This is Us Review [1×02]: “The Big Three”

After a strong premiere outing, This is Us continues to perform solidly in the areas it did in the premiere and struggles in the same ways

After last week’s massive twist, This is Us has a lot to live up to for the second episode. The NBC drama had more than 13.5 million viewers when you factored in DVR playback, making it one of the most watched pilots of the fall season so far. So where does This is Us go from here? Eight years into the future, for Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), anyway. Being parents of triplets isn’t going too well, and we’re struggling to see glimpses of the adorable, loving couple from the premiere. In the present, the “big three” are facing issues of their own. Kate (Chrissy Metz) continues to overly obsess about her weight with her boyfriend Toby (Chris Sullivan),  and twin Kevin (Justin Hartley), faces repercussions from the network after his on-set meltdown at “The Man-ny”. Meanwhile, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) has family drama of his own. His bio dad is in the house, and his secretive nature and shady past make for an… interesting new family dynamic. With two exciting new guest stars (Katey Sagal, Brad Garrett), some fantastic exploration of family dynamics, and another great twist at the end, This is Us does really great job building upon the momentum of last week’s premiere while solidly pointing out the trouble it’s still having with one of it’s characters. 

Marriage Trouble for Rebecca and Jack?!

Ending a pilot episode with a twist is always a tricky thing. In an interview last week, series creator Dan Fogelman explained that structurally, This is Us will be different from other shows. Nothing evidenced that more than this week’s episode beginning in 1988, an eight-year jump forward from last week’s premiere. For us, this was a really smart decision. For one, it kept us off balance, which we always like, but it mostly allowed us to experience the family dynamic right away after learning that these people are in fact a family. And families are messy. It’s truly heartbreaking to watch Jack act like a total jerk, especially after watching their magic in the pilot last week. Three kids have taken their toll on the couple, and Rebecca seems more than a little bitter that dad seems to get the fun and none of the work. It’s a classic trope that plays itself out here really well. What the show does best in all of these scenes is drop small nuggets of information which lead to larger issues in the future: Kevin calling Randall “Webster”, Jack drinking bourbon after bourbon as he vents to best friend Mike (Jon Huertas) about Rebecca, Rebecca forcing Kate to eat melon and cottage cheese instead of allowing her cereal. The way these things pay off just feels good, even if they pay off badly for our characters. Milo Ventimiglia is particularly jarring in this episode, in a good way. As written, Jack could have easily come off as weak and wishy-washy, but Ventigmilia plays him with a just enough bite to make you question why you loved him before turning it around and returning to that sweet guy we love to adore. He really hits all the right notes this episode.  Add to that his friend Mike waxing so poetic about how amazing Rebecca both in the bar and later in his phone call-  What’s that about? There’s definitely more to the story here and we can’t wait to see how that develops.

“I don’t know, Miguel.  It’s hard to see the woman I married sometimes.” -Jack

Knowing the “twist” this episode really helps you appreciate the details that production managed to put into the episode, from Rebecca’s idea of a healthy breakfast for an 8 year old (an entire half of a cantaloupe filled with cottage cheese, Rebecca??) to the Pac-Man cereal and old Rival crock pot, production design (Gary Frutkoff) of the 1988 sequences was spot on. Set decorator Beth Wooke must’ve had the time of her life. The lunch boxes, light fixtures, juice boxes ripped right from the 80’s is one of the more delightful accents of the show. Additionally, Ventimiglia’s changing look to denote time period is a pretty great touch, so congratulations to Hala Bahmet (costume designer), Michael Reitz (hair department head) and Zoe Hay (makeup department head) for those little touches that made 1988 feel so real for us in this episode.

