S01.E16: Memphis

[KnoxForPres]

I know deep down I'm not stone cold but I don't have the emotional reactions to this show so many do. Sometimes when I read here I think of The Lost Boys quote "how could a billion Chinese people be wrong" and wonder what's wrong with me. 

i don't want to nitpick a show that clearly brings so many people joy (my friend should be a poster here- he texts things like "this show, this show!) but one thing-

For me and me only.  If I take the scene at the Memphis bar.  William's relative was all you are dead to me.  Cut to William leaving and we get the "are you too sick to play" or whatever he said.  Again speaking for me only- that sums up This Is Us.  They could have had him say what a setback that was for Will to bail but a realization that life Is not easy and he let him down but is all the same glad to see him. And then ask him to play.  Or maintain the fuck off and don't ask him to play- one or the other.

The writers like BIG  They want the throwing of maps,  the ducks, the deathbed words of wisdom, the over the top which for me leads to overkill. 

Being subtle is not the writers forte and I get that people like that. It's why romantic comedies are adored. I just feel- especially this episode- it was the equivalent of running down the tarmac yelling "But I always loved you".  An hour of cliches. 

When Randall and Beth confirmed how cute/adorable they were to the doc-no words for that writing. 

I'm glad it's not reddit and I can't get down voted but I do think they can pull off good scenes (Kate unable to talk about her dads death) but actively watching I see a writers table of "Ok guys- how could we get the tears on this one" instead of "how would one really react in a given situation".   And those real life responses can still cut to the core of emotion. 

Edited February 27, 2017 by KnoxForPres

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, ShadowFacts said:

They took pains to show a very strong connection between mother and son.  He was bereft, drugs were readily available, and in a weak moment he looked to medicate the pain.  For some people, some drugs, once or twice and they are hooked. 

This, and also that the woman who seemed to be the only other emotional attachment in his life after his mother's death was using.  From people I've known who have gone through a sort of similar thing, being in a relationship with someone who is an addict, it frequently comes down to joining them or leaving them..and I don't think William wanted to leave Laurel at that point.

[Sake614]

16 hours ago, Silly Angel said:

breaks my heart every day that I can't hear his voice again.

I feel your pain. When my dad died, the outgoing message on their answering machine mysteriously disappeared. As in one minute, my dad was saying 'we can't come to the phone right now...' and then when he passed, it was gone. Since this was 22 years ago, there were no cell phones and we didn't have videos. Only some old 8 mm films from when I was little, which of course means no sound. All these years later, I still would give anything just to be able to hear his voice again.

[SlackerInc]

I feel you on that, @Sake614.  I remember trying to play the outgoing message on our answering machine for the same reason (I was going to record it onto a regular audio tape, just by playing it in a quiet room).  I tried and tried and could not get it to play for some reason.  Then, after giving up, I just tested what would happen if I tried to record an outgoing message.  It recorded just fine--making me feel that I had probably just recorded over his voice, an awful feeling.  I sure hope it was already just gone for some reason, but I'll never know.

[topanga]

On 2/25/2017 at 5:36 PM, Portia said:

The more I think about the map toss, the angrier I get. So William lets Randall bankroll the trip but reserves the right to control every tiny detail, right down to the mode of navigation. I'll say it again: William was an asshole.

I think he fits into the narrative of most characters on this show: they tend to be very selfish and act according to what they want, what they need, what other people can do for them. 

There are exceptions of course: Kevin coming to Randall during his breakdown, for example. But he also abandoned Sloane onstage without so much as a goodbye. And he's living in Randall and Beth's house, rent free, and I've only seen him babysit the kids once. I've never seen him wash a dish. 

But William was dying, so I'll give him a pass for that particular incident of assholery. But yeah, he could be pretty selfish. 

