S01.E16: Memphis

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Randall and William take a road trip to Memphis, where Randall learns about his biological father's past.

Promo:

[SimoneS]

Damn, why did I watch that promo? I am crying already.

[Katy M]

All I really want to know is will there be any consequences to Kevin's actions.  With all that talk about suing and everything, he seemed to walk away from his Manny tantrum completely unscathed. 

[SlackerInc]

7 hours ago, Katy M said:

All I really want to know is will there be any consequences to Kevin's actions.  With all that talk about suing and everything, he seemed to walk away from his Manny tantrum completely unscathed. 

Yeah, Brad Garrett had that intense scene as the head of the network, and then they never followed up on that.  This show does seem to drop an awful lot of threads.

[Katy M]

10 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I thought the implication was that he's now unhire-able in Hollywood, so this NY stage thing has to restore his rep or else he's out of a career.  

Maybe.  But, he got the first part he auditioned for. So, there was still no real fallout. 

[Dreamboat Annie]

I think this episode will be monumental concerning William :(

There may have been fallout over Kevin walking away from The Manny - we just weren't shown.  I think a lot happens off screen that we may or may not get some explanation for at some point..  I don't think Kevin sunk his career by doing that or by running to Randall.  A popular actor with Kevin's looks and talent would not be out of work for long, imo.

[PRgal]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

Maybe.  But, he got the first part he auditioned for. So, there was still no real fallout. 

True, but I also wonder if casting Kevin could mean audiences would see him just to SEE if he'll have a meltdown on stage.

[Mya Stone]

This episode has already reduced me to tears twice. And we aren't even halfway through it. 

[CofCinci]

I just can't with this show anymore.  24 minutes in and I've cried 3 times.

Is this show produced by Kleenex?

EDIT:  Fuckkkkkk.... This show is killing my contacts and making me go to work the next day with puffy swollen eyes.  Come on NBC!!!  I can't do another 2 years of this crying.

Edited February 22, 2017 by CofCinci

[Armchair Critic]

I have been trying to get my mom to watch the show, wish she wouldn't have started with this episode because I think the show is better with all three kids.

[Mya Stone]

This episode is really reminding me of Elizabethtown right now. (Which just so happens to be one of my favorite movies, go figure.) 

This road trip down William's memory lane is well done. 

[DayGlorious]

Bawling.

That is all. 

[SuzieQ]

Sheesh!! I'm a mess right now :(

[SimoneS]

Damn this show. I tried to resist, but you made me tear up anyway. Sterling K Brown and Ron Cephas Jones gave tour de force performances. William's farewell to Randall and finally giving him the poems that he wrote all those years ago was so perfect. It is the lucky few who get to say everything they want to to the person they love the most before leaving the earth. When he was saying goodbye to the girls, I suspected that he would never see them again. I didn't realize that William knew. Now we know how William's life got off track. It was so sad. No wonder he couldn't go back to Memphis.

Randall used his father's relaxation technique to help William. Oh Jack, always present in his children's lives when they need him the most. We still do not know how he died. Now Randall's other father has given him a part of himself to go on with also.

So Randall had to go to the hospital after Kevin brought him home. Poor dude. Poor Beth too. Although, Randall and Beth are made of awesome. Drunk Randall, "Everything is better with a little Beth on it." Gawd, could these two be any more adorable.

We got some humor to balance off the sadness. Randall and his inappropriate fixation on his new relative as William and his cousin had their tense reunion was hilarious. He just cannot help himself sometimes. William throwing the maps out of the window. The reaction of the couple to Randall handing them the brick from their fire place.

Was that Brian Tyree Henry's real voice? He sounded good.

Edited February 22, 2017 by SimoneS

[Spartan Girl]

I knew William was going to die just from that opening sequence.

It really, really sucks to be right.

[CofCinci]

I knew William would die --- I just didn't expect it to happen now.  RIP.

[mtlchick]

So tonight I figure at 925 "this isn't going anywhere quickly, I'll put on the Rangers/Habs game."  Habs win (woot!) I tune back in right when the doctor is saying "Your father is not leaving the hospital."

