That Was Us - A Life Changing Smoothie | "The Trip" (S1E9)

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

The Big Three head to the family cabin after a chaotic Thanksgiving and Olivia heads over to join them with her ex-boyfriend, Asher, and Sloane in tow. What should be one last joyful trip before Rebecca sells the vacation home becomes quite the trip for Randall, thanks to Asher’s mushroom smoothie. And while Randall works through his anger for Rebecca with ghost daddy Jack, Kate and Kevin work through the hiccups in their own relationship. Sibling relationships, navigating one’s emotions, self-discovery, and forgiveness are all on the table, so let’s head to the cabin. Follow That Was Us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, and X! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of That Was Us, we will be discussing season one, episode nine, the trip. Kate, Kevin, and Randall head to their family's cabin after a chaotic Thanksgiving. An angry Randall looks to Jack for comfort and explanation. Olivia's words drive a wedge between Kate and. and Kevin. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap,

biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. Welcome back. Oh, boy, oh boy. That was us. I just watched this last night. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so it's fresh.

Me too. It's a freshie. So I watched with my youngest son, Amari, and I had never watched the show with him before. obviously he was a little young so now he's the first episode these are the first two episodes he watched 108 and 109 okay and it was really interesting because um he would watch scenes and he'd go this a really good show oh oh thanks man and when we finished with 109 he simply says he goes are you crying too and i said yeah man i'm crying he's like it's really good dad

And I was like, oh, thanks, bud. I appreciate that. And what a meta moment to have. Yeah. Yeah, right. Oh, man. The meta nature of that moment. Of watching this one in particular with my son.

Yeah. When all of our children are like 18, 19, 20, they can do a rewatch podcast. Yes, together. What was it like living with your dad when he was doing this show? He was just a little baby. Yeah. He was just a baby. I remember bringing him into the writers when we first started,

because he's born in 2015. So, like, I remember taking him into the writer's room when he's, like, one and a half, two years old. And then just be like, we should put him in the show. And now what? He's sitting out here. He's sitting outside. Outside with a magic eight ball.

And so whatever today's date is, mark it. He asked the magic eight ball, will Daddy win an Oscar? And the answer was yes. He did do that. So if Sterling doesn't thank the magic eight ball on stage, I'm an ingrate. Yeah. I'm an ingrate.

I know where my bread is butter. Exactly. Okay. So now this is, these two episodes in particular we were talking about how they sort of hit different. I think the core of that is the conflict between Rebecca and Randall over the 36-year-old secret. Everybody's current. Please be current if you're talking about 109. And the fact that we know that you have known his birth father since the beginning.

Since the beginning. He asks two questions from the beginning. Like Randall asked two questions of his wife and of William. When did you meet my mother? He asked this of William. Did my father know about you? I think it was really important because I think he wanted to know, like, did they both? He's framing.

Conspire. Has everybody just been like keeping this from me? It was a single individual, like how has this all been going? And it's really interesting to then, once we delve into Jack and Rebecca in the past because you don't know if she shared this information with him and William's response was also not it wasn't cagey but it was just sort of like I don't like believe so right wasn't that what he said something like it wasn't my intent wasn't my recollection or yeah exactly yes um so he's he's still fuming off of this and it's sort of like meandering through disillusionment

and I don't mean meander like he's actually not meandering he's like I'm writing down a list of all the reasons why I'm mad at my mom. I've got 22 so far. And I'm going to keep, you know, and I'm going to read it to her when I'm finished with it. Which I actually find it sounds silly in the moment how he's incredibly like cogent and like an excellent exercise. I got to get this crap out. Yeah. Right? So I'm going to articulate it in the best way that I know how to. So she understands that this is not like just me having some sort of a tantrum. Like this is real. Right. Like the foundation of what I thought life was. is starting to sort of shake underneath me, right?

So there's that. I also just wanna go to this part, because this hit me and I remember even sending a text to Dan. I was like, they got a cabin? Like, I was like, I didn't know he was bawling like that. I feel like, we're coming from where I'm from, if you have like a second piece of property in St. Louis, Missouri, like, how are you doing all right for yourself?

Yeah. Jack and Rebecca never presented like they was like, Yeah. Ballin. We got the summer house. You know what I'm saying? So my question to you guys, you guys got a second? Like when you were growing up?

No. No. We did. Oh, the truth comes out. Where was yours? Where was yours? Lake Tahoe. You have one in Tahoe.

Did you, like, let it out or you kept it? We kept it. We kept it. My dad, I grew up. My dad was vice president of a home builder's company. Well, there you go. And he bought. He was Jack Birstown?

I was about to say. He bought this piece of land in an up-and-coming neighborhood in Lake Tahoe and built a modest, three-bed, you know, two-bath, little cabin. Really? And, yeah, it was a place that we went, I mean, it's exactly what it was. It was like, it was vacations. It was winters. It was, I mean, we were never there for longer than a week, you know, holidays. And it was a very special place that was always,

it feels magical. And I think the cabin in this show feels magical, right? Because it feels like it exists in this floating non-place. Like it's just in and out of time. And it's like they would say in this episode, it's quaint and it's perfectly American. And that's, and it also feels like, okay, if we're going there, all of our worries, all of our family worries,

there's no fighting at the cabin. Sure. You know, there's no arguing at the cabin. There's no homework at the cabin. There's no, you know, it's just like family time and fun. Like, this is a perfect example. I had one video game system, my entire childhood. Atari, Nintendo.

Super Nintendo. Oh, yeah. And it was at the cabin. It was not at our house. It was at the cabin. Oh, special. So about three, four times a year, how often? Yeah, I mean, more than that.

More than that. Yeah, yeah, once every couple months. Dude. Yeah, yeah. So it was one of those things that we grew up with. Okay. See, I stand corrected. People have cabins.

People have cabins. I like, listen, now that I foe had a cabin as a character, I want a cabin. I mean, certain parts of him. We'll have to talk to John Huerreta when he gets here. He has a cabin. He does. Upstate New York? In Big Bear.

Yeah. Does he? Dude, take the, we took Bear when he was. A baby? You took Bear to Big Bear? We took Bear to Big Bear. That's his son's name. And, like, cozyed up in the middle of a January in John's very nice cabin.

Are you? Did John build it? Yes. Quick, quick, quick interlude. John Wartis may be the most interesting person and, like, he doesn't always drink. He's the dosakis. We're going to see him. We're going to see him.

