'This Is Us' Had A Very Extra Halloween
Remember Pilgrim Rick? Of course you remember Pilgrim Rick. Last season, Jack managed to salvage a potentially disastrous Thanksgiving night spent at a creepy lodge, by dressing up as the establishment's scary pilgrim hat-sporting owner and telling goofy stories to his delighted kids, thus creating a Pearson holiday tradition that has endured to this day. It's no surprise, then, that Jack and Rebecca take Halloween - the actual occasion upon which you're meant to dress up as a scary costumed character - extremely seriously. Observe, if you would, the image above.
Yup. Just drink it in. Here's a full family portrait featuring Jack and Rebecca as Sonny & Cher, Kate as Sandy from Grease, Randall as Michael Jackson, and Kevin as...IDK, I'm still confused about his costume, honestly.
Alright, now that we've got that out of the way, here are my Thoughts and Feelings from tonight's episode, "The 20s."
1. Wait, is this the first time we’re seeing any of the Big Three in their twenties? We’ve seen them as teenagers, and obviously in their thirties, but this is a first. This is 2008, which makes them all 28.
2. Um, excuse you Kevin, Randall wanting to use a map to maximize the house-to-candy ratio for trick or treating is GENIUS and you are LUCKY TO HAVE HIM, FRANKLY.
3. So this episode takes place a couple of months after Randall’s breakdown, which Beth described to William last season - the one where he got so stressed that he temporarily went blind. The realistic depiction of Randall’s anxiety disorder, including the fact that it comes and goes intermittently throughout his life, remains one of my favorite things about this show.
4. That ‘Obama/Biden’ sticker might be the single most tearjerking moment in This Is Us history. Remember 2008? That was great.
5. Justin Hartley is so goddamn good at playing Kevin’s obnoxious Hollywood douche side (and I mean that in the least shady way). This entire Tom Cruise monologue he’s doing to his bored customer at the hair salon is a joy.
6. Kate is in night school at 28. We're not sure at this point whether she went to college. Maybe she’s getting an extra qualification in something, but it’s not clear at this point what her career goals are.
7. “We’re Sonny and Cher.” “Who are they?” Ha. TFW you put all of the effort into your Halloween costumes and none of your kids care.
8. Okay, okay, so even though I personally think Randall’s map/candy efficiency mission is smart, I do acknowledge that he’s maybe a little too rigid. This feels to me like a pretty smart depiction of the type of thought patterns that might exacerbate anxiety disorders in adulthood.
9. “See, this way the fan thing won’t be hanging over my head. Or it WILL be hanging over my head! See what I did there, it’s a fan joke.” Even when he’s racked by debilitating anxiety, Randall is still making dad jokes :(
10. Rebecca wanting to join Facebook to “be part of a community”... oh, honey, no. Although I guess in 2008, maybe? Poor Rebecca’s loneliness is really clear in this episode, and there’s been no mention of Miguel at all.
11. “Garuda. I almost had a baby named after me until I said that, didn’t I?” This scene is great.
12. I really appreciate that this Kate storyline didn’t end up being about her weight in any way. The predictable thing would have been that the dude hurried her out of the bar because he was embarrassed for his friends to see him with her, but nope: It’s because he’s married! Which, obviously, is not great for Kate and her emotional life, but it’s still an improvement over season one, in which every single Kate story was about her weight.
13. I have never tried so hard to crawl inside my couch as I did during the scene where Kevin tries to move in on Zeke’s part. That producer’s smackdown was thoroughly earned. “You will never work for me, buddy.”
14. Beth is going into labor!!!! What a perfect, perfect way to force Randall out of his rigidity. Nothing screams spontaneity quite like early labor during a snowstorm.
15. “Your dad isn’t here, and that’s just something I’m gonna have to deal with for the rest of my life. The happiest moments will also be a little sad.” Oof. This got me right in the gut, and it is one of the truest things about grief.
16. So, Kevin and Kate’s relationship is in general not my favorite - it feels strangely underdeveloped for a twin dynamic - but I like this “crushing the twenties!” business.
17. Seeing Rebecca in the hospital across the two timelines - 1980 and 2008 - is killer. Mandy Moore is really underrated in this role; she consistently sells this solo emotional work.
18. AHA! Rebecca and Miguel haven’t seen each other in eight years, and Jack has been dead for at least ten, which leads me to wonder many, many things. On the one hand, Rebecca and Miguel clearly did not get together right after Jack’s death, which would always have been crazy, but seems to be the assumption behind a lot of people’s Miguel hate. On the other hand, what led them to stop talking? My current theory: Rebecca and Miguel had a grief hookup that left one or both of them so guilty that they drifted apart…until Facebook intervened.
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