I agree about the cameos…the show doesn’t need big names to pull us in. Also agree everyone seemed “whiny” lol. Not their best episode by far.
I just binged on Season 1 and watched the first episode ion Season 2. Agree that some are VERY good and others are so-so. Randall and Beth have the most dimension and real. Acting is very strong in most all cases.
I thought I would share my own This Is Us-inspired moment. After I saw the Pearson’s address on the letter from the supposed birth mom on the envelope, I was curious exactly where Bethel Park, Pa., was. It turns out to be a suburb southwest of Pittsburgh. On the map, I could see it is very close to McKeesport, where my grandparents immigrated and my dad was born, before they left when he was very young. I have never been there.
So that, of course, led me to Google McKeesport, where I discovered a new movie about the history of the city. In an online except, it featured a department store with the same name as my family (not sure if it’s related to us or not) and many oral accounts of Jews from Hungary (like my grandmother) immigrating there in the early 20th century, including one talking about the very Hungarian town my grandmother was from.
So I found it serendipitous that I went from This Is Us, to my very own this is us in a matter of minutes.
My biggest problem with the episode was Kevin. Actors tap into their emotions and their memories to populate their characters. If Kevin is that emotionally stunted, no way would he be starring in anything. In fact, the scene he was shooting would have been the perfect place to think about his father. Yes, I know it’s not rooted in reality, but this one just didn’t make sense.
The best part of the episode was the flashback with William speaking with Randall’s younger daughter. It was a beautiful scene. The rest of the episode was weak, in my opinion.
I didn’t miss Toby at all.
I miss William so much. I didn’t even realize how much until that scene on the stairs.
Barbalot, cool story!!
I miss William, too. He’s always been my favorite. As for the unevenness of the quality of episodes, I discovered that last season my favorite ones were directed by Ken Olin.
I didn’t recognize Ken Olin at first in one of the “after” shows. He looks so different from “thirtysomething!”
I also thought this episode was pretty weak. I told DH he didn’t need to watch it because not much happened.
Can we just get to Jack’s demise already? I’m yawning all the way there.
I like Kate, although at times she does seem overly sensitive. I thought the scene last week between Rebecca and Kate after Kate’s performance was very powerful. Rebecca didn’t think she was being negative and was trying to be supportive (in her own way), and yet Kate heard it as criticism and as something that ruined her first performance. To me, it spoke to the difficulty of parenting at times - wanting the best for our kids, but sometimes making things worse.
Yet I also thought that it was a bit ridiculous that they all flew out to see Kevin in the Manny but then all left in the middle. It also made no sense that Kate would have gotten that gig based on her not very good audition.
As others have said, this week was weaker, and I am wondering where the foster daughter story line will go. I really like Beth and think the actress is great.
I’m over Jack. First episode he annoyed me about by insisting “everyone was going to be OK” not letting the doctor make contingency plans for the birth. I can’t stand the jealousy. Last night when he complained about Rebecca’s short hair cut was the last straw for me. I hope young women don’t feel he is a model for what a husband should be. I hope there is a story about this later, maybe after he dies. Note she has a short hair cut now.
I watch intermittently. I like the young and teen version of Kate. This last episode seemed odd with Sly chatting it up with. Kate and her brother having a meltdown b/c sly knew about their dad.
I think people were “spoiled” with the high level of drama/emotion, etc. near the end of last season and are now expecting that each episode. Every episode of a series can’t be a peak. Takes time to build and add to the story. I feel we got “more story” this week with the reveal of a possible addiction problem for Kevin, deeper into Randall’s search for his parents as a kid and his anxiety, etc.
If we find out Jack’s demise episode 3 of the season - where do we go from there??
It was a kinda boring episode for me. I am bothered by Randall’s being oblivious to how hard taking in a foster daughter will be. I thought some of those scenes were realistic (“YOU have your own iPads??”) and her insistence that her mom would be back to get her etc. But I think that situation will be difficult to navigate.
Does Kate have an actual job? Or does she follow Kevin around? Does she have an apartment? Weren’t they moving to the East Coast? Where does she hang her clothes at night??? 
Harsh CC criticism this week
Yeah, this episode wasn’t the best, but like @abasket said, it’s a story-building episode.
I don’t know what made me think Beth and Randall were only interested in fostering boys. I was thrown for a loop with the girl. I guess the writers had some of the same concerns I had about bringing an older boy into a home with younger girls. At least the scenes were fairly realistic and the teen wasn’t grateful for being cared for by such “nice people” and so happy to be away from her abusive/neglectful mother. But Randall should totally have known how to handle the situation since becoming a licensed foster parent requires pretty extensive training. At least as far as my training was concerned, we ran multiple scenarios on how to deal with all kinds of different ages, levels of abuse, etc. I will say that the baby monitor was 100% realistic, so I am thinking the writers talked to some actual foster parents for that one.
What was with that weird flashback with William? I get that the younger daughter was remembering that moment and using it to help the foster daughter, but it just went on too long. It was almost as if they didn’t have enough material. Maybe it was just bad editing.
All I could think about during Sylvester Stallone’s scenes was how much plastic surgery he has had. And I wondered if he actually did remember his real children being little in matching pajamas.
I remember watching Mad Men and thinking how boring some of the episodes were.
Later, you found out what they were setting you up for. Things made so much sense and you knew why they explored that aspect.
If This is Us is only 1/2 as good as Mad Men,
It was the best part of the episode. I didn’t find it weird at all. It was obviously reflecting the situation with the foster daughter and how uncomfortable she, and William, were in that home.
^^Right. For all we know William might have walked out that door and never came back to stay in the house - it seemed to be his first night there. Could be quite poignant with now, a foster child living there.
I thought the flashback was intended to show us that Rebecca had the capacity to open her heart to the foster child because what she had learned from William’s unplanned arrival in her life. Also, how the girls can build a bond with a new arrival in such a sweet and accepting way. I loved it.
I also agree that we can’t expect every episode to be incredible. Sometimes we just have to advance the story with only a few delights mixed in. I used to think the same thing about Mad Men, @deb922. You had to slog through several early season episodes and then you would have several at the end of the season episodes that kept you saying wow repeatedly.