S06.E17: The Train

[Boo Boo]

On 5/20/2022 at 9:42 PM, lexiexx said:

I want them to wrap up the last episode Fast Times at Ridgemont High style where we get a biography for all of them so we can see how ridiculous they all are. 

Of course, it's TIU, so half of that time will just be stories that go years and years into the lunch lady at the big 3's elementary school, the Ophthalmologist who gave Randall his first pair of glasses, the guy who worked at the local pet shop, even though they didn't actually even go there for a pet or anything...

Ha ha, exactly.

And it will be that the Ophthalmologist was so moved by a Jack Pearson speech, complete with the lemonade mantra, that he goes onto cure childhood blindness owing all of his success to Jack Pearson.

[debbie311]

On 5/20/2022 at 6:39 PM, Aloeonatable said:

I don't know how it was 40 years ago, but I think they give you an option of holding the dead infant or not. Maybe Jack and Rebecca just couldn't do that. I do remember how sad they both seemed when talking to Dr K. in the "Kyle" episode. I just think the show didn't want to belabor it. 

Over 40 years ago, I had a baby that died two days after birth.  I had had a c-section; they wheeled me down to the nursery where I was able to hold her for a few minutes after she died.

Honestly, my young husband and I (we were in our early 20's) were so unprepared for this that, had they offered me another baby to take home, I probably would have done it. There was no counseling offered, just told to go home and get over it.  Fortunately I did have another child at home waiting for me. Since that time, I have heard of organizations that will come in and take pictures of the baby (if you wish), help you make any arrangements that need to be made.  Again - at that time, no one talked about this stuff and no one thinks the worst is going to happen. I look back and wish there had been someone or something like that for me. Crazy thoughts go through your mind.  Believe me, I am a normal person, but my sister-in-law was pregnant at the time and I thought that maybe if she had twins, she would give one to me.  Thank goodness for the passage of time, it does help. Thanks for letting me share this, I rarely talk to anyone about it and many people I know have no idea this happened to me, so many years ago. 

[oceanblue]

Thank you for sharing that and I'm so sorry for your loss.  It must have been horrendous.  But you've helped me understand how they could just say ok we'll take Randall without a lot of thought.  They were uncapable of thought.  And maybe the lemons thing was the story they told themselves to explain it.  Happily it did work out.

[IdEatThat]

I thought the train speeding up and her encounters quickening were meant to parallel how life/time quickens as you age.

[lexiexx]

I've always thought that the hospital just letting them take Randall was unrealistic.  I could be wrong, and It was a long time ago, but to take a couple that had multiples and also lost one and just hand them an abandoned baby ?  No screening, interviews, check out what mental state Rebecca might be in, do a home visit, also consider the fact that someone might have come back for Randall and they would have to give him up?  That adoption wasn't final for a couple of years if I recall correctly, what would it have been like to also lose Randall?  None of that,  just hey, Jack heard about this other kid and is on board.  This other kid just has lemons now, Jack is the man to make it lemonade for both of them.   They already got three of everything.  

Also, for people who love to go down memory lane and hang on to the smallest thing, I have always felt it was weird that they just closed the door on Kyle right away.   Everybody grieves differently but it doesn't ring true for that family at all.  We literally got whole episodes about people that the characters didn't even know and not one about Kyle and the aftermath of his loss?   

 

[CdrJanny]

On 5/19/2022 at 5:49 PM, nlkm9 said:

yep. I was like really???

St. Jack couldn't speechify to strangers if tethered to a bed with an IV.  Pearson speechifying is far more important to their well-being than medical treatment!

Edited May 23, 2022 by CdrJanny

[CdrJanny]

On 5/20/2022 at 7:28 AM, Johnny Dollar said:

The “turning lemons into lemonade” thing isn’t as profound as this show seems to think it is.

 

No, it isn't.  There was a poster with that iconic slogan hanging in my freshman homeroom in Sept 1968.

[Johnny Dollar]

On 5/21/2022 at 2:29 PM, Shermie said:

In what way? Several have posted this, but I don’t get it. The train itself is creepy, or the concept of moving through it as a passage to the afterlife, or the afterlife itself?

It makes perfect sense. Something unpleasant happens to you (you get sour, bad-tasting lemons), so try to find something good in it (turn the sour lemons into delicious lemonade). I feel dumb explaining it, but it seems like some don’t get what it means. 

Now I do agree that it’s kind of weird that the show acts like Dr. K and/or Jack invented the saying, or even the concept (make something good out of something bad). That lemonade saying has been around forever.

For those who eyeroll the idea of Randall being president, remember that that also means Beth will be first lady . See? I made lemonade out of an idea that some see as lemons.

Trust me. Literally everyone knows what that saying means. It is not profound, it is not deep and it is definitely not something one parent should say to another in a hospital waiting room. He may as well have given the poor guy a poster with a kitten dangling on a branch and told him to “Hang in there!”

