I love a good family drama, and This Is Us does not disappoint! This Is Us follows four seemingly unconnected people who all share the same birthday. The opening scene introduces us to our main characters on their birthday: a man, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and his very pregnant wife, Rebecca (Mandy Moore); Kate (Chrissy Metz), a woman struggling with her weight, who leaves notes for herself in her fridge; an executive, Randall, played by Sterling K. Brown, (fresh off his Emmy win for his work in The People v. O.J. Simpson - so deserved!); and Kevin (Justin Hartley), a bachelor-type, lamenting his age and hollywood career.
At the start of the episode, Rebecca’s water breaks and throughout the remaining hour, we follow her and Jack through her labor and delivery. Everything seems to be going wrong for them. They find out that their doctor is having a medical emergency and he won’t be able to deliver the babies. Because she’s having triplets, it’s a very high risk pregnancy, so this change is obviously very worrying. They get a great new doctor, Dr. K (Gerald McRaney), and he tries to be very realistic with them about their outcomes, which leads to a heartwarming speech from Jack about how he knows that everything will be alright. Unfortunately, during labor Rebecca goes into distress and after everything is over, Dr. K comes out and tells Jack that although his wife and two of the babies are fine, they lost the third baby. This is devastating but Dr. K sits with him and shares an emotional story about how he and his wife lost their first child as well. This was a stand-out scene, probably the best of the episode and most emotional. I really love Dr. K and I want him to be a part of every episode. I’m not sure how they would be able to make that happen, but I just think he brought such a nice energy to the show and I love his bond with both Rebecca and especially Jack.
Throughout the premiere, we follow each character and start getting to know their stories and daily struggles. Kate is a very relatable character, as everyone has things they want to change about themselves. In this episode, we see her attend a weight loss support group where she meets Toby (Chris Sullivan), who suggests that they be “fat friends”. Although she tells him she can’t fall for a “fat guy” right now, she goes out on a date with him and brings him home afterward. Unfortunately, before anything romantic can happen, her brother Kevin bursts in after a terrible day at work.
Kevin, who you’ll remember as the hollywood playboy from the beginning, plays the lead character on a show called The Manny. Throughout the episode, we see see him on set, where he’s starting to realize that he isn't happy with the quality of his role. Things really take a turn though, when a take of an emotional scene is apparently too deep and the director says they need to retake a lighter version and for him to lose his shirt. This really upsets Kevin and he has a breakdown on set where he quits and blames the audience, and their acceptance of terrible quality, for the bad TV that’s being made. It was an interesting commentary on the state of network TV, and had this show not been so good, it would have been rather awkward. However, it’s safe to say that This is Us rises well above the standards of The Manny or any show he could have been referring to.
The premiere also introduces us to Randall, the executive from the beginning, and his family, a wife and two young daughters. He tells his wife that he’s been looking for his birth father and found him. Later in the episode, he confronts his biological father, William (Ron Cephas Jones), to show him what a great life he has now, despite being abandoned, and you can tell he’s really at war with himself over whether or not he wants to try to have a relationship with this man. Even given every opportunity to just say what he wants to say and leave, he stays in an effort to get to know his biological father. Randall brings William home to meet his family even though it seems like this is all a bit too much and he’s really starting to lose it. Later in the episode he tells William about his adoptive family and opens up the door for him to become a part of his life. At first, William, rejects this offer and shares that that he’s dying so he thinks it would be better if they don’t continue seeing each other and leave everything as it is. However, later he seems to have changed his mind when we see him preparing to stay at their house. I really hope this will be the start of a nice relationship and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes over the course of the season.
Finally, the moment everyone will be talking about - the big twist at the end! Kevin and Kate are talking and she shares something their Dad used to say to make them feel better. It cuts to the hospital and we see Jack watching his babies in the nursery, talking to a fireman who tells him about a baby that was left at his firehouse. All of a sudden, everything starts to make sense when we see the fireman offering him a cigarette and smoking in the hospital, and the camera pans out to show all the dated clothes, and technology. Rebecca and Jack are actually Kate, Kevin, and Randall’s parents. It’s a very beautiful moment that gave me chills. Even after losing one of their babies, fate stepped in and they still got to leave with triplets, just not in the way they originally envisioned. I love this twist and how all the characters are connected. I think it will be really interesting to see the different timelines, although I’m not entirely sure how they’ll make it work. I think the entire cast and their chemistry is incredible so it’s kind of a shame that we’ll never see them all together in a scene.
I can already tell this is going to be one of my favorite new shows this year. The writing, acting, directing, really everything was great, which is quite impressive considering this is just the pilot. So far, I love all the characters, they’re very relatable and likable. I especially love the relationship between Kevin and Kate, however, I’m curious to see how Randall plays into it because so far he’s kind of been separate from the others. I can’t wait to see scenes of all the siblings together and also of Rebecca and Jack raising their children. These two have a really good natural chemistry that’s fun to watch and hard to find. Overall, This Is Us feels very similar to shows like Parenthood or Brothers and Sisters, which have both left a big opening that This Is Us can definitely fill. I’m really looking forward to next week’s episode and I can’t wait to see where things go from here!
What did you think of this premiere? What was your favorite part? Who’s your favorite character and what are you looking forward to seeing as the season progresses? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!
About the Author - Kate Sidwell
Kate is a 25 year old, USA based, Psychology/Public Health Researcher - but that’s just her day job! In her spare time she is an avid TV watcher (some may even say addict!!). Some of her favorite shows are Jane the Virgin, Bates Motel, The Flash, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Rookie Blue, Silicon Valley, Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow, The 100, The Mindy Project, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, The Royals, Orphan Black…so pretty much too many to count and a huge variety! She’ll give pretty much any show a chance! She also devotes a lot of time to her tumblr (
eat-sleep-breathe-tv.tumblr.com) where you can find her reviewing and commenting on most of these shows and just generally fangirling! She’s excited to be writing for SpoilerTV on Complications, Baby Daddy, Proof, Switched at Birth, Secrets and Lies, and Minority Report!
