"This Is Us" asks viewers to believe in miracles during a time-jumping Season 3 premiere. [Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for the “This Is Us” Season 3 premiere, Episode 1, “Nine Bucks.”] During the hourlong return of “This Is Us,” two scenes stand out in terms of what’s working and what’s not. On the heartening side — surprise, surprise — it’s Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Deja (Lyric Ross). Using his birthday as reason for reflection, the fan and family favorite drives his prospective daughter to his father’s old home. There, he tells her his life has been defined by being adopted, and he asks her to choose whether or not she would like to officially be made a part of his family. It’s a great speech, one Randall later admits to rehearsing, but it doesn’t go as planned. Deja isn’t honored or moved by Randall letting her choose; she’s pissed that he’s reducing her story to mimic his own. “Don’t tell me we’re the same,” she says. “Don’t tell me I have a choice in anything.” She storms off, and Randall is left to process what he’s learned from the whipsmart young lady. To take a step back and look at the scene from a narrative standpoint, this is a big, manufactured moment of sentimentality. If Deja went along with Randall’s plan, there would’ve been a big hug and two people crying onscreen amid a sea of folks weeping off of it. But that would’ve been false. That wouldn’t have felt authentic to Deja’s journey, and really, it would’ve been lazy writing to reduce her journey to Randall’s. (Lyric Ross is a stellar addition to the cast, putting out more great, understated work here.) Along with great use of humor throughout Randall and Deja’s journey — the birthday gift reveal later on is a cherry on top of their sundae — the scene resonates because Deja pops Randall’s bubble. Ron Batzdorff/NBC Unfortunately, no one does Kate the same favor. Later on, Kate (Chrissy Metz) can’t contain her sorrow anymore, even though she’s stuck at her own birthday party. You can’t blame her: She’s just been told no doctor will ever help her have a baby, and that’s pretty rough news given she lost a baby the year prior. But when and how she has her big confessional moment is phony and forced. Presented a carrot cake made of nothing but raw carrots, Kate tells Madison (Caitlin Thompson) and all her friends gathered around her some very personal, long-repressed feelings. Kate isn’t exactly a gregarious person in general, so to have her spill so much in the form of a speech just doesn’t sit right. The framing tries to hide it with a lot of close-ups and cuts between just Kate and Toby (Chris Sullivan) — to emphasize their intimacy — but it’s not enough to hide that this is an obligatory bit of feelings; that “This Is Us” is hitting its hourly quota of tearjerking moments. Even the jokes meant to temper the scene’s self-seriousness fall flat, with Madison’s acknowledgment of the carrot cake feeling just as forced as the speech preceding it. Framing both scenes and the hour overall is the story of Pittsburgh Steelers’ fullback Franco Harris and his Immaculate Reception. The end-of-episode narration (courtesy of a sports reporter) frames each character’s arc as a “remarkable comeback,” from Jack and Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) first date, to the doctor reversing her decision to help Kate get pregnant, to Kevin (Justin Hartley) dating Zoe (Melanie Liburd) despite Beth’s (Susan Kelechi Watson) disapproval, to Deja accepting Randall’s invitation to adopt her. Similarly, the audience is again asked to believe in miracles; to go along with all of these slight and vast narrative stretches for the sake of the show’s greater goal: mining tears. OK, OK, Dan Fogelman’s drama has more on its mind than that, but it’s an intriguing query given recent developments in the series. Ron Batzdorff/NBC After back-to-back Emmy-winning seasons, the high-rated NBC drama has earned acclaim for its cast and disdain for its morose mysteries. Season 2, especially, faced backlash for how long it teased the question, “How does Jack die?” After all, for a series claiming to be about the many moments that make life great, it seems a bit trite (to put it mildly) to dwell on the specific end point instead of better exploring what made his life so special. Season 3 is moving in the right direction with Jack, as the original Pearson family patriarch (played by Milo Ventimiglia) digs into his past — specifically, his time in the war and the loss of his brother. And yet because viewers again know someone is dead and again don’t know how, whether or not the episodes recreate the same morbid puzzle as before could define whether or not “This Is Us” learns from its past and improves as a whole. (Not to mention the whole Future Randall storyline and it’s long, slow walk to the truth.) Based on the premiere, it’s hard to say if “This Is Us” wants to change at all. Mistakes are made, but hearts are warmed. The Randall Show is alive and well — providing so many more reasons why Susan Kelechi Watson is the sneaky pick for ensemble MVP — while just about every other arc is very much under a “wait and see” status. (Toby ditching his meds to protect Kate is going to walk a delicate line, but it’s off to a sound start as the basis for charged, relationship-shaking drama.) Will Season 3 slide toward the Randall side of earning its sentimentality or Kate’s? With no fresh reason to abandon ship, audiences will likely stick around to find out. Here’s hoping the miracle is memorable for the right reasons. Grade: B- “This Is Us” airs new episodes Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.