'Brothers & Sisters' flashback: Nora and Holly do time

In this special two hour "Brothers & Sisters," the Walker family dig deep into their memories from 1986 to figure out what Dennis York holds over them and one Walker sibling doesn't like what they discover.

Bizarro world
The episode opens up with Nora having a flashback of young Tommy calling her for help with police in the background.

Back in the present, the family arrives at the Walker home to find Tommy. After their initial happiness, they begin to wonder why he's there. Nora tells them that she thinks they should sell their shares in Ojai. Then, Sarah goes off. She realizes Tommy came to lobby them to sell. Then Justin mentions Narrow Lake, which throws Sarah in to a tizzy, since she hasn't been told about the mysterious property. And Saul calls Nora out on the fact that she's not telling them everything. She then tells them that their problem involves Dennis York and Sarah recognizes the man that was paid under the table as the company's "fixer." If there were a union dispute or other disturbance, York would "fix it." The family starts obsessing over what his involvement could mean and the possibility that another one of William's skeletons is being dragged out of the closet.

I choose you
Later, Justin tells Rebecca that when he mentioned Narrow Lake, he was ignored. She's afraid that Nora will take this too far and they'll all get dragged into another fight over selling the shares. She tells Justin that she doesn't want him to sell and he promises he won't.

The lottery
Scotty is psyched about the opportunity for Kevin to sell his shares. Their employment is shaky, they've spent a lot of money on having a baby and Scotty thinks he should sell. Kevin, on the other hand, is weary of the deal and wonders if there's more he doesn't know about. Was this all really Tommy's idea to get out of debt, he wonders. Scotty gives in and they look forward to their next transfer to see if they'll be successful in creating viable eggs.

This is what cancer survivors do
Back at home, Kitty tells Robert about the prospect of selling their Ojai shares. He has other things on his mind. She's due back for a visit to check on the progress of her cancer remission and he's worried. She tells him that she's going to sell her shares, because she feels Nora is in some kind of trouble.

What was the fight about?
Sarah flashbacks to 1986 and remembers seeing Nora yelling at Dennis and William. She calls Tommy over to tell him about her memory. He doesn't know anything and he doesn't want to unearth any old secrets, regardless.

The kids would be appalled
Dennis meets with Nora and he tells her that he's losing patience. Nora tells him she never trusted him. That angers him, because he says he only followed her and William's orders. He then tosses copies of checks signed by her. While what they did wasn't illegal, it seems that Nora paid for something that would be very embarrassing for her and the family. He gives her a week to convince the kids to sell or he says he'll ruin their family.

Meanwhile, Sarah meets with Holly in the Ojai grove and tells her she's probably going to sell her shares. Holly then fills her in on the importance of Narrow Lake (something Nora had said meant nothing). She then gives a rousing speech about how they can make Ojai great again.

Doing the right thing
Sarah then goes over to Nora's and it's evident that Holly had an effect on her. She tells Nora that Holly has filled her in on Narrow Lake. I'm not sure if offending Sarah's ability to make up her own mind is the best approach for Nora right now, but she's going there. She then tells Nora that she doesn't want to sell her shares until she's sure that the company has been brought back to its former glory. She also says, and I thought this might have been the weakest point she had, that her career is on the line. Then, Nora (in a Sally Field tour de force) tells Sarah that she has never asked anything of her or doubted her decisions and she wishes Sarah can do the same for her now. When Nora storms off, we realize that Tommy has been eavesdropping from the hall.

He begins to flashback to 1986, outside an emergency room. He sees Dennis run past him, then Nora in her car. She tells him to get in forcefully and he does.

Back in the present, Tommy then approaches Nora and he asks her to tell him what's going on. Nora shares the checks with him and he freaks out. She then tells him that they've been paying some family off for 25 years. Something happened in 1986 and they made a deal with the family. After William's death, she took over the payments. I'm not sure what happened. I'm thinking Tommy crashed into someone while drunk and they were paralyzed. But, isn't that too easy?

Old memories, new problems
Sarah meets with Kitty and Kevin and they discuss why Nora freaked out so much. Kitty tells them that she remembers Nora yelling at people outside back in '86 and Sarah told her it was William and Dennis. None of them know what they were yelling about.

