A Life Changing Smoothie | "The Trip" (S1E9)
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On today's episode of That Was Us, we will be discussing Season 1, Episode 9, The Trip. Kate, Kevin, and Randall head to their family's cabin after a chaotic Thanksgiving. An angry Randall looks to Jack for comfort and explanation. Olivia's words drive a wedge between Kate and Kevin. Are you looking to take control of your skincare routine and discover a product that redefines anti-aging technology?

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- How we doing? - Welcome back. - Oh boy, oh boy. That was us. - Oh boy. I just watched this last night. - Oh yeah. - Yeah, so it's fresh. - Yeah, me too. - It's a freshie. - So I watched with my youngest son, Amari. And I had never watched the show with him before, obviously. He was a little young. - This was the first episode? - These are the first two episodes. He watched 108 and 109. - Okay. - And it was really interesting because he would watch scenes

And he go, "This is a really good show." - Oh. - I'm like, "Thanks, man." And when we finished with 109, he simply sighs, he goes, "Are you crying too?" And I said, "Yeah, man, I'm crying." He's like, "It's really good, Dad." And I was like, "Oh, thanks, bud. I appreciate that." - And what a meta moment. - Yeah. - Yeah, right? - Oh, man. The meta nature of that moment. - Yeah.

of watching this one in particular with my son. - Yeah. When all of our children are like 18, 19, 20, they can do a rewatch podcast. - Yes, together. - Like what was it like living with your dad when he was doing this show?

He was just a little baby. Yeah, he was just a baby. I remember bringing him into the writers when we first started because he's born in 2015. So like I remember taking him into the writers room when he's like one and a half, two years old. Yeah. And then just be like, we should put him in the show. Yeah. And now what? He's...

- He's sitting out here. - He's sitting outside. - Outside with a Magic 8 Ball. - Shaking the Magic 8 Ball. - And so whatever today's date is, mark it. He asked the Magic 8 Ball, will daddy win an Oscar? And the answer was yes. - He did do that. - So if Sterling doesn't thank the Magic 8 Ball on stage. - Then I'm an ingrate. I'm an ingrate. I know where my bread is buttered. - Exactly. - Okay, so now this is, these two episodes in particular, we were talking about how

they sort of hit different. I think the core of that is the conflict between Rebecca and Randall over the 36-year-old secret. Everybody's current. Please be current if you're up. We're talking about 109. And the fact that we know that you have known his birth father since the beginning. - Since the beginning. - He asks two questions from the beginning. Like Randall asks two questions, like of his wife and of William. "When did you meet my mother?" He asked this of William.

"Did my father know about you?" I think it was really important, 'cause I think he wanted to know, like, did they both-- - He's framing it. - Conspire. - Has everybody just been keeping this from me? It was a single individual? Like, how has this all been going? And it's really interesting too then, once we delve into Jack and Rebecca in the past,

Because you don't know if she shared this information with him or not. And William's response was also not, it wasn't cagey, but it was just sort of like, I don't believe so, all right? Wasn't that what he said? Something like, it wasn't my recollection. She didn't leave that impression. Something like that. So he's still fuming off of this and is sort of like meandering through disillusionment.

And I don't mean meander, like he's actually not meandering. He's like, I'm writing down a list of all the reasons why I'm mad at my mom. I've got 22 so far and I'm gonna keep, you know, and I'm gonna read it to her when I'm finished with it. Which I actually find interesting

It sounds silly in the moment how he's incredibly like cogent and like- - An excellent exercise. - Thoughtful. - I gotta get this crap out. - Yeah. - Right? So I'm going to articulate it in the best way that I know how to, so she understands that this is not like just me having some sort of a tantrum. Like this is real. - Right. - Like the foundation of what I thought life was is starting to sort of shake underneath me, right? So there's that.

I also just want to go to this part, because this hit me and I remember even sending a text to Dan. I was like, "They got a cabin?" I was like,

- I didn't know he was balling like that. I feel like, coming from where I'm from, if you have like a second piece of property in St. Louis, Missouri, like, how you doing all right for yourself? Jack and Rebecca never presented like they was like balling. - We got the summer house. - You know what I'm saying? So my question to you guys, you guys got a second? Like when you were growing up? - No. - We did. - Oh, the truth comes out. - Where was yours? Where was yours? - Lake Tahoe.

You have one in town. Oh, wow. Did you let it out or you kept it? We kept it. We kept it. My dad, I grew up, my dad was vice president of a home builder's company. Well, there you go. Okay. And he bought- He was Jack Bairstow? That's what I was about to say. He bought this piece of land in an up and coming neighborhood in-

Lake Tahoe and built a modest three bed, you know, two bath little cabin. Really? And, uh, and yeah, it was, it was a place that we went. I mean, it's exactly, it's exactly what it was. It was like, it was vacations. It was winters. It was, it was, I mean, we were, we were never there for longer than a week, you know, um, holidays. And it was a, a very special place that was always, um,

it feels magical and i think the cabin in this show feels magical right because it it feels like it exists in this floating non place like it's just in and out of time and it's like they would say in this episode it's quaint and it's perfectly american and yeah and that's and it also feels like okay if we're going there all of our worries all of our family worries all of our there's no fighting at the cabin yeah you know there's no arguing at the cabin behind there's no there's no homework at the cabin

There's no, you know, it's just like family time and fun. Like this is a perfect example. I had one video game system my entire childhood. Atari, Nintendo. Super Nintendo. Super Nintendo. Oh yeah. Okay. And it was at the cabin. It was not at our house. It was at the cabin. Special. Three, four times a year? How often? I mean, more than that. More than that? Yeah. Yeah. Once every couple months.

- Dude. - Yeah, yeah. So it was one of those things that we grew up with. - Okay. - Yeah, yeah. - See, I stand corrected. People have cabins. - People have cabins. - I like, listen, now that I had a cabin as a character, I want a cabin. - I mean, certain parts of, we'll have to talk to John Huertas when he gets here. He has a cabin. - He does. Upstate New York?

No, in Big Bear. Yeah. Does he? Dude, take the, we took Bear when he was. A baby? Like one and a half. We took Bear to Big Bear. And like cozied up in the middle of a January in John's very nice cabin.

- Did John build it? - Yes. - Quick, quick, quick interlude. John Huertas may be the most interesting person in the world. He doesn't always drink, but when he does, he has Dos Equis. - We're gonna see him. - We're gonna see him. - We're gonna see him. But like the dude is kind of, that's not surprising now that you tell me. Okay, gotcha.

So we go to the cabin. We find out that mom said that she was going to sell the cabin in a conversation between Kevin and Kate. We'll get to that. But so we all go to the cabin together. Randall's like, "I'm gonna clear it out." You know, saying, "Get it rid of, it's in the past. I'm gonna keep it moving."

