At one point during last night's episode of "Brothers & Sisters," a fed-up Kevin Walker tells his closeted soap star boyfriend Chad that the whole drama about when or if he is coming out is boring and that "life is too damned short."
I could not agree more!
And so, by episode's end, Kevin and Chad have broken up and brought an end to an episode arc that was never really popular with fans, like me, who felt that the Kevin and Scotty relationship ended too prematurely. So instead of the wonderful Scotty (Luke MacFarlane), we have had to endure countless scenes of Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Chad (Jason Lewis) waking up together and sharing a chaste kiss before one or the other rushed off.
I must say, it was awfully nice to finally see Chad featured in just a pair of shorts as he watched Kevin sleep. Why hire an actor with a body like Jason Lewis and never show it?
In the end, Chad comes out on his website to his fans, Kevin tells him "it was a brave and honest thing to do" and acknowledges that he had been "pretty harsh" on Chad.
Then Chad says: "I didn't come out of the closet for you or us - I came out of the closet for me...I think I need to go the rest of the distance on my own...I couldn't have gotten to where I am without you."
Kevin realizes it is too late.
They share a couple of emotional goodbye kisses that lacked the tenderness that Kevin's kisses with Scotty always had. I only liked this storyline for maybe two or three episodes...it was kind of fun. But it got old real quick and thankfully, it is over.
As for the rest of last night's show, much of it focused on Senator Robert MacAllister (Rob Lowe) and his plans to run for president. Kitty (Calista Flockhart) and her sister Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) go to his hometown to make a little bio film and it turns out he is from the artichoke capital of the world and they happen to be there during the artichoke festival. Endless artichoke jokes, margaritas are called arti-ritas and on and on.
Here's my thing: Isn't it enough to have Kitty involved with a U.S. senator? Having him running for president just threatens to turn it into a different kind of show. But I will say this, Lowe is turning in a terrific performance week after week and never better than last night when he was confessing to Kitty the truth behind his war hero tale. That scene is some of his finest work - ever.
It's also a hoot to have Margot Kidder making another appearance on the show as Nora's (Sally Field) kooky friend Emily Craft who is a bad influence for sure but reminds me of the terrific Kathy Bates character from "Six Feet Under" who would occasionally surface to loosen up uptight Ruth.
And the blooming romance between Nora and her writing professor (Peter Coyote) is very appealing. When I was watching their picnic lunch scene, I felt like I was watching a scene from a really good movie - kind of like the beach scene between Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in "As Good As it Gets."
Sometimes, "Brothers & Sisters" can be about as good as television gets...