S03.E06: Kamsahamnida

[Baltimore Betty]

I think I am officially done with this show which instead of "This is Us" I will call it "This Was Us," that first season really left me wanting more but I just don't care about these people anymore.  

Kate will have her baby, Toby will get back on his meds, Kevin will find the mysterious necklace lady and elections are won, etc...everything will be fine after a long speech and then another long speech, rinse and repeat.  

[Thumper]

On October 30, 2018 at 11:15 PM, ChromaKelly said:

Gah! I know. The cookie thing was bugging me. Individually, you do your pre-sales first. That's when you go door-to-door (or go to your mom's office, hit up your family, etc) and get people to buy cookies. They order them, you turn in the money, and about a month later, the cookies come in, then you deliver them. Your troop orders cookies at that time too, and those cookies are what you sell at cookie booths. You have specific territory in which you can set your booths up, and yes, you have to get permission from the stores to sell cookies.

Just watching tonight.  I had the impression that Randall knew this, but Beth did not, for whatever reason.

[bonniejmac]

On 10/31/2018 at 12:15 AM, ChromaKelly said:

On 10/31/2018 at 12:12 AM, Squirrely said:

Has no one involved in this show sold GS cookies? Lord! Cookie Booths are a serious business. If it's an official site, you're scheduled in advance. If it's not, you'd still need manager/company approval to just set up somewhere. 

Other than Randall's family, who used to be my absolute favorites, I'm enjoying this season. I think we all knew Kevin was going to end up in Vietnam. Even if it does end totally predictably, I've found it interesting. Kate and Toby have been an improvement as well. So I'm still holding out hope for this show! 

Gah! I know. The cookie thing was bugging me. Individually, you do your pre-sales first. That's when you go door-to-door (or go to your mom's office, hit up your family, etc) and get people to buy cookies. They order them, you turn in the money, and about a month later, the cookies come in, then you deliver them. Your troop orders cookies at that time too, and those cookies are what you sell at cookie booths. You have specific territory in which you can set your booths up, and yes, you have to get permission from the stores to sell cookies.

The irony here is that they did consult with GSUSA for this episode. Mackenzie Hancsicsak, who plays young Kate, is an active Cadette Girl Scout in real life. (I work for a Girl Scout Council, in the Product Program department.) (Translation - I organize GS Cookie sales for a living.) We got a memo from national the day after the episode aired - basically, they sacrificed details for the sake of storytelling. Which, really, is fine. There are 112 Councils nationwide and we all run cookie sales just a little bit differently anyway. For example - the way you describe above with pre-orders, waiting period, delivery, etc is not how many Councils do it anymore. About a third to half of us use a direct sale method - where the troop orders cookies and sets up booths as well as giving them to the girls to take out to sell. They can continue picking up cookies throughout the sale period, so they never have to get more than they reasonably think they can sell. 

As for booths - yes. Generally they are set up in advance by a Council staff person or high-level volunteer and a scheduling system of some kind is used to assign them to troops. But there are always, always parents and/or girls who don't pay attention and totally go rogue by just setting up somewhere. Our scheduler is referred to as first-come, first-serve - meaning that the first troop volunteer to see it available in the computer system and reserve it for their troop gets that booth.  But pretty much every year, I have at least one troop who totally misunderstands this concept and sees a spot on the FCFS list, doesn't actually reserve it in the system and thinks that if they're the first to show up at Walmart or wherever, they get to have the booth. (Could also be willful ignorance, but you get the idea.) You would not believe the situations I have had to deal with and mediate over the years. I could write a book.

[drafan]

On 11/8/2018 at 1:57 PM, Baltimore Betty said:

I think I am officially done with this show which instead of "This is Us" I will call it "This Was Us," that first season really left me wanting more but I just don't care about these people anymore.  

Kate will have her baby, Toby will get back on his meds, Kevin will find the mysterious necklace lady and elections are won, etc...everything will be fine after a long speech and then another long speech, rinse and repeat.  

All you have to do is watch old episodes of Thirtysomething, Brothers and Sisters, or Parenthood and you'll understand the sequence.

[breezy424]

Just got around to watching the episode.  That says how much I'm invested in this show anymore.

First, the cookie sale just made me feel like I have to have a serious conversation with my twenty something year old daughter about me possibly scaring her for life because we never sold anywhere near the amount of boxes that seems to be expected.  Crap.  Did I fail her as a parent?  Geez.

Other things that stood out:  Becca telling Kate that she will have to make millions of decisions in her life and you just try to do your best.  Yep.   Kevin having to peel the wallpaper.  Totally get it.  Kate telling Toby how strong she is.  No Kate.  You're not strong.  Far from it.  You called your mother because you didn't know what to do about Audio.  You're screwed up and really shouldn't be a parent.  Neither should Toby if he is still in a hole after being back on his meds after two weeks. 

[methodwriter85]

On 11/9/2018 at 9:29 PM, drafan said:

All you have to do is watch old episodes of Thirtysomething, Brothers and Sisters, or Parenthood and you'll understand the sequence.

I'm going to bet that when we get to Future This is Us again, Tess will be an open lesbian dating a white woman who comes from a conservative family.

[MaryPatShelby]

On 11/2/2018 at 4:38 AM, IDreamofJoaquin said:

Now every time that music starts and one of the characters starts some sort of speech..........

My gosh, this ep was terrible for the speechifying. 

What I have learned from this thread is that no one ever, ever takes their eyes off their dog for even one second, and if they do, they should definitely not have kids.  One wonders how anyone on earth ever raised children to adulthood, or had a family dog(s) that didn't die prematurely, if this is the expectation.

[ShadowFacts]

3 hours ago, MaryPatShelby said:

My gosh, this ep was terrible for the speechifying. 

