I’d love to get a Christmas letter from the Walker family, the clan at the center of ABC’s star-studded drama Brothers & Sisters.
“Well, it’s been another interesting year for the Walkers,” the letter would begin. “Nora has fully recovered from the death of her embezzling, two-timing husband, William, and now keeps herself busy by hosting a call-in radio program, dating occasionally, and caring for her five adult children and their ever-rotating bevy of spouses or squeezes or what-have-yous. She even has time to bake the occasional turkey!
“Sarah, after selling the family business, is now engaged to her French paramour Luc, and we all wish them the best—though we’re not expecting it. Kitty is out of danger (she had cancer, you might remember), politics and her marriage (Robert’s history). Now she’s teaching at the local college—and dating the dean’s 27-year-old son! They seem very happy.
“We hardly ever see Tommy anymore, so we’ll move on to Kevin, who, you’ll recall, ‘married’ his homosexual lover, Scotty, a few years ago. They both want children, but they’ve been having trouble in that department, and after having a bad experience with a surrogate mother, they now hope to adopt. Meanwhile, Justin, our little war hero and recovering drug addict, has found a stable job as a hospital paramedic. I’m sure he’d love to see you, but you don’t want to see him! Not when he’s got blood all over him in the ambulance, anyway. 🙂
“Much love from the Walkers. Hope we’re all still around next Christmas!”
As you can see, the Walkers really don’t know the definition of peacefully dull—which helps explain why the television drama has survived for so many seasons. While Season 4 culminated in a game-changing auto accident, every episode is sort of like watching a car crash—and viewers can’t seem to look away.
In the midst of all the rubbernecking, fans of this soapy series are exposed to a few niceties. The folks in Brothers & Sisters, like brothers and sisters everywhere, squabble … but at the end of the day they still make up a family—a loving, struggling family. Nora once tells Kevin how much she wants her new boyfriend to get to know—and enjoy—her children. He’s never had a real family before, she says.
“So you’re starting him off with ours?” Kevin asks.
“It’s the only one I’ve got,” she answers—a great summation of the inherent beauty of family … and the foibles of this particular one.
As Katharine Hepburn says in The Lion in Winter, every family has its ups and downs: Each one has its differences, its foibles, its trigger points and tragedies. Brothers & Sisters shows us that you can love your family even when they’re driving you crazy.
But we, unlike Nora’s new beau, can pick and choose the types of families we spend our time with. Given the Walkers’ collective—unrepentant—penchant for premarital sex, infidelity, homosexuality, divorce and scandal, I think my time might be better spent with my own.
“Scandalized”
The world finds out about Kitty and beau Ryan. The story goes viral, and paparazzi camp out on Kitty’s doorstep. The college dean—Kitty’s boss and Ryan’s mom—writes a statement defending the relationship, but she privately plots to break them up. Meanwhile, gay couple Kevin and Scotty continue adoption proceedings and attend an adoption fair—where prospective parents mingle with prospective children. “They must feel like they’re being sold like puppies in a window,” Kevin says before they bond with an older girl named Olivia. “No way, you guys are gay?” Olivia exclaims in mock surprise when she first meets them. “Kidding!”
Justin wears a bloodstained shirt after a paramedic run. “It’s better than vomit, though, right?” his girlfriend asks, to which Justin says there’s a little of that on the shirt, too. We see him stab a long needle into someone’s chest.
We also see some passionate kissing, and Scotty pecks Kevin on the top of his head. A steamy (but truncated) make-out session makes it onscreen, and it’s insinuated that several unmarried couples sleep together. Characters drink wine and beer. They say “d‑‑n,” “h‑‑‑,” “a‑‑” and misuse God’s name several times.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Violence, profanity and explicit content reign king in this mob-like series that’s crafted to show the worst of society.
Petty rivalries and sexual dalliances might make for good drama, but they don’t make much for wholesome viewing.
Fantasmas, like the crayon Julio hopes to make, has no clear message—but plenty of clear issues.
