S06.E17: The Train

[ams1001]

9 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

And why would Elijah be included at Rebecca's night of goodbyes?  I'm not sure we ever even saw them speak to one another.

I just assumed he and Madison were there for her kids.

9 hours ago, Lovecat said:

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!

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

9 hours ago, UGAmp said:

I didn’t love the train. I think for her to end up in the caboose with a huge bed by herself was weird. Even if Jack did show up at the end. But I loved seeing all of the past characters and just wish the setting had been different. Like her moving through all of the houses she’s lived in or something. 

I liked the train setup. When she entered the caboose and sat down alone on the bed, my first thought was that in the end we all go alone. But of course Jack would be there.

8 hours ago, 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. 

Every funeral I've been to has been moments of sadness and tears, interspersed with stories and laughter, and just mundane "how's life?" type conversations with all the people I don't see often.

8 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I suppose you could just fanwank and say she bought new records of her favorites again at some point.  They wouldn't be expensive or hard to replace. 

Maybe Kate used her employee discount when she worked at the music store to replace them.

[SunnyBeBe]

19 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

Bwah 😂Best comment so far!

I loved the entire episode. Like many,I was faked out thinking researcher Marcus was Deja's new beau. I still don't really understand the connection or why this family was introduced, but whatever.

I held it together until the very end, when Rebecca entered the caboose car.

Only thing I can figure is that because Saint Jack touched this boy’s life, he was blessed beyond measure and would bring a miracle cure to the world.  St. Jack was the most important man on the planet.  The very best.  🙄

[txhorns79]

41 minutes ago, AriAu said:

Maybe because we rarely heard her (other than when she got into drunk Uncle Kevin's car), but he speech was the first one to make me shed a tear.  "It's ok to be small...as long as I don't think of myself as small". Wisest line of the night!

It was a nice moment for a mostly forgotten character,  It always felt to me like the writers lost interest in Annie, and to a lesser extent, Tess, once Deja came on the scene.

 

22 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

 

I loved the entire episode. Like many,I was faked out thinking researcher Marcus was Deja's new beau. I still don't really understand the connection or why this family was introduced, but whatever.

The best I got was that even though he was too late to help Rebecca, that Pearson magic had somehow led to new treatments that could potentially help people in the future.  It wasn't the best and felt more like filler designed to give flashback Jack something substantial to do in the episode, rather than anything else.

[Ohiopirate02]

50 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

I'm having one of my cynical days - no tears. Just mild annoyance that they turned William into a trope that I thought Hollywood had dropped a couple of years ago. 

 

I did not read William as that trope at all.  The show has been gung-ho on using as many of the actors from season one episode one as possible in the final episodes.  They were always going to use Ron in some capacity.  The episode would have worked just the same if  Dr. K was Rebecca's guide or Miguel and William as the bartender.  They also could have brought in Tim Matheson or Elizabeth Perkins in the role.  

[Eliot]

1 hour ago, SummerDreams said:

Was it implied that if the doctor was not with Marcus he could have saved Jack? Had we seen this info before?

It was directly stated, by the doctor.

Quote

Just mild annoyance that they turned William into a trope that I thought Hollywood had dropped a couple of years ago. 

Same. But the show kind of positioned him that way from the get-go.

Edited May 18, 2022 by Eliot

[Mrs Shibbles]

14 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Only thing I can figure is that because Saint Jack touched this boy’s life, he was blessed beyond measure and would bring a miracle cure to the world.  St. Jack was the most important man on the planet.  The very best.  🙄

Essentially, Jack cured Alzheimer's [/sarcasm]

[cardigirl]

1 hour ago, SummerDreams said:

Was it implied that if the doctor was not with Marcus he could have saved Jack? Had we seen this info before?

 

25 minutes ago, Eliot said:

It was directly stated, by the doctor.

I'll have to re-watch the episode, but my initial thought was that the doctor missed diagnosing anything wrong with Jack's heart because he'd been focused on his smoke inhalation. The doctor was shocked that Jack had died in the few minutes he was attending young Marcus. I didn't hear him say, "If only I'd been here instead."

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by cardigirl

[CountryGirl]

4 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

 

I'll have to re-watch the episode, by my initial thought was that the doctor missed diagnosing anything wrong with Jack's heart because he'd been focused on his smoke inhalation. The doctor was shocked that Jack had died in the few minutes he was attending young Marcus. I didn't hear him say, "If only I'd been here instead."

 

 

My sense was that even if the doctor had had the OR on stand-by, Jack's was the type of sudden, fatal heart attack that no one could have stopped/fixed.

MH's uncle was literally sitting on his tractor, feeling fine, talking to his wife, and in the next moment, he had collapsed and was dead before he even hit the ground. Same exact thing Jack had.

They call them "widowmakers" for a reason.

[bluegirl147]

10 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Every funeral I've been to has been moments of sadness and tears, interspersed with stories and laughter, and just mundane "how's life?" type conversations with all the people I don't see often.

When my husband died instead of a funeral (I had him cremated) I did a very casual memorial service at my house. It was June so the weather was nice and I set up tables and chairs outside. I asked anyone who was coming to please bring a covered dish so I didn't have to worry about feeding people and I made it a celebration of his life and not a sad ending to his life. I have requested my son do the same for me.

