We Are the Brennans

After expressing concern about Denny’s marital issues with Theresa, Michael Eaton assures Sunday that he will not let Denny make any reckless decisions. He then asks how her writing career has been going. She wants to appear like she has made progress, so she tells him she wrote some short stories for an LA Arts Council magazine. He congratulates her and then leaves with Denny.

Sunday looks through the pictures on her phone and finds one from Denny and Theresa’s engagement party. She then reminisces about her private engagement to Kale and their planned elopement to Magens Bay. She found a postcard for it and gave it to Kale, putting stick figures representing them on it. Kale kept it on his fridge, and they frequently carried the postcard in anticipation of their marriage. Sunday wonders how she and Denny made such messes of their relationships and decides she must help keep Denny and Theresa together.

Before Theresa takes Molly to school, Sunday drives to Angie’s house. She says Theresa should talk to Denny about their marriage, but Theresa tells her she should ask Denny. Then, she tells her she did not want to leave, but Mickey’s accident in the garage and Shane’s subsequent meltdown gave Molly nightmares about them dying. Theresa was also tired of Denny not being open with her. Sunday understands this and leaves to meet Shane at the grocery store where he works.

She later meets Kale at the pub to help fix the pub’s financial records. She recalls when Maura convinced her to stay home from the family’s Ireland trip to care for Shane if she needed to go to the hospital again. She argued with Kale, whom she secretly hoped would stand up to her family, but he gave in and let her stay home.

Kale suspects that Denny’s financial troubles are worse than he and Sunday are letting on. Denny arrives and tries to reassure them. He then tries to convince Sunday to date Michael Eaton and deflect the attention off of him. She criticizes him for it, and they begin to argue about the other not taking enough care of the family. In a moment of anger and resentment, she tells him that she would have gone to Ireland if she was not saddled with the family’s problems. She then drops the subject, and Kale leaves the pub.

Kale distances himself from Sunday and spends more time with Vivienne. He goes to Luke’s school, where Vivienne works as an administrative assistant, and has lunch with them. He still has trouble getting Sunday out of his mind, however.

He manages the pub the next day, and Sunday brings Mickey in for his shift. There, Kale and Sunday argue about Denny’s finances. Sunday then accuses him of punishing her for leaving. She tells him she waited for him to come after her, but he reminds her that she left him. She tells him to hold onto his “righteous anger,” and he angrily leaves. He goes to a bar in Ossining to calm down and allows himself to remember his childhood with Sunday.

In a flashback of their time in high school, Kale learns she won an award for a short story. When he mentions it to the Brennans at dinner, Maura only focuses on Denny’s achievements while the rest of the family congratulates her. After dinner, Kale reads her short story, which is about a boy with many obligations to his family who takes long walks and dreams of traveling but is always happy to come home. He relates to this and congratulates her on the story. She says she noticed him walking similarly, and he tells her to dedicate her first book to him. Kale notes that Sunday became his favorite Brennan then.

He spends the following day with Vivienne and Luke and then goes to the pub to give the Brennans a list of potential bookkeepers. At the pub, Vivienne opens a desk drawer with Kale and Sunday’s Magens Bay postcard inside. Sunday and Kale dismiss it as a “silly keepsake,” but Vivienne is uncomfortable and prepares to leave with Luke. Sunday takes the postcard, and Kale follows his wife and son home. After Luke falls asleep that night, Kale holds him and thinks about the postcard and how he decided to marry Vivienne after he got her pregnant despite the Brennans’ initial disapproval. He decides he will continue to focus on his family and ignore his feelings for Sunday.

At work, he talks to Jackie and Shane and finds out that Sunday is in the cellar with Molly. There, they both apologize for letting Vivienne see the postcard. Jackie then appears and tells them they need to confront Denny about his financial decisions with the pub.

Jackie arranges to confront Denny about his reckless financial decisions that night after he closes. They wait till Mickey and Shane are asleep and sit at the kitchen table, which Jackie notes had been the “center of their universe for many years” (104). Denny arrives and prepares for the discussion with shot glasses and a bottle of Jameson. They each take a drink, and then Kale asks Denny about the situation. Denny tries to deflect by mentioning Jackie’s problems, but Jackie tells him to tell them what has been happening and stop hiding his problems from them. Denny finally tells them he had to spend money from his accounts, use credit cards, and take out loans to pay for the Mamaroneck location. He also took out a loan from someone, and he and Kale owe almost $70,000 with interest. He says he can repay it if they open the new location early enough.

Jackie and Sunday say they will help him. She then decides to make herself tea. When Denny reveals that he took the loan from Billy Walsh, Sunday cries out and accidentally burns her hand with the boiled water. Jackie has the others get first aid for her and cannot believe that Billy is back in New York. Sunday tells Denny and Kale that she has a headache and has Jackie take her to her room.

The following day, Jackie tells Sunday that she needs to tell the others what happened, but she refuses. From Sunday’s reaction, they conclude that Billy Walsh’s decision to loan Denny money is not coincidental. The next day, Jackie goes to the pub with Sunday. There, they meet Michael, who tells Sunday that he found her short stories and liked them. He notices that the short stories are about her brothers, Denny and Shane, and asks if she will write about the other brother. She says she will, but Jackie is unsure whether she will write that story.

After dinner, Jackie shows Sunday his art, including family portraits and illustrations for a short story she used to tell Shane. She then sees a painting he began after she left. It overwhelms her emotionally, and she sheds tears. She apologizes to Jackie for holding onto her secret and says she will tell Denny and Kale what happened to her. Jackie sees this as her first step toward healing.