“This is us”

During winter break, I came across two shows to pass the time. These shows were the polar opposite from each other. One touched my heart and one explored the idea of the Allied forces losing World War II. One had me in tears at times and one amazed me how cruel people would be if the free world lost the war. For the sake of positivity, I will review the one that touched my heart, “This Is Us”.

The NBC series, “This Is Us” is a story of a family with its ups and downs. Within an hour, you will witness heartbreak, devotedness, job loss, birth, death, insecurities and reconciliations and that’s just the first episode. It will stir your emotions up from beginning to end. “This Is Us” bounces around different time periods around a family. It tracks five individuals. At first, you would think their lives are completely separated from each other but that’s not the case. In the beginning, we meet Jack and Rebecca, a couple who is expecting triplets. We also meet Kate and her friend Toby. Kate is a woman who is fighting a serious weight problem and Toby is helping her with it.

After the commercial break, we meet Kevin, a handsome actor who quits his daytime job abruptly. Finally after another commercial break, we watch Randell confront his biological father after abandoning him at a fire station as a newborn baby 36 years ago.

The first episode pieces together as a puzzle that makes you think notice the slightest detail in the sweetest way possible. At the end of the episode, they reveal all five characters are a family. All episodes is a story in its own right, in a form of a puzzle switching between past and future to explain the reasons behind the main character’s’ behavior. For example, in another episode, we know why Kevin and Randell do not have a close brotherly relationship when they are in their thirties. Through a flashback to their childhood, we see Kevin ignored Randell because Randell was adopted.

The whole show revolves around a family’s past and future in a beautiful way. At first, I was under the impression that, “This Is Us” was any old chick-flick show but the more I watch it, I am intrigued by the unique storyline and how it all pieces together. “This Is Us” tells about the struggles as a family and it does not play nicely with your emotions.  On a 1-10 scale, “This Is Us” sits at a solid 9 for me with its teary-eyed moments and excellent storytelling. A few episodes in the middle of the season drag on a little and lost some of my attention. But overall, it will make you smile, and will make you reach for a tissue and it will you laugh.