This is Us

This is a very inventive story line so I won't refer to it, except to say that both the first and second episodes have real surprises. Avoid reading any reviews with spoilers. It will dampen your joy as you figure things out.

The acting is excellent and the script is well written. This looks like a comedy but in fact it has some profoundly dramatic moments. I want to single out some of the actors who were terrific – Milo Ventimiglia (played Rocky Jr), Mandy Moore ("Tangled"), Ron Cephas Jones, Sterling K. Brown (Chris Darden in "OJ") and Susan Kelechi Watson ("Louie"). Gerald McRaney does a cameo in Episode 1 which may be some of his best work ever.

The disadvantage of a TV series like this is that it requires the audience to participate and fill in the gaps. Many people will not understand what's happening, so this is the type of series that is best viewed twice, or however long it takes you to get it.

This is one of my favorite shows, but the writers really do a disservice to Kate's character. We're in season 4 now and every storyline of Kate's -at all ages- is about her weight. We get it: she's overweight and has struggled with it her whole life, but come on. Show her taking classes, show her hobbies, whatever. Give the woman some new content to work with.

"This Is US" is by far the best new series on network TV as NBC has found a family drama that's a winner as this is filled with emotion and drama love, loss, regret, and search for happiness. This series is told a lot thru flashback to show how it made the present anyway it involves a couple Jack(Milo Ventimiglia)and Rebecca(Mandy Moore)who have triplets all on the same day with only two of them to survive and that's Kevin(Justin Hartley)and Kate(Chrissy Metz)who then become a sibling to the adopted son Randall(Sterling Brown). Now all of the kids are grown searching and trying to find their own way of life as Kevin is a want to be actor and Kate is an overweight mess and unhappy yet, she starts a "Mike and Molly" type relationship with Toby(Chris Sullivan). Now with Randall(Sterling Brown) he's successful and he finally finds his real life father who's dying with terminal cancer and this brings plenty of drama and conflict with his hard loving wife(Susan Kelechi Watson)as she feels Randall has to much of a big heart. Thru it all this family shares emotion and love thru the struggles of life and time as the viewer can see it's all connected to the bonding they had at birth and the flashbacks show how the trio was molded by Jack and Rebecca. Really this series is warm and touching it shows how change and life develops and it proves that love and connections last.

Let me just begin and geek out by saying how I started the first season and binged it till the 3rd and now I am writing this review at 4:57 am, in my country and only because I could not 'not' share my review about this.

"This Is Us," is built around four characters who share the same birthday & it is a heartwarming and emotional story about the struggles and life of unique set of triplets and their wonderful parents.

This show celebrates the ordinary rhythms of family life, the unflashy joys of loving and being frustrated by your parents, or wanting to shoot the breeze with your siblings. It's also beautifully acted, most notably by Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown & Milo Ventimiglia. It validates it's characters' flaws and does not bow to hysterical dramatics, which the viewer's feel is something that makes it even more authentic!

In the age of Netflix and their cringy shows, I chose to watch This Is Us because it offers so much in so little, It talks about birth, death, career crisis, self-doubts, heart-to-hearts, reconciliations and never fails to make viewers feel something.

Possibly one of the best things in this show, is the ability of an American family to reach the hearts of audiences across the globe in a way that it manages to speak across cultures, resonate with audiences simply because of their characters and well thought storyline, being an Indian and having grown up in a completely different culture I can still feel the warmth of this show and appreciate it.

The first 4 seasons have just seemed perfect to me, 5th is where things really started going downhill.

Possibly the only reason I didn't give this a 10 and would have liked to give a 8.5, is that the buildup is so great but at times we don't get the adequate time to deal with the sudden buildup bursting within seconds. What I mean is, sometimes their buildup is so devastating that we would need a minute to react (and feel that the characters have reacted adequately) and the next second the scene has completely changed.

This is what turned out to be wrong with the beginning of the latest season(Season 5), even though it shows the transition to the almost apocalyptic pandemic society we seem to live in now, it throws at us emotions, situations and current happenings for the audiences to digest within a few scenes.

An amazingly executed drama, whose pilot should be enough to get you hooked because of it's own unique voice.

Edit: I have reviewed the beginning of Season 5 as well in this edit (first 5-6 episodes).

So, this will be my first official review on IMBD. I believe it's warranted because I have absolutely fallen in love with this show. The writing, the characters, the emotion..everything just feels on par and real. I'm really not much of a TV watcher. This show though, and specifically the relationship between Jack and Kate, reminds me so much of my own relationship and it's just a reminder of how much I love and appreciate the amazing man that I have. This show will make you feel things. I really can't say it any better than that. Leave all of your politics and judgement at the door, and give this a chance.