S02.E08: Number One

[Guest]

I didn't think it was relevant to Jack's death because I figure if he died in the burning house at all, it was of smoke inhalation or something else not directly burn-related like jumping off the roof and breaking his neck.  Just due to his personal items not appearing fired damaged in that shot in the car.  

[ShadowFacts]

16 minutes ago, Katy M said:

It took me a couple of minutes to figure out why he should visibly react to that. But, then I guess you're thinking that is proof that Jack didn't need reconstructive surgery after a fire.

 

7 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I didn't think it was relevant to Jack's death because I figure if he died in the burning house at all, it was of smoke inhalation or something else not directly burn-related like jumping off the roof and breaking his neck.  Just due to his personal items not appearing fired damaged in that shot in the car.  

And yet, of all the possible specialties they could have written for Charlotte . . . like I said, bricks falling on my head. 

[Katy M]

well, if we're going to go that route... Jack's not really dead.  Someone spirited him away to a hospital while some other body got cremated.  Perhaps both bodies were too burned to recognize and Jack got mistaken for a firefighter.  Anyway, he languished in a coma for several years until Charlotte became a doctor, he woke up, she performed surgery on him and he looks completely different. He either has amnesia, or found out that Rebecca remarried and decided to stay away.  Did I watch too many soap operas in my youth?

[TwoGrayTabbies]

2 hours ago, laurakaye said:

But can she beat the Pearsons in a monologue contest?  I mean, Rebecca got a judge to dismiss himself from their adoption case.  I hate to say it, but I can totally see this pattern repeating itself.  The show loves its history.

And then when Rebecca recollects how she negotiated the justice system to adopt Randall, Kate can get pouty and ask, “oh, did you adopt a child?”

[smartymarty]

On 11/17/2017 at 6:17 PM, theatremouse said:

When Kevin got to the door I thought he said something like "thanks for taking my call" to Randall. So I surmised the implication was Kevin had called Randall before leaving Pitt for NJ and said something like "I need to talk to you but I don't want to say it on the phone, can I come to your house now?" and Randall, thinking Kevin of course had heard from Kate first, recognized that Kevin was clearly very upset and had agreed to his coming over. So basically, Randall thought he was sparing Kevin the task of breaking it to Randall and thought he was going to comfort his brother over that. Or something like it. So Randall had a relatively reasonable in-character reason for saying what he did in that scene, but it's still super clunky writing because the drama is unearned.

No. Because -- apologies for those who have suffered miscarriages -- a miscarriage is not something that breaks people other than the expectant parents. Others are sad for them, but not "I can't explain why I'm upset over the phone" sad. It would have been "hey, did you hear about Kate losing the baby? . . . Yeah, so can I come over?" There was no reason here for Randall to assume that Kevin's issue was about Kate.

[TexasGal]

1 hour ago, smartymarty said:

No. Because -- apologies for those who have suffered miscarriages -- a miscarriage is not something that breaks people other than the expectant parents. Others are sad for them, but not "I can't explain why I'm upset over the phone" sad. It would have been "hey, did you hear about Kate losing the baby? . . . Yeah, so can I come over?" There was no reason here for Randall to assume that Kevin's issue was about Kate.

Even for co-dependent, way too much up in each other's business twins?

Somehow I totally missed the scene with Kevin trying to fill the prescription.  Weird.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, TexasGal said:

Somehow I totally missed the scene with Kevin trying to fill the prescription.  Weird.

It was short and immediately after the scene of him skipping out on Charlotte, I think.  He stood in a short line in a small drug store looking nervous then saw two cops come in, noticed his chain was missing, and ran out.  

[CelticBlackCat]

4 hours ago, smartymarty said:

No. Because -- apologies for those who have suffered miscarriages -- a miscarriage is not something that breaks people other than the expectant parents. Others are sad for them, but not "I can't explain why I'm upset over the phone" sad. It would have been "hey, did you hear about Kate losing the baby? . . . Yeah, so can I come over?" There was no reason here for Randall to assume that Kevin's issue was about Kate.

From personal experience, this is true.

[NutMeg]

9 hours ago, laurakaye said:

But can she beat the Pearsons in a monologue contest?  I mean, Rebecca got a judge to dismiss himself from their adoption case.  I hate to say it, but I can totally see this pattern repeating itself.  The show loves its history.

The Monologue Contest needs to be TMed! Love it and might use it until I have to pay royalties on it :)

My view on Doctor Charlotte is that she reverted to her high school persona, and reacted as such to all the disappointments of the night.

[Kira53]

On 11/14/2017 at 10:16 PM, PepSinger said:

Although Charlotte had a right to be pissed about how she was treated, I cannot imagine just shutting the window on a guy who lost the one thing his dad gave him before he died. What Kevin did was shitty, but let's put things in perspective here. 

