'Brothers & Sisters': The battle hymn of the stay-at-home parent

Yeah, yeah, I know -- Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The Walker family on Brothers & Sisters tends to be unhappy at great volume. Now, that high-volume discontent is in its way to philanthropy and politics.

This spoiler is going to the La Brea tar pits!

Nora discovers an essential truth of the world: When you're a stay-at-home mom throwing parties to raise money for worthy causes, that's charity. When you want to run an organization that will raise more than $17 million, well, that's philanthropy, and for that, you need a resume. Because of her family name, she gets a meeting --  but how to deal with being known solely as "William Walker's wife?"

Well, go into a rant, of course! Sarah tells Nora to treat Big Money Guy like she treats the butcher when he gives her a substandard rib roast. So when Mr. Corporate tries the "don't you worry your pretty little head" type speech she lets him have it -- and it's awesome. After that rousing speech, Big Bucks gives her a grant. Is this realistic? I tend to think no. But it sure was fun to watch.

Kevin and Scotty
Scotty's parents come to town, which is great... except Kevin is thisclose to being made partner! He asks Scotty to push back dinner so he can arrive clothed in glory with his new partnership status, and throws in Robert and Kitty as incentive. Scotty reluctantly agrees.

Scotty's parents are determined to do touristy things -- The La Brea tar pits! The Wax Museum! The double-decker bus! -- which makes sense, as they are tourists. Scotty is mortified. But surely all will be well when Kevin is carried into the restaurant on the Partnership Palanquin, being fanned with ostrich feathers and fed peeled grapes, right? Yeah, about that.... he didn't get it. Raise your hand if you were surprised. You lose all TV watching privileges, as you obviously haven't been paying attention.

Kevin is understandably depressed, and it doesn't help that Scotty's mom snipes and moans and takes passive-aggressive swipes at him and Kevin all through dinner. That does not, however, excuse his hissyfit, where he pretty much tells Scotty's mom to stick it up her homophobic derriere, the announces he turned down the partnership so he could work for Robert even though he hates him and everything he stands for, just because he, Kevin Walker, is a saint. Oh, and he forgot to book them a hotel, which is particularly bad because it wasn't even something Scotty asked him to do, it's a task he took from Scotty and said he'd do himself.

The next day, there was a tense rapprochement -- apparently there was some off-screen groveling and explanation -- and Scotty's dad indicated they'd continue to talk. Then Kevin goes over to Robert and Kitty's, where he says he wants the job after all. He seems to think last night's fracas was a good indication of how he'd be as a communications director. Robert hires him on the spot. No wonder he didn't win the nomination.

Justin and Rebecca, Holly and Nora
Rebecca tells Justin about the file on Ryan, and Justin maligns Holly. Rebecca defends her mom, and decides to give her the opportunity to confess. Surprisingly, Holly does. She just wanted to get the info to give herself the illusion of control She's not going to do anything about it! Rebecca happily reports back to Justin, who still thinks Holly is eeeeeeevil. This leads to a screaming match, which, naturally, leads to sex. Justin and Rebecca wish they had fought earlier.

But the couple doesn't want their mothers to get in the way of their happiness anymore. Therefore, they engineer a meeting, bring up the Ryan issue, and leave the matriarchs to sort things out. It doesn't go well. Nora pretty much calls Holly an evil yet pathetic bee-yotch, and Holly calls Nora a pathetic narcissist outright. Holly tells Nora she probably won't do anything about Ryan -- unless she's having a bad day or doesn't have anything to do one afternoon or if she runs out of spiders to pull the legs off of or something. Nora is left with the file, and a veiled threat that she should contact Ryan -- "It's probably best if you found him first." Sigh.

Sarah, Saul and Tommy
Sarah is dealing with stay-at-home motherhood, and is realizing that kids are hard. How did you not going insane being stuck with five of us? She asks Nora. I totally did! Nora replies. But every once in a while, you'd do something adorable or incredible or whatever, and that's what kept me from selling you to the circus. Sarah is skeptical, but that night, her son is adorable about a caterpillar in his room -- "Can I stay up until the butterfly comes?" -- and she has one of those motherhood moments Nora talked about. It's enough to allow her to go back to her job placement guy and turn down a position that's ok, but pays half as much and doesn't curl her toes. For something to take her away from staying home with her kids, it needs to be spectacular.

How about a Holly-free Ojai? Tommy insists that Holly is a great partner, but later he spills his guts to Saul. It's tough, and Holly bringing in Rebecca (who he loves "like a sister turned not sister now my brother's girlfriend") makes it feel like her family firm, not hit. Well, if booting Holly out becomes your goal, I'm totally in, Saul says, and I'm sure Sarah would come back on, too. Hmm. Add that to the threats Holly made about Ryan to Nora, and I predict some juicy sweeps drama.

Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends

• Kevin, when he's invited to the partner's cocktail party and thinks he's getting partner, make it back to his office, then executes a perfect John Travolta/Saturday Night Fever disco point. It's impressive.
• Scotty asks Kevin to abstain from any PDA while his folks are in town. "They kind of scare me, so I promise not to antagonize them by French kissing you in front of them." Gracious, no?
• After Kevin's meltdown, Scotty gets pissed -- "I asked for one weekend, Kevin. One. Our entire lives are about your family. My parents visit us for the first time an you can't show an ounce of restraint?" What is this restraint you speak of, and have you even known of a Walker to engage in it? (Not that kind of restraint. Get your minds out of the gutter!)
• Kevin shows up chez McAllister and walks in through the unlocked door. What, no secret service? He quips. "I'm not running for president anymore," Robert replies. "Nobody cares if you shoot me."
• Hey Robert, remember ranting that the Walker family needed to "get a filter"? Yeah, you might want to think about that before, oh, hiring one of the lest filtered men on the planet to be your communications director. Somehow I don't think he's well-suited to the job.
• When Justin and Rebecca first talk about Holly and her potential motives, Rebecca gets a bit snippy: "I really thought you of all people would understand about making amends." That was just bitchy.
• When they finally fought, Justin and Rebecca's ran up against Rebecca's (understandable) I'm not my father, he says -- I'm not going to leave you! Let's hope he's right.

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