Add me to the list who thinks Miguel got shortchanged.  He was treated like he was just a blip in Rebecca's life.  I knew they were going to have her reunite with Jack because he was the love of her life and I get that.  But Miguel also played a huge part in her life and I think that deserved more than the minimal interaction they had on the train.   As others had mentioned he should have been her guide.   

I know this show loved to show random people and then show us how they were tangentially connected to the Pearsons but I was never of fan of it.  It took time away from the core characters. When I first saw Dule Hill I thought did Hulu somehow switch me over to the Wonder Years.

A previous poster said she had been hate watching.  I wasn't hate watching all these years but I wasn't really a fan either.   I started watching mid second season after getting caught up online and for me it was just another show I watched.  Things rarely played out the way I wanted them to and I found a lot of things contrived but I did like seeing the growth of Kevin.  The less I say about Kate and Randall the better.  

I wonder if this episode will end up being better than next week's series finale.

[nkotb]

This episode has me ugly-crying. For all of its’ many issues, it’s our only appointment tv every week, & I’ll miss it, & the conversations that Hubs & I have following each episode. It’s honestly made us discuss our wishes if we receive an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, or if one of us passes early, hopefully, we’ll get around to discussing what would happen if we go from assistant teacher to statewide curriculum designer in 1 commercial break, or less. 😉

So many great moments…Beth’s goodbye (Susan Kalechi Watson should get some Emmy love, too), William (but, Miguel should’ve been the conductor), Dr. K, Toby joking that she liked him more than Phillip, the lemon reference (as cheesy as it is, it’s 1 of my all-time favorite quotes), Kevin’s painting, allllll of the throwbacks, Kate making it in time to get her goodbye, & so many more. 
 

I didn’t like…Miguel’s abrupt, short scene on the train (they were part of each other’s lives for decades, not to mention that they were married over a decade, & he more than stood by her side in her most difficult time), too much filler time on the Brooks’ family, especially since I assumed Jack donated something for him to survive, no Kyle, the caboose bed (of course Jack would be there, but, could it not have been dinner, or something else?). 

Overall, though, it was a lovely tribute, & I fully think Mandy will finally get her Emmy love. 

[SummerDreams]

14 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

 

I'll have to re-watch the episode, but my initial thought was that the doctor missed diagnosing anything wrong with Jack's heart because he'd been focused on his smoke inhalation. The doctor was shocked that Jack had died in the few minutes he was attending young Marcus. I didn't hear him say, "If only I'd been here instead."

 

 

He didn't but why would they have him say that? In my ears it sounds like him saying exactly what you said. That he could have done something had he been there. It seems like a weird thing to imply one episode before the end.

[Jax7917]

I liked the episode, but thought the previous ones were much better and I cried during the last few, but not this one. I felt that it was weird that the random family was given so much screen time. They showed the whole scene with the car accident when they could have just cut it and showed a family at the hospital waiting to hear results about their son who had gotten into an accident. They still could have shown the scene with Jack and the other father, but why they had to delve so deeply into the family wasted a lot of time in the second to last episode of the series. If the guy had been Deja's future husband or even son I could see it more but even then, it just seemed to waste a lot of time. The one time Randall and Kevin barely have a speech prepared is when their speeches should have been at the top of their game. 

Dan wanted to have Kate and Toby divorce to bring some realism to the show , meanwhile you have Deja ending up with her first boyfriend from high school, Kevin and Sophie ending up together because they were soulmates at 5 years old, and Randall and Beth (which seems like the most realistic situation) ending up together despite being each other's firsts. Let me know if i'm missing anyone ending up with the first person they ever laid eyes on.

The train scene creeped me out as I said on an earlier post. Now that Miguel died, he seems like he didn't really matter to her much in that ending scene with them on the train. Why she had more time with her doctor is beyond me. The episode was good but I was expecting better for only having one left.

[AriAu]

Quote

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

I noticed the Terrible Towel and the mugs and the 70's era TV showing THE IMMACULATE RECEPTION game...after which Jack and Rebecca had sex in the bathroom at the bar.

Quote

Just mild annoyance that they turned William into a trope that I thought Hollywood had dropped a couple of years ago.

I was sorta thinking the same thing, except that the character had sorta led Rebecca on a journey of sorts throughout the series so I wasn' as bothered by it.

And I am not surprised that we didn't really have her visit with her parents on The Train since they were not as important an influence on how she viewed her life as a mother of the Big Three as the other people she encountered....and I think these last episodes hammer home the point that the whole show was about Rebecca's journey as the mother of the Big Three........with a dash of St. Jack, who at this point has been dead for like 30 years

Edited May 18, 2022 by AriAu

[Aileen]

9 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I suppose you could just fanwank and say she bought new records of her favorites again at some point.  They wouldn't be expensive or hard to replace. 

Especially since her daughter worked at a record store.

[TAG42481]

People said they heard the show would overrun.  DID NBC NOT KNOW THAT?  Inexcusable for this to have not been passed onto providers.  I ALWAYS record an extra minute, so I saw William kiss Rebecca then ... done.  Shouldn't have to wait until NBC unlocks the episode to see the end.

[Aloeonatable]

3 hours ago, Cristofle said:

I love Ron Cephas Jones, he has the most soothing voice, so I didn't mind William leading her through the train. I didn't expect Miguel to be the key figure she'd been waiting for, but that the moment was so brief and that she didn't talk and they didn't touch was a bit odd. 

