S03.E10 The Last Seven Weeks

[alexvillage]

5 hours ago, bros402 said:

Only Pre-1953 military records are public record right now - although not much pre-1973 for the army exists because of the 1973 NARA fire. However, since Kevin is a nephew, he would be able to request the file from NARA for a deceased uncle, but they would have just said they were unable to find any records.

I meant records of birth, that shows members of a family. Of course, not sure that the VA would accept that.

[ShadowFacts]

10 hours ago, bros402 said:

Only Pre-1953 military records are public record right now - although not much pre-1973 for the army exists because of the 1973 NARA fire. However, since Kevin is a nephew, he would be able to request the file from NARA for a deceased uncle, but they would have just said they were unable to find any records.

But they don't need any records.  They just need his address.  The VA would have that, or at least a last known address.  And now they have that anyway, via the return address on the post card that Kevin and Zoe found.

Edited January 19, 2019 by ShadowFacts

[Liamsmom617]

  This is the first episode that made me consider abandoning the show altogether. I'm gonna keep watching, awful as it's becoming, kind of like I did with "Dexter", and for similar reasons: I want to see how things turn out, and there are hot men onscreen for me to ogle. Plus, I love Beth (though I hate that she forgave Randall so readily). 

   Where to start? The speechifying (I love the "Personification" suggestion!)...dear God. It's just beyond at this point, though yes, Kate seemed to have a glimmer of self-awareness during hers.  Kudos to Gabe (and to the poster who deduced that he is probably using the $$$ to pay off his student loans)!

   I love Sterling K. Brown but am growing to despise Randall. Yeah, he means well, blah blah blah blah blah. Enough with the speeches and self-righteousness! I did like him saying, nastily, to Beth when she said "I'm gonna leave this room before you say one more thing you're gonna regret,",  "You do what you've gotta do." We don't usually get that kind of asshole behavior from him, and it somehow made him more tolerable for me. (Slightly off-topic, for those in my age range who remember "thirtysomething": There was an episode entitled "Arizona" in which Hope and Michael had an epic fight, during which Michael acted like a major asshole...for whatever combination of reasons, it rendered him sexy AF to me.   I know, I know..."Paging Dr. Freud!"....but the Randall dick moment was reminiscent of that for me.)

   Rant over....for now. Maybe this was just a weak episode. 

Edited January 19, 2019 by Liamsmom617

[smartymarty]

So much plot ridiculousness in service of some ridiculous plot goal. Zoe doesn't like moving? Okay. We didn't need the breaking up and getting back together half an hour later to get to that. Why did the writers think we'd accept that the solution to the records problem was for Zoe to call a guy she dumped via email? How about Kevin calls him (assuming the guy is Kevin's representative), Kevin and Zoe show up, and the guy says "h&ll no, Zoe broke up with me over email." That way viewers don't hate Zoe for being so tone deaf.

Why would Jack build Three Rivers Stadium for Kate rather than Kevin, the one who plays football? I know, Kate's his favorite. But had we ever seen that, prior to him doing that, that Kate was the biggest Steelers fan in the family after Jack?

Not only is Alpine, NJ, NOT in Philadelphia, it's about the furthest from Philadelphia that an NJ town could get. Rather than objections based on Randall not living in Philly, how about "and now you have a four hour RT commute"?

Why did the writers think it was virtuous for Randall not to expose the abuse of power and bribery of his opponent? The guy was using the power of his office for his own benefit, not his constituents'. Quite a legitimate issue. It's not like Randall didn't want a negative campaign -- he ran on "I'll do what other guy isn't doing for you anymore."

Do the writers really think there are people who don't understand the value of collectibles?  (Though weren't the Star Wars characters out of their original packaging? So maybe not so obviously collectibles and/or not so valuable after all.) A better way to get to the endpoint of that storyline was merely for Toby to say he's excited for their child to play with his toys someday, Kate say (fine, complain, cry, etc.) that all of hers burned up, and then Toby gets the stadium made. (How many photos of it were taken -- looked like Kate was a teenager when Jack made it, as she was when the fire occurred.)

[buckboard]

On 1/16/2019 at 4:21 AM, Neurochick said:

What’s wrong with Randall winning?  Should people not go into politics if they have families?

They need to cut down in the speeches though.  Too many of them.  Then again this is television not real life.

