Adapted from tv.com



I felt bad for Sarah's daughter having diabetes at such a young age.

Holly + Saul = weird matching

I liked how Nora "forgot" to invite Kitty to the family portrait day a few years back. Yay for continutity.

I think Kitty was completely in the right to be pissed at the whole family portrait situation. Granted, she was estranged from her famly at the time, but I think that once she moved back into the house, Nora really should have thought to take it down.

I loved the recap and it reminded me of why Nora really rubbed me the wrong way at the beginning of the show. And also how awkward the writing could be at that point.

"Family Portrait" is definitely flawed, but I loved many scenes. The kitchen scene at the beginning (the girls good-naturedly ribbing Kevin), Sarah/Kitty bonding, the chapel scene, and the Nora/Kevin argument was really nuanced and interesting.

Plus, I admit I'm a sucker for good sappy endings, and the scene of the family taking a new portrait never fails to make me smile.

Oh, I agree that this episode was enjoyable. I loved everything with Kevin in it, even though I agree with the recap that you'd think Tommy would have been hit up for golf. I even loved that Matthew Rhys's accent slipped in the confrontation in the kitchen with Nora.

The problem was that it kind of defined Nora as a really insensitive, passive-aggressive manipulator. And I now think that we were suppose to sort of feel sorry for Nora and see that she wasn't actually trying to hurt Kitty or control Kevin. But they had already established the last episode that Nora was very intelligent and aware of things that others in the family wanted to withhold from her to spare her feelings. It looked like she was turning that around to her advantage with Kevin.
Now that they have established Nora as not so cunning and scheming it just looks kind of sloppy.

Even when the episode first aired, I never thought Nora was trying to use the recent revelations (i.e., Holly and her family's attempts to spare her from the discovery) to her advantage with Kevin. Rather, I saw this as a relationship dynamic that had long predated William's death and its aftermath. Sure, Nora was passive-aggressive--a trait we still see in her, even in the finale--but scheming? Didn't see it. She was simply accustomed to relying on her son because they were so close, but she had lost sight of being sensitive to Kevin's needs too.

She seemed to get the message after this episode. I love the moment in Date Night where she tells David, "My son and I are no longer seeing each other socially." Hee.

The recap is charming; by the sounds of it, the episode was far less so. I still haven't seen this one, and now Tommy's pissiness with Justin seems a little bit less out of left field - but only a little. I think I can agree, even without having seen "Family Portrait", that Tommy does wear big clunky Drama Queen boots with Justin a lot of the time.

This bit, though, I just loved:

Heh. It's a recapper throwdown! I agree about the non-starterness of this whole bit of business. Also: Ew.

I think that Brothers And Sisters was still finding its rhythm with this episode—there were some flaws—but I still liked it. There was one thing that I couldn’t really buy into, and that was how Saul told Nora that he was dating Holly.

The woman had an ongoing affair with her husband for twenty years and you’re her brother. That is complete bullshit. “I don’t need your approval”? Whatever. My brother would never do something like that to me. If he did, I’d seriously reconsider having him in my life.

I put the word scheming more so for Kitty's situation. It was really a reaction I had to the new side of insensitivity they displayed in Nora. When I watched the episode the first time I remember thinking that Nora was to intelligent to not realize maybe when she had just started having a relationship with her daughter again it wasn't a good idea to bring out the picture. I was wondering if that was some subconscience come back at Kitty.

I really didn't understand Sauls defense of Holly - it wasn't just that he defended her but how he did it. He was so judgemental and preachy and downright insensitive to Nora's feelings (and she's his damn sister for heaven's sake!). This episode really damaged the character of Saul in my eyes and while I have gradually warmed up to him over the season I still can't entirely like him.

This was one of the first episodes where I really liked Kitty; loved her trying to interact with her neice and nephew - she was adorable.

In theory I agree with Tommy trying to shock Justin into getting some help but like a few of you have mentioned, in practice (or on screen I guess) it just didn't come off that way. Strangely I found myself sympathising with Justin and I'm sure that wasn't the writers intent (and when my mum watched it she adamantly hated Tommy for being so mean to poor Justin which I found a hilarious reaction given her usual abhorrance for anything drug-related!).

This was co-written by SFU's Craig Wright. The man certainly knows his way around dialogue.

Kevin/Scotty - Scotty was playing mind games this week, I got the feeling Randy wasn't an actual boyfriend. Hardly mature but Kevin got sympathy this week for the way Sarah, Kitty and Nora forced him to go on that bloody golf tournament. I liked the spitting comment as well. Perhaps Kevin has a kinky side to him?

Nora/Saul/Holly - So Nora isn't thrilled that Saul and Holly are an item? Can't say I blame her all that much to be honest. I kinda hated her for the way she was with Kitty and Kevin this week. WTF was up with putting up that picture and then asking the person you've deeply affronted if you are insensitive? At least she had a new one taken at the end.

Justin/Tyler - As much as I like Justin, everytime he spirals I feel like hitting him over the head to a degree. Tyler's got a lost of faith in a person she hasn't seen since high school, perhaps the writers are setting up a romance between her and Justin.

Tommy/Julia - For crying out loud, can poor Julia please have some dialogue? Anything would do at this rate. Tommy wins points for not babying Justin. He realises that indulging his brother everytime he self-destructs doesn't help so he gets respect for that.

Kitty/Warren/Jonathan - Warren is pretty determined to nail Kitty and the study buddy thing wasn't the most smoothest of moves. I like that Kitty isn't giving into him so easily but I thought we were rid of Jonathan and now he's phoning. Even if he didn't want to get back with Kitty I still find him a bore.

Sarah/Joe - Okay, that is it. Sarah needs to realise when people express a concern for your child, they are not trying to challenge or question your mothering skills. Kitty made a wrong move talking to Joe about her but even with that Sarah overreacted a bit.