My Review of Brothers And Sisters 5x19: "Wouldn't It Be Nice?"

Written by Michael J. Cinquemani And Michael Halsey
Directed by Ken Olin

Brody: “I couldn’t get your mother out of my mind.”
Justin: “You managed to for the last forty years.”

This episode might have been named after a cool Beach Boys song but sadly, it would’ve been nice if at least three of the main plotlines this week had been handled far better than they actually were to be honest.

Take Brody for example – I really do love him and Nora as a couple and I was relieved when it appeared that he wasn’t Sarah’s bio-dad after all but this episode had to blow that relief out of the water thanks to Justin’s burning curiosity.

I’m not gonna rant at Justin here – he thought he was doing the right thing when Brody was sweating in the kitchen during game night and I guess when you’re a Walker, it probably makes some kind of sense to investigate people who come into your life but at the same time – god damn it, show – why?

Why did you have to go and make Brody Sarah’s father? Wasn’t the fact that he was an old flame of Nora’s enough of a bloody hook? This storyline bombed back in the second season with Rebecca and David, so why repeat a storyline that previously failed for goodness sake?

Worse still while the scenes with Justin facing off with Brody were suitably dramatic and effective, the show also made sure that his taking off would affect Nora big time. Of course, she’d have to go and fall back in love with him and consider moving away with him as well, just so Brody could go and break her heart like that.

With three episodes, I’m going to presume that Sarah knowing who her father really is will be the fuel of the show’s final run along with her wedding but while I still like Brody as a character, I really wished the show hadn’t gone there, story-wise. Again, it just seems like a bad idea rehashing a plot that previously didn’t work in the show’s favour.

And while I’m on Sarah related storylines – I guess I should see Luc’s bout of childish sulking as reassurance that he’s not all that perfect after all but honestly, it just pissed me off to no end. So, Luc didn’t want Sarah to put her house up for sale – why couldn’t he have just said that at the start of the episode?

It would’ve been far better than watching him act like a spoiled brat when Sarah cleaned up his study and during his bloody art show as well. You know, it’s storylines like that make me understand a lot of people hate Sarah and Luc as a pairing. As a couple, they often lack depth and storylines like the one we had to endure in this episode sort of reinforced that fact.

Of course though, seeing as this is Sarah and Luc, they did eventually hash out their problems and made up but even that failed to move me in any way. Maybe Sarah should’ve consulted Luc about her moving plans but at the same time, Luc came across kind of badly in this episode for me.

Speaking of coming across badly, I’ve never been a massive fan of Michelle but I’ve never seen her as a horrible person. Flaky and vapid at her worst, yes, but not horrible. After this episode, I’m not sure how I should feel about her. I suppose I should reserve judgement until she explains herself properly next week.

In a plot more convoluted than the baby swap storyline in EastEnders, it turns out Michelle didn’t have a miscarriage. Nope, she had a healthy baby boy and when Scotty got up in her business a little too much, she decided to flee LA for New York again with baby in tow and ending this episode on a decent cliff hanger.

Kevin and Scotty’s shocked expressions aside, the one thing that Michelle’s return also addressed was Olivia’s own insecurities about Kevin and Scotty reasons for adopting her. I think both Kevin and Scotty took ages in this episode to reassure Olivia’s fears but I also saw where Olivia was coming from, character wise and it was consistent enough.

However, I can’t help but be disappointed by this storyline. If the writers wanted Kevin and Scotty to have a baby so much, why go about it in such a ridiculous, roundabout way? This season has been too dominated with them trying to be parents and I was hoping for a bit of a breather but with the discovery of a new baby, it’s not looking very likely. Bad move, show.

Also in “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”

It sounds terrible but some of my least favourite episodes this season have opened with Sarah/Luc. It’s almost as if these two are a bad omen, episode wise.

Nora (re Brody): “How do you know he’s in love with me?”
Kevin: “Oh, come on.”
Justin: “Ma, he’s clearly in love with you.”

I liked the return of game night, even if it was just Nora, Brody, Justin and Kevin. At least Olivia and Scotty managed to escape with ice cream.

Scotty (re Michelle): “I wanna help her. She wasn’t just our surrogate, Kevin.”
Kevin: “I don’t think she wants you to help, Scotty. Michelle doesn’t want to go back there now. I know I don’t.”

Brody: “I can’t believe you caught a foul ball.”
Nora: “I can’t believe I ate three hotdogs.”

Scotty had some interesting moments to talk to Kevin about his history with Michelle. I’m going to reserve judgement until the next episode on her actions.

Sarah: “I think he’s really mad at me.”
Kevin: “Well if you’d cleaned my office, I’d kill you.”

Justin: “I think that’s the less crime now, don’t you? Are you Sarah’s father?”
Brody: “It’s possible.”
Justin: “You don’t know?”

Both Brody and William turned out to be Type B. I guess Sarah is Type B as well, right? Also both Kitty and Saul were absent in this one.

Justin (re Nora): “You do realise you’re gonna break her heart?”
Brody: “She has her family, she’ll be okay.”

Chronology: I guess maybe April 2012 and musically, this episode was named after the Beach Boys song “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” and it’s the song used in it too.

I wanted to like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” more than I did because while it had some decent moments in it, the handling of the three main storylines bothered me more than it should’ve and it made me realise that this is probably why it’s been cancelled. Well that and ABC’s diabolical treatment of it as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10