Conor McNamara

This episode is a blend of present day and flashback memories – however, present day is considered to be in 2026 and the flashback is considered to be 2006. The episode starts with Conor McNamara, age 20, sitting in his therapist’s office talking about his upcoming hand surgery. He’s decided, finally, to have the surgery done on his right hand because he wants to be a surgeon someday like his father. He says that his mother always told him that he should accept his disability, and that people would love him for being him – but he never has accepted the disability and wants to just shake someone’s hand like everyone else. This conversation with the therapist reveals that his parents are no longer together – which, we all feared might be what was happening with this episode since Joely Fisher announced she was leaving the show. Conor wants to know the real reason for his parents split – it just doesn’t make sense to him why two people who had been together for so long would choose to separate with an infant son. The therapist asks if Conor had any memories of the split – he didn’t, but tried to extract what he could from his siblings. Matt wasn’t around so much, but Annie told him what she remembered.

Which leads us to 2006 time, and there was a class five hurricane aiming straight for Miami. Julia is concerned how the storm will affect Conor’s upcoming surgery, which was supposed to take place that week. Sean says not to worry – they have back-up generators should they lose power. Sean brings up his affair with Monica, but Julia doesn’t want to talk about it. She says there is nothing to discuss – she knows why he did it, she knows why she had an affair with Marlowe – nothing new can come out of talking about it any further. They start discussing the storm – but in reality we know they’re discussing the state of their relationship. I know this is a dramatic episode with the split looming, but I am usually not a huge fan of such blatant usage of weather-life metaphors.

Julia is in Marlowe’s studio with Conor. Marlowe is packing everything up, and based on their conversation we learn that he is going to Florence for what seems to be an undefined period of time. Julia says that she and Conor will have to meet him there, because he is having his surgery. In this moment, we learn that Julia is planning to leave Sean to be with Marlowe and run off to Italy – but Marlowe is also learning that Julia has decided to allow Sean to perform the surgery on Conor’s right hand. Lots of learning happening here. Marlowe is upset – he feels that Julia is Conor’s only support system and no one else can stand up for him against Sean’s never-ending search for superficial perfection. Julia explains to Marlowe that she feels trapped – trapped because she doesn’t want to hurt Sean, she doesn’t want to torture Conor, and she doesn’t want to lose Marlowe’s respect. Julia is literally caught between a rock and a hard place here.

It’s at this moment that Sean wakes up – so the viewer almost thinks that all the nonsense about Julia running off to Italy with Marlowe was a nightmare. He rolls over, though, to find that Julia is not in the bed. She’s in the kitchen. Sean walks in, and Julia tells him that she’s leaving, she’s taking Conor and Annie, and Conor would not be having his surgery. Sean starts to lose his cool, crying, begging, pleading for her not to go. She is totally emotionless – it is very clear that she is numb and that leaving Sean will be the only way for her to get any sort of feeling back. Unfortunately, Annie overhears the entire argument, which we all know isn’t going to help her mental state later on in life. This is further proven when Sean finds her sitting on the couch, upset, and wondering if the divorce is her fault. Sean, of course, says no, and Annie promptly begins to blame Conor. That relationship, I fear, is not going to end well. All of a sudden the lights go out – but when they come back on Annie and Sean are gone and it is just Julia on the couch by herself when the door knocks. It’s Marlowe, and he’s come to get her, Conor, and Annie. Oh, so it wasn’t a dream. She tells him that she won’t be going with him – to Italy or anywhere else. Marlowe, of course, starts to get upset and begins to blame it on his size. She explains that she needs to be by herself for once – she needs to know she’ll be ok on her own. Marlowe goes to say goodbye to Conor, which turns into a highly emotional experience for him. Sean walks in, and wants to know why Marlowe is there. Marlowe explains he was just saying goodbye to Conor, but also apologizes to Sean – apologizing for lying about his relationship with Julia and tells him that he has a wonderful son who he will miss dearly. Sean takes this all in, and in return thanks Marlowe for being a good friend to his son and hopes that he will stay a part of Conor’s life.