Kevin’s walkout keeps the drama coming, & Kate lets loose

Last week Kevin had a meltdown and walked off the set of his show.  You knew there would be repercussions for that. They come in the form of this week’s two delightful guest stars, Katy Segal as Lanie, who, along with Brad Garrett as the owner of the network Kevin walked out on, provide a breath of fresh air with some additional comic relief. As Kevin’s sharp-tongued manager Lanie, Segal is in charge, and Brad Garrett certainly isn’t the nice guy he usually plays here. Kevin’s in serious trouble for walking off the set of his show and he’s going to have to grovel to the network in order to avoid being bankrupted for breaking his contract. We liked the fact that there were concrete repercussions for Kevin’s actions, and we’re certain things are going to get a lot messier for him. The writing in this episode was a good deal better than the premiere, all of the funny lines given to any of the characters felt natural and unforced, particular in scenes with Kevin & Kate, and nothing resorted to cliche. We still have the same criticisms of this episode that we had in the pilot, however.  Nearly every scene Kate had with just Toby revolved around her weight (or getting over her weight). We’ve seen slight improvements only because Kate’s scenes with Kevin showed that Kate’s struggle isn’t always with her weight, she also seems to have a problem with giving everything she has & is to her brother, and we’d like to see more of that continue (not that Kate lives for her brother, but that she has more complexity than food issues!). We said it after episode 1 and we’re saying it again in episode 2- We agree with Toby- Kate’s entire character should not revolve around her weight. We want a more three dimensional experience from that character.

“I need to know everything isn’t always going to be about our weight.” -Toby

In terms of the improvements in the writing, we were incredibly struck by how moments in the show are so relatable. It’s this strength that gives the show its ability to consistently break our hearts, again and again. Kate’s initial meltdown at the top of the show on the treadmill because Toby has lost weight and she hasn’t, along with later when she frets about whether or not a dress will fit her- we’ve been there, Kate. Young Kate telling her mother hopefully that she had only eaten fruit that day in an effort to gain her mother’s approval was a moment that ripped our guts out.  We’ve felt that. In this episode we started seeing the thin girl at the weight loss support group meeting as us, the viewer. She’s there, and sure, she might not struggle with her weight. But she feels like she does. Even if you can’t specifically relate to the complex family dynamic on the show, there’s something within every character that feels like all of us.

A Secretive Former Coke Addict Dad Can Make Your Life Pretty Complicated

This episode had a lot of heart all around, but Randall (an incandescent Sterling K. Brown) really seems to center it emotionally. Episode 2 just built on the emotions wrought in episode one, but really upped the ante. We absolutely cried a lot more here than we did during the pilot. This episode saw Randall as a boy struggling to connect with his brother Kevin (who was fond of teasing him by calling him Webster), and the scene where Kevin calls Randall was the emotional high point of the episode. The development by Brown was basically a master class in acting. When Kevin’s initial call to ask for his advice and Randall’s face is almost void of emotion and reaction, we feel the agony of estranged brothers. The coldness was palpable before Kevin is moved to apologize for not being the brother he should’ve, and it was all about Brown’s priceless reaction. The progression of his face from cold anger almost void of all reaction to being moved to make a connection with his siblings with his incredibly expressive eyes wet with unshed tears was the high point of the episode until the twist at the end.

“No you weren’t. But you still got time.” -Randall

Bonus nods to Susan Kelechi Watson for a very incredibly effective monologue at the end of the episode as she defends Randall from his father, who she perceives as lying. She was alternately charming, tough and self-effacing, and Beth is the perfect foil for Randall. Another bonus was the shocking final scene (will this show ever not leave our mouths hanging open in the final moments?) that will honestly blow your mind in another trick that, honestly, we should’ve seen coming!

This is Us really ups the emotional ante and absolutely delivers on the promise of things to come after the pilot with a relatable emotional wallop of an episode

We really enjoyed the premiere of This is Us, so we were kind of surprised when we liked this week’s even more. The show seems to be hitting its stride where writing is concerned as the cheesy elements from the premiere have really evened out. The emotional core running through the episode affected us more than we thought it possibly could and it really made us anticipate what’s coming next week. We’re excited to watch the childhood tension between Kevin and Randall develop and watch their current relationship develop further. We’re still waiting for Kate’s story to develop beyond food issues, and hopefully the new tension created with Kevin blowing off the network and moving to New York will provide that for her (we’re cautiously optimistic). And of course, that surprise ending must be explained!

Questions/Comments/Concerns

• Did anyone else notice Rebecca was still wearing the moon necklace in the final scene?? WHAT DOES IT MEAN????
• We might not be able to survive jerk-Jack. What are you doing, Jack?
• Please, please please- give Kate something else to do! But please keep giving Toby quippy zingers. He’s definitely growing on us!
• Who thinks things are just starting to get crazy for Kevin?
• We adored the scenes with William and his granddaughters (but maybe lay off the cocaine talk, William)
• The entire family dynamic between Randall, his wife and daughters is so lovely, we’ll definitely take more of that, please!
• We’re totally digging the fun guest stars the show is bringing in! Katy Segal killed it this week.