Amph This is Us - NBC's hit drama series (Spoilers for this season, including finale)

I don't want sad Toby!!!!

S3 E1 - Nine Bucks

Spoiler

The opening / Jack & Rebecca
Kind of confusing focusing on random guy on bus but made more sense when it was book-ended at the end of the episode. Jack & Rebecca had one crazy semi crappy first date, but it somehow worked out for them until it didn't. I rewound the episode as the "front porch guy" looked blond from the front, maybe it was the lighting, but then had dark hair from the back. Obviously someone she wasn't expecting, maybe also back from the war?

Randall and family
So the whole Deja smashing the car felt really glossed over, but she definitely got put through the ringer in this episode. I loved when she put Randall in her place - "we're not the same" - and they're not so I thought that was well done and needed.
Beth - awesome and hilarious this week. I think she was a little over the top with her cousin, but she knows her and in the end it was done out of love. Poor Kevin. Sounds like he's screwed. You know he isn't going to walk away.

Kate and Toby
I don't want sad Toby!!!! 90% chance of failure? Let's do it. I know I'll never understand a woman's desire to have a child, but you would hope that logic and reason would come first when making this kind of decision. Possible death or a child? I don't know. It seems like an obvious answer to me which makes it frustrating to watch to see Kate act so snowed and then Toby making a dumb mistake as well. Going off your meds may increase your sperm count but if you're off your meds, then when are you going to want to be sexually active? No sense of cause and effect for these two and I'm not happy with them. Maybe continue to lose weight, maybe look at gastric bypass and get that 90% down to 50% or less and then maybe talk IVF?

Flashforward
Who's the she? Toby still around in the flash forward but no Kate shown. Could she have died? Are they divorced? Did he still have a ring on? Was Kate simply just in the bathroom? Whomever the she is, it doesn't seem like people are read to see her nor are they sure she wants to see certain people. I thought it was a grave, but the way Toby was speaking it sounds like the person is alive. I hope we get the answer soon and not at the end of the season.

 

I got to watch the new episode today. I really liked the Jack/Rebecca scenes. The ending left me very curious.
I hope the Deja scenes turn out well for her and the family. Overall, I found the premiere to be worth the wait.

 

So, the thread title says "SPOILERS" so I'm not going to use any spoiler tags, and I don't think anyone else need to either.

Yesterday was an important date, October 18. The day that Nicolas was born. 18, a lucky number. However, as by the nature of the show, October 18 is not a lucky day to be born on as it was a draft number. So, it was really heart breaking to see all the infant boys in the hospital tag with being born on October 18. "Vietnam" was another powerful episode as it not only deals with spousal abuse but also the Vietnam War and draft thereto. It's hard to fathom an army draft taking place today. Sitting by the TV waiting to see if you're number is called to go to war. An unpopular war at that.

 

very good episode, obviously more to come with Jack and his brother in vietnam

 

Yeah, I thought it was interesting it was being told backwards like that Seinfeld episode, but it was to fit in with what Nick as said, which was something to the effect that he wish life/time would go backwards. Where you spend your life figuring how you got to the end of your life and look forward to the beginning of it.

 

306 - Kamsahamnida

Spoiler

The question from the end of season 2 - who is the "her" that Randall and adult Tess are not ready to see but are going to see? The immediate answer we thought was Deja but maybe it's Beth. At this point, the show may hint its Annie next but even though she was seen I don't think she has any speaking lines this week. She's got more lines in that car commercial where she's an old woman, but I digress. As for Beth, personally, I know that feeling all too well of when you lose your job due to downsizing and you didn't do anything wrong. It screws with you emotionally and Susan Watson is nailing it.

It's interesting the path that they're taking with Randall and it's good to see him get a small win this week. With both him and Beth out of work, and supporting 3 children, they must have a lot of money in savings. Also come to think of it Beth probably does get a nice severance from being laid off from a company that she was with for so long so I guess money is a non issue.

I'm glad to see Kevin continue his journey concerning Jack. Even though he is bridging Jack's passed with his present storyline wise, I did appreciate the whole Jack/Randall boxing connection. I'm not a huge Zoe fan so I guess it's nice that he has someone to ground him but at the same time I have this feelings she's going to break his heart and he's going to turn to drugs/alcohol again which would be sad for his character but true to an addict.

