01x02 - An Act of Will

[bunniefuu]

Previously on
Brothers and Sisters:

To Kitty. With you home,
the circle is complete.

I was afraid of the things
I didn't want to say.

Let's just say it.
That I sent Justin to w*r.

I put him on the front lines.
Ridiculous.

He trusted you. He asked you.

So, Dad, right? I'm at the office
the other day and I saw something.

Her name's Holly Harper.
They've been friends for years.

What if I can
really make a difference?

By being an : smartass on TV?

Dad, something's not right.
With the company.

- Where did the money go, Saul?
- You think I have it?

No, Saul. We need to have
something that makes sense.

Pension funds.

- Grandpa?
- Get your grandmother, now!

Dad, what've you done?

There's just no escaping him
in this house.

No, there never was.

You know, I lived in New York
for so long. I barely saw him.

I shouldn't be missing him this much.

Of course you should.
It's only been three weeks.

Three weeks. God.

- Are you sure you wanna stay here?
- Yeah. Yeah, I have to.

Mom needs me.

Oh, my God, I have so much stuff.

I'm starting to wonder what
Jonathan got in the breakup.

We are not broken up, Kevin.

This is just us giving each other
a little space.

He wants me to be here,
and he wants me to do the show.

Sure he does.
So when does the show start, anyway?

Tomorrow. We're discussing
ballot tampering in the swing states.

You better watch it.

Wow! Who said politics isn't sexy?

OK, I'm off to work.

Mommy, where's my grass skirt?

Oh, my God.

You said that you would get it.

Mom, we're doing the states
for school. I'm Hawaii.

What if we make one out of paper?

I can't be Hawaii without a grass skirt.
You guys promised I could have one.

A real one.

You said you'd go to the party store.
We talked about this.

I got lessons all day.

I will, I will. I'll go today.
See? I won't forget.

I thought the point of giving up the big
corporate job for the family business

was, you know...

So did I.

- Hey, Josh.
- Oh, hi, Mrs. Whedon.

Aloha.

So any plans for the afternoon?

You know, it is so funny.

The minute the funeral was over,

every single conversation
over the past three weeks

has contained some variation of,

"Are you keeping busy? Are you filling
your days? Are you moving on?"

- So are you?
- Yes! Yes.

Sometimes.

And then sometimes
it gets very, very quiet.

But Kitty's moving in.
That's great.

I have this idea.
I think you should move in too.

And then the house
would be really, really alive.

- I'm kidding. I am kidding you.
- Oh, God, don't do that.

Wow! You're on...
You're actually early.

Your reward is to help me
carry boxes up stairs.

- Hey, Mama.
- Hi.

Mom, where's Dad's address book?

I wanna write Manny at Musso's
to say thanks for hiring me.

That's so sweet.

Look in his Rolodex,
which is on the desk in his office.

OK, great. Thanks.

You wanna help me with the boxes?
No? Later? OK. I'm fine.

You know, I think he's turning over
a new leaf. I really do.

I think he's doing
so much better than he...

Look at her reading habits.

Who knew there were so many
biographies on Ronald Reagan?

You know, this is such a bad idea.

She should be in a little house five
miles away with guards between you.

Just stop. I had to let her stay here.
Dad's gone, Jonathan's back in New York.

She needs me.

What time is everybody getting here?

I don't know why you made
a big deal out of the will.

You could've e-mailed everybody.

That's the way it's done. OK?
It's the way Dad wanted it, so...

God, what does she have in here?
The original Federalist Papers?

Probably.

I'm, uh, Justin Walker.

I know who you are.

I saw you at my dad's office
the day before he d*ed.

We were doing business.

I saw you again at the funeral.

We were friends.

I don't think so.

See, I remember you
from a long time ago.

Yes. You do.

How long have you two, uh?

Long enough.

Who else knows
about you and my father?

Saul.

Anyone else?

No.

I'm so sorry.

Before I show this to you,

let's remember we're family
and we all want the same thing,

to get back to something good.

Here.

What is this?

You wanted proof that I don't bear all
the responsibility of what happened.

If you look here, you'll see your dad
sold a million dollars of his stock

in the company to the pension fund.

