Ken Olin may know Philadelphia but not necessarily the whole state, in particular, Pittsburgh. And the cities are over 300 miles apart. In an earlier flashback scene, I seem to recall that when the family was still in Pittsburgh, Kate’s family had to go get her from the cabin when she was with that creepy boyfriend. They just hopped in a car and went there. Now, this cabin is supposedly an 1 1/2 drive from Philadelphia. Is this a different cabin? I’m confused!
I would hope a Penn grad knows that Pittsburgh is on the other side of the state. ? Skibro, who was born and raised across the pond and attended Penn, knows that Pittsburgh is 300 miles away.
But yeah, they do play a little loose with geography. Or reality for that matter, since aside fro Kevin, it seems unrealistic to believe that any of them has enough disposable income to be jetting back and forth from LA all the time. Or that a non-resident of Phila can serve on City Council. Even I know what the Home Rule Charter is.
I loved the episode and understand why they aired it this week. Haven’t we all had days this year where we felt like Randall - it’s just too much, too sad? I liked Beth’s response and I did feel the hope in it. We fight on! That’s my mantra for the coming week, regardless of which way the election goes.
From what I have read, the cabin will be used a lot this season. So there will be more teleporter travel. 
Maybe the writers do know Pennsylvania. But it seems to me that the writers think that the rest of the country doesn’t.
Sadly, many don’t.
Well, sure many don’t know Pennsylvania! Aren’t there a lot of states you don’t know that much about!? The % of people who will have a beef with these inconsistencies in PA is likely small in relation to the show’s audience. I wouldn’t have thought about it twice if people here who know PA didn’t point it out.
ANYWAY… just finished watching. Gosh, I love this show so much but have to admit that I found myself sort of putting off watching it because I know it’s going to get to me emotionally and right now, I am not looking for more heavy emotion in life!
I will certainly keep watching but this feeling was super evident to me as the show started back up. If I remember correctly, last season ended shortly after the pandemic started???
Beth is just always my hero.
Populous ones? No.
And sparsely populated ones? Well I know that you can’t see Russia from Wasilla, AK. ?
Having Philadelphia and Pittsburgh nearby is not nitpicking. Nitpicking would be saying that common sense dictates that if the next stop on the subway is in Queens, you get off at the next stop and go to the opposite platform instead of wandering the streets for 2 hours and missing closing time at the Met.
Ok dude, we can call it something else besides nitpicking. I live in Ohio. I can tell you a lot about Michigan. I can tell you a fair amount from a few other states I’ve traveled more frequently. I cannot tell you about whether many states have cabin areas or if the Maps app would say the driving distance is not appropriate given the name of a couple cities.
I will just ignore the posts here that more “native” people want to slice and dice the geographics.
@abasket Viewers have been commenting on the geographic issues for years, not just about the Pittsburgh/Philadelphia/Pennsylvania stuff. Alpine NJ to Philly , no problem, just takes a minute. Philly to Manhattan in record time, same thing. The list goes on. The rules of geography don’t seem to apply. Many comments over the years about the writers and wondering if they time travel! As I said earlier, I still love the show. Feel free to ignore the posts though of a “native” of Pennsylvania like me. I’ll definitely get over it. We’re a tough bunch! Let’s Go Steelers!
The way I approach TV is that it is…TV. I want entertainment. It can be emotional, funny, scary, whatever- but it’s entertainment. If it isn’t completely accurate, so be it. I have enough stress in my work life and in the world where I don’t care to over-analyze my TV shows.
That said, Toby really looked thin. I know he lost weight all last season, but he seemed even thinner in this last episode.
You know in real life Toby is “thin” right? He was such a great guy in these two episodes. I actually also didn’t mind Kate!
Yes- I knew he wore a fat suit for the first seasons, but I thought he looked thinner this season.
Finally watched - overall I think I liked part 1 better than 2, and the ending…meh.
I adore Beth. And more and more I find I like Kevin.
Looking forward to more!
I ignore the geographic inconsistencies - only way I can enjoy the show
I liked the way they integrated the pandemic and the BLM issues. Wonder how much of their original script(s) they had to change to do this. I think they did a great job - it didn’t seem contrived.
I liked this version of Kevin. Loved the conversation between Kate and Randall at the cabin - so spot on. Most people don’t know how to react or what to do in that situation.
Hated the ending twist - unnecessary in my opinion.
I was content to believe Randall’s birth mother was dead and that he had found William and gotten some peace through that relationship. I think they have been working to “break” Randall more in the last year and I suspect what he will learn about his birth mother will be a path towards healing. I enjoy the rest of the cast, but it’s always been all about Randall & Beth for me more than the others. I’m anxious to see what they do to bring Nicky back since we know Nicky is sitting next to Rebecca in the flash forwards we saw last season.
I liked it enough. I’m glad it dealt with the tough issues of current times but also continued with the characters’ stories. It was interesting trying to figure out what they might have changed from the originally intended story line. It made me remember the end of last season though with the flash forward to the cabin after Becca got lost and people speculating about Kate signing Pearson as her last name on the police report and was she wearing a wedding ring and theories about Toby. And then she just signed it and he was there and it was all fine. I also personally was upset then that Kevin’s fiancé might be Madison but I don’t mind it as much now. I always wonder how they film the show. Do they shoot a
lot of footage of one scene and then work it into a bunch of episodes? Like were the William scenes all just shot for this episode or are a bunch from the last time he was in a story about Randall’s birth?
I saw Chrissy Metz on some show the other day and she said a big story is coming up for Kate - something that happened that she’s going to be dealing with that even Toby didn’t know about.
Let me guess- Kate got pregnant by abusive boyfriend and she has a kid out there somewhere. Should be interesting to see what it actually is! Anything is possible with this show.
LOL- I read the last post and fo an instant thought “uh oh- did I miss this week’s episode? ANd then quickly remembered what was on TV Tuesday (yesterday)…
I still have a hard time “accepting” or believing that Kevin stays with Madison. Maybe he doesn’t. I just don’t see her being a permanent thing for him. I believe he will embrace fatherhood but maybe not being her partner/husband.