). Did it feature awkwardness at having to kiss Juliet? You betcha. Was this resolved by a pep talk from mum’s hunky French pants model boyfriend? Of course it was. And was scenery demolished during the play? Are you kidding me? Do you think they would pass up the chance to hilariously demolish scenery in a school-performance-of-Romeo & Juliet scene?
At least this provided an opportunity for Saul, Kevin and Saul’s boyfriend to gather round Sarah’s table for some needlework while making the costumes. How handy these gay male relatives are.
The Radiant Holly had a little blast of being radiant, but although she can remember Rebecca, she can’t quite remember how to love Rebecca, so she pretty soon stopped smiling. Justin can remember how to love Rebecca, but he may forget again as she is taking a job on a magazine in New York. You can’t blame her.
To be honest, I can’t really remember what Nora was up to, apart from trying to stop Holly “doing something silly.” But I’m not heartened to see on my Sky EPG that in this week’s episode, a radio show host is going to be so impressed by Nora’s mothering skills that he’ll offer her a phone-in show so she can share her wisdom. Oh my good lord.
Will I be watching to find out how this works out? Possibly, but with not a great deal of enthusiasm I think. It’s not just the loss of Robert, the nicest-smelling man on TV. It’s probably that you can only wring so much drama out of one family, and short of finding any other long-lost siblings, this family seems, dramatically, pretty much wrung dry.
Posted by PLA (more Brothers & Sisters posts here)