We're going to say that. But, like, the dude is kind of, that's not surprising now that you tell me. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. So we go to the cabin. We find out that mom said that she was going to sell the cabins. in the conversation between Kevin and Kate,

we'll get to that. But so we all go to the cabin together. Randall's like, I'm gonna clear it out, you know, saying, get it rid of it's in the past, and we're gonna keep it moving. While we're there, all these things sort of intersect, but Olivia comes, she brings the playwright of the back of an egg and an ex-boyfriend.

Yes. Ash? Ash. Asher, Ash, Ash. He has a man bun, I know that much. And he has like a cardigan with like, suspenders underneath it, right? Ash brings a smoothie, right?

That's for everybody. It's healthy from what we know. Randall being the health nut that he is, he's like, you know what, let me have some of the smoothie. And the next thing you know is like, I hear clicking. He seems a little sweatier.

I seem a little bit bigger than normal. Pops up like a groundhog. Asher comes out. Ash is like, hey, I had some premium like mushrooms in here, man. But it's like way more than like anybody who got into it, turns out it was Randall, right? Little known sort of tidbit here. This is the first of what I believe are three or maybe four scenes in the totality of 106 episodes of this is us. I was going to ask this.

That Sterling shared the screen with Milo Ventimilia. This was the first time, though. This was the first time. Yeah. And I just, I feel like it's an interesting thing because like people who watch this. the show, think that we're like around, everybody's around everybody all the time. Mandy Moore is really the only person. Only person.

They got a chance to span timelines, right? And so you were the connective tissue of everything. So this was like the first scene ever with my dad, which was really, really cool. And the setup for, the way to shout out to Uda. I don't know how to pronounce her last name. I don't either, but man, I loved working with her. Reis-O-T-B-B-2-B is great. And, like, some of the things she did with the camera in this episode were dope.

Yeah, I mean, it continued on from that kind of vibe of episode eight. Like, this darkness, this, like, kind of twisted, like, the family, this world of, wait a minute, we're going to have an entire episode where our most buoyant character is hallucinated. Yeah. Like, what is this show doing? Like, this is not what a show like this does. This is true. It sort of tweaks. But again, the premise gets, sorry, the premise gets you, it's like, you don't argue with it.

Sure. He wasn't intentionally doing it. Right, of course. It's like perfect. We're all going on the ride together, man. Like, I think he, I think Dan really, especially season one, but even throughout, you think you know what's happening and he likes to just go like, but you know, we have the space to do something else and still come back to what feels familiar.

Did you know at the time? just how much of an experience on the show we were going to be spending at the cabin? I didn't. I was like, wow, this is our first time at the cabin. Good gracious, we would be spending so much time in this Topanga Canyon location. We came back quite a few times. Yeah, his texting was very hard from the cabin. You're like, oh, damn, I'm at the cabin again.

It kind of became a joy for me. It's exactly what it looks like. When you kind of first look at it, the way they lie, you're like, is this a facade is this a set that is the that that is a cabin that's actually someone's home yeah and it is perfect we wound up we wound up um rebuilding interiors on set at paramount or whatnot but i think that first time it was all just the cabin practical yeah yeah i think it was all no they did because i remember actually um doing all the board game stuff your your imagination of me with with you know The nine-year-old, that was at Paramount.

Gotcha, gotcha, got you. But the cabin's cool. I loved how just tweaked out Randall is, and he's seeing things, and he sees his dad on the thing. And then to everybody else, they're just like looking at him, like, what is this dude doing? Justin, I don't think this is scripted. When he takes out the phone and he takes the picture. I'm like, what a delightful dick move. That's what a thing her brother to do to her brother just like.

You're going to want to see this one day. And so let me just get that. And the way that shot is a shot we've never seen in this show where he's like in your face and blur it out. But it's such an interesting thing, too. Like the whole conversation with Milo, which I guess and ultimately is a conversation with himself. Right. About what he would think his dad would say. Right.

And how protective his dad is of his mom. And it's like, this woman did so. much. You're trying to come after her as if she's the bad person. Right. Right. Now, if she's more complicated than that. If she held on to this thing for that level of time, imagine the cost of that must have been to her, right? And these types of conversations to get into that level of kind of pulling a situation apart and looking at it from these angles and looking at it from all these different perspectives, the writer's room must have been having these conversations. Oh, yeah. And I'm not guaranteeing that somebody in that environment has not had a therapeutic experience with mushrooms or psilocybin.

But it is spot on the way that somebody who is processing a trauma like this, like a break in a relationship, would come at it. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And it was it was so much. What I enjoyed, well, first of all, this is my first time working with Milo. So it was really funny because, like, I would do a scene, and I'm sort of used to how things are going. And I just seen, nice one, Stirl.

I would think, but, like, each time I was going to start. I was like, thanks, man. That's what it's like to work with Mike. Thanks, Dad. Yeah. A lot of positive affirmation. It was so much fun. I was like, he's going to tell me I did a good job every time.

And each time I would say, thank you. my, I appreciate it. I will tell you, for anyone listening, this is another thing with actors. Yeah. Like, I need that once in a while. I'll take it. I'll take it from anybody.

I'll take it from the sound guy. I just did a movie where the director was not terribly effusive. And the work for me was a little complicated and bizarre. And I was like, I don't know, floating a little bit here. I could use a little grounding. And I never heard peep from him about, was that? Was that okay? What you asked for?

I don't, sure. But the sound guy, I think he knew it, because he would come up to me, like, no, he'd be like, that was really great. That was really, and I was like, thank you. Let me tell you, when you get crewed to say something, it does, like, if the cameraman comes up to you, he was like, hey man, that's seen.

Because if they're the person that's like right there, yeah, it means so much more than anybody. Yeah, yeah. Appreciate you, bro. And it's, and it helps to just say, Wabiwab and I talked about this early on in the podcast, for me. I'm like, I just need you to know that my love languages are words of affirmation and grounding touch. And he responded, you're doing a great job. Thank you. Thank you.

It's like, that's it. But sometimes you just have to ask for it. I'm a quality time girl. Nice. Quality time. Nice. I like rounded touch. I love words of affirmation. Yeah. I think it was similar. So, no, we go through that. And I remember shooting this scene with you guys playing Monopoly. And, like, he's got his list of 22 things or whatnot. Because you guys are the ones who have to do to acting. Because Brown slash Randall is just like, yo, I got this stuff to say. And you guys have to continue.

Playing the game. The kids are so good. That scene, I, golly, blew me away. It blew me away. I was like, oh, man, it was so painful. And to see you having so much fun, the contrast of it. And you being like trying to reach through time to get to her was just like, I'm telling you, we'll get into all this stuff.