Kitty then remembers that Sarah threw a party at Ojai that Tommy and Kevin crash. He introduces his friend, Aaron. Back to the present, the two sisters rib Kevin for having a crush on the boy. Of course, the girls make it all about their boy-capades when Kevin wonders how the party shut down. Flashback to Sarah getting a call from Tommy, saying he was in an accident and their dad is on the way to Ojai. Back in the present, Kevin remembers that Tommy wasn't the only one in the car.

He flashbacks to warning Tommy not to drive drunk, but he won't listen. Tommy then tells him to relax for once, which is probably why he has no friends (except Aaron who's from another school - um, mean, Tommy). Before he drives away, though, he feels guilty and apologizes.

In the present, the siblings realize the ramifications of that night and, speak of the devil, Tommy walks in at that very moment. They tell him what they've realized and Tommy goes off and leaves. Kevin follows him out and Tommy can't believe that they think they have it all figured out. Oy, I have a feeling here about the true story, but I'm not going to say it, yet. Kevin tells Tommy he can't keep ignoring his faults all the time and when he does need someone to talk to, no one will be left.

Then, back at Kitty's place, she tells Robert that Saul has called another meeting and about Tommy's accident. He already knew, though. Duh, he ran for president and they vetted everyone around him. She then asks him to tell her everything he knows.

At Saul's meeting, he implores the kids to listen to Nora and sell their shares. Then, the siblings tell Nora she needs to tell them everything. And Tommy says that it's time they tell HIM. Then, Nora calls and tells Kevin that Robert says no one was hurt in Tommy's accident and Kevin realizes the big secret revolves around him. That's what I felt would happen earlier, but I didn't want to spoil anything for anyone.

He flashes back to a memory of himself and Aaron hanging out at Ojai. They're drinking and then Aaron makes a pass at him. Poor awkward Kevin pushes him away and they begin to fight. Then, suddenly Aaron falls down. Just then, William arrives and he yells at Kevin to get inside his car.

Back in the present, Tommy finds Kevin at the scene of his fight with Aaron and explains that back in 1986, he saw Aaron coming into the ER on a gurney and Dennis running by. He then tells Kevin that Nora had just told him that Aaron was paralyzed.

Then, Nora arrives. She tried to tell him that it was an accident. Kevin wonders what his father had seen and Nora says that he saw nothing. She tells him she only wanted to protect him and she never found the right time to tell him. Kevin then turns it around and tells her that she was protecting herself and it wasn't about him. Harsh, Kev. He then runs off and tells her not to follow him.

Back in 1986, the kids see Nora walk into the living room and she seems like a mess. Young Kevin asks her if everything is OK. Back in the present, we see Nora at William's grave and she tells him that she hates him and she's going to fix everything. Afterward, she says she'll never return again. Wow, OK, Nora, I just got goose bumps!

Were you surprised the big secret involved Kevin and not Tommy?

Hour 2

Don't patronize Kitty
Kitty tells Sarah that she's going into the clinic for her cancer checkup. When Sarah tells her there's no way her cancer has come back, Kitty goes nuts on her. I can understand when you don't want to hear "you'll be fine" when you're sick. Sarah says sorry, but does say that she'll always be by her side. And hug.

Finally...She makes an honest man out of him
At Ojai, Holly asks Justin if he can help talk his family out of selling their shares. He says no. He'd rather not try to get in the middle of this all and they shouldn't ask him to. Impressive, huh? Then, Justin sees a painting in the kitchen and Holly tells him that it was a cabin William used to take her there. Lake? Could it be Narrow Lake? They go to city hall and find out that Justin's father didn't own it.

After Holly leaves, Justin (who seems to have the knack for last minute ideas lately) sees a couple running out after their marriage. He asks Rebecca if they should get married at City Hall. And they do. It's very sweet, but I can't wait until Nora finds out!

Saul and the kids go to Scotty and tell him what happened to Kevin. Turns out he hasn't known where he has been and he didn't show up to their doctor's visit. Then, Kevin walks in and he says he can't believe that Nora carried this on after William died and has tried to justify her decision. When Scotty tells him that he went through with the transfer without him, that's just too much for Kevin to take and he runs out.

Thelma and Louise
Over at Nora's place, Holly tries to convince her to convince the kids not to sell their shares. It's interesting to see Holly being the one that makes sense and Nora throwing out insults at her. Also, Holly has her own reasons not to piss Nora off. She wants her on her side. Nora sees her side of things and agrees they have to find Narrow Lake.

