With all the attention that's been showered on Matthew Rhys, you'd think that there were no other guys on hit show "Brothers and Sisters". But no more. Enter Exhibit A: Rob Lowe's Senator McCallister.
"Now wait a minute," I bet you're gonna say. "Hasn't the guy been on the show for like, forever?" And you would be right. Rob Lowe - and Robert McCallister - have been on the show for like, forever (and ever). But it wasn't until the past two episodes that the character became interesting.
As much as it pains me to complain about anything on "Brothers and Sisters", Robert McCallister was possibly the most boring character on television. He was so perfect that he wasn't remotely human: dream boyfriend, dream fiance, and dream Republican, he charmed the socks off everyone on the show and looked immaculately hot doing it. And every time it seemed like there was some scarlet letter in his past, it turned out instead to be a bleeding badge of honor:
As a teenager, he might have knocked up a girlfriend and dumped her afterwards? You got it aaaalll wrong. She cheated on him, and he not only forgave her but helped her have the baby (and helped her give it up for adoption). Isn't he a saint?
People think that he cheated on his wife? Ah, but they're wrong, you see - (again,) she cheated on him. He just didn't want the divorce to get any uglier in public.
He voted against stem-cell research? Only because he thought it was a decision best left to the states. Had nothing to do with any ethical beliefs either side of the fence.
He voted against same-sex marriage? But he has a gay brother! (And, really, he reversed his vote later on, so it's a total wash.)
His ex-wife accuses him of being emotionally withholding, and of always going it alone? Where did that plot thread lead to, again? Completely disappeared in the Kitty-Robert puppy wuv? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Maybe he didn't actually save all those people during the Gulf War? Are you kidding? He's just reluctant to talk about it because he's modest and doesn't believe in cheap grandstanding.
And so forth. Is it any wonder that the character bored me to tears? Not even considering the impossibly naive McCallister's Big No-No's in Politics, the character wasn't a human being: it was as if, in the writers' desperation to make the Republican Character Actually One of the Good Guys, they hit a massive blind spot that stretched all of twenty episodes.
Thank goodness they've finally stopped giving McCallister an Unlimited Free Pass.
In the past two episodes, Robert McCallister has been so much more relatable. Now engaged to eponymous 'sister' Kitty Walker, the couple suffered the tragedy of a first trimester miscarriage. Only, as it turned out, McCallister was already having misgivings about another child. Father of two children already, he thought he was done adding little ones to his life. And now, with Kitty oblivious to this and wanting children with McCallister, the stage is finally set for some depth to the McCallister character. How will this affect the two's relationship? Whether McCallister gives in or resists, there's bound to be bad and un-ignorable repercussions, which means that he'll finally get down and dirty on this show.
To which I can only say: Amen. And maybe: it took you long enough, show, but I forgive you.
Of course, this development has to happen on the cusp of an indeterminate hiatus, so I hope you'll forgive me for leaving now to go curse a blue streak.
"Brothers and Sisters" airs Sundays on ABC, at 10 pm / 9 pm central.
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