The point isn't that people with families shouldn't go into politics, but that doing so shouldn't disrupt their family. 

Randall has completely disrupted his family.  He didn't run for city council in Alpine, where he lives.  He basically abandoned his family to spend so much time campaigning, putting the people in Philadelphia first over his wife and daughters.  He ran for office in Philadelphia two hours away.   He ran for office despite his wife's opposition.  Is he going to uproot his family and move his family to Philadelphia for HIS latest self-centered quest?  How will that affect the girls?  (BTW, he owns a building in his district.  What are they doing to fix it up?  With what money, since both he and his wife are unemployed.)   

(Although I do see that Philadelphia's city councilmen are highly paid - $130,000 a year.)  Let's see how long he holds onto this job before he bolts for a new quest.

Edited January 19, 2019 by buckboard

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, buckboard said:

The point isn't that people with families shouldn't go into politics, but that doing so shouldn't disrupt their family. 

Randall has completely disrupted his family.  He didn't run for city council in Alpine, where he lives.  He basically abandoned his family to spend so much time campaigning, putting the people in Philadelphia first over his wife and daughters.  He ran for office in Philadelphia two hours away.   He ran for office despite his wife's opposition.  Is he going to uproot his family and move his family to Philadelphia for HIS latest self-centered quest?  How will that affect the girls?  (BTW, he owns a building in his district.  What are they doing to fix it up?  With what money, since both he and his wife are unemployed.)   

(Although I do see that Philadelphia's city councilmen are highly paid - $130,000 a year.)  Let's see how long he holds onto this job before he bolts for a new quest.

But definitely MUCH less than what Randall was making in finance.  He was probably getting AT LEAST getting 250-300K in that job.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, smartymarty said:

Why did the writers think it was virtuous for Randall not to expose the abuse of power and bribery of his opponent? The guy was using the power of his office for his own benefit, not his constituents'. Quite a legitimate issue. It's not like Randall didn't want a negative campaign -- he ran on "I'll do what other guy isn't doing for you anymore."

I agree. It isn't like Randall found something minor from his opponent's personal life. He broke the law and used the power of his position to squash it. I think the voters deserve to know about that before they vote. Even if Randall didn't want to win because of a last minute scandal, he could have released the info after the election.

[kili]

While applauding Gabe for being immune to the speachifying, I'd also like to applaud the pie lady. She wouldn't even let the speech start. "Nope". "Sorry". "Next in line." She didn't even point out that she sold the last blueberry pie to the man sitting just there so that he wouldn't get hassled either.

I cannot believe that Randall didn't even offer to pay for the pie. I guess he's just so used to everybody around him sublimating themselves for him, he doesn't even notice anymore. I presume the preacher bought that pie for a reason.

I think it would have been good for Randall to lose. He needs to take time to examine what he really wants out of life and to support Beth (not accuse Beth of jealousy - sigh!). It was interesting that he was interested in a Political Science degree while doing the college tours, but he obviously went on to study something else (something that had more promise of making money to help support his family?). I'm a little surprised at the desire for PoliSci which seems to dwell in the "shades-of-grey" territory. Where he ended up studying math/big data seems like a better fit. 

I too weary of politics and would rather my fictional entertainment had stayed away from it.

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, kili said:

She didn't even point out that she sold the last blueberry pie to the man sitting just there so that he wouldn't get hassled either.

I should certainly hope not.  That would be horrid customer service.  

 

4 minutes ago, kili said:

I'm a little surprised at the desire for PoliSci which seems to dwell in the "shades-of-grey" territory. Where he ended up studying math/big data seems like a better fit. 

They just stuck that in there.  It makes no sense with young Randall.  Also, politics is probably not the best career choice for someone with severe anxiety issues.  

I think next he should run for President.  I am absolutely sure that he will win.  And get a divided Congress to give him everything he wants.  Just to shut him up.

[TwoGrayTabbies]

47 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I should certainly hope not.  That would be horrid customer service.  

 

They just stuck that in there.  It makes no sense with young Randall.  Also, politics is probably not the best career choice for someone with severe anxiety issues.  

I think next he should run for President.  I am absolutely sure that he will win.  And get a divided Congress to give him everything he wants.  Just to shut him up.

Yes, please have Randall run for President.  We wouldn’t have to wait for the next election cycle because when Randall decides to run there’s automatically an election, fixed terms be damned.  