While we're there, all these things sort of intersect, but Olivia comes, she brings the playwright of "Back of an Egg" and an ex-boyfriend. - Yes. - Ash? - Ash, Asher. - Asher, Ash. He has a man bun, I know that much.

And he has like a cardigan with like suspenders underneath it, right? Ash brings a smoothie, right? That's for everybody. It's healthy from what we know. Randall being the health nut that he is, he's like, you know what? Let me have some of the smoothie. And next thing you know, he's like, I hear clickin'.

He seems a little sweatier. Eyes seem a little bit bigger than normal. - Pops up like a groundhog. - Asher comes out. Asher's like, "Hey, I had some premium mushrooms in here, man." But it's like way more than anybody who got into it. Turns out it was Randall, right? Little known sort of tidbit here.

This is the first of what I believe are three or maybe four scenes in the totality of 106 episodes of "This Is Us." - I was gonna ask this. - That Sterling shared the screen with Milo Ventimiglia. - This was the first time though. - This was the first time. - Yeah. - And I just, I feel like it's an interesting thing 'cause like,

People who watch the show think that we're like around, everybody's around everybody all the time. Mandy Moore is really the only person. Only person. They got a chance to span timelines, right? And so you were the connective tissue of everything. So this was like the first scene ever with my dad, which was really, really cool.

And the setup for, the way they shot it, shout out to Uta. I don't know how to pronounce her last name. I don't either, but man, I loved working with her. Uta Bricewicz.

Udubi. Udubi. Is great. And like some of the things she did with the camera in this episode were dope. Yeah. I mean, it continued on from that kind of vibe of episode eight. Like this darkness, this like kind of twisted, like the family, this world of, wait a minute, we're going to have an entire episode where our most buoyant character is hallucinating? Yeah. Huh?

Like, what is this show doing? Like, this is not what a show like this does. This is true. It sort of tweaks with... But again, the premise gets... Sorry, the premise gets you... It's like, you don't argue with it. Sure. He wasn't intentionally doing it. Yeah, of course. It's not so strict. We're all going on a ride together, man. Like, I think he...

I think Dan really, especially season one, but even throughout, you think you know what's happening and he likes to just go like, "But you know, we have the space to do something else and still come back to what feels familiar." - Did you know at the time just how much of an experience on the show we were gonna be spending at the cabin? - No. - I didn't.

I was like, wow, this is our first time at the cabin. Good gracious, we would be spending so much time in this Topanga Canyon location. We came back quite a few times. Yeah, his texting was very hard from the cabin. You're like, oh, damn, I'm at the cabin again? It kind of became a joy for me. It's exactly what it looks like. When you kind of first look at it, the way they light it, you're like, is this a facade? Is this a set? No.

That is a cabin that someone lives in. That's actually someone's home. Yeah. And it is...

- We wound up rebuilding interiors on set at Paramount or whatnot. But I think that first time it was all just the cabin. - Practical, yeah. - Yeah, I think it was all- - No, they did, 'cause I remember actually doing all the board game stuff. Your imagination of me with the nine year old, that was at Paramount. - Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. But the cabin's cool. I loved how the cabin was.

how just tweaked out Randall is and he's seeing things and he sees his dad on the thing and then to everybody else they're just like looking at him like what is this dude doing Justin I don't think this is scripted when he takes out the phone and he takes the picture

the picture and I was like what a delightful dick move that's one thing her brother didn't do to her brother just like you're gonna wanna see this one day and so let me just get that real quick and the way that shot is a shot we've never seen in this show where he's like in your face and blurred out yeah

But it's such an interesting thing too. Like the whole conversation with Milo, which I guess ultimately is a conversation with himself, right? About what he would think his dad would say and how protective his dad is of his mom. And it's like, this woman did so much. You're trying to come after her as if she's,

-the bad person. - Right. -Right? Now, if she-- - It's more complicated than that. It's more complicated than that. If she held on to this thing for that level of time, imagine the cost that that must have been to her. Right? And these types of conversations, to get into that level of kind of pulling a situation apart and looking at it from these angles and looking at it from all these different perspectives, the writers' room must have been having these conversations. - Oh, yeah. - And-- Debates and-- I'm not guaranteeing that somebody in that--

environment has not had a therapeutic experience with mushrooms or psilocybin, but it is spot on. The way that somebody who is processing a trauma like this, like a break in a relationship would come at it. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And it was so much...

What I enjoyed, well, first of all, this is my first time working with Milo. So it was really funny because like I would do a scene and I'm sort of used to how things are going. And I'd do a scene, nice one, Sterl. I was like, thanks, man. Like each time, good one, Sterl. And I was like, thanks, man. That's what it's like to work with Mike. Thanks, Dad. Yeah. A lot of positive affirmation.

It was so much fun. I was like, he's going to tell me I did a good job every time. And each time I would say, thanks, man. I appreciate it. I will tell you, for anyone listening, this is another thing with actors. Like, I need that once in a while. I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it from anybody. I'll take it from the sound guy.

I just did a movie where the director was not terribly effusive. Sure. And the work for me was a little complicated and bizarre. And I was like, I don't know. I'm floating a little bit here. I could use a little grounding. Yeah. And I never heard peep from him about, was that? Was that okay? What you asked for? Like, I don't. Sure. But the sound guy, I think he knew it because he would come up to me and be like. Nice. He'd be like, that was really great. That was really. And I was like, thank you. Let me tell you. Thank you. When you get crew to say something. Yeah. It.

It does. If the cameraman comes up to you and he's like, hey man, that scene. Because if they're the person that's like right there. Oh, it means so much more than anybody. It's you're like, appreciate you, bro. And it helps to just say, Wabiwab and I talked about this early on in the podcast for him. I'm like, I just need you to know that my love languages are words of affirmation and grounding touch. And he responded, you're doing a great job.

- Thank you. Thank you. And it's like, that's it. But sometimes you just have to ask for it. - Absolutely. - Oh, I'm a quality time girl. - Nice. - Quality time? - Yeah, yeah, quality time. - Nice. - I like roundy touch. I love words of affirmation. - Yeah. - Those, I think it was similar. So no, we go through that. And I remember shooting the scene with you guys playing Monopoly.

And like, he's got his list of 22 things or whatnot. 'Cause you guys are the ones who have to do the acting. 'Cause Brown/Randall's just like, yo, I got this stuff to say, and you guys have to continue. - Playing the game. - The kids are so good. - That scene, I...

golly blew me away it blew me away I was watching oh man it was so painful to see you having so much fun yeah the contrast of it and you being like trying to reach through time yeah to get to her was just like I'm telling you we'll get into all this stuff but this was the episode where I wasn't just like oh single tear I was like oh same same like on my couch alone hyperventilating laughing

Also, this was another moment for me just to shout out to our music supervisors, the Calvary Cross by Richard and Linda Thompson. I love this song so much. And it was just that in that particular scene, I was like, woof. This like really, really made that scene so much more impactful.

