ABC's Brothers & Sisters: 10 Questions and Predictions

Brothers & Sisters, the ABC freshman drama, focused its first season on the Walker family as they strove to get things together following the death of their patriarch - and the fallout he left behind. The first season of Brothers & Sisters left fans with many questions, like a good cliffhanger should. Here are some points to ponder about Brothers & Sisters until the series returns to ABC in the fall

1. What will happen to Justin when he goes to Iraq? Justin, the youngest brother of Brothers & Sisters (and until recently, the youngest sibling) is a young Afghanistan war vet. As a medic, he saw a lot of horrible things after signing up in the wake of 9-11 and being sent overseas. Now Justin is scheduled to return to service following a brief reprieve (so he could go to rehab to deal with a drug problem largely caused by his post-traumatic stress...). His family is scared for him, of course. Prediction: while it is hard to say how they can get Justin out of his tour in a realistic way, it's also obvious he will be back, since he's main character. (Plus, I personally think they need David Annabale to hook in the younger demographic.) I'm not too worried.

2. Will Kevin hook up with McAllister's brother? Kevin, who I think may be the oldest of the brothers, but I can't really tell, did not have a happy love life this first season. First his insecurities chased away a perfectly nice guy and then he picked a closeted actor to go with, and the actor's insecurities and tendency towards see-sawing melodrama sent Kev packing. Now, as fate would have it, he's hooked up with his sister's fiance's brother - at the engagement party. Is this true love for Kevin, or just a one-time deal? Prediction: the brother of the bride-to- be and the groom-to-be will just be friends - eventually, but there may be some back and forth before hand.

3. Will Sara and Joe reunite? That is a good question. What started the season looking like a good marriage was revealed mid season to be on the rocks. Sara was too demanding, or something, or too self-sufficient, or something, and Joe was too big a dufus, or something. I don't know, but they went to counseling with Joel Grey, who seemed like a tinier version of Uncle Sol, and then Joe (not Joel) succumbed to Rebecca's come-on and, well, the rest is history and apparently, so is the marriage. But is this really the end? Prediction: Do we even care? Joe and Sara are, I'm guessing, the two least popular characters on this show. As a couple, they are not interesting, individually, even less so. I think the show wants to explore her feelings for her old colleague (played earlier on by Third Watch star Michael Beach, who returned for the season finale...cue suggestive boom-chick music....) But the actual ending is up in the air.

4. How bad will Julia's post-partum depression become? Julia had twins, only one survived, so this is post-partum combined with loss of a newborn. Definitely sad, and definitely fodder for a show like this. Prediction: given the laissez-faire way Brothers & Sisters dealt with a pretty big topic- namely brothers donating sperm to a brother so he could have a kid with his wife- I am sure this topic will probably get a whole two episodes. Julia and Tommy get the shaft a lot, have you noticed?

5. Will Kitty and McAllister go the distance? Kitty and Robert seem to be a great couple, well, great in the Brothers & Sisters universe, but both are fresh off other relationships - well,sort of fresh, and they're in a high pressure world - and by that we mean the Walker World - so is smooth sailing to be predicted? Prediction:. Any relationship without conflict is a dud on tv, so I'm sure this one will have some bumps. However, Kitty and Robert are the 'it' couple of the series and eventually, even if they hit some snags, they'll be okay.

6. Uncle Saul might be whaaat? Apparently, in the finale, and I didn't see this, Uncle Saul had a male friend, someone who he had a big connection with, stop by, announce he was gay and divorced, and mention Key West (a notable gay man area) - specifically a trip he took with Saul. Prediction: Well, we saw Saul go after Holly, maybe just for business reasons, and all, and maybe we figured his devotion to his sister's family is why he's not married with kids of his own. But didn't ya always kind of suspect? I don't know if the dude is gay, though I would totally rather see him with a nice man than Holly.

7. Will the real Rebecca be one of the good guys or the bad guys? Rebecca is, at the very least, complex: victim of molestation, fatherless child, bounced around in an affair with a professor who offed himself. She's had some troubles. But is that enough for us to really see her as not maybe having an agenda for causing some trouble of her own? Prediction: Rebecca will still cause some issues, but, Nora has spoken: Rebecca is part of the family, just like that, so, she will be the same mix of good and bad as the other siblings.

8. Is everything all hunky-dory now with Holly and the Walker Women? Well, she jumped in the pool (aka, William's death pool...) at the end of the finale, along with the rest of the family, so....I've always found the fact that Brothers & Sisters is more interested in Holly being a martyr than in the harm she caused, caused even herself, really annoying. She made choices, but the show makes it seem like they were the only ones she could have made and she's noble somehow. Prediction: I don't think she needs to be the villain, with a scarlet A or something, forget the past. But I do think the show needs some antagonists, and she's a good one. And Patricia Wittig could really be a hoot. I can't imagine she will stop being in the trouble-causing mix. I mean, that would be too boring.

9. What about Nora's love life? Nora has put some feet in the dating pool - as opposed to the death pool - with Peter Coyote and Treat Williams earlier. Prediction: Nora will continue to date. I guess Treat Williams has a new show on TNT, summers, but who knows if he might be back. As for Peter Coyote's character, the lechy professor- I don't know how it ended this season, but it seemed like it was an arc with an end in sight rather than a long-term thing. It was funny, though, wasn't it? Nora will continue to have a life.

10. Will the show get any Emmy nominations? I like some things about this show, and the actors in it are traditionally great. Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Wittig, Ron Rifkin, Rachel Griffiths. But does the show have the buzz, the juice, the fan base, all that jazz, to win stuff in the tight drama categories? I doubt it. Maybe Field. And personally, while I do like some of the characters and some of the stories, I think the show itself is uneven and a lot of the issues that come up are handled too simplistically. It's really like a Desperate Housewives with less emphasis on humor. But I don't think it's one of the top four dramas on TV. Which doesn't mean its fans aren't still addicted and awaiting the second season!