That Was Us - Growing Up, Moving On | "The Graduates" (314)

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

On this week’s episode of That Was Us, we’re diving into Season 3, Episode 14: The Graduates. As the Pearson kids prepare to graduate, Rebecca feels the weight of Jack’s absence. Meanwhile, the episode shows how every member of the family is struggling in their own way: Kevin confronts his struggles with sobriety, Deja faces a pivotal decision about her education, and Randall and Beth find themselves in conflict. Mandy, Chris, and Sterling also chat about what it was like finding out they were having a baby (and having to keep it a secret), what happens when you try to set your kid up, and so much more! That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. ------------------------- Support Our Sponsors: - Give your summer closet an upgrade with Quince. Go to www.quince.com/twu for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns. - Try Zip Recruiter for free at https://www.ziprecruiter.com/TWU. ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire. - Brought to you by Bombas, One Clothing Item Purchased = One Clothing Item Donated Head over to https://bombas.com/ and use code TWU for 20% off your first purchase. ------------------------- 🍋 About the Show: The stars of This Is Us, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, and Chris Sullivan, dive back into the world of the Pearsons, reliving each episode and all the life lessons that came with it. Together, they dig in and dig deep, have the tough conversations, bring in very special and familiar guests, share never-before-heard behind-the-scenes moments, and feature listeners in highly anticipated fan segments. Join your favorite family back in the living room to examine our past, cherish our present, and look to the future with new episodes of That Was Us every Tuesday. ------------------------- 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:32 Discussion 01:05:59 Fan Segment 01:17:06 Outro Executive Producers: Natalie Holysz, Rob Holysz & Jeph Porter Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Video Editor: Todd Hughlett Mix & Master: Jason Richards #thisisus #thatwasus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of That Was Us, we're diving into season three, episode 14, The Graduates. Rebecca struggles with the big three graduating high school without Jack there. In the present day, Toby throws Kate a graduation party. Kevin struggles with his addiction. Deja faces a big decision around school, and Randall and Beth are at odds. with each other. Hello, friends. Guys, it's so good to see you.

Good to see you, too. Everybody looks so healthy and strong. Thanks. Likewise. Mandy Moore's back from the southeast where she just got finished shooting a movie with Nate Bargazzi. Can't we say that?

You had a good time. I had a wonderful time in the ATL. With your allergies. Yes, with my allergies. Just alive and well in the South. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, thank you. So isn't it funny because she's from the Southeast,

Yes. But then you go back. My body forgot about that. It readjusted to the West Coast palms. Yeah. She's an Angelino now. Yeah. It's like when you move from Chicago to the West Coast, your blood has to thicken or thin. Same way. I'm from St. Louis.

So, like, I'm in St. Louis. And now I think I'm halfway between. I always had allergies, too. When I go back to the Midwest, they kick up hard. On the West Coast, they don't mess with you so much. There's not a lot of pollen. It's a lot of palm trees. Do you get good food?

You know, we were out in Fayetteville shooting, so we weren't, like, in Atlanta proper, which is a bummer, so I didn't get some of the good meals. Go to a waffle house, though? They got waffle houses out there. I did not. They have a lot of Chick-fil-A, a lot of waffle house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I spent a weekend in Savannah while you were there.

Beautiful spirits. I love Savannah. Wonderful restaurants. Haunted. That city, what I hear. Yes. Savannah and Charleston are, like, sister city. So they both have, like, porches with what they call haint blue painted on the top

to keep the haints away, to keep the spirits. The haints? The haints. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a thing. They share ghosts. They share ghosts travel back and forth. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's only a hundred miles. Exchange program. There you go. Good, good, good. There you go. Sally's looking like a beast. I'm feeling good. Feeling good, looking good.

Yeah. Ready for summer. I dyed my beard last night. So you do a little guy? Listen, I've been doing a lot to try and keep the wheels turning. I've been just single-dadding and at home. You know, so guys, I got my first spray tan. I thought I'd try that out.

Did you really? That was nice. Okay, well, tell me your thoughts. Yes. I've never, I've never done. I mean, I think it's my true form. Really? Yeah, spray tanned.

I do feel better when I have a little color. It's every Irish boy's dream. Isn't there a thing like sometimes you can get orange with it? How do you prevent... Well, you got to go to the right person. Got to go to the right person. Who has the right sort of mixture. Yeah.

And it worked out good. And, yeah, you just look a little healthier. Yeah. A little more alive. I don't know why. They roll you? No. What?

Do you go both sides? Yes. It's a spray. It's a spray. I've never done a spray. No, of course. You just sort of, you face forward, then you face back. You do all the different angles.

Have you ever seen a car go into a paint booth? Yes, I have. It's like that. Okay. I got you. there's a person in there with a gun or the gun goes up and down, up and down. Okay, question. Were you like in tidy whiteies? Yes, I was in a short short. Yeah, in a short short,

okay, okay. Okay. Dance belt? You can dance belt it. I didn't, I didn't quite dance belt it, which left me, which left me with a bright white lower midsection. Got you. Gotcha. Which, yeah. I love you, Chris. It was good. I'm getting a strange, Dan. I've just been trying to keep myself interested, you know? Yeah. You look good. Oh, I'm feeling. Good. The beard went a little WWE. I dyed it. I died it and then, you know what I mean? Is it like a just beard for men's situation? Yeah, it was like a combing thing. And then I left it in. And then I started doing stuff and I left it in a little long. Yeah. But anyways, guys, go on YouTube. I never would have, you know. It looks great. I never would have known. Yeah, no, it looks really good. It feels good. So, okay, here's not a flip side, but I just want to like add my little thing in Jigger. So shooting season two of Paradise right now.

Which, if you are watching right now, today, this morning, our man, Sterling K. Brown, was nominated for yet another Emmy for lead actor and a drama. Thank you, congratulations, sir. Congratulations. It feels good. Myself along with Jimmy Marsden and Julianne Nicholson and the show itself. So, very exciting day, right? Yes. And this will be like three weeks afterwards.

So I'll tell you this, I was shooting yesterday. And it was one of these days where every once in a while, Xavier, my character, just does a lot of running. Just a butt ton of running around Paradise, okay? And I'm a fairly fast guy. I'm 49. And yesterday, I had to do about 10 takes of running. I'm good for eight. It's also July.

It is July. It's hot. It's not. It's warm. You're running in combat boots. You have, like, stiff pants on, et cetera. On, like, take number nine or something, I had a slight pull in my left hamstring. Yeah.

Now, my crew is so dope. They're like, Sterling, you're okay? You're doing all right? I'm like, mm-hmm. Everything's fine. What have you? Yeah. Did you get it?

We got it, though, right? You're like, we're going to do one more. And I was like, cool. Wait, why 10 takes? Not of just one, but there's running in different parts of parity. Okay. I was like, because that feels like a lot for Yasu. I understand.

Yeah, absolutely. He would have never do like 10 of just one setup, right? But we had like the, what's the thing that flies? Drones and dollies and all this kind of stuff. Guys, and I'm fairly fast. I can still do all the things that I want to do. The recovery and the prep, like Justin said in his episode, the recovery in the prep is a little bit different.

And have I pulled something before? Absolutely. But the feeling of pulling something at 49 is like, distressing. Just a little bit. It's like, oh, can I, will I be able to keep doing this? That's right. And the answer is yes. But it takes a minute to be like, all right, Brown.

You can't just go balls to the wall nuts every single flip in time. You have to sort of like moderate, modulate a little bit. And so it was a moment of, like, Brown being like, every once in a while these things happened where I realize I'm not Superman. Because, guys, I can delude myself into thinking I am Collelle. The first time happened... All right, Jack Pearson.