What kind of perspective did she have?  Do you really think she was open to listening to what he was saying?   He was embarrassing her shouting in front of her co-op, where her neighbors probably heard and would whisper later about it.  She probably was embarrassed that she still had those feelings for him and fell into bed with him. 

She’s in a different situation, she’s a doctor, hell she is a surgeon and she’s attending her reunion by herself. No matter how ugly, foul,  or horribly tempered, I believe a male surgeon would have been going to that reunion with their trophy wife. If the male surgeon had just gotten divorced, any former head cheerleader, head whatever pretty girl that didn’t have a man would have stuck to a male surgeon like hot glue.  But here she is a highly successful woman all alone.  And this Kevin Pearson had the nerve to sneak out immediately after they had sex not even making an excuse? Hell, that’s the other perspective.  I don’t think she was open to anything he could say.  And if she had found out he used her prescription pad?....... she could only have taken it as a insult, not an accidental discovery.  

And I don’t think she is responsible for recognizing his addiction when his own family sister mother brother and his girlfriend have failed to recognize it don’t put this on her. In this situation she’s the victim.  She was at a social affair not working; besides, she is a surgeon she might have recognised if he needed an operation, addiction is far from what she does.

[Kira53]

On 11/15/2017 at 0:03 PM, Lady Iris said:

Wow, what a cringe-fest last night. Kevin is a complete and utter wreck. Funny how the maid picked up on that but nobody else did. Shame on Charlotte, all she could say about Kevin was that his sweat glands were rampaging? He looked like hell. I don't care if she's just a plastic surgeon. How can she, as a person or trained medical professional, not pick up that he's so unwell? I suppose the same has been said for Sophie too.

Why does this show go for the gut punch in the last moments? It's turning into an exercise in torture most eps because something bad or heavily profound occurs in the last moments.

I need Kevin to get well. This drug addiction storyline is so timely and relevant it pains me. Thank God he changed his mind. Fentanyl??? My God. That's a huge jump from vicodin. He never would've gotten away with a handwritten narcotic prescription these days. Jack to the rescue from beyond the grave.

The maid knew he hadn’t had his room cleaned for four or more day and she saw the state of his room.  Pretty clear he was on a binge looking at his environment.  The driver has been hit up hundreds of times by out of state people he picks up at airports looking to score drugs right away since the don’t want to risk trying to smuggle drugs through airports.  No big surprise. I don’t see being mad at the Doctor who saw him for a couple of hours at a social event but not furious at his family who actually “knows” him or his girlfriend who is a nurse and should be noticing some differences with in their interactions Or his failure to show up at the auction.  no, for some reason there’s this great hate for Charlotte who is seeing him for the first time in what, 20 years?  she’s not in a clinical setting but she supposed to diagnose him. Clearly most of the haters are not medical professional because they cannot understand that we are not always supposed to be looking for clues that people that might be sick. Don’t doctors ever get a break? Do you really think they’re supposed to be making diagnoses at their Social events. Besides Kevin is an actor and doesn’t wish to be discovered.  He want to misdirect.  I didn’t think the younger woman was a student but she might have been.  Alumni events are usually administratively organized in my experience but it varies by community.  I just thought she was a drug user and tried to tempt him by offering to “party”.

[SueB]

This hurt so bad I couldn't even read the board.  Seriously.  I watched with a friend who had never seen This Is Us before  She balled for 1/2 the episode.  She's hooked.

What really broke me?  After ALL this pain, Kevin is going to swallow it because Kate had a miscarriage.  I don't know how he will survive the immediate aftermath without drugs either.  Based on the "That Was Us" clip, we are going to relieve this day from Kate's POV.