I don't think Rebecca touched anyone on the train, except William when he reached out to take her hand to lead her to the caboose. I wasn't at all bothered that her moment with Miguel was so brief. It was Jack who was the love of her life. 

[perkie1968]

My chanel cut off the last minute.  what happened after Rebecca makes the decision that it's time to go?  

[Cristofle]

3 minutes ago, Aloeonatable said:

I don't think Rebecca touched anyone on the train, except William when he reached out to take her hand to lead her to the caboose. I wasn't at all bothered that her moment with Miguel was so brief. It was Jack who was the love of her life. 

I would never have expected Miguel to trump Jack - for better or worse, this show has been clear and consistent in prioritizing Jack and Rebecca's story. Even when Rebecca was first diagnosed, what was haunting her at the end of that episode was the idea of forgetting that Jack loved her. I think she definitely loved Miguel, but I think if you'd asked her, in her heart she would believe that Jack was the love of her life. And I also wasn't surprised it was Jack alone at the end, without bringing Kyle into it. It's probably not especially emotionally realistic, but at the end of the day, Kyle has barely been mentioned on the show in years and this was not a moment for a surprise twist - this was a moment of bringing us to what they'd been building to, which was Rebecca ultimately going home to Jack. Still, I was a little surprised that Miguel and Rebecca didn't really EXCHANGE words while she talked with Dr. K (who I really like!) for a fairly long time. 

[memememe76]

I liked an observation from somewhere else (YouTube of all places) that Rebecca’s burdens she carried all of her life were the secret of William she withheld from Jack and Randall, and the loss of Kyle. So that is why William and Dr. K had the most prominent parts in The Train. 
 

Miguel actually had the next longest scene with Rebecca, even if Jack’s was the more impactful. I don’t count Beth or Annie, it was just another way of showing Rebecca hearing what the people were saying to her during their goodbyes. 

[Jeddah]

2 hours ago, MissLucas said:

I'm having one of my cynical days - no tears. Just mild annoyance that they turned William into a trope that I thought Hollywood had dropped a couple of years ago. 

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that. I’m not going to type out the name of the trope, but yeah. William deserved better than being the magical train steward politely guiding  her through her life story.

[bichonblitz]

12 hours ago, CSunshine76 said:

There was absolutely no need to introduce a new family; it added nothing to the story.

Well, it did add something. Confusion. 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

You can see the very last bit of the show on This Is Us's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NBCThisIsUs/  it's currently the third video down, on the right. The second one down says you can stream the episode, though I don't know if that's true (didn't click on it). 

[Cristofle]

36 minutes ago, memememe76 said:

I liked an observation from somewhere else (YouTube of all places) that Rebecca’s burdens she carried all of her life were the secret of William she withheld from Jack and Randall, and the loss of Kyle. So that is why William and Dr. K had the most prominent parts in The Train. 

Interesting observation, although I would say the loss that the show has centered on and that the episode was much more focused on was Jack (which Dr. K is also wrapped up in). In the end, she was doing what she'd been so much wanting to do since that terrible drive to their burned shell of a house - she was going home to Jack. So I'd say the secret of William and the loss of Kyle but probably more to the point Jack was what was driving her. She was letting go of her burdens, including arguably her worst choice in hiding William from Randall, and she was going where she had wanted to go for so long. I know Jack is not exactly loved on this board, heh, but I didn't see a particular focus on Kyle in the episode (as I have not seen a focus on him for a long time, certainly not in comparison to the loss of Jack) and I'm not sure that's the main point of Dr. K in the episode. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Cristofle

[JudyObscure]

I've watched every episode but I was going to skip this one, I get dry eyes and a headache if I cry and I thought a whole episode of Rebecca dying would be too depressing. 

But I just watched it anyway and I'm so glad I did.  I thought the train was a beautiful metaphor, loved all the call backs, seeing the children at all phases is just what mothers do, and quick visits with other important people in her life was neat.  

William as  conductor was perfect for me, he had been in Rebecca's mind from the moment she adopted Randall and they had connected so strongly at the end of his life, but unlike her family he was more of an audience for her life.  As for being a trope, gentle and wise is a pretty good one to be.  

The makeup and costume people did a wonderful job of making Rebecca, William and everyone else on the train look beautiful -- just as I plan to be in Heaven! 

So it was worth this headache for me and instead of depressing, something Randall said made me feel better about my last words to my mother, so thanks show.

[izabella]

This show never cared about Kyle.  It really didn't.   Randall filled out the third sweater mom knitted, and that was that.

[Boo Boo]

I'm torn between finding this episode wonderfully written and horribly cliche.  

The writers seem obsessed with the love of a lifetime trope.  

 

[Cristofle]

I forgot to say - I thought that close-up shot of Rebecca right before she lies down was a beautiful directing choice. It reminded me a lot of the close-up of Rebecca in the immediate aftermath of Jack's death. So there was the callback of her saying good-bye to him, and then she turned around and said hello to him at last. 

[Lovecat]

6 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

Easter egg alert:  Someone on Twitter pointed out that "caboose" was the word Rebecca couldn't remember in an earlier episode.

I read that in a People online article this morning and slapped my forehead.  Duh, of course!!

2 hours ago, 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.

