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This Is Us

You name it and Joel Olsteen will claim it!

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I can't decide if it was a "bad" episode or if I just hated it.

The writing, at least the scenes taken individually, were still really well written.

The structure did not change, or did not change much (we had very little 2016/2017 compared to most episodes, and not much Big Three in general).

I think it's probably just that I hated it. I'm guessing that was intentional (does anyone not hate it when mom and dad are fighting?), but other than delaying the other moment that has to happen that I will also most likely hate I do not understand why they did it that way.

I did like the scene the next day, I liked all of the Young Jack and Rebecca stuff and I really liked what we did get from 2016/17. In some ways my two big (non Jack's death) predictions were correct, but they were way off on the details. I thought Kevin would find out he was going to be a dad, but it was Jack's other son that realizes he must raise a child to fully inherit his father's legacy. I thought season two would have to focus a lot on the Big Three's careers, and we certainly saw that start in this episode with Kevin and Kate.
 
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Have to agree. Maybe they set the bar too high but I expected a little more as far as answers. Didn't really advance the narrative at all. Felt like last weeks episode was just a big old pump fake. One of the weaker episodes of the season to me.

I feel like what they did was change the narrative (at least from what we've been expecting), and yes they did pull a fast one on us with the end of episode 17.

They did advance it, just in a different direction, and one that was not pleasing.

We got a big advance of the present day narrative, but it happened really fast with very little room to process.
 
I feel like what they did was change the narrative (at least from what we've been expecting), and yes they did pull a fast one on us with the end of episode 17.

They did advance it, just in a different direction, and one that was not pleasing.

We got a big advance of the present day narrative, but it happened really fast with very little room to process.

Felt like a mid season episode not a season finale to me. I guess they were going for the cliffhanger but how Jacks dies has been the cliffhanger for weeks now. I didn't see the little one minute flash back to 2017 as that big of a story advance. The Randel wanting to adopt a child thing was new but we all know he's having a mid life crisis. Kate wants to be a singer. It seems an odd time to finally be getting around to that realization I guess we are crediting Toby with helping her realizing that but they skipped completely over the big talk about Jacks death. It would be news if Kevin didn't screw up a relationship.

I did like the whole how Kate and Jack meet backstory. I'm sure we will get more of that next season. The 1995 stuff would have been better if they hadn't mislead us so much. I'm sticking to my Superbowl death theory which appears to be right on schedule. As Jack was driving to the show I notice his pickup had a 5-96 expiration sticker on the wind shied so I think we are in the fall of 95. Was it just my imagination or did Jack drive to the show in his pickup and Rebecca drove them home in the car which since she got there in the band's van shouldn't have been in Cleveland?
 
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Kate saying she wanted to be a singer in such a short little snippet within the episode was pretty random and kind of stupid IMO. I enjoyed all the scenes before they were married. The present day scenes seemed really half-assed to me.
 
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They were. They used them to put weight on Jack's speech instead of the Big Three's individual stories. It helps the scene with Jack and Rebecca, which still ends terribly, but does little for the other three characters.
 
I thought whoever said it seemed like a mid season episode is spot on. It wasn't a bad episode but those involved with the show had built it up and said that it was going to crush viewers. The fight between Jack and Rebecca was very realistic and difficult but not the big crushing event the show creators had alluded to. Frankly the prior weeks show should have been the finale.
 
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They've dropped about 7 billion different hints throughout the course of season one that Jack was going to die.

It really is hard to believe they didn't get us there. It feels like they yanked the rug out from under us. That would have been fine had they been able to avoid what we all know is coming to find a happy ending. He's still going to die young though.

Maybe they had no clue how to handle two more seasons with a fixed death date and no William. That would be incredibly disappointing.
 
In retrospect after 48 hours it was an okay episode just overhyped and not what we were lead to believe. That still pisses me off. My guess is they are going to milk this how did Jack die thing for most of next season with a heavy emphasis on the events between the end of this episode in 95 and his death. That plus the current mid life crisis of the Big Three will be next season. Looking forward to it.
 
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