Really, though, I’m exasperated with the writers not following through on Randall’s momentous decisions.  He abruptly quits a high-paying job with no plans to find another—no word on how this affects his family.  He fosters, then adopts a traumatized child—one smashed windshield later her trauma is apparently resolved.  He buys a rundown building—apparently everything was fixed off-stage because we haven’t heard anything about it since his campaigning began.  So getting elected president isn’t that far or a stretch in the TIU-verse.  Is there going to be any follow-through with his getting elected to Council, or is this just going to be seamlessly assimilated into his life so he can start his next project, perhaps commuting to Harvard Med School so he can honor William’s legacy by finding a cure for stomach cancer?

[Quark]

I bet Justin Hartley had fun talking about Clark Kent.

[ams1001]

Something else that bugged me: Is blueberry pie so popular and there are no other places to find one that he needed to beg and (try to) speechify to the bakery employee (and hold up the line)? Most people would have said "okay" and went to another bakery/diner/grocery store...the pastor's pie can't possibly be the last blueberry pie between Philly and Alpine. Even on New Year's Eve.

[debraran]

12 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Something else that bugged me: Is blueberry pie so popular and there are no other places to find one that he needed to beg and (try to) speechify to the bakery employee (and hold up the line)? Most people would have said "okay" and went to another bakery/diner/grocery store...the pastor's pie can't possibly be the last blueberry pie between Philly and Alpine. Even on New Year's Eve.

It was New Years Eve, but I thought the same thing. 24 hour grocery stores are usually around big cities. But then he couldn't take the Reverends. I wondered if the Reverend went to peek at the trash but probably not, but I agree with another person who said that wasn't a good idea to toss it like that.

I really don't like him winning so easily in a way, not living there, acting like the Savior of the neighborhood and making TIU viewers have to listen to even more political babble. I hope they show how hard it is to keep your lofty promises though and how expensive it is.  I'm sure it will be reality check.

[ClareWalks]

17 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Something else that bugged me: Is blueberry pie so popular and there are no other places to find one that he needed to beg and (try to) speechify to the bakery employee (and hold up the line)? Most people would have said "okay" and went to another bakery/diner/grocery store...the pastor's pie can't possibly be the last blueberry pie between Philly and Alpine. Even on New Year's Eve.

YES. He said it was 7 PM, a two-hour drive from home...he could have stopped by a grocery store and bought pie crust and filling, and gone home and had time to bake one himself before midnight.

[chocolatine]

2 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Something else that bugged me: Is blueberry pie so popular and there are no other places to find one that he needed to beg and (try to) speechify to the bakery employee (and hold up the line)? Most people would have said "okay" and went to another bakery/diner/grocery store...the pastor's pie can't possibly be the last blueberry pie between Philly and Alpine. Even on New Year's Eve.

I don't know about PA/NJ, but here in the Pacific Northwest I rarely see blueberry pie outside of blueberry season (at least at my local co-op grocery; I don't shop at the big chain supermarkets), so I'm sure it takes extra work to find one in the winter. In Randall's case, it was already evening and he still had a two-hour drive ahead of him, so he didn't have the time to try several stores or diners. And, like the diner lady said, baked goods are usually made in the morning, so once a place has sold out of something, that's it for the day. 

ETA:

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

YES. He said it was 7 PM, a two-hour drive from home...he could have stopped by a grocery store and bought pie crust and filling, and gone home and had time to bake one himself before midnight.

Randall Pearson would never make his wife's favorite pie with store-bought filling. He'd have to make it from scratch with fresh blueberries. This is the guy who makes cranberry sauce from scratch with mint from his garden, and whose mother once threw a fit in a grocery store because only yellow onions would do for a certain recipe.

Edited January 20, 2019 by chocolatine

[geauxaway]

You can purchase frozen blueberries (or canned blueberry pie filling) and frozen or fresh pie crust year round at any grocery store.   It didn’t have to be an ordeal.  If he needed a blueberry pie THAT BAD he could have made one easily.  

Heck, if it was THAT important and all the grocery stores between Philly and Alpine were already closed for the holiday he could have got some Hostess blueberry pies at a gas station and made a new memory out of it.  Not ideal, but if it came down to it, that’s probably what I would do and make light of it with my family, giving us something to chuckle about in the future.  You just have to make do sometimes!

