This Is Us Review: The Big Three (Season 1 Episode 2)
In some ways, This Is Us has manifested into a twofold mystery.
Not only are we following a trail of an intricate family history, but we are also simultaneously trying to determine what kind of a show This Is Us is planning on being.
Season 1 Episode 2, “The Big Three,” offers a pretty interesting idea for the show’s future moving forward, and it’s not the mawkish and sappy, love-fest we may have bought into after seeing the premiere. Not entirely, anyway.
Not everything is going to be as easy as miraculously gaining a child seconds after tragically losing one. “The Big Three” seems to be more interested in showing us that even when things are seemingly perfect, life still happens.
In the beginning of the episode, we are transported to 1988 when the kids are eight years-old. The non-linear path in this timeline feels purposeful. It’s disjunctive and leaves a lot unanswered, but it also adds an exciting element of unpredictability.
Judging on next week’s preview, we are going back to when the kids are just infants, and I can’t help but believe that this back-and-forth style will enrich our experience of the show. It will keep us on our toes as we continue to uncover this story.
In the Rebecca and Jack scenes, we’re introduced to the sad, disintegration of a working-class, nuclear family. As Miguel (Jack’s horrible, no-good best-friend), points out, Jack has it all — a beautiful wife, great kids, a great house. And yet, Jack stays out late after work to drink, leaving Rebecca to parent the kids alone.
We’ve only known Jack for like, an episode, but it’s transfixing to see him drunken and stripped of the vitality he had in the series opener. As a father-to-be, he was so full of life and present. He was eager to make only good things happen. The stark difference of character is a testament to how time hardens a person, how age dulls one down, and makes one jaded.
Even though I realize that playing around with time will permit us to see the different phases people go through in their lives, I wasn’t quite anticipating this dejected picture of a marriage falling apart, especially given how strong, unified, and madly in love Jack and Rebecca were just last episode.
It’s a jarring shift, but I’m really pleased with it.
People don’t necessarily evolve into better versions of themselves, sometimes they regress and that’s an important truth to tell.
We also learn more about Rebecca, who is trying to fulfill her role as a mother as best as she can. Exhausted and fed up, she delivers a much-needed monologue with enough sternness and disappointment in her voice to sober Jack up. Both the dialogue and acting in this scene is incredible.
Rebecca: When you’re home, and you’re you, you’re way better than I am. You’re a ten when you’re you, Jack.
The next morning, they make up, and it’s beautiful. He promises to be an eleven for the kids, but a twelve for her, and it’s a moving speech. But as we learn from the episode’s conclusion, Rebecca and Jack aren’t together in present day. She’s with Miguel, and we don’t know where Jack is.
Meanwhile, we’re also getting clearer ideas of who all the siblings are.
Randall and Beth have a really sturdy and communicative marriage — a fascinating foil to Rebecca and Jack this episode. Beth, protective and wonderful, looks out for Randall by getting to the bottom of William’s intentions, which turn out to be harmless.
Kate feels like her weight defines her because it’s all she thinks about. She’s been battling with it ever since she was a child, and I’d be curious to see what triggers her to turn to food.
I think the set-up between Kate and Rebecca regarding Kate’s weight is really good. Sometimes when the people we love are trying to look out for us, they end up being hurtful instead. Mother-daughter relationships can especially be tricky when it comes to appearance and image. I wonder if anything from Kate’s childhood influenced her to fill a void in her life with food.
Kevin is probably the most mysterious to me, but there is a vulnerability that is really appealing about the character. One of the best things about the episode is getting a glimpse of how interracial adoption affected the family, especially in Kevin and Randall’s relationship.
It’s revealed that Kevin often gave Randall a hard time because kids would tease them at school for being brothers. When Kevin is feeling defeated after being unable to quit his job, he calls Randall who gives him the pep talk that he needed.
After the phone call, Kevin declares to Kate that he’s moving to New York to pursue theater (and perhaps to reconnect with his brother, Randall).
Although it’s still early, This Is Us is doing a lot of things right by making the characters as multi-faceted as possible, and by injecting some verisimilitude.
We’re not just looking at an imperfect family, but at a broken one.
The parents are no longer together, and despite Randall and Kevin’s positive exchange, there is a feeling of estrangement there. We’re not just learning about a family, but we’re also trying to understand them by detecting the cracks along the way.
Other final thoughts:
- Jack and Rebecca’s parenting styles are contrasted in how they react to little Kate’s eating habits. The moment was so dropped in. It also supports the idea that it’s important for two parents to be on the same page.
- I get Kevin a lot more in this episode. His “I care about what everyone thinks, you know that” line was especially telling.
- “Mom and Dad didn’t raise no whores. Except briefly during Kate’s eyeliner phase,” earned a big chuckle from me.
- The chants are probably corny, but I liked it anyway. (But, let’s not do it again.)
- Susan Kelechi Watson (Beth) is just lovely. I loved her scene with Ron Cephas Jones (William) in the kitchen.
- Like Beth, I’m wary of William because things like these can’t possibly end well, right? The whole situation makes me nervous.
- Randall’s vice is his goodness. This speaks to me.
What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
Shabnaj Chowdhury
Shabnaj is a pop-culture enthusiast who spends much of her time enabling her coffee addiction and thinking about Jon Snow's hair. Some of her favorite shows include Friday Night Lights, The Leftovers, and Game of Thrones. Shabnaj also loves to write creative non-fiction.