‘Jack’s child named his child afterwards. I mean, god, Jack needs to roll in his grave around that one. ‘
It’s us is a program about family, but it’s even more of a show about oppression. This is the fatal mistake of the Pearson clan. And no character reflects the oppression better than Uncle Nicky – the beloved younger brother who cut Jack out of his life once their interconnected war traumas became too much to bear. While It’s us is a tearful show, the sadness of Uncle Nicky’s story exists on another level, both because it lasted 50 years and because there is no hope of reconciliation between the ‘famous Pittsburgh Pearson brothers’. At least not on a literal level. On a spiritual level, however, “One Small Step” is one of the most hopeful episodes in the ongoing Uncle Nicky saga. As Neil Armstrong’s famous moon landing quote goes, a small step can also be a giant leap.
“One Small Step” is It’s us in full character study mode, this is where the show often does its best work. While we saw Nicky dragged along with Pearson events in the past, this is the first time he has taken the initiative to join the family himself. And most of this episode takes place in a flash of memory, from the moment Kevin says, ‘I can not believe you flew nationwide to meet our children. It’s amazing, ”the moment Nicky responds,“ it was nothing. During the break, Nicky flickers back to how much courage it actually cost to board his first flight since 1971. He not only emphasized the logistical and emotional details of that trip, but also two other cases where Nicky suppressed his hopes. and dream of connectivity and hold on to what he knew before.
What makes Uncle Nicky such a convincing player in the It’s us universe is the way Michael Angarano and Griffin Dunne work together to form a character who feels completely cohesive, even though he has gone through such a massive evolution over the course of his life. And “One Small Step” puts evolution first and foremost. There’s 21 year old Nicky, the gentle space nerd with a giant heart. There’s late 20-year-old Nicky, the psychologically tormented veterinarian who begins to get stuck in his pattern of self-destructive isolation but still has at least some hope that things can change. And there’s the contemporary Nicky, a grumpy old man who takes the bold step of finding his way back to the softer soul he was.
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While the Vietnam War is obviously the major turning point in Nicky’s life, ‘One Small Step’ also emphasizes the continuity of his personality. All three versions of Nicky are afraid to hope for something better for themselves; they like to keep their dreams and plans secret so that they do not disappoint anyone when they get cold feet. Unlike Jack – who suppresses negative emotions to concentrate on positive emotions, Nicky’s suppression manifests itself in the tendency to put his life on the line. While Jack has a ‘proud, determined energy’, 21-year-old Nicky is cautious, considerate and a little withdrawn. This is why he matches so well with the bold photographer Sally (Genevieve Angelson). Her confident but gentle hippie attitude gives him space to step out of his comfort zone while still feeling loved and supportive. But when Sally asks Nicky to take the big step of moving to California with her, she becomes confident. It is easier to convince himself that his parents need him more than to start an independent life.
After the war, Nicky’s natural tendency for self-doubt ends in full self-hatred. He manages by shrinking his world even further: his trailer, his booze and the occasional call from an old war partner offering an invitation he declines. ‘One Small Step’ fills us in a bit more between Nicky returning from Vietnam and when Jack paid a tense visit to his brother’s trailer in 1992 (as seen in the third season episode) “Songbird Road: Part One.”) But somewhere in the mid-1970s almost had a reunion again. One Nicky was too scared to follow up on it, and Jack could not accept either.
“Don’t you think he will be deep in your heart?” Ask Cassidy (hello Jennifer Morrison!) The contemporary Nicky when he panicked calling her from Kevin’s house. Rebecca said something similar back in season three, when she tells Nicky that she thinks Jack’s sobriety journey would have led him to contact his younger brother again. But even if Cassidy and Rebecca are right, I think they also underestimate the extent of Jack’s deeply oppressive streak. Jack’s conversation with his old army commander Lieutenant Sheehan (Scott Michael Campbell) confirms his decision to bury his experiences in the war. To keep the lie that he was just a mechanic and that Nicky died overseas, rather than burdening Rebecca with the more complicated reality. Jack leaves to put more confidence than ever before that oppression is the way to go – a coping mechanism that will shape his family for decades to come.
In many ways, Jack who wipes out Nicky is the original sin of the Pearson family, one that affected Rebecca and the Big Three without them even realizing it. There is such a deep sadness about the fact that Jack and Nicky never reconciled while Jack was alive. But it’s also becoming increasingly clear that this season’s theme is healing – characterized by the slow thawing of Randall and Kevin’s break. Just as Marc confronted, Kate helped heal her self-esteem problems and learn about his birth, Randall helped heal his identity problems, and meeting his granddaughter and cousin, Nicky helped heal his self-confidence problems . Nicky finally takes the trip to California that he never undertook with Sally, just as he made the correction with Kevin that he never made with Jack. And now Uncle Nicky becomes the grandson of his grandchildren who his brother does not live to meet.
The last few seasons Uncle Nicky is no more It’s us‘The least hopeful character to his most hopeful character. His story is a beautiful depiction of healing between generations, and a well-deserved celebration of the fact that it is never too late for someone to stop his life. Especially the last ten minutes of this episode are some of the most moving It’s us ever delivered. Dunne knows how to modulate Nicky’s grumpy old man attitude so that jokes about Zoom and John Grisham’s soft pages merge seamlessly with his newfound emotional vulnerability. The idea of leaving his routine and reconnecting with his family once felt as impossible as walking on the moon. But as Nicky puts it to Franny and his namesake’s cousin: ‘One day we’ve never been to the moon … and the next day we walk on it. The impossible became possible, just like that. ‘
Lost observations
- Young Jack tells Nicky that if a girl he loved would ask him to go to California, he would leave in a heartbeat. And we saw Jack do it just in the third season episode, ‘Sometimes.’
- I’m a little confused about how time passes this season, but Uncle Nicky is officially our first It’s us character to get the vaccine! Two of it, as he continues to emphasize.
- Nicky first talked about Sally in the fourth season episode, “Turn over a coin.” After the war, he bought his trailer in hopes of starting a new life with her. But since she was not home when he came to surprise her, he decided it was not meant to be and drove away. Given the fact that we know Nicky is wearing a wedding ring on the fast-paced timeline, can there still be hope for the two crazy kids to finally make it work?
- It’s really nice to have Cassidy back in this episode! She’s an excellent film for Nicky, and Jennifer Morrison and Griffin Dunne have a sweet friendship chemistry. When we last saw Cassidy, she was on her way to reconcile with her husband, but in this episode, she is just shown in bed.
- Between Nick and Franny’s upcoming baptism and the shot of the young Nicky (jokingly) making the sign of the cross, I’m now very curious about the religious background of the Pearson family.
- For the record, Jack is a lion, who completely cut. (UPDATE: Apparently Jack is actually a Virgo, and I will leave that to those who know astronomy better than I do to say whether it’s traces or not.)