Kate and Toby is the weakest story this season and hopefully Toby will bounce back soon because he's the heart of the show and when he's sad, I'm sad. When Toby let Audio off the leash towards the end of the episode, I said, "Oh no, he's going to eat another rock!"

 

yes i've been curious about Randall and Beth financially. He quite his job and bought a building and she lost her job, yet no money problem.

 

What's everyone think of Season 3 thus far?

Third Season Fall Finale aka 309

Spoiler

So big reveal number 1 - Jack's brother Nicky is not dead. He's kind of an *** **** so at this point I don't suspect that if Kevin is able to find him it's going to be a happy reunion. I appreciate that Kevin is our connection to Jack this season as we've been wanting to know what happened in Vietnam, but it's definitely been the weaker of the storylines. I'd say the pregnancy storyline is only slightly stronger but not by much. The strongest is Randall's election storyline, but again, not super strong so far.

Potential big reveal number 2 - the "her" might be Rebecca, but I took it as Beth.

What we know:
In a flash forward from last season and repeated again this season, Randall goes to Tess's work and Tess isn't ready to see her. She might not be ready because maybe of a Randall and Beth divorce and she took her father's side and is estranged from her mother? Or she's not ready to see Rebecca because she's dying/on her death bed? They did have a fight over her knowledge of her sexual orientation. Does that lead to damaging Tess's and Rebecca's relationship?

The only other flash forward we got in the first half of this season was Toby saying that "she" doesn't want to see me. I don't know why Beth wouldn't want to see him so probably a strong case for Rebecca here since Kate is not present in that flash forward. Or maybe the her for him is Kate. Do things not work out with her and Toby? Or does she did in childbirth and that damages his relationship with Rebecca because she was always against the idea of her getting pregnant?

Beth mentions bringing the game "Tail on the Donkey" as she promised "Randall's mother" to bring. The game is played every year by the "Big 3" on their birthday so it sounds like everyone is going to a birthday party. It also sounds like Rebecca is hosting for all her children and she invited Beth and Toby even though they both maybe be divorced from her children.

While we are supposed to definitely get a definitive answer on her this season, the show has not been renewed for a 4th season. Do you think it will be?

In an September 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Fogelman revealed that he already had the first four seasons planned out by the time he pitched the pilot. "When you're making a television show, you don't even know that it's going to get picked up, let alone become this giant thing that gets out of control, nor what people are going to respond to," Fogelman said. "So we had a plan from day one. I delivered the script for the pilot, and I also had a pitch for the next four seasons of the show."

Not looking forward to waiting until January 15th for episode 310.

 

As the title says - spoilers for this season

Concerning Songbird Road - Part 1:

So Jack's lie is finally revealed - his brother is still alive and he never told the family. It seems very unlike Jack to do this, but I suppose I understand his reasoning. If he took him in, he probably take advantage and have to get him out of trouble like he has always done his entire life. He was done and Nick crossed the line - accident or not. Also, maybe it was better for him to live alone than be around their abusive father. We still don't know his fate in the future. He seems like he was never in the big 3's lives.

I love that we're reminded of Rebecca's lie to Randall about his birth father in this episode as there are many parallels. I wonder what other secrets Jack and Rebecca have, if any.

 

I thought it was a shark jump moment last night, and feel even more so today. I think they're running out of twists.

 

Well the show is supposedly finite and I think it's only going to be four seasons max so they don't too many more twists in their pocket. The one they should be resolving this season is the "her".

 

Yeah, it seemed out of character for Jack to shut out his brother, as he's been so compassionate and understanding throughout the series. But also throughout the show, Jack has never talked about the war with Becca, Miguel or anyone else. Remember, Jack took up boxing instead of talking about war. And there wasn't anything in the house that reminded Jack of the war; not pictures with his army mates, medals, picture of him in uniform... nothing.

And yeah, there's still be more to this story, and that Jack's mom's relationship with Nick after he came back from the war. Jack's mom was moved away from his father. There's a good possibility that Jack's mom is aware of Nick's whereabouts.