But this was the episode where I wasn't just like, oh, single tier. I was like, I was like, on my couch alone, hyperventilating. Also, this was another moment for me just to shout out to our music supervisors, the Calvary Cross by Richard Linda Thompson. I love the song so much. And it was just, in that particular scene, I was like, woof. This, like, really, really made that scene so much more impactful.

But I remember shooting it, too, with you, Sterling, and it was hard to, like, kind of keep my focus in the scene and having fun. And, like, especially in that moment where I'm just, like, looking back at the family and kind of smiling at the end. And I'm standing there, you're looking past me. I'm like, God!

Yeah. Just smiling, happy. Like, let me take in this perfect. moment with my family in the cabin. There's a moment in the scene playing Monopoly and Lonnie goes to roll the dice and I try to pick up the dice from him

before he gets him and I get it to say damn it, Randall! Yeah. That's exactly what that experience would be like. It's like playing a board game with yourself. Yeah. And so then we go through that and like it and dad comes back and is like

you feel any better? He's like no, because I want He says at one point, I want her to feel as hurt as I do, or he says something to that level. This is one of those lines where you say it, I want her to feel as much pain as I'm feeling. Yeah. And you say it almost with a smile on your face, but it is not maniacal. No. It is not vindictive. It is not vengeful.

It's like this, it's this bizarre combination of, I need you as my mother to understand what I'm feeling. Yeah. And I was just on a primal level. Like the way you delivered it and just all of it, you threw the glass. And it was so just this honesty of like, here's what I need. Well, and to take it back, like, juxtaposing with, we open this episode with Rebecca and Jack really grappling with, you know, Randall obviously wants to figure out his origin story, understandably. And Rebecca, yeah, with the tongue at the grocery store. He's looking for his parents.

And Rebecca is effusive in her defensiveness of like, we're his family. Yeah. We're enough. And, you know, like, why are we going to even open that can of worms? And Jack is pretty relentless about it in a way that's, yeah, he's just sort of like, this is what my boy needs. Yeah. And he's trying to find different avenues. And you see them with Yvette later on.

And it's all valid. It's all valid. Totally. And understandable for Rebecca, as you come to find out, too. And Yvette's like, you know, Jack's like the mailman and all these different, you know, men that I've... Basketball, mailman, something out. Yeah. And Yvette's like, have you correlated the fact that, like, these are black men in his life and he sees himself in? And maybe he's questioning whether or not they could be related. Right. And Jack and Rebecca have this, like, pretty frank discussion at home. And it's... It's sort of piece mailed out throughout the episode where you get to see sort of the culmination and what it kind of leads to. But again, Rebecca is really steadfast in her belief of like, no, like we don't need to, we don't need to sort of go down that avenue.

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And the thing that is helpful about it is it's a place to go to be honest and to just hear things out loud. Things that are monologues that are going on in my head all the time, to say them out loud sometimes just takes the weight off of them. And it helps me— Takes the power away. It helps me process them. If there's something wrong with your car, you take it to a mechanic. If you've got a little squeak in your soul, go talk to a therapist. I love that.

As a listener of this podcast, you'll get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to Talkspace.com slash TWU and enter promo code space 80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com slash TWU and enter promo code space 80 to get $80 off your first month and to show support for this show. That's Talkspace.com slash TWU promo code space 80. Was it off of this conversation or even beforehand, like that you've gone and you've sought out William? Yeah, we see this again. We see Rebecca go find William back at the apartment that she last had a conversation with him when Randall was days old, a baby. So nine years. Yes, it's been nine years. It's been nine years.

Yes. So this is the second time. Yes. Correct. And I think she's going to satisfy. her curiosity and also to make her comfort herself and her decision of like this is the right choice we are not going to I don't feel like we necessarily have to go down this avenue but I think she's sort of going to sort of like put a period at the end of this sentence right so she's

like I'm going to go and prove to myself by visiting William he's not in a good place I'm sure he's still probably using he's using he's he's not in the right frame of mine to have a child in his life. And I'll be able to use this as ammunition for myself to know that I'm making the right decision for my family. And of course, she finds William who has five-year sober. He's working in a music store. He seems like he's completely gotten his life together. He's an N.A. And you see throughout the course of this conversation, you know, he asks about his boy. And I can tell that it sort of... He says my boy. My boy. And the way that that That hit you?

Oh. It hit me when I was watching it too, which is a human. My boy wants to meet me? Yeah. And you're like, it's my boy. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, he starts getting rap.

Well, first of all, she tells, he asks about Kyle, and she's like, oh, his name's not Kyle. We actually named him after Dudley Randall and you could tell how that hit him. Shout out to Jermel. Yeah, shout out to Jermel. Beautiful. Of all the people who play younger... versions of characters in the show, his heart, and they just, they line up so perfectly.

Yeah. There's a softness to him as there is Tehran. Yeah. The like he brings to life in such a like visceral way. It's beautiful. I loved working with with Jermel every time we got to do that. But you can tell Rebecca is rattled. This is not what she expected to find. This is not part of the plan and at the first opportunity she sees to sort of let herself out of that apartment in that situation she takes it yeah he's down getting papers together whatever he's out of there once a pat and turns around well she's trying to tell herself that what she's doing is right and the show is trying to to give the audience and a reason why and it's like oh well this makes it harder and and i'm still not there yet and throughout the course of the episode we cut back to jack and rebecca

having this conversation and you start to really understand from her perspective what is at stake Jack doesn't think all the way through and she's like look we there is no paper trail there's no like I know you don't know but like there is a man who is dying to have a relationship with this boy what if he what if we let him into our lives and like you know I'm sure this is all what's like cycling through her head and he's able to form this relationship and this bond and then he wants his kid back and like it's just it almost feels like the beginning of worst case scenario right yeah yeah yeah and that is it's unthinkable yeah it's there is just that is a no-fly zone she can't go there and you know so her reasoning for jack is like we have to be enough for him yeah we have to be enough for him

yeah yeah and and that is what i think she's just trying to impart and the deliver that got me, the delivery that turned my heart in the in from was this the right decision to no, this is the way it had to be. This does not diminish Randall's reaction to it, but this is the way it had to be was you saying I cannot lose my son. Yeah. Yeah. And you said that that that I got I was like that that's it that there's no other way that this could have gone. Yeah. So okay. I want to tie these present and past threads together. First of all, shout out to my wife, Ryan Michelle Bethay, who plays a vet, who's able to sort of like say to you guys, like, look, first of all, number one, everybody can do this, right?

Yeah. I don't think that's rolling your tongue. I thought rolling your tongue is... Yeah, being able to do, like, a wave with your tongue. This is this thing, right? This is our clip. Make sure we get this for the internet. This is our social clip.

