The increasingly complicated lives of the Walker family in Brothers and Sisters receives a few tragic twists, a douse of new hope, and a whole lot of unnecessary drama in its fourth season, resulting in a solid 18 hours of entertainment that will at the very least satisfy returning fans and be easy to stomach for newcomers. The show has never had to work too hard to be accessible as it allows itself to cover so much ground by including every conceivable family member archetype in its ever-growing cast which expands to include a new family member (or two) whenever they realized there’s fertile ground for another person to have been loved/hated/empowered/slighted by the patriarch who started this whole affair three seasons back. The obvious consequence of this is that when a story for which a new character was introduced finally comes to an end, the character is left sitting around twiddling their thumbs unless the writers can concoct a new story that ties in closely enough with the Walker family while never being boring or redundant. If they can’t do this, they’re written off to the sidelines and make short multi-episodic guest spots to remind us that you can never really get rid of family; no matter how hard you try.
The three big stories of the fourth season involve Kitty’s diagnosis of cancer, the long road to parenthood for Kevin Walker and his husband Scotty, and the economic troubles of Ojai Food Co. in light of a vindictive competitor and a small amount of sabotage. The first two plotlines present the greatest amount of emotional heft levied by Brothers and Sisters’ fourth season. Cancer is a sensitive topic for many people at this point and so pitting a character, especially one as prominent as Kitty, against the disease is a great way to address the stressors it creates within a family. Matriarch Nora Walker (Sally Field) seems to take it the hardest of anyone become a nigh useless emotional wreck for the season’s duration. Conversely, the rest of the family seems to rally and increase that toasty, warm fuzzy feeling the show works so hard to create with its episode-ending pillow fights and musical montages of the family in utter bliss.
Meanwhile, Kevin and Scotty waver between choices of the proxy to birth their baby after spending [read: wasting] lots of time going back in forth in a petty squabble over things like control issues to drag out “Gay men having a child” story that does a bit to make Brothers and Sisters contemporarily relevant. Finally, you get to Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig), William Walker’s mistress of 20 years who has since taken control of the family business (through a good-natured merger) and whose daughter Rebecca (Emily VanCamp), who has been confirmed as not being William Walker’s, is now engaged to Nora’s son Justin (Dave Annable). You get all that? While that last part gets more than its fair share of screen time, it’s entirely forgettable in the context of things and proves to be no more than a tertiary method for tying in the dour financial state of Ojai Foods after a risky gamble pays off and then goes awry thanks to the vengeful and ridiculously misguided ire of a double agent in the company’s midst.
For fans, these happenings might seem a bit tired by now. After all when a show says “Here’s your husband’s mistress and their lovechild! NOT! Oh, wait, here he is…” in its third season, you feel like all the drama of the first two seasons was a bit illegitimate. Maybe even a waste of time. Although, maybe the events of the first three seasons was enough to endear these characters that you’ll tolerate a season of two good plotlines couched in plenty of overwrought filler. Newcomers will find it all palatable, because as said before, there’s far too much in the family-friendly scope served up with each episode not to satisfy the basest sense of entertainment some looks to fill when turning on their TV set.
DVD Bonus Features
Beyond a featurette showcasing the cast’s familial chemistry on and off the set, the fourth season has little more to offer than a decent blooper reel, worthless deleted scenes, and the ever-helpful pre-season summary reminding you of everything that’s led up to the fourth season.
"Brothers and Sisters: The Complete Fourth Season" is on sale August 31, 2010 and is not rated. Drama. Directed by Ken Olin, Michael Schultz, Michael Morris. Written by Jon Robin Baitz, David Marshall Grant, Molly Newman. Starring Balthazar Getty, Calista Flockhart, Dave Annable, Emily VanCamp, Patricia Wettig, Rachel Griffiths, Rob Lowe, Ron Rifkin, Sally Field.