Thank Jeebus for DVRs because 15 years ago I'd be PISSED at myself.  At least they got the sentimental road trip in. 

Somewhat weird that it was simply focused on Randall and William, but GOD DAMMIT SHOW!  NOW WE HAVE TO WAIT TWO WEEKS!  Except now I'm fearing which death is going to be more potent: William or Randall. 

[PRgal]

RIP, William...

[J0nas3]

Okay it got me. Took 16 episodes, but they got me. I actually hadn't cried until tonight, which is weird when you consider I cried the first time I heard Hamilton all the way through.

[Primetimer]

And Randall discovers the depth of his roots.

View the full article

[Mya Stone]

1 minute ago, J0nas3 said:

Okay it got me. Took 16 episodes, but they got me. I actually hadn't cried until tonight, which is weird when you consider I cried the first time I heard Hamilton all the way through.

Are you my long lost sibling? 

This is me to a t. 

 

I'm still over here wiping away tears. (And no, I can not listen to Eliza's verse in The World Was Wide Enough without losing it.) 

[Runningwild]

Wow. That totally wrecked me. Love this show but sometimes it's hard to watch. I can't go right to bed. I need some comedy or an Ole Miss basketball win to help me recover. 

[ShadowFacts]

Dammit, William and his mother have cracked my heart.  That was some wonderful writing in addition to the acting. 

[VioletNevermind]

My God.  I am just bawling like a child.  This is the best episode of anything I've seen in a really, really long time.  The scene with Randall leading William through Jack's breathing exercise to alleviate his fear of death had me on my knees.  The scene where we saw "old" William from the back as he met his young-again mother in the afterlife and she embraced him tore me right in two.

William?  I know I haven't been your most vocal fan, but all. is. forgiven.

[Ms Blue Jay]

This is bullshit!  I cried so much.  If things went my way nobody would die on television (or in real life) ever

[SimoneS]

I always forget to credit Jermel Nakia who plays the younger William. He always captures William's sensitivity, vulnerability, and flaws perfectly. I will miss him as much as I will Ron Cephas Jones.

[Neurochick]

2 minutes ago, CofCinci said:

I knew William would die --- I just didn't expect it to happen now.  RIP.

I thought William would die in the last episode, and I thought that would be when we found out how Jack died.

[SuzieQ]

OMG!! Now THAT was a fitting send off for William! I'm so glad there was basically only Randall and William in this episode.  No Kevin or Kate drama, just R&W getting to spend William's last hours together.   I'm still teary eyed, but in a good way.  William probably was happiest in his last month then he was in the past 20 years. <sniff sniff>

[againstthewind]

I think I cried for the last twenty minutes. William talking about how their last memory should be looking up and not down, and then how the best pets of his life were who he was with at the very beginning and very end.

Damn you, show.

[AuxArx]

Oh man, ugly crying.  The breathing technique, meeting his mother at the end...uh oh, here I go again.

One question:  where was the tree with Jack's ashes?  They'd already passed a billboard for the Peabody in Memphis, so they took him down south?

[msani19]

What just happened? I’m not crying, you’re crying.

I should have known he wouldn’t make it through the episode. Damn it. I said out loud when it started that I’m not going to cry, which made my BF say, Yes. Yes, you will. 

I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath when Randall walked into the room, I thought William died in his sleep and that we saw a vision he had of himself as a baby with his mother. Like they were reunited. Then at the end when they were….I was done. 

EVERYBODY GETS A COUSIN! Randall meeting the other side of his family was lovely and I loved the music.

[DearEvette]

This was very well done.  Really good episode.  I loved the flashbacks, the fashion, the music, the circle of life stuff with William and his mother and now Randall with William.  Other highlights:

- Drunk Randall meeting his cousins!

- Drunk Randall talking to Beth "You're the chocolate sauce in my Ice cream girl."

- Paper Boi sighting!  Bryan Tryee Henry is a treasure. His singing was fantastic.