But I remember shooting it too with you, Sterling, and it was hard to like kind of keep my focus in the scene and having fun. And like, especially in that moment where I'm just like looking back at the family and kind of smiling at the end. And I'm standing there and you're looking past me. I'm like, God damn it! Yeah.

Just smiling, happy, like, "Let me take in this perfect moment with my family in the cabin." - There's a moment in the scene, he's playing Monopoly, and Lonnie goes to roll the dice, and I try to pick up the dice from him before he gets them, and I get to say, "Dammit, Randall!" - Yeah.

That's exactly what that experience would be like. It's like playing a board game with yourself. Yeah. And so then we go through that and dad comes back and is like, you feel any better? He's like, no, because I want her. He says at one point, I want her to feel as hurt as I do. He says something to that level. This is one of those lines where you say it

I want her to feel as much pain as I'm feeling. And you say it almost with a smile on your face, but it is not maniacal. It is not vindictive. It is not vengeful. It's like this, it's this bizarre combination of, I need you as my mother to understand what I'm feeling. And I was just like, oh God. Like the way you delivered it and, and,

Just all of it, you threw the glass and it was so, just this honesty of like, here's what I need. - And to take it back, like juxtaposing with, we opened this episode with Rebecca and Jack really grappling with

You know, Randall obviously wants to figure out his origin story, understandably. And Rebecca... The tongue. Yeah, with the tongue at the grocery store. He's looking for his parents. And Rebecca is effusive in her defensiveness of like, we're his family. Yeah. We're enough. Yeah. And, you know, like, why are we going to even open that can of worms? And Jack is pretty...

about it in a way that's... It is interesting. Yeah, he's just sort of like, this is what my boy needs. Yeah. And he's trying to find different avenues and you see them with Yvette later on and he's like... And it's all valid. It's all valid.

- Valid, totally. And understandable for Rebecca as you come to find out too. And Yvette's like, you know, Jack's like the mailman and all these different, you know, men that I've-- - Basketball, mailman, something else. - And Yvette's like, have you correlated the fact that like these are black men in his life and he sees himself in and maybe he's questioning whether or not they could be related. And Jack and Rebecca have this like pretty frank discussion at home.

And it's sort of piecemealed out throughout the episode where you get to see sort of the culmination and what it kind of leads to. But again, Rebecca is really steadfast in her belief of like, no, like we don't need to sort of go down that avenue. More That Was Us after these words from our sponsors.

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88.

Was it off of this conversation or even beforehand, like that you've gone and you've sought out William? Yeah, we see this again. We see Rebecca go find William back at the apartment that she last had a conversation with him when Randall was days old, a baby. -So nine years. -Yes, it's been nine years. -It's been nine years. -Yes. -So this is the second time. -Yes. -Correct. And I think she's going to satisfy her curiosity

And also to make her comfort herself and her decision of like, this is the right choice. We are not going to, I don't feel like we necessarily have to go down this avenue, but I think she's sort of going to sort of,

like put a period at the end of this sentence, right? So she's like, I'm going to go and prove to myself by visiting William. He's not in a good place. I'm sure he's still probably using, he's using, he's, he's, he's not in the right frame of mind to have a child in his life. And, and I'll be able to use this as ammunition for myself to know that I'm making the right decision for my family. And of course she finds William who has been,

He's five years sober. He's working at a music store. He seems like he's completely gotten his life together. He's an N.A. And you see throughout the course of this conversation, you know, he asks about his boy and I can tell that it sort of... - He says, "My boy." - "My boy." - And the way that that hit you, it hit me. - It hit me when I was watching it too. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Which is just a human. - My boy wants to meet me? - Yeah. And you're like, "It's my boy." - Yeah, yeah.

And he starts getting wrapped. Well, first of all, he asks about Kyle and she's like, oh, his name's not Kyle. We actually named him after Dudley Randall and you could tell how that hit him. Shout out to Jermell. Yeah, shout out to Jermell. Beautiful. Of all the people who play younger versions of characters in the show, his heart and his

they just, they line up so perfectly. Yeah. There's a softness to him. Yeah. As there is to Ron. Yeah. The like he brings to life in such a like visceral way. It's beautiful. I loved working with, with Jermel every time we, we got to do that. But, um, you can tell Rebecca is rattled. This is not what she expected to find. This is not part of the plan. And at the,

the first opportunity she sees to sort of let herself out of that apartment and that situation, she takes it. Yeah, he's down getting papers together or whatever it is. And she's out of there. And turns around. Well, she's trying to tell herself that what she's doing is right and the show's trying to give the audience a reason why and it's like, ooh, well, this makes it harder and I'm still not there yet. And throughout the course of the episode, we cut back to Jack and Rebecca having this conversation and...

you start to really understand from her perspective what is at stake. Right. Jack doesn't think all the way through and she's like, look, there is no paper trail. Right. There's no like, I know, you don't know, but like there is a man who is dying to have a relationship with this boy. What if he, what if we let him into our lives and like, you know, I'm sure this is all what's like cycling through her head and he's,

able to form this relationship and this bond, and then he wants his kid back. And like, it's just... It almost feels like the beginning of worst case scenario. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that is, it's unthinkable. Yeah. It's, there is just, that is a no fly zone. She can't go there. And, you know, so her...

reasoning for Jack is like, we have to be enough for him. We have to be enough for him. And that is what I think she's just trying to impart. And the delivery that got me, the delivery that turned my heart in from, was this the right decision? To, no, this is the way it had to be.

this does not diminish Randall's reaction to it, but this is the way it had to be, was you saying, "I cannot lose my son." - Yeah. - Yeah. - And the way you said it. - That, I got it. - I was like, that's it. There's no other way that this could have gone. - Yeah. So, okay. I wanna tie these present and past threads together. First of all, shout out to my wife, Ryan Michelle Bethea, who plays Yvette, who was able to sort of like say to you guys, like, look,

First of all, number one, everybody can do this, right? Yeah. I don't think that's rolling your tongue. I thought rolling your tongue is... Yeah, being able to do like a wave with your tongue. This is our clip. Make sure we get this for the internet. This is our social clip. This is for YouTube. Get this for the TikTok. Oh, no. It's like that, no? I don't... I don't know what the rolling is, but like everybody... Guys, everybody can do this. Everybody can do it.