This is for YouTube. Get this for the TikTok. Oh, no. It's like that, no? I don't know what the ruling is, but like everybody, guys, everybody can do this. Everybody can do it. I mean, I could do it. I mean, I could have gotten the room.

Everyone in this room can do it, but not everybody. I think Milo could probably do it too. I was like, Milo, you can do it. He stuck his tongue out, he's like, mm. I think he could do it, by the way. I think he could do it. I think we need another thing, but, you know, nobody called us on it, so we're fine. In fact, Milo, go ahead and send us a video of you doing it so that we can,

Just to get the record straight. But there's this search for commonality and whatnot. And so then Yvette comes in and says, like, he's looking for himself and other black men. Right. And just to see, like, a reflection of himself in the world, right? Because when you see yourself in whatever light, it sort of, like, helps to cement what is possible for you in the world. Like, we all are relating to Randall as he is a person of endless potential and opportunity or whatnot. But he hasn't seen somebody who looks like him out in the world.

who sort of exemplify. The power of representation. You know what I'm saying? The power of representation. So you guys wind up taking him to this wonderful black dojo. At her recommendation. At her, at Yvette's recommendation with these very strong, wonderful black male role models, right? And this is where like Sarah Werheim came up with this idea on our social media at the time

for all of us to like get on each other's backs and like do these pushups. So it was like, it was me, Justin and Milo. and we're all, like, doing it. And it was a lot of fun. Yeah, the men, we should say. The strong men of our show. Toby wasn't a part. You didn't, no, totally because we still, oh, you guys weren't even together at this.

Question our, question, mark. We're still broken up. We'll have to. Listen, are we still broken up? Then, uh, I gotta go. I can't be this person for you. We'll come back to that, right? Toby hangs up and then goes, I feel like you should be more understanding.

Right? Does anybody else agree? Like, I'm fine with phone calls. We can do it. lot of phone calls. But I was saying this is again, I think this is also, and it's probably happened earlier, but we see it in eight and we definitely see it in nine. Jack Pearson's, he's that dude. Yeah. He's that dude. He's that dude who walks into a room of all black dudes and it's like, yeah, I'm here. My son? Take off my shoes. I'm here. And I'm going to do anything.

He's like, you're like, you're going to stand up for this boy? He's like, yes, I am. He's like, come lay down so you can do the push-ups, he's like, okay. And he puts him on his back, and he starts doing push-ups. And he's like, I can keep going. Stay still. He's like, you can, you've done enough. He's like, no. Never enough for my kid.

And I'm like, all right, you win white dad. God, like, he is fully invested in such a beautiful, beautiful way, right? Like, I Sterling want for Randall two. be satisfied with Jack and Rebecca being enough, also knowing that they can't be. Right. Because they do everything that they can. And even in doing everything that they can, they're still going to be a void. Yeah. Right. And so I think, and I also recognize that, but I damn sure appreciate the effort. I damn sure do. Yeah. Like for real, for real. And I also appreciate for him, too, because Yvette talks about men specifically, and that could be the point where the dude is like, well, could we just find a nice black lady for him to hang out with you? You know what I mean?

Yeah, I mean, it hangs out here. Yeah, but he's like, okay, I have to share this boy, too. And he has no qualms with that, which is such a beautiful characteristic of that, of that character. Yes. Yeah, that he's like, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, man. No questions asked. It's pretty damn cool.

There's a trait of his masculinity that is attractive to me, anyways, of his just acknowledging his shortcomings. Yeah. Acknowledging his mistakes? Yeah. And we're like, okay, what do I need to do to fix it? Well, so he even does that in the hallucination. Oh, yeah.

He's like, you know what your mom's trying to do, man? Like, look at it. And so we go back from the game playing to looking through it, and she's just by herself. Don't look at it. look through it. Trying to keep everything out. Just trying to keep... Keep it together.

Keep it together. Keep everything safe. And it just seems like there's constant bombardment of fracks and fragmentation that are possible that you kind of trying to, like, bored up everything. And the metaphor that hit me was she was all the things she was trying to keep out. One of the things she was trying to keep out was the grown-up version of you. Hmm. Yeah, I know.

Oh, Chris, you ever said a word, though. I told you, I was a mess. Wow. I was a mess. She was trying to protect her family from your investigations, from you trying to get in and talk to them. And like, it was just like it all hit me last night. It was intense. It was intense.

Chris, did you watch this in an altered state? I just have to ask. Let's put it this way. My therapeutic altered states in the past. Yeah. Revisit me. Understood. Understood.

At moments when that mindset is necessary. Gotcha. Interesting. Gotcha. And last night was one of the nights. I got you. Healing. I mean, it was healing.

But it was like just all the different levels of she's trying to protect her family from disruption. And that includes the current disruption. Even in that state, like there are different perspectives that you can have that can lead to different sort of insights. Because at first, Randall was only seeing and ignoring. ignoring or sort of like a denial of something. And then he was able to see what's behind it.

Yeah. Like I'm trying to hold on to what I know and love and cherish and appreciate and I don't want anything to take it away. So when he comes out of his thing, he's cleaning the gutters of the house. He finds one of his GI Joe's- Wait, wait, wait.

Do it. Do you do it. Wait, what? I know what you're gonna say. No, no. Don't skip over the part. Don't skip over the Milo part where he holds you and says you weren't, you were a fact. You weren't a choice. With the face in hand, I was just like, no.

You are not a choice. You are a fact. I'm going to cry talking about it. It was just sort of like, who, thank you. You had to have needed to hear that. Yeah. Well, because Randall says, like, I'm a perfectionist. And the only reason why I try to be a perfectionist is because I want to be enough so that nobody has to give me.

me away again. And it's brilliant writing because these are the stages. These are the things you need to hear in the order that you need to hear them. Yeah. Okay, first, let's get this out of the way. Right. You are not a choice. The moment I saw you, you were my boy. Right. You are a fact. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed? Yeah. And the two of you're like, okay. Yeah. Now, let's move on to this. Sure. Now we can move on to the deception. Now you need to go in there and look it and look through this. Yeah. And please continue. And see the bigger picture. Yeah, it's funny, too, because, like, you see Randall trying to escape it and trying to back. And, like, the way that she cut it together, Uda and our editors or whatnot, I turn from one time and leave him and he's there again.

I'm like, God, man. Try, like, he would not allow himself in this way to sort of, like, he's like, okay, even though I want to not deal with it, I'm still have to deal with it. And it was so loving because, like, it is also the beginning of an echo of. of this and breathing and you guys know what I'm talking about. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I think one thing that got left out, that G.I. Joe was supposed to mean something more. There was a scene because he pulls out snake eyes.