Right. I see that. So?

He made the pension fund
pay him $ million for it.

He inflated the value of the stock.

And now the company
is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Why would he do something like this?

Doesn't make sense.
We have to find out...

First we have to go to the authorities.

Sarah, you can't do that.
Don't you think I would have done it?

I want you to think about your mother.
How would she respond to this?

No, we can't tell anyone
in the family about this. Anyone.

What is it that you're
suggesting we do, Saul?

I'm suggesting we do what families do.
We stick together.

We rebuild. We go back to where we were.

We repay the debt together...
and move on.

Together, as a family.

As a family of criminals?
No. No, I won't.

I won't do that.

OK. OK. Well, we have to go
to your mother's.

Yeah.

Let's see what else the man left us.

- Hey.
- Hey.

- Hey.
- Look at you.

The family lawyer.

- You've got your bad-news face on.
- No, I don't.

This is like when Dad had you sent in
to tell me Bingo had been hit by a car.

- Bingo. He loved to chase things.
- This is not like Bingo.

Let's hope not.

- This isn't gonna be like Bingo, is it?
- Don't ask me that.

Last piece of company business
to be addressed is

the line of succession at Ojai Foods.

- Justin.
- Sorry.

Saul stays on as
chief financial officer.

As it should be.

Tommy continues
as vice president of operations,

and Sarah is to be
president of the company.

All personal assets obviously...

Dad's wishes, guys, OK?

All personal assets obviously go to Mom,
and if and when Mom dies...

Thank you for the "if," Kevin.
That was sweet.

You got it. The entire trust is
then passed on equally to all of us...

...with one notable exception,
and, um...

...I apologize for having to be
the one to say this to you.

What?

Dad set it up so, after Mom's gone,

your share of the inheritance
will be kept in a conservatorship.

Which is what? Like a museum?

No, you'll get
an allowance, and...

- And Kitty will be the...
- What? The babysitter?

Conservator.

He knew how close you two are,
so he figured...

What? That I was too messed up
to handle my own finances?

- That's it, right? I'm an idiot.
- No.

- When you're high like now, yeah.
- Go to hell, Tom.

Why don't you go to hell, Stonehenge?

You know, Justin,
we'll work something out.

You know what? It's OK. It's fine,
right? I mean, this is what...

This is what Dad wants. It's perfect.

Why didn't you tell me this before?

Because I'm acting as a lawyer now,
not as a son. I'm sorry.

Justin, don't go.

I gotta go to work.
That's what I deserve, right?

I'm not as good as the rest of you.
You're all such saints.

I don't want his money anyway.
Thanks for the heads-up, man.

Bingo.

I was just the receptionist,
but even I could see it was fraud.

And how exactly did you find out
there was fraud taking place

at Mangopian Insurance, Mr. Wandell?

Whenever I was bored,
which was always,

I eavesdropped on the salesmen's calls.

- What did you hear?
- , senior citizens

from Needles, California,
sold fraudulent insurance.

That many?

- Did anyone ever ask you to lie?
- Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. You're gay.

If you could answer the question...
They have lawyers that will shred you.

I'm not gonna be prepped anymore
until you admit you're a gay.

Yeah, yeah, I am "a gay. "

So I mean... whatever.

Could? How did you know?

So you're, like, all in the closet.
In this day and age?

No, actually. I'm not in the closet.
I'm open and proud.

You're not proud.
You're trying to pass.

Wow! Is this your boyfriend?

Ex.

You look much happier when
you were younger and gayer.

I'm having a not great day.
So can we just do this?

Not even the house?

I understand everything.

But he didn't even leave me my house?

- Holly. How could he?
- It's all right.

It's all right. I knew the rules.

Women don't have affairs
to be remembered in the will.

That's why they get married.

But it does mean something,

that you came to see me, to tell me.

That you care.

I do. I do care.

It's what makes
this so difficult, Holly.

This?

Triangulation.

Look, Holly, I love my sister.

And I think that
that makes a friendship...

Between us impossible.

Yeah. I would have to lie to them,
and I've had my fill of lying.

I think you have too.

My sister and my nieces and nephews...
Already Justin has...

