That Was Us - One Year Older | "A Father's Advice" (S2E1) with special guest Logan Shroyer

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Another year, another birthday, and the Big Three are turning 37! That’s right, we’re talking about the season two premiere of “This Is Us.” Big life changes are transpiring, including perhaps the biggest to come: Jack’s death. It’s in this episode that we get a closer look at when and how Jack might have died. Here to catch up with us and provide his POV on the matter is Logan Shroyer, aka Teen Kevin. Ready? That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions and Sara Wehrheim. 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 2, Episode 1 of Father's Advice. Randall and Beth debate a big life change. Kate takes the first step in pursuing a new passion. Kevin balances the demands of his career and relationship, and Jack and Rebecca deal with the fallout. of their big fight. The new Mitsubishi Outlander

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Alone time. Adventurous side journeys together with third row seating. The new outlander bring out your adventurous side. Mitsubishi Motors. Drive Your Ambition. Season two.

What up, gang! Here we go. Welcome back. We made it through 18 episodes. Somehow. We have a few special episodes with guests, and now we're on to season two. We are here.

It's exciting. It is exciting. I feel good. We left in a very sort of discordant note in the end of season one with Jack and Rebecca. Jack leaving the house, wondering what's going to be the future, everything. America being very upset with Rebecca

for later. Sterling specifically being very upset too. Me? Yeah. What was I upset about? Well, you just said you were, you took issue with Dan. Like, you can't leave the pilot or you can't leave the last episode. I did.

I think, listen, more than even speaking as Sterling, I think I was speaking as Randolph. I said, I want my mama and daddy in the same house happy and loving each other the way good white people are supposed to do. I can't live like that for a whole hiatus, but I did. But I had a little bit of more time because America had to wait longer. I got a chance to see scripts to know what was going to come. next. So the episode opens, we hear, which is always reassuring, with William. Yes. Who is gone but not forgotten. And he's reading some of the poems that he writes for, poems for my son. Yes. And what's he saying? Things not said, advice not given,

envelopes unstamped, regrets enveloping me. This is poems for my son. He wonders, is it easier there? I guess yes. Do you think of me like I think of you? And once again, we begin our season on the Big Three birthday, right? Not Dad's birthday, by the way, which is the same thing as the Big Three's birthday. So that's the first time, like normally everybody's birthday is at the same time. Right. This is just now the Big Three's birthday, which continues to be the case throughout the seasons.

We always open on our birthday. Always. But we don't always open on Jack's birthday. No. No, no, as is the case in this particular instance. Sure. His birthday's just forgotten. His birthday is not celebrated.

Well, he died. Yeah. There you go. There's that. I mean, there is that. There is that. We see Kev, he's down on one knee. It looks like he's proposing.

Is he proposing to Sophie? Turns out he's proposing to a tennis ball. Working with Ron Howard. On set with Ron Frickin Howard. Look, the guy is like Teflon. You think like his career is up. No. Kev just keeps bouncing back.

That's right. Again and again and again. It's true. We see Randall, who looks like he may have adopted a sweet Asian baby. Yes. And it just turns out that he took it from his neighbors. He's harassing his neighbors. And he needs to get going.

Probably like Randall is being great. We got to get going, buddy. Like how long has he been doing it? 10 minutes? Or every morning? Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, oh God, I thought we left a little early.

We were going to miss him today. They pushed their Streisium comedies running. Hey, hey! They turn around, go back in the house. It is a thing still to this day. when people bring babies to Sterling and Ryan's house, both Sterling and Ryan love babies. And the other day, somebody brought a newborn to the house.

Ryan won't give up the baby. Like she just holds the baby. And then I say, no, no, I'm going to take the baby too. I took the baby. And I'm very good with the baby. And the baby goes to sleep. And Ryan's like, what do you think you're special? I said, yes, I am special.

But I knew that before I was holding this baby. Babies love me and I love babies. And anytime you bring a baby on set, it's actually joyous. I know sometimes you'd have to deal with three at the same time. Yeah. So it wasn't always as joy. I was just thinking, I'm like, when this baby comes, I know who to bring it to. Come bring it to your boy.

Yeah, I'm going to bring her over your house. She is annoying the crap out of me. I need a little girl love in my life. Everybody tells me, as a dad of boys, you need little girl. Do I need a little girl love in my life? Yeah. It's pretty awesome. Yeah.

Okay. It's pretty awesome. Bring her over. Yeah, we'll bring her over. I'll bring them over and then I'll give them back. Exactly. None of the responsibility, all the fun. Debbie.