And I remember props asking me, like, did you play with G.I. Joe's? And I was like, does a bear shit in the woods? Like, yeah, I played with G.I. Joe's. And like, do you have a favorite G. J.I. Joe's? And so, like, I pulled out snake eyes from the thing, and it meant some, but there was a scene that got cut earlier that sort of set that up. Oh, it was one of the guys on the roof. Yeah, it was one of the parachute things that came out of the roof.

So Kevin and Kate come out and they're like, you're okay, man? And they're like, yeah, and they say, well, you must not be so upset with mom if you're, you know, fixing the place up. And I'm like, I'm not doing it for her, doing it for dad. Because he helped me to a place of understanding. Yeah. So that last scene between the two of them, just, hold on, I wrote it down. And the cabin, you know, the cabin becomes a metaphor for, for repair and for keeping the family together. And, like, the heart, it becomes the heart. I mean, as we see in future seasons,

yes. It becomes expanded, this expanded family. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we leave the cabin, and we're going to get back to everybody's story long, but we leave the cabin, he comes and he sees his mom. Oh. And he says, you kept that secret for 36 years.

That must have been incredibly lonely. And then Amanda Lee Moore, let's ought to, oh, yeah, yeah. I'm going to do it right now. Watching that last night, I was just sort of like, I cannot think of a more generous thing for a child to give their parent in that moment of their pain and their processing of what someone has done to them, of what said parent has done to them, then to leave them with that sentiment. It just was like, it floored me. I'm like, this is why they have this relationship.

Yeah. This is why they're so close. It is, it is. But that wasn't the end, that was the last part. Because the last part is, she leans in. She goes for a hug and he says, no, not yet. See you at Christmas. Yeah.

Yeah. Because he, I mean, I think to his credit, he's like, I understand, but I'm still in process. And it would be disingenuous of me to give you everything. Handbook for living. Yeah. Handbook for me. It's beautiful. It's perfect.

It is. in 15 seconds. Like, the most generous response to that long list, to the long list of, here's everything I'm mad about. Yeah. And here's the conclusion. But also, a boundary. Give me a minute.

Yeah. Perfection. It hit hard. It hit real hard. Which explains why this episode of television, of all of our episodes of television, is the only episode of television that won which award? The WGA. Vera.

Vera Herbert. Herbert. I always mess over the last name. But it's funny because I always called Black Vera. Because it also won the Image Award at the NAACP. This episode? Oh, wow. And that's why I call it Black Vera.

Yeah. Because Veer is not Black. But she did win the Image Award for this episode, too. Wow. Yes, she won the WGA. And if you can believe it, it's the only writing award. The show ever garnered. which is seems impossible to me yeah but this episode certainly deserved it so that wraps up

these people in that episode let's talk about should we go to kev yeah yeah let's go to kev the siblings run to the woods we all together together to help each other we don't see each other all together that much right right like this is one of the first times right that we're all together yeah and we get there and randals sort of like oh look at all the lies that surround us here And they're like, yeah, man, we're here. Yeah. Kate says, like, we're here, we're real. Like, this was a part of our childhood, and it was legitimate, right?

And Kev is, is vibing off of it, too. But he's also viving off the fact that he had, like, one of the dopest kiss. It was really nice. Yeah. And so he invites Olivia to come hang out, unbeknownst to him. Olivia brings, like, protection. Yeah. Baggage.

Yeah. She brings baggage, protection, because I think that she's not the kind of person. Interestingly enough, who's always trying to get Kevin to have authentic experiences, sort of like shields herself from like going too far. Right. So she brings the playwright and her ex-boyfriend. Yeah, she stole the playwright's car, essentially.

So the playwrights are, well, I guess I'm going where you're going. It's true. And Asher, right? And Kev's like the whole time like, whoa, okay. He's like, listen, I'm not gonna trip. My go-to is not to like be, you know, what have you. But like, I kind of need an explanation for what's happening here, right?

So they're playing, what game are they playing with each other? Is it girl talk? Girl talk, yeah, yeah, yeah. Girl talk. It seems like, you know, never have I ever or something. But like, they're doing girl talk, and they say, like, what's the best kiss you ever had? And they ask Ashtra, and he goes, oh, it's easy, live, right?

And Cab's like, wait a minute. Hold on now. I'm not so cool of this. This is not great. And he asks, does he ask the play? What is the playwrights? Sloan. Sloan.

Shout out to Malana Vintraub and Nick George. And Nick George who plays Ash. And she's like, yeah, they used to date or something like that. You see him sort of wondering like, why would she bring this dude here now to my family cabin? And he does so much as ask her that later on. And then he proceeds to, as we call within the culture, read her for points. Like he sort of breaks this chick down in such a fundamental way. And says, like, you're the person who's always asking

for something authentic or whatnot. Like, what we shared last week, that kiss was real. Like, that was beautiful. And now I think you find yourself so exposed and afraid that you don't know what to do with that. And I feel bad for you. I feel bad for you. And you see her face, like, well, I guess it's time for us to go.

And with that, she leaves. And that was it. I think she booked the show. And that's why she didn't. Come back. I'm pretty sure she booked the show. So the writers are like, rest in peace. Rest in peace, Kevin Pearson's first romanticist.

She was so, so delightfully complicated. Can we have some montage, like in memoriam? Which is something like every time, every time, every time a love interest moves on. Yes. We have a little. A little montage in black and white. But it did, it did also show,

point at the possibility on the tree. Because we have like Jack and Rebecca and we have the kids names carved in there. And I think we see like a K-P plus S-B. Is that what it says? And although we may not have gotten the last name quite right, but that could have been like the first planting of a seed for a character named Sophie. Or Sterling Brown.

Or it could have been me. Sterling Brown loves Kevin Pearson. Yeah. I do. So let's, maybe we could tell people in television world what happens with character names sometime as to why we think this SB is Sophie. That could happen in such a way that you have the, you don't know. you go to get the name and then there's somebody else has that name and so you don't have rights to the name. You can't get clearance. And you don't get clearance. So you have to change the

person's name to something else. So if the character's name was like Sophie Becker. Right. They would legal has to go and then clear that name. There you go for the show to use it. And perhaps they didn't. Right. And so they had to change. Because her name is actually Sophie. Inman. Inman. Yeah. So we think that we think that this carving on the tree is the is the, is the, uh, throwback to an earlier romance for Kevin. So for all the people on Reddit, you got us. We made a mustache. Please keep posting about us.