Then, as Justin is trying to book the Ojai House for his and Rebecca's honeymoon, the person recognizes his last name. Hm, Is this cabin by Narrow Lake?

Meanwhile, Kevin calls Kitty to tell her he's fine and to ask if she can tell Scotty. He then tells her that he's at Aaron's house and he has to face him and talk about how he hurt him so many years back. As Kitty tries to get more information, he hangs up. He then flashes back to 1986 when he was talking to a drunken young Kitty. He tells her how he got into a fight with Aaron after he came on to him. Kevin freaks out as he realizes that he's gay and she tells him that she doesn't care. She'd love him no matter what.

Back in the present, Kevin decides to finally go ahead and talk to Aaron. Aaron tells him that he doesn't dwell on the night of the accident and would like to keep it that way. Kevin then tells him that he's gay and that he wanted to kiss him that night and Aaron says that he already knew that back then. Aaron then tells him that he has made peace with that night and the fact that Kevin reacted the way he did, because that's what society made him feel was right.

Then, we meet Thelma and Louise, a.k.a. Nora and Holly. Nora meets Dennis York and her goal is to keep him talking long enough for Holly to go through his hotel room looking for some hint of what he knows about Ojai Foods or Narrow Lake. As she's trying to stall, Dennis admits that William got everything he ever wanted, including Nora. I think I just threw up in my mouth. The best part was when he asked her if she ever regretted staying with William and not leaving for him. She answered, no, not for a second. Loved it.

Afterward, Nora and Holly meet outside. Holly says she struck out, but then Nora sees that she has York's valet stub. Oh, boy - she then decides to claim his car and look through it. Craziness abounds when Dennis comes out and she tells Holly to get in and they peel off. Thelma and Louise, indeed.

The two end up right at the same place where Justin and Rebecca were and as Holly is rushing her to their next destination on Dennis' GPS, she triggers a memory and Nora remembers the rest of the song. Nora then tries to remember what William was doing during the summer of 1973 and remembers him flirting with some blonde the night before he told her he was looking at some land. It's obvious that Holly may have been that woman by the way she reacts. Then, Robert calls and they basically tell him what they've done. She assures him that they're going to get off the road to avoid being seen.

Then we see Justin and Rebecca getting their wedding bliss on and the mothers walk in on them! So good. Tommy and Sarah then show up after Robert tells them about the stolen car. Just as all of them are in the middle of arguing, Justin blurts out that he and Rebecca got married. Then, a policeman shows up at the door asking for Holly and Nora. Caught!

In jail later, Nora says that she thinks that after all that has happened, her and Holly may have become friends. Then, Holly admits she was the blonde that Nora remembers from the party. That was the first time she met William and she didn't have sex with him for at least another month, which means he was probably looking for property as he claimed. Then, Robert springs the moms from jail, but not before snapping some pictures of them behind bars! I love it.

Narrow Lake in all its, um, splendor?
Back at his place, Kevin, Kitty and Scotty talk about how to deal with his feelings about Aaron's accident. It's clear Kevin has no idea how to handle it. Then Nora calls Kitty's cell and tells her that they all have to come up to the Ojai House to celebrate Justin's wedding.

At the house, Kevin apologizes to Tommy for assuming it was his drunk driving accident that hurt someone that night, but Nora gets the cold shoulder.

And of course, we get to the Walker family dinner! The family does a round of speeches about Justin's ability to love and how lucky Rebecca is. Kitty gets a call from her doctor and excuses herself. Then, Kevin stands up to make a speech about love, yada, yada. Kitty is cancer-free!!!!

Then, a really touching moment goes down with Justin. He tells Nora that his favorite part of his time during their summers at the Ojai House was when she'd call the kids in for dinner. She wanted to know everything they did during the day and made them feel important. Then Justin gives his mother a flattened penny and Nora remembers that William gave her one exactly like it back in 1973. He was looking for land and it was somewhere around the Ojai House!

As they're looking on the map for Narrow Lake, they're able to figure out from Dennis' GPS destinations where it may be. Then, Kevin realizes that Narrow Lake is an anagram of Nora Walker, which is kind of touching if it weren't for all the trouble William has placed them in.

When Nora and Holly make their way to the property, they realize it's just undeveloped, unremarkable land. There isn't even a lake! Why all the secrecy, William?

Why do you think Narrow Lake is so important?

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Photo credit: ABC