[debraran]

2 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

Trust me. Literally everyone knows what that saying means. It is not profound, it is not deep and it is definitely not something one parent should say to another in a hospital waiting room. He may as well have given the poor guy a poster with a kitten dangling on a branch and told him to “Hang in there!”

If anyone told me that after I just lost a baby, he'd probably be on the floor. It's a hundred times worse than "get another puppy" when your dog just died.

[desertflower]

One thing I noticed, and not sure if there was any significance, was after Miguel and Rebecca’s encounter on the train, she turns around and he is just gone. I don’t think Dr. K and the others she saw disappeared like that, Rebecca just moved through the train cars and left them. But it seemed like they made a point of Miguel being there one minute and being gone the next.  I wonder if it was supposed to be a nod to when Rebecca didn’t understand that Miguel had died and kept asking for him. Like in her mind he just disappeared from her life.  But I am probably totally overthinking it!!! 
I cried during the episode but not as much as I did after Miguel died. Maybe because there wasn’t a big buildup about how sad that one would be. 

[Aloeonatable]

19 hours ago, debraran said:

I think she initially said no but Dr K should have encouraged it later. Jack though, no excuse for him.  They never liked " replacement" but I never liked lemonade being just take this guy home with you so you'll have 3 cribs filled. So weird. If they did it a week or so later, I'd buy it a little but then, no. I can't buy either that neither wanted to see their son. It was 80's. my hospital and my sister was OB nurse understood even then, the grief is worked through better saying goodbye. She carried him for almost 9 months. He was full term. When I had my twins, I couldn't imagine leaving one of them there and then taking another baby home. It worked for a TV show. He should have had a funeral or something to say Kyle existed. The show treated stillborn like a plot device which is their prerogative.

When you have a C section you usually stay in the hospital for at least a week to 10 days. My sister had her first in 1970 and that was her experience. We saw Rebecca's anguish over the course of her hospital stay. I don't think it was necessary for us to see her holding her dead baby for us to know that she mourned him. Nor was it necessary for us to see the funeral. 

If I recall, even though she seemed reluctant at first, Rebecca tells adult Randall that Jack "forced" a stranger on her and that stranger became her life. 

[debraran]

33 minutes ago, Aloeonatable said:

When you have a C section you usually stay in the hospital for at least a week to 10 days. My sister had her first in 1970 and that was her experience. We saw Rebecca's anguish over the course of her hospital stay. I don't think it was necessary for us to see her holding her dead baby for us to know that she mourned him. Nor was it necessary for us to see the funeral. 

If I recall, even though she seemed reluctant at first, Rebecca tells adult Randall that Jack "forced" a stranger on her and that stranger became her life. 

I agree, my sister in 70's was 5 days I think and later in 80's you were lucky to get 2-3 at times. I just meant they never showed one so I doubt they had it or they'd be one scene with stone or ashes or something. I didn't need to see it, just a  mention. Poor Randall became her favorite but he had to find out about Kyle from a neighbor. Kevin and Kate thought of themselves as "twins". It worked most of the time but there always seemed to be some resentment under the surface from the kids. I think in some ways they were almost too color blind with Randall and Rebecca tried to overcompensate but he was as she said "the easier one" to her.

One of my favorite scenes though is when Kevin helps him during anxiety attack as an adult. They might knock heads but it showed love.

Edited May 23, 2022 by debraran

[Aloeonatable]

31 minutes ago, debraran said:

I agree, my sister in 70's was 5 days I think and later in 80's you were lucky to get 2-3 at times. I just meant they never showed one so I doubt they had it or they'd be one scene with stone or ashes or something. I didn't need to see it, just a  mention. Poor Randall became her favorite but he had to find out about Kyle from a neighbor. Kevin and Kate thought of themselves as "twins". It worked most of the time but there always seemed to be some resentment under the surface from the kids. I think in some ways they were almost too color blind with Randall and Rebecca tried to overcompensate but he was as she said "the easier one" to her.

One of my favorite scenes though is when Kevin helps him during anxiety attack as an adult. They might knock heads but it showed love.

I do agree that there were many missteps and missed opportunities to address some of the issues that arose with this family. I think that was the point with the Randall adoption storyline. His ethnicity was an issue and it was addressed in many ways.

Yes, that scene where Kevin runs to Randall's aid was a great scene. 

[Tabbygirl521]

On 5/17/2022 at 8:59 PM, sara416 said:

I know everyone is different, but I come from a big Irish Catholic extended family. I didn't know wakes were supposed to be sad until well into my teen years. There was always laughter and joking and food. There are no rules with grief. 

I come from a big Greek family and my cousins and I have caught ourselves talking about the great “parties” we’ve had after certain funerals. 