Listen, the first time that happened was when I tore my ACL when I was about 27 years old. Yep, yep. Up until that point, I was just like, my body can do whatever, right? Then I tore the same ACL about 15 years later. Right. When we were all working together, right? You were all working on This Is Us, and Brown was like hobbling in.

And he's like, what happened? I was like, that's a long story. And then so, like, you see Randall jogging, but just finishing the jock. That's right. That's, you know what I mean? And then I just had that moment again last night, but I'm okay. Like, it's okay. Well, we commit early, right?

And it's like when I was doing Broadway shows and there's eight shows a week. And I would watch these dancers who commit, who in the rehearsal room or putting out these performances, you're like, you're going to do that eight times a week? Yeah. And then you see a dancer who's maybe in their like 30s, who's a little more experienced, who's giving themselves, they're holding back a little. Yes. Because they know. 70%. I can always ramp it up.

Yes, sir. But not us. Because on take one and two, the audience knows no difference between what they see. Easy. That's what I think. And I happens to me all the time where I overdo it. And then I have to hold that note. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

For however many beats. That decision you make to like, I'm going to play this one in a squat. For that decision, I'm going to take a giant bite of this sandwich in the scene. Then you're committed to that, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of those things, man. So anyway, it's all good. Well, how's your knee?

Knee's fine. It's fine. Knees totally fine. Okay. Oh, sorry, you pulled. What did you pull? Hamstring. So, like, so last night after work, yeah, what'd you do?

Got in a bathtub, did a little Epson sort of thing, put some essential oils and sort of, then the wife has this tiger bomb that she uses, rub that on, and then I had the therogun, do you wear leg sleeves? I wore my compression pants underneath the cot's wardrobe. Like, you don't have to tell me. I was like, that's automatic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Brown is going to hold it together as best as he can.

So anyway, that was it. I'm being held together by spandex when I'm working out. Come on, man. Barely. I mean, like, it's, it helps with recovery. I'm not going to go. Did you just picture it? Did you just picture it in your mind?

I was like, got it, got it, got it. You saw a spank just being released? Yeah, I was like, spandex or spank? Like, yeah, my mind, you started to wander. Elastic. Elastic. Keeping my joints in place. Yeah, got it, got it.

It's like, it's, every once in a while you go to the gym. And then we'll talk about the show. That was why you go to the gym, and there's a hardcore biker that comes into the gym. Oh, yeah. And the bikers... You mean a cyclist. A cyclist. Yes.

Thank you. I was picturing leather. Leather daddy. Yeah. Boots. I mean a cyclist. And I'm always sort of taking it back. And I was like, so you're not going to put anything on top of that, huh?

They just wear... It's just where. They just wear... I was like, that's... You're leaving nothing to the imagination, sir. That's sexual assault. Put a basketball short or something like a self-respecting. African-American on top of that.

So I don't have to bear witness to the totality of your gents. And Sterling right now is usually pretty high and tight on the grooming. So if you're watching on YouTube right now, it's a bit of a spoiler. I mean, I don't know what's going on in season two. Yeah, I don't know what's going on. But I got to say, I like the look. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's two weeks

at a cabin. It's a sterling two weeks at a cabin. It's a little more than two weeks, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Something's going on. Yeah. I like it. I love it. Here we go. All right. All right.

So now we caught up. The graduates. The graduates. An episode of This Is Us being discussed on a podcast called That Was Us. Episode 14, guys, we're getting to the end. We're almost to the halfway mark of this podcast and the series. That's nuts. Crazy.

Here we are. That's nuts. It's blown by. It is. And so we're going to do full disclosure. There's going to be three episodes that we discuss on this one day and we'll roll them out over the course of three weeks. But there's things that hit us that are like, oh, this is when this begins. Yeah.

This is when that starts. And it feeds into the end of the show. You know what I'm saying? My first line is I wrote, everyone is struggling. Woo. Yeah. And I actually remember, like, this season, not this season, season, season three, this era of shooting felt just, it's the only time it felt a little less fun. Because everyone was struck, every storyline.

Everybody was. Every store at the same time was like, yeah. It's funny you say that because I remember really loving this era. Of course you do. Well, because I was like we got, we're all going to get through this like mud together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think we knew like we have, you know, the runway of two, maybe three more seasons left to tell the story. Yeah.

So it was like, I was like, oh, this is good. Like, it's hard. Like we're really trudging through the muck right now. all together. Yeah. And I don't know. Had we been picked up for three seasons after season one, so we knew there was going to be two, three, four?

Is that how it went? No, we got picked up for two and three after one. Okay, got in the middle of one. Got it. And then I think for up fronts of going into season four, we were picked up for four, five, six. Four, four, five, six. Yeah.

Okay, gotcha, gotcha, got you. So we were, like, operating with the vague idea and hope that that was what was going to happen. So, yeah, I was excited about, I just, I remember these episodes in particular, I think, because the next episode is an all-timer for me as well. Sure. So I was like, oh, yeah, I remember this season.

Yeah. Who wants to start it off? Because I didn't get a chance. My notes, again, just go scene by scene, but I know we want to go like. Well, I know we jumped into like, we're into Radio Shack Jack land of sort of the dichotomy of Jack and Rebecca with little kids like two or three or something. They're in the stroller. They're in the strollers and we're looking for a video camera.

Jack wants to replace the, yes, he wants to replace the video camera that we have seen in family lore and, you know, when Rebecca was pregnant and stuff like, but it has no sound. And non-talkie. Yeah, so he wants to get a video camera with sound. Coming into the talky area. And the interesting thing also about this scene is that we see like the kids are sort of while and out or whatnot, Kevin and Rebecca, or Kevin and Kate, et cetera, and Randall are there. And so they wind up switching the kids around.

Yeah. Right? Just to sort of see the bond that Kev and Kate have with each other. And all Randall's like, yeah, that's cool. That's cool. I'm chilling. I was fine by myself. That's good.

I'm chilling. So then what's next in that young sort of space? I'm trying to see. I'm not sure. I think it was mainly more of a device to sort of then show the flip side of. Rebecca shopping at that electronic store after Jack has passed away. We meet Matt Dixon. Matt Dixon, who comes back into their lives, like, down the road.

I forgot about that. I was like, oh, yeah, this was his introduction. Early intro. Yeah. You want to tell you, like, I was sort of your reaction to, so your husband's just passed away, he normally does these sorts of things. I'm not sure what's a good one, what's a bad one. And he sort of points something out and he's like, oh, yeah, cool, cool, cool.

And then as you walking away, he's like, hey, would you like to grab coffee or something? Which, guys, I was like, this is very inappropriate to me. I mean, I felt that in the scene as an actor, but even just watching it, I was like, whoa, dude, like slow your role. He's just passed away. How long was? Four months ago? Is it like four months? Yeah, because this is graduation now and that's what she's shopping for the camera for.

And it's just sort of like, wow, that's not a ton of time that's passed. And it just, it felt like he was shooting a shot. Sure. Go for it, sir. You could also see the conflict in him, though, too. Absolutely. Like he, like, it was very clear that he, as he was asking, was like, I shouldn't be asking this. But he, you could also sense his loneliness.

Let me say this. Like, on behalf of Matt Dixon, life is short. He's been alone. He's been alone. for a while. Yeah. And he's like, oh, here's somebody else who I see. But maybe couch it in a way of like, I, like, I can't imagine what you're going through.

