8. "A Bone To Pick": Brothers and Sisters
Cancer is always a topic that is almost guaranteed to cause upset because most of us know someone who has been effected by the disease at one stage in their life. However, representations of cancer on screen often come under scrutiny, because many consider it to be a cheep and easy way to cause your viewers to feel emotion. I would mostly agree with this when cancer is presented badly, but I am not sure I have ever seen cancer represented so well in television as I have with the series Brothers and Sisters, and in particular this emotional episode. Kitty, played by Calista Flockhart collapsed in the previous episode due to a clot in her lung, and was until this episode feared dead. They managed to clear it, however she now desperately needs a bone marrow transplant or she would likely die. The reason Brothers and Sisters was often such an emotional show was because of the family set up and dynamic. Watching family, sisters, brothers and mothers react to one of their own going through a life threatening illness is obviously difficult, and the wonderful cast, led by two time Oscar winning Sally Field in an extraordinarily likable performance make this immense sadness seem so real. The best scene from this episode, and the reason for it's inclusion is the montage of scenes which show Kitty preparing for, then having her operation, as the family wait anxiously for the results, fittingly played over Keane's: She has no time. Now I love Keane so maybe this helps the emotion for me somewhat, but never have I ever heard a Keane song used so beautifully before, and this episode gave new meaning to the song for me. Kitty didn't die in the end, but there were many, many points throughout the episode which genuinely made you believe she probably would, but never more so than when the montage ends with a cut forward to three weeks time, and still no news of what has happened to her. I don't consider myself easily fooled, but I thought she was probably going to die if I am being completely honest, and this episode was a very emotional watch for me, and hooked me back into a show which I was starting to become a little bored with.