She says something about him, Olivia, when she's having a conversation with Kate earlier, about sort of the role that he plays with in your family. Sure. And she's sort of like really cool. He says like he's not as simple as you think he is, that's the role that you guys make him play in the family, right? Which I want to get back to that conversation again, but I think it's a really acute and delightful thing to say about Kevin Pearson,

who is constantly sort of underestimated, and time and time again, he keeps showing you just how deep he is. Yeah, right? That's Kev. Kate, we're talking, we're still talking about, because we're left at the end of eight with her saying that she's going to get this gastric bypass surgery. Bastric bypass surgery.

I can't even say it now. I'm desperate by and so like Kevin getting into the weeds with it with her. You know what I'm saying? Like it is not a simple thing. There are repercussions that could be from it in terms of like it's not necessarily the most safe thing. Are you sure this is what you want to do for yourself? And what is her explanation at the time in terms of why she wants to do it? This is just like this has, this has been a long time coming, essentially.

Yeah. And he questions like, wait, you're making like a huge decision like this because of a little bit of turbulence. Yeah. And does this have anything to do with your breakup and Toby not coming for Thanksgiving? And, you know, I think he's just sort of needling her a little bit. Yeah. Like, this is such a huge realization to come to, like, how did you reach this conclusion? Almost like it feels impulsive.

Very. And we want to make sure that it's thought all the way through. Yeah. There's a way that the three of them care for each other that is, that is perfectly syblinical? I love it. Siblinical. That's going to be.

That even if, because in this episode two, Kate confronts Olivia. Olivia. Yes. In a certain way, a lot of the things Olivia is doing is challenging Kevin in that way. Yeah. You know, in a certain syblinical way. way way um and kate is not having it no just because she she sees him in a way that i had not considered for a long time about his heart and his his uh intention olivia or kate kate yeah she'll

always stick up for her brother and it was it was just interesting to see like no no no you don't get to interact with him that way yeah i that is part of this is my job like we're pushing each other we're challenging each other, we're taking care of each other. Interesting. Like, the three of you, had you been alone at the cabin, would have been much more efficient and effective. But I was on Team Kate in that regard. Like, what is he doing inviting her to the cabin?

100%. I was like, this was an experience for the three of them to have. Right, sure. He was inviting her to the cabin for the same reason that she was inviting Asher to to the cabin. Just a little buffer. Yeah. Just a little distance.

Let's also like. Which didn't really work out. With, I forgot this part with regards to Kev. It's his inability to be sort of like alone right now. Because as soon as she leaves, and then Kate comes into the room and it's like, Sloan, are you in there and you pull back the covers? Hey. Hey, guys.

And like, Kev is like, yeah, you know, that's just classic Kev. But like, there's something really interesting there. In terms of just like trying to, I mean, everybody's trying to feel something, right? And just sort of like, this woman goes away and instantaneously, he's like, all right, let me see who's here? There have been no hints, there have been no indications and it's just a coping. It seems like there's been a coping mechanism that has, that he's put in place for like a lifetime, you know. He starts off the episode, oh, oh, he says, oh, oh, he says, oh, said something to Randall, like, oh, I wouldn't know about that, Randall.

I was too busy having sex. Like in high school, yeah, you were learning. I was having sex. I was like, oh, I wrote that down too. I was like, geez, man. Yeah, I was like, oh, well, full circle, moaning, folks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's still having sex?

Also, how much sex are you having? Like, as an adult now, like, I remember hearing about that, like, in high school. Yeah. It seems kind of normal. Now as an adult, you're like, how much sex are you having in high school? Yeah, well, it's true. too much probably if you're bragging you're also thinking as a parent too you're like can you have less yes and no yes and no thinking about myself it's like a 14 15 year old being like

that was happening you shouldn't be having so much that you call it out as like a 16 17 18 yeah but it was he also had a girlfriend fair we'll get back fair Kevin had a girlfriend in high school in high school in high school So we're gonna get to our fan segment. Yeah. And today we're gonna talk a little bit about siblings. Yeah, seems appropriate. Love them and hate them, you gotta put up with them or not.

And what we as viewers will soon see is that through all their ups and downs and challenges, they stick together always. That's right. No matter what. So we thought it might be fun to take a look at the social media platforms and see what fans had to say about the big three throughout the years and what their stories brought up in reflection. We ready? And before we get to this, I want to point

something out, gang, I'm going to pass this around. I had a film premiere the other day and a fan said, I love your show and I made this for you. Tell the folks what that says, but. It says the big three. It says the big three. And I was out of film

that had nothing to do with this as us or what have you, but it lets me know where my bread is buttered, sir, because wherever I am, the reaction that you get from the fans of this is us. That's very sweet. It's different. It's different. I put the bracelet on immediately,

and I was like, thank you very, very much. And it's very striking. I love that. It's not too shabby, is it? Talking about siblings, and we all, before we get to it, we all have siblings. Yes. I know we want to run.

I'm going to say, so I have, I have old brother, older sister. I have a little brother, little sister. And I do love them very, very much. And it's interesting because my brother and sister are 14 and 12 and a half years older biologically. And then my younger ones are like 22 and 24 years younger. Right? My mom got them when I was in grad school. The middleist of trials. So I'm about as middle as they can come. But I'm also, there's a part of me that sort of only child, because I'm like my dad's only or what have you. I would never say that to my brother and sister. I love you, everybody, I love everybody, right?

Sure. But it is one of the most complicated relationships in life, because it's not one you chose, per se, but it is one that is. Like you're not gonna say like, oh, you're not my brother anymore, you're not my sister anymore. You may fall out and fall in or what have you, but this is a permanent sort of thing in your life.

And as I have two boys right now, who are able to talk and whatnot, Like, I see, I see the ups and downs, right? And your mom and me as a dad, you have these hopes that everything is always just simpatico and hunky-dory, peachy king or whatnot. And that's just not the case. Like, they're two human beings that have their own feelings, thoughts, reactions, perspectives on life, and they sink and they don't.

And you have to allow space for them to be people. That's it. Until now we get too. Yeah, no, that's true. As one of three, I always sort of related to the big three. in that sense. Like, I love my, I'm in the middle as well. I have an older brother and a younger brother, and I very much related to the story in that sense. I mean, I don't have a twin. I have an older brother who's four years older, and my younger brother's only 18 months younger, so I inherently just

have always felt closer to him because we're so close in age. But you're right. It's like there is an ebb and a flow to these relationships, and I'm really grateful for them, but to be able to see the echoes of, from these stories that sort of bleed into our race. lives is always fascinating and I'm curious to see what people online have to say about their own lives and how it relates back to the show. Indeed. Yeah, my younger brother, it's interesting because siblings know you better than anybody on the planet because they were there.

