So many of us are still mourning the break-up of Kevin and Scotty last week on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters." But not Kevin! Any concerns over his sexuality being put on the back burner (like poor Andrew on "Desperate Housewives") were forgotten about when he and two of his siblings hit a bar in the middle of the desert after their car breaks down. The bar, as luck would have it, was filled with hot Army guys. When one of the hunks sidles up to Kevin at the bar, he asks if Kevin has children. Kevin tells him everything: he's gay, his boyfriend just broke up with him etc."
Army guy says: "So, you're single? I was hoping you'd say that." He asked, and Kevin told!
Later, Kevin's sister (Rachel Griffiths) says incredulously: 'We come to an Army bar and HE gets laid!" Kevin, smiling, says: "Well, I'm workin on it."
In the end, Kevin doesn't get much sleep that night.
But for me to focus on this is a bit shallow given the weight of the rest of the episode. Justin, who last episode overdosed on drugs and booze after he learned he was being called to Iraq by the military, survives after getting his stomach pumped (was there any doubt?) and by episode's end, he's done a complete turnaround and is now resolved not to fight his callback and to go back and serve his country...in Iraq.
The prospect of her son going to Iraq to face such danger gave Sally Field (Nora) some real "Steel Magnolias" when Shelby died moments: "They're gonna take my boy! They're gonna take my boy!" she says, sobbing into the arms of Kitty (Calista Flockhart). "I don't know how I can do this again!" I half expected her to next say, "Shelby's riiiight. My hair does look like a football helmet!" Ya have to have seen "Steel Magnolias" at least a dozen times to even know what I'm talking about!
Meanwhile politically conservative Kitty has changed her mind on the war telling her co-host that she supported the battle "when we knew what we were fighting for...it's so dangerous over there now. My mother, who's so strong, is so heartbroken."
Kitty asks a U.S. Senator (guest star Rob Lowe) if he will intervene when he guests on her show. He refuses and she confesses, on air, to going easy on his interview in the hopes that she will help her brother and "to keep him from fighting in a war that i have defended on this program...I made a mistake of continuing to defend a war that is in desperate need of re-examination."
I gotta say, this was the most cnvincing Flockhart has been all season when discussing her politics. Finally, something seemed to feel authentic to her. Meanwhile, Lowe offers her a job on his staff which I take as a sign that we will see this uncommonly handsome on the air again on a weekly basis (he'll be on at least six episodes this season). The political dialogue just seemed so natural coming out of the mouth of the former star of "The West Wing" who had turned down the plum role of Dr. McDreamy on "Grey's Anatomy" so instead we get him as a dreamy McSenator.