Where do we find Kate? Where's Kate? Kate is prepping for her audition. She's getting ready for her audition for a first big singing thing. It's all very exciting, right? We jump into the diner with mom picks up the kids from the night before. They've stayed at a friend's house. Yep.

She picks them up. There's tension. Kate remarks like, where's their getting the state of the union? They are going to get the state of the union, but at first they're sort of confused, like, Mom's supposed to be on tour. Why is she the one picking us up? They get in the car, and mom's like, we got to talk to you guys. They go to a diner. They need Jack.

Side note, I remember, you know, as we start filming these seasons in the middle of the boiling summer here in Los Angeles, it was like, you know, early mid-July, and we're all in like winter clothes and jeans and heavy jacket. and stuff, like in the middle of the valley to this un-air-conditioned diner. Yeah, just, like, when I was re-watching it, I immediately was brought back to just sweating in a wig. Welcome to the first three seasons of my life on this is us. Correct. Because we get to see you for the first time.

You've got the beard. You've gotten rid of the tough gear and just like, I'm going to take it down a little bit lower. I'm going to take it down as far as I can. Yeah. I talk to hair and makeup and I'm like, now listen, as we transition in the season two, we can just do anything

that's a big time job right we can do whatever we want and I don't know if you noticed I don't know if you noticed in here's how quickly the switch happens if you go back and watch 18 season one episode 18

the final scene of her going I think I want to sing I already have like three weeks of growth do you really because I'm like he's like we're setting this up I'm headed towards beard I am on the road to beard

yeah we're setting this up right now. So they go, they have this family meeting. Jack says, your mom and I want to talk to you. And they sort of use these phrases. Every once in all, there's a phrase that I have to use in the show that's sort of like, I know it's going to be a hiccup for the audience because it's a hiccup for me. So it's something like, catch your breath. We're going to catch our breath. Like, you know, take a little space. What does that mean? Catch your breath. Are you guys getting a divorce? That's Kevin sort of approaching in. They're like, no, not getting divorced. But the instantaneous annoyance of the children with receiving that news felt real and powerful.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Stability is something that kids long for. Yeah. Right? And so when that's removed, you know, and Kate says immediately, like, because she's staying at Miguel, she's like, well, I'll go with dad. You know, okay, you're not going to go with dad. And she's like, I don't, what?

You're not going to keep me here with this wonderful human being. Nope. So she has to bounce. He goes out. And then as soon as that happens, Kevin's like, oh, I got to go be with my sister. And then Randall, who we don't realize at this point in time. Has witnessed the fight. We'll see later on in the episode that Randall wound up coming home in the midst of the fight that took place at the end of last year.

Yeah. So sides have been drawn. Cades have been drawn. Kate is with dad. Randall's with mom. Kevin is going to go wherever Kate goes. Wherever Kate is going to go, right? But that gets illuminated later on.

There's a line that they have. Rebecca's feeling the tension. They're all sitting at home together. We're going to go to the movies. We're going to go see Tom Hanks do whatever Tom Hanks is, and we're going to take our minds off of all this crap or not. And they go to the movie. They saw Philadelphia.

The Pick Me Up of the Year. First date movie that I took my high school girlfriend. I was like, this might not have been the best date flick. But you see Kate and Kevin together, and you see Randall with his mom, and that's when we flashed back to know. Like, he walked in right when Jack was saying, like, a career. Like, you've seen covers in a pub. You know, this is, you're ridiculous, right? And so Randall's sort of like, Mom, you want some popcorn.

And it's sort of like, they've already been close, but you start to see how they become even closer. Yeah. To which Kev says to Kate, I think Randall's are. about to make his move. It's a real, real rough comment. Yeah. And the look on Kate's face. He says that so many times.

Like, he makes allusions to that over the years of Randall and Rebecca having some, like, inappropriate relationship. I'm like, what? It's such, I laugh because it is such a brother thing to say. It's just so dude. It's so dark and weird. So dark. And also so seated with jealousy.

Yeah. It's a little bit of that, too. It's a little bit of that too. This is a fun little note, sidebar. Randall's at home. I think Annie asked like, hey, dad, how come you're at home? Mommy's at work now and you're at home being the girl. And he's like, what are you talking about being the girl?