I saw that too!  I'm torn between re-watching to look for Easter eggs...and the knowledge that I'm not always good at picking out those kinds of subtleties, so a re-watch could just turn out to be another workout for my tear ducts :)

[Eliot]

1 hour ago, SummerDreams said:

He didn't but why would they have him say that? In my ears it sounds like him saying exactly what you said. That he could have done something had he been there. It seems like a weird thing to imply one episode before the end.

If I am recalling this correctly, the doctor said something like, "I got called to the operating room to save a kid who was crashing....I never thought..." Can't remember the exact words, but he absolutely made a correlation between the two.

[Cheyanne11]

8 minutes ago, Boo Boo said:

I'm torn between finding this episode wonderfully written and horribly cliche.  

It can be both!

8 minutes ago, Boo Boo said:

The writers seem obsessed with the love of a lifetime trope.  

Yeah, I guess Kate was the outlier, since Kate, Randall, and Kevin all had the 'one great love' storyline (I guess Deja, too).

[CountryGirl]

This episode was a little bit of a mixed-bag for me, although it is still up there with one of my favorites.

The framing story with the other family and the interchange between Jack from the night of the fire and Marcus' father, including Dr. K's "lemons" speech was just unnecessary to me. I actually said, out loud, "this is the next-to-last-episode, we do NOT have time for this!" I can appreciate that this is what the show has always done and, at times, very, very effectively, such as the very first episode, where the dots between the Big 3 and Jack/Rebecca were connected in a very big way (and I will never forget that jaw-dropping, out-loud gasp moment when I realized who Jack and Rebecca were to the Big 3 - it was the moment I was hooked), but it just seemed shoe-horned and forced in this penultimate episode that should have been all things Rebecca. The tie-in that Marcus went on to help create a drug for Alzheimer's didn't save this clunky storytelling for me.

Resolving the "mystery" of Deja's baby daddy - you can also file that under things I don't care about as well as things we don't have time for. Malik had quite the glow up LOL.

So setting aside the things I didn't care for all that much, there was so much else that I loved.

The dual realities of the Pearson crew (and other sundry family members/shirttail relatives) and Rebecca as she begins to transition to the afterlife was just beautifully done.

Toby being there, offering to pay for the Chinese food, a callback to his old dynamic with Kevin, made me smile.

Phillip arriving with Jack and Hailey, finally answering the "where is Kate?" question and I'll just say now that I could not care less about the feasibility of Kate's meteoric career as we have one episode left. That proverbial horse is dead and I'm moving on. I started to question Kate being so far away with her mother so ill, but she's heeding Rebecca's advice, so I shut my own mouth. And Kate being on that plane would lead to one of the best moments of the series for me - more on that later.

The nurse coming in to gently, but firmly tell them that they need to start saying their goodbyes. That was a deep-breath moment for all of them and me.

Nicky, attempting to lighten the mood, asking if they should draw really sad straws?

Beth is the first to visit Rebecca and those moments were sheer perfection with Beth including the obvious but why not say it anyway that she would take care of Randall with her "I'll take him the rest of the way, mama." That little, understated moment of passing the torch. Generation to generation.

The FaceTime conversation with the Big 3 where Randall and Kevin assure Kate she is doing what their mother would want but also give the reality that Rebecca might not make it through the night. 

I loved that Beth didn't share her conversation with Randall  - it's something she can keep just for herself and look back on in later years.

Randall wanting to convey to his mother that it's "okay" to go but knowing how was hard to watch.

Tears threatened, but then turned to laughter when his presumed "Gotcha" about Deja's pregnancy joke was on him as Beth, as her mother, already knew - even before Deja did. 

The playing of the Joni Mitchell record, Rebecca's favorite, and the retelling of the tall telling of the day Kevin and Rebecca visited Joni's house was wonderful.

Toby visiting Rebecca - I loved that they included him as he is and will always be the father of two of her grandchildren and she always had a soft spot for him. I laughed at him joking she loves him more than Phillip. That's fair, Tobe.

We finally get an Annie moment and while I can quibble we should have had many more of them vs the Deja/Malik show, it was touching to see her thank her grandmother for telling her it's okay to be quiet as long as she isn't afraid to be loud. I found myself nodding along. I also loved that Annie was the only Pearson grandchild to get a spotlight moment with Rebecca.

I loved the quiet moments between the couples with just those those little touches of comfort, no words being necessary.

The rest of the house going to bed while Randall and Kevin keep vigil, returning to Rebecca's room where they share with her that Kate is on her way (hearing is supposed to be the last of the senses to go) and that they treated her very much as if she's still here, knowing what is to come brings tears to my eyes even now.

Talking about Pilgrim Rick, was he based on a real person, the snow globe and whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas when Kate had her appendectomy, Kevin's painting, that we see framed and displayed on the wall. It's those little details that has made me love show so much.

The next morning comes and we learn Rebecca has made it through the night and I said to myself, "she's waiting for Kate." They watch the kids playing outside and I knew, just by watching their faces, that Kate had arrived and seeing her race into the room, so much emotion written on her face, that was one of my favorite moments,

Even as it made me burst into tears to hear her lean in to Rebecca and whisper, her voice breaking, "It's me, Mom. It's Bug." Kate's devastation, every inch of it etched on Chrissy's haunted face, was just beautifully played.