If you've ever, if you'd ever love to have a cup of coffee or something, I'd like, Okay. You think the way he said it. The way he said it just felt immediately like, oh, your husband's gone. Like, do you want to go on a date? Like, do you want to get some coffee to me that I was like, whoa, this feels. I also want to remember the time period where it's not like he's like, he's like, this isn't right. I'll just, I'll look her up on Facebook later.

For sure. Of course, there's no social media. There's no phone number. When's you're going to see her again? Yeah. God. They're, uh, oh, ugh, ah, duh, ah. And you're, but you're right. It's definitely like, just a way he could have said it. Yeah. I got you. Let's just, we should have asked. She was so offended, though. Rebecca. She was like, like, you were like, we should have asked the writers, KJ and Danielle, to, hey, take it easy. Yeah. Yeah. Turn it down. Yeah. More that was us after these words from our sponsors. As summer winds down, I'm all about refreshing my wardrobe with staple pieces that work for the season ahead.

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We sell buckets, too. So let's go with the young, let's go with the young Pearson's back in the day, right? Everybody's graduating. Yep. Randall's very excited. He's valedictorian. He's valedictorian, got his robe on and everything, even though he didn't graduate the next day. He's doing a dry run.

Just a dry run. Just a dry run. Just to make sure everything's in. Eyes are dotted, T's crossed. Kate is just sort of like, what's the big deal? Yeah. Sort of feeling despondent. Her does not have a clear trajectory for what she wants to do next in life. And her partner in crime looks like is about to bounce for New York City.

To follow Sophie. To follow Sophie to New York and become an actor. By the way. says she might not even go. Might not even go to their graduates. By the way, my uncle, my mother's brother, accused me of going to NYU to follow some girl. The girl's name is Ryan Michelle Bafay.

Yeah. To go to some acting school. Acting school is called New York University to school of the arts. Some acting school. And I was like, you clearly, he didn't get it all right. But like, yeah, I've heard that before. It worked out fine. It worked out pretty well.

Do you say in your face when you see him? No, he passed away. Oh, okay. Sorry. Moving on. Okay. Edit that. Edit that. Edit that in. Edit that in. Edit that in. He heard it all. It's all good. Pause the podcast. Edit that section out.

Forget you heard it. Okay. Okay. So. Yeah. Mom drops her off. Drops her off, right? Randall's had already happened? Yes. I believe so. Yeah. All good. Drops Kate off, whatnot. Which is after. Actually, no. Randall's is coming up No, they go to Randall's because this is where you start having a difficult time That's what I mean, but so why she's dropping her off on the way home from where then?

From Randall's graduation because they were at different schools. Oh, but so has the panic attack happened? Yes. No, because I'm just reading the order that I have. I have Kate dropped off at home and watches old VHS as kids. Not yet? You're right. I think you're right. And then Rebecca watches too.

Because I don't have Oh gosh Do you have notes on the panic Well she has a panic attack At the edit this out Edit this out No this is great This is great

Put it all in No Because she gets the camera And they're right You're right You're right Because you're at The better school

Got it Because Randall's at Smart kid school And And Miguel is there Yes He's the one that talks her through it And tells her that she should probably talk to someone.

She should go to some sort of grief counseling, go to a meeting. Like, she really is clearly struggling. And, yeah. And so then after that is when Kate gets dropped off at home before her actual graduation. Okay. And she gets home. She watches old VHSs of them as kids. Yep.

Which we have learned were saved from the fire. Right. And I think it's Rebecca also watching those old tapes of the mundane moments. She's watching a tape, right? Yeah. And there's some mundane moment of... It's you and Jack together. You're trying to throw it a popcorn or whatever.

And then you take the camera and turn it on him. And it's really one of the few times that you get a chance to see Jack on the old videos. And it's very in keeping with Milo, too, who loves to take pictures. Yes. But doesn't love to be in pictures or whatnot. So it's kind of an echo. Did you guys have a family cam, do you guys still have those videos somewhere and we need to transfer them my aunt transferred

all of them from vhs to uh DVD I think I have like a five DVD set yeah of just it's just random videos strewn together that's right but I do remember my dad getting that first like on the shoulder like one step down from being a a news reporter cameraman you know with like the shotgun mic yeah on the side and him bringing it everywhere And I think he even tried to go skiing with it once. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah, we have family footage of my dad. Not with the big one, but we definitely have of the family cam quarter.

And him trying to like steady cam, get the kids. Down the black diamonds. He's good on the skis. He was. Okay. He was very good on the skis. Let's go, dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like that. I should try to find some of those. We should try to post, I would post some old family videos. I'll find some. I have my aunt that keeps all of those things. You'll see young SKB, who's just Kelby at that point in time, just in all kinds of shenanigans. Kelby. It's good times.

So a couple of things I want to point out about that storyline, like, as our future audience or our present audience knows, it's sort of just like the evolution of like Miguel showing up a little bit. Yeah. And I think like very innocently and very supportively, right? And I'm curious, like, I'm wondering like if folks ever hear this part, if you want to chime in on comments or whatnot, like, did you see? see him as being innocent. Because sometimes people will read into things based upon what's in the future. Oh, sure. You know what I'm saying?

And it's like, no, he was just like, he saw a friend who was struggling. Like, your son is about to graduate like, hey, listen, I will do the camcorder. Go be with your son. Yeah. You know, and at some point, maybe if you need to talk to somebody, great. Then she picks up the phone after watching the videos, like, I think I do need something. Yeah. And he says, look, all right, I'll come get you.

She's like, you ask for a ride? I got you on a ride. I'm going to sit here. He didn't invite her out to coffee or some bullshit. Right? And maybe that's also a juxtaposition that the rider's reporting out too. Yeah. You know what I mean?

That's a good point. Yes. Yeah. Grief is such a hard. She mentions in this episode, the clock, right? Yeah, the time. Yes. Her and Kate, sure.

In the next timeline. And just about, like, how much time do you get? to grieve how much time how much is healthy how much should and it's and i don't mean like a like an outside opinion i mean like inside when you're inside it you're there's a there's a i don't i it's such a hard thing for me because i do know for myself that one of my uh character defects for lack of a better term is self-pity that i i like it okay like i like uh and i like the pity of others. Like I can, I can, if I tap into, if I'm hurt, I like being like taken care of. You okay, big guy? What can I do? Yeah. I like being, I like being like, uh, uh,

interesting. You know what I mean? It can, I can realize that it feels good. Yeah. And maybe play into it a little bit more. Which I try not to do, which is not healthy. It's not a healthy thing. You're the most naked man with clothes on. I love you. I love you. Listen. I've, I'm, it's it's cost a lot of money to realize that sure a lot of therapy to realize that um but it's it's interesting around grief like at some point it has to be intervened upon yeah you know what i mean like because it can run wild it can it can be like self-perpetuating it can you can find yourself in a whole or in a depression or isolated or alone and and the self-perpetuating nature of it of constantly telling yourself that you want to be alone

or telling others that you want to be alone. Eventually people are like, okay. Then you find yourself alone, and you're like, wait, wait. I don't want this at all. I don't want this at all. Sure. And so that realization of Rebecca sitting at home watching these tapes and realizing that's not what she wants.

Well, sure. And the realization that, you know, more or less, everyone's about to fly the coop, right? Yeah. Like Kevin's leaving. Randall, well, I guess he's not going to go to the school he thought he was going to go to. But, yeah, it's like life is like this big chapter is coming to an end and something new is starting. And she really hasn't done anything for herself and she needs to.