I mean, I could do it. We may have gotten the room. Everyone in this room can do it, but not everybody, question mark? I think Milo could probably do it too. I was like, Milo, you can do it. He stuck his tongue out. He's like,

I think he could do it, by the way. I think he could do it. I think everybody could do it. I think we need another thing. But, you know, nobody called us on it, so we're fine. In fact, Milo, go ahead and send us a video of you doing it so that we can... Just to be sure. Just to get the record straight. But there's this search for commonality and whatnot. And so then Yvette comes in and says, like, he's looking for himself and other black men. Right. And just to see, like, a reflection of himself in the world. Right? Because when you see yourself in whatever light, it sort of, like, helps to...

to cement what is possible for you in the world. Like we all are relating to Randall as he is a person of endless potential and opportunity or whatnot, but he hasn't seen somebody who looks like him out in the world who sort of exemplifies that. - To know the power of representation. - You know what I'm saying? The power of representation. So you guys wind up taking him to this wonderful black dojo. - At her recommendation. - At Yvette's recommendation with these very strong, wonderful black male role models, right?

And this is where like Sarah Wareheim came up with this idea on our social media at the time for all of us to like get on each other's backs and like do these pushups.

So it was like, it was me, Justin and Milo, and we're all like doing it. And it was a lot of fun. - Yeah, the men, we should say. - Yes. - The strong men of our show. - The three persons, because Toby wasn't a part, you didn't get, no, Toby wasn't a part of it because we still, oh, you guys weren't even together at this point. - Yeah, question mark, question mark. - We're still broken up. Remember, that happens, are we still broken up? Then, I gotta go. - I can't be this person for you. - Healthy boundaries. - We'll come back to that, right? - Toby hangs up and then goes, "I feel like you should be more understanding."

- Does anybody else agree? - I'm fine with phone calls. We can do a lot of phone calls. But I would say this is again, I think this is also, and it's probably happened earlier, but we see it in eight and we definitely see it in nine. Jack Pearson's a,

He's that dude. - Yeah. - He's that dude. - He's that father. - He's that dude who walks into a room of all black dudes and is like, "Yeah, I'm here. My son." - "Take off my shoes." - "I'm just here. And what you gonna do to me?" He's like, "You gonna stand up for this boy?" He's like, "Yes, I am." He's like, "Well, come lay down so we can do pushups." He's like, "Okay." And he puts him on his back and he starts doing pushups.

And he's like, "I can keep going." - Stay still. - He's like, "You've done enough." And he's like, "No." - Never enough for my kid. - And I'm like, "All right, you win, white dad." God, like... He is fully invested in such a beautiful, beautiful way, right? Like, I, Sterling, want for Randall

to be satisfied with Jack and Rebecca being enough. Also knowing that they can't be. Because they do everything that they can. And even in doing everything that they can, there's still going to be a void. And so I think, and I also recognize that, but I damn sure appreciate the effort. I damn sure do. Like for real, for real. And I also appreciate

for him too, 'cause Yvette talks about men specifically, and that could be the point where the dude is like, "Well, could we just find a nice black lady for him to hang out with?" You know what I mean? - Yeah, I mean, he hangs out here. - Yeah, but he's like, "Okay, I have to share this boy too." - And he has no,

qualms with that. Yeah. Which is such a beautiful characteristic of that character. Yes. Yeah, that he's like, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, man. No questions asked. It's pretty damn cool. There's a trait of his masculinity that is attractive, to me anyways, of his just acknowledging his shortcomings. Yeah. Yeah. Acknowledging his mistakes. Yeah. And be like, okay, what do I need to do to fix it? Well, so he even does that

in the hallucination. - Oh yeah. - He's like, "You know what your mom's trying to do, man? Like look at it." And so we go back from the game playing to looking through it and she's just by herself. - Don't look at it, look through it. - Trying to keep everything out. Just trying to keep- - Keep it together. - It together, keep everything safe. And it just seems like there's constant bombardment of fracks and fragmentations that are possible that you kind of trying to like,

- Bored up everything. - And the metaphor that hit me was she was, all the things she was trying to keep out, one of the things she was trying to keep out was the grownup version of you. - Yeah, I know. - Oh, Chris, you understand what? - I told you I was a mess. - Wow! - I was a mess.

she was trying to protect her family from your investigations, from you trying to get in and talk to them. And like, it was just like, it all hit me last night. It was intense. It was intense. - Chris, did you watch this in an altered state? - Let's put it this way. My therapeutic altered states in the past revisit me. - Understood.

At moments when that mindset is necessary. Gotcha. Interesting. Gotcha. And last night was one of the nights. I got you. Healing. I mean, it was healing, but it was like just all the different levels of she's trying to protect her family from disruption. And that includes the current disruption. Even in that state, like...

There are different perspectives that you can have that can lead to different sort of insights. Because at first, Randall was only seeing and ignoring or sort of like a denial of something. And then he was able to see...

What's behind it? Yeah. Right. Like I'm trying to hold on to what I know and love and cherish and appreciate. And I don't want anything to take it away. So when he comes out of his thing, he's cleaning the gutters of the house. He finds one of his GI Joes. Wait, wait, wait. Do it. You do it. Wait, what? I know what you're going to say. Don't skip over the part. Don't skip over the Milo part where he holds you and says you were a fact. Oh, yes.

Face in hand. Face in hand. With the face in hand, I was just like, no. You are not a choice. Yeah. You are a fact. I'm going to cry talking about it. It was just sort of like, you had to have needed to hear that. Yeah. Well, because Randall says like, I'm a perfectionist.

And the only reason why I try to be a perfectionist is because I want to be enough so that nobody has to give me away again. And it's brilliant writing because these are the stages. These are the things you need to hear in the order that you need to hear them. Yeah. Okay, first, let's get this out of the way. Right. You are not a choice. The moment I saw you, you were my boy. Right. You are a fact. Yeah. Agreed? Yeah. And the two of you are like, okay. Yeah. Now.

Now let's move on to this. - Sure. - Now we can move on to the deception. Now you need to go in there and look through this. - Yeah. - And please continue. - And see the bigger picture. - Yeah, it's funny too because you see Randall trying to escape it and trying to back, and the way that she cut it together, Uta and our editors and whatnot, I turn from one side and leave him and he's there again. I'm like, God, man, what?

