'Brothers & Sisters': A soldier's story

Brothers & Sisters has one of the deepest ensembles on television, with big names ranging from Sally Field to Calista Flockhart to Rob Lowe populating its cast.

Yet it's the guy from Reunion who consistently impresses me.

(I'm about to throw spoilers at you the way Luther Reeves listeners were ready to throw pennies.)

After last week's premiere, where he was absent physically even as he was on everyone's mind, Dave Annable's Justin returned to the show, and he brought his A game. On its own, that first shot of him in the hospital, when he sees his family looking through the window of his hospital room, just about made the episode for me.

(And by the way, a big raspberry to the ABC promo department for the preview that aired during Desperate Housewives implying Justin might be dead. That funeral scene? For an unnamed soldier from California that Sen. McCallister attended.)

There was a good deal more to love about Justin's return as well, enough that it's possible to overlook the silly B-story about Kitty popping off to a talk-radio host about her family and forcing her fiance to clean up the mess. Let's hope the writers can hit some different notes with the campaign story as the season progresses, because really, Kitty should just know better.

But back to the youngest Walker sibling. Though the doctors were able to repair his knee ligaments after his unit was hit in Iraq, he still has tissue and nerve damage, which means he's going to be in a helluva lot of pain when a nerve-blocking agent wears off. But since he's a recovering addict, he's refusing any narcotics ("Is that stupid or brave?" Kevin asks the doctor. The reply: "He's a good soldier, so both").

Once he gets home, his family, led by Nora, understandably smothers him, and Justin understandably chafes at all the extra attention. As heightened as the reality the Walkers inhabit can be, those scenes rang entirely true to life. Even removing the how and why of Justin's injury from the equation, it's a volatile situation when someone who's upset that he's lost a measure of his independence runs up against a relative who, even with the best of intentions, takes away a little more of it.

That said, the final scene with Nora comforting her son was a heartbreaker.

Elsewhere in the Walker universe, Kitty set about proving the oily McCallister campaign operative right by becoming as much a liability to Robert as she is an asset. I can understand the impulse to want to defend your family, but having been a talk-radio host herself, shouldn't she know that trying to get the better of a host on his own turf is a fool's game? Has she never watched Bill O'Reilly or The Daily Show?

Robert came riding in to save the day, of course, but the wedding-dress blowout and now this can't augur well for either their professional or personal relationship. This, folks, is why you don't date your co-workers.

Not much movement on the Sarah-Joe front this week, although Rebecca finally came clean to Sarah about not entirely being the victim in their kiss last season. And though it was harsh, Sarah was pretty much right on the money in calling out her motives.

And, I hope I'm wrong here, but after seeing the previews for next week, I can't see how Emily Rose's character -- Rebecca's friend whom Tommy hires to manage the winery's office -- doesn't become the person he turns to for solace when Julia's away. For as long as I hung with John from Cincinnati this summer, I enjoyed Rose's work there, and I'd rather not see her be the Other Woman. I hope the show can come up with something beyond that shopworn story.

What did you think of this week's Brothers & Sisters? Happy to have Justin back in the mix?

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