Edited January 20, 2019 by geauxaway

[TwoGrayTabbies]

56 minutes ago, geauxaway said:

Heck, if it was THAT important and all the grocery stores between Philly and Alpine were already closed for the holiday he could have got some Hostess blueberry pies at a gas station and made a new memory out of it.  Not ideal, but if it came down to it, that’s probably what I would do and make light of it with my family, giving us something to chuckle about in the future.  You just have to make do sometimes!

In Pearsonland, if Randall bought Hostess blueberry pie on NYE, Tess, Deja, and Annie, and all their issue, would have been condemned to eat Hostess blueberry pie every NYE for all eternity.  Even if the only way to get it was by speechifying some pie factory manager into retooling the factory just for that purpose.

[DebbieM4]

5 hours ago, kili said:

While applauding Gabe for being immune to the speachifying, I'd also like to applaud the pie lady. She wouldn't even let the speech start. "Nope". "Sorry". "Next in line." She didn't even point out that she sold the last blueberry pie to the man sitting just there so that he wouldn't get hassled either.

I cannot believe that Randall didn't even offer to pay for the pie. I guess he's just so used to everybody around him sublimating themselves for him, he doesn't even notice anymore. I presume the preacher bought that pie for a reason.

 

I loved the pie lady!  She had neither the time nor the inclination to get pulled into his desperation.  The bakery's job is to bake pies, and that was done.  No blueberry pies are left.  Too bad so sad.  That's the way it goes.  If this pie was so overwhelmingly important, then why didn't he buy it sooner rather than so last minute?  Did it not cross his mind that the exact kind of pie he wanted might not be available?  He tried to turn his lack of planning into an emergency for her, and she wasn't having it.   His sense of entitlement was really annoying.

And yes, I also couldn't believe he didn't at least offer to pay the preacher for the pie.  Or give a second thought to the fact that the preacher was now pie-less.  Again, he came across as entitled.  I hate that Randall is changing.  He was flawed before, but now I often just flat-out don't like him.

3 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Something else that bugged me: Is blueberry pie so popular and there are no other places to find one that he needed to beg and (try to) speechify to the bakery employee (and hold up the line)? Most people would have said "okay" and went to another bakery/diner/grocery store...the pastor's pie can't possibly be the last blueberry pie between Philly and Alpine. Even on New Year's Eve.

Yes.  And I also think most people wouldn't have left it to chance that a blueberry pie would be available on New Year's Eve at one particular bakery.  If it was that important to me (or my husband or whoever), I likely would have called the bakery days before to see if I could reserve one.  (I've done that for other bakery items.)  Or I would have bought it sooner.  He's the one who left it to the last-minute and then got all fussy.   As you said, he still had options even when that bakery had run out.  I can't imagine being that persistent once I was told there were no more blueberry pies.  It was obnoxious.

[bros402]

19 hours ago, alexvillage said:

I meant records of birth, that shows members of a family. Of course, not sure that the VA would accept that.

Well Jack and Nicky were born in PA, right? I believe they have pretty strict rules regarding birth certs - since the military or someone would've issued a death certificate, they would've needed that to get a birth certificate. It looks like in PA, you can get birth certificates for any birth before 1911 - https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/certificates/Pages/Genealogy.aspx

So Kevin would need Jack's death certificate and birth certificate, find his grandparent's certificates, then maybe that would be considered enough to identify Kevin as a nephew (and Kevin would need his birth cert, and maaaaybe parent's marriage cert)

[alexvillage]

4 hours ago, bros402 said:

Well Jack and Nicky were born in PA, right? I believe they have pretty strict rules regarding birth certs - since the military or someone would've issued a death certificate, they would've needed that to get a birth certificate. It looks like in PA, you can get birth certificates for any birth before 1911 - https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/certificates/Pages/Genealogy.aspx

So Kevin would need Jack's death certificate and birth certificate, find his grandparent's certificates, then maybe that would be considered enough to identify Kevin as a nephew (and Kevin would need his birth cert, and maaaaybe parent's marriage cert)

I don't really know how you can get birth certificates to prove that you a related to someone else but in some places they have birth announcements (remember the debacle over Obama's birth certificate?). I just think that there would ways that someone really wanting to know about a person's genealogy could explore. Go to a library and search the papers. But TV, the drama about to unfold is more appealing, I guess.

[ShadowFacts]

5 hours ago, bros402 said:

Well Jack and Nicky were born in PA, right? I believe they have pretty strict rules regarding birth certs - since the military or someone would've issued a death certificate, they would've needed that to get a birth certificate. It looks like in PA, you can get birth certificates for any birth before 1911 - https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/certificates/Pages/Genealogy.aspx

So Kevin would need Jack's death certificate and birth certificate, find his grandparent's certificates, then maybe that would be considered enough to identify Kevin as a nephew (and Kevin would need his birth cert, and maaaaybe parent's marriage cert)

Do you mean the military would have issued a death certificate for Nicky?  Only if they really knew he was dead, which may not be the case.  It will be interesting to see in flashbacks how it plays out with his parents.  They would have expected documentation, some information.  I think the father at one point spewed out something to Jack about how Nicky was a hero.  Did someone else die, and was mis-identified as Nicky?  I can't remember if that letter we saw addressed to Nicholas Pearson in the last episode before the break had a return address of the US government?

Kevin isn't really doing a genealogy type thing, he knows the guy is alive and wants to find him, so just needs his address.  And now has it.  Even if he hadn't found it, between his (Zoe's) connection to the congressman and his own fame, he would have likely wrangled whatever was needed.  I know from my own recent experience with my father's death/estate, some institutions (and individuals within) are by-the-book about documents, and some are quite laissez-faire.  Many things are in the public record/database that can be accessed even if a hard copy cannot be obtained, and things can be processed on that basis.   But depending on how they play it, this whole issue could be as thorny as the one with how did Randall's mother die in childbirth and it was never connected to his drop-off at the fire station. 

[maddie965]

On 16/01/2019 at 1:40 AM, WhosThatGirl said:

Also I still don’t know how I feel about the Nicky is Alice twist. 

Nicky is Alice? Ben  is Glory???

Edited January 20, 2019 by maddie965

[Kirkydee]

For the people who said Kevin should've tried to prove that he was Nickys nephew...

Don't forget Zoe said "I know a Congressman".  Kevin had no idea that the Congressman would be the ex boyfriend Email guy.  Kevin is just looking to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.  He already took a looooong flight to Nam- I'm sure his Girlfriend saying 'I can make a call' sounds a lot quicker than ' go prove you're related to a man you've never met '  

I also think its important to the Pearsons to track Nicky down because

1. Jack is all about family ( at least his wife and kids)

2. I don't believe they have any relatives.  Does Becca have siblings?  If not- then no aunts uncles cousins etc.  

[lucindabelle]

Good point that blueberry pie isn't a big thing in NJ/PA, especially in winter. Blueberries aren't in season. Personally I don't even like blueberry pie so find it hard to relate.

[JudyObscure]

On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 1:44 PM, icemiser69 said:

Those three were never taught anything about boundaries

Except for the time Rebecca stopped at Randall and Beth's house, to  drop something off for her grandchildren and got the "next time call first" lecture from her son.

[DebbieM4]

4 hours ago, Kirkydee said:

For the people who said Kevin should've tried to prove that he was Nickys nephew...

Don't forget Zoe said "I know a Congressman".  Kevin had no idea that the Congressman would be the ex boyfriend Email guy.  Kevin is just looking to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.  He already took a looooong flight to Nam- I'm sure his Girlfriend saying 'I can make a call' sounds a lot quicker than ' go prove you're related to a man you've never met '  

I also think its important to the Pearsons to track Nicky down because

1. Jack is all about family ( at least his wife and kids)

2. I don't believe they have any relatives.  Does Becca have siblings?  If not- then no aunts uncles cousins etc.  

Yes, I thought it looked to him like a quick way to move forward rather than accumulating the requested documentation himself.  That could have been tedious, and might have ended up not satisfying the "next of kin" requirement anyway.  I think at this point Kevin is (very understandably) desperately curious about this family mystery.  He knows it could shed some light on his father, a man they all thought they knew so well.  It probably feels like a huge missing piece to him.

(Zoe should have clued Kevin in about her relationship with the congressman. There was no need to blindside him that way.)

But of course.........drama.  

[kili]

Quote

Don't forget Zoe said "I know a Congressman".  Kevin had no idea that the Congressman would be the ex boyfriend Email guy.  Kevin is just looking to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.  

