Rebecca’s “next time” speech saved this episode, but the rest...it almost felt like a retcon job to turn Randall and Kevin into Cain-and-Abel-level competition/hatred.  TIU lays it on thick, of course, but here it felt like they dispensed with the paintbrushes altogether and just dumped a bucket over the Pearson…

All excellent points.  Though you might be playing a dangerous game when you hark back to season 1. I’ve always thought this way, especially about family history/emotionally driven shows like This Is Us. What the showrunner thought the show was going to be and what the show turns out be at this stage are probably very…

I’m beginning to wonder what percentage of This Is Us’s budget is spent on music. Between that and makeup, it might be something like 95%.

When Marc dropped the mug, I was hoping Kate would pick up a piece and shiv him...

Money is one of those very convenient plot devices in just about every show. I wonder how many frequent flyer miles the Pearson Three have between them by now.

Having Rebecca at the end of the story was pitch perfect, especially since from the getgo, toddler Kate made it clear that she wanted mommy (wanted her to tell her the story). What’s that quote...the best stories are the ones where what first seems improbable, in retrospect, are inevitable.

I can’t recall which interview this was, but when asked what his Plan B was if the acting thing didn’t work out, Dafoe’s response was, “Plan B? I didn’t have a Plan A!”

Frankly, I don’t know if there’s a more tragic character than Basement Guy. The line where he ruminates that he was married here and maybe even born here...for me, he is the embodiment of the institutionalized subclass structure that exists in Korea (and other countries, frankly). Morally, there was no other way the…

Since the show was given a massive three-year renewal (including this one, bringing it up to a minimum of 6 altogether), I do wonder if Madison indeed is the one. She’s been a character who’s been around enough to warrant an expansion. But you know, we are talking about This Is Us. I can’t imagine Fogleman and Co. able…

Maybe I feel this way because network TV’s bar has been dropped so low, but I’m always impressed with this show’s ability to time-jump so freely. We have 1) toddler Kevin, 2) little boy Kevin, 3) lame-legged high school Kevin, 4) actor post-married-to-Sophie Kevin, 5) current Kevin, and of course, 6) future Kevin who…

You’ve just described the origin of Scientology.  The parallels are striking...

There is nothing and no one more adorable than Regina King playing coy.  That is all.

Late to the party but I just wanted to point out three silent moments of Olivia Colman’s:

Main character name rejects before settling on “Dick Best”:

I was just about to write that Samira Wiley needs to guest star as Malik’s long-lost sister...turns out they are actually related (she’s his aunt!). Since This Is Us does fake-related-casting better than anyone, I hope they make this happen with actually-related actors!

Considering the previous episode was an A-, giving this the same grade seems a bit generous. Much of the dialogue between Noah & Joanie and Noah & Helen was good. I remember the great exchanges between Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) and Sophie (Mia Wasikowska) that were penned by Treem for the first season of In…

I don’t think Ferguson is capable of giving a bad performance, even in subpar movies. Girl on the Train, Hercules, Life, MiBI, The Snowman...in all of them, she’s just a total professional.

Lifelong partners...in crime, too! Seriously, even if these two aren’t gonna be husband and wife again, they are inextricably attached in so many ways.

I wouldn’t have minded a straight-up A, Gwen. It’s really heartening to see that the team can still pull out a win at this late stage. Sarah Treem, I believe in you once again! The bottle-est part of this episode, the Noah and Helen duo, was absolutely the highlight and both actors killed it. What should we call this…

Agreed there, too — yes, we do live in interesting times. But let’s not forget why this show exists in the first place — Noah cheated on Helen and Alison cheated on Cole. Now that Alison is dead, it’s really all on Noah — he’s the one who has to live on with his infidelity and its consequences.