But back to the Miguel of it all, I, I, yeah, it's hard not to see anything other than him just being. like a quality human and a great friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he kind of always has been. Like, he really stepped up to the plate in the way that he promised Jack he would. Right, yeah. And yeah, anybody that wants to see anything else there is like,

you know, that's their own issue. Yeah, I feel you. You can take that hot take and shove it. Yeah, shove that hot take. This is something. Shove that hot take. Not even mediocre, like, lukewarm hot tape. So awesome because, like, at the time that we shot this,

no kids no kids and especially as we get into the next episode for you both i'm i'm going to be curious and like hearing your takes on this because this empty nest thing right and i'm i'm still away from it my my eldest just turned 14 but he's he's a teenager now nothing i do is cool nothing is what he told his mom and i i think this is a direct quote and he didn't say it mean but he did say it clearly he said because we were talking about how we wanted to how we wanted to help set him up with somebody. We saw a girl from preschool that he used to go to preschool with who was adorable. And he's like, you think somebody who's 13 is cute? I was like, not for me, big dog, for you. Yeah. Like you make, he's like, hold on. Really, really funny response.

Yeah. First of all, gross. First of all, gross. I'm going to have to call somebody. That's what he does. He's like, it's girl, it's creepy. You think somebody's like hot? I didn't say hot. I said she's adorable. And he's like, yeah, but still, she's 13. And I was like, I can see adorable, dude. I can see adorable. Don't, you know what I mean? Make me gross.

You know what I'm saying? So, like, we say this. And he says, there's more funny parts, right? I feel like we need to talk more about the show. But the thing that he says, he's like, all I need you to do is feed me and take me where I need to go. And he didn't say it mean. I want to be clear. Like, because we were all sort of jogging, him and Ron.

Ryan were talking back and forth and what I need you to do. All I need you to do is feed me and take me where I need to go. Because Ryan and I, just a little context, we were like, listen, man. Incredible. We said to him, like, he had one, he's had a couple of crushes, I'll say. And every once in a while Ryan and I, be like, that's cool, right? This girl that we saw is adorable. And we said, we said to him, I said, Big Dog, I think you may need our help. And he's like, I don't need your help. I was like, I don't know, Matt. Like, I kind of think you could Use our help. It is all I need.

Can I ask you something about this girl? Did you guys have a response to this also because you know her parents? Yes. And you love her parents. Very much. There it is. There it is. Yeah.

There it is. You know who we would like to hang out with is this girl's parents. Which is, I'm with you. All that together. I am with you. So wait, I say all that to say that this, there's something because they start to sort of separate. Right? They have to sort of flex their own independence. You are no longer the primary influence. I know. Take a deep breath.

It's like devastating. You're no longer the primary influence in their lives. Their peer group becomes their primary influence. And you feel it, like very acutely. And so what is cool about it is that he'll go. And then I got five more years with one more, right? Yeah. So you don't have to go through all of it at once.

At the same time. But Rebecca does. Yeah. And it's close for you. man anymore because you decided to go pitip hop. Yeah, I'm old. I had to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I need to be like, huh? Boom, boom, boom. I know. Oh my God. I know. I know. You and pop pop? Yeah. And so it'll go. It's going to happen

in the same time or two years. You know what I mean? So, yeah, I'm just preparing. I'm letting you guys know. It's a weird thing. But I think it's a way that like, even the universe is like, okay, you pull away from me. That means I pull into my partner and we figure out, okay, what are we? Taylor, where we? Taylor, where we? doing now. Yeah. Rach, what we're doing now? These kids ain't got, they don't want to do nothing with it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I think that's how it goes. I think it does. You know? If you're lucky, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, okay, I said that part. You should tell him, well, first of all, you can feed yourself. Yeah. I tell him all the time. Bro, I cook. I do so much

stuff for this dude. And he goes, dude, you've been doing it for 30 years. I was like, I had, yeah, I started. That's right. Now. You know what I'm saying? So I show him how to do oatmeal, I show him how to do the eggs. He's like, but you make them so? And I got to stop doing it, by the way. Let me just say that. What we do for them, they don't learn to do for themselves. That's right.

At a certain point, I got to stop doing it and make him. Make his own. He can do it. He's old enough. He can do it. I had a buddy just the other day say it all gets easier when they can make their own breakfast. I mean, that does feel like the pinnacle of like a real turning point. What an interesting turning point.

Yeah. And real quick, before we get past the camera of it all, this, this, camcorder of it all. I had a really distinct realization. And I don't know if you guys, like, I have thorough family albums. My mother's very organized. And they are copious. And my dad is a ghost. In all of it. In all of it. Because he is the man with the camera. And I thought that era of documentation I wonder if it's that way for a lot of people where it's like, if you look at it, you're like, wait a minute, where's dad?

Well, he's the one taking the picture. He's the one taking the video. And it's not the same now because we all have, you know, cell phone cameras. But I'm like, what an interesting metaphor for the style of parenting at the time. Yeah. Where a lot of dads were actually gone a lot. Right. Yeah.

Gone all day. Yep. you know, working however many hours a week. Yeah. You know, not as invested in the day to day. Feeding their kids and taking them where they need to go. Sure. But also not documented in the family history as much.

That is interesting. It, like, really hit me when Jack was behind the camera, and I'm like, she gets to hear him, but not really see him. Until she takes the camera from him. Right. And she has to take it and turn it around. Ah, that's profound, dude. It didn't occur to me until I was, like, flipping through all the family photos. And I'm like, we don't really have a lot of dad.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting. Did we finish that past? Yeah, I mean, that's the past. Pretty much, yeah. Okay. I mean, it ends, it ends the, with the three of them at the party, right?

Yeah. Going to the graduation party. The three of them are, so, I mean, it ties back into the future. Which we can get to when we, if you want, because that, that editing was due. Yeah, it was great. It was like, what do you think we're going to be? Are we all going to hang out with each other still? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we can talk about that when we get into the current timeline. So, let's go. So, yeah, Kate, Toby is throwing a graduation ceremony. Only the way Toby can do. Yeah. For her community college graduation, which is her and three other people. She had like seven credits or something, something that she, yeah. Yeah, seven or eight credits that she had to complete to get to graduate college.

Yeah. She has completed it. She is on the verge of giving. birth any minute. Yeah. Or no, she's about a month out, right? She's about three months out. Three months out.

Three months out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's just coming up on 28 weeks. Yeah. And everyone's there. Mom came out to celebrate. Mom came out. And then guess who else is going to be here?

Set up with a wonderful Hemsworth, having a baby with another Hemsworth joke. Yes. Which is great. And that sets up our Asgardian friend, Mr. Kevin Pearson. And we flashed it. Oh, no, don't do that, Brown. See, that's me cutting away to other storylines. Yeah.

And then we flashed to. I got to stop doing that. Well, no, we don't have to because it's all in this modern, it's all in this modern timeline. It's all around this graduation ceremony. Okay. Because Kevin wakes up in his hotel room. Stupid. After we having seen him relapse previously in Uncle Nicky's.

Super hungover. Yeah. And he is super hungover. And he is awoken by a telephone call from Zoe who's surprised him to come in for Kate's graduation. Finish with the sober. Or no, he's like, how the meeting's been going, anything? And you just see Kev. Bold-faced lie.

Lie. Yes. Straight up and down. Like, no, if, hands, buts. He's like, oh, yeah, no. Why don't you just meet me over at the party? I had a few things that I got to go do. And his hotel room is littered with alcohol.