[Notabug]

On 5/23/2022 at 10:43 AM, Aloeonatable said:

When you have a C section you usually stay in the hospital for at least a week to 10 days. My sister had her first in 1970 and that was her experience. We saw Rebecca's anguish over the course of her hospital stay. I don't think it was necessary for us to see her holding her dead baby for us to know that she mourned him. Nor was it necessary for us to see the funeral. 

If I recall, even though she seemed reluctant at first, Rebecca tells adult Randall that Jack "forced" a stranger on her and that stranger became her life. 

The triplets were born in the fall of 1980, I was a medical student in the fall of 1980.  Women stayed in the hospital 4, maybe 5 days back then.  However, even back then, there was some sensitivity to women with losses and they were encouraged to see and hold their babies as much or as little as they wanted and they could be sent to non-obstetric units if they wanted.  In Rebecca's case, with 2 newborns in the nursery, she wouldn't have wanted to be sent away from them.  However, both she and Jack would've had the opportunity to see and hold Kyle if they wished.

Even back in 1980, finding a newborn to adopt was not easy and there were rules including the rule that there was a waiting list and that the first up to adopt any newborn would be the parent(s) that had waited the longest.  At no time would history of previous pregnancy loss figure into the calculations and, as a matter of fact, a family with twin newborns would probably be crossed off the list.  Interracial adoptions were also not common, most AA babies were adopted by AA parents.

[Roxie]

On 5/18/2022 at 8:51 AM, ams1001 said:

I didn't notice the towel but I did notice the mugs. They also had the football game on the 70s-era TV.

Maybe this has already been noted, but I saw little Jack's red boots from "Saturday In the Park."

[Kdawg82]

Lovely episode. I liked the train cars. As has been studied,  hearing is the last sense to flee when people pass on. The fact Rebecca could hear the voices of those tending her bedside was a great plot point this episode. Sterling was summoning Denzel in his farewell Rebecca scene,  it seems to me. I liked the "thank you for the meals." Beth had the best farewell speech in my opinion.  I don't know how Rebecca maintained the calm, kind demeanor she seemed to have. No wonder she was well liked by many & loved by her family. The most angry she has been was when Jack told her she's never going to become a professional singer. 

[Dowel Jones]

On 5/22/2022 at 2:27 PM, Boo Boo said:

And it will be that the Ophthalmologist was so moved by a Jack Pearson speech, complete with the lemonade mantra, that he goes onto cure childhood blindness owing all of his success to Jack Pearson.

And leave Kate with nothing to do with her life?  Perish the thought!

[Kdawg82]

On 5/21/2022 at 2:38 PM, Ohmo said:

The train had a very foreboding vibe to me...like an Agatha Christie vibe.  It was dark and gloomy, and it was already a dark event that Rebecca was dying.  As Rebecca was guided down the train toward the last car, the space felt tight and claustrophobic to me.  When William left her in the room and the door closed, that room would be the last place I'd want to be, even with Jack in the room.

I thought the same. I thought "hmm. Seems nostalgic with the trinkets from Rebecca's life set up around. Odd choice having her in a shiny, red gown. Dark, dim scenery otherwise and a bar and a vesper?" I liked the voices of loved ones coming through so the train meshed well with that and sort of the seats with dividers around having different family members in them lent itself to the moving along/goodbye's. I can only GUESS that they were trying to avoid the "white light with a white gown" trope that every show and movie uses. I'm kind of glad they didn't bend to that. I think the dress was possibly one that Rebecca owned in life that she really loved and felt pretty in so she had it in her passing on. OR she imagined herself like that when she'd been promised by her father to one day go on a train like that where people "wear tuxedos & drink vespers."

I would have traded Dr. K (no offense because I quite liked him) for a Kyle (the deceased triplet) homage. Maybe Jack could've been there sitting with Kyle and said "I want you to meet Kyle. You were his mother in life for 9 months and a 2 minutes but you were in each other's hearts and souls for all this time."....or something.  

Did Rebecca know she was dying? Why not say "I'm waiting for Kate"? Why keep saying "waiting for someone"? I assume William would've known who she's referring to if she said "but..Kate's not here." I think she knew she's passing on because she seemed confused qt first why Beth was on the train as though it's supposed to only contain souls of those who've passed on. 

[debraran]

1 hour ago, Kdawg82 said:

I thought the same. I thought "hmm. Seems nostalgic with the trinkets from Rebecca's life set up around. Odd choice having her in a shiny, red gown. Dark, dim scenery otherwise and a bar and a vesper?" I liked the voices of loved ones coming through so the train meshed well with that and sort of the seats with dividers around having different family members in them lent itself to the moving along/goodbye's. I can only GUESS that they were trying to avoid the "white light with a white gown" trope that every show and movie uses. I'm kind of glad they didn't bend to that. I think the dress was possibly one that Rebecca owned in life that she really loved and felt pretty in so she had it in her passing on. OR she imagined herself like that when she'd been promised by her father to one day go on a train like that where people "wear tuxedos & drink vespers."