I didn't mind that Rebecca squeezed Randall's hand. No one can say if she even knew that it was his hand she was touching, only that she knew, perhaps, that she was touching someone who loved her. 

The final "I love yous" as she takes one last breath and Randall telling her to say "hey" for them, suggesting she'll be reunited with their father in the afterlife and, in that moment, making it okay for her to go.

The train scenes were as good as my imagination/speculation when I learned the title of this episode with a few small nitpicks.

Miguel should have had more of a presence but he was his younger, great haired self with his natural curls and big smile.

And I wish JH had played Kyle and there had been a moment of "Kevin?" "No, Mom...it's me, Kyle." Just a tiny moment.

But what we did get was wonderful. The train ride harkening back to her days of being a young girl and taking the train, although one not as glorious as this, to NYC with her father.

RCJ's William was the perfect guide and while there were times when he would pop up that would start to grate in previous episodes just that teensy bit, I welcomed seeing him here.

His wanting her to accompany him to the bar car but her insisting that she's waiting for someone (Kate). His gently but firmly having her follow him.

We see a quick flash of Rebecca as a young girl, riding the train with her father. 

Then the intercom comes on and it's Beth speaking to her and we see teenage and present-day Beth sitting there and the intercom was a brilliant touch to bring in the present-day words to Rebecca into the train sequences.

But Rebecca isn't allowed to linger as William insists the train is moving fast now and they need to keep pace. I found myself saying, "Not yet" even as I felt those words from Rebecca, who looked absolutely luminous.

We get a quick moment of Rebecca seeing another version of her younger self looking at a painting before spotting Dr. K. And I'm not ashamed to say that I exclaimed "Dr. K!"

She talks about how much time she's worried about them but Dr. K with his soothing, reassuring voices tells her to "trust the process." She worries she made so many mistakes and he is quick to tell her no parent is perfect. True, that. 

Then he reveals something I had only speculated about long ago - that he feared he would lose her in the delivery room. But that she had the will to survive and came through just as she came through losing Kyle and later, Jack. And Miguel, I would add.

He tells her she's as tough as they come and I agree. She tells him he was a great doctor, even if it was for such a short time. He shares that she's earned her rest.

William is there, his arm at the ready as they continue through the train and we see Annie, Kevin, and Sophie at different ages.

That moment, an Easter egg of sorts, of adult Randall doing push-ups with child Randall on his back. Adult Kevin looking at baseball cards with his younger self. I did feel bad that the first Big 3 kids weren't able to be included. 

We have the all-too-brief scene with Miguel, who reminds her she's his favorite person. I reminded myself that Miguel got his due in his self-titled episode but I'm still a little peeved we didn't get more of him or that he didn't take over as guide from William. But Miguel looked happy and he was the other love of Rebecca's life - a love for their third act - so that will have to be enough. 

They have reached their final stop - the caboose (another Easter egg, the word Rebecca couldn't remember in a previous episode until she did) - and I'm not ready, folks. Rebecca halts, still adamant about waiting for Kate. Then she hears Kate's voice over the intercom and William opens the door and she finds young Kate sitting in a chair by the bed, smiling as she shows off the jar with lightening bugs inside. 

The joy and the relief on Rebecca's face is palpable but it's gone a moment later as she knows what Kate being there means. 

It's time.

Her face falling as she says, "This is quite sad, isn't it? The end?"

But then William's words, giving her comfort and courage as he tells her "The way I see it, if something makes you sad when it ends, it must have been pretty wonderful when it was happening." Adding, "Everything ends. Everything dies. If you step back and look at the whole picture...if you’re brave enough to allow yourself the gift of a wide perspective…If you do that, you’ll see that the end is not sad. It’s just the start of the next and critically beautiful thing. It’s like that dopey painting your son made that time.” And I'm smiling through my tears as this part, thinking ahead someday to when I'm older and my mother, who is watching this episode with me, will no longer be here.

They embrace and William puts on his hat as they say goodbye. He closes the door as she approaches the bed. Sitting down then lying down, rolling over to reveal that the very large, very empty bed isn't empty after all. Jack is there and has been waiting for her all this time, reminding me of a line in one of my favorite songs, Tracey Chapman's "The Promise": I vow to come for you, if you wait for me.

They exchange "heys" and nothing more needs to be said.

An absolute beautiful, heart-tugging farewell for Rebecca and for a valentine of sorts for us, the fans, who aren't quite ready to say "goodbye." Some of them anyway.

 

[NaughtyKitty]

Maybe next week we will learn that Rebecca donated her body to science and Dr Marcus used her to help with his Alzheimers research.

 

I'm normally not a crier, but this ep had me blubbering start to finish. Must be the meds I am on

[bichonblitz]

On a lighter note, Dressing Kevin in the dad sweater cracks me up. Something cool celebrity Kevin would never wear. He's gorgeous no matter what. Beard, older, dad sweater and all. 

Mandy Moore is stunningly beautiful. 

 

[A.Ham]

10 hours ago, UGAmp said:

I loved William as a character but I too think Miguel should have been the one escorting her. Especially since he passed before her. He was with her for years. And he can still hand her off to her first true love. 

Correct. He was the one she loved in the second part of her life and cared for her in her illness. It would have made the most sense for Miguel to be the one guiding her. They still could have had William on the train for a moment. Somehow this made it look like William was more prominent in Rebecca's life than Miguel, to which I say, no.