He would not allow himself in this way to sort of like, he's like, okay, even though I wanna not deal with it, I'm still have to deal with it. And it was so loving. 'Cause like it is also the beginning of an echo of this and breathing and you guys know what I'm talking about. - Yes, yes, yes. - I think one thing that got left out that G.I. Joe was supposed to mean something more

there was a scene because he pulls out snake eyes and i remember props asking me like did you play with gi joes and i was like does a bear in the woods like yeah i played with gi joes and like do you have a favorite gi joes and i was like snake eyes and so like i pulled out snake eyes from the thing and it meant something but there was a scene that got cut earlier that sort of set oh it was one of the guys on the roof one of them yeah one of the parachute things that came out of the roof

So Kevin and Kate come out and they're like, "You okay, man?" And they're like, "Yeah." And they say, "Well, you must not be so upset with mom if you're fixing the place up." And I'm like, "I'm not doing it for her."

doing for dad because he helped me to a place of understanding. So that last scene between the two of them, I wrote it down. And the cabin becomes a metaphor for repair and for keeping the family together. And it becomes the heart. I mean, as we see in future seasons, it becomes expanded, this expanded family. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we leave the cabin and we're going to get back to everybody's story. But we leave the cabin. He comes and he sees his mom. Oh. And he says, you kept that secret for 36 years. That must have been incredibly lonely. And then Amanda Lee Moore lets out a. I'm going to do it right now. Watching that last night, I was just sort of like, I cannot think of a more generous person.

thing for a child to give their parents in that moment of their pain and their processing of what someone has done to them, of what said parent has done to them, then to leave them with that sentiment. It just was like,

I'm like, this is why they have this relationship. This is why they're so close. - It is, it is. But that wasn't the end. That was the last part because the last part is she goes for a hug and he says, "No, not yet. See you at Christmas." Because he, I mean, I think to his credit, he's like, "I understand, but I'm still in process

And it would be disingenuous of me to give you everything right now. - Handbook for living. - Yeah. It's beautiful. It's perfect. - It is. In 15 seconds. Like the most generous response to that long list, to the long list of here's everything I'm mad about. - Yeah. - And here's the conclusion. But also a boundary. - Give me my. - Yeah. - Perfection. - It hit hard. It hit real hard. - Which explains why

This episode of television, of all of our episodes of television, is the only episode of television that won which award? The WGA. Vera? Vera Herbert. I always mess up her last name. But it's funny because I always call her Black Vera because it also won the Image Award at the NAACP. This episode? Yes. Oh, wow. And that's why I call her Black Vera because Vera's not black.

But she did win the Image Award for this episode too. - Wow. - Yes, she won the WGA. - And if you can believe it, it's the only writing award that the show won, which seems impossible to me. But this episode certainly deserved it. - So that wraps up these people in that episode. Let's talk about, should we go to Kev? - Yeah, let's go to Kev. - The siblings run to the woods.

- Together. - Together. - To help each other. - We don't see each other all together that much. - Right. - Right, like this is one of the first times that we're all together. And we get there and Randall's sort of like, "Oh, look at all the lies that surround us here." And they're like, "Yo man, we're here." Kate says like, "We're here, we're real." Like this was a part of our childhood and it was legitimate, right?

And Kev is vibing off of it too. But he's also vibing off the fact that he had like one of the dopest kiss, dope kiss. It was really nice. And so he invites Olivia to come hang out. Unbeknownst to him, Olivia brings like

- Protection. - Yeah, basically. - Baggage. - She brings baggage, protection, because I think that she's not the kind of person, interestingly enough, who's always trying to get Kevin to have authentic experiences, sort of like shields herself from going too far. - Yes. - Right? - Yeah. - So she brings a playwright

and her ex-boyfriend. - Yeah, she stole the playwright's car, essentially. So the playwright's like, "Well, I guess I'm going where you're going." - Yes, it's true. And Asher, right? And Kev's like the whole time like, "Whoa, okay." He's like, "Listen, I'm not gonna trip. My go-to is not to be, you know, what have you." But like, "I kinda need an explanation for what's happening here, right?"

So they're playing, what game are they playing with each other? - Is it girl talk? - Girl talk, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah. - Girl talk, it seems like, you know, Never Have I Ever or something, but like they're doing girl talk and they say like, "What's the best kiss you ever had?" And they ask Asher and he goes, "Oh, it's easy, live." Right? And Kev's like, "Hold on now." - Wait a minute, I'm not so cool with this. - This is not great. And he asks, does he ask,

What is the playwright? I know her real name. - Sloane. - Sloane. - Sloane. - Ask Sloane like what's- - Shout out to Milana Vayntrub. - Yes. - And Nick George. - And Nick George who plays Ash. - Who plays Ash, yeah. - And she's like, "Yeah, they used to date," or something like that. And you see him sort of wondering like, "Why would she bring this dude here now to my family cabin?" And he does so much as ask her that later on. And then he proceeds to, as we call within the culture, read her for points.

Like he sort of breaks this chick down in such a fundamental way and says like, you're the person who's always asking for something authentic or whatnot. Like what we shared last week, that kiss was real. Like that was beautiful. And now I think you find yourself so exposed and afraid that you don't know what to do with that. And I feel bad for you. I feel bad for you. And you see her face like,

"Well, I guess it's time for us to go." - And with that, she leaves. - And that was it. - And that's it. - I think she booked the show. - And that's why she didn't come back. - I'm pretty sure she booked the show. So like the writers were like, "Here it is." - Rest in peace, rest in peace, Kevin Pearson's first

- She was great. - Romance interest on the show. - She was so delightfully complicated. - Can we have some montage, like a in memoriam? - For two episodes or a couple episodes. - Every time a love interest moves on, we have a little. - A little montage in black and white. - But it did also point at the possibility on the tree, 'cause we have like Jack and Rebecca and we have the kids' names carved in there. And I think we see like a KP plus SB. Is that what it says?

And although we may not have gotten the last name quite right, but that could have been like the first planting of a seed for a character named Sophie. - Or Sterling Brown. - Or it could have been me. Sterling Brown loves Kevin Pearson. - Yeah. - I do.

So let's, maybe we could tell people in television world what happens with character names sometime as to why we think this SB is Sophie. That could happen in such a way that you have the, you don't know and then you go to get the name and then if somebody else has that name and so you don't have rights to the name. You can't get clearance for it. And you don't get clearance so you have to change the person's name to something else. So if the character's name was like Sophie Becker. Right. They would,

legal has to go and then clear that name for the show to use it. And perhaps they didn't. Right. Because her name is actually Sophie Inman. Inman. Yeah. So we think that this carving on the tree is the throwback to an earlier romance for Kevin. So for all the people on Reddit, you got us. We made a mistake. Ha ha ha ha!

- Please keep posting about us. - She says something about him, Olivia, when she's having a conversation with Kate earlier,

about sort of the role that he plays within your family. - In the family, sure. - And she's sort of like really cool. He says like, "He's not as simple as you think he is, but that's the role that you guys make him play in the family." Right? Which I want to get back to that conversation again, but I think is a really a cute and delightful thing to say about Kevin Pearson, who is constantly sort of underestimated and time and time again, he keeps showing you just how deep he is. - Yeah. - Right? - Yeah. - That's Kev. Kate.

we're talking, we're still talking about, 'cause we were left at the end of eight with her saying that she's going to get this gastric bypass surgery. - Gastric bypass surgery. - I can't even say it now. - Gastric bypass. - And so like Kevin getting into the weeds with it with her, you know what I'm saying? Like it is not a simple thing. There are,

repercussions that could be from it in terms of like, it's not necessarily the most safe thing. Are you sure this is what you want to do for yourself? And what is her explanation at the time in terms of why she wants to do it? - This is just like, this has been a long time coming essentially.

