'Brothers & Sisters': Does anyone care about the end of Ojai?

Image Credit: Richard Cartwright/ABCOn last night’s Brothers & Sisters, the Walkers closed the door on their family business. It should have been an emotional goodbye, but when Scotty started singing the Irish folk song “The Parting Glass” (beautifully), I laughed. I can understand that for the Walkers, the end of an era — even one as painful as their family history — is a reason to mourn. But as a member of the viewing audience, the show hadn’t earned my tears. Had we ever seen “the heart” of the operation — the employees Sarah was so worried about — before? Nora was ready to sell Ojai to York a few weeks ago and have the kids sever all ties to their dead father. Granted, that was out of fear that York would expose the fact that Kevin had pushed a kid off the Ojai loading dock and paralyzed him, which is no longer a threat, but William Walker is still a triple-timing douche. Just because he had plans drawn up to build Nora a house at “Narrow Lake” doesn’t change that. (Is that really all Narrow Lake is? Land William had a bought for a dream home? We sort of dropped the drilling updates, so perhaps?)

I do feel bad for Saul and Holly, who are gonna have a tough time finding another job at their age and salary requirements, and for Sarah, who’s taking the failure of the company personally. But aside from all the bottles of wine it’s put on Nora’s dinner table, Ojai has just been a source of stress and annoyance for seasons. (Tommy’s infidelity and embezzlement, anyone?)

I have no idea where the Walkers go from here. Maybe jumping forward a year after next week’s finale* is exactly what the show needs. Put some distance between the events of this melodramatic season and start anew. I want to care again. I really do.

* What does your gut tell you is the cause of that car accident we saw in the promo? I’m thinking that the man who now knows that Robert was trying to bust him ordered a hit, and Robert will either die, or he’ll live and Kitty will divorce him for once again not caring about how his professional ambition could affect her.