[Empress1]

1 hour ago, bluegirl147 said:

When my husband died instead of a funeral (I had him cremated) I did a very casual memorial service at my house. It was June so the weather was nice and I set up tables and chairs outside. I asked anyone who was coming to please bring a covered dish so I didn't have to worry about feeding people and I made it a celebration of his life and not a sad ending to his life. I have requested my son do the same for me.

Add me to the list who thinks Miguel got shortchanged.  He was treated like he was just a blip in Rebecca's life.  I knew they were going to have her reunite with Jack because he was the love of her life and I get that.  But Miguel also played a huge part in her life and I think that deserved more than the minimal interaction they had on the train. 

I expressly called my dad’s memorial (he was cremated and not religious) a celebration of life, and that’s a phrase I’ve heard often in the Black community. I’ve been to memorials with music and dancing. 

Agree about Miguel. The show leans too hard on the One Great Love trope, in my opinion - Miguel wasn’t Jack but he was someone she loved and knew for decades.

9 minutes ago, bichonblitz said:

On a lighter note, Dressing Kevin in the dad sweater cracks me up. Something cool celebrity Kevin would never wear. He's gorgeous no matter what. Beard, older, dad sweater and all. 

It feels like they don’t recognize that 50s isn’t that old. They dress him like he’s in his 70s. Kevin would probably dress more trendily and stylishly than that, and honestly most people I know in their 50s dress more stylishly than that. Hell - Rebecca at 70 dressed more stylishly than that.

[debbie311]

2 hours ago, cardigirl said:

 

I'll have to re-watch the episode, but my initial thought was that the doctor missed diagnosing anything wrong with Jack's heart because he'd been focused on his smoke inhalation. The doctor was shocked that Jack had died in the few minutes he was attending young Marcus. I didn't hear him say, "If only I'd been here instead."

 

 

And, like, he was the ONLY doctor on duty in the ER of a major city hospital?  Please.

[TOL]

34 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

This episode was a little bit of a mixed-bag for me, although it is still up there with one of my favorites.

The framing story with the other family and the interchange between Jack from the night of the fire and Marcus' father, including Dr. K's "lemons" speech was just unnecessary to me. I actually said, out loud, "this is the next-to-last-episode, we do NOT have time for this!" I can appreciate that this is what the show has always done and, at times, very, very effectively, such as the very first episode, where the dots between the Big 3 and Jack/Rebecca were connected in a very big way (and I will never forget that jaw-dropping, out-loud gasp moment when I realized who Jack and Rebecca were to the Big 3 - it was the moment I was hooked), but it just seemed shoe-horned and forced in this penultimate episode that should have been all things Rebecca. The tie-in that Marcus went on to help create a drug for Alzheimer's didn't save this clunky storytelling for me.

Resolving the "mystery" of Deja's baby daddy - you can also file that under things I don't care about as well as things we don't have time for. Malik had quite the glow up LOL.

So setting aside the things I didn't care for all that much, there was so much else that I loved.

The dual realities of the Pearson crew (and other sundry family members/shirttail relatives) and Rebecca as she begins to transition to the afterlife was just beautifully done.

Toby being there, offering to pay for the Chinese food, a callback to his old dynamic with Kevin, made me smile.

Phillip arriving with Jack and Hailey, finally answering the "where is Kate?" question and I'll just say now that I could not care less about the feasibility of Kate's meteoric career as we have one episode left. That proverbial horse is dead and I'm moving on. I started to question Kate being so far away with her mother so ill, but she's heeding Rebecca's advice, so I shut my own mouth. And Kate being on that plane would lead to one of the best moments of the series for me - more on that later.

The nurse coming in to gently, but firmly tell them that they need to start saying their goodbyes. That was a deep-breath moment for all of them and me.

Nicky, attempting to lighten the mood, asking if they should draw really sad straws?

Beth is the first to visit Rebecca and those moments were sheer perfection with Beth including the obvious but why not say it anyway that she would take care of Randall with her "I'll take him the rest of the way, mama." That little, understated moment of passing the torch. Generation to generation.

The FaceTime conversation with the Big 3 where Randall and Kevin assure Kate she is doing what their mother would want but also give the reality that Rebecca might not make it through the night. 

I loved that Beth didn't share her conversation with Randall  - it's something she can keep just for herself and look back on in later years.

Randall wanting to convey to his mother that it's "okay" to go but knowing how was hard to watch.

Tears threatened, but then turned to laughter when his presumed "Gotcha" about Deja's pregnancy joke was on him as Beth, as her mother, already knew - even before Deja did. 

The playing of the Joni Mitchell record, Rebecca's favorite, and the retelling of the tall telling of the day Kevin and Rebecca visited Joni's house was wonderful.

Toby visiting Rebecca - I loved that they included him as he is and will always be the father of two of her grandchildren and she always had a soft spot for him. I laughed at him joking she loves him more than Phillip. That's fair, Tobe.

We finally get an Annie moment and while I can quibble we should have had many more of them vs the Deja/Malik show, it was touching to see her thank her grandmother for telling her it's okay to be quiet as long as she isn't afraid to be loud. I found myself nodding along. I also loved that Annie was the only Pearson grandchild to get a spotlight moment with Rebecca.

I loved the quiet moments between the couples with just those those little touches of comfort, no words being necessary.