My thought is that in order for Jack to move forward, he had to escape his past and leave it there. Unfortunately, Nick was part of that past, same with Jack's father. So, yeah, I don't think Jack's dad had any part with the Big 3.

There's that scene where Jack was leaving the convenience store with a cup of coffee after meeting with Nick, and IIRC has an over voice saying something to the effect that Jack had to leave the past behind to move into the future.

I'm not so sure about that. I believe the necklace that Kevin wears (given to him by Jack) always had a back story as it placed a big importance with Kevin. There was that time that Kevin left the necklace with a former classmate's home and freaked out when he lost it. Additionally, there's a scene I think from season two, where Kevin was playing with a toy grenade and Jack freaked out; foreshadowing the revelation of Nick's own grenade mishap. And of course,

Moreover, I believe Kevin taking in Nick was in the works for awhile given the other two Pearson kids have confronted their pasts and moved forward by finding their calling/purpose; that Kate had to deal with guilt of her father going back in the house save the family dog, but now she has Audio and is pregnant and Randall found his birth father and confronted his mom and is a local politician. Since the beginning, Kevin has been looking for purpose and a way to reconcile with the lose of his father, as he wasn't there for his family when Jack died.

By "her" I'm assuming you mean the person Randall and his daughter visit in the future, right?

Some of the flash forwards suggests that Beth is a lesbian, or at least that what I interpret the show was suggesting. There are still many twists and turns the show could throw at us with the use of flash forwards, like with Tobey and Kate and their kid.

I think Rebecca may hold some more surprises down the line.

 

Well I guess the "her" was confirmed in the Fall Finale. I guess I missed it. According to TVGuide.com:

The fall finale of This Is Us confirmed that the mysterious "her" in the future is Rebecca (Mandy Moore), but we may not learn the complete story behind that storyline any time soon. Series star Susan Kelechi Watson teased that Rebecca's fate in the future is actually tied to the end of the entire show.

"We answered some of it at the end of the fall finale, so I think the clues are going to be dropped in the same way," she told a small group of reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour Tuesday. "But according to when — at what point — I think this is something that we really see at the end of the series."

The cast and producers have confirmed they've already filmed scenes from the show's eventual finale, though we don't yet know when that could be. Now we know that Rebecca's situation in the future will be tied into how the Pearson story finally wraps up, which means a fuller picture of what's going on and why Randall (Sterling K. Brown) is going to see her might not be revealed by the end of Season 3.

That might be a little disappointing for fans who have been waiting impatiently to find out what is going on since the end of Season 2. At least they can be satisfied by the knowledge that they have the answers to Jack's (Milo Ventimiglia) Vietnam mystery. That storyline continues next Tuesday with "Songbird Road: Part Two."

 

As the thread title says...spoilers!

Well I guess the "her" was officially confirmed in the season 3 finale. It's Rebecca.

The future:
Randall and Beth - fine and still married in future, living in Philly, Beth opens own studio
Rebecca - in hospital bed in Kevin's home in future
Nicky - by her side, very old
Kevin - unseen, but is mentioned as they are in his house, and he has a son, I didn't catch his name, don't know if he's adopted, if the mother is in the picture, mystery (1) for season 4
Toby - shows up at Kevin's home to visit Rebecca, says he spoke to Jack and "they're on their way", who are the they - mystery (2)
Jack - Toby and Kate's son is on his way to visit Rebecca
Kate - unknown, doesn't appear to be with Toby anymore, could she be dead, did they divorce - mystery (3)
Tess - with the family at Kevin's home to see Rebecca, arrived with Randall
Annie - MIA - mystery (4)
Miguel - MIA (possibly deceased) - mystery (5)
Deja - MIA - mystery (6)
Jack - Rebecca's husband - still dead in present and future - still alive in the past

Honorable mention
Zoe - finally her and Kevin broke up

 

Season 4 kicked off last night with an extended episode named "Strangers" (68 minutes instead of the normal 60). The wife was tired so we didn't get to finish, but the main story involves Rebecca and Jack going on their fourth date at a country club with Rebecca's parents and two friends. Jack meets Miguel for the first time at a men's clothing store as he needs a jacket for the date. Miguel, never meeting Jack before, let's him borrow it to return it the following week because he can't afford it? Semi-unrealistic. Anyway, while all that is going on, we're introduced to three new "main" characters. I don't remember their names, but we have (1) a female soldier/negotiator, (2) a 20 something blind guy, and (3) a very young black adolescent with a baby.

