My Review of Brothers And Sisters 5x16: "Home Is Where The Fort is"

Written by Geoffrey Nauffts And Brian Studler
Directed by Bethany Rooney

Kevin: “If the women of this family leave town and we fall apart – game over.”
Luc (re Sarah): “Speak of the devil.”

I did wonder for a second if this episode was going to turn into a ‘men are useless unsupervised’ turn but thankfully, while the male folk struggle at first with the children, they get there in the end without a female influence. It’s equality, right?

Take Luc for instance. He’s been with Sarah for long enough, is well in with her family and has a nice rapport with Paige and Cooper. So, an episode where Luc refused to give Paige 50 dollars because she wouldn’t tell him what she needed him for shouldn’t paint him in a bad light. He was smart to at least ask why a teenager needs that amount of cash.

Of course Paige’s reasons for needing 50 bucks came down to having to a buy a bra, so there was an organic reason for her not to tell Luc what she needed the cash for without turning her into a brat and though there’s a moment where it did look like Sarah was going to undermine Luc’s authority, at least Sarah managed to fill him in on what was really happening and Luc was a gentlemen in not embarrassing.

I’ll admit that I tend to be critical of Luc at times because he’s never presented as a character with flaws – something which is often associated with significant others of the Walkers but I really do like his rapport with Paige and I thought the two of them were really great in this episode, especially when Paige got jilted by a boy she liked.

Luc could’ve sugar coated the woes of heartbreak but he gave her an honest account of it instead and while encouraging Paige to egg Cody’s house might not have been the most responsible of things to do, I’m willing to give him a free pass for it. Also is it me or has Paige become a far more likeable character over the last few episodes this season?

Speaking of likeable, I might not be overly crazy about Kevin and Scotty’s storylines being parenting only but I do like Olivia and I really enjoyed her in this episode. Also, I understood where she was coming from this week too, even if the fort she built in the apartment was a little much.

It makes perfect sense for Olivia to have various hang ups, even if she finally does have full time parents in Kevin and Scotty and I liked that the both of them used their own brand of gentle coaxing to get her to tear the fort down. It was a smart move on their part and it’s stuff like that I can see why Kevin and Scotty really do have the knack of being great parents.

Parenting was something that was the big theme this week as even Kitty was in a tizzy over trying to get a decent birthday party for Evan and apparently store bought stuff didn’t cut the mustard. Like the Walkers need an excuse to swarm around each other but either way, the birthday party Evan did get at the end of the episode was rather nice.

However Kitty did have a better storyline this week that didn’t involve her son’s birthday. Following her mystery absence in the last three episodes, it was nice that we got some solid answers as to what was going on with Kitty. Shame they came after Nora and Sarah came to the wrong conclusions yet again.

Kitty having complications with her bone marrow made some sense I guess and her fears about Evan were thankfully countered by Sarah’s own promise to make sure the child was well looked after but more importantly, I actually loved that little scene where Kitty was telling Nora and Sarah that the cologne bottle was Robert’s and just having that onscreen acknowledge of Kitty’s grief for him was definitely welcomed.

As for Justin, the nightmare storyline – not bad. It made some sense that having Zach around would stir up some less fond memories but what I liked the most was how the episode exited Zach without him turning psycho or Justin being a jerk. Also I have to admit that Justin’s paramedic co-worker Danny is somewhat amusing. It’s nice to see him recur on the show.

Also in “Home Is Where The Fort Is”

Can the show please get rid of Patricia Wettig’s name in the opening credits? Holly’s been gone for the last four episodes now.

Sarah: “We want to know what’s going on here.”
Kitty: “Nothing. Nothing. The only thing that’s going on is I’m trying to get ready for my son’s birthday party, which is a very big deal.”

Shouldn’t Evan be three rather than four? After all, the show time jumped a year, not two.

Justin: “I don’t have PTSD, Zach.”
Zach: “Yeah that’s what I kept telling myself my first couple of nights on the street.”

Sarah (re Kitty): “See, she’s not in the CIA, she’s ruining a marriage.”
Nora: “Very funny.”

Actually, the man Kitty was talking to in the supermarket was a fella named Dale, who goes to the same sign language class as she does.

Kitty: “Why would I be in the CIA?”
Nora: “They’d be lucky to have you.”
Kitty: “I’m not in the CIA.”

Scotty (re Gecko Town): “What do you think we should do – tear it down?”
Kevin (re Olivia): “No, I think we should talk to her. Whatever it is, she needs to tell us but this fort isn’t the answer.”

We learned Olivia was born July 11th 2001 and this episode sadly did not feature Saul/Jonathan but it did briefly feature Lily.

Justin: “I’m trying to save everyone.”
Zach: “Well, do you?”
Justin: “No, that’s why I wake up screaming.”

Kevin (to Olivia): “I hated school. I used to put a thermometer up against the light bulb so I could fake a fever and stay home all day.”
Scotty: “Don’t tell her how to do that.”

Standout music: Drew Holcomb’s “Baby Tomorrow” at the end of the episode.

Kevin: “Are you alright?”
Kitty: “Yeah, we’ll go for a walk later and I’ll tell you everything.”
Kevin: “Okay.”

Chronology: About two weeks since the events of “Brody”.

I liked this one. “Home Is Where The Fort Is” does seem to be continuing a reasonably strong wave of good episodes. All of the storylines were nice and it was certainly nice having Kitty back on the show as well, so no complaints from me.

Rating: 8 out of 10