Yes, sir. You're the only people that had that experience. Who know everything. Yeah. And that can be both helpful. Yes. And harmful to the relationship and you just hope, like you were saying with your boys, like I hope with my son and my daughter that they'll they will just provide them with the tools that

when they move apart that they can come back together which in these last few episodes with the big three it seems like yeah we're seeing that they've got some tools absolutely if they choose to use them absolutely are we ready I'm ready let's put it up on the screen here we go here we and dad said gee next came me and mom said we ugh who knows the Right. Not quite the chance. It's not quite like that, but it's pretty close. And then came me and they said that's three.

That's three. Big three. That's correct. That's it. I have a sister and a brother and I wish we had something as cute as big three. I have a sister and a brother and a sister and a brother. We don't have anything as cute as the big three. You need Dan Fogerman to write something as cute for you.

That's correct. Yeah. For the listeners, we're reading what we're looking at. It seems like a Reddit thread? Is a Reddit thread. Is that what? Yes. From eight years ago. So these are people that were watching the episode in real time.

In real time. Trying to figure out what this big three chant was that Jacqueline the children in. I have triplets who have been watching with me. I tried to convince them they need a catchphrase like that. They rolled their eyes at me and said, no. Okay. But some triplets out there must have seen this and got their own catchphrase. So we need to hear from you.

Yes. We want video proof of the triplet catchphrases. Come on. Call to action. Call to action to all the triplets out there. Next. As a mom, this was so hard. We tried to treat all our kids the same and love them all completely, but we're flawed and are the results of our own experiences growing up.

This does affect our parenting for good and bad, but I dare say most moms love all their kids the same with every part of their being and would never want to cause any of our children one moment of pain. No, I would agree that. I wholeheartedly agree. It's also. Carry for mom. It's something that comes up later on in the show, too, about, like, parenting them the same and loving them the same is, like, almost kind of like, you love them all the same. Yeah. But they each kind of need their own thing from you.

You just don't like them all the same at the same moment. This is true. This is actually very true. Like, my kids will ask me, like, my oldest Andrew would be like, come on, dad, who's your favorite? I was like, you're both my favorite. He's like, no, but for real. I was like, yeah, you're both my favorite. And tomorrow I'd be like, dad, for real?

I was like, yes. Like, there are things that both of you guys bring to my life that I would deeply miss if you were not present. There's no hierarchy in this house. Yes. Great answer. But it's Amari. I'm not going to catch me on camera.

I'm going to show me next clip. Next clip. All right, I got this. The most powerful thing is watching it with my teenagers. It's so profound and sparked so many conversations that we might not have otherwise had. This show and its own. actors are a gift.

Let's read that last line. Let's read that last line again. One more time. This show and its actors are a gift. Shout out to Jeannie Marie Tompkins. Hempling. That's a great name. You are welcome.

J.M.T.H. It is something that we heard throughout the years, how it was a moment for families to sort of touch base with one another. Yes. Where like everybody's off doing their thing on their device, et cetera. But for some reason, people would come together and watch it. and then people could talk about it after it. Yeah.

I think that's a good legacy. There's an interesting broadness in the specificity of the show. The show is so specific in the story, but that gives people a thousand ways in to relate to it, whether it's brother's sister, whether it's adopted, whether it's, you know, whatever the thing is. And so it's always fun to see the different ways that people find their way in.

Fishizzle. What's the next? What we got? When young Kevin tried to go in the OR with young Kate, it was one of my favorite parts in this episode. And when he was holding his right side? I loved it when he was holding his side. Him and Kate had the twin thing so he could feel what she was feeling. Such a great show. I can't wait until January.

Catherine and Mindy and DeAndra just... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just having a little exchange. Just connect it. About, I believe, the Christmas episode. I think so. Yeah, and the first season. Yeah, total strangers, bringing them together.

Yeah. Not just family. Total strangers online. I love it. Next. I know I am weird, Randall. Kate, I've had the same exact conversation with my siblings. What's this one from?

This is from... Oh, it's season three. Okay. Yeah. I think that I just want to say something about that. Like, I just like the idea that this statement gets made because I think people spend so much time, especially in our youth, trying to fit into a box that is labeled normal. Without the recognition that no one is normal.

You know what I'm saying? There is no norm. No. It's just something on the outside that is normal. It exists that we think we're supposed to sort of contort ourselves into so that we aren't noticed. But once you embrace just your you-ness, you'd be cool. You're free. Yeah, I know you weird.

I'm weird too. Let's go. What's next? This is from R.R. Love's Roses.R. Love's Roses. Can all these siblings not make life-changing decisions on their birthday? Just saying maybe tomorrow, enjoy your day. She's not wrong. It was all the siblings and their dad.

Like, we got it from him. He always tried to do some big stuff on his birthday, too. So we got it from my daddy. Rachel Renee, we hear you. We agree. Bled into the day, yes. What's next? If Randall passes on going to Howard to stay home and help his mom with them too selfish other teenagers, he calls siblings, I will lose it.

Randall did stay home. That's right, because her next message is, I'm losing. Losing it! I am losing it! Why in the world would he do that? It's just a TV show. It's not real life, laugh out loud, but I feel you, I agree. Takes deep breath.

Thank you for that reminder I needed that. But it is a little frustrating, and I hope it's addressed next episode. You know what's funny about this, we would hear, I would check this every once in a while. Because there would be times in which people would be riding with the big three, and there would be times we're like, these people are so self-absorbed and they're only thinking about themselves and I was like, yeah. Not wrong. But it's interesting. It hits people, right? It is very.

Not only that, hits people enough to go online and talk about it. Yeah. Because there must be something going on. In a conversation with a stranger. It's something in here is being triggered. I hear you. Let me tell you something about selfishness. Let me tell you a little story about selfishness.

I did have a hard time with this storyline. Did you? I did. Talk to it. Because I really wanted Randall to live his life and not stay home to take care of mom. Here's an interesting segue. possibly out of this segment or not. My brother, who is 14 years older than me,

is sort of a lot of my inspiration for Randall because he stays at home. He went to college and then came back home immediately afterwards, helps take care of my mother, who's going through ALS, living with ALS right now. Shout out to Arlene Brown, I love you. But it's very dutiful in that way, right? So I'm sort of like Kevin, and he's sort of Randall,

Like, so when are you coming back? And you can't just pop in and pop out and just do these things. And I was like, no, I'm here. I'm doing my part or what have you. But like, I don't live in St. Louis. So it's an interesting thing. And so I sort of feel what she's saying in terms of like, there's times in which I look at my brother who is like a brilliant barbecue artist.

