Stars: 5/5
“This Is Us” once again proves to be one of NBC’s most emotionally-captivating and heartfelt dramas.
The trailer warned us to expect the unexpected, but somehow the writers always know how to completely shock their viewers. With the many twists and turns that “This Is Us” offers, it seems as if fans are in for one long tear-jerking journey this season.
When we last saw the Pearsons, baby Jack was just coming home with Rebecca (Mandy Moore), Miguel (Jon Huertas) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) who were all moving to LA to be close to him and help Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan).
Kevin and Zoe (Melanie Liburd) split, but Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) decided to stay together and work on their marriage. Moving into the future, getting a glimpse of what we could possibly expect from this season, we found out Kevin eventually has a son of his own. We also see that Nicky (Griffin Dunne) is back with the family as they all visit Rebecca who seems extremely ill.
The show has already introduced past, present and multiple points in the future. “This Is Us” creators suspect that they’ll have enough strong material for a couple more seasons, and the beloved Pearsons might soon be out of the story all together.
Even though the creators knowing their limits and having high expectations and standards for the work they put out is a good thing, that many seasons is still a bold move. There have been drama series that have been longer than 10 seasons and some longer than that which are still on, but some of those shows lose their magic, and the focus of the show itself tends to shift and go all over the place.
Of course, I’m hopeful, and they haven’t let me down yet. I can’t imagine not seeing the Pearsons being the focus of the show, but in the premiere fans saw just that.
Other than seeing another traditional Pearson Big Three birthday and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca being the cutest couple to ever exist, we see an array of new characters. Throughout the episode each new character is introduced, leaving the audience guessing what their connection is with the Pearson family story line and what significance this will hold in the season.
We see more of the early origins of Jack and Rebecca’s love story, giving us the details of how Jack and Miguel actually met, and we learn that Rebecca’s dad didn’t necessarily love Jack and Rebecca’s relationship.
Along the way we hear the stories of a veteran’s journey in the war and how she struggles adjusting when she gets back home, a musician who falls in love with a girl at a diner who eventually becomes pregnant and a young teen raising a child with the help of his parents.
I’m not going to spoil the good stuff, but stick around until the end of the episode to see the connections because they are huge.
The spoiler-free version is that all of these characters are or will be connected to the Pearson family in one way or another. This opens up the timeline of the show once again, allowing us to look even further into the future.
Even though seeing this new part of the story line begin to unfold was different, I enjoyed it nonetheless. I already think the audience will be majorly impacted by the new characters, as well as still count on the Pearson family to make us smile, laugh and ugly cry. I have high hopes for this season and the continuation of the series. I didn’t expect to see so much change so soon, but change can be good.
I’m always eager to feel all the love and cry all the tears I need to for Jack and the Pearson family, so bring on the tears.