Others wrote it up better but I'll highlight the comments I resonate with:
- Kevin is freaking invisible.  He just had a meltdown in front of a high school auditorium and they CHEERED him!  
- I loved the maid. Only the maid, a random stranger, sees his pain.  That's somehow worse.  Like the ones who love him don't see the real him but a random stranger can.
- There were two women looking for Kevin to be their fantasy sex partner and thankfully he choose the doctor.  Yes, I think he had the drugs in mind.  But the younger girl DID offer to 'party' - so he might have gotten at least some weed from her.  None of these are good outcomes.  And I think it doesn't reflect well on Kelly (the young girl), Charlotte (the doc), OR Kevin. But the person I feel the worst for is Kevin.  He didn't want sex. He was having a meltdown.
- But in all of this, did you notice that Kevin 'skated' again? Somehow?  He didn't sleep with the 'party' girl and he didn't get caught stealing a doc's perscription pad. No one took his on-stage meltdown as a problem. 
- 'Kevin' wasn't really even there for most of them. It was "the Manny actor". I so wish Coach Duffy had talked to him.    
- I thought Justin kicked ass and the script was well written. Every scene had something in it that was excellent IMO.  Difficult, even gross to watch, but excellent.
-  Teen Kevin was so unlikeable. And yet Charlotte remembered him as a good guy who loved his sister and was kind.  And I think that really is who Kevin is - he IS a good guy.  He just needs to remember that.  
- The loss of that necklace is going to kill him.
- I so hope Kevin does not find any drugs and continues to get sober. I also hope that SOMEONE finally notices his pain.  
- I'm sorry he screwed up with Sophie.
- Kevin's lack of a future vision for himself - and one where being a Dad is a nightmare???  Yikes, yikes, yike-ity, yikes.  Kevin is great with kids.  There's some more there than we saw.

 

I'm almost not ready for tonight's episode because I haven't processed last weeks.  Relabeling the show "This is PAIN."

[auntiemel]

On 11/15/2017 at 6:38 AM, BlancheDevoreaux said:

The doctor scene was absolutely obnoxious.  I agree with others pointing out the hypocrisy if the genders were reversed.  If a male sees a female who is clearly drunk, hits on her but is turned down, and then that girl gets even drunker and takes him home, people would be screaming "RAPE!" from the hilltops.  But, since it was a guy who was drunk, he is suddenly an asshole for getting out of there and she is a victim because he left.  

Yeah, in the scene when they were shown in bed together, I turned to my dog (because that's who I watch TV with), and said, "Wow. So this is the episode where Kevin gets raped. I wonder if the show is going to recognize that and frame it that way?"

My dog agreed that they probably wouldn't, and we were both right. :)

[candall]

I cringed through the whole episode waiting for Kevin to have a horrible, shocking, inebriated incident.  I thought he'd insult the coach at the high school thing, or sleep with the teenager, or something. 

My experience is that people as far gone as Kevin hardly ever manage to make it through without thoroughly embarrassing themselves.  They tend to knock over the punchbowl or curse into the microphone, etc.

But I like Kevin, so I'm glad there's no viral video to ruin his career.

(I wonder if he ever took a shower or he was still marinated in booze and body funk?)

[Chewy101]

On 11/14/2017 at 9:07 PM, Katy M said:

On 11/14/2017 at 9:06 PM, bettername2come said:

So fucking predictable and dramatic and yet, when Randall said Kate lost the baby, I gasped. God, did he blow her off when she tried to tell him? That's just awful. I hope he gets that necklace back and gets his life together. 

Nice Big 3 moment as they left the hospital in flashback.

He kept ignoring her calls, but he didn't know that she had a miscarriage, so no he wasn't blowing her off while she was trying to tell him.    I don't think he'd much help now anyway.

Yep. She did her share on her end of ignoring calls as well (which we see later on).. Both siblings were hurting for their own reasons, and not all of us want to take a call if we are in pain or feeling worthless.

On 11/21/2017 at 7:37 PM, candall said:

I cringed through the whole episode waiting for Kevin to have a horrible, shocking, inebriated incident.  I thought he'd insult the coach at the high school thing, or sleep with the teenager, or something. 

I expected him to fall over with heart troubles from the pills. Some kind of dramatic collapse. Instead it was just an emotional one, and he nailed it. He was perfect in displaying his self loathing and grief over terrible choices and circumstances.  

[Chewy101]

On 11/21/2017 at 7:04 PM, SueB said:

What really broke me?  After ALL this pain, Kevin is going to swallow it because Kate had a miscarriage.  I don't know how he will survive the immediate aftermath without drugs either.  Based on the "That Was Us" clip, we are going to relieve this day from Kate's POV.

I'm not feeling much about the miscarriage, but I know the show wants it to be the worst thing that ever happened to anybody. All I see is thank God Toby won't be a father just yet. But yeah, with everyone going through so much, we are not going to see the siblings comforting one another. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Chewy101

[tvfanatic13]

On 11/14/2017 at 10:47 PM, methodwriter85 said:

Try nearly 20 years. I love 70's music, but man I really wish this show would explore some of the great stuff that came out of the 90's. "Popular" by Nada Surf would have been a great song for that moment. Or "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters.

I'm going to borrow a quote from The Breakfast Club: "But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions."

Basically, Kevin is seen by his high school and hometown as the Hometown Hero Golden Boy who made good. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was going to make them not see him that way.

Methodwriter I love you for your Breakfast Club reference!

[mostlylurking]

Kevin on his knees in the grass just begging someone to help him really broke my heart.