Wow. Now he makes his living as a pharmaceutical salesman, right? And he did it because it was the practical. sort of thing that allowed him a certain level of resources in order to be planted at home. And there's times I was like, oh, if he would have been able to have a chance, possibly. If he didn't feel a certain obligation, then maybe he could have done something else. But I also, like Randall, know that that obligation is part of who he is. And if I took that, if somebody took it away from him, it's almost like taking away a part of

his identity. Yeah, an intrinsic part of who he is. Exactly. And I think that is very much in line with. who Randall was as well, as much as it was heartbreaking and disappointing as someone observing from the sidelines, like taking myself, you know, as the fake mom in the equation,

like out of the equation, just as the actor. There was so, often so many times on this journey of the show that I was like, ah, this is frustrating or this is, I'm so sad, but I can't allow my emotions to influence, Bringing that to the table as an actor, but this was certainly a situation where I was like, come on, Randall, you've done too much. And obviously knowing what direction it was going to lead him in.

But I'm with you, Candace. I lost it a little, too. I understand. All right, I can't even explain how much I love them. They are my favorite siblings when they act like this. Oh, which is loving. What's the game plan? I love you.

I know you do. I don't say it enough. That relationship, so all three of us, it's really sort of beautiful, but like that one, when they, because we got to it in 103, when it's called them Webster, and everything, just to know that they had sort of been on the outs with each other, but they sort of found their way back into each other's lives again. It really does sort of echo, honestly, between my brother and I, like, we have moments that are difficult where, like, we don't see eye to eye on how to take care of mom or, like, What's the best way to go about things and whatnot? And then we find our way back to like finding that common ground of like, all right, whatever it is that we're going through right now, we do love each other. We do have history with each other.

And it's sort of like a grounding foundation that allows us to take a deep breath and be like, all right, you've got a knucklehead, but I love your knuckleheadedness. And it reminds this relationship with Kevin and Randall echoes a lot of me in me, Ehrmano, for sure. Well, you know it's just like seeped in love. Like there's so much love underneath that like everything is built upon. That's the thing. We've talked about this before.

We've talked about this before. The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. It is apathy. It is indifferent. So when you're just like, oh, I have a brother. That's when you're like, oh, that's not good. Absolutely.

Definitely can relate to siblings not having the exact same memories of an event. And that is absolutely, truth is subjective, right? Like everybody's going to sort of take away different parts of the same experience in a very different way. There's nothing more unreliable than eyewitness testimony. It's true. That's true. It's very true because you're only, there's a myopia that can set in in terms of like how that event affected me. Yeah.

And then you're like, what, this had affected me like this. And so you can come out of being like, did we just see the same movie? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Click. Let me go. Y'all know I love Rebecca Pearson, but I don't like how she's asking Randall

to not tell his siblings about her condition. At DJ Double. What do you guys say about that? Well, then I'm looking below. I get that she thinks they have pretty full plates, Kevin's alcoholism, Kate's blind preemie, but yeah, keeping a secret from the rest of the rest of it. To the big three, not a good idea.

Let me just, let me just parenthesis this. Alcoholism and the blind premium. Let us also say for anybody who hasn't gotten this far, this is a spoiler. We should put that before this fan segment, just in case. I get that she's putting Randall in a position where his relationships with his siblings can be ruined. Got it, got it, got it.

Yeah, I mean. Anytime anyone asked me to keep a secret other than a surprise party. Yeah. It's just like, you know, it's interesting. So I have a rule with my sister who often asks me to keep secrets. And it doesn't affect like my brother or anything else. But I say like this, if you tell me something, I get to decide whether I tell my wife or not. You can't ask me to keep something for my partner. Oh, 100%. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I was like, I don't even want you to tell Ryan. I was like, then don't tell me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's not, that's not. That's the same set of ears. You know what I'm saying? You tell me. You're basically telling my husband. Yeah, that's right. What's next? Aaron O'Neill Yes. Says, parents, sons, daughters, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles.

The true power of this show, the reason we laughed and wept and hoped so deeply is we were the us all along. Wow. Exactly, Aaron. Yeah, Aaron nailed it pretty much. I appreciate that sister. Shirley Zepnik right there says absolutely. What's Shirley said? Absolutely.

From the. No, what does Shirley sound like? I don't know. I don't want to do anything that we're... Make you sound like Sheriff Kelly. From the first few minutes of the first episode, I could relate to this family. What an amazing ride the last six years ago.

Melanie Coburn says beautiful affirmation, spot extra, well said. You know what, man? I couldn't agree with Aaron's thesis statement anymore. I had my cousin, who is a plus-size artist. She says, I can see myself, African-American, she's my cousin. She's like, I see myself in Randall, I see myself in Kate, I see myself in Kevin. Like, she was about to start her own family, and she's like, I'm unimagining what life was like for Jack and Rebecca with like three kids in the house at the same time. And she would say, she said, Sterling, I know you're all happy because you got the little Emmy for your OJ thing.

But she said, because this was in season one, she goes, but this show, this show is something special. She said it's like therapy and church and entertainment all rolled up in the one. I guess. What a great summation. I think these fan segments are going to be my favorite part of doing this show, getting to connect with you. So thank you for all of your posting and your emails and your messages. They are reaching us. Yes, they are.

You are a part of this podcast, and we really appreciate your excitement and involvement. Keep them coming. Keep them coming. So I think that concludes this fan segment for this episode. Oste Loego. Bye. Oh, my gosh, an incredible episode of television. It's an incredible fan segment.

Thank you for all of your messages, everyone. Greatly appreciate it. Yeah, you've been sending us messages. You've been calling our emotional support hotline. If you haven't left us a message, we would love to hear from you. Yes. That number is 412501-3028. Or you can reach us at our email address.

That was us pod at gmail.com. Not to be confused with AOL. Which doesn't exist. And if you want to support us, I know you hear it a lot on podcasts, but really subscribing, reviewing, leaving five-star. and spreading the word to help us grow the show. Please. Patronizing our sponsors on this show.

We believe in these people, and if you can use our codes and let them know that you support us and you support them, it all goes around. Yeah. So please do that, and we will keep bringing you these episodes. We'll have another one coming at you soon. It may be one tin, it may be John Wertes. We'll let you know.

Who knows? Who knows? Surprise, surprise, keeping you on your tip. You guys take it easy. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Bye-bye. That was us.

That was us. That was us is filmed at the Crow and produced by Rabbit Grin Productions and Sarah Warehound. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith.