John Benjamin Hickey played a by-the-book Army major on last night's "Brothers & Sisters" and in that single episode, made the whole debate over whether an actor can be gay and play straight roles seem ridiculous. Hickey was completely convincing as the Army officer who insists that Justin (David Annable) return to the battlefield despite the character's struggle with drugs and alcohol.
Anyway, nice to see the talented Hickey on such a roll these days. Alternating between roles in theater, television and film, he has always been plenty busy. But this has been a particularly busy time with both Clint Eastwood's "Flags of our Fathers" and the Truman Capote biopic "Infamous" out in recent months.
Hickey can also play gay real well too: he was one-half of a gay couple of the wonderful, but short-lived, comedy "It's All Relative" that aired on ABC three seasons back.
Anyway, back to "Brothers & Sisters." It was a good holiday episode that gave Sally Field lots to do as Nora and featured more of Patricia Wettig as Holly than any previous show. With five Emmys between them, these two actresses are among the best and will no doubt have more scenes together in upcoming episodes.
Kevin (Matthew Rhys), didn't kiss any guys this episode but instead was focused on fighting for Andrew in court so that his brother could go to rehab before returning to the armed forces. At one point, an emotional Andrew says to Kevin, 'I really love you." Kevin jokes: 'You're so gay!"
Not that there's anything WRONG with that.