 

3 hours ago, SlackerInc said:

I feel you on that, @Sake614.  I remember trying to play the outgoing message on our answering machine for the same reason (I was going to record it onto a regular audio tape, just by playing it in a quiet room).  I tried and tried and could not get it to play for some reason.  Then, after giving up, I just tested what would happen if I tried to record an outgoing message.  It recorded just fine--making me feel that I had probably just recorded over his voice, an awful feeling.  I sure hope it was already just gone for some reason, but I'll never know.

That stinks. There was probably a glitch somewhere that wouldn't play his message (or, like you said, had already erased it). Have you written things down about him? Little things, like phrases he said over and over, or jokes he liked to tell, or quirky habits. I did this with my family the Thanksgiving after my grandmother died, and it made that first holiday without her a little bit easier--to be able to sit around the house and say, "Remember when she used to say ___________"  It actually made us laugh. 

[Mom2twoNonna2-3]

I don't have recordings of my parents. However, I recently connectEd with dad's family and am learning so much. Like he was a dj and a pool shark. Go Daddy.

[Quark]

This episode was perfect.

[TomServo]

I cried exactly two tears during this episode, one out of each eye, the right one falling first.  Both were while William was visiting Jack's tree.  The rest of it felt like if you watched the first two scenes, hit the pause button, and then thought to yourself, "What would the rest of this episode look like if it were going for feel-good yet overplayed drama?" Then after writing down your guesses, you simply checked everything off the list as you watched the rest of the episode.  Where do I go to pick up my made of stone club membership card?

Also, the story felt rushed.  I understand skipping details in flashbacks, but the A plots on this show never get a chance to breathe, either.  They're trying too hard to wrap up the episode theme in a neat package every week.

[Crs97]

Not only did I not cry, I found myself focusing on nitpicky things (like when Randall was telling William to breathe, he should have put his oxygen mask back on him first).  I also found myself thinking that William may have only wanted Randall there at the end, but it meant he just left his son - his "just recovering from a nervous breakdown that left him hospitalized for days" son - alone to deal with the aftermath of his death.  Nice.  Not surprising I didn't cry.

I did love the line "Thanks for being my son's father."  Of course, no mention of Rebecca possibly helping sometimes.  Of course.

[luna1122]

TomServo and Crs97, join us in the Unpopular Opinions thread. The stone-cold meet there.

 

I don't always love this show, but damn, I missed it last nite. For various reasons.

[Court]

I think it made sense for William to NOT mention Rebecca. He's already spoken to her and thanked her. It wasn't a slight against Rebecca.

William was speaking father to father. Thanking Jack for what he couldn't do as a father.

[Clanstarling]

2 hours ago, Crs97 said:

Not only did I not cry, I found myself focusing on nitpicky things (like when Randall was telling William to breathe, he should have put his oxygen mask back on him first).  I also found myself thinking that William may have only wanted Randall there at the end, but it meant he just left his son - his "just recovering from a nervous breakdown that left him hospitalized for days" son - alone to deal with the aftermath of his death.  Nice.  Not surprising I didn't cry.

I did love the line "Thanks for being my son's father."  Of course, no mention of Rebecca possibly helping sometimes.  Of course.

Funny, those are the sorts of techniques I use when I am actively distancing myself from emotional connection to a show or film. I'm not saying that's what you did, but that it is what I do to avoid being taken over by emotion (the first time I remember noticing that I did this was in a movie Outbreak, when my germophobic anxieties started kicking into high gear - I detached, my heart rate slowed and I calmed down.).

The oxygen mask wouldn't have made any sense at that point, in my opinion, he was actively dying and the breathing was just to calm him down. Oxygen wasn't going to help.

[Kohola3]

2 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I think if William was anxious and gasping or taking shallow breaths the oxygen would've helped.  But it didn't bother me they didn't use it because I knew it was maximum sentimentality mode and anything medically realistic was going to take a backseat to the actors being front and center and unencumbered.

That is the case with every scene that takes place in a hospital.  Most are completely unrealistic but are set up to support the scene and dialog.  Most medical folks get stabby at what we see.