- WIlliam calling Jack "brother" after telling Randall he wanted to meet his father.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Although I realized WIlliam was going home to Memphis to die when he said goodbye to the girls I didn't expect to get as emotionally wrought as I did.  On one hand that was one of the greatest hours of television I've ever seen but in those last 10 minutes I was not just crying, I was bawling.  Big ugly cry wailing.

Sterling K. Brown and Ron Cephas Jones may be the finest actors on TV right now.  Mic drop.

[Enigma X]

I won't be able to watch until tomorrow, but all of your posts have me in tears already.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Enigma X
autocorrect sucks!

[J0nas3]

3 minutes ago, Mya Stone said:

Are you my long lost sibling? 

This is me to a t. 

 

I'm still over here wiping away tears. (And no, I can not listen to Eliza's verse in The World Was Wide Enough without losing it.) 

It's Quiet Uptown is my Kryptonite. 

[SuzieQ]

1 minute ago, Enigma X said:

I won't be able to watch until tomorrow, but all of your posts have me in tears in all ready.

Have lots of Kleenex handy!

[CofCinci]

Just now, SuzieQ said:

Have lots of Kleenex handy!

We done run out of Kleenex over here after this episode and had to dip into the generic 'facial tissue'.

[mtlchick]

Sterling is making me tear up in his Facebook live video (which just ended.)  He's crying along with the rest of us! https://www.facebook.com/sterlingkb1/videos/1162183470565264/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

[Cardie]

Previously I had not shed one tear during This is Us but I totally lost it during William's death scene.

I sobbed so loudly that my sleeping cat jumped off my lap in alarm.

It was bittersweet that William never knew his father while Randall ended up with memories of two wonderful dads.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Cardie

[CofCinci]

[sadiegirl1999]

SKB is just one of the finest actors to be on television IMO

"You get a cousin! And you get a cousin!"

"I grew up with white people".

[AuxArx]

And the ducks!  I was waiting for the ducks, kind of thought Randall might have brought them to the hospital (I know, not very sanitary), but having them cross the road was perfect, a sign.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I bawled like a baby. I'm still depressed.

I didn't expect them to kill him off this quickly. Only 16 episodes in. Damn.

[Kohola3]

4 minutes ago, CofCinci said:

We done run out of Kleenex over here after this episode and had to dip into the generic 'facial tissue'.

I am clutching a roll of toilet paper.  Haven't sobbed like that in a really long time.  Outstanding performances from everyone.

[SnoGirl]

I'm still crying. Poor poor Randall. 

[CofCinci]

1 minute ago, sadiegirl1999 said:

SKB is just one of the finest actors to be on television IMO

"You get a cousin! And you get a cousin!"

"I grew up with white people".

This episode clearly demonstrates that Sterling K. Brown is a completely different acting class than his two television siblings.

[voiceover]

So William, talking to Jack:

This is a thing that could've been an overdone, "My Emmy Reel"-type of monologue.

But it was brief & to the point & cut me right through.  "My son's father."

Of course the musician would hit all the right notes.

[SimoneS]

The other moments that I didn't mention before. I am sure that I forgot something so I will likely be back.

• The doctor telling Randall and Beth that they are adorable and their response, "we know."
• William thanking Jack, his brother, for raising "their" son.
• William and Randall in the barbershop laughing and telling stories.
• William and Randall drinking from the "whites only" fountain.
• William pointing out the place where they would buy live chickens and they would kill them in front of them.
• Randall taking down his window and the ducks crossing in front of him.

Edited February 22, 2017 by SimoneS

[Artsda]

I knew from the promos I'd bawl during this episode and yup when Randall was saying goodbye at the hospital and then the montage. Damn, so well done and perfect way to send William off.

Randall meeting his cousins and the excitement brought some light comedy to the episode, loved that.

Also loved William wanting to go see Jack. He knew he had to do it then.

[Guest]

I was annoyed much of the episode by the saintification of William, but man- I still felt that ending. Randall using Jack's strategy just did it.

I do prefer the ensemble shows but occasionally just featuring one works.