I think I’m broken since It’s us‘very first episode.
After all, the life event in that half hour was suppose to be a happy one: the birth of Rebecca and Jack’s triplets. And it all went well until it really was not. Then, in season 2, Jack seemed quite fine after surviving the fire in the Pearson home, only to be kicked to the hospital afterwards while Rebecca cuts a candy bar to the vending machine. And next season? When Kate started giving birth too early and the whole family was camping in the waiting room of the hospital while she was having a caesarean section?
The creator of the series, Dan Fogelman & Co., encouraged me to get excited about potentially big milestones, and then emphasize impact as if I were scraping the starboard railing of Titanic. So in this week’s episode, where everything goes right in multiple life or death situations and no one is left sobbing, I do not know… how to deal with it. And that BEFORE Randall and Kevin make up!
Read the highlights of ‘In the Room’ while I’m busy.
DISCRETE COZINE Transformation | The episode somehow starts most hours of It’s us do not: by telling us exactly when and where we are in space and time. (See? I’m already shaken!) In 1963, we were outside a party in Albuquerque, NM, where a young man from India, Nasir, was reading a book on advanced computer programming. A conversationalist who identifies herself as Esther from Argentina approaches and asks him to light her cigarette. Nasir looks a little uncomfortable, but he stops when she asks him to explain what he is so interested in in the book. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I know I like hearing you talk,” she says.
Later we see they have their first child, a son. And a few years later we see Esther getting mad at Nasir because she stayed in the office too late and missed family dinner. He tells her that he is very close to making progress with a technique that will make a revolution in computers – and when she sees how passionate he is, she asks him to explain it to her so she can understand as well. He briefly explains the World Wide Web and how his team is working on a form of data compression that allows people to share images. “Imagine being able to talk to someone on screen, like a phone call, but with video,” he thought, and she was captivated.
We watch the Pearsons use the fruits of Nasir’s research with dedication later in the episode, and title cards at the end of the hour let us know that: “In the early 1970s, Nasir Ahmed led a team of researchers who used the Discrete Cosine Transform developed. This technique is still used by businesses as part of their image and video sharing technology. You do not know what his name is, but Nasir and his team are responsible for keeping us connected today. He and his wife Esther recently celebrated their 56thde anniversary. And the show’s writer’s room chatted with the couple on video to hear their story.
CABIN FEVER | At the cabin, Rebecca and Miguel eagerly await any word from Madison and / or Kate, who are both in hospital and awaiting birth. She keeps looking at a framed painting of colors that all go together; when Miguel asks her about it, she remembers the time when a pipe burst and the children’s artwork soaked. She and Jack had a bit of an argument: he was on her because he scratched so much with the kids, and said it was their only defense to have three teens in the house. Rebecca (much softer than I would have) dug up the real problem – Jack was worried that the children were growing up and growing faster and faster – and calmed her husband down by pointing out that their family
does not end soon. She shows him the stains and adds: “We are all still there, we are, even though it does not look like before.” Then she promised him that they would never miss anything in their children’s lives, especially not the big things. ‘
But by getting stuck in the cabin while three of her grandchildren are being born, Rebecca tells Miguel, she feels like she’s letting Jack down. He helps her feel better about it, and Rebecca admits that they never talk about how he should tolerate Jack’s death differently for yourself, for me and for our marriage. Thank you. I know it’s a lot. I know I am a lot. He smiled and replied, “You are just the right amount.”
PAPER IS HERE | Meanwhile, Madison has been on FaceTime for hours with Randall and Beth. The Pearsons are not going to stop overnight on their ride back to Philadelphia, which is why they are happy to talk her out of rallies and distract her from seductive stories of drunk, naked Kevin and his love for the band Hanson. In fact, Randall is in the middle of a loopy, false rendition of ‘MMMbop’ when Kev walks into Madison’s room himself.
“I want to hit you, but I want to kiss you too,” Madison said to her fiancé as Beth and Randall hung up. We do not really find out how he got there, although he did not have his proof of identity. It’s implied that the airport’s TSA chief is doing him a favor – but Kevin wants Mads to know: ‘Before I left, you asked me how this family was going to fit into my life. This family is my life, ”he says, adding that he left the movie. “That’s all I’ll ever need.”
At another hospital in California, Ellie’s labor is progressing slowly. But she uses the time to make sure the entire nursing staff knows that Kate should be the first person born after her birth. Due to COVID-19 regulations, Toby is working in the parking lot and gets it over the phone from Kate, who is in the delivery room at the surrogate mother. A grim old man pulls up and tells Tobes that he is in his parking lot. “Buddy, I’m just waiting for my daughter to be born,” he tells him. “And I’m waiting to find out if my wife is going to live or die,” the man shot back. Toby moves with his car.
We learn that the man and his wife have been married for 55 years, but she has been hit hard by the coronavirus and is inside a ventilator. He comes every night and parks in Spot 157 because she’s superstitious, and that’s her favorite number. She also loves pigs, thanks to a New Year’s Eve spent in Salzburg, Germany, on their honeymoon (apparently it’s a thing there), and so he has a bunch of pork figurines on his dashboard to bring happiness. “I thought I would take out the whole bacon file for this one,” he says. They also talk about how Toby has middle name rights for their approaching daughter. And when the old man says his wife’s name is Rose, I write in my notes: ’18 -minute point THE NAME IS GOING TO ROSE, ISN’T it? ‘ After the man has become considerably soft, he wipes one of the pigs with an antibacterial cloth and throws it to Toby to share some of the happiness.
‘THE NEW BIG THREE’ | Ellie and Madison work. All the babies – twins Nicholas and Fran for Kevin and Madison, Hailey Rose for Toby and Kate – are fine. But when Ellie’s child is outside, the nurse goes to hand over the baby to Kate, and Ellie stops her. She has changed her mind and wants to hold the baby, and she also wants to have a moment alone with her. “This is it!” I think, complacent in my things-can-not-possibly-work out EVERYTHING certainty. Kate’s face looks like she’s afraid she’s losing her little girl, but what can she say? She agrees, and steps out.
But all a tearful Ellie wants to do is say to the girl, ‘Giving you to Toby and Kate is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s maybe just the best thing I’ll ever do. do.’ And then the nurse brings the baby to Kate, who calls Toby video. “Meet your daughter, Hailey,” she says. “Hello there, Hailey Rose,” he says.
Then there is a lot of FaceTiming, Skyping, what do you have? The babies meet each other. They meet Rebecca and Miguel. Uncle Nicky is shocked to hear Kevin name his son after him. (By the way, Franny was named after Madison’s grandmother.) And finally, Kevin and Randall have a moment to acknowledge everything that has come down between them in previous months.
They admit that they said terrible things to each other, and ‘we have a lot of ground to cover’ about what Kevin did not know about Randall’s experience growing up in the Pearson home. But Kevin says to his brother, “You’re the best person I know,” and then Randall graciously says that they can talk about the harder things on a day when one of them has not brought new life into the world. After all, “now is the time to celebrate with your new family.” (Side note: A very nice scene between Sterling K. Brown and Justin Hartley, there.)
Oh, and Rose? She’s OK! She called her husband and called him that she was going to get out of the hospital soon. See what I mean? LITERALLY EVERYONE IS HUNKY-DORY, AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS FEAR.
Anyway, now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sounds down in the comments!