Littered with empty, empty booze bottles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a sad feeling. It's a sad feeling as an audience member, just seeing, like, Kev have cleaned himself up and just being like, oh, man, we're not in a good place. I mean, the swig of the bottle that he took from Uncle Nicky's trailer was a bad enough. Yeah.

And then it's just like, oh, it's gone. We now realize that a few weeks down the road, we are. Yeah, we are further down the hole. Yes. Okay. So then we're at the graduation party. Is that the next thing we see? Kev's there.

He's hugging his sister. And his sister's like, what's going on with you, bro? Yeah. Like, she didn't say anything out loud, but she's clocked. Yeah. And he's been vacant and not responding. to texts and something. And super busy.

Super busy. Sodaberg meetings and lots of things and, you know, in the fire. Or big soda, as I call him. Big soda. Yeah. You've worked a big soda. Yeah. A couple times.

Yeah. This is what I'm talking about. Big soda. That's my guy. That's my extra large soda. That's it. Two leaders. Big gulp.

We call them two leaders. We call them two leaders over here. And then he makes a toast. Yeah. And the toast sort of starts off nice. And then it kind of rambles and breaks down a little bit. Yeah. He makes a toast because he gets a toast because he gets

he almost gets caught in a lie. Because Zoe came in. Zoe comes in and says, how is your guy's spa day? And she was like, Kate was like, spa day? We didn't have a. He's like, oh, look, look, look, let's that toast. That'll get out of jail for your card. And it's bad.

It's, it's, it's, I feel, I'm feeling like in this, in that moment, like, I'm feeling this anxiety for Kate that Zoe doesn't quite experience yet because she's still on the outs, but like, Kate's like, because they set up so well that like, we're connected. Right. You know what I'm saying? I know when he's going through something since we've been in the womb.

You know what I'm saying? And you're going to tell me eventually because I can see it, even though you're not saying anything about it. So he says like, oh, he looks at his phone and I actually rewound this part. I was like, did he actually get a car? Oh, gosh, guys, I got something just came up or not. I think I got to step away. I got to take this, right? You know, and they're like, okay.

Cool. Kate's like go. Zoe's like, all right, see her. So he goes back to the hotel. And what is it? What precedes Kate deciding to go? Because I feel like Kate had a scene before she decides to go and find her brother.

Well, she has the graduation. She has the graduation. Yeah, she has the graduation. There's also, you said there's a dude. Toby always, thank God for Toby. I just want to say that up until next episode. Because he brings such levity. Yeah.

I don't know what the. scenes are for me, but it's essentially when Toby is there in the C plot line, where it's like, it's like, it's not even about him and Kate. It's like, he's running a graduation. A party. And it's like, this could be fun

a couple days for me. Yeah. You have the best time. Yeah. Are you like, how old is so? Extremely. He's extremely. She said, how old is he? Extremely. Which is good writing.

Yeah. That's good, right, extremely. Extremely old. Yeah, because he came over from Cuba and, like, after the missile crisis. And then now he's graduating with his grandkids. You're like, what? Yeah. Wait, how old is he?

Extremely. Okay. There was a conversation between you. Mom and Kate. That's what it was. And that's what precipitates her going to find. You're proud of her? Very proud.

Yes. And she's been texting him the whole time. Are you coming back? Where are you? But, blah, blah, no response. Yeah. Mom is totally unaware. of all of that. But I think just to see her daughter graduate after all this time to like have a

cap and gown, have the experience she she forfeited back during her high school days. Like it's just very full circle and I think it brings Rebecca back to that time and she sort of regales her with how she hated time for so long because it just sort of punctuated the fact that Jack wasn't there anymore and she realized that like all of these big moments that were going to happen in her life we're going to be there without him being present and um all of that and how much she she disliked people rushing her yeah yeah through her grief and and and asking her to move on or asking her to move forward and and so when even even and and the way that that edits together so that when Miguel does it you're like oh he was one of them who asked her to like

but then it's a bit of a head fake because it's actually we do all have to move on at some point in some way yeah in our own time in our own time yeah and mom is just really proud of who kate is i think that was just like it's it's nice to see like the evolution of their relationship because there really are ebbs and flows of yes i'm still at the point when when the two of them are alone together i like clench a little yeah i'm like is this Is this one of those, is it one of those moments? Yeah. Yeah, where she gets offended or, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Both parties are very sensitive. So it's like you're walking on eggshells a little bit. Here's a question for you. Yeah. And this has more to do with like this arc of episodes, especially 315. But do you feel like there's any seeds planted in 314 with regards to what we see in 315 yet or no? I don't think so.

You don't think so. No, I don't think so. Okay. Cool. That was my question. So then Kate goes to find Kev. Seasy's been drinking. Kev says, you know, Nikki kind of messed them up a little bit.

Kate says, you have to tell Zoe. Kev's afraid to because if she finds out that I've been lying, she will leave. And he does not want her to leave, right? So she's like, you got to get a sponsor this time. And he's like, okay. And he's like, there's a 5.30 meeting. And I'm going to take you right now. And he's like, okay.

So they're on their way to the meeting. Kate's driving and she's like, hmm, something ain't right. Something ain't right. And she's sort of, you know, her water's broken. And Kev's like, well, and she's like, it's too soon. It's only been 28 weeks. It's too soon. So he gets on the phone.

He calls, lets Toby know what's going on. Like Toby, I think we need to get an ambulance and we got to get to the hospital. Your wife's water just broke. And Toby on the other side, he's like, Why don't you just take it to the other side? We don't hear it. We don't hear it. But like it's clear, it's like, yo, you're in the car,

why don't you take it to the hospital? He's like, I don't know, I shouldn't do that. It's like, because I've been drinking all there. And so that's him finally sort of like letting everybody know what happens. And that's the end of that storyline, because that's almost like the end of the episode, right? Yeah. I just want to say, like, it is intense and it is scary.

You know, if anybody, 28 weeks is, it hits you away that's like it's three months early yeah yeah yeah yeah okay so that's that so that's my my own heart my own heart in that moment oh for sure because i forgot i forgot that is like the prematureity of it all and everything and then i did all of a sudden it came i remember now yeah all those milestones were it's it's amazing how different it was for me and rachel just between one and two yeah like That first one where you just don't know what to expect, even though you've been told what to expect and you read books and all these things, like, every little thing was like huge. Yes. Huge.

Yes. And, yeah, to think about 28 weeks. Yeah, it's such a sigh of relief, like, once you reach those milestones, you're like, because 28 weeks, they say, is, you know, reaching viability, right? So if a baby is born at 28 weeks and afterwards, most likely things can be okay. But it's still very early and very scary. Yeah. Knock on wood. And it's like so I think being a parent now and having gone through three pregnancies and you get, you know, you reach your 12 weeks and 16 weeks.

You know, once you get to that point of viability and you're like, okay, there is a little bit more of a sigh of relief. Yeah. knowing that there's still, you know, quite a road ahead of you. I don't even say this part about it. Like, women are better than, as soon as I found out Ryan was pregnant, I just wanted to say, tell everybody. She's like, can you wait, please? I was like, what are we waiting for?

She's like, because a lot of stuff can happen in the first 12 weeks. And as a dude, you have to be like, okay, I get it. You know what I'm saying? And take a breath. But the women know, all the, like, it's like, We have to play a little catch-up to a same extent. Yeah. Taylor was the first person I told.

Really? I remember this now because we were, he and I went out to lunch and we were in a vintage store shopping for clothes. Uh-huh. And I said, can I tell you something that I'm not supposed to tell anyone? And he kind of knew, like he could kind of, he goes, can I tell you something I'm not supposed to tell anyone? And it was when I found out that you were like,

Really? Yeah. Was it, like, was it Ozzy and? Yeah, with, it went bear. Oh, with bear? Yeah. God. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Right? Is that it? Yeah. Or maybe it was the second. I might have been the second. It was the second because I was like, it was during COVID. Yeah. Eva and Ozzie or.