The rest of the house going to bed while Randall and Kevin keep vigil, returning to Rebecca's room where they share with her that Kate is on her way (hearing is supposed to be the last of the senses to go) and that they treated her very much as if she's still here, knowing what is to come brings tears to my eyes even now.

Talking about Pilgrim Rick, was he based on a real person, the snow globe and whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas when Kate had her appendectomy, Kevin's painting, that we see framed and displayed on the wall. It's those little details that has made me love show so much.

The next morning comes and we learn Rebecca has made it through the night and I said to myself, "she's waiting for Kate." They watch the kids playing outside and I knew, just by watching their faces, that Kate had arrived and seeing her race into the room, so much emotion written on her face, that was one of my favorite moments,

Even as it made me burst into tears to hear her lean in to Rebecca and whisper, her voice breaking, "It's me, Mom. It's Bug." Kate's devastation, every inch of it etched on Chrissy's haunted face, was just beautifully played.

I didn't mind that Rebecca squeezed Randall's hand. No one can say if she even knew that it was his hand she was touching, only that she knew, perhaps, that she was touching someone who loved her. 

The final "I love yous" as she takes one last breath and Randall telling her to say "hey" for them, suggesting she'll be reunited with their father in the afterlife and, in that moment, making it okay for her to go.

The train scenes were as good as my imagination/speculation when I learned the title of this episode with a few small nitpicks.

Miguel should have had more of a presence but he was his younger, great haired self with his natural curls and big smile.

And I wish JH had played Kyle and there had been a moment of "Kevin?" "No, Mom...it's me, Kyle." Just a tiny moment.

But what we did get was wonderful. The train ride harkening back to her days of being a young girl and taking the train, although one not as glorious as this, to NYC with her father.

RCJ's William was the perfect guide and while there were times when he would pop up that would start to grate in previous episodes just that teensy bit, I welcomed seeing him here.

His wanting her to accompany him to the bar car but her insisting that she's waiting for someone (Kate). His gently but firmly having her follow him.

We see a quick flash of Rebecca as a young girl, riding the train with her father. 

Then the intercom comes on and it's Beth speaking to her and we see teenage and present-day Beth sitting there and the intercom was a brilliant touch to bring in the present-day words to Rebecca into the train sequences.

But Rebecca isn't allowed to linger as William insists the train is moving fast now and they need to keep pace. I found myself saying, "Not yet" even as I felt those words from Rebecca, who looked absolutely luminous.

We get a quick moment of Rebecca seeing another version of her younger self looking at a painting before spotting Dr. K. And I'm not ashamed to say that I exclaimed "Dr. K!"

She talks about how much time she's worried about them but Dr. K with his soothing, reassuring voices tells her to "trust the process." She worries she made so many mistakes and he is quick to tell her no parent is perfect. True, that. 

Then he reveals something I had only speculated about long ago - that he feared he would lose her in the delivery room. But that she had the will to survive and came through just as she came through losing Kyle and later, Jack. And Miguel, I would add.

He tells her she's as tough as they come and I agree. She tells him he was a great doctor, even if it was for such a short time. He shares that she's earned her rest.

William is there, his arm at the ready as they continue through the train and we see Annie, Kevin, and Sophie at different ages.

That moment, an Easter egg of sorts, of adult Randall doing push-ups with child Randall on his back. Adult Kevin looking at baseball cards with his younger self. I did feel bad that the first Big 3 kids weren't able to be included. 

We have the all-too-brief scene with Miguel, who reminds her she's his favorite person. I reminded myself that Miguel got his due in his self-titled episode but I'm still a little peeved we didn't get more of him or that he didn't take over as guide from William. But Miguel looked happy and he was the other love of Rebecca's life - a love for their third act - so that will have to be enough. 

They have reached their final stop - the caboose (another Easter egg, the word Rebecca couldn't remember in a previous episode until she did) - and I'm not ready, folks. Rebecca halts, still adamant about waiting for Kate. Then she hears Kate's voice over the intercom and William opens the door and she finds young Kate sitting in a chair by the bed, smiling as she shows off the jar with lightening bugs inside. 

The joy and the relief on Rebecca's face is palpable but it's gone a moment later as she knows what Kate being there means. 

It's time.

Her face falling as she says, "This is quite sad, isn't it? The end?"

But then William's words, given her comfort and courage as he tells her "The way I see it, if something makes you sad when it ends, it must have been pretty wonderful when it was happening." Adding, "Everything ends. Everything dies. If you step back and look at the whole picture...if you’re brave enough to allow yourself the gift of a wide perspective…If you do that, you’ll see that the end is not sad. It’s just the start of the next and critically beautiful thing. It’s like that dopey painting your son made that time.” And I'm smiling through my tears as this part.

They embrace and William puts on his hat as they say goodbye. He closes the door as she approaches the bed. Sitting down then lying down, rolling over to reveal that the very large, very empty bed isn't empty after all. Jack is there and has been waiting for her all this time, reminding me of a line in one of my favorite songs, Tracey Chapman's "The Promise": I vow to come for you, if you wait for me.

They exchange "heys" and nothing more needs to be said.

An absolute beautiful, heart-tugging farewell for Rebecca and for a valentine of sorts for us, the fans, who aren't quite ready to say "goodbye." Some of them anyway.

 

 Wow.  It says something when I’m reading a post and start crying again.  Lovely recap, and I agree with all of it.  

