This Is Us

I’ve been watching This Is Us with my wife, we’re halfway through season 1, and it’s a fine, pleasant show. Lots of well done moments about family and parenthood and generational trauma.

However, they also have moments of these characters just cratering their lives instead of doing literally anything else, and it sucks all the fun out of the show. I finally had to leave the room when Kevin literally left his costar on stage opening night of their play, just ran out of the building. The music swelled, the moment was textured with him saying, “I’m thinking about what my dad would do”, showing how meaningful this is/supposed to be. But that shit ain’t cool! Embarrassing yourself is one thing. Humiliating your costar with no explanation is unconscionable.

Earlier in the episode, I had to leave the room cuz another moment was also rough and my wife said, “Can you not watch the show at a remove?” No, I cannot. All media I consume I consume fully. To hear a story is to embody the story in my head and in my heart. It’s nice when I’m crying to Joanna Newsom while washing dishes, but it’s annoying when i just want to enjoy some saccharine feel-good drama.

Review for 14.5 episodes of This Is Us: only enjoyable if you like watching characters suffer because they’re fucking stupid