And he questions like, wait, you're making a huge decision like this because of a little bit of turbulence? Yeah. And does this have anything to do with your breakup and Toby not coming for Thanksgiving? And I think he's just sort of needling her a little bit. This is such a huge realization to come to. How did you reach this conclusion? Almost like it feels impulsive. Very. And want to make sure that it's thought through.

all the way through. Yeah. There's a way that the three of them care for each other that is perfectly...

I love it. Siblinical. Siblinical. I like it. That even if... Because in this episode too, Kate confronts... Olivia. Olivia. Yes. In a certain way, a lot of the things Olivia is doing is challenging Kevin in that way. Yeah. In a certain siblinical way. And Kate is not having it. No. Because she...

She sees him in a way that I had not considered for a long time about his heart and his intention. Olivia or Kate? No, Kate. Kate. She'll always stick up for her brother. And it was just interesting to see...

Like, no, no, no. You don't get to interact with him that way. Yeah. I, that is part of this is my job. Like we're pushing each other. We're challenging each other. We're taking care of each other. Interesting. Like the three of you, had you been alone at the cabin. Yeah. Would have been much more efficient. But I was on team Kate in that regard. Like what is he doing inviting her to the cabin? 100%. Yeah. I was like, this was an experience for the three of them to have. Sure. Right.

He was inviting her to the cabin for the same reason that she was inviting Asher to the cabin. Just a little buffer. Just a little distance, which didn't really work out. I forgot this part with regards to Kev. Is his inability to be sort of like alone right now. Because as soon as she leaves,

And then Kate comes into the room and is like, "Sloan, are you in there?" And she pulled back the covers. - Hey. - Hey guys. And Kev is like, "Yeah, you know, that was just classic Kev." But there's something really interesting there in terms of just trying to

I mean, everybody's trying to feel something, right? And just sort of like, this woman goes away and instantaneously, he's like, "All right, let me see who's here." - There have been no hints. There've been no indications. And it's just a coping. It seems like there's been a coping mechanism that has- - That he's put in place for like a lifetime. He starts off the episode, "Oh, oh, oh." He says,

oh, said something to Randall like, oh, I wouldn't know about that, Randall. I was too busy having sex. Like in high school, yeah, you were learning. I was having sex. I was like, oi, I wrote that down too. I was like, jeez, man. Yeah, I was like, oh, well, full circle moment, folks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's still having sex? Ha ha ha.

Also, how much sex are you having? As an adult now, I remember hearing about that in high school. Yeah. It seems kind of normal. Now as an adult, you're like, how much sex are you having in high school? Yeah, well, it's true. Too much probably. That's true. If you're bragging about it. You're also thinking as a parent too. You're like, can you have less? Yes and no. Yes and no. Thinking about my sex. It's like a 14, 15-year-old being like,

- That was happening? - You shouldn't be having so much that you call it out as like a- - He could have been 16, 17, 18. - As like one of your hobbies. - Yeah, but it was. He also had a girlfriend. - Fair. - We'll get back to that. - Fair. - Kevin had a girlfriend. - In high school. - In high school, in high school. So we're gonna get to our fan segment. - Yeah. - And today we're gonna talk a little bit about siblings. - Yeah, seems appropriate. - Love 'em, hate 'em, you gotta put up with 'em or not.

And what we as viewers will soon see is that through all their ups and downs and challenges, they stick together always. - That's right. - No matter what. So we thought it might be fun to take a look at the social media platforms and see what fans had to say about the big three throughout the years and what their stories brought up in reflection. - Huh. - We ready? And before we get to this, I want to point something out. Gang, I'm gonna pass this around. I had a film premiere the other day and a fan,

said, "I love your show and I made this for you." Tell the folks what that says, bud. - It says the big three. - It says the big three. And I was at a film that had nothing to do with This Is Us or what have you, but it lets me know where my bread is buttered, sir, because wherever I am,

The reaction that you get from the fans of This Is Us. That's very sweet. It's different. It's different. I put the bracelet on immediately and I was like, thank you very, very much. I love that. And it's very striking. I love it. It's not too shabby, is it? Talking about siblings, and we all, before we get to it, we all have siblings. Yes. I know. I know. I know.

I don't know what to say. So I have older brother, older sister. I have a little brother, little sister. And I do love them very, very much. And it's interesting because my brother and sister are 14 and 12 and a half years older.

biologically, and then my younger ones are like 22 and 24 years younger. - Wow. - Right? My mom got them when I was in grad school. - The middle-est of childs. - So I'm about as middle as they can come. But I'm also, there's a part of me that's sort of only child, 'cause I'm like my dad's only or what have you. I would never say that to my brother and sister. I love you, everybody. I love everybody, right? - Sure. - But it is one of the most complicated relationships in life.

because it's not one you chose per se, but it is one that is. Like, you're not gonna say like, "Oh, you're not my brother anymore. You're not my sister anymore." You may fall out and fall in or what have you, but this is a permanent sort of thing in your life. And as I have two boys right now,

who are able to talk and whatnot, like I see, I see the ups and downs, right? And your mom and me as a dad, you have these hopes that everything is always just simpatico and hunky dory, peachy king or whatnot. And that's just not the case. Like they're two human beings that have their own feelings, thoughts, reactions, perspectives on life, and they sink and they don't. And you have to allow space for them to be people.

That's it. Until now we get to- Yeah, no, that's true. As one of three, I always sort of related to the big three in that sense. Like I love my, I'm in the middle as well. I have an older brother and a younger brother and I very much related to the story in that sense. I mean, I don't have a twin. Sure. I have an older brother who's four years older and my younger brother's only 18 months younger. So I, like,

inherently just have always felt closer to him because we're so close in age. Yeah. But you're right. It's like there is an ebb and a flow to these relationships and I'm really grateful for them. But to be able to see the echoes of, from these stories that sort of bleed into our real lives is always fascinating. And I'm curious to see what people online have to say about their own lives and how it relates back to the show. Indeed. Indeed. Yeah. My younger brother, it's interesting because siblings know you better than

than anybody on the planet because they were there. Yes, sir. You're the only people that had that experience. -Who know everything. -Yeah. And that can be both helpful... -Yes. -...and harmful... -Sure. ...to the relationship. And you just hope, like you were saying with your boys, like I hope with my son and my daughter that

They will just provide them with the tools that when they move apart that they can come back together. Which in these last few episodes with the big three, it seems like. Yeah, we're seeing that. They've got some tools. Absolutely. If they choose to use them. Absolutely. Are we ready? I'm ready. Ready. Let's put it up on the screen. Here we go. See what we have to say. Me and dad said G. Next came me and mom said we. Ugh, who knows the rest? Not really.