We're closer together. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's always. It's always. Oh, I'm glad you guys had that experience. You had each other.

It was the two of us, like alone. Nobody else had been to because it was COVID. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was the two of us in a vintage shop alone. Like, yeah! I love that. And like the one masked employee behind their plexiglassed. Be like, I wonder what that's about.

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Learn more at SLR.com and ask your family eye care professional for SLR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. All right, okay, so Black Pearson's, right? Beth is very excited, is becoming a dance teacher. They're, I think they're fuddling at the whiteboard. Yeah, the schedule. I was like, Beth is noticeably joyful. Yeah, noticeably joyful. Randall is sort of like preoccupied with maintaining order and everything.

And she just starts adding stuff to the board. And he's like, oh, you could have done a different color than that. Yeah. But everything's pretty happy. Like, we're going to make it work. It seems like a lot that's happening. But it's like, listen, we always make it work. We'll figure out a way to make it work this time as well.

Yeah. She's off to her dance class. Because you haven't been sworn in yet. That's right. I haven't been sworn in. Still got some time. Deja calls, something's going on. She's not happy.

Randall goes to pick her up. It turns out she wrote a personal essay. And I emphasize personal because Deja is one of those people that says, like, if it's personal, then I expect you to make it personal. Yeah. And she writes the essay about having to live for a period of time in the car with her mom. Her teacher, we don't know what the incentive is behind it. But I think as adults, we assume that, like, oh, she thought the essay was good. so she decided to publish it online

so that everybody could take a look at it. Deja is horrified. People start calling her Pontiac. She feels like a charity case to a certain extent. And like she's being sort of singled out because of the circumstances from which she comes from and not necessarily because of her own merit. So she sort of downplays her own merit

and sort of emphasizes the circumstances and that's what people see. People seeing the story. So Randall has a moment of like, ah, what do I do? da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Let's go. I got to talk to this woman. By the way, that moment of acting just, she tells you the story. Yeah.

And you processing internally and going, hmm? No. No. Oh, hmm. I rewound it. I watched it again. I was like, there's a whole conversation going on in there. That's like, and I was, and I watched it again and replay the other side. I was like, okay, I can, I can, I can, I can. I can't hit a teacher. Nope, can't hit a teacher. Okay, what can you do? Can you threaten them with a weapon? No, can't do that.

Like, it was like this whole inner monologue that played out in and nos and you're like, okay, get in the car. Yeah, he was really good. I love it. I love it. I appreciate it. So he goes and talks to, is Miss Cunningham? Is that her name?

Yeah, who cares? I was talking Miss Cunningham. Very sweet. Cunningham. Very young teacher. You know what I'm saying? And who, stop. Who clearly meant well, yes.

Right? But sort of just didn't take into consideration. Wasn't thinking. Wasn't thinking. And she says as much. He says, sorry for making you cry. She's like, it's okay. It happens pretty easily.

She takes it down. It happens a lot. It happens a lot. She takes it down and whatnot. And so then the next thing you know that he goes back and he's talked. Oh, she made by Eliza Bennett. Well done. She played it very well.

It was really, really well done. Well done, E. Bennett. But at the end of that conversation, she says, look, I've talked to Dej's other teachers, what not. She's doing really well. I know you wanted her to repeat this grade or whatnot. Yeah, because I just wanted to make sure she wasn't behind, etc. She's like, well, she's already caught up. And in our estimation, she could probably just go right into freshman year.

Right? And he's like, what? Randall always geek whenever, like, you know, intelligence in the family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excellence? Yeah. Excellence, you say. So he goes home and Key and Days have a conversation.

You know, she put the essay up there because she thinks it's really good, you know? And she's like, that's not why she did it. She did it because, like, I lived in a car and that's not anything I'm interested in, like, sort of gaining any sort of credence from. Sure. Right. And he's like, I read the essay. The essay is good.

Right. Right. And your other teachers say that you're, working, all the other classes is really good. You could go straight into freshman year. And Dave is like, I don't want to do that. Right? And she sort of says, like, for the first time in my life, I have some sense of a normalcy and routine.

And I enjoy the routine. I get a chance to go to school. When my sisters go to school, et cetera, like, this feels right. Not interested in disrupting that. Right? So that ends there. So before we move on from the day. Deja's story. We have just been informed that we actually have a voice note from lyric.

This makes me very happy. This is great. I love it. We have to put our headphones. Quick. Oh, guys. Oh, okay. Get on to YouTube. Get on the YouTubers. Getting a little, getting a little episode three, season one. There you go. There you go. That's what I call Sterling's ass. Episode three. Toot it and boot it, paradise, babe. So I only have one small random memory from filming this episode. I remember being pretty anxious because I had a lot of material to memorize, or at least I thought it was a lot. I was worried about messing up too much in front of everybody, so I'm mainly focused on memorization and not understanding what it was I had to say.

There was one scene in particular with a word that I had no idea about Pontiac. I kind of ignored it. I didn't think to look it up. I didn't think to ask questions. I didn't think, I wasn't thinking, period. And it kind of showed through my performance that I had no clue what I was talking about. I was having a hard time connecting. I was frustrated. I think the director may have been a little frustrated with me. And then Sterling called me over.

He's like, come here for a second. Walk over to him. He's like, do you know what this means? Like, no, I have no idea. He explained it to me. And first of all, he said that really loudly. I'm like, okay, now everybody knows. Tell all my business, why don't you?

But not only is he explaining this small part to me, but he's helping me analyze what Deja is going through and throwing out a whole bunch of questions. And I'm like, yeah, I probably should know the answers to these. and then just showing me how this one little line here or the way she reacts to this can actually connect to da-da-da-da. And it's like I don't remember being taught, analyzation, character development before I got on this show. I knew how to deliver emotionally, but that was about it. I didn't know about the craft of acting.

so yeah man shout out to him it's the reason I call him my first mentor but that's that's pretty much all I got for for this episode so yeah thank you did you know she calls you that Sam did you know that she calls you that you and your friggin voice notes from lyric

oh we got some cheers didn't know you guys what are you looking at Sweet lyric Oh, Deggummit My makeup I don't have a little makeup That's what this show is, man

We're just crying all the time But that little girl I know she's a grownup now She's 21 years old If by the way This is just a shout out This is not sponsored or anything like that Check out Iron Heart on Disney Plus

Lyrgy Nicole is Wonderful in this show. I can't imagine her not being wonderful in everything. And that's so funny that she was saying that, like, she's never terrible. I was just like, I probably just said like, hey, you have any questions or what's going on? Because like, every once in a while you can see a flicker through her head being like, she's just sort of like overwhelmed in the moment.

And I was like, come on, let's do whatever we got to do in order to get through that moment. Yeah. I think, I think what we were talking about earlier, the profession that we were in, can highlight the amount of self-centeredness. Yes, they can. Because there is that worry. There is that, there's all of these. I'm guilty of the same thing.

I've been trying actually actively trying recently to, like, if I don't know something, to immediately say that I don't know it, especially when I'm talking to somebody who's talking to me about something I don't know anything about. Yeah. Like, what does that mean? What does that mean is like my new mantra? Yeah. Instead of like pretending and nodding and like having to Google, make a list of things to Google later.