<doc-sep>This Is Us season 3 premiere ends with two twists This Is Us Close this dialog window Streaming Options After a six-month wait, viewers finally got their hands on the season 3 premiere of This Is Us on Tuesday, and all their lingering questions from those season 2 finale flash-forwards and mysteries were quickly and fully ans— oh, who are we kidding? This is This Is Us. Let the mysteries build! Toward the end of the season premiere — which brought us the Big Three’s 38th birthdays in the present and the first date between Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) in 1972 — we went back to the distant future to rejoin Old Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Adult Tess (Iantha Richardson). As you recall, father and daughter were last seen in the season 2 finale in an ominous moment, with Randall telling Tess that “it was time to see her,” and they both shared with each other that neither was looking forward to that prospect. The next clue was dropped here in “Nine Bucks.” Randall dialed… Old Toby, who was… in bed, looking depressed. “You coming down?” Randall asked Toby (Chris Sullivan). “I don’t know if I should,” he responded. “She wants you to be there,” said Randall. That was enough to motivate his brother-in-law to leave his bed (with no Kate on the other side), seemingly also on his way to see “her.” And so the possibilities of the identity of “her” expanded into the Toby-verse: Is “her”… Kate (Chrissy Metz)? Is he still married to Kate? Why wouldn’t Tess want to see Kate? What’s the connection between Tess and Toby, besides tangential familial? This Is Us Ep. 214 (screen grab) CR: NBC Credit: NBC The road did not straighten out from there, though; more curves ahead. The episode ended by dipping back into the past and showing Jack — fresh off an awkward first date with Rebecca that ended promisingly with an against-all-odds kiss — driving over to her house with flowers. She opened the door with a smile… but unfortunately, it was another suitor who was standing on her doorstep. She did not seem thrilled to see him — or maybe she was just surprised? — but the two kissed and our mystery man went into the house with her, leaving Jack watching sadly from his car. If this were the Terry Bradshaw-to-Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception play in the 1972 NFL playoffs that bookended the episode, the ball just ricocheted off the wrong guy. We know, of course, that Jack ultimately will wind up with the ball, but for the time being, Jack looks like he’s been returned to the sidelines. Meanwhile, in other plot developments: Kate and Toby, recommitted to having a baby, have enlisted a fertility doctor (and Toby is secretly ditching his antidepressants in hopes of giving them an edge); Deja (Lyric Ross) visited her absentee father at the sporting goods store where he worked to buy a birthday gift for Randall, and agreed to be officially adopted by the Pearsons; and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) figured out that Kevin (Justin Hartley) and her cousin Zoe (Melanie Liburd) were dating, and she voiced her opposition of this union to Kevin, noting that Zoe had something of a man-eating past, which he will seemingly ignore, because Kevin’s going to Kevin. Of course, we know that the two will last long enough to fly to Vietnam (see: the season 2 finale flash-forward), so buckle up, because there’s sure to be plenty of turbulence in the Pearson household in season 3. To read what Mandy Moore said about Rebecca’s mystery man, head over here. To find out what Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, and Chris Sullivan revealed about the latest clue in the ‘Who is ‘Her’?’ mystery, click here. To read what else that TIU creator Dan Fogelman had to say about season 3, click here.<doc-sep>It’s hard to believe that exactly a year ago today, we were all flipping out over the season two premiere of This Is Us—specifically the game-changing final moments, in which it was revealed for the first time that Jack Pearson died in a house fire. There’s nothing quite as devastating in the first installment of season 3, but "Nine Bucks" is still a pretty thrilling reintroduction to the Pearsons, and came packed with easter eggs, subtle references, and lots of tear-jerking moments for fans. Here are six things we're still talking about from Tuesday's return. This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. 