I would have traded Dr. K (no offense because I quite liked him) for a Kyle (the deceased triplet) homage. Maybe Jack could've been there sitting with Kyle and said "I want you to meet Kyle. You were his mother in life for 9 months and a 2 minutes but you were in each other's hearts and souls for all this time."....or something.  

Did Rebecca know she was dying? Why not say "I'm waiting for Kate"? Why keep saying "waiting for someone"? I assume William would've known who she's referring to if she said "but..Kate's not here." I think she knew she's passing on because she seemed confused qt first why Beth was on the train as though it's supposed to only contain souls of those who've passed on. 

I love the line with Kyle, very touching. I know some people don't get it, they say "she didn't know him". I knew my son the minute he started growing in me, had conversations, my twins, the same, I knew who was on right and left and when they were born, I knew them.  Dan didn't want to dishonor Randall in some way maybe by doing that but he wouldn't be. Randall never replaced Kyle which is why naming him Kyle was in bad taste. William was right, he was a different child.I knew Dan wasn't going to do it when he never let either of them say goodbye in the beginning or have Dr K suggest it to Jack.

It did seem odd re Rebecca and Kate but it was the writers version of their afterlife. We all have different views and I try to appreciate his version but didn't like the "she didn't know Miguel" when you would hope in heaven she'd know everyone or even in passing. But again it's always been Milo's show even if he died early on. When he said "Don't worry, I'll still be around" when he died, he wasn't kidding! I think he got more time in hours when they showed episodes than the living costars.

Edited May 26, 2022 by debraran

[Aloeonatable]

1 hour ago, debraran said:

But again it's always been Milo's show even if he died early on. When he said "Don't worry, I'll still be around" when he died, he wasn't kidding! I think he got more time in hours when they showed episodes than the living costars.

Well he is the first name in the credits. I give him credit for taking a supporting role in the past three seasons. How many lead actors would be that gracious. 

[Scarlett45]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:07 PM, DanaK said:

Once thing I'm confused about in regards to Deja being pregnant, if this episode was 10 years from the present, why is she only now getting pregnant for the first time and the first of Randall's kids having a baby? You would think within those 10 years, Deja at least would have had a baby before then given she was at least 18 in our present. If she became a doctor as I recall, maybe going to med school and establishing herself had her put off motherhood

I don’t quite follow. 28 isn’t odd in North America to have your first baby (assuming this episode takes place approx 10yrs from now).
 

Often female physicians have kids later on average, but being pregnant during residency isn’t unusual. 
 

Deja is the eldest girl, so it’s likely she would’ve have the first grandchild, and given that Tess is a lesbian, the chances of her having a spontaneous pregnancy are small. (If she wanted to use a sperm donor or adopt, that takes resources, which people tend to have more of when they are older.)

[ErinV]

On 5/17/2022 at 11:28 PM, Lovecat said:

That’s what I thought was going to happen.  I actually didn’t realize little Kate was little Kate, and thought they for some reason were showing Kyle as a child. Derp.

SAME…and I just now remembered that I did indeed record New Amsterdam!

Thank you!!

Anyone else notice that Dr. K was polishing a glass behind the bar with a Terrible Towel, and that Jack’s coffee mugs (World’s Best Dad, with his picture on it, as well as one from Lundy, the company where he worked) were on display on shelves behind the bar?  Makes me wonder what other Easter eggs I missed…good thing I didn’t delete the episode!

A Steeler fan would NEVER use a Terrible Towel to polish glasses!  I was stunned 😆

[Scarlett45]

In my end of life dream sequence, I want to be wearing a ball gown. I thought that Mandy looked absolutely exquisite- she will be a great beauty at 50 when she was simply “cute” at 21. 

[debraran]

7 hours ago, Aloeonatable said:

Well he is the first name in the credits. I give him credit for taking a supporting role in the past three seasons. How many lead actors would be that gracious. 

Yes, but less work, same pay and able to do other things outside of TIU,, not a bad deal. ; )

[Ohiopirate02]

11 hours ago, ErinV said:

A Steeler fan would NEVER use a Terrible Towel to polish glasses!  I was stunned 😆

But a Browns fan would.  

[chitowngirl]

16 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

In my end of life dream sequence, I want to be wearing a ball gown. I thought that Mandy looked absolutely exquisite- she will be a great beauty at 50 when she was simply “cute” at 21. 

Hopefully she won’t screw up her face with fillers and plastic surgery…

[Notabug]

On 5/26/2022 at 6:08 PM, Kdawg82 said:

Did Rebecca know she was dying? Why not say "I'm waiting for Kate"? Why keep saying "waiting for someone"? I assume William would've known who she's referring to if she said "but..Kate's not here." I think she knew she's passing on because she seemed confused qt first why Beth was on the train as though it's supposed to only contain souls of those who've passed on. 

