April 15, 2007: Game Night
Joe kissed Rebecca. When Rebecca first came into the picture I never thought I'd be writing that sentence. I can't believe Joe. It just seems so, well, out of character. Although I guess we don't really know very much about him, to be honest. He's a musician, he stays at home with the kids, he seems frustrated and bored at times, and his marriage to Sarah seems to have its problems. But basically all his on-screen time has involved his shared marital problems with Sarah, or, a few episodes back, his reaction to Paige's diabetes. So I guess we don't actually know much about Joe himself. But kissing his wife's newly discovered half sister definitely doesn't say very much about him as a person. And it seems especially creepy that it happened right after Rebecca told him about her much older ex-boyfriend. Was Joe taking that as a sign that she'd be interested in him as well? I'm not sure how Joe and Sarah's already troubled marriage can be OK after all this, even though as of right now only Justin knows. But this is the Walkers we're talking about, so I'm guessing this secret, like most Walker family secrets, will be brought out into the open before long.
In some lighter news, the return of game night showcased the Walkers at their competitive, bickering-but-loving best. "Keeping up with the Joneses" (as Robert described it) proved to be more difficult than expected, as the Walkers lost the game, yet again, on the last question. I couldn't remember Juliet's last name either, so I totally thought that Rebecca was going to be right, triggering a great family moment. Maybe that would have been too obvious, though. And Rebecca getting the answer wrong did set the scene for a nice moment with Kitty, the Walker who's taking the longest to warm up to Rebecca.
A lot of people, myself included, have been commenting on the fact that Kitty's relationship with Senator McCallister is taking her away from her family. Robert's appearance at game night actually went better than I expected, and not because it went well between him and Kitty, because obviously it didn't. But the scene with Kitty, Kevin and Robert in the kitchen arguing about Kevin's disastrous date with Robert's brother Jason was very Walker-like. Robert's comment that he was going to ignore most of Kitty's "apology" fit in very well with the whole arguing-but-still-liking-each-other thing that the Walkers are known for.
Other highlights:
Susan Sullivan and
Jenna Elfman (Susan played Jenna's mother-in-law on
Dharma & Greg) teaming up again as the mother-and-daughter team of Miranda and Lizzie Jones. (Jenna's pregnant in real life, by the way.)
The Walkers playing charades... some of their guesses were so ridiculous! The shots of them shouting various movie titles at each other, mixed with Rebecca's face watching them, was another good example of how hard it must be to try to fit in with this group.
All of Kevin's guesses: backstabber, shrew, "Die, Kitty, Die"? I guess it's safe to say he's holding a grudge.