1. The Big Three’s birthday always falls on the season premiere. Three times officially makes a pattern: The season one, two, and three premieres have seen the trio turn 36, 37, and 38 respectively, on their birthday of August 31. While there was a pretty sad lack of Pearson sibling interaction in this episode, they were at least symbolically connected by their joint day. Of course, there’s always a bittersweet extra resonance to this date, because the Pearson kids’ birthday is also Jack’s birthday. Had he lived, he would have turned 74 in this episode. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. SO I PAUSED THE SHOW AND WHY ISN'T TOBY WEARING HIS RING? Are they divorced? Did Kate die? WHATS HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE? !#ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/Zgp4dqAGWz — Fareeda (@FareedaSays) September 26, 2018 2. Toby is not wearing his ring in the flash-forward. It has not even been one episode since Toby and Kate tied the knot, and we’re already being given reason to panic about their future. Right at the end of the episode, when Future Randall calls Future Toby (more on that in a second! ), Toby is very clearly not wearing a ring, in a moment screengrabbed by an eagle-eyed Twitter user. Are they divorced? Is Kate dead? Is Kate the mysterious “she” who Randall and Tess are reluctantly visiting in the flash-forward? Or did Toby maybe just take his ring off while doing the dishes and forget to put it back on before getting into bed? We. Need. Answers. This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. NBC 3. Deja’s visit to her biological father parallels Randall’s visit to William in the pilot episode. Though things between Deja and the Pearsons have improved moderately since the season two finale—which, if you’ll recall, ended with Deja smashing the heck out of Randall’s car in a fit of rage—the relationship remains strained through most of this episode. Deja is struggling to accept her mother’s decision to give up custody, and despite Randall’s heartbreakingly sweet best efforts, she can’t just assimilate into this new family like he did with his own adoption. As Deja rightly points out to Randall, he had one family for his entire life, and he had two fathers who loved him; Deja has lacked stability in her home life for years, and has now been abandoned by not one, but two parents. “It was lame of me to compare our situations,” Randall admits. But when Deja tracks down her biological father, a parallel does end up arising between she and Randall. Exactly two years ago in the show’s timeline, in the pilot episode, Randall came face to face with William for the first time, and tells him he was raised by an incredible family and has a spectacular life despite being abandoned: “I came here today so I could look you in the eye, say that to you, and then get back in my fancy-ass car and finally prove to myself, and to you, and to my family who loves me, that I didn’t need a damn thing from you, even after I knew who you were.” Randall’s hurt and rejection is palpable in that scene, just as it is when Deja tells her father how Randall and Beth call her “exceptional” and treat her like their daughter. Both Randall and Deja felt the need to prove themselves to the parent who abandoned them—but where Randall developed an ongoing relationship with William, it doesn’t look as though the same is likely to happen for Deja. NBC 4. Jack’s answer to Rebecca’s pet question has major significance in the show. “Cats or dogs?” Rebecca asks Jack, and seems disappointed when he answers the latter—Rebecca, at least at this stage in her life, is a cat person, while Jack is allergic. But who could forget that the reason Jack runs back into the Pearson house fire, years after this first date at the carnival with Rebecca, is to save Kate’s dog Louie? Given all the emphasis that was put on that dog last season, and on Kate’s residual trauma around dogs in the present day, this can’t possibly be a coincidence. NBC 5. Randall and Beth swearing on Oprah might be a reference to Sterling K. Brown’s real-life Oprah fandom. Okay, so arguably the fact that Randall and Sterling K Brown are both Oprah fans is not that notable, because who isn’t? But when Randall asked Beth to promise that she wouldn’t confront Kevin and Zoe about their relationship, swear on Oprah, it was hard not to think about Sterling’s real-life Oprah fandom, which is well-documented—he even texted Oprah after his historic Golden Globes win earlier this year. 6. We’ve already seen a glimpse of the show’s next devastating death scene. If you were too distracted by the adorable awkwardness of Jack and Rebecca’s first date to notice anything