I think all of this was taking place in Rebecca's brain as she was dying.  And she had dementia, so she knew she was waiting for someone, just wasn't sure exactly who it was.  I think her looks of confusion were also part of that, she knew she should recognize Beth, but wasn't sure who she was at first.  I think it also is why she 'remembered' Beth as a young woman; because the oldest memories are clearer for her than more recent ones after her disease progressed.  Same reason why Miguel was so young when they met up in the train; she remembered that MIguel best, not the MIguel of her later years.  And, yet, even then, she was clearly attracted to him and wanted to stay with him a while longer and had to be pushed to move on.  Because, somewhere, deep inside, she recognized that he was important to her even if she couldn't remember all the details.  And of course, when she does get to Kate, it's not grown up Kate, but young Kate she sees.

Rebecca didn't die until she squeezed Jack's hand in the caboose, Randall's hand in real life.  

Edited May 28, 2022 by Notabug

[70sKid]

On 5/17/2022 at 9:31 PM, Notabug said:

Of course it is, Kate is the one that is the center of the universe; or so we've been told for the last month or so.

On 5/17/2022 at 10:01 PM, ams1001 said:

All those years with Miguel and all he gets is 30 seconds with her on the train?

Jack died so Marcus could live! And have a confusing family motto!

The caboose! She is waiting for Kate!

Randall likes the word "dichotomy," doesn't he?

They portrayed the cruel and unfortunate reality of Alzheimer's accurately.  Alzheimer's gave Miguel the short end of the stick, not the writers.  Rebecca didn't remember Miguel as her husband, she remembered him as Jack's friend,  which was who he was to her in her long term memory and why she saw him as he was then.  Jack was her husband in her long term memory, so her connection to him would be much stronger even though he had died decades before her.  

[70sKid]

On 5/17/2022 at 11:02 PM, 30 Helens said:

Of course Rebecca’s final stop was with Jack. Because as the show has constantly reminded us, theirs was the love story for the ages. Even though what she had with Miguel was deeper, more grounded, and more profound. (IMO)

Poor Miguel. Always gets the short end of the stick, even in (someone else’s) death.

I get the point of the Marcus story, but I also don’t get the point of the Marcus story. We’re one episode from the end, and we’re jumping timelines for yet another family? Knock it off, Show, we don’t need your tricks anymore. 

I spent far too much time trying to figure out how much time had passed. Deja looked about 10 years older, Kevin’s kids about 13, and Randall about 30 years.  Too much dissonance in the makeup trailer.

Rebecca raised 3 kids with Jack and they faced the loss of one of their babies together, I'd say that's a much deeper profound connection than a second marriage that she entered into for companionship years after his death.  Miguel was a loving husband and caregiver to her, and she did have a flash of recognition that he was someone special during her final hours, but unfortunately Alzheimer's robbed their marriage connection from her long term memory.  

[70sKid]

On 5/17/2022 at 10:21 PM, Dminches said:

Swing and a miss.  Rebecca deserved better than to share an episode with an unknown family with a silly tie to the Pearsons.

I thought it was beautifully done.  She heard and felt the love that her family was trying to convey to her in her final hours/minutes, and it gave her the peace to pass on.  I was with my dad when he died, and II like to believe that he felt that too, and that just maybe the hand squeeze that I felt was him taking my Nana's hand as she guided him to Heaven.

They did spend too much time on Marcus and his family, but I think the point of it was to show the irony that the early clinical trial of Marcus's Alzheimer's drug was probably the one that Randall wanted Rebecca to join and may have helped her. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by 70sKid

[debraran]

I disagree Miguel was companionship, Rebecca physically and emotionally loved him. Dan never played him that way and said they had a real marriage. Dan couldn't show a lot of their younger years, cut with Covid, but it would have been nice to see the wedding, their honeymoon etc. That sadly I remember seeing photos of reading an article on bringing Miguel into the fold more before Covid. They were so happy and smiling. I think you can see it, the interest if you wanted too, seeing their first kiss, her enthusiasm, her "I love you" even before she knew she did. The way she stood up to the kids and reminded them they were still alive. They weren't buddies and I'm sure a different love than first or the father of her kids, but she loved him. I think not showing it and making her "young" was just an easy way for the show to not include those 20 odd years. I doubt she forgot Miguel in death and we know she asked for him a lot, weeks later and they would lie and say he was out. I'd hate to think in real life we would have dementia in passing, that would be horrible. I know many fans didn't care and many did, but overall he did a good job making TV pretty good again for 6 years.

If they even showed the kids silently putting her ashes under each tree, theirs and Jack's, it would have been nice.

Edited May 28, 2022 by debraran

[Aloeonatable]

Of course Rebecca loved Miguel. She spent 20+ years of her life with him. It was a different love than she had for Jack, more settled.  But I have say her love life with Jack was more physically passionate. Rebecca and Miguel got together when they were both in their mid to late 50's. They seemed to have had a lovely physical relationship, but it lacked the passion that she had with Jack. JMO. 

[Ducky]

Haven't read the rest of the the thread but wanted to get this down... been meaning to since seeing the episode last week (on Hulu); kept  forgetting.

1.  I liked the episode- the train was interesting; I can see why that was the case because Rebecca (somewhere) said she liked riding trains with her dad so that popped up in her mind.

2.  Re Kate and her curriculum...  I kind of wonder if the "curriculum" is some sort of software to aid in the teaching of music to blind/low vision kids (and working with Toby lol)- so I can see and understand the California and going international angle.   That's my theory and sticking with it (err.. will be putting new thoughts in the last episode thread ...:-O )

3.  LOVED that Toby asked Rebecca if she liked him more than Philip.  I still don't care for Philip.  I may be misremembering but didn't he at one point say he hated children? (That thought came to me in the episode where he proposed to Kate).

4. Happy to see a bit of Annie in there, poor kid...This Is Us nearly pulled a Chuck Cunningham/Judy Winslow move.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

Oh yes-- the Marcus Brooks subplot- took a bit too much away from the main plot- I spent half the time trying to figure out why they were focusing on Marcus and who the hell he was.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Ducky

[Crs97]

8 hours ago, Aloeonatable said:

But I have say her love life with Jack was more physically passionate. Rebecca and Miguel got together when they were both in their mid to late 50's. They seemed to have had a lovely physical relationship, but it lacked the passion that she had with Jack. JMO. 

I’m in my 50’s and strongly disagree.  Don’t put us out to pasture just yet.

[debraran]

10 hours ago, Crs97 said:

I’m in my 50’s and strongly disagree.  Don’t put us out to pasture just yet.

I know! They cut scenes but they one of her kissing him and later in bed showed there would be many more passionate moments and mature love beats that immature, all physical kind of love. Jack talks of her pretty face and looking at her, Miguel I always felt loved her just as deeply as she aged. I feel the writers did Miguel a disservice early on cutting scenes of them cuddling more and kissing etc. What would the Jack fans feel?? Please, I liked Jack/Rebecca  but if you write based on the fact you think viewers will tune out if you have Rebecca love again, is a bit much. That never would have happened. She deserved to love even when he went to Texas. Her tears tore at my heart.

Edited May 30, 2022 by debraran

[Aloeonatable]

13 hours ago, Crs97 said:

I’m in my 50’s and strongly disagree.  Don’t put us out to pasture just yet.

I'm in my 70's and not out to pasture either. However, love is expressed differently as one grows older. 

3 hours ago, debraran said:

I know! They cut scenes but they one of her kissing him and later in bed showed there would be many more passionate moments and mature love beats that immature, all physical kind of love. Jack talks of her pretty face and looking at her, Miguel I always felt loved her just as deeply as she aged. I feel the writers did Miguel a disservice early on cutting scenes of them cuddling more and kissing etc. What would the Jack fans feel?? Please, I liked Jack/Rebecca  but if you write based on the fact you think viewers will tune out if you have Rebecca love again, is a bit much. That never would have happened. She deserved to love even when he went to Texas. Her tears tore at my heart.

We shouldn't compare Jack's and Rebecca's love and marriage to Rebecca's and Miguel's. They both loved her and she loved both of them at different times in her life. I never dismissed Rebecca's marriage to Miguel, I just felt the strong bond between Jack and Rebecca. I don't think it was necessary to show scenes of Miguel and Rebecca kissing and cuddling to understand that they loved each other. 

[debraran]

48 minutes ago, Aloeonatable said:

I'm in my 70's and not out to pasture either. However, love is expressed differently as one grows older. 

We shouldn't compare Jack's and Rebecca's love and marriage to Rebecca's and Miguel's. They both loved her and she loved both of them at different times in her life. I never dismissed Rebecca's marriage to Miguel, I just felt the strong bond between Jack and Rebecca. I don't think it was necessary to show scenes of Miguel and Rebecca kissing and cuddling to understand that they loved each other. 

I agree, I just thought it was odd writer was ambivalent about it. I also felt they erased him to have their romantic ending. That's poetic license of the writers, their choice. My sister had 2 husbands, one died, one boyfriend who died earlier of diabetes, she likes the Christian idea of no marriages in heaven, just love, just souls who love each other and the "couplings" they like to show on TV shows is just a writers idea, which it is. I just felt for women like my sister and many others, it was dismissive in a way. You are right, you don't need sex or anything like that to validate a marriage but so many fans say he was a caretaker, he wasn't until years later and he aced that too.

It is just a TV show though and all in all gave me something to do for Tuesday nights. ; ) Now? Maybe Law and Order, I love Call the Midwife on PBS but most TV isn't attractive to me.

Edited May 30, 2022 by debraran

[Aloeonatable]

11 minutes ago, debraran said:

I agree, I just thought it was odd writer was ambivalent about it. I also felt they erased him to have their romantic ending. That's poetic license of the writers, their choice. My sister had 2 husbands, one died, one boyfriend who died earlier of diabetes, she likes the Christian idea of no marriages in heaven, just love, just souls who love each other and the "couplings" they like to show on TV shows is just a writers idea, which it is. I just felt for women like my sister and many others, it was dismissive in a way. You are right, you don't need sex or anything like that to validate a marriage but so many fans say he was a caretaker, he wasn't until years later and he aced that too.

It is just a TV show though and all in all gave me something to do for Tuesday nights. ; ) Now? Maybe Law and Order, I love Call the Midwife on PBS but most TV isn't attractive to me.

I do agree that the writers chose to show the Rebecca/Miguel marriage as less passionate and to some I can see it as dismissive. I always go back to the premise of the show that the love that Rebecca & Jack had, and the family they created and how his early passing affected their lives. All other characters and storylines were supporting that premise. That is why I think the show's last episode was perfect in its simplicity. Even the kind of cringe worthy reference made by the Big Three of thinking of themselves first when thinking of family. 

I love Call the Midwife! 

[Notabug]

15 hours ago, Crs97 said:

I’m in my 50’s and strongly disagree.  Don’t put us out to pasture just yet.

There are plenty of people who find far more passion and sexual satisfaction in their relationships as they age.  I know more than a few people who were divorced or widowed and who felt that their sex lives were pretty good in that first marriage only to be blown away in middle age by a new partner.

I have a friend who met a man at church when they were both late 60's-early 70's.  She'd been widowed a decade earlier after a long and happy marriage.  However, it turns out old dogs can and do learn new tricks and she found her second time around to be far more physically satisfying than her first.  They had a hot tub on a deck in their backyard and she once told me she wondered what the neighbors thought as she and her husband enjoyed themselves while using it.  I told her I suspected that they were maybe a little jealous and, if anything, were happy for her and hoping their own golden years were as sexy as hers.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Notabug

[mansonlamps]

7 hours ago, Aloeonatable said:

I'm in my 70's and not out to pasture either. However, love is expressed differently as one grows older. 

We shouldn't compare Jack's and Rebecca's love and marriage to Rebecca's and Miguel's. They both loved her and she loved both of them at different times in her life. I never dismissed Rebecca's marriage to Miguel, I just felt the strong bond between Jack and Rebecca. I don't think it was necessary to show scenes of Miguel and Rebecca kissing and cuddling to understand that they loved each other. 

Yeah, I said this somewhere else so sorry for being redundant, but IMO, though Rebecca was the love of Miguel's life, Jack was Rebecca's.  The show seemed to always point us that way.  

[maggiemae]

Gotta say if Jack and Rebecca's love story and parenting was so fabulous...why were their kids screwed up when it came to love?

I get Randall and Beth made it through...thanks to Beth only.

I think Deja was the love of Randall's life.  Hence his own blood daughters were MIA.

ETA - I don't mean in a sick love way...just she was his focus always to the detriment of his own daughters and even Beth.

Edited June 5, 2022 by maggiemae

[debraran]

7 hours ago, maggiemae said:

Gotta say if Jack and Rebecca's love story and parenting was so fabulous...why were their kids screwed up when it came to love?

I get Randall and Beth made it through...thanks to Beth only.

I think Deja was the love of Randall's life.  Hence his own blood daughters were MIA.

ETA - I don't mean in a sick love way...just she was his focus always to the detriment of his own daughters and even Beth.

No family is really perfect (except on social media) but theirs did have their problems even before Jack's death. To blame everything on that, something that unfortunately effects many families was a bit much. Really just Kate used that but she had issues with self esteem, weight, and feeling she didn't know what to do with her life, early on. She sunk into depression but never got any help. Kevin did okay, was the typical jerk but was never unkind or nasty to others as he matured, it was just a very slow process until he met Nicky. Randall had his anxiety and probably would have been fine if he went to Howard with friends, but he did meet Beth at new college and took her to meet his mom (one date with mom if I remember) and found his way. His "perfect parenting" was easy to him having all the right tools, love, caring parents, nice home, money for school/trips and necessities, no big worries. Deja was Randall's project, like he wanted to help the guy who ghosted him who broke into his house. He was threatened by her mom, he wanted to be her savior and didn't care really what anyone else though, Annie and Tess or Beth really. Every miss hurt and every "win" meant he was her savior and perfect parent. Her mom was mentioned, shown once on a holiday (?) but fazed out. That's sad, I was hoping she could be part of Deja's life even if she let Randall adopt her, she never didn't love Deja, just didn't have the skills to cope with her and too many issues. I couldn't remember her seeing her again after she texted/called her. This article made it seem that they just dropped it, going to Delaware. I think Randall loved all his kids but Deja, whom he had for less time gave him a feeling of transforming and she was a loving project of his . That's why he was so angry about her being with Malik in part. Would he be that angry with Annie? (if he remembered her)

https://www.bustle.com/p/where-is-dejas-mom-on-this-is-us-the-pearsons-promised-to-reunite-mother-daughter-16812369

Edited June 5, 2022 by debraran

[Scarlett45]

On 6/5/2022 at 5:44 AM, debraran said:

That's sad, I was hoping she could be part of Deja's life even if she let Randall adopt her, she never didn't love Deja, just didn't have the skills to cope with her and too many issues. I couldn't remember her seeing her again after she texted/called her. This article made it seem that they just dropped it, going to Delaware.

