This is Us- Season four

[ENJDisneyFan]

No new episode tonight
https://www.tvfanatic.com/2021/01/this-is-us-shocker-tonights-episode-pulled-by-nbc/

 

[SC Minnie]

The entire arc of Laurel's story was constructed to show that Randall's mother was beautiful, intelligent, creative, kind, spirited and fiercely independent -- and continuously had the deck stacked against her, always preventing her from being with those she loved; her aunt, her brother, Hai, William and Randall. She did get another bite at the apple with her aunt and Hai, although how the reunion with Hai came about doesn't hold up well if you really look closely and think about the fact that first of all she left him crushed when she ran off knowing that he could not abandon his parents when she could have chosen to stay with him then. Secondly, it was a small community, particularly surrounding the farmer's market. The writers attempted to portray it as if somehow Laurel both returned to her aunt and yet never crossed paths with Hai for years until his wife is terminally ill? She loved William deeply, believes they suffered such an unbearable loss and never attempted to find him again in all those years? She made some deliberate choices not to fight to be with people she loved for reasons of her own that boiled down to her own reasons not to fight the odds.

As far as jailtime holding her responsible, nope. It was all written very deliberately heavy handedly to give Randall the story of how he was ripped from the arms of his mother who loved him. The whole O'Henry-esque maneuver to keep Laurel, William and Randall apart and unknowing while tugging on our heartstrings was just too much IMO.

The start of the story with young Laurel was great. You immediately fell in love with this wonderful girl and wanted to know more. The heavy handed writing trying to turn itself inside out to achieve an end result was too much. And I believe on some level writers, producers, whomever it was, understood Randall encountering his mother in the lake required an actress who was definitely older and absolutely couldn't work if the actress was near his age. That scene was creepy enough already. The actress playing older Laurel was fine, probably underappreciated because she was stuck with trying to hold up a story that didn't have any working elements by the time she stepped in.

I agree.

I'm not sure the people on This Is Us Facebook page saw the same episode we all did.

 

[cabanafrau]

No new episode tonight
https://www.tvfanatic.com/2021/01/this-is-us-shocker-tonights-episode-pulled-by-nbc/

They were not very far ahead in shooting before episodes aired and I know production is offline for a lot of shows. I thought this was one that had to stop. I hate being patient.

 

[Stefne]

No new episode tonight
https://www.tvfanatic.com/2021/01/this-is-us-shocker-tonights-episode-pulled-by-nbc/

Oh man, thanks for the heads up. I didn't realize it wasn't going to be on this week.

 

[sksjasams]

Secondly, it was a small community, particularly surrounding the farmer's market. The writers attempted to portray it as if somehow Laurel both returned to her aunt and yet never crossed paths with Hai for years until his wife is terminally ill?

I remember this part differently.... I thought Hai said when she came back he was already married with children and they could not be together. They showed them waving to each other, but that wasn’t necessarily the first time they saw each other. Then years later after his wife passed and children were grown, they reconnected.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I appreciated the Laurel story, although I thought they kind of dragged out the early years. When Randall forcefully told Hai to get to the point, I said, "You and me both!"

I think going into the lake was the closest Randall was going to get to his mother. He's been so desperate to find his back story and understand why he was left at a fire station, living a life where he thought he didn't quite fit in, that the lake represented an actual physical connection to his mom. I liked that part of it. And I liked the part where he realized that he was loved by his parents and not given up because he was a burden. We can rationalize things from our childhood, but we're still affected emotionally well into our adulthood. This series just shows how these characters act and do things and kind of explains why - gives that connection.

It makes me think about the things I do to this day because of the way I was raised and because of things I went through as a child.

 

[ronandannette]

And at night too! No way!! Alligators and crayfish, mudpuppies, whatever else could be hanging out in that pond!

Since there was no new episode this week, I don't feel like I'm interrupting the conversation to ask - what on God's green earth is a mudpuppy? (Or maybe I don't want to know.)

 

[ronandannette]

Never mind - I googled it and now I am freaking out!

 

[cabanafrau]

I appreciated the Laurel story, although I thought they kind of dragged out the early years. When Randall forcefully told Hai to get to the point, I said, "You and me both!"

I think going into the lake was the closest Randall was going to get to his mother. He's been so desperate to find his back story and understand why he was left at a fire station, living a life where he thought he didn't quite fit in, that the lake represented an actual physical connection to his mom. I liked that part of it. And I liked the part where he realized that he was loved by his parents and not given up because he was a burden. We can rationalize things from our childhood, but we're still affected emotionally well into our adulthood. This series just shows how these characters act and do things and kind of explains why - gives that connection.

It makes me think about the things I do to this day because of the way I was raised and because of things I went through as a child.

I agree, Randall needed and deserved that. The machinations necessary to achieve that once they committed to having Laurel in fact survive her OD are what I have a problem with.

IMO that idea was entirely driven by the idea that they needed to give Randall two fully redeemed birth parents. Because we had already met William, seen his redemption and were able to know him as an amazing man before his death, the fact he once had a drug problem is not of great importance. If they had left Laurel die as William, and Randall, believed that left Randall with a dead mother under the stigma of being a junkie. In many ways I think that would have actually been the more interesting direction for Randall's story. He knew what an amazing man William was and knew William had always loved him. William was able to give him insight into what an equally amazing woman Laurel was and tell him how much Laurel wanted to be a mom to her child. I think it would have been a very satisfying story to have Randall come to acceptance of the qualities of his biological parents, the knowledge he was deeply loved by them, along with their flaws. He was raised by Jack and Rebecca, knows their flaws along with their qualities, and knows he has been deeply loved by them also. Seeing him absorb all of that and understand that his bottom line is that he has always been loved absolutely and how fortunate he is would be a powerful story -- without the need to stamp out all but the tiniest flaws in his birth parents as if they might somehow diminish Randall.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

I agree, Randall needed and deserved that. The machinations necessary to achieve that once they committed to having Laurel in fact survive her OD are what I have a problem with.

