*Watch out for spoilers or watch the show before reading on*
Admit it, while NBC's "This is Us" may not be totally realistic, it pulls on the heartstrings and depicts the honest hardships, emotional ups and downs, and unique experiences in life. It seems like at the end of each episode there is a profound realization that can only come from intensive therapy or introspection. It is that kind of genuine storytelling that the world needs today.
It takes on sibling rivalry and family dynamics. With 3 siblings the same exact age, there is bound to be issues that come up as they grow up and into their own individual and independent skin. But then you see the two superhero-like and exhausted parents collaborate, maybe fight and disagree, and then resolve the issue. Not only do we see the struggle of the children through adolescent, we also see a picture of two people trying to be parents and husband and wife.
It takes on anxiety. We see one character, Randall, experience a panic attack brought on by the overwhelming experience of going above and beyond as a father, son, husband, and employee. Slight signs of agitation and stress lead up to a quiet phone call to his brother, Kevin, and Kevin showing up, unlike when he was young and ignored Randall when he was in need of comfort.
It takes on weight gain and loss. We are on a journey with the family, but especially Kate's weight loss attempts. We see snippets of her noticing her size when she is young, but we are still in the dark as to what will come of her change.
It takes on issues of race. By setting it up so one of the children is black while the rest of the family is white, they don't brush it under the rug, they face the complexity of having a black son in a white family by showing his experience growing up and all that he learns when he meets his birth father.
So, why do we need this show? Because it is daring and bold. It takes us out of the usual crime scenes and romance, comedy and romance, and brings up facts and necessities of life - fear of not being good enough, fear of losing those closest to us, finding love and rich feelings, and finding a way to accept ourselves. From the soundtrack to the ability to smoothly show time going forward and backward, the show is a lesson to viewers on how to communicate with family, how to be bounce back set back after set back, how to rely on one another, and how to make the best of a bad situation. If you can get all of that out of a TV show, I say watch more TV!