I liked that Kevin didn't try to trade on his acting fame (either trying to reference his days on the sitcom or as the guy in the new Ron Howard film).  He tried to wheedle into next of kin-ness referring to something that had nothing to do with him. When that didn't work and Zoe offered his congressman (she's a successful documentary filmmaker - why wouldn't she know a few people?) he was happy to adopt her plan.

Jack was a man who gave up going for his dream so that he could support his family. Randall is a man who thinks his family should support his every dream.

Edited January 21, 2019 by kili

[bros402]

18 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

Do you mean the military would have issued a death certificate for Nicky?  Only if they really knew he was dead, which may not be the case.  It will be interesting to see in flashbacks how it plays out with his parents.  They would have expected documentation, some information.  I think the father at one point spewed out something to Jack about how Nicky was a hero.  Did someone else die, and was mis-identified as Nicky?  I can't remember if that letter we saw addressed to Nicholas Pearson in the last episode before the break had a return address of the US government?

Kevin isn't really doing a genealogy type thing, he knows the guy is alive and wants to find him, so just needs his address.  And now has it.  Even if he hadn't found it, between his (Zoe's) connection to the congressman and his own fame, he would have likely wrangled whatever was needed.  I know from my own recent experience with my father's death/estate, some institutions (and individuals within) are by-the-book about documents, and some are quite laissez-faire.  Many things are in the public record/database that can be accessed even if a hard copy cannot be obtained, and things can be processed on that basis.   But depending on how they play it, this whole issue could be as thorny as the one with how did Randall's mother die in childbirth and it was never connected to his drop-off at the fire station. 

That is what I meant. They would probably have paperwork if he were MIA.

Until Kevin went to Vietnam and was told by that guy he didn't see him on whatever site he checked - Kevin thought his uncle was dead, which is why he could've pursued it from a genealogy angle.

[maddie965]

I miss This is Us. Can someone bring my show back? I don't know what I've just watched, but it's not the series I fell in love with two years ago. That show is gone. Sadly.

Edited January 21, 2019 by maddie965

[GodsBeloved]

18 hours ago, DebbieM4 said:

(Zoe should have clued Kevin in about her relationship with the congressman. There was no need to blindside him that way.)

But of course.........drama.  

Zoe did tell Kevin she had a relationship with Andy. I’m not sure not going into details about their break up was all the necessary especially since they ended a while ago. Even Andy said he thought enough time had passed. I don’t think Zoe blindsided Kevin at all.

But as you said, drama.

[dcubed]

On 1/15/2019 at 9:01 PM, greekmom said:

Interesting turn of events – Jack knew Nicky was alive. Wonder why he kept it a secret.

I'm guessing to keep Nicky safe from his abusive dad; he knew Nicky was fragile and that his Dad would berate Nicky endlessly for being a coward, soft and a disappointment. 

[dcubed]

On 1/15/2019 at 9:01 PM, greekmom said:

Interesting turn of events – Jack knew Nicky was alive. Wonder why he kept it a secret.

I'm guessing to keep Nicky safe from his abusive dad; he knew Nicky was fragile and that his Dad would berate Nicky endlessly for being a coward, soft and a disappointment. 

[CrystalBlue]

7 hours ago, dcubed said:

I'm guessing to keep Nicky safe from his abusive dad; he knew Nicky was fragile and that his Dad would berate Nicky endlessly for being a coward, soft and a disappointment. 

I hadn't thought of this angle.  I don't think Jack and Nicky would have hatched a plan to pretend Nicky is dead for the sole purpose to keep the abusive father at bay, but it would have been an unintended consequence of any reason Nicky was out of the family, dead or alive.

Edited January 22, 2019 by CrystalBlue

[chocolatine]

8 hours ago, dcubed said:

I'm guessing to keep Nicky safe from his abusive dad; he knew Nicky was fragile and that his Dad would berate Nicky endlessly for being a coward, soft and a disappointment. 

 

1 hour ago, CrystalBlue said:

I hadn't thought of this angle.  I don't think Jack and Nicky would have hatched a plan to pretend Nicky is dead for the sole purpose to keep the abusive father at bay, but it would have been an unintended consequence of any reason Nicky was out of the family, dead or alive.

