May 6, 2007: Grapes of Wrath
The wine tasting at Tommy and Holly's new vineyard put Tommy at the center of tonight's episode. The "center" of course being a place Tommy isn't normally accustomed to being. He handled everything well, and he definitely came across as the voice of reason among the extended Walker family. Not that that was hard to do, what with the Walker siblings missing the point of the wine tasting and doing a fair amount of wine
drinking. But Tommy's toast was a nice tribute to his dad, managing to be both honest about his father's flaws and respectful of all he taught them. Unfortunately the episode didn't end on a good note for Tommy. Hopefully the twins will be OK.
Holly, on the other hand, didn't exactly play the gracious host to the Walker family. In the beginning of the episode I actually felt sort of bad for her, which is unusual because Holly's generally not the sort of character who generates a lot of sympathy. I don't think Nora was really under any obligation to call Holly and say that Rebecca was at the Walker house. Rebecca
is 20, after all. But at the same time you could see Holly worrying about having no idea where her daughter was.
It was hard to be sympathetic to Holly's behavior with Nora's professor, however. Taking a walk in the middle of dinner with clients, and with the date of the widow of the man you had a decades-long affair with? I'm guessing anyone with an ounce of sense would think that was a bad idea. When Nora's professor started reciting lyrics to Holly as they were walking he definitely came off a bit sleazy. I guess Nora was right and she should have trusted her first instincts about this guy. It was hard not to compare Holly's kiss with Nora's date to Rebecca's kiss with Sarah's husband. Interesting to note that in this case it was Holly who suggested they just keep walking after the kiss, effectively ending her moment with the professor.
Two people we didn't see enough of tonight were Kitty and Rebecca. When we first heard that the senator was (finally) going to be visiting D.C., it seemed like a good chance for some scenes of Kitty interacting with her brothers and sisters. I was disappointed when she passed out early, although the scene when Kevin realized she had taken his pain pills was a pretty classic Walker-family moment. As for Rebecca, after all that happened last week I thought she might play more of a role in tonight's episode. In her brief scene with Sarah it was hard to tell what she was actually thinking. We know Rebecca wasn't truthful about how things played out with Joe, so was she really being truthful when she told Sarah she felt bad about what happened?
Finally, the food fight. A little junior-high maybe, but it was definitely time that Nora and Holly had it out. They were getting so angry at each other in the kitchen that throwing a cake almost seemed welcome, as a way to diffuse the tension. Holly may be more business-savvy than Nora, but Nora could definitely teach Holly a thing or two about relationships. And Nora got the chance tonight, as she encouraged Holly to let go of William, even though she knew it wasn't what Holly wanted to hear. As for what Nora didn't want to hear, it seemed a little foreboding that Holly warned Nora that it was a bad idea to have Rebecca living at the Walker house. I can't wait to see how things play out with Rebecca in the season's final two episodes. Will Holly's prediction come true?