IMO that idea was entirely driven by the idea that they needed to give Randall two fully redeemed birth parents. Because we had already met William, seen his redemption and were able to know him as an amazing man before his death, the fact he once had a drug problem is not of great importance. If they had left Laurel die as William, and Randall, believed that left Randall with a dead mother under the stigma of being a junkie. In many ways I think that would have actually been the more interesting direction for Randall's story. He knew what an amazing man William was and knew William had always loved him. William was able to give him insight into what an equally amazing woman Laurel was and tell him how much Laurel wanted to be a mom to her child. I think it would have been a very satisfying story to have Randall come to acceptance of the qualities of his biological parents, the knowledge he was deeply loved by them, along with their flaws. He was raised by Jack and Rebecca, knows their flaws along with their qualities, and knows he has been deeply loved by them also. Seeing him absorb all of that and understand that his bottom line is that he has always been loved absolutely and how fortunate he is would be a powerful story -- without the need to stamp out all but the tiniest flaws in his birth parents as if they might somehow diminish Randall.

I hear you. Unfortunately real life most often leaves us with questions unanswered. It would have been nice to see Randall accept that sometimes you don't know the whole story and yet can move on instead of living in the past. Randall needs to learn some resiliency.

 

[cabanafrau]

I hear you. Unfortunately real life most often leaves us with questions unanswered. It would have been nice to see Randall accept that sometimes you don't know the whole story and yet can move on instead of living in the past. Randall needs to learn some resiliency.

I agree. I think it would have been fine to leave it with what Randall learned from William, which was that Laurel loved him and succumbed from her overdose. The writers treat Randall like Rebecca does -- never can do enough for Randall.

 

[lisaviolet]

Probably because they got so much flack for aging Mandy Moore. I don't think they can really win here in terms of making everybody happy.

They certainly can't.

Especially with this crowd.

The entire arc of Laurel's story was constructed to show that Randall's mother was beautiful, intelligent, creative, kind, spirited and fiercely independent -- and continuously had the deck stacked against her, always preventing her from being with those she loved; her aunt, her brother, Hai, William and Randall. She did get another bite at the apple with her aunt and Hai, although how the reunion with Hai came about doesn't hold up well if you really look closely and think about the fact that first of all she left him crushed when she ran off knowing that he could not abandon his parents when she could have chosen to stay with him then. Secondly, it was a small community, particularly surrounding the farmer's market. The writers attempted to portray it as if somehow Laurel both returned to her aunt and yet never crossed paths with Hai for years until his wife is terminally ill? She loved William deeply, believes they suffered such an unbearable loss and never attempted to find him again in all those years? She made some deliberate choices not to fight to be with people she loved for reasons of her own that boiled down to her own reasons not to fight the odds.

As far as jailtime holding her responsible, nope. It was all written very deliberately heavy handedly to give Randall the story of how he was ripped from the arms of his mother who loved him. The whole O'Henry-esque maneuver to keep Laurel, William and Randall apart and unknowing while tugging on our heartstrings was just too much IMO.

The start of the story with young Laurel was great. You immediately fell in love with this wonderful girl and wanted to know more. The heavy handed writing trying to turn itself inside out to achieve an end result was too much. And I believe on some level writers, producers, whomever it was, understood Randall encountering his mother in the lake required an actress who was definitely older and absolutely couldn't work if the actress was near his age. That scene was creepy enough already. The actress playing older Laurel was fine, probably underappreciated because she was stuck with trying to hold up a story that didn't have any working elements by the time she stepped in.

Thanks for replying cabanafrau. Was really curious about where your perspective was coming from, appreciate it.

It makes me think about the things I do to this day because of the way I was raised and because of things I went through as a child.

So fascinating for me. I could study the trajectory of people's lives all day long.

Who Do You Think You Are? (genealogy show) was always so interesting for me. As if often led people to understand people's faults, ways and pain. Finding Your Roots is like that as well.

Never mind - I googled it and now I am freaking out!
View attachment 551371

Made my day.

 

[prairie_girl]

Good thing this thread was bumped. Somehow, my pvr had deleted the series recording I had set. I won’t be watching live as there’s a game tonight, but I’ll add my thoughts after..if anyone cares LOL

 

[brockash]

Good thing this thread was bumped. Somehow, my pvr had deleted the series recording I had set. I won’t be watching live as there’s a game tonight, but I’ll add my thoughts after..if anyone cares LOL

I don't think it's new tonight either. I think it's one from October boo...and I think I saw next week is also a rerun blah.

 

[prairie_girl]

I don't think it's new tonight either. I think it's one from October boo...and I think I saw next week is also a rerun blah.

I thought the description sounded familiar...

 

[anniemae]

Yeah, last week they said due to covid related production delays they were airing a rerun. Hope we get a new episode soon.

 

[anniemae]

Feb 9 will be next new episode.

 

[CynBeth]

So great to finally have a new episode again. This was one of my favorites.

 

[QueenIsabella]

So great to finally have a new episode again. This was one of my favorites.

Really? I thought it was a snoozer. It really didn't move the plot along at all. And I bet you a nickel, Kevin is going to get on the news for being this big hero, and it's only going to help his career. Which was about to tank, for walking off the set. I dunno, maybe I was just jaded last night--I wanted to see more of the Kate situation.

 

[bethbuchall]

I try not to get picky, but how did Kevin get across the border (especially now) without ID?