We now go back to 2026 in the therapist’s office, and the therapist asks Conor what happened to Marlowe. Conor says that he is still very close with Marlowe – in fact, Marlowe is his godfather and he is very close with Marlowe’s son who is a year younger than he is. Now I wanna know who Marlowe ended up with, but we never find out! When the therapist tells Conor that the session is over, Conor gets nervous – his surgery is only two days away and he doesn’t feel any internal emotional resolution to the things he was feeling about his family and the surgery. The therapist suggests bringing the whole family together, to talk, even though Conor thinks that he’d be igniting World War III.

But, he tries it, and the next scene is 20-year-old Conor sitting at a dinner table with Julia and Annie – both 20 years older. Annie is, unfortunately, just as I’d imagined she might turn out – very dysfunctional, confused, and in a lot of emotional pain that is being displaced elsewhere – like in annoying behavior, substance abuse, and who knows what else. Sean arrives – Sean wasn’t aware that Julia would be there – in fact, the visit was a surprise to both of them. Initially, everyone is upset, but Conor says that he wanted everyone to meet his surgeon at the same time. There is tangible tension, but they sit there calmly – and then Christian comes in. Of course, he’s with two gorgeous women he met in Dubai. He looks like Hugh Heffner ate Lili Pulitzer. And last, in comes Matt – who is now a surgeon – in fact, he’s Conor’s surgeon.

Cut back to 2006 – Sean is with Matt in the house trying to board things up. Matt is begging him to leave, but Sean won’t go. Then Sean starts begging Matt to leave, but Matt won’t leave without Sean. It’s very clear that Sean just feels as if his whole world is falling apart. Matt tells Sean that he will never leave him, and Sean breaks down crying in Matt’s arms.

And we’re back to 2026 in the waiting room of the hospital where Conor will have his surgery. Matt is talking with Sean and simultaneously Julia is talking with Conor. Julia wants to know why Conor didn’t want Sean to do the surgery – he said he was afraid that she would be upset. At the same time, Matt asks Sean why he doesn’t intend to stick around for the surgery – Sean says he needs to get back to an emergency at the center. This back and forth scene yields one main point – and that point is that both Sean and Conor feel exceptionally guilty. Sean feels guilty that had he made the marriage work, he could have taken care of both Conor’s hands when he was a baby. Conor feels guilty because he is afraid it was his disability that ruined his parents marriage. Matt hugs Sean, Julia hugs Conor – both being told that “it wasn’t their fault.” In the end, Conor asks Sean and Christian to assist Matt in the surgery – make a family affair of it, if you will. Sean is touched when Conor tells him it was actually Julia’s idea. The breaks are finally healing it seems.

Conor’s surgery goes wonderfully – the technology is so advanced at this point that there is barely any blood if any blood at all. Post surgery, Sean tells Julia that everything went well, but the euphoria takes a hiatus when a nurse tells the two of them that Annie was arrested for stealing pills from the hospital pharmacy.

When they finally corner her outside, she’s smoking a cigarette telling them to back off – they were awful parents, and she is what they get as a result of it. It seems pretty clear that this is the first time she’s ever fully told them how she feels – how hurt she is all the time as a result of their contentious relationship. Instead of getting upset at her for speaking to them in such a manner, both Julia and Sean apologize. They say that she is right, they should have done a better job, and they’re extremely sorry. Annie starts crying, they all laugh, and hug as they walk off together. It kind of takes us back to the adage Sean said – that honesty and talking is all you have, and in this case, it worked.

Conor is in his recovery suite sitting with Marlowe talking about the surgery. Conor was afraid Marlowe would be upset at him for having the surgery – Marlowe said quite the contrary. It was different when he was an infant and couldn’t make the decision for himself. At this point, the whole family walks in – Annie is a new woman – happy and bubbly; Sean and Julia are getting along; Sean and Marlowe greet each other warmly. It’s like a weird Patridge Family reunion. At this point, Conor finally gets what he wants – a family photo to replace the only other one he had, which was taken when he was six months old.

Conor is now sitting in his therapist’s office showing off his new hand. He says that he understands now that the reason he didn’t have the surgery before he did was because the timing – it was perfect in order to bring the family back together. It had to be at that time to make everything happen as it did.

And now we’re back in 2006, and Sean is driving Julia, Annie and Conor to the airport. They’re off to New York, and because we know what happens in the future…we know that they never look back. It’s a sad goodbye to the McNamara union.