I haven't finished the episode, but so far we learn that (1) the female soldier is having some PTSD and trouble adjusting to life back home - slightly similar to what Jack went through. She has a boyfriend and he has a son and he accidentally hits the boy. She appears to have a bit of a drinking problem as well, just like Jack.
(2) Blind guy breaks a plate making breakfast, goes to a diner, meets a waitress, they hook up after a date, and he later proposes. I like that he had the broken plate glued back together and framed.
(3) The kid with a kid works with his father at a body shop and attempts to make a nefarious connection with a potential drug dealer to make more money to support his baby daughter. The kid lives at home with his mother and father who help raise the baby. The kid should probably be in school, I don't know how old he is, but he looks super young, like maybe he should be in 8th grade. The mother of the baby appears to be MIA at this point.

I'm anticipating in the last 15 minutes or so that we have left in the episode that we'll get more backstory of all the above with really no answers on how they're all connected. I think that will be the mystery this season. Sterling K Brown tweeted asking for people's theories, so I guess he's trying to start the decision on how these "Strangers" fit into the big picture.

While I do enjoy this show, I was really expecting it to wrap up in Season 4, but last year it got renewed for three more seasons, so after 4, we're getting Seasons 5 and 6. As I'm watching the episode, I'm trying to figure out how they're all connected, but I hope this season isn't just new stories and new people because the main plot lines can probably be easily answered with a few more episodes and they're just padding the story. I'm hopeful, but ever so slightly pessimistic concerning where this season is going.

 

So I finished the episode and the last 15 minutes blew me away.

Spoilers, as the thread title says, but it seems the female soldier is going to be tied to Uncle Nick (Jack's brother) and Kevin who is going to fly to help him out. The young kid with the baby at home is going to be tied to Deja who is tied to Randall. And the blind guy is 20+ years into the future where we learn it's Toby and Kate's son. The way they wove these characters in was fantastic and blew me away. I can't wait for more.

 

Anyone catch the Season 4 finale last night?

Spoiler filled thoughts...
The Pearson and Damon family tree grows exponentially.

Toby/Kate's blind son Jack and his wife Lucy have a child. They name her Hope. They are visited in the hospital by Hailey (I don't remember if they say her name in the episode so I had to look it up on IMDb). Hailey is revealed to be the adoptive daughter of Toby and Kate. Why do they adopt? Well, it's Jack's first birthday, and they discuss the potential of having more children, but they remember the risk to Kate and the baby. They discuss that adoption worked out for the Pearson's so why shouldn't they, right? So good happy loop there.

The main story this season regarding Rebecca's health comes to a head when Randall and Kevin disagree on next steps for her. Randall is pro experimental treatment/trial in St. Louis while Kevin is against. They say some very heated mean things to each other and this tracks with a flash-forward earlier in the season when Kevin reminds his mom, after she gets lost, that he and Randall are not speaking. So sad loop closed here mostly, but more to come in the next season. We do see in a flash-forward that Randall and Kevin seem to be good so of course they make up at some point.

While Randall and Kevin fight at Toby/Kate's house, Kevin gets a visit from Kate's friend Madison. Madison is pregnant and Kevin is the father. And surprise - she's having twins. We see in a flash-forward that Kevin has a son and a daughter.

Other observations:

• Madison's doctor gets extra screen time to show that he's a good father to his daughter and they seem to be good with horses. I guess this goes with the whole "strangers" theme and how they can have an impact on our lives as the doctor convinced Madison to tell Kevin about the pregnancy. Overall, I just think the doctor and daughter got more screen time than they should have. Screen time that could have gone...
• ...to Nicky and the female solder character Cassidy that shows up for a hot second and I'm not sure why.
• We also get a brief shot of Deja and Malik who have had zero screen time since the beginning of the season.
• Also it's nice to see Tess and Annie where Tess gets one line and Annie gets none.
• It feels like some of these characters i.e. Randall's kids are becoming like "Lily" on "Modern Family". They don't know what to do with them because the focus should be on the Big Three, but now that the writers have been given two more seasons they're being "padded" with new characters, related and unrelated to the main characters we care about.