Deja's bio Mom came to Thanksgiving the first year after they moved to Philly. I got the impression that she kept in touch with Deaja, but Shawna was a woman who was in no way equipped nor had the desire to parent anyone. 

[PurpleTentacle]

On 5/18/2022 at 4:01 AM, ams1001 said:

All those years with Miguel and all he gets is 30 seconds with her on the train?

I would have loved to have seen all three of them in the bed at the end. The perfect thruple for all eternity. But of course network TV would be waaay to scared of something so "unconventional".

On 5/18/2022 at 4:12 AM, funnygirl said:

This Is Us better get EMMY love this year.

Meh. There are so many much better shows and so much better acting out there. TIU doesn't even deserve a nomination.

[PurpleTentacle]

On 5/18/2022 at 4:44 AM, Blondnotstupid said:

I re-watched the presentation to Dr. Marcus.  The speaker said he was getting an award for his "drugs targeting Alzheimer's".  Not that he cured it.  I thought that the drugs Dr. Marcus developed were the ones that enabled Rebecca to live so long with Alzheimer's.  To me, that made sense as a tie-in for the otherwise random family featured in this episode.  

I thought about that. But would that work out timeline wise? He was like 8 when Jack died, when all his kids were 16, I think?

The big three are in their early 40s when Rebecca starts taking those drugs. But Dr. Marcus wasn't exactly young when he got that award. Granted, maybe he got the award like 10 years after those drugs came to market. But stilll. That all seems rather tight of a timeline, considering how long drug development takes. Even if he was in his 20s in the scenes we saw of him in the laboratory...

On 5/18/2022 at 5:15 AM, LexieLily said:

Isn't Phillip from London? Wouldn't it have been so much simpler to say that Kate, Phillip and the kids were there to visit the Mean Jerk in-laws and Phillip/the kids caught an earlier flight or came home a day earlier or something?

Yeah but then they couldn't have shoehorned in how amazing Kate is.........

[PurpleTentacle]

On 5/27/2022 at 3:27 AM, Aloeonatable said:

Well he is the first name in the credits. I give him credit for taking a supporting role in the past three seasons. How many lead actors would be that gracious. 

He still had as many scenes as ever. He has been dead since the beginning of this show afterall. True, the writers should have stoped the flashbacks three seasons ago, but they didn't. So I'm not sure what you mean.

On 5/28/2022 at 4:54 PM, 70sKid said:

They portrayed the cruel and unfortunate reality of Alzheimer's accurately.  Alzheimer's gave Miguel the short end of the stick, not the writers.  Rebecca didn't remember Miguel as her husband, she remembered him as Jack's friend,  which was who he was to her in her long term memory and why she saw him as he was then.  Jack was her husband in her long term memory, so her connection to him would be much stronger even though he had died decades before her.  

I don't see much evidence for that. She seemed to know Miguel was her husband most of the time. In the mornings she was asking for him, not for Jack.

[Aloeonatable]

15 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

He still had as many scenes as ever. He has been dead since the beginning of this show afterall. True, the writers should have stoped the flashbacks three seasons ago, but they didn't. So I'm not sure what you mean.

I don't see much evidence for that. She seemed to know Miguel was her husband most of the time. In the mornings she was asking for him, not for Jack.

The last three seasons of this series had really no, or very little, Jack storylines. He was in support of the other main character storylines. He definitely wasn't in the show as much. If I recall he would show up for maybe one or two scenes per episode at best, especially this last season. 

Rebecca's recent memory, as she progressed in her disease, was lost. Of course she recognized Miguel as her caretaker and called out for him when she felt lost. Did she "know" that he was her husband. I doubt it. At Kate's wedding to Phillip she mistook Kevin for Jack and chastised Randall when he said that his father was dead. 

[millennium]

Hahahaha, after all those years of pining after Rebecca and standing in for Saint Jack, all Miguel gets in the end is a lousy cameo on the train.  Thanks for playing, Migs.

I don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but Dr. K as the bartender gave me some serious The Shining vibes.   The whole train scene did.  

Edited June 30, 2022 by millennium

[christie]

On 5/18/2022 at 8:43 PM, Jax7917 said:

There was enough room on the bed for both Miguel and Jack, just saying !

That's exactly what I thought too 😂😂