This Is Us Season 5, episode 5"A Long Road Home" Posted by Shannon Solitude is a mixed bag. I’ve always been a person who needs a lot of time on their own, not just to recharge, but to process and settle myself. (Living alone during a global … [Read more...]
“Don’t make your dreams smaller. Make them bigger.” – This Is Us Recap – Honestly
This Is Us Season 5, Episode 4"Honestly" Posted by Shannon Buckle up for an unevenly distributed season, folks. “Honestly” is only the fourth episode of season five, but thanks to pandemic production schedules, it’s called upon to serve as our … [Read more...]
“This is me now, guys.” – This Is Us Recap – Changes
This Is Us Season 5, Episode 3"Changes" Posted by Shannon Looking back on season four, two things are becoming very clear. It’s been my favorite of the run - and it was incredibly emotionally draining. (Those two things definitely relate to each … [Read more...]
“The world is a brilliant, resilient place.” – This Is Us Recap – Forty: Part Two
This Is Us Season 5, Episode 2"Forty: Part Two" Posted by Shannon Well, now we know why Dan Fogleman wanted to air these back to back. The seam between “Forty: Part One” and “Forty: Part Two” is nearly invisible, only formally identified by a … [Read more...]
“I feel like this is all happening just as the world is falling apart.” – This Is Us Recap – Forty: Part One
This Is Us Season 5, Episode 1"Forty: Part One" Posted by Shannon We will be wrestling with the best ways to represent the pandemic in television and film for years. But if I may offer up a general rule of thumb for television shows? If you’re … [Read more...]
“I think the trick is not trying to keep the joys and the tragedies apart.” – This Is Us Recap, Strangers: Part Two
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 18"Strangers: Part Two" Posted by Shannon Welcome back to This Is Us, friends! It’s been much longer than usual since we’ve sat down to spend an hour with the Pearsons, and it’s certainly the longest stretch I’ve ever … [Read more...]
“I have been a good son.” – This Is Us Recap – After the Fire
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 17"After the Fire" Posted by Shannon There’s been something about season four. Maybe it’s the expanded world of characters. (I’m looking at you, “Strangers.”) Maybe it’s the fact that, after season two’s mourning and … [Read more...]
“I want to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” – This Is Us Recap – New York, New York, New York
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 16"New York, New York, New York"Posted by Shannon I guess I tempted fate last week when I begged This Is Us to lay off the late-60’s folk musicians. This week they came for something I never could have seen coming, and … [Read more...]
“Carpe Diem and all that.” – This Is Us Recap – Clouds
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 15"Clouds" Posted by Shannon Season four is really out to get me. I keep thinking they can’t possibly sneak in another episode which settles its spine on the life and love of a sad folk singer, and yet, the hits keep … [Read more...]
“We’re gonna do this together.” – This Is Us Recap – The Cabin
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 14"The Cabin" Posted by Shannon For all my cynicism and only child solitude, there’s a simple reason I always connect with This Is Us. I’m a sap. I’m the kind of person who always wishes I’d had the opportunity to bury … [Read more...]
“Things we like can be bad for us sometimes.” – This Is Us Recap – A Hell of a Week, Part Three
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 13"A Hell of a Week: Part Three" Posted by Shannon Of all the entries to the Sad Three trilogy, this is the one I was the most anxious about. Kate’s storyline is so often the one that doesn’t quite work, doesn’t … [Read more...]
“We have a history of getting each other through funerals.” – This Is Us Recap – A Hell of a Week: Part Two
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 12"A Hell of a Week: Part Two" Posted by Shannon There are two things I know for sure. First: Justin Hartley is consistently delivering one of the most underrated performances on network television. I will NEVER … [Read more...]
“I’m not okay.” – This Is Us Recap – A Hell of a Week, Part One
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 11"A Hell of a Week, Part One" Posted By Shannon Whenever the fire is included in a “previously on,” you know we’re in for it - even without the build up of last week’s cliffhanger and the promise of a second Big Three … [Read more...]
“I talk, you listen.” – This Is Us Recap – Light and Shadows
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 10"Light and Shadows" Posted by Shannon Truth be told, I’m still not over the fact that “So Long, Marianne” happened. I don’t know if I ever will be. And yet, the show goes on. “Light and Shadows” brought us back from … [Read more...]
“It’s Leonard Cohen, he’s a poet.” – This Is Us Recap – So Long, Marianne
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 9"So Long, Marianne" Posted by Shannon When I first saw the title for this episode and realized it was likely going to be the fall finale, I knew someone in production was out to get me. Anyone following along with … [Read more...]
“When you’re sick you gotta let the people who care about you help.” – This Is Us Recap – Sorry
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 8"Sorry"Posted by Shannon I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what kind of responsibility an older generation has to the younger. And no, it’s not because of the boomer vs millennial smackdown - I’m talking on a … [Read more...]
“This dinner’s about to get awkward as hell.” – This Is Us Recap – The Dinner and the Date
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 7"The Dinner and the Date" Posted by Shannon Here’s a fun fact about tiny child me: I absolutely LOVED when my parents had people over for dinner. I’m an only child and I grew up without much in the way of family … [Read more...]
