This is Us- Season four

[mi*vida*loca]

Maybe William knew laurel was alive but didn’t tell Randall because laurel didn’t know Randall was alive. Maybe William told laurel Randall died instead of telling her he abandoned him.

 

[cabanafrau]

I think Randall’s new therapist will be his mom.

I was vague about what I meant when I posted earlier, but this is exactly what I told my husband when the episode ended.

Whew if that happens it is too soapy for me.

My first thought at the end of the show was that if she shows up as his new therapist then I'll know the show has well and truly jumped the shark.

Exactly, this will be way too neatly tied up in a bow, yet I realize there's not many ways to both connect Randall and Laurel and allow them to recognize who each other is. I am expecting it based on the fact that the show creator has specifically been asked who will play the new therapist and he says he doesn't want to reveal that information.

 

[Mizzoufan]

This is the last season if I remember correctly. I rather them just concentrate on the core cast. Randall mom seems to me an after thought. I'm in the minority I guess I don't care for Kevin and Madison. Toby and Malik were the bright spot for me.

 

[anniemae]

Apparently This is Us has sent a tweet out saying Randalls therapist will not be his birth mother.

 

[cabanafrau]

This is the last season if I remember correctly. I rather them just concentrate on the core cast. Randall mom seems to me an after thought. I'm in the minority I guess I don't care for Kevin and Madison. Toby and Malik were the bright spot for me.

I believe next season is the last. Obviously the stories will be core centric, but characters like Madison help flesh out Kevin's life, as he's the only sibling that hasn't been "settled down" previously.

 

[CynBeth]

I also thought I heard Season 5 will be the last.

 

[DisLiss]

The show loves to try to make us think one thing or another will happen, so chances are good that they will try to come up with some additional twist to the story of Randall's birth mother. I mean, we don't actually know she's alive currently. We just believe she went on to live past the time when Randall was adopted. It could just be that she had addition children/child, and still passed away before current day, and that the set-up happening here is to bring a half-sibling into Randall's life. Or it could be that the therapist simply knew Randall's mother and is able to give him more information about her. Time will tell.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I also thought I heard Season 5 will be the last.

6 seasons is what they said a while back.

 

[lisaviolet]

This episode was so choppy

Yes.

And beyond choppy, it also felt a bit frenetic to me. Which is weird since there wasn't constant drama.

I was coming here to post something similar. I was ready to give up in season 3. I had to force myself to watch the season 4 finale 7 months later. I'm feeling over it

I felt that at some point. Season two? Three? And a bit this week as well.

But since it pulled me back in before, I figure it will do it again.

I think the end of last night was distorted by how they chose to pace the commercial breaks. Sure, the first hour and a half had limited commercial breaks, which made the last half hour irritatingly jam packed with them. I found it very distracting.

Bang on.

Completely understand that feeling. I think it may be they are addressing it because it actually helps them film using the protocols

That was my exact thought. I liked their protocols much better than a soap I tape - The Bold and the Beautiful. They are not bringing Covid into the storyline. So what happens? Many single shots, where you can tell the actors are talking to no one off camera. Or kissing a dummy or their real life partner, husband or wife - wearing a bad wig, with not the same beard stubble from shot to shot.

Good on the early creative Covid techniques by them right out of the gate, but it can be so distracting.

So This Is Us was easier to take in, despite me not wanting to see Covid reality.

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And I lost the quote of yours about Randall finding the medication and coming to the rescue. I get your point but Randall would be the one to find it as I assume he is on meds himself and continually needs to be on top on possible interactions.

He is consumed with sadness over what is happening in the world and is transferring that sadness to his family relationships.
Just my observation

A good observation.

He is so consumed with sadness and processing it all. Heck I have been too, and I am not black. (Obviously my processing is nothing like Randall's)

I think what is going on in the world is bringing up mixed feelings on his adoption. Being raised in a white family has kind of denied him of his culture. Even Malik joked about his "white dad jokes." I read an article once about a Korean girl who was adopted by an American couple. She said white people saw her as Asian because of her looks, but Asian people saw her as white because of the way she acted (ate American food, did not speak Korean etc. ) I think Randall may feel this with his culture.

And the racial part goes on even without adoption. I know quite a few black friends/loved ones that were continually called white or not black enough, for just being themselves.

I am sure it happens in many communities.

She is by far the best character on this show.

Hands down and back around. Always has been for me.