What I have learned from this thread is that no one ever, ever takes their eyes off their dog for even one second, and if they do, they should definitely not have kids.  One wonders how anyone on earth ever raised children to adulthood, or had a family dog(s) that didn't die prematurely, if this is the expectation.

I haven't seen anything that makes me think they'd be any better or any worse than most first-time parents, but on dog ownership they're not doing their best work.  It wasn't one second, it was a whole convo, and it looked like an urban park, no visible fences that I remember (let's hope it was fenced and I'm wrong).  That is a recipe for a dog getting hit by a car, and it's not fair to a dog or a driver who hits one that darts out.  They can do better. 

[Katy M]

30 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Poor Jack and Rebecca, they raised three of the most annoying and needy kids on the planet.

If you raise multiple annoying and needy kids, it's probably on you.

31 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I still don't know at what point Toby was put on anti-depressants.  I have watched every annoying minute of this series and still don't know when he started on his medication..  I don't think him being married to Kate is going to help any.

He started pre-series.  Probably some time soon after his first marriage ended.

 

32 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Randall should have been more stealth like and not told his political opponent that he was courting the Korean-American vote.

I don't think stealth and Pearson go together.

[sasha206]

On 10/31/2018 at 3:04 PM, Arcadiasw said:

If Jack can be stationed in the same area as his brother who was sent to Vietnam months or a year before him, anything is possible with this show. :p

Exactly.

I understand there is dramatic license, however, this show takes the most ridiculous liberties.  I groaned over the scene with Jack's ease at getting to his brother and the ridiculous spider speech.  

Then of course how the characters can so easily quit jobs, launch new careers, without ever seeming to have any financial repercussions.  

Edited November 15, 2018 by sasha206

[Arcadiasw]

12 minutes ago, sasha206 said:

Exactly.

I understand there is dramatic license, however, this show takes the most ridiculous liberties.  I groaned over the scene with Jack's ease at getting towards his brother and the ridiculous spider speech.  

Then of course how the characters can so easily quit jobs, launch new careers, without ever seeming to have any financial repercussions.  

It would've made more sense if Jack and his brother joined together like the Sullivan Brothers. That way it wouldn't be an eye rolling stretch for them to be stationed together.

[sasha206]

On 11/1/2018 at 3:00 PM, ljenkins782 said:

I only started watching this show very recently and don't know Milo from anything else, so I keep wondering if his Jack Pearson voice is his regular voice? Most of the time it doesn't bother me too much, but sometimes (usually when talking one-on-one with Rebecca), he hits certain words very hard and deliberately in a way that kind of grates on me. I can't tell if it's supposed to be part of the Saint Jack character or that's just the way the guy talks.

 

Same here.  I'm thinking that he has a high pitched voice and is constantly trying to talk in a lower register and it comes off unbelievable.

[love2lovebadtv]

On 11/2/2018 at 9:50 AM, TwoGrayTabbies said:

I don’t expect detailed attention to financial issues, but when a show with a realistic setting purports to resonate with viewers’ real life feelings, I expect characters to experience realistic consequences for their actions.  TIU fails on this point fairly consistently, but right now it’s going overboard with Randall.  A family losing both primary sources of income would realistically be concerned about finances.  Even if their investments generate enough income to support the household, they would realistically be concerned about their long-term wellbeing, meeting retirement goals, cutting back on spending to conserve.  

But the lack of realism in Randall and Beth’s family finances is nothing compared to the unreality in the adoption of Deja.  A kid who experienced that much trauma doesn’t get it out of her system with one windshield smash.  A real life Deja would need substantial counseling and support from her new family, which Randall can’t believably provide when his time and energy are focused on his quixotic campaign for an out-of-state office.

And then there’s the dilapidated low-rent apartment building he’s operating as a one-man housing agency.  Two-men when Kevin is in town.  

This is not to say that Kevin and Kate’s stories are entirely believable.  I will see to them in another episode’s post.

5

I hear what you're saying about the lack of realism here. And I'm with you on the way none of the Pearsons seem to face consequences for their actions. Randall was supposedly a stay-at-home dad but who's handling the extracurricular activities, family counseling (to make sure they're all adjusting to the adoption), adoptive parent training, homework, projects, etc.? And now they're both going to be on the campaign trail, flitting back and forth? And let's not forget the building in need of repair. It warms my heart to see Deja feeling that she is exceptional. But she's not being adopted as a baby; her issues are more deeply rooted and would need more attention. 

I know Kevin made a ton of money on the Manny but I would think there were repercussions following the way he left the show. And I don't think there was significant fallout from his running out on opening night, either. And I'm glad the addiction storyline is over because I like Kevin just as he is right now, but that seemed to wrap up pretty nicely, too. 

I'd rather see Kate build a virtual assistant or talent management biz, doing her singing on the side than pretending that Adele telegram nonsense is a plausible storyline. Even without nitpicking, the IVF scenario is a bit much. 

I've watched the show from the beginning, so I know Randall's profession + the fact that he and Beth were pretty scrappy.  Plus, having worked at both an investment bank and a hedge fund, I understand that a year of not working isn't going to have as significant of an impact as it would to a family without the kind of financial background that includes more than just a high salary. But, unless you watched the show early on, their lifestyle doesn't make sense and I wonder why we don't see him trading or something similar on his own, at least for the benefit of people who didn't watch from the beginning. Someone tuning in now would probably think Beth's salary was a primary source of income (not that that means her career isn't important) because she's stressed about losing her job. Randall's entry-level salary could possibly have been more than what Beth was earning on her job after 12 years in the field and a graduate degree. But again, I only know that because I watched early on.