With much of the episode taking place on Tommy and Holly's new vinyard, Walker Landing, I almost expected Angela Channing from "Falcon Crest" to show up and start calling people into her study.
By the way, I apologize for teasing in an earlier post that Kevin and the senator's bro were gonna meet up again - THAT is in a future episode. The senator (Rob Lowe) was barely in this episode after a cute scene with Kitty in the beginning where she is hemming and hawing after proposing to him last week. Is this woman nuts? He's a senator! He's got big bucks! And he looks just like Rob Lowe! Snag him before he realizes what a mess you are.
But hey! I was right about the catfight between Nora (Sally Feild) and Holly (Patricia Wettig). It was a showdown of epic proportions that culminated in a massive food fight. Nora starts it by smashing an entire cake all over Holly's dress. Holly screams: "This dress is couture!" To which Nora replies: "I'm sure it's been STAINED before!" Then it was peas flying and you name it before the women start laughing then Holly starts crying.
So what led to foo flying everywhere?
Holly kissed Nora's date for the weekend, the smarmy professor played by Peter Coyote. "You seem to be obsessed with the men in my life," Nora snarls to Holly, pre-cake smashing.
Holly counters with: "Your family is INSANE!"
Nora then says 'Even your own DAUGHTER would rather sleep at my house....I'd sooner call social services before I'd send her home to you...You are a car wreck!"
It was great stuff and what made it even greater was the skill with which the scene was played by Field and Wettig. When they were saying those and other lines, you really felt like they were the culmination of months and months of resentment (In Holly's case, years of resentment) and that made it all the more satisfying.
The whole Joe kissed Rebecca thing is already boring to me but it served as the catalyst for much of the drama on last night's show which was fun because the entire Walker family was together for a weekend and you had all kinds of those fights with witty dialogue.
Kitty (Calista Flockhart) ends up being AWOL for a big chunk of it because she takes three of Kevn's prescription painkillers mistaking them for asprin as she's drinking some wine. Kevin finds her and can't believe she has gotten herself so drunk so quickly.
Kitty: "I've had sips! Sips! Why do I always have to screw things up, Ken?"
She's calling Kevin, Ken, you know she's screwed up!
In her stupor, she blurts out to Kevin that she's sorta engaged to the senator but makes him promise not to tell anyone. We already know Kevin is a bigger gossip than Hedda Hopper and Loella Parsons combined! Oh, that's dated. OK, make that Liz Smith and Marilyn Beck combined! If that's too dated for ya the just eat your milk and cookies and go to bed!
After a tipsy Kevin but adorable blurts out the news, he tries to change the subject quickly: "Can we have some more pinot?" Then we wonders to himself: "I don't know why I say these things. I think I have Tourette's [syndrome]."
Anyway, in the end, Julia goes into labor - early - and the preview tease that next week is "a very special episode of 'Brothers & Sisters." We can already see that the lives of the twins are hanging in the balance so all the silliness of the vinyard episode will be quickly forgotten.