After the fact, yeah. Because, yeah, it can be really scary on set. Yeah, I can't. When you think everybody else has the answer. Strangers around. And you're like, I should have the answer. Yeah. So let me just act like I have it.

Yeah. Things go faster if you just say like, wait a minute, hold on. Yeah. What do we miss? I'm missing something. Yeah. And it's there. There's the level of judgment.

that you think is going to be as never what it is, right? Do you think people are like, you don't know that, Sully? Yeah. What are you talking about? Like, that is almost never. People are mostly happy to be able to share like, oh, that's, oh, it's actually, blah, blah, yeah. Right. The hard part is that once in a while, someone does, like, someone does make you feel a little stupid.

And you're like, well, I guess, I guess I'll never ask another question. Yeah, I will tuck my tail between my life. No, but it can turn people off. It can. It can. But I think the important thing to realize is that person's, a D-bag and that the way that they react to things is not the thing that we should should hold the most credence in our lives right oh you're a D-back a douchebag is a

hygienic product I take it as a compliment got it sorry I don't remember what that was from that from a movie so so listen this is this is when we finally get into this is a moment that I've been waiting for for a long time same same oh you've been talking about it because you know it was coming down the road I knew it was coming and now here it freaking is it's the moment where Randall's been, you know, talking, telling Beth that, like, you know, her teachers, Deja's teachers think that she should possibly jump into a freshman year, but she kind of wants to keep things regular and normal. And, you know, we have another daughter who's recently

sort of announced to us that she likes girls, et cetera, and it feels like at least one of us should be present. There's a lot of change that's happening in our lives right now. And I know that you're super excited. You can feel it. You can feel it like it's happening. It's happening all right now. You're super excited to be doing your teaching and what have you. But a lot of that time is during the nights and the weekends.

And that's really when the kids need us the most. So I was just wondering. I was just wondering. I mean, those words from a husband, I was wondering. If not that you stopped in totality, but maybe if we, that wasn't, it wasn't said that way. I know it wasn't. Yeah. But in my mind, this is how you meant it.

How was it said? The intention? Well, I think you basically just said, like, maybe we put a pin in it, in the dancing. Just for now. In the teaching, just for now. Guys, it's Sue's face. She's listening. She's listening all of it.

Like, all of this is valid. All of these things that you're saying. are things that we are going through as a family. And then when he says, put a pen. It's almost like, hmm. So you just get to do all the shit you want to do, right? And I have to wait. And I got to wait.

But she didn't get loud. She never gets loud. And that's what makes it worse. She gets mad. She gets quieter. She gets quieter. Yeah. And it's like, I want to turtle.

Yeah. I want to go into a shit. A shell. And just hide. Correct. And you can feel the audience, I as an audience member watching collectively just go. Oh, bro, that's not how to play that. That's not how you do that.

No. That ain't the move. And that's where we leave that story. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that finishes up 314. Sure.

In essence. And basically, oh, well, no, we want to go back. To Randall at the party. Randall at the party. Well, so it's Kevin and Kate and Randall at the party. And Kate's modern time entering the hospital. That's right. They are edited, edited together.

Edited together. We see Kev's at the party and then Kate shows up. Yeah. Right. And so they have a nice little moment of connection. there. And then, to their surprise, Randall pops in, right? And then some good-natured ribbing sort of takes place. Randall sort of teases the two of them about their connection and how close they are and the possibility that it could be more than just fraternal that there's some

sort of romance. And then they tease him about his relationship with mom and, you know, nobody wants to be jealous of it. We catch strays. I'm sorry. You catch strays because we love each other, right? And they love each other. And both relationships are what they are. Sure. You know, not inappropriate or anything like that, just funny to this particular family. And as Kate is in the hospital with Toby or whatnot,

Kev shows up first. But Kev is there. He's there already. And he arrives with the ambulance and Toby comes running in. Yeah. Oh, and that's what happens. I get a phone call after I tell my wife to put a pen in it. Yeah.

And I find out that my sister's in the hospital And we don't know what the amount of time is But then Randall shows up there too Yep But he's saying, Randall in the past is saying to them Like, I wonder what's going to happen to us Because they just lost their patriarch, they lost their dad I'm about to go to college, Kev's about to go to New York

We're not sure what Kate's going to do But we're going to be in three separate places for the first time in our lives where we spend 18 years underneath the same roof. By the way, statistic, they say that 70% of the time that you will spend with your child

happens by the time that they are 12 years old. Thanks for that, Sterling. This is my Rachel Dratch moment. Heavy Downer, thanks. Thanks for listening to that was a podcast. But it's a real sort of thing. We're going to go home and hang out their families.

He's going to hug children like this. But it is one of those real sorts of moments where it's like, oh gosh, something new is about to happen for all of us. Right? And something that we haven't experienced before. He's like, what's going to happen, right? And he says ultimately

when he was walking away, he's like, I know it's going to happen. And who remembers the line? It's like, as long as we just keep. As long as we stay in each other's lives will be okay. Yeah. As long as we stay in each other's lives will be okay. And it sounds really simple. And it is really simple.

And it is that simple, because that's when you see that Randall, like, made the trip, you know, from... It's not easy. It's not easy. It's not easy. It's not easy. That's right. Yeah. And it is one of those moments that sort of... Listen, I got a little brother and a little sister, older brother than an older sister.

Got a mom who has ALS right now. And we talked about this. I was like, man, when mom goes, like, what will the connective tissue... be between everybody and be like between all of us right and we talk you know from time to time i'm i'm sort of the kev of the family who went away and and and does stuff everybody else is in st louis what have you but i think we'll be okay but i think it's it's a it's a really good point as long as we just keep showing up in each other's lives in some form or fashion yeah yeah we'll be all right and so then we get a wonderful example of people showing up in the next episode

Oh, boy. Yeah. So just teeing it up a little bit and then we'll talk about it a little bit of, because this is what you call a bottle episode, is that essentially what Dan was trying to make? For 315? Yes. Yeah. Where it all sort of takes place in one space.

And we do that for the most part. We do cut away to a couple of different spots, but it's a good episode and we'll talk about it soon. We should take a break. Yeah. And we'll come back with our favorite segment, our fan segment in the show. Right after this. Stay tuned.

Welcome back to our favorite segment, the fan segment. This one we are entitling superlatives. It's your book season. This is Us Style, and we are handing out superlatives. You voted on everything from Best Smile to Most Likely to Make You Cry in 30 Seconds. And now, drum roll please, it's time to reveal the winner. Yes, let's see. The fan voted, This Is Us, your book.

That was in a drum roll. All right. Most likely to make you cry in under 30 seconds and not in a sappy way. Mandy. What? I would say Sterling? I would say Chrissy. Chrissy.

Chrissy. It's Mandy or Chrissy? Yeah, it's one or two? Chrissy. Who is? The winner is Dr. Of course. Of course, Dr. Kay.

I like that. Wow. That's good. That was unexpected. That is good. So wait, wait, did you give them all, like, Are any, is any character an option? Oh, in another box.

Okay, so people really had carte blanche to vote. I can break this open a little bit more. That's good to know. Okay. Sterling's still trying to win this competition. Best dressed. Best dressed. Beth.

Kevin. Beth. I'm going to say old Kate, like Kate back, I mean, Rebecca back in the day. Rebecca back in the day. It's either Rebecca back in the day or Beth. I would say, yeah, Rebecca. They could say Zoe if they open it up to people, too. But I'm going to go...

I'm going to say old Rebecca. Not old Rebecca. Rebecca passed Rebecca. It's either that or Beth. Those are my two. And you're saying Kevin? I'll say Kevin. Okay, let's see.