I'm all they have now.

I can't subject them
to any more deception.

No. 'Course you can't.

Yeah? Oh, hi, Manny.

I'm sorry,
the damn smoke alarm is going off.

No, no, there's no fire, Manny.

Would I be standing here
talking to you if there were a fire?

Uh, listen.

I do wanna thank you
and everyone at Musso's for...

For hiring Justin.

Yeah, it's times like these that we
really know who our friends are,

that's for sure.
And he seems to be doing so well.

I'm sorry, Manny, you have
to speak up. I can't hear you.

What?

He didn't show up today?

He hasn't shown up all week?

Oh.

Yes. Of course you have to let him go.

I understand. You certainly did try.

Thanks, Manny.

It's one family's w*r. They're making
the whole country pay for it.

Bush Senior never wanted Baghdad.

He just wanted to protect
the Kuwaitis, right? Come on.

If we inherited this w*r,
it was Bill Clinton, who decided...

Who was more proactive
in the Mideast peace process

than this president ever even dreamt of.

Until he decided
that cheap blue dresses

were more alluring than credibility
as leader of the free world.

I am so tired of this
puritanical nonsense.

The man was a human being,
for God sakes.

Hello. Nora Walker,
Kitty's mom. Big fan.

Of mine?

Your take on immigration
is absolutely right.

I'd be ashamed to live
in a country with a wall.

- It makes me sick.
- Thank you.

- Mom.
- What?

What the hell are you doing here?

- He hasn't come to work for three days.
- Where is he now?

He might be home,
but he's not answering.

- We should go over.
- Why "we"? Why me?

Because this is your fault.

How is this my fault?

You told him to go fight
in that stupid w*r.

Oh, Mom, Dad told him
it was the right thing to do.

But, Kitty, you pushed him.

Justin is who he is.

I didn't convince him any more
than you convinced him to raid

your medicine cabinet at age

or to get kicked out of college for
selling shrooms in the back of his car.

He never wanted to be a soldier.

You and your father never understood.
He just wanted your approval.

You were supposed to say no.

"We love you too much
to let you get hurt like this. No. "

Now I don't know where my son is.
I need you to help me find him.

Please. Please.

- OK.
- OK.

- Let's go.
- Let's go.

I'll be in touch.

Great shoes.

Don't ask. What are you guys doing here?

We need to talk.

So we're talking serious embezzlement?
At Ojai Foods?

Yeah.

And Dad was responsible?

Saul claims Dad made a bad investment.

They've been draining
the pension fund to cover it up.

I'm not convinced.

You have to go to the authorities.

We need to find out what Dad was doing.
He must've had a reason.

- Are you not getting it?
- I get it! I just don't agree.

Well, you're president now.
What do you wanna do?

Go to hell.

Tommy. Tommy.
Oh, God.

Sarah, trust your gut. Do you wanna
go down for a crime you inherited?

OK. So if we went to the authorities,
what would it look like?

It's federal. I have a friend
in the U.S. Attorney's office.

We could call him,
but there'd be an investigation.

Bean counters going through trash,
subpoenaing the workers, the family.

And they'd close us down?

We might end up in receivership
or forced into bankruptcy.

Great. Sounds great.

Look, I want you to be prepared.
It would be ugly, OK?

But the government will go easier
if you approach them. That counts.

And what about the employees?
What about their retirement money?

What happens to that?

They'd either get
very little or nothing.

Look, it'll be worse if you wait, Sarah.
You have to come forward.

How am I gonna tell Mom?

U.S. Attorney Dan Sullivan.

Please, please call him. OK?

There's no other way, Sarah. I'm sorry.

OK. Thanks.

I have a key. I have a key
in here somewhere.

We don't need a key, Mom.

Good Lord in heaven.

Oh.

Mom.

- Wake her up.
- You do it.

- You do it!
- You do it!

For God sakes.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Fawn? It's Fawn. Fawn, Fawn, it's OK.

It's OK, hi!
Hi, it's Kitty... and Nora. Jus...

How did you guys get in here?

The front door was unlocked.
Where's Justin, Fawn?

He's at work, right?

