Brothers & Sisters Episode 4.02 Breaking the News

Wine of the Week: 2007 A Cote Red Blend, Santa Barbara County (Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot).Like Saul and Holly, sometimes wineries have a little extra juice. Such was the case with this week's wine, the second label of La Fenêtre in Santa Barbara County. Being a blend (and like the Walker family) this wine is more complex than the sum of its parts with intense blackberry, spicy cinnamon, and smoky notes. A tiny amount of residual sugar coats the palate bringing all the components together seamlessly for Breaking the News...

Kitty tries to tell Robert about her illness as he deals with an issue that could cost him the election. And on the Ojai Foods front, Holly and Saul must find a way to ditch a whole bunch of grapes.

Kitty wants to tell Robert that she may be very sick, but opts to confide in Nora first. They visit the doctor's office together and the news is jarring. Kitty has lymphoma. We can see by the look on Kitty's face that she is overwhelmed. Frankly, we are, too. The doctor assures her that this is a highly-treatable and potentially curable form of the disease. But they do need to see if it has spread.

The reason Kitty didn't tell Robert about her condition initially is because he's preoccupied with the news that his opponent, the governor, knows about his heart attack. If the voters think Robert misled them, it could derail his entire campaign. Robert and Kevin have pictures of the gov on a Mexican vacation with someone other than her husband. The two candidates look to avoid mutually assured destruction by agreeing to keep their private lives private. If that's the case, we're wondering why the line "McCallister Hides Heart Attack" is suddenly posted onscreen during a TV news report.

Robert doesn't believe the governor had anything to do with the leak. He thinks it was her slimy right-hand man, Travis. Robert wants to take the high road and let the heart attack news play itself out without mentioning his opponent's affair. Kevin feels differently and leaks the scandalous information behind Robert's back.

With Sarah in France touring high-end vineyards, Holly and Saul are left to deal with a slump in business and a glut of grapes. Saul has Ryan looking into other venture streams. With Justin busy studying, Rebecca stops by looking to get more involved in the family business. Holly suggests that she also look into options as to how to improve business. Nothing like a little friendly, family competition, right?

Ryan and Rebecca present different concepts on how to deal with the excess of grapes. Ryan wants to sell to a larger producer, allowing them to break even. Rebecca wants to ferment the excess in order to sell inexpensive wine under a different label. She gets the green light to explore this option. Ryan later turns over a copy of the company's financials to a man who says he knew William Walker. Ryan also tells the stranger about the new plan to sell cheaper wine under another label. So�what just happened here?

Scotty confides in Nora that the real reason he's reluctant to have a baby is because Kevin works so much. Nora tells him that he has to tell her son how he feels. Scotty does just that and wants Kevin to promise him that if things get crazy he'll quit his job. Kevin can't do that, but he will promise to do his best for Scotty and their child. That seems to be good enough for both of them, and us.

Robert reads the riot act to Kevin for leaking the news of the governor's affair. They are in the middle of a heated discussion when Kitty shuffles her brother out the door and blurts to Robert that she has cancer. Robert looks like he's been punched in the gut. He tries to talk to Kitty, but she's not ready.

When they finally do discuss things, Robert wants to know why she didn't tell him sooner. She says she was afraid he wouldn't be there for her. He assures her that he is, but then she worries he'll only be there because she has cancer. Robert further assures by saying, "I am here because I love you." Kitty is in tears, and so are we.

Robert comes clean about his heart attack during a TV interview. He talks about how scared he was about facing his own mortality. We get the sense he's thinking about Kitty as he says this. After the interview, he joins Kitty for her bone marrow biopsy. It's an agonizing procedure. But Robert holds his wife's hand, helping her through the pain. It's pretty apparent to us that they truly are going to fight this thing together.