Brothers & Sisters - Last Tango in Pasadena - Recap

(Here's Desi's recap of tonight's episode of Brothers & Sisters: "Last Tango in Pasadena")

I wish that the whole of my Brothers & Sisters recap this week could be comprised solely of OH MY GOD GILLES MARINI DANCING GILLES MARINI IN A SWIMSUIT GILLES MARINI DANCING WITH DAVE ANNABLE OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GODDDDD, but that's not informational for anyone, so I'll refrain. But seriously: Gilles Marini. You, sir.

Sarah starts the week with a phone call from Joe while Luc is in her bed, having apparently forgotten when she was getting the kids back. I'm glad they made an appearance because I wasn't sure that they had agents strong enough to argue their way into the series credits without an actual appearance, like Balthazar Getty has managed, but Paige and Cooper have been off in Europe with their dad and his new wife. Sarah and Luc have to jump out of bed and assemble enough clothes to look like real adults and he gets shuffled out the back door as the kids come in the front.

Holly and Rebecca are still in wedding mode, booking hotel rooms and picking photographers. I've become very sympathetic toward Holly lately, maybe because she's acting like a real mother now. She waves Ryan off (which the writers should do as well) when he comes in with a message, but the caller later appears in her office: apparently the fund that Holly invested all of her money in was a hoax. (I find it very hard to believe that, even at her stupidest, she'd invest in only Ojai, her house, and one fund.) She might not be able to give Rebecca her dream Hawaiian wedding after all.

Kitty is continuing her cancer journey-- this week, doing a guided meditation. Robert reads from the book to find that what she's envisioning is fireworks blowing up her red blood cells and falling over her body like some kind of calming aura. There really are books like this. They are strange.

I'm a little confused as to why Scotty would be interested in investing in a handbag line, but more power to him. Kevin explains to Michelle, the handbag lady, that they're looking into surrogacy and their money needs to be tied up in that. She takes this as an offer for her to be their surrogate. I don't feel good about this, but what do I know.

Sarah brings Luc over to meet Nora so he can stay there while Sarah has the kids and kind of ambushes Nora. She's hesitant, but he comes in to meet Kitty and Nora, and they agree. He sees her attempting to teach Justin how to dance for his wedding, and my brain stopped thinking. My face for the whole Luc/Justin dancing scene was essentially what Kevin's was when he walked in. I'm not sure if it was cross-promotion for Dancing With the Stars, or a subtle nod to Marini's previous ABC gig, but he flung Justin around that living room.

Kitty rounds up the whole family for a pool day, and five of them beach themselves on deck chairs: Scotty, Kitty, Rebecca, Justin and Kevin watching Luc swim laps. (Well, four watch, Justin buries himself under a towel.) Nora comes out to scold them for staring and attempts to push tuna on Kitty, always forcing food on her, and Uncle Saul arrives. I would have loved for him to sprawl out on a chair next to Scotty and join the viewing party, but instead Luc decides he's had enough and gets out of the pool. For those familiar with Marini's body of work, this scene was hotter than that blockbuster movie from last year. Time stopped as he got out of that pool and the whole Walker clan inspected him, head to toe, until he takes the towel from Justin's face and covers himself.

While Holly is still lamenting her lost fortune, David comes home. She asks if he'd like to be the wedding photographer and he responds that as father of the bride, he'll be busy doing things like walking Rebecca down the aisle. Holly suggest he'd maybe like to pay for parts of the wedding, since he is father of the bride, and he gets irritated that she is only bringing it up then. She explains her predicament later and he says he'd like to help out.

Robert had suggested to Kitty that they have a night out at the Reagan Library, and instead surprises her with a rooftop dinner. As part of his grand gesture, he's orchestrated fireworks to go off after they've eaten as a nod to her guided meditation. Anytime she is sick of those gestures, I'll gladly take over.

While they have dinner, the other Walkers have another dance party. ("They've already had two parties, a dancing party and a pool party," Nora says.) Justin is still a bad dancer, but he and Rebecca demonstrate what Luc taught them. Saul and Rebecca want to dance the tango next, but Luc steps in, saying it's a very difficult dance, and he takes Rebecca's hand to demonstrate. I'm not sure where Rebecca learned to tango, but I don't really care. If this show was just an hour of them all dancing together, I'd have been happy. (Writers, if you're reading this, my birthday is rapidly approaching.) Scotty and Kevin get up to try next, arguing over who will follow and who will lead, and it devolves into a fight about their relationship that ends in Kevin agreeing to Michelle being their surrogate.

After babysitting Paige and Cooper and having to break the news about Kitty's cancer to them, Nora sits outside and tries to clear her head. I'd really been hating her this episode with her resistance to Luc and obsession with getting him out of the house, but he finds her and they talk about what's been going on in the family. Luc tells her a French saying about dancing, and the two start dancing under the stars. Gilles Marini, never stop dancing.

The show closes with Nora making Huevos Rancheros, and I cannot believe that no one made a RENT reference. They serve Kitty breakfast in bed since Kevin manages to melt a bowl of salsa in the microwave and demonstrate again why anyone who watches the show wants to be a Walker.

Next week brings even more Walker love with Tommy's return from Mexico. I can't wait to see what he has to say for himself, but I hope he brings Julia back with him.