- It's not quite the chance. - It's not quite like that, but it's pretty close. - And then came me and they said, "That's three." - That's three. - Big three. - Big three. - That's correct. - Three. That's it. "I have a sister and a brother and I wish we had something as cute as Big Three." I have a sister and a brother and a sister and a brother. We don't have anything as cute as the Big Three. You need Dan Fogelman to write something as cute for you. - That's correct. - Yeah. - For the listeners, we're reading...

What we're looking at is... It seems like a Reddit thread. Is a Reddit thread. Is that what, yes. From eight years ago. So these are people that were watching the episode in real time and trying to figure out what this big three chant was that Jacqueline, the children, is. I have triplets who have been watching with me. I tried to convince them they need a catchphrase 11.

They rolled their eyes at me and said no. Okay, but some triplets out there must have seen this and got their own catchphrase. So we need to hear from you. We want video proof of the triplet catchphrases. This is a call to action. Call to action to all the triplets out there. Next. As a mom, this was so hard. We tried to treat all our kids the same and love them all completely, but we're flawed and ungrateful.

are the results of our own experiences growing up. This does affect our parenting for good and bad, but I dare say most moms love all their kids the same with every part of their being and would never want to cause any of our children one moment of pain. No, I would agree with that. I wholeheartedly agree. It's also- Carry for mom.

It's something that comes up later on in the show too, about like parenting them the same and loving them the same as like almost kind of like you love them all the same. Yeah. But they each kind of need their own thing from you. You just don't like them all the same at the same moment. This is true. This is actually very true. Like my kids, my kids will ask me like, like,

My oldest Andrew would be like, "Come on, dad, who's your favorite?" I was like, "You're both my favorite." He's like, "No, but for real." I was like, "Yeah, you're both my favorite." And Amari would be like, "Dad, for real?" I was like, "Yes." Like there are things that both of you guys bring to my life that I would deeply miss if you were not present. There's no hierarchy in this house. - Yes. - You know? - Great answer. - But it's Amari. - I love them both the same! They're not gonna catch me on camera saying, "Bro, show me the next clip." - Next clip.

All right, I got this. The most powerful thing is watching it with my teenagers. It's so profound and sparks so many conversations that we might not have otherwise had. This show and its actors are a gift. That's very sweet. Let's read that last line again. One more time. This show and its actors.

are a gift. Shout out to Jeannie Marie Tompkins. Hempling. That's a great name. You are welcome. JMTH. It is something that we heard throughout the years, how it was a moment for families to sort of touch base with one another. Yes. Where like everybody's off doing their thing on their device, et cetera. But for some reason, people would come together and watch it and then people could talk

about it afterwards. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I think that's a good legacy. - There's an interesting broadness in the specificity of the show. - Yes. - Like the show is so specific in the story. - Yeah. - But that gives people a thousand ways in. - Absolutely. - To relate to it. - Yeah. - Whether it's brother, sister, whether it's adopted, whether it's, you know, whatever the thing is.

And so it's always fun to see the different ways that people find their way in. Fish chisel. What's next? What do we got? When young Kevin tried to go in the OR with young Kate, it was one of my favorite parts in this episode. And when he was holding his right side. I loved it when he was holding his side. Him and Kate had the twin thing so he could feel what she was feeling. Such a great show. I can't wait until January. Catherine and Mindy and D'Andra just chatting it up. Just having a little exchange. Just connected. About, I believe, the Christmas episode.

- I think so. - Yeah, in the first season. - Yeah, total strangers bringing them together. - Yeah. - Not just family, total strangers online. - I love it. - Next.

I know I am weird, Randall. Kate, I've had the same exact conversation with my siblings. What's this one from? This is from season three. Oh, it's season three. Okay. Yeah. I think that I just want to say something about that. Like, I just like the idea that like this statement gets made because I think people spend so much time, especially in our youth, trying to fit into a box that is labeled normal.

without the recognition that no one is normal. - Is normal. - You know what I'm saying? - There is no norm. - No, it's just something on the outside that exists that we think we're supposed to sort of contort ourselves into so that we aren't noticed. But once you embrace just your you-ness, you'd be cool. - Yeah. - Free. - Free. - Yeah, I know you weird. I'm weird too. Let's go. What's next? - This is from RRlovesroses.

uh can all these siblings not make life-changing decisions on their birthday just saying maybe tomorrow enjoy your day she's not wrong it was all the siblings and their dad like we got it from him he was trying to do some big stuff on his birthday too so we got it from my daddy yeah rachel renee we hear you we agree led into the day yes what's next

If Randall passes on going to Howard to stay home and help his mom with them two selfish other teenagers he calls siblings, I will lose it. Randall did stay home. He did, but wait. That's right, because her next message is, I'm losing it! Ha ha ha!

I am losing it. Why in the world would he do that? It's just a TV show. It's not real life. Laugh out loud, but I feel you. I agree. Takes deep breath. Thank you for that reminder. I needed that. But it was a little frustrating, and I hope it's addressed next episode. You know what's funny about this? I would check this every once in a while, because there would be times in which people would be riding with the big three, and there would be times where you're like, these people are so self-absorbed, and they're only thinking about themselves and everything. And I was like...

Yeah. No wrong. But it's interesting what hits people, right? It is very. Not only that, hits people enough to go online and talk about it. Yeah.

Because there must be something going on. It's a conversation with a stranger. Something in here is being triggered. Let me tell you something about selfishness. Let me tell you a little story about selfishness. I did have a hard time with this storyline. Did you? I did. Talk to her. Because I really wanted Randall to live his life and not stay home to take care of mom. Here's an interesting segue, possibly out of this segment or not.

My brother, who is 14 years older than me, is sort of a lot of my inspiration for Randall because he stays at home. He went to college and then came back home immediately afterwards. Helps take care of my mother, who's going through ALS, living with ALS right now. Shout out to Arlene Brown. I love you.

but it's very dutiful in that way, right? So I'm sort of like Kevin and he's sort of Randall. And he's like, "So when are you coming back?" And you can't just pop in and pop out and just do these things. And I was like, "No, I'm here. I'm doing my part or what have you, but like, I don't live in St. Louis. So it's an interesting thing." And so I sort of feel what she's saying in terms of like, there's times in which I look at my brother who is like a brilliant barbecue artiste.