“Let me ask you – do you see yourself there?” – This Is Us Recap – The Club
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 6"The Club" Posted by Shannon Wheeew. It’s been a minute since an episode went straight through me, and to be honest it hadn’t happened yet this season. I guess we were overdue. It’s no wonder, either, since this hour … [Read more...]
“You really do have the strangest relationships with people.” – This Is Us Recap – Storybook Love
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 5"Storybook Love" Posted by Shannon Moving is the worst. Everything is out of place, boxes seem to multiply on their own no matter how much you unpack, and on top of all the logistical nightmares, there’s the pressure … [Read more...]
“We go with sweet instead of funny.” – This Is Us Recap – Flip a Coin
This Is Us, Season 4"Flip a Coin" Posted by Shannon Every once and a while, Pearsons across time and space unify their efforts and remind me precisely why I love and identify with them. It’s not that they’re all perfect this (or any) week, … [Read more...]
“We are gonna look like the toughest gang in the neighborhood.” – This Is Us Recap – Unhinged
This is Us Season 4, Episode 3"Unhinged"Posted by Shannon I’ve spent a lot of time yelling about friendship in This Is Us over the years. Almost exclusively, I’m speaking of their lack. It’s not unusual for family shows to have a tendency to … [Read more...]
“You had me at ‘Okay, so here’s what’s up.’” – This Is Us Recap – The Pool: Part Two
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 2"The Pool: Part Two" Posted by Shannon I’ve been revisiting my all-time favorite novel recently (A Prayer for Owen Meany, which, for the record, leaves the crying ratio for This Is Us out in the cold). Within … [Read more...]
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Jack Damon.” – This Is Us Recap – Strangers
This Is Us Season 4, Episode 1"Strangers"Posted by Shannon Welcome to the halfway point of This Is Us, fam! With the three (THREE!) season renewal the show landed earlier this summer, it was all but confirmed that Dan Fogelman and friends … [Read more...]
“I found the door.” – This Is Us Recap – Her
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 18"Her" Posted by Shannon I do love a season bookend. We haven’t had one yet in This Is Us: season one ended with a whimper, season two with a wedding, and neither spoke directly to their season’s respective openers. … [Read more...]
“We have been having the same fight since we met.” – This Is Us Recap – R & B
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 17"R & B" Posted by Shannon I thought I was ready for this. On its face, I was. I was ready for Beth and Randall to throw down, to see just how far the show was willing to take this argument. But I wasn’t ready for … [Read more...]
“It’s you. Final answer.” – This Is Us Recap – Don’t Take My Sunshine Away
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 16"Don't Take My Sunshine Away"Posted by Shannon To be perfectly honest, I’m still recovering from last week’s episode. I think the show is too; after all, it’s standard practice to get a bit of a breather episode … [Read more...]
“This family stays.” – This Is Us Recap – The Waiting Room
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 15"The Waiting Room" Posted by Shannon A well timed, well executed bottle episode is a thing of beauty. They can’t be overused, and you shouldn’t necessarily see one coming, but if a bottle episode hits it out of the … [Read more...]
“Ready for the graduation double feature?” – This Is Us Recap – The Graduates
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 14"The Graduates" Posted by Shannon Generally speaking, this is not a family that handles large-scale transitions well. Without their patriarch, without their self-declared center, big life changes tend to throw … [Read more...]
“I’m gonna forget that part of me.” – This Is Us Recap – Our Little Island Girl
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 13"Our Little Island Girl" Posted by Shannon In hindsight, it’s a crime how little we’ve known about Beth Pearson. I don’t fully disagree with the slow burn of her career change leading us to this, the first full hour … [Read more...]
“I wanted to be a writer. And then I wanted to be a Doctor. And then I didn’t want anything.” – This Is Us Recap – Songbird Road, Part Two
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 12“Songbird Road: Part Two” Posted by Shannon There must be something in the air on Songbird Road that brings the Pearson men down. For all the sadness of Part One, as dire as Nicky and Jack’s estrangement … [Read more...]
“Yeah, you’re Jack’s kids, alright.” – This Is Us Recap – Songbird Road, Part One
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 11"Songbird Road: Part One" Posted by Shannon One of the only true and tangible signs of growth, in this writer’s humble opinion, is the ability to learn from mistakes. It’s a theme throughout the episode, but I’m … [Read more...]
“What’s on my mind? Uh, John Stamos, mostly.” – This Is Us Recap – The Last Seven Weeks
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 10"The Last Seven Weeks" Posted by Shannon A fundamental truth about my media taste is that I am a massive sucker for a story told backwards. (Fiddling with time structures in general is a win for me, which is why This … [Read more...]
“This family lifts each other up.” – This Is Us Recap – The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning
This Is Us Season 3, Episode 9 “The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning” Posted by Shannon Is this my favorite episode of This Is Us ever? I can't say for sure. But it’s on the list, right up there with “Memphis” and the entire Big Three … [Read more...]