This Is Us Review: The 20s (Season 2 Episode 6)

On This Is Us Season 2 Episode 6 “The 20s,” we flashback to a brand new era: 2008.

Kevin is struggling with his acting career, Kate is struggling with her love life, and Randall is struggling with his anxiety just before Tess’ birth.

There are good ideas simmering in this episode, but the episode itself is at times difficult to watch because of a a chain of Sentimental-Heart-To-Heart-Talks.

Case in point: Randall divulging his inner most fear with a random stranger at an appliance store.

The idea is nice, but who actually does this? Do any of you go around having life-altering conversations with people you don’t know? It’s a contrived scenario, but what makes it particularly bad is that it’s meant to be profound. The show always goes for profound, and it’s exhausting.

That’s the problem with This Is Us.

Sometimes the show is so earnest, that it veers towards emotional manipulation. The show is fully aware of its own weight, and capitalizes on the need to make viewers cry at every chance it can get, and it’s transparent.

Rebecca’s monologue is a perfect example of that. There is some really beautiful acting involved thanks to Mandy Moore, and I appreciate the symmetry of Rebecca meeting Randall fro the first time and meeting Tess for the first time, but did it have to last that long? Did it have to include such cheesy, mawkish, and uninspired dialogue?

This Is Us always does better when it isn’t trying too hard. Last week’s episode demonstrated the show’s power in small moments, in it’s more nuanced approach to symmetry and interconnectedness between generations.

“The 20s,” in contrast, relies heavily on emotion that is readily served up in a platter. The audience isn’t able to decipher or interpret the content for themselves, they’re just supposed to eat up manufactured profundity.

It’s a fine line to tow for a show like this. It can easily come off as schmaltzy and overly sentimental. But sometimes, it defies that, and it trusts its audience to not have to need long monologues and overwrought heart-to-hearts in order to get the emotion of the scene.

Other times, the show’s earnestness gets the best of it.

While “The 20s” is an unusually weak episode for the show, there are some good ideas this episode, especially Randall finding out about Kyle, and about how he was adopted into the family.

The continued work on Kate’s experiences growing up is also effective. I’m always interested to see Jack and Rebecca clash over their parenting styles, and their disagreement on how to treat Kate and Randall is a great continuation of what these relationships are like.

Jack and Kate have a unique bond, as do Rebecca and Randall. I would love for the show to lean in more on that uncomfortable commentary — how parents sometimes do favor a kid, and how it goes unnoticed by the other kid. (Ahem, Kevin.)

And of course, I’m not a monster so there are parts that I loved. Pregnant Beth who has a loving relationship with her mother-in-law Rebecca is great, Jack is delightful throughout the episode, and Rebecca gets some really good character development.

“The 20s” is an uneven episode that is bogged down by its need to do things that are meant to tug at the heart. The problem is that the show is better at doing this when it follows a more subtle approach.

Other final thoughts: 

• For the life of me, I just could not care about Kevin’s storyline in 2008. It’s nothing new. And wasn’t he married to Sophie at this point? Where was she? When are we going to get the long overdue episode explaining where this marriage went wrong?
• Randall’s anxiety and/or OCD is an interesting concept on paper, but I find absolutely no joy in watching it unfold on screen. Sterling K. Brown can do no wrong, but there’s just something about this that is completely unnerving and difficult to watch.
• So, Rebecca and Miguel get together many years after Jack’s death. I feel better about that. Also, this episode gives us a real sense of how Rebecca has been coping without Jack, something you don’t feel as much present day.

What did you think of this episode of This Is Us? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

 

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