Some things about it drive me crazy–like the endless series of fresh catastrophees –but for the most part, I love Brothers & Sisters. One of my favorite things about the show is that it knows exactly how to let characters evolve.

Everyone in the series has changed since the pilot episode, but the shifts have been so gradual that it can be shocking to reflect on what’s happened. Take Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), who has sublimated her anger about her divorce into her work.

Even more striking is the final scene of the episode “Separation Anxiety.” It has stuck with me for weeks.

The scene starts with Nora breaking things off with Isaac (Danny Glover), the man who almost convinced her to move to D.C. After she hangs up with him, she considers calling her daughter Kitty (Calista Flockhart) to share her pain… but the she doesn’t. We see Field make a deliberate choice to put down the phone: Wearing a tight little grin, she huffs through her nose and lays the receiver aside. Then she sits down for her dinner. As she eats, she starts smiling, genuinely, and the gentle alt-rock ballad on the soundtrack crescendoes into an electric guitar riff.

But that’s just a set-up for the final shot: As Nora chews, the camera pulls away, showing us that every other chair at the dining room table is empty.

If you watch B&S, you know what a big deal that is. The writers go through ridiculous (and occasionally irritating) contortions to gather every character around that table: It’s where the Walker family airs out its grievances, spreads its love, and reveals the shocking secrets that will drive at least three episodes’ worth of plot. Nora’s almost always there, planted in the head chair, but she is never, ever sitting alone. Particularly not when it’s time for a meal.

But this time, things have changed. In a moment that the series has been building to since the pilot episode, Nora finally allows herself to be fully liberated from her family. For the first time, she sits still with herself. And she smiles about it.

That’s a remarkable victory for her self-esteem, and it’s a touching coup de grace from the writers. That empty table tells us things are going to be different now. And indeed, even though Nora was back to meddling with her kids in the very next episode, she wasn’t the same. When Sarah was upset about Saul making the Ojai deal, Nora defended her brother. Older people have to stake a claim for themselves, she said. She said it because that’s the attitude she’s been learning for thirty-five episodes.

Credit also has to go to Sally Field, who has seriously become my favorite actress. She is just so easy to empathize with, what with her raw emotions and her expressive face. When Sally is upset, then I am upset. The world is upset. Or it should be.

The combination of the acting, direction, and writing make that shot one of the best twenty seconds of television in recent memory. I watched it over and over before writing this post, and it moved me every time.