Very nice. Amazing. And Chris, you would get that in IRL too. Best dressed, yeah. And they did put Zoe second. They put Zoe second. I guess they, Randall, there's too many sweater, finger majiggas around the collar for me.

I think, but I think it was. probably just that time you were in your box of shorts. They got you the 18%. That's my favorite outfit. What's the next door? Get the tone. Most likely to get an optu prepped in the middle of a grocery store. Jack?

Read it again. What did you just say? Impromptu pep talk in the middle of a grocery store. That was just my brain. My mouth was moving faster than my brain. Oh, no. Impropped talk. Okay.

It's Jack. It's Jack. I mean, Jack. How many, how many have there been? Middle of a gross, but it's just like the person who gives the, like, Randall gives pep talks. But I would say Jack over Randall. Jack and then Randall.

Because Randall gets it from. It's going to be Randall. It's going to be Randall. It's going to be Randall. It's going to be Randall. Let's see. I think it's going to be Randall. That was the one I was thinking of.

Wow. Wow. Okay, that wasn't. I'm shocked. Yeah. But Toby. Caught me off guard. Toby got 9%.

Toby's pretty good. And Rebecca. Yeah. She's snuck in there. Okay. Let's go, Ma. All right. I like that.

Best hair. Best hair. Beth. Beth. If it's not Beth, I'm trying to think of who else. If it's me, I'll be shocked. You have some good hair. Rebecca has good hair.

I mean, Zoe has some good hair. Would they throw Sophie in by any chance? I think it's Beth. It's Beth. Okay, let's see. What are we even talking about? Obviously. Miguel.

Yeah, Big Mids. And they did throw Sophie in there. Miguel does have some really good hair style. He has great hair. But Beth, Beth is the winner. And our audience is great, because that's right. Sophie, made number three. That's right.

Most likely to have group text on mute. Milo. Keep it in. It stays in. Milo. Milo doesn't want the shenan. Milo is too busy for shenanigans. Wait, he didn't go with a character.

No. He completely jumped off the train tracks that we've established this far It just goes, Milo Ventimilia. Okay, most likely to have the group text of me. Okay, let's see. I can't unsee it now. It's not going to be Kev, Cater, Randall, because I think that they value connection.

First of all, who's on this group text? Yeah, that's a good question. It could be Beth, who just needs a break from the family. Who's like, I need the Pearson's are a lot. Beth probably represents that the most. That's who I would go with. I'll stick with Milo. Okay.

that's Dacia. Yeah. I love it. Disha is definitely like these people. Yeah. They put both of my children

just like, they're teenagers. They're like, we ain't got time. And then Kevin. And then Keff. Well, because he's off trying to clean himself. Three people who don't want to see Randall's memes. Deja, Tess, and Kevin. Good ones.

I like it. Okay. Who else do you got? Most likely to organize a family road trip without telling any. won the destination. Randall. Randall.

Jack first. Without telling the Jack destination? Is he factoring into this? Here's the thing. But Randall loves a destination. He loves a plan. Yeah, that's right. You know what I'm saying?

But he also loves a family road trip. I would say Jack is a person who probably would get in the car and go first before Randall. I'm going to throw Toby in there, too. He loves a big gesture. I would go actually Jack Toby Randall. That would be my own. Jack Toby Randall.

Let's see what it is. Oh. Toby. I guess Jack is just... Really? Well, because Rebecca forgot where she was going. Wow. You are on one today, sir.

Oh, my God. Yeah, Rebecca is on there just because she was like... You are on one, sir. But she doesn't want to admit to it, so she's like, I don't know. Christopher Solomon. Where do you think I'm going? Unhinged. Unhinged today.

Unhinged. Toby, okay. Yeah, Toby for sure. Toby wins. There you go. Yeah. What's the next? Best smile.

There's a lot of good smiles on our set. Randall. There's a lot of good smiles on our set. I don't know. I would say Kevin is, is, I would say Kevin and Randall are both up there. He doesn't smile. He doesn't smile. He does every once in a while.

It's Randall. It's Randall. It's Randall number one. Like 100%. Randall, Randall Toby, Rebecca. Oh, wow. Rebecca. Not even in the top three.

Annie? Annie has one. She does have a wonderful smile. She has a wonderful smile. She's the most adorable thing on the face of the planet. I mean, she's the most adorable thing, but I... I didn't think that they would clock any either. And it's what she did the most on the show.

These are all... It's smile. Hey, look at that smile. Oh. Look at that smile. I'm looking at my man. Come on, Mandy Moore. Happy.

That's a good one. I'm not mad at that. I'm happy. Okay. Well, that most likely to be... Kevin? Kevin. Most likely to be famous is Kevin. Who would be after Kevin?

Would they say Young Jack? If the people would they say, People have watched the whole show. What do you mean? Like, your son. Oh. Oh, gosh, yes. Little Jack.

Jack Damon. Yeah, Jack Damon. I'll go Kevin, Jack Damon, and then, is there a third? Who's third? Tess. No, it would be, third would be Rebecca, because she's a Sean Tuse as well. Yes. Let's see.

Kevin. Randall. Randall Tess. Wait. Shout out to whoever picked. Real quick. So if you're watching on YouTube, if you're watching on YouTube, we have a picture. of Kevin with like the actor

Beanie. That was so popular just like 10 years ago. And he had a whole thing. Colin Farrell Beanie. Yes. They had a whole set in the closet with like he had beanies on mannequins. Yes. They were just like bald heads. And like Justin would see it. He's like, I don't want to wear this fucking beanie. He's like, I take this big off. It made him so mad. And you can almost tell in this photo how mad he is to be. wearing it yeah so true he hates it he's hating his life right now oh that makes me happy me too

yeah Kevin's number one class clown Toby Toby followed by Miguel let's let's so let's we know it's gonna be Toby it's gonna be so let's guess what the percentage is uh like eight in the 80 it's big but but Miguel will get some I think yeah who else would be who would be third Kevin yeah yeah It could be Kevin. It could go, it could go Toby, Kevin, Miguel. It should go Toby McGill. I'm guessing Toby got 83%.

Let's see it. 81! Nicky? Nicky. What? I guess Nikki does get a little funny when he gets sober. Wow. You know?

Wow. Okay. No mix on there. All right. Toby, Kevin, Nikki. Yeah, they don't know. They short sold Miguel on that one, I think. Yeah.

Most likely to never forget a birthday. Me. Yeah, Randall. I think it's Randall. Rebecca. Oh, wait. Sorry. Guys, that's what this is for. That's what this is for.

Oh, gosh. I think she would, I think she's up there. You think she's up there? I would go with Randall first for sure, because he just details. Randall, Rebecca. Toby. Toby. Okay, let's see it. Jack, oh, now we factor's in?

Rebecca Randall. Yeah, I'm a push back a little bit. I'm a push back on that. Hot take. I'm a details, man. You got that one wrong? I'm a details, man. It's all good.

You got that one reversed. It's all good. That's all good. That's not bad. We're on there. We're on there. It should be there. Okay.

That's it. That's fun. That was cute. I love that. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed that. Well done. Well done.

Thank you for all of your feedback on that, you guys. Yeah, thanks for voting, friends. Oh, here's, this is my favorite part. If you want to give us more feedback. Yeah. Did you memorize the number? Oh, God. You're going to hit us up at That Was Us Pod at gmail.com.

Or you can give us a call at 412501. You're reading it and you can't get it. At 3028. I'm sorry. No, you nailed it. I got distracted. I got a text message at the same time. 412501-301-308

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