[Rammchick]

Deja spoke about how hard Malik was working.  So...Malik went to Harvard...and then....opened a restaurant?  Was working at a restaurant?  Not that that doesn't happen (there is a well-known chef in the Houston area who had a Ph.D. in biochemistry before becoming a chef, etc.), but it seemed odd to just drop that in without explanation.

I didn't shed a tear -- I think part of it was that the Marcus Brooks storyline took me out of the episode, and I kept trying to figure out who he was/what the connection was.  Like others, I thought he was Malik at one point, but then it didn't make sense that he walked with a cane, and had a different name 😏  After watching this show for so long, I should've expected a twist.   

[izabella]

1 minute ago, Rammchick said:

Deja spoke about how hard Malik was working.  So...Malik went to Harvard...and then....opened a restaurant?  Was working at a restaurant?  Not that that doesn't happen (there is a well-known chef in the Houston area who had a Ph.D. in biochemistry before becoming a chef, etc.), but it seemed odd to just drop that in without explanation.

Malik always wanted to be a chef.  Which does not explain why he went to Harvard instead of a culinary institute, but it does explain why he has a restaurant.

[Pallas]

On the train, Rebecca was moving back through her life as a mother. Rebecca and Miguel were already complete with one another. William was, briefly, the father of one of her children; back when Rebecca was younger than she appeared to be on the train, he'd given her crucial advice about becoming Randall's mother; and now, he guided her to the father of all three. 

[Blakeston]

28 minutes ago, Eliot said:

If I am recalling this correctly, the doctor said something like, "I got called to the operating room to save a kid who was crashing....I never thought..." Can't remember the exact words, but he absolutely made a correlation between the two.

I think the doctor may have just been saying, "I never would have guessed that the patient who would die tonight would be the guy who seemed fine, rather than the kid who was crashing."

[monakane]

I started crying as soon as Rebecca entered the train.  The day before my mother passed from cancer, she told me she had a dream that she was riding on a train and her mother, father, and sister (all deceased) were on it.  A few years ago, when my brother in law was dying, he had similar dreams.  The hospice nurse told my sister that she hears these stories all the time.  I'm so glad TIU addressed it.  

[Mrs.Monkey]

My favorite line was Kevin and Randall saying that Jack was oddly jacked for a dad in the 90s 😀 

[Mrs Shibbles]

I was really hoping Deja was with the car accident guy and had moved on from Malik.

[Empress1]

11 hours ago, hoosiergirl said:

I actually loved the Deja parts, although I wished that she had wound up with someone other than Malik.

Me too. As I said, the show goes too hard on the One Great Love trope. It really would be okay for Malik to have been her high school sweetheart and for them not to be together again. It wouldn’t diminish the relationship.

[StaceyNotStacie]

1 hour ago, Aloeonatable said:

I don't think Rebecca touched anyone on the train, except William when he reached out to take her hand to lead her to the caboose. I wasn't at all bothered that her moment with Miguel was so brief. It was Jack who was the love of her life. 

This. The only thing with Miguel is that I wish she could have said something to him about the time they spent together since she was already so far gone when he passed. 
 

Considering how rushed the episode felt just to get to that end scene, I wonder how much footage they have that wasn’t used in the episode. 

[nilyank]

11 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

I think the doctor may have just been saying, "I never would have guessed that the patient who would die tonight would be the guy who seemed fine, rather than the kid who was crashing."

Yes to this. 
 

I also thought that he didn’t do much to save Marcus’ life but just told the surgeon to continue to do CPR.

[TVForever]

DAMN YOU SHOW.

Do they give Emmys for casting directors? Because throughout this whole series, this show has done a marvelous job with the Big Three at different ages with the different actors. I still have to stop myself from checking to see if Teenaged Beth is related to Adult Beth IRL.

Overall, I loved this episode, and thought it was a beautiful sendoff for Rebecca. My only quibble (and it's a minor one), is that Miguel got short shrift AGAIN. He told her she was his favorite person, and got a lovely smile in return, before being moved along. And at the end of it all, there was Jack. Of course.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Jack, but let's be real. She and Jack were together for 17- 20 years when he died. She was with Miguel for maybe 40ish years? Are we to believe that Miguel was just a placeholder until she could get to be with Jack again for eternity? 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't such a minor quibble.

Looking forward to next week. Get the tissues ready.

[wonderwoman]

9 hours ago, Leeds said:

14 hours ago, wonderwoman said:

on the nose (otn):

“representing someone or something with indelicate or awkward directness; lacking subtlety or nuance.”

I'm not sure what you're referring to as "on the nose", but the phrase itself doesn't have to represent something negative.  It just means accurate.

i’m a writer, and if i get a note that says ‘on the nose,’ it’s not praising my accuracy; it means write it again with subtlety and nuance, which this episode sorely lacked, in case the subtext of my comment wasn’t clear. 

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, Lovecat said:

I saw that too!  I'm torn between re-watching to look for Easter eggs...and the knowledge that I'm not always good at picking out those kinds of subtleties, so a re-watch could just turn out to be another workout for my tear ducts :)

LOL, I'm like that with music. Someone above mentioned how perfect the music was...I rarely notice it, even when it's a song I know, I won't remember that it was used. Someone will mention it and I won't even have any clue where in the episode it played.