I feel as if I’m starting to sound a tad cliché, but I love everything about this show. Each week, as we gain greater insight into the characters, I love each of them more and more. And I basically am in love with Jack. So, there’s that too.
This week, I applaud the writers. Week after week the show keeps getting better. The actors never fall short, and certainly it’s the writers who are pure genius. You can have great actors and people who fit the part, but if the writing isn’t there (if they story is lacking) you got nothing. I really felt this past episode was beautiful.
This week as we glimpsed into Dr. K’s life, I found myself crying and mourning with him. I think it’s his deep love that makes him a great doctor and teacher. He’s such an essential piece of the Pearson family puzzle and I’m so glad the writers took time to write his story and not just have him be some kind of sideline character that happened to turn on the lightbulb for Jack.
I enjoyed learning more about the fire inspector who found Randall at the fire station. Again, it’s a piece of the puzzle that could have easily been edited out of the show…but it was beautiful. I love stories that thread humility, forgiveness, and redemption throughout it and this was a small story that filled my heart with hope for humanity. It was beautiful.
Rebecca truly resonated with me, and possibly many of us, last night. Rebecca felt overwhelmed. During that last day of her pregnancy, she talked to her unborn children and confessed some of her fears. I believe those are fears most mothers have – that all our weaknesses will come out and we won’t be a great mom. I have four kids, am busy, and frequently fall short. The amount of children you have doesn’t matter. Insufficient Mother Disease attacks most moms. We always feel like we aren’t enough, and Rebecca was well aware of her weaknesses and was afraid. And then…then she shares what she is good at. How she will read to them, and laugh with them, and fight for them. My heart swelled as she said those words because, indeed, I am overwhelmed. But the writers know that about mothers throughout the world. They know how we feel, but they also know that we are much harder on ourselves than we ought to be…that a mother’s love runs deep. So when the writers added what Rebecca said about the things she’ll be good at, well, I think that was actually the writers reminding mothers in America that we are pretty great and we need to remember it. The genius of these writers – subtly wording messages that offer beauty and hope to all of us.
On a more personal note, my oldest daughter was born with severe disabilities. This was not our plan. It turned into a beautiful life story of love that led us to adoption and our lives are so much fuller than we could have anticipated. When Rebecca finds out that they lost one of the triplets, heart broken and confused, she tells Jack she really felt like they were meant to have three. Three kids to come home and raise. And as we all know, they do have three, to take home, and raise. I guess that ending message is one that I’ve learned many years ago throughout my life with my daughter Samantha. It is a message of hope. We have so little control over the events in our lives. We can plan and prepare, but more often than not, those plans change – and not because we want them to change. Life has a funny way of working out. Jack and Rebecca, though heartbroken, saw opportunity open a door in the midst of their despair. Through that door was a future full of unexpected light. I suppose that’s how life is for us too. It makes me wonder how often I look for opportunity’s open door, or how often I remain sad and disappointed that my plan didn’t work out…and so I miss the light.
Something to think about. Something to ponder.
Bravo to the writers of This Is Us. Yet again you’ve kept me up way too late thinking about life…and I love it.
Missed this weeks episode? Watch it here. You can read my review from last week here.