Now he makes his living as a pharmaceutical salesman, right? - Yeah. - And he did it because it was the practical sort of thing that allowed him a certain level of resources in order to be planted at home. And there's times I was like, oh, if he would have been able to have a chance, possibly, if he didn't feel a certain- - Obligated, yeah. - Obligation, then maybe he could have done something else. But I also, like Randall, know

that that obligation is part of who he is and if i took that away if somebody took it away from him it's almost like taking away a part of his identity yeah the intrinsic part of who he is exactly and i think that is very much in line with who randall was as well as much as it was

heartbreaking and disappointing as someone observing from the sidelines, like taking myself, you know, as, as the fake mom in the equation, like out of the equation, just as the actor, there was so often so many times on this journey of the show that I was like, ah,

this is frustrating or this is, I'm so sad, but I can't allow my emotions to influence. Bringing that to the table as an actor. But this was certainly a situation where I was like, come on, Randall, no, you've done too much. And obviously knowing what direction it was going to lead him in. But I'm with you, Candice. I lost it a little too. I understand. All right.

All right. I can't even explain how much I love them. They are my favorite siblings when they act like this. Oh, which is loving. What's the game plan? I love you. I know you do. I don't say it enough. That relationship. So all three of us, it's really sort of beautiful. But like that one, when they, because we got to it in 107.

He's calling them Webster and everything just to know that they had sort of been on the outs with each other, but they sort of found their way back into each other's lives again. It really does sort of echo, honestly, between my brother and I. Like we have moments.

that are difficult where like we don't see eye to eye on how to take care of mom or like what's the best way to go about things and whatnot. And then we find our way back to like finding that common ground of like, all right, whatever it is that we're going through right now, we do love each other. We do have history with each other. And it's sort of like a grounding foundation that allows us to take a deep breath and be like, all right,

You've got a knucklehead, but I love your knuckleheadedness. And it reminds this relationship with Kevin and Randall, echoes a lot of me in me, hermano. - Yeah. - For sure. - Well, you know, it's just like seeped in love. Like there's so much love underneath that like everything is built upon. - That's the thing. We've talked about this before. The opposite of love is not hate. - It's indifference. - It is apathy. It is indifference. So when you're just like, oh, I have a brother.

That's when you're like, oh, that's not good. Absolutely.

Definitely can relate to siblings not having the exact same memories of an event. Sure. And that is absolutely, truth is subjective, right? Like everybody's going to sort of take away different parts of the same experience in a very different way. There's nothing more unreliable than eyewitness testimony. Come on, bro. It's true. That's true. It's very true because you're only, there's a myopia that can set in in terms of like how that event affected me. Yeah. Yeah.

And then you're like, what, this would have affected me like this. And so you can come out of being like, did we just see the same movie? Yeah, yeah. Click. Y'all know I love Rebecca Pearson. But I don't like how she's asking Randall to not tell his siblings about her condition. At DJ.

- Double. What'd you guys say about that? - Well, then I'm looking below. - Wait, what's next? - I get that she thinks they have pretty full plates, Kevin's alcoholism, Kate's blind preemie, but yeah, keeping a secret from the rest of the big three, not a good idea. - Let me just, let me just parenthesize this.

Alcoholism and the blind premium. Let us also say for anybody who hasn't gotten this far, this is a spoiler. We should put that before this fan segment just in case. I get that she's putting Randall in a position where his relationships with his siblings can be ruined. Got it, got it, got it. Yeah, I mean. Anytime anyone asks me to keep a secret other than

a surprise party. Yeah. It's just like, you know, it's interesting. So I have a rule with my sister who often asks me to keep secrets.

And it doesn't affect my brother or anything else. But I say like this, if you tell me something, I get to decide whether I tell my wife or not. You can't ask me to keep something from my partner. Oh, 100%. I was like, I don't even want you to tell Ryan. I was like, then don't tell me. Yeah, yeah. Because it's not, that's a no-go. That's the same set of ears. I have to share. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. You tell me, you're basically telling my husband. Yeah, that's right. What's next? Aaron O'Neill says, parents, sons, daughters,

siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles. The true power of this show, the reason we laughed and wept and hope so deeply is we were the us all along. Wow. Exactly, Aaron. Yeah, Aaron nailed it. I appreciate that system. Shirley Zepnick right there says absolutely. What's Shirley say? Absolutely. From the front. No, what does Shirley sound like? I don't know. I don't want to do anything that would. Make her sound like Sheriff Kelly. No.

From the first few minutes of the first episode, I could relate to this family. What an amazing ride the last six years were. - Aww. Melanie Coburn says, "Beautiful affirmation, spot extra, well said." You know what, man? I couldn't agree with Aaron's thesis statement anymore. I had my cousin who is a plus size artist,

She says, "I can see myself," African-American, she's my cousin. She's like, "I see myself in Randall. I see myself in Kate. I see myself in Kevin." Like she was about to start her own family. And she's like, "I'm imagining what life was like for Jack and Rebecca with like three kids in the house at the same time." And she would say, she says, "Sterling, I know you all happy 'cause you got the little Emmy for your OJ thing." But she said, 'cause this was in season one, she goes, "But this show,

This show is something special. She said it's like therapy and church and entertainment all rolled up into one. I guess. - What a great summation. - I think these fan segments are gonna be my favorite part of doing this show. Getting to connect with you. So thank you for all of your posting and your emails and your messages.

They're reaching us. Yes, they are. And you are a part of this podcast, and we really appreciate your excitement and involvement. Keep them coming. Keep them coming. Appreciate it. So I think that concludes this fan segment for this episode. Hasta luego. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

- Oh my gosh, an incredible episode of television. - I enjoyed it. - Incredible fan segment. - Thank you for all of your messages, everyone. - Greatly appreciate it. - Yeah, you've been sending us messages. You've been calling our emotional support hotline. If you haven't left us a message, we would love to hear from you. - Yes. - That number is 412-501-3028. - Or you can reach us at our email address, [email protected], not to be confused.

-with AOL. -Which doesn't exist. And if you wanna support us, I know you hear it a lot on podcasts, but really, subscribing, reviewing, leaving five stars, and spreading the word to help us grow the show. Please. Um, patronizing our sponsors on this show. We believe in these people, and if you can use our codes and let them know that you support us and you support them, it all goes around. -Yeah. -Um, so please, uh...

and we will keep bringing you these episodes. - We'll have another one coming at you soon. It may be 110, it may be John Huertas. We'll let you know. - Who knows? - Who knows? - Surprise, surprise, keeping you on your toes. - You guys take it easy. Thanks for joining us. - Thank you. - Bye-bye. - That Was Us. That Was Us. That Was Us is filmed at The Crow and produced by Rabbit Grin Productions and Sarah Warehunt. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith.