Brothers & Sisters Episode 3.18 Taking Sides

It's time for the Walker siblings to meet the newest addition to the family. And we all know how well that turned out the first time.

Nora tries to rally the troops for a lunchtime meeting with her and Ryan Lafferty, but they all have prior engagements. They come up with different excuses, but they're all really at the same place: Tommy's arraignment. The kicker? Nora has no idea her son has been arrested. Knowing how keeping previous Walker secrets have gone, we're willing to bet this one's going to come out in an ugly fashion, too.

Oh, and the only Walker not supporting Tommy? Justin. He and Rebecca have sworn not to take sides in the major Holly / Tommy battle. Which we hope they keep it up since they're so cute together and their relationship is already hanging by a fragile thread as it is.

The judge sets Tommy's bail, so he'll stay out of the clink for a little while longer anyway. And he may not be in jail, but he's in the doghouse with his wife. Julia tells him not to come home. EVER.

Sarah turns to Justin to help with Tommy. If only he can get Rebecca to convince Holly to drop the charges. It's the only way Tommy isn't going to jail. While Justin initially remains adamant that he's not going to get involved, for his relationship's sake, when Rebecca comes home from work he does ask her to reason with her mom. We're keeping our fingers crossed this doesn't backfire because Rebecca does go to see her mother. She asks Holly to think about dropping the charges not to help Tommy, but to help save her relationship. Holly says she'll consider it.

Then, after a couple strongarm phone calls from Saul, all the Walker siblings - except for Kitty who's taking care of Robert recover from heart surgery - come to the house to meet Ryan. Although everybody frets over the Tommy situation, they all put on their phoniest faces and greet Ryan with open arms. Things only get tense when Rebecca eventually arrives. When Ryan thanks her for the tour of Ojai Foods, Tommy insults her right in front of Justin. Feeling awkward, Ryan sneaks off and accidentally hears Kevin complaining to Scotty about the Tommy situation.

When Nora later finds Ryan sitting by himself in the living room, he tells her he's feeling like a fifth wheel, especially with all the drama going on with Tommy's embezzlement and arrest. Oh, yikes! He didn't just say that, did he? He did. Can we hide under the cushions or something? This is going to be bad.

Nora finds Tommy and the other Walkers in the dining room. She asks him to explain everything. Of course, Tommy quickly places all the blame on Holly, which Rebecca doesn't take well. She bravely stands up for her mother only to get yelled at by Tommy. (Justin, by the way, doesn't say a word.) Then, when Tommy claims that he only did what William would have done, Nora tells him she still despises her husband for being a crook. Tommy replies, "But you sure liked living off of it."

Nora SLAPS Tommy across the face.

Yeah, that's the ugly part we didn't want to see.

Later, after the big fight, Rebecca finds Justin sitting at home. She asks him why he didn't stick up for her during the fight. We were wondering the same thing. His excuses about just trying to stay out of things ring hollow to us. And to her. She knows now that Justin will always side with his family over her.

So, their relationship is over.

Rebecca runs out on Justin and back home to her mother's. She tells Holly to forget what she said earlier and to go after Tommy with everything she's got. And later, when she's feeling down, she gets a surprising visit from Ryan, who says he just wanted to make sure she was ok. She isn't. She invites him in, glad to have the company.