I keep going back and forth on this. Yes, their father was an abusive jerk, but their mother was a loving woman and seemed completely broken in the post-war scenes, which I had previously attributed to losing Nicky. If it were me, I'd rather take the wrath of the abusive father than cause my mother that much pain. Nicky must have been in really bad shape mentally for Jack to believe that it's better for their mother to think he's dead. Of course, it could also be that Jack did tell their mother, and that she was able to have a relationship with Nicky after Jack helped her leave their father.

[debraran]

2 hours ago, chocolatine said:

 

I keep going back and forth on this. Yes, their father was an abusive jerk, but their mother was a loving woman and seemed completely broken in the post-war scenes, which I had previously attributed to losing Nicky. If it were me, I'd rather take the wrath of the abusive father than cause my mother that much pain. Nicky must have been in really bad shape mentally for Jack to believe that it's better for their mother to think he's dead. Of course, it could also be that Jack did tell their mother, and that she was able to have a relationship with Nicky after Jack helped her leave their father.

I hope that's not the case. I thought in preview, Nicky said something about ruining Jack's life, "Did I ruin your life?" and they quickly show gun without owner. Nicky is an adult and if he went to war, he can live without his daddy. His abuse wouldn't be there if he moved away or even went to another state as he did. He didn't have to give his number. There was a lot more to it than that, and I hope his Mom knew. The army knew he wasn't dead, there was no funeral in flashbacks, they would have brought something back in a coffin or made him MIA. If he had psych exam, and failed, he would be on disability and probably makes enough to live in trailer. My husband's brother had breakdown and lives on an army facility for ex veterans and works but they keep an eye on him.

If they make it realistic, I'm good, but don't make it just another mystery because Jack and the crock pot got old.

Edited January 22, 2019 by debraran

[ShadowFacts]

4 hours ago, chocolatine said:

 

I keep going back and forth on this. Yes, their father was an abusive jerk, but their mother was a loving woman and seemed completely broken in the post-war scenes, which I had previously attributed to losing Nicky. If it were me, I'd rather take the wrath of the abusive father than cause my mother that much pain. Nicky must have been in really bad shape mentally for Jack to believe that it's better for their mother to think he's dead. Of course, it could also be that Jack did tell their mother, and that she was able to have a relationship with Nicky after Jack helped her leave their father.

I find it hard to imagine that Jack would have let his mother think her son was dead when he wasn't.  I also don't know if Nicky would have been able to have a relationship with her, but I think it would have been more merciful for Jack to tell his mother the truth even if it was almost as painful to her to know he was alive but not at all the son she knew.  It would have been a pretty huge burden to have kept that secret from his mother, no wonder he self-medicated with alcohol.  Keeping it from Rebecca would have been pretty huge, also.  (She had her own big secret from Jack.)

[maddie965]

The whole secret thing makes no sense at all. That's not the Jack we know. I bet the writers came up with this horrible idea this season, because... TWIST! Slaves of their own tropes.

Edited January 22, 2019 by maddie965

[Colleenna]

On 1/20/2019 at 8:27 AM, ShadowFacts said:

Do you mean the military would have issued a death certificate for Nicky?  Only if they really knew he was dead, which may not be the case.  It will be interesting to see in flashbacks how it plays out with his parents.  They would have expected documentation, some information.  I think the father at one point spewed out something to Jack about how Nicky was a hero.  Did someone else die, and was mis-identified as Nicky?  I can't remember if that letter we saw addressed to Nicholas Pearson in the last episode before the break had a return address of the US government?

Kevin isn't really doing a genealogy type thing, he knows the guy is alive and wants to find him, so just needs his address.  And now has it.  Even if he hadn't found it, between his (Zoe's) connection to the congressman and his own fame, he would have likely wrangled whatever was needed.  I know from my own recent experience with my father's death/estate, some institutions (and individuals within) are by-the-book about documents, and some are quite laissez-faire.  Many things are in the public record/database that can be accessed even if a hard copy cannot be obtained, and things can be processed on that basis.   But depending on how they play it, this whole issue could be as thorny as the one with how did Randall's mother die in childbirth and it was never connected to his drop-off at the fire station. 

At the very least, the military would have sent the family a letter expressing the "thanks of a grateful nation."  More likely, a military chaplain and another officer would have visited the family to break the news. 

[ShadowFacts]

A tad off topic, but I just read about a guy whose wife had damaged his action figures and he retaliated by putting an axe through a car windshield (drunk).  Kind of a mash-up of Kate/Toby and Deja.  Only this guy is going to have some real world consequences.  Back to the show, it's a little ironic that the stadium model Toby had made is kind of big and will take up some serious space. 

