Already an exemplar of gay-friendliness on primetime television, "Brothers and Sisters" may soon be set to hit a trifecta of rainbow storylines.
Last week's episode saw the return of Luke MacFarlane's cater waiter Scotty Wandell. Ex-boyfriend to Matthew Rhys's eponymous brother Kevin Walker, the two had parted due to differences over class and money issues (hotshot lawyer Walker has both, Wandell not so much). In last week and this past Sunday's episodes, however, the two crossed paths because of a traffic violation, and they took baby steps towards becoming fast - if bed-free - friends.
Fans of MacFarlane may be disappointed at this platonic turnaround, but this decision has also occasioned a collective sigh of relief from others. Since Wandell's exit mid-last season, Walker had begun dating Jason McCallister, a missionary played by the sizzling Eric Winters. With that relationship officially only on hold - McCallister being packed off to Malaysia so Winters could do "Viva Laughlin" - it would have been at least unseemly for Walker to cheat on his long-distance boyfriend.
That being said, the character of Scotty Wandell looks set to stay, MacFarlane having been contracted for at least a third of this season. How the writers handle his arc, however, may become a cause for concern.
Executive producer Greg Berlanti has said he envisions Wandell as Walker's 'Mr. Big', but the allusion to "Sex and the City" does not follow through on this show: Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big had entire seasons of love and turmoil, while even in the debut season of "Brothers and Sisters", Wandell was but one of three equally-weighted love interests. If Walker and Wandell were indeed to follow a "City" template, it would be more along the lines of Miranda Hobbes and Steve Brady: a relationship (not The Relationship), followed by friendship and eventual true love. Of course, Hobbes and Brady were brought together by an unanticipated baby, so creator Jon Robin Baitz is going to have to get really, really creative, if he wants to bring to W and W the same believability as each other's soul-mates.
But what if they're not meant to be soul-mates, not even by the writers? Well, that's the other difficulty currently facing the writing team. If Wandell's character isn't being set up as Kevin Walker's One True Love, then what could fill in and justify his continued presence on the show? Characters have to evolve or risk becoming one-note creatures, and, short of giving Wandell storylines of his own, the only way to evolve him is to adjust his relationship to Walker.
As the situation is currently primed, it seems to me that the options are relatively clear-cut: either the writers make Kevin Walker a long-distance cheater, or they start making Wandell a character independent of Walker, or they reduce Wandell to the flat and one-note Recurring and Plot-Advancing Friend.
There are, of course, two other broad scenarios as yet left unmentioned. If Walker and McCallister were to be separated for whatever reason - the stress of maintaining a relationship across hemispheres, an unfortunate encounter with a deadly snake in Malaysia - the path would be cleared for a jackass-free W-W lovefest. This may have been the writers' plan had "Viva Laughlin" become a hit.
The operative word in that sentence, however, is at this point 'had'. Attacked by scathing reviews and hobbled by freefalling viewership numbers, 'Viva (No One's) Laughlin' has been officially cancelled by CBS. Which means that Winters is now free to entertain other opportunities - including, most likely, a call by the substantial McCallister fans to return to "Brothers and Sisters". The comparative popularity between Wandell and McCallister is of course impossible to judge, but the writers have to know that McCallister was also at least a fan favorite. And now that Winters is, as mentioned, free to entertain other opportunities, it would be seen as at least remiss should "Brothers and Sisters" not present such an offer. And with the show already an established critical and commercial darling, what are the chances, do you think, that Winters will say yes?
If this should indeed come to pass, then the other broad scenario would involve simultaneous storylines involving Walker, Wandell and McCallister. While I have no clue what specific storylines this scenario would entail, in my opinion this will go a long way towards freeing the writers to explore Wandell - without making him the constant if unspoken threat to an absent McCallister. While Wandell can only provide a listening ear so many times to long distance woes, advancing a Walker and McCallister storyline can only give Wandell more narrative places to go, especially as a single friend to one half of their couple.
It hardly needs saying that this is what I hope to see. With the LGBT credentials behind the "Brothers and Sisters" writing team, one of my personal wishes is to see the show tackle both platonic and romantic gay relationships. Should Jason McCallister make a return from (much too) far-off Malaysia, we would have a gay relationship (Kevin Walker and Jason McCallister), a gay friendship (Kevin Walker and Scotty Wandell), and a gay family storyline (Kevin Walker and his probably-closeted Uncle Saul) - all at the same time on one primetime program.
I wouldn't know what to call such a trifecta but a watershed television moment, so let's all hope that the much-deserving "Brothers and Sisters" is the first to make such history.
"Brothers and Sisters" airs Sundays on ABC, at 10 pm / 9 pm central.
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