To be fair, I think the pricing model for cars in 1980 was such that dealers were actually making profits off selling new cars, and thus had a lot more flexibility to make deals.
You know what I felt was unrealistic? Rebecca had nobody close to her to support her. Where were her parents? Close friends? Siblings? Cousins? In that type of situation, people rally around you. She seemed so isolated.
^ Thatās such a good point. We know Jack had a best friend in Miguel. Have we ever seen anyone that is equivalent for Rebecca?
I think that is an issue with tv shows as a whole. They rarely show extended family/friends even in a crisis.
agree. Weāre new to the show and are back on Season 1, but saw the fire episode and funeral. Rebecca has only 1 look so farāstruggling, and her only turn-to is Jack. Seems like she would have a whole multiple support group and moms from school and sports.
How about the concert tickets? Jack would have left the high priced, surprise tickets in the console? Along with the unrealistic car dealership sceneā¦and as mentioned, that Rebeccaās parents werenāt at the funeral (yes, their relationship is strained, but come on), and the bridge? Rebecca had never had to drive across that bridge herself until the day of the funeral? And the Dr. was her only confidant? I love the show but this was the weakest episode to date for me.
Dealers are doing fine selling new cars today. No doubt they have other profit centers though.
I think when you pick one thing (in this episode the Wagoneer) to center 5 or 6 separate stories around and you use them to connect to future events you have already revealed, you will get some things that are forced. I think it makes sense to make a vehicle the focal point because for a lot of families, many memories center around a vehicle of one type or another (and for some families its the same car and for others its multiple cars over time).
When Kevin and Randall come back home after Jack made them walk home for fighting and almost getting into an accident, Jack was working on the car. He could have been doing any of a number of things when they got back home unrelated to the car. Jack learns of Alanis when he is driving around in the Wagoneer and sees Kate sitting at a bus stop. He uses that as an opportunity to encourage her passion (by both taking her there and encouraging her to pursue music). Many other ways to find out about Alanis and to encourage her to pursue music which do not involve the car.
Rebeccaās fear of the bridge? They needed something tied in with the car that could also be used to show Rebecca tackling a fear/issue in Jackās absence after his death. Narrow options there that satisfy all of those things (and I suspect many of those other options would have been as forced or more). And a lot of people have irrational fears of some kind. Talk to them about it and many will admit it doesnāt make sense but the fear is still there nonetheless. Wouldnāt surprise me if one of the writers knew someone with a fear of bridges that they tied into the show.
In terms of buying the car, I agree that on its face the likelihood of getting a great deal on a new car by telling the salesperson you cannot afford it is small. However, may be they could afford it (or at least didnāt need that big of a price reduction to be able to afford it). Jack may have just used that as a negotiating tactic. Likely a little forced because they needed Jack to be away from Rebecca to make the statement that the one thing he needed was for his family to be OK so it could be tied into Rebecca saying by Jackās tree after his funeral that she would make sure their family was OK.
As far as Rebecca not being part of the process, I think that happens a lot. You can have an equal marriage and not have each spouse equally involved in each and every decision. You bring different expertise and different likes/dislikes to the table in a marriage. One spouse may well take the lead and handle certain types of things/decisions. And the other does so with other types of things/decisions. And see above about Jackās statement about the need for āOKā and the importance of that being said without Rebecca there to hear it.
Does Rebecca still have the Wagoneer? I cannot recall. Will be interesting to see what happens to it if she doesnāt. Give it to one of the kids? If so, will they fight over it? How are the emotions if she sells it or trades it in?
Great post, @saillakeerie.
It is a fictional TV show after all and as stated above, the point was to center the episode on the car. It seems like it was that particular bridge, not bridges in general that scared her. There were other people at the funeral and after event, just didnāt focus on them. Perhaps Rebecca did not want anyone else around her.
I love that they were going to go see Springsteen together!
You could focus the episode on the car without unrealistic and misogynistic car purchasing scenes, IMO. It wouldnāt have taken anything away from the good parts of the episode to write/handle those scenes differently.
The car purchase was much more than the better negotiator in the family handling it (partners playing to their strengths). He didnāt even consult her or care what she thought about the purchase.
It seemed very contrived and therefore lost merit with me for this episode. If the writersā goal was for me to think of Jack less highly though, it worked. 
The care dealership did not surprise me. The show consistently shows Jack misogynistic, but just more blatant in that scene. Typically, heās just āniceā about it.
Jackās fandom for Springsteen did not ring entirely accurate to me.
Jack was probably born around 1950-52? Springsteen was not high on the list for that age cohort. When he had Kate in the car and was teeing up his musical preference, I was expecting Stones, The Who, The Doors, Dylan, etc.fIt they wanted to present an example of music that defined his generation, it would not be Springsteen. Although thereās no doubt that that age cohort later became Springsteen fans, it was not emblematic of their generation.
But I get why they did it. In 1997 it was more likely that thereād be a Springsteen concert than a Who concert.
Jack was born in 1944. He was 36 in 1980 when the triplets were born.
I was born in 1948 and Springsteen is definitely emblematic of my generation.
Springsteen was born in 1949.
The show is really slippery on Jackās age. He was born in 1944? That hardly makes sense. Wouldnāt that make him too old for the Vietnam experience they keep threatening to fill in? Wouldnāt that make him too old for the illegal b.s. he was engaged in when he met Rebecca? I had him slotted as 5-6 years younger than that, after I figured out that he was supposed to be meaningfully older than Rebecca (and I).
I agree that someone living in Pittsburgh who was already 30 or close to it when Springsteen went national, and 31 when Born To Run came out, would not be that likely to be a huge Springsteen fan. But, as I suggested above, I think they take some poetic license with Jackās age and the cultural baggage it would carry. Just as they do with time and distance.
Maybe this will help:
http://www.vulture.com/2018/01/this-is-us-chronological-timeline.html
āHe was born in 1944? That hardly makes sense. Wouldnāt that make him too old for the Vietnam experience they keep threatening to fill in?ā
I just looked it up and the U.S had military personnel in Vietnam War beginning in 1959 (this was the date when the first US soldiers were killed in action), but the "realā involvement didnāt start until around 1964 with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
Jack would have been 20 in 1964, so no, not too old at all.
I donāt get why he would be too old regardless of what age he was in 1980. I listen to and am a fan of a lot of music/groups coming out currently and Iām in my 50s, and have added favorite groups throughout every decade of my life. Not everyone gets stuck in a musical time warp from their teens and 20s, thank god. Never a big Springsteen fan, though.
I was born in 1952 and was a huge Springsteen fan from the beginning. I saw one of his earliest concerts before he was a big deal (in Chicago in the mid-70s). I think he is big in my age group!
Me too, @doschicos , but itās not that common. And I have a real gap in my early 30s ā that happened less then. For some reason, my interest in current music really picked up again in my late 30s.
@MomofWildChild ā 1952 vs. 1944 is a huge difference, if you are talking about tastes in music. And in Springsteen terms, if you came from the Philadelphia area you were likely to have heard of him long before people in the rest of the world, since he was well-known here long before he went national.
The U.S. had a military presence in Vietnam in 1959, but it didnāt have significant casualties until 1965. The years with the really high casualty figures were 1966-1970, with a big peak in 1968. A kid like Jack should have been done with his military service by then.
Here are some figures. https://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/casualties.asp The casualties in 1966 were more than triple those in 1965, and 30 x those in 1964. The casualties in 1968 were two-and-a-half times those in 1966. 60% of those killed were 21 or younger.