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, ShadowFacts said:

Back to the show, it's a little ironic that the stadium model Toby had made is kind of big and will take up some serious space. 

But Kate won't mind since it's a memory of *her* childhood, not Toby's.

Edited January 22, 2019 by chocolatine

[Sake614]

On 1/15/2019 at 10:06 PM, Katy M said:

you do not go to church to find out who to vote for and the minister shouldn't be telling you that anyway.

 

That's very realistic though, and one of the reasons I'm so down on organized religion. Ministers, priests, rabbis...they all stand up there and tell you what to do, how to think, who to vote for, etc.

[doodlebug]

8 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

But Kate won't mind since it's a memory of *her* childhood, not Toby's.

Yes, that is unfortunately true.  I thought the same thing when I noticed that the full set of Star Wars figures fit neatly inside the stadium.  Kate is a Pearson, she gets to keep all her stuff, even get new stuff.  Toby, not so much.

[Brookside]

The actress who plays Kate did such a piss-poor job listing the reasons the kid should sell back the "toys", that if it had been real life, he wouldn't have believed a word of her sob story.

Why did Toby ask Kevin if Kate's crying was "a twin thing"?

Can we have a drinking game for every time Toby is way too good for Kate?

Edited January 22, 2019 by Brookside

[Katy M]

16 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Why did Toby ask Kevin if Kate's crying was "a twin thing"?

I don't think he was asking if the crying was a twin thing, but if Kevin's twin thing could explain and/or stop it.

[Brookside]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I don't think he was asking if the crying was a twin thing, but if Kevin's twin thing could explain and/or stop it.

Thanks for replying, but I still don't know what a twin thing is.

[CrystalBlue]

6 hours ago, Colleenna said:

At the very least, the military would have sent the family a letter expressing the "thanks of a grateful nation."  More likely, a military chaplain and another officer would have visited the family to break the news. 

I believe this is the only way next of kin are notified by the military, in person, and unannounced.  A letter may follow but notification is always done in person.

16 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Thanks for replying, but I still don't know what a twin thing is.

Some twins have a connection, like ESP, and can feel what the other one is feeling or thinking.

[Booklady1017]

On 1/15/2019 at 10:01 PM, greekmom said:

Back on the hate train for Kate. No one sells 1979 Star Wars action figures and for 10 bucks!!! She cannot be that stupid. I would have slapped that snot nosed kid who wouldn’t give them back and then called his mother.  Toby is a saint for not being overly upset at Kate then building that stadium for her. 

Interesting turn of events – Jack knew Nicky was alive. Wonder why he kept it a secret.

Sucks that Randall won. Wish they would have moved on from that storyline.

That was interesting that Jack knew that Nicky was alive. I wonder too why he did that fact.

[Brookside]

6 minutes ago, CrystalBlue said:

 

Some twins have a connection, like ESP, and can feel what the other one is feeling or thinking.

Oh, thanks.  I've seen that in person.  I guess I didn't pick up on it since they're triplets.  Which one would think would make it even more powerful.

[Booklady1017]

On 1/15/2019 at 10:03 PM, ams1001 said:

Hey, Tobes, maybe if that box was so important to you you should have actually written out the words "DO NOT SELL" instead of expecting Kate to know what your abbreviation meant.

Hey, Randall, maybe you look like "a family man without a family" because your family lives effing two hours away! (Oh, yeah, and so do you!) 

Hey, show finally realized that Alpine is two hours, not one, away from Philly.

Of course, Randall sob-stories his way to a blueberry pie.
And Kate sob-stories her way to...nothing! lol (I can't be the only one who cheered Gabe, can I?)

Okay, the stadium was cute and very sweet.

I did like the whole stadium thing.

[Booklady1017]

On 1/15/2019 at 10:25 PM, PepSinger said:

Heh, this was my favorite episode of the season so far. I loved the Zoe/Kevin storyline. I was reminded of the Randall that I loved in season one. The only thing I didn't like was Beth apologizing. I almost didn't mind Randall winning.

Toby having that stadium built made me tear up. I have had several things that were dear to me lost in a fire, and I can't imagine how I would react if I could get those items back.

I liked the stadium part and the Zoe and Kevin part at the end.