What I’m Watching: This Is Us

This Is Us: Season 2, Episode 3 “Déjà Vu” (B+)

One thing that this show does do pretty well is bring in celebrity guest stars, with Ron Howard and now Sylvester Stallone playing a productive role in the background rather than seeming like an attempt to draw in ratings, something that NBC used to be notorious for about a decade or so ago with its comedies. I would never have thought of casting Stallone on this show, but it was effective to see Kate speechless to meet him before engaging in a lengthy conversation about how much her dad loved his movies and how he would have been proud of Kevin. As much as Kate isn’t able to get past the death of her father, Kevin doesn’t seem to be okay with it either, since he didn’t have the same closeness with him that Kate did or the special relationship that adopted son Randall did. Fortunately, Kevin’s harsh words to Kate don’t seem to have stuck, and now it’s just a matter of actually talking about and grieving for their father. Randall asking Debra Jo Rupp’s childcare services agent what they should do when she was leaving after dropping off Déjà was a great moment of controlled panic, and telling her about his own adoption experience after seeing how she reacted to him raising his voice of genuine concern was a great moment of parenting. Surely things won’t be all that easy, but this is a good start that doesn’t feel too glossed over and idealistic. Rebecca trying to spruce up their marriage with a romantic night out was a good effort, but Jack does appear to want to take things slow to ensure that he’s putting in the same amount of work to the relationship, which I guess is a good thing even if we know there isn’t ultimately a happy ending for this couple.