else, who could blame you? But right in the middle of their first big scene at the fair, Rebecca questions Jack about his time in Vietnam, asking whether it was “awful.” Jack downplays it, telling her he was just a mechanic, but a quick cut to flashback tells us otherwise: in that flashback Jack is cradling someone bloodied in his arms, looking scared. Since Jack already mentioned that his brother Nicky died during the war, and since we know Nicky will be introduced as a major character this season (played by Michael Angarano), it’s safe to bet this is our first glimpse of what will undoubtedly become a gut-wrenching scene further down the line. So, you know, prepare accordingly. Emma Dibdin Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>
Season 3 of This Is Us premiered Tuesday night, and writer Dan Fogelman and his team did not disappoint. Social media is already flooded with fan theories over what could happen the rest of the season. Fortunately, Fogelman has given some clues that might help viewers figure things out before major plot twists are revealed. ** Warning: The rest of this post contains spoilers for season 3, episode 1. ** Amazon This is Us amazon.com Watch Now First, here are a few of the burning questions many fans have about the show: Will Zoe break Kevin's heart? Why is Franco Harris highlighted so much throughout the episode? Will Toby spiral after dumping his anti-depressants down the toilet? Why is Toby in a bed alone when Randall and Tess go to see the infamous "her"?! Yes, we want answers, and we want them now. But we're not getting them until more episodes air, so in the meantime, here's a recap of the moments that you might have missed from last night's "Nine Bucks" episode: 1. Zoe brushes off Kevin at the dinner table. NBC Last night, we learned Zoe and Kevin are officially hooking up — or as Beth likes to call it "knocking boots." At first, Beth seemed overly protective of Zoe for most of the episode, seemingly because of Kevin's womanizer past. But, it's later revealed that she is actually concerned Zoe will hurt Kevin. "She eats men up and spits them out," Beth tells her brother-in-law. In a scene when they're at the dinner table, Beth's concerns seem justified when Kevin tries to touch Zoe's back, and she moves away. At this point, the secret of them dating has already been revealed, so there's no reason for her to be dismissive. 2. Toby isn't wearing his wedding ring at the end. SO I PAUSED THE SHOW AND WHY ISN'T TOBY WEARING HIS RING? Are they divorced? Did Kate die? WHATS HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE? !#ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/Zgp4dqAGWz — Fareeda (@FareedaSays) September 26, 2018 The Season 2 finale left fans' heads spinning when an adult Tess told Randall she didn't want to go see "her." In this episode, the timeline of the scene advances even further. Randall calls up Toby, who is alone, to come downstairs and meet them. Toby says that the "her" Tess and Randall are referring to in an earlier scene doesn't want to see him, leaving many fans to believe that he and Kate are split up. This theory would also make sense because Toby dumped his anti-depressants down the toilet when he and Kate were trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization. This sequence of events could lead to problems for the couple down the road. 3. Franco Harris's miracle play is dubbed "Immaculate Reception." In "Nine Bucks," viewers are introduced to real-life Pittsburgh Steelers halfback Franco Harris. An actual football game airs during the episode, and in the final seconds of the game, Harris scores a touchdown. Broadcasters called it the "Immaculate Reception" — a play on the biblical term "Immaculate Conception." Since the episode also shows that Kate is trying to beat the odds and get pregnant — knowing there's a 90% chance of failure — Harris's play may be a hint that miracles are about to happen. 4. Jack teases a devastating storyline about his brother Nicky. NBC After their carnival date, Jack opens up to Rebecca in the car and reveals that he "doesn't like talking about the war or his brother." He tells her that "it makes him sad and angry." Ahead of Season 3, several of the actors have teased that this season will dive deeper into Jack's Vietnam war past. This scene foreshadowed something bad that possibly happened to Nicky in the war. 5. Rebecca leaves her jacket behind in Jack's car. NBC After their date, Rebecca confesses to Jack that her girlfriends told her she's supposed to pretend to forget something in the car if she likes a guy so that he can come back and return it. She tells him she won't do that with him because they had a "pretty bad first date," but she ends up leaving her jacket anyway. This prompts Jack to return later with a bouquet of flowers. 6. Kate's carrot cake is made of actual carrots. NBC Kate's health struggles have been a constant theme in her life.