My Review of Brothers And Sisters 4x16: "Leap Of Faith"

Written by Matt Donnelly And Mark Holsey
Directed by Michael Morris

Rebecca (to Justin, re ballet): “I used to be good at this. This used to be easy. Now I can barely stay on my feet.”

Okay, as lines go, it’s hardly the most provocative thing that Rebecca could have said to give us an insight into her current state of mind but it yielded the desired affect. Rebecca isn’t coping with losing the baby and can’t bring herself to talk to anyone about it, especially Justin.

There’s a recurring theme for anyone who isn’t a Walker to suddenly become critical of the Walker way of talking about things at inappropriate times when they’re heavily stressed. Rebecca used it in this episode when she told Justin that it wasn’t healthy to talk about her feelings all the time.

Then again, Rebecca wasn’t doing herself much favours by bottling things up. Justin wasn’t going to let it go because he cared too much about her emotional state and when he did show signs of backing off, it was just so he could watch her struggle to dance from afar and be there when she finally unloaded.

Ballet scenes aren’t exactly something I have a big craving to see. I don’t hate it but I’m not overly enamoured with them either but it served as a reasonably good analogy for the way Rebecca views her body. She struggled with the seemingly simple ballet moves and told Justin that she felt broken.

Even when Justin offered advice on not giving up and trying again, Rebecca seemed unconvinced by what he was saying to her. I think the worst thing for the both of them to do would be to try and rush to get pregnant again. Rebecca should give it some time; she’s barely in her twenties and has plenty of time to become a parent as does Justin.

As plots go, this is still one of the strongest ones that Justin and Rebecca have actually had as a couple. I can’t even groan at them arguing because this time around, there’s sound reason behind it as opposed to them behaving like petulant kids. Though I do hope she ends up talking to David, seeing as he returned and is clearly interested in Rebecca’s well being as Justin is.

Speaking of emotional well being, if there’s something that guaranteed to rub the audience up the wrong way, it’s having a strong emotion forced on you. Luc’s barely back for a week and this episode had to go into overdrive with moments where we’re supposed to believe that he and Sarah are made for each other.

If it’s not Luc wittering on about fate, it’s the Walkers bending over backwards to take him out to everywhere and anywhere in the space of an afternoon. It’s not like I want the Walkers to detest the bloke but as a viewer, I don’t want to be told on a repeated basis how brilliant Luc is supposed to be. I want to see it for myself.

What I got here was nothing that told me for myself that Luc was brilliant. I got to see the same evasive Luc from earlier in the season. Sarah had to practically pull it out of him that he had four weeks until deportation. And then I got to see the desperate to stay in the country side of Luc.

Despite some Walkers unwisely telling Sarah to green card marry Luc, I was thrilled that she put her foot down but I knew that the idea wasn’t going to die with her. Nope, Luc’s nice art friend, Ginny was happy to marry Luc and you could just see Sarah barely struggling to accept the idea.

In fact thanks to Nora and Kitty, Sarah let her jealousy get the better of her and managed to stop Luc from marrying Ginny. This was a good thing but only for two reasons and them being that a) Ginny thankfully did not have any romantic desires for Luc and b) Sarah did not marry him instead.

Never mind the fact that it would’ve career suicide for Kitty’s campaign, Sarah’s refusal to marry Luc stemmed from something known as common sense. So, while the writers are still insisting that Luc is the one for her, at least they’re not reducing Sarah’s intelligence as a result. Though I am curious as to how Luc is going to not get deported given that we know Gilles Marini is sticking around.

Another thing that is wonderfully curious and curiouser is Dennis York. What the hell did he do to Nora because she most definitely knows more than she’s letting on about him? When both Holly and Saul tried to get some answers, Nora was surprisingly evasive with the pair of them. And, also what’s up with this Narrow Lake place that William bought? Are we gonna find even more Walker treasure there because I assume that’s what Dennis is actually after.

And then there was Nora’s desire not to have Saul tell the kids about it as well. It’s amazing that within the last three episodes, this plot has gotten more and more interesting. I really do hope that the pay off is a satisfying one because York hasn’t shown up in this episode either.

As for Buffy, well there was only so much of her wackiness that Kitty could tolerate but seemingly not enough of it because Buffy got the sack in this episode. Technically I should be delighted – the character was annoying, constantly undermined Kitty, came out with one of the lamest bits of dialogue in regards to Kevin and Robert but yet, I felt a little bad to see her go.

Maybe with Buffy being fired, Kevin could go to work for Kitty. Then again, unlikely as he decided to get out of the politics game by handing in his notice to Robert. Now while I enjoyed Robert’s little toast to Kevin near the end of this episode, I have to admit that I also thought this episode forced the Kevin/Robert friendship a little bit too much to be honest.

On the plus side, Kevin is finally free of politics and if we’re lucky goes back to being a kick-ass lawyer in a firm that hopefully will not tell him to hide his sexuality. Also with a baby on the way, I don’t think he can afford to be out of work for too long also, especially given that Scotty also seems to have work woes of his own.

Also in “Leap Of Faith”

Even though I suspected that it was true, I found myself feeling sorry for Roy when Sarah referred to him as a rebound.

Luc: “Nothing is certain in this world, Sarah. All we have is fate.”
Sarah: “You know I’m an agnostic?”

Five episodes in and yet again, no Ryan. I think at this point, even the production team have literally forgotten who he is.

Buffy (to photographers, re Kitty): “Alright boys, don’t be shy. Who wants a shot of Annie Oakley here?”

Nora: “I’m not convinced. Dennis wanted Ojai. I think he would’ve practically said anything to get it.”
Holly: “How well did you know him?”

Holly told Nora about Dennis’s offer to make her a partner in Ojai and Nora didn’t seem to react a bit to it.

Robert: “Shut the door.”
Kevin: “Should we go down the bat cave?”

Kevin: “Are you crying?”
Buffy: “You guys love each other. Don’t you get it?”
Kevin: “Will you pull yourself together, it’s embarrassing?”

Does anyone remember what episode Rebecca mentioned ever dancing in? I know she was in some girl rocker band back in the first season but I can’t remember her mentioning dancing.

Kevin: “You’re not mad?”
Scotty: “Of course not, I’m proud of you. You did a brave thing.”
Kevin: “I don’t feel brave. I practically ran out of there.”

Nora: “Doesn’t this move you at all?”
Security Guard: “Ma’am, I watch Oprah, nothing surprises me.”

Standout music: Colin Hoy’s “Waiting For My Real Life To Begin”.

Robert (to Kevin): “As in politics as in life, there are no endings, only new beginnings. Here’s to the start of something new.”

Chronology: March/April 2010?

“Leap Of Faith” is definitely a highly enjoyable episode, certainly filled with both touching and mysterious moments but the writers did go overboard with Kevin/Robert and Sarah/Luc for my liking though.

Rating: 8 out of 10.