I talk out loud to my dog, Apollo Creed, during TV shows a lot. So much so, he doesn’t even acknowledge me anymore. I do a lot of talking and/or weeping during This is Us. After last night’s twist, I said to Apollo, “Well, this is going to get annoying.” I realize that it’s only Wednesday and in spoiler culture, I should give you at least a day to catch up on the episode. But today, I need to vent. Spoilers ahead.
This Is Us already has a Women Problem that almost ruined the show for me when Duana pointed it out. Now it has a Twists for the Sake of Twists problem. The Kate pregnancy twist is fine. Toby is going to be insufferable during the entire thing but whatever, I’m into it. It gives Kate something to focus on that is not directly related to her weight and I like that the Pearson clan is expanding in an organic, natural way that makes sense.
You know what doesn’t make sense? That Jack has a brother we’ve never heard of until now. I’ve already been dreading the Jack Goes to Vietnam flashback episodes and now we know they will most likely revolve around the new mystery of Jack’s brother Nicky. WHO THE F-CK IS NICKY? I mean, that’s the point. The point is we don’t know who he is and he is going to come in to explain away Jack’s drinking problem and Jack’s daddy issues. Fine. It just feels forced. We don’t even know how Jack dies yet, for f-ck’s sake. Solve one mystery before you throw in another one, damn it. Also, I don’t care how Jack dies so if they drag that out for another season I’m going to start throwing sh-t at my TV. Apollo won’t be happy.
The Nicky twist is annoying on its own but what’s more annoying is that this sets the show up to continue this pattern. Are there other long lost siblings we’ve yet to meet? Are the flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks going to keep going because I can barely keep track as it is? Also, we haven’t seen Teen Randall in far too long. My favourite flashbacks are of the Teen Big Three. More, please.
The good news is, present-day Randall is still amazing. The Deja storyline is working. I laughed out loud multiple times during Cool Randall’s jokes. Sterling K Brown is a national treasure who should be protected at all costs.
If you had told me last season that Kevin’s plot would be one of the most interesting and least annoying of the season, I would’ve been shocked. But here we are. Kevin’s addiction story makes complete sense. It’s rooted in fleshed-out character background and is motivated by real problems. Kevin Pearson is totally the guy who would stand up his girlfriend on her big night to try to score drugs. Sadly, Sophie has also fallen victim to the This Is Us Women Problem. Who is she? What does she care about – other than Kevin? Why is she letting him treat her like sh-t? These are questions I actually want answers to. Again, can they answer these questions before they start asking a bunch of other ones we don’t want?
The first season of This Is Us filled the void of the emotional family drama that was lacking on network TV. The twists were a nice surprise last season but This Is Us needs to remember that it’s not Lost. I’m not watching it for mystery and intrigue. There are enough characters and drama surrounding the core Pearson family that we don’t need shock and awe to deliver tears every week. The more they rely on twists on twists on twists, the more annoyed I’m going to be.