He actually hasn't been showing up.
They fired him.

Those bastards.

Do you have any idea
where Justin might be?

Not really. Um...

Zuma or Venice? Pie 'n' Burger?

Are you covering for him?

You can tell us.

I swear, Mrs... Justin.
I don't know where he is.

Oh. All right, my darling,
we believe you.

But I really don't think
this is very healthy.

What's not?

Medicating, sleeping all day,
and you don't look well.

I don't think this situation
is working out for you, is it?

So let's get ourselves up, get dressed,

take your trash and go home.

Mom... It's...

You really don't know where he is?

I thought he was at work.

I'm not a bad girl.

I'm sure you're not.
You just need to get up earlier.

You know, OK...

So, what, the truck just
broke down? Outta nowhere?

Yeah, apparently,
and the fruit is a mess.

- What's wrong?
- I've got it under control.

I'm sure you do, but could I at least
know what it is that you're controlling?

Please?

One of the rigs
broke down in Bakersfield.

- Twenty tons of peaches.
- In degrees.

- So we?
- I said I have it under control.

Go run your errand. You have
the thing to pick up for Paige, right?

Right. Excuse me, guys.
Could I just have a minute?

Of course.

- So is this how it's gonna be?
- You tell me.

- Don't walk away from me again, Tommy.
- What are you gonna do? Fire me?

I'm trying to get a truck
to salvage what we can.

- It's just a title.
- It's more than a title, you know it.

If you ask the guys
who runs this company, they'll say me.

They would've said the same
when Dad was alive.

I know. I know.

I'm just saying...

You wanna be president? Just say it.

Say it. I'll step aside right now.

Can I do my job? Please?

- Sure.
- Thanks.

- Hello?
- Hey. It's Noah.

Remember me?
The guy you used to work with?

Yeah.

I just heard about your father.
I'm sorry.

Yeah. Well, it's a mess.

Would you like to grab some coffee?

That's a spectacularly bad idea.

You're right. I grabbed the wrong file.

I meant to grab the file
of reasonably bad ideas,

but I grabbed
the spectacularly bad ones instead.

It's that kind of day.

Yeah.

Come on. Just one.

This is dumb, hanging out here
waiting for him.

Do you really want to go on a tour of
a video arcade or a two-dollar theater?

He could be hiking in Griffith Park,
for all we know.

I know, I know.

You should've put one of those things
they put on dogs so you can track 'em.

Don't be snippy with me. I'm not on your
damn TV show. God, I hate this day.

Well, I'm not exactly
over the moon about it, either.

I know what Jonathan would do.

He would call some friend in Washington,
and there'd be some really fancy,

expensive detective here,
with Justin, in about four hours.

Well, why don't you call him?

You know, you really can tell me the
problem with him. I swear I won't judge.

Hmm. The problem.

Doesn't feel like you and Dad.

I guess they don't
make 'em like that anymore.

Oh... Look.

Oh, yeah.

We just had too many damn blessings.

Maybe.

Hello? Yeah, Kevin, hi.

Is he all right?
Oh, thank God.

All right. Come pick us up.
We're still at his place.

- Where is he?
- All right, bye. He's, uh, in jail...

...in Oceanside.

He was arrested for
drunk-and-disorderly conduct.

Dad left some serious problems
at the company. Beyond serious.

You think you might
have to shut it down?

Maybe. Probably.

I can't go into details.
I can't even tell Joe.

You know what they said
at business school.

Almost all family businesses fail
in successive generations.

I mean, if Ojai is
already having problems...

Then we should kick it to the curb,
according to our MBA.

- That's the smart play.
- It's not that easy.

Losing Ojai, it'd devastate my family.

Come on.

You have no idea
what families can survive.

Besides, you are not
responsible for everyone, Sarah.

You always took on
everybody else's problems.

You could come back
to Northlight today.

You were on the fast track.

No. That place was eating up my life.

I needed to make time for
Paige and Cooper and... Joe.

Then why do you seem
more stressed out now than ever?

I mean, at least before
you weren't in it alone.

Noah...

Tell me something.
How can you feel so guilty

when nothing happened between us?