Thankfully the seasons are only 18 episodes where we get a solid 9 in the fall and another 9 in the winter/spring. This is a good structure and the writers had their fun with the "strangers". My hope is that the writers laser focus on the important storylines and make us care more and not just be along for the ride as Season 4 was a little bit of a bumpy one compared to past seasons.

 

yes it occured to me during the episode about deja and malik, then they showed up as well as jennifer morrison's character. keep wondering about Nicky and what his life was up until now. did he work? was he on disability or something.

Randalll has really shown himself to have a God comlpex. geez. totally awful in this episode.

 

This season of This Is Us has been really good. So much richness with providing more backstories of the characters, along with dealing with the issues of the day. The latest episode with Uncle Nick was very heartfelt. The Uncle Nick character is a wonderful contrast to the other characters on the show.

 

i thought it was rediculous when they said Nick was alive. This season gave us Randall's mom surviving. At this point i really am expecting Jack to show up in the finale.

 

Yeah, I thought when the show said that Randall's mom survived the overdose it was farfetched. But, when the story unfolded of how she survived the overdose and why she couldn't see Randall was plausible, for a TV drama anyway.

I found Nick being alive more of a plot twist than anything else. I like his grumpy character.

 

Series finale next Tuesday...

Penultimate episode and other thoughts from this last season.

Spoiler

I'm happy with the way that Rebecca's death was handled. I liked the train analogy. Reminded me of Inception a little bit. Everyone got to say their goodbyes. I'm glad they gave Annie some lines as she's been mostly in the background. Tess got zero lines which was unfortunate. She's also been sidelined as well.

Happy they brought Sophie back. I didn't like anyone else with Kevin so I liked the way they worked her back into the story without it feeling forced.

Glad Miguel got his own story, but it felt oddly placed so close to the end. It would have been nice to have that episode sooner since people were kind of hating on him for "taking Jack's place" in the family, which was not the case at all.

Other thoughts
I remember really enjoying the first 3 seasons of this show, but then the show suddenly got renewed for 3 more seasons. I think the writers didn't have that much more story to tell, so they gave use S04E01 "Strangers" which introduced brand new people and weaved them into the Pearson narrative. LOST did the same thing with the infamous "Nikki and Paulo" episode. It didn't work then and I would argue that it didn't 100% work here either. They did their best to make it work, but at some point I kind of stopped caring a little bit. Some episodes almost became a chore to watch. The emotion baked into the story was fewer and far between. The show wanted you to switch from focusing on Jack and put the spotlight on Rebecca who just was not as interesting a character as Jack. Also the problems that the Big Three had became repetitive. They became stagnant and unable to grow or grow so slowly that I felt like I was in a holding pattern for the last 3 seasons and waiting for the show to catch up the flash forward.

It's a been a ride. I don't think it'll be a show I'll ever revisit like a LOST or Breaking Bad, but I'm not mad I got invested. I'm just glad that it didn't get cancelled and it gets to end with a planned conclusion.

 

i was thinking the same thing last night as far as the first 3 seasons, like i said i didn't like characters turning out to be alive. this season the broke up Toby and Kate and Kate really acted awful imo
even last night with the other family that was introduced it felt like they needed filler. what did they really have to do with it other than one brief conversation Jack had with the dad?

 

Yeah the whole Kate & Toby thing was handled poorly and unrealistically for the most part. They were definitely looking for the next big surprise twist. Toby did lash out during their arguments and could be an *** **** at time, but he was not in he wrong about getting a good HIGH paying job in SanFran. Living in Cali is not cheap and I want to know in what world Kate is living where she thought she would be the bread winner and support a family of four with a teaching job. Sadly a lot of misses in that storyline.

 

haven't watched the show but did the big series finale get bumped for Biden's speech?