[Trillian]

On 2017-02-25 at 9:42 AM, theatremouse said:

I thought William's throwing away the maps meant "chill, Randall, you're overplanning". Either way though, point remains, they weren't stuck relying on just road signs. Plus if Randall reviewed the route at all before they left, he probably knew which major freeways he needed to be on for long stretches.

That's how I took it: "relax, son.  Stop worrying about the perfect route and just enjoy the journey". 

I haven't seen this mentioned here, and forgive me if it's been addressed, but did Randall switch to "dad" from William or "old man" right at the end?  That's what I thought I heard - and that choked me up more than anything else in the episode (I'm in the non-crying segment of the audience)

[Kohola3]

13 minutes ago, Trillian said:

I haven't seen this mentioned here, and forgive me if it's been addressed, but did Randall switch to "dad" from William or "old man" right at the end?

Yes, the first and to be assumed the last time he called him dad.  I was actually expecting it but it still turned on my waterworks (I am a card-carrying member of the crying segment).

[laurakaye]

On 2/26/2017 at 8:31 PM, KnoxForPres said:

When Randall and Beth confirmed how cute/adorable they were to the doc-no words for that writing. 

I'm not sure if you meant that the writing was good or bad, but to me that little exchange was inappropriate for that particular scene, and meant only to remind us that Randall and Beth are totes adorbs.  Why can't we infer that for ourselves?  Why does another character have to tell us that we are being beaten over the head while we in the process of being beaten over the head?

[topanga]

1 hour ago, laurakaye said:

I'm not sure if you meant that the writing was good or bad, but to me that little exchange was inappropriate for that particular scene, and meant only to remind us that Randall and Beth are totes adorbs.  Why can't we infer that for ourselves?  Why does another character have to tell us that we are being beaten over the head while we in the process of being beaten over the head?

I see what you mean, but I simply took it as the psychiatrist commenting on their relationship. Until then, he'd probably only seen Beth and Randall in crisis mode and had never seen them being happy and cutesy with one another. And while I still can't buy that Randall is now "perfectly fine" after 5 days in the hospital, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief. Is he on meds, by the way? I'd assume so, since he was hospitalized and is still seeing a psychiatrist. Of course, he could still be on meds while treating with a psychologist or a social worker, but if he has an ongoing relationship with a psychiatrist, who is a medical doctor, then medication is likely on board. Most insurance companies no longer reimburse psychiatrists for just talk therapy. 

[KnoxForPres]

On 3/2/2017 at 9:22 AM, laurakaye said:

I'm not sure if you meant that the writing was good or bad, but to me that little exchange was inappropriate for that particular scene, and meant only to remind us that Randall and Beth are totes adorbs.  Why can't we infer that for ourselves?  Why does another character have to tell us that we are being beaten over the head while we in the process of being beaten over the head?

I meant it bad for the exact reasons you named.

And I'd add it's a non believable response.  A "we are just trying to keep our heads above water, Doc" would be believable.  But they have to keep the no-nonsense and sassy gig going. Because as viewers we are too stupid to draw a conclusion.

[SunnyBeBe]

I tried to catch up by watching this episode. (It's been pre-empted here lately for ACC basketball.)  I did except I missed a little.  What happened with Jack and Rebecca after he saw her singing in the club?  The next thing that I saw was him sitting in a restaurant ordering a cocktail.  

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I tried to catch up by watching this episode. (It's been pre-empted here lately for ACC basketball.)  I did except I missed a little.  What happened with Jack and Rebecca after he saw her singing in the club?  The next thing that I saw was him sitting in a restaurant ordering a cocktail.  

I didn't think Jack and Rebecca were in this ep?  But here's a recap.

http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/this-is-us-recap-season-1-episode-16.html

But from memory, whatever ep it was, I think Jack didn't like Bec singing a love-y song to Ben and REALLY didn't like Ben letting slip after that they dated long ago.  So he ditched Rebecca on v-day and went out to drown his sorrows by falling off the wagon.  

Edited March 14, 2017 by Guest