Because being in sync with a man
who is not your husband

is almost as painful as
not being in sync with your husband.

Don't you miss
looking forward to something?

You know, picking out your shoes,
your shirt for somebody, every day.

Don't you miss that?

Sarah, is your hand bleeding?

Oh, God. Oh... God! Oh, I suck!

- What?
- Hawaii.

My daughter is Hawaii.
Noah, I'll call. OK?

All right, then.

He needs to go into
a treatment program again.

I agree, even if it's outpatient.

A partner of mine just came
back from Hazelden in Minnesota.

I'm not sending my son to Minnesota.

Very cold there this time of year.

He needs professional help, Mom.

I'm not saying he doesn't need help.

Now is not the time to theorize about
him as if he was some case study.

What needs to happen is
we need to get to this Oceanside place

and get him out of jail
and take him home.

Why didn't you tell me your father
was gonna insult him like that?

What would you have
done if you'd known?

We could have prepared him.
We could have come up with a plan.

You dropped it on him like a b*mb.

No wonder he's done
something to himself.

- Are you serious?
- Yes! Certainly I am.

Do you ever stop and think that some
of this could possibly be your fault?

What? I was too permissive.

No. I'm not talking about
the liberal child-rearing sense, Mom.

You blame everybody but yourself.
You go out of your way.

It's me, it's Kevin, it's Dad.

Well, where were you in the picture?
Do you ever think about that?

I don't see any ocean out there.

This is a terrible place to come to.

Oh, please. Just one minute.
One minute. It's for my little girl.

Thank you so much. You're so kind.
This must happen every night.

Yeah. It's like Sophie's Choice in here.
What do you need?

I need a grass Hawaiian skirt...
for a hula.

There's mariachis,
which would be Mexico.

Coconut cup. Closer.

Ukulele.

That's a good sign.

- Sorry.
- No, don't tell me that.

Don't tell me that.

Look, I'm sorry.
They're weirdly popular.

I can order you one.

Why don't you do that.
That'd be great.

Then they'll get here in,
what, nine weeks?

Which is just in time for my daughter's
recital, which is tomorrow.

It's the minimum basic requirement
that a party store always have Hawaii.

Children have recitals,
and their parents,

their mothers

can't do it all. We rely on our party
store to keep their end of the bargain

so that our husbands and our children

don't despise us when
we come home empty-handed.

I'll buy the leis.

He's really wrecked.

Usually we like to let his kind
dry out for the night in lockup.

It reinforces the point, you know?

Sure. We have driven
all the way from Los Angeles.

There's a motel nearby.
See you in the a. m. Bring coffee.

Right. Thank you. Thanks.

Hi.

I'm Justin's mother,
and this is his big sister, Kitty.

Kitty Walker, of The Right Idea
and Red, White & Blue.

- You're kidding.
- No.

- You're her?
- Yeah.

I am... me, yes.

I love your show.

We're not asking
to be the exception here.

Yes, we are.

No, we're not.

- Yes, yes.
- No, no.

- Yes, we are.
- No, we're not.

- We're not, sir.
- We are.

The girls came to get me.
That's cool. Where's Sarah?

He's sitting in the back with you.

Thanks for bringing the family.
My day wasn't bad enough.

They were worried about you.

Kevin always does the right thing,
except sleep with women.

- Could you shut up for ten seconds?
- If you didn't want help, why ask?

I was in jail. I figured I should
call the family lawyer.

If your father could see this behavior!

He'd judge me?
Tell me to get a job?

He'd be so disappointed!

Who the hell is he to be disappointed?
He's the disappointment!

What does that mean?

Forget it.

Your father loved you more than anything
on Earth, you little spoiled brat!

In this family, love means, "You suck!"

It means, "Nothing
will be good enough!"

You ungrateful child!
You don't care about anyone!

How did you get that way?

You know what losing
your father has done to me,

and yet you take your life and throw it
around like it was worthless! Why?

'Cause I wish I was dead!
Don't you understand that?

I wish I'd d*ed over there, Mom!

Well, you didn't die.

And I'll be damned if I'll stand around
and watch you k*ll yourself!

Enough. Enough, Mom.