There are two characters where I insanely felt like I had lost someone when the show ended. I know - weird me.

Peggy Olson - Mad Men

And oh man Claire Fisher - Six Feet Under. She was such a groundbreaking character for me. I felt someone understood the world in the same way. And family dynamics as well, that struggle.

Both Elisabeth Moss and Lauren Ambrose are incredible actors, the writing makes it but you need talent to bring it all to life

I suspect after this ends it will be all Beth and Deja for me.

I was shocked about Randall's mother! It just makes the whole thing even more tragic for William - having to make a decision like that at all, and then we find out he did it without all the real facts?

When I suspected she was alive in season one, well it was William in my thoughts. Sigh. I suspect it will do me in, with William, no matter what they decide.

I think Randall’s therapist will be a black man.

Yes.

I think so too.

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As for the weird circumstances of how Randall might meet his mother, assuming she is still alive, it is not all that out there and soapy.

I obviously watch way too much reuniting stories, twins living apart and ancestry shows.

But there are a myriad of stories where two relatives pass through each others' lives. It is crazy. And downright magical, in my opinion.

 

[lisaviolet]

I don't care for Kevin and Madison.

Me neither.

And I think Randall's look said it all when Kevin was trying to tell him he might have found his love story, by having it dropped in his lap.

I know people do not like her but I still think about the war veteran, although I would absolutely prefer Sophie. Why do I think we haven't seen the last of her? Because I believe the song that both started and ended the last season was completely giving us clues, the direct story.

Miguel is almost blurred out in the sunlight in one scene (died/gone in future scenes?). And the lyric is, "Could a stranger ever end up being you?" "I found my way to you" as Kevin is looking for flights to PIT to get to Nicky, where he met her. But then again, that could be all about his intense bond with Nicky. Or her impact on Nicky, because it is Nicky who she is looking at during the song. Or maybe it's simply Kevin finding his life back home in Pittsburgh, building his home in Pennsylvania. And looking after his mother.

I think the lyrics highlight Kate and Toby's adoption as well. As we found out about their grown daughter in the last episode, the episode where the song was reintroduced.

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And off topic but I need to see Deja in a fast forward scene before I absolutely lose my mind. I continually wonder and I hate it.

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It took me about forty minutes to find your quote Mizzoufan. Obviously I am getting old. I was chanting too, "Oh for the love of God, where is it, where is that damn quote?"

But at least I persevered.

 

[cabanafrau]

And off topic but I need to see Deja in a fast forward scene before I absolutely lose my mind. I continually wonder and I hate it.

Yes! I am very invested in seeing her have a fabulous future for so many reasons! The actress has totally drawn me in, it would have made her grandmother so happy, it would be an enormous pay it forward for Randall and testament to the love Jack and Rebecca poured into him.

 

[lisaviolet]

Yes! I am very invested in seeing her have a fabulous future for so many reasons! The actress has totally drawn me in, it would have made her grandmother so happy, it would be an enormous pay it forward for Randall and testament to the love Jack and Rebecca poured into him.

Oh man cabanafrau, right with you. Wonderfully stated.

She is a brilliant actress. And a wonderful character.

Randall and Deja - their love, that love.....it is exquisite.

 

[SC Minnie]

OK, I have a question. Madison is pregnant with boy/girl twins. In the flashforwards in previous seasons we see his preteen/teenage son but no daughter. ???

 

[SaintsManiac]

OK, I have a question. Madison is pregnant with boy/girl twins. In the flashforwards in previous seasons we see his preteen/teenage son but no daughter. ???

The daughter was in the premiere. It was quick.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Weren’t Kevin’s twins in the season finale? When he went to visit Rebecca at the cabin? Or was that the year before?

 

[cabanafrau]

Can anyone remind me, I'm fuzzy as to whether or not we know if Jack was buried or if we saw them place his cremated remains near a tree?

 

[fab1976]

Kevin’s daughter was in the finale last year. Right as Madison said it’s twins, they flashed forward to Kevin standing bedside with his son, who we already saw, and then his daughter comes in and he holds his arm out to her and puts his arm around her shoulder pulling her close.

 

[wvjules]

Did Kevin have on a wedding ring in the flash forward? I can't remember.

 

[SC Minnie]

Thanks guys. Missed the daughter. Need to rewatch that one.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Did Kevin have on a wedding ring in the flash forward? I can't remember.

Yes. When they are at Rebecca's bedside, Kevin has a wedding ring on.