I was really underwhelmed! Aside from the conversation with Beth, I felt like the episode was rushed and the part with Marcus was a hokey stretch. I get the meaning, but I would rather have spent that time with the Pearsons.
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Also, there is no need to see the pregnant/birthday suit scene again next week. We have seen it so. many. times.
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Oh, I also loved William and William’s speech.
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Beth’s line “I’ll take it from here, mama” did me in.
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Me, too. It was a lovely recognition that she was the rock and the glue that kept that generation together. Sometimes an in-law becomes the matriarch.
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I have to admit that I was much more moved by last week’s episode. Maybe I was expecting too much for this week.
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Fogelman discusses how the he and the writers developed the “train” theme, which was lovely.
In this article, Fogelman, explains he had The concept of the “Marcus” story, for a long while, the night when Jack dies, Marcus, a child lives.
And, here he discusses the drama with Kate, the full circle moment, 
.
“ I always thought Kate would have to race to get there in time, because she has taken the steps in her life, based off the advice from her mother, to spread her wings and fly. That very advice has taken her out of the room when her mother is about to pass. I thought that was just a really simple story that doesn’t even need to be spoken about to see it. She’s off doing something big and fantastic and fabulous that was spurred on by her mother’s “Go live your life to the fullest” speech, and now that very thing may prevent her from being at her mother’s bedside as she passes. And then the fact that in our story, her mother is able to hold on until she gets there, it felt like a full-circle realization of their entire relationship.”
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I loved the episode. I thought the train was a beautiful way to visualize Rebecca’s passing.
My only minor quibble was an editing error. In the scene where Deja is telling Randall about her pregnancy, at one point she is frowning, but when the camera switches angles she is clearly smiling. Those kinds of things bug me more than they probably should, ha.
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The train scene reminded me of a Star Trek episode, where Data is guided thru a train.
As I mentioned I do think the hour just flew by. Some of the “cameos” on the train so fleeting - like Miguel. I wish it had been 2 hours.
I also think perhaps unfortunately we were REALLY built up for emotion in this episode - the cast and crew really played up their reactions to this episode being epic.
But I’m not disappointed. In fact, I think I’d like to watch it again. I was rushed to sit down when the show started and I wasn’t fully “tv ready”.
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My husband was banging around in the kitchen and he was driving me nuts.
I also was so, so very happy to see Dr. K have a nice appearance (again, longer than Miguel!) and to hear his story that he thought he might lose Rebecca during childbirth.
Of course thrilled to see a younger William as the conductor. I also loved that Mandy was portrayed sort of at her best young mom self. She was stunning and so, so happy most moments on that train. That moment before going into the caboose though. Gut wrenching for me. That she said, “no, I’m waiting for someone”, but also knowing that Jack was going to be there.
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Until I saw Malik, I was wondering about the age difference between the ‘always working’ Marcus and Deja. He would have to have been quite a bit older.
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@skieurope (or anyone else who is good at the timeline within this show) - for how many years was Rebecca married to Jack and Miguel, respectively?
I feel like I was confused about Deja/Marcus cause I swear Deja said the name “Marcus” at some point?? This is why I need to watch again - I want ALL the details in line!
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21 and 17 years respectively
May 16, 1976 to January 26, 1998 with Jack
2011 to ~ 2028 with Miguel.
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I also thought Marcus was shown as Deja’s boyfriend when the show cut to him working right after she told Randall about the pregnancy, not thinking about the age difference, until the scene between Jack and the dad. I can’t remember, but was that scene shown previously? I agree it wasn’t really necessary to bring that family in, although knowing that Dr. K’s advice to Jack became another family’s motto was a nice device as well as another look at the circle of life.
I thought the laughing in the living room was pretty typical of when folks gather, even in waiting for death. Life goes on and people interact, especially when kids are around.
The train was an interesting device for death and allowed us to see young Rebecca. Loved the glimpses of important people in her life. I read that caboose was featured because it was one of the first words Rebecca lost.
Loved William’s line: “if something makes you sad when it ends, it must have been pretty wonderful when it was happening”. So very true, not just about death but about watching our kids grow up and being happy for them, but a bit mournful about the end of day-to-day family life. Loved Beth’s goodbye about how as parents we are always faking it (hopefully eventually making it).
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Agree that the Miguel episode was more emotional for me and loved the train motif. And the first thing I thought of when hearing that the episode was called Train was her struggle with the word caboose. Didn’t occur to me that her journey would be on a train.
I’m thinking that part of the reason it felt less emotional for me was the addition of the Marcus storyline. Dh and I were trying to figure out how old he was in relation to the kids and wondering how he figured in. Took us out of the story and emotion, truthfully. To whoever asked, I don’t think we ever saw Jack walking around the hospital with bandaged hands. He was in bed when Rebecca went to the vending machine.
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Thanks! I was trying to figure out to whom she was married the longest - pretty close to the same length.
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I wish she had seen Jack on the train ride. I felt like she had two true love stories in her life, both deep and abiding loves. I would have liked it better if she had seen both husbands on the train, then stepped into some bright and beautiful unknown after William’s speech. Because she traded her own dreams for a different dream, her taking the next step by herself would actually have made me feel happier.
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