- It's enough.
- I lost my boy!

God, you guys are so friggin' serious.

Hey. Sorry.

So late. Any word from Justin?

He got arrested.
Don't ask. He's fine.

You almost missed grilled cheese night.

I've let us all down.
They're out of grass skirts.

- They just sold the last one.
- These'll be great.

Today was one of those days where
everything you decide really, really,

really matters.

You need something,
aside from grilled cheese.

You need someone
to say congratulations.

- What for?
- Your promotion.

How did you know?

Little bird on a wire.

Oh... Hawaii.
How am I gonna tell her?

And you need to see something great.

What?

Mom! Mommy, Mommy, yay!

Hey, little man.

Come on, come on.

- What's going on here?
- No, no, no, no.

Have a seat, my lady.
We are ready.

I got the last one.

She made me teach her this.

# Talk about Hawaii
I didn't know it was so grand

# I picked me out a hula-hula girl
before my boat could land

# Everybody does it in Hawaii

# She's got it here
and she's got it there

# Her lips are red and her feet are bare

# She's shy on clothes, but I don't care

# 'Cause everybody does it in Hawaii

I hate it when you dominate the remote.

I'm curious to see if gay p*rn
has got to Oceanside yet.

You know, I stay in a lot of hotels.
This is research for me.

Here we go. Thirtysomething Inches.
Only $ . . Shall we?

- Oh, come on. Give me that.
- Hey there.

Wait, is that Jonathan?

- It is Jonathan!
- Give it to me!

He won't let me in.
I just want to apologize.

Why don't you stay here
and I'll try and talk to him.

Thanks.

So how do you like this?

What the hell are we watching?

Meerkats.

These meerkats are wearing no clothes.
Give me the clicker, now!

- Fine, but no cooking programs!
- Gimme the clicker!

She was just scared.

Well, I'm pretty frightening.

He hated me, Kitty.

Is that what you think?

I could see it.

Always. The look of somebody
who doesn't expect anything from you.

Until all you do is
disappoint him again and again.

But he disappointed me too.

- He loved you with all of his heart.
- They have to love you. It's their job.

He just didn't know how
to show it to anyone.

Well, he showed you.

And yesterday he showed me
what he thought of me.

And now he's dead, and I...

You know...

...after you enlisted,

he used to call me every day.

You know, just to talk.

And you know what
he used to talk about?

Justin stories.

Great ones.

He told me that
out of all of his children,

you were the only one who made him
remember what being a kid was.

You were the only one
who could do that.

Hmm. He was so proud of you.

I mean, come on...

...at age , you taught him to surf.

He wasn't very good.

Well, because of you, he was
the only -year-old who appreciated...

...Death Cab Curdle... for Cutie.
- Death Cab for Cutie.

Close.

Well, these are the things
he would talk about when he called.

I'd ask him how he was, and...

...these are the things he would say.

You know what's nice about road trips?

This is a road trip?

They have these coffee shops
that serve breakfast all night.

You want?

I want breakfast. All night.

You wanted to know
when the truck came in?

How's it look?

I had this little premonition somehow
they'd survive the journey. They didn't.

Gladys, call the insurance.

Hey, thanks for telling Joe.

- What are you talking about?
- He bought me champagne last night.

Champagne was his idea.

The back half is perfect.

We got, like,
ten tons of good fruit back there.

Thanks.

I guess some things
can be saved and some can't.

Tell me, Tommy. I need to know.
What would you do?

I didn't go to business school.
All I got is my gut.

Well, right now I trust your gut
more than my MBA.

Mm-hmm?

Sarah, what is it?

Saul, I love what our family's built
here, and I wanna keep it alive.

Not just for us, but for all the people
who work here and trusted this family,

who trusted this company.

I have the number here
of a U.S. Attorney. I'll do it your way.

Six months. But at the end of six
months, if we haven't found our way out,

I will call him.

OK.

I forgot. The Pacific.

No other ocean has so many colors.

Look. You can see
where the blues change.

Black for you, white for you,
black and white for you.

One's fine.

Which route shall we take back?
The pretty or the fast?

- Fast.
- Mm-hmm.

The pretty.