September 24, 2006: Patriarchy
Even with William's death and Kitty's tentative reconciliation with her mother in tonight's premiere of http:/
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Brothers & Sisters, the first thing my mind went to when the show was over was Kitty and her mom's cringe-worthy fake hug for William's benefit. It just seemed so sad to actually clarify that the hug was for show and didn't mean anything - and that was far from the only illusion in the Walker household. Mom and Dad might not actually have been the perfect couple their kids always thought they were, and patriarch William in particular seemed to have a lot to hide. Did he cheat on his wife? Or did that woman he seemed to be secretively talking to have something to do with the family business' obvious problems?
Speaking of the family business, Sarah sure doesn't seem happy about her decision to become a part of it. Although her marital problems didn't seem like much of a secret, I'm guessing that her feelings for her former coworker are probably complicating things in a way that no one realizes. I wonder if whatever she feels for him complicated an already existing problem with her husband, or if her feelings for him were actually the start of the problem.
And what about Ally... oops, I mean Kitty. It's hard not to think of Calista Flockhart that way. I was a little confused by her not talking to her mom for three years. The family seems so close, at least in terms of the amount of time they spend together, if not in the things they actually know about each other. But I guess it goes without saying that families are pretty complicated, so maybe we are supposed to assume that any attempts the brothers and sisters made at reconciling the two had failed. I did think Kitty seemed a little like the fifth wheel when the siblings were all together, but maybe that had as much to do with her living across the country in New York as it did with her politics.
Another thing that struck me was the skinny comments (i.e., Kitty telling Justin he was too thin), which I suppose was the show's way of acknowledging or maybe even poking fun at all the attention Calista's weight got during the http:/
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Ally McBeal years. But she's still very thin, so I'm not exactly sure what point they were trying to make.
