My DVR cut the very end. The last thing I saw was one of the boys holding her hand and saying something like, “say hey to him” and I’m assuming there was a scene with Jack after that. Can someone just give a brief recap,of that last moment?
Someone on Twitter mentioned that they had expected to see the third twin on the train, the baby that they had lost.
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I’m not sure what all happened after that and what might have been before, but after Kate arrives Rebecca opens the door to the caboose and inside is young Kate sitting in a chair in the corner, holding something that looks like a jar of lightning bugs. Rebecca approaches the bed. Kate is gone. She sits on the bed, then lies down. She looks to her right, and we see Jack lying next to her. She says, “Hey.” He says, “Hey.”
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IMO the whole Marcus story just didn’t belong in this episode. It could have been a great story if it had been included in an earlier episode and Rebecca had benefited from his discovery in the clinical trial. Here it just felt cheesy and forced. I would have preferred that time be spent on more family members saying goodbye or more time with Miguel. I would have preferred this as the last episode and no funeral next week, but maybe my opinion will change on that.
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Randall says “hey” to Rebecca - one of the last words we see any of them say to her - then flashes to her laying on the bed where she rolls over, sees Jack and says “hey” - and he “hey” back to her. ( I feel like this is all a memory test to see if WE remember what we saw! LOL)
I still am putting $1 bill on the fact that somehow we will see something with Marcus in the last episode that brings the story together.
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The train is Rebecca’s memories/dream, not the afterlife. Rebecca has no shared story with Kyle, so he would not be on the train.
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I just finished watching and I found it to be pretty much perfection. As always, I loved Beth and her good-bye was the most emotional part of the episode for me. William and Dr. K were unexpected treats, although she did try calling Dr. K in one of the recent episodes after she dropped Kate (if I’m remembering correctly).
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Mine was trying to talk to me on his way out. Shhh hubby!
I thought it was a great episode. Loved Beth, as always. Kinda thought the big three would be more “grand” like Beth’s speech, but I guess that will come next week.
Toby was hilarious. Loved the train idea.
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I think Randall says “Tell him Hey for us.” Him is obviously Jack. Rebecca then squeezes Randall’s hand, suggesting she understood this. Then when Rebecca rolls over and sees Jack, she says “Hey.”
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I’m so confused.
Marcus is the supposed father of Deja’s baby? But they showed a screenshot of Malik during that sequence. Marcus would be many years older than Deja, more in the generation of her father Randall. Why did they show a shot of Malik???
Malik is the father. Marcus was a red herring, a separate storyline.
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I went back to watch Marcus’ award scene. I wanted to confirm that it wasn’t for “curing” Alzheimer’s; it was “for his pioneering role in the development of drugs targeting Alzheimer’s disease.” He looks younger in that scene, so would the timeline work that his contribution did, in fact, affect Rebecca’s treatment?
On a fun note, I was so busy watching Marcus during that scene the first time, that I did not even look at the guy presenting the award. Ken Olin, right? He has directed so many This Is Us episodes. IMDB does not credit him for acting in that episode, but I remember him well from thirtysomething.
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That was pretty confusing to me. Deja is saying he works all the time blah, blah, blah and they cut to Marcus in the lab so I naturally thought he was the dad. My only disappointment is this bit of disjointedness.
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That’s the head fake they were hoping we would fall for.
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Yes, it shouldn’t be a surprise since they’ve done this kind of thing in the past.
I just watched it again. @jonri yes you’re right about the “hey” sequence. Only I didn’t get that Rebecca squeezed his hand - I thought that he was looking up because she had her last breath.
A couple of things I picked up on the second view. When Kevin and Randall were talking and Kevin mentioned Randall and Jack doing the pushups at the class (omg, that was one of the first scenes years ago that crushed me) and another memory - right after that - Rebecca walks through the train and sees these scenes playing out with Randall and a younger Randall doing those push ups (and whatever the other scene was).
The other thing I realized is I WISH the Deja here had been the original Deja. I REALLY needed original Deja talking to Randall. I think they could have made original Deja look older - in fact in real life I think she is a fair bit older than she played on the show. There is something about original Deja’s voice and her relationship with Randall that I needed the original character.
I’m also thinking that what made Mandy Moore physically get sick when looking at this script was the whole train concept and that it would literally be her journey to end of life. Everyone of those train scenes had to be gut wrenching to perform.
I did love the scene or scenes of the actors all together who played each of the Big Three, like the three Randalls, etc. That was cool and I’m sure it was cool for Mandy Moore as she got to know everyone.
Per Mandy:
[quote] “The Dr. K stuff really got me because it’s not like he was an enduring presence in their life,” Moore shared. “She saw him during this very monumental moment of giving birth and losing a child. And then he came to Jack’s funeral. She saw him when they were babies once. It wasn’t this constant throughline. Or at least, like, there wasn’t the physical presence in one another’s life. I think she held him in such high regard and high esteem and had him on this pedestal.”
“So the fact that they could have this very candid conversation about what happened during [the birth] — I imagine this event that Rebecca carried around with her, for the entirety of her adult life. But him giving her permission to take a rest, like you’ve earned the rest — oof, that really, really got me. That idea of you’re so strong … [she trails off] sorry, I get emotional thinking about it.”
She added, “But for someone to tell her, ‘You lived a great life, and you were an incredible mother, and you had all of this tragedy befall you, and you still made such a beautiful thing of all of it. And now you’re allowed to rest.’ I think just getting that [she starts to cry] permission from someone that she didn’t even know very well but loved so much and held in such high regard really just went such a long way. And that, oof, that got me. Still gets me, obviously. [Laughs.]”[/quote]
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You mean the third triplet? I have mixed feelings about the episode, because it was actually filmed during the first season (Mandy Moore mentioned this on one of the late night shows) and she looked just a bit too young in the episode. She looked gorgeous and glamorous, but for some reason her being the age she was in the first season seemed a little…. off. Also, when they showed Marcus in the lab making the CA discovery and later receiving the award for Alzheimer’s research, they had him limping, since he had the foot injury/surgery from the auto accident.
I’m gutted!
Can I just say (before I go read the thread) - I really sincerely hope the end is just like this episode. The perfect mix of happy and melancholy.
I loved this episode.
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