Women can do anything they want to. Look at Hillary Clinton. They're like, she lost. She lost. Eat your food. And then there was a line where I was. supposed to refer to them as somebody, like Anne Coulter and something, and I said, can I say Stacy Dash and Amarosa? And it made it. It made it into the episode, which doesn't always

happen, but I was very happy with that particular take. And you see Beth is at work and Randall's at home. So clearly there, things are readjusting within the Black Pearson household. Yes. What's next? You guys, I feel like, you're getting on a roll. You get on a roll. this after lunch roll. We can do timeline or we can go in order. I have adoption center. Yes. I'm not sure if that's what comes next actually in sequential order.

He says to her something like, you know, you're looking forward to this afternoon? And she's like, yeah, this afternoon is going to be ready. I mean, the last thing we see at the end of season one, as you say, I think we should adopt a baby. And so we pick up with a clearly resistant Beth. Yeah. to this idea and we're not sure why it's a little unclear as to why she's resistant yeah but she essentially at the adoption center lets all let's all of her frustration out in front of this person we have a flashback to a scene of her and william in his favorite spot which is this park

that has some some folks of color black kids brown kids hanging out basketball etc etc and like they even make reference to it's like this is my favorite spot reminds me a little bit of home And she's like, you know, a little less white. And he's like, yeah, that too. And they have a hearty chuckle over the whole thing. And as they're in the adoption center, and Randall is just so excited and so geeked for this whole thing to go down, right? Like, can we get a little boy? A little boy would be great.

I already got two girls in the house, got a lot of strong black women. Wouldn't mind having something a little bit different. And then Beth's sort of like, he just kind of wants to recreate what happened. So if you have a kid that was left at a fire station, that would really scratch the edge. That would really do it. And you can see that, like, oh, things, we're not on the same page. No. Right?

So, Beth leaves the adoption center. And Randall rolls up on her. He goes, you fake smoking again? And she says, fake smoking. What a strange. The fake smoking, was that scripted? Yes. It was scripted.

Yes. It was scripted. And to Ken Olin's credit, because both Sue and I were like, we should be smoking weed, right? And she's like, of course, S.K. Like, I thought that was what we were doing. So we started it off, like, holding it like this or what have you. And Kitten was like, just smoke a cigarette. I could see him saying that.

Just smoke a cigarette. What are you doing? What are you doing? Just smoke a cigarette. And we were like, okay. And it turned out it was perfect and it was fine and it worked exactly. But here's one of those. It does it so well in that first shot.

I'm like, is she smoking? Like her mind work is so casual. It's solid. And he says, Randall says something like, listen, this is something that like, you know, I'm really committed to and I'm very excited about. So you're going to have to get your head around it. And I say that to say that that's one of those phrases, like, get your head around it. That, like, as an actor, I'm like, how do I say this shit?

Not harsh. You know what I'm saying? There is no way. It's not like an abusive husband. I wrote down gauntlet throne because there is no nice way to say that. You're just going to have to get your head around it. You're just going to have to deal with it. is essentially, like, that's all it means.

Get your pretty little heterole. Every once in a while, Fogerman will drop one in there. And I'll fast forward real quick. Season three, when Beth is talking about her dreams of becoming a dancer or whatnot, and he's like, you know, why don't we just put a pin in that? And I was like, when I read it, I'm like, I don't know how America can love me. What I say is in this? Let's put a pin in it.

But this is the other thing about Randall and Beth. Yeah. That is an interesting partnership, right? Because Rachel and I have some of this. Rachel is the, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's slow down and think about this and research this and figure out all our options. Yeah. Really mold this.

And I am the impulsive, like, you know what the best idea is? This idea. Yeah. And I've already ordered it, and it's on its way. You know, like that type of personality. And there is some of what we know of Randall being obsess. compulsive and anxious like is this a good idea is it an actual good idea or is this just someone trying to fill a fill a gap or or or to you know what I mean it's it can be

seem impulsive yeah agreed agreed and she tries to slow it all down she and she does a wonderful job of doing exactly that because he goes to see mom and it's like you know I think beth's having you know doubts second thoughts about second thoughts about doing this a option thing. And he asked, like, did you have any doubts about it? And, like, the moment I saw you, you know, I knew that you were men. Yeah, we've heard the story. It's all good. But, like, for real, for real, what was that like? And you said, like, in marriage, sometimes someone has to sort of be the person that leads, whatnot. And your father was so gung-ho as soon as he saw you or whatnot. And he sort of just got me on board, right? And introduced me to a perfect

stranger. And then that perfect stranger became my heart, one of the loves of my heart. At that line, yeah, it was like, I rode down, pushed a stranger on me, and that stranger became a child, and that child became my life. It was just like, well, if that just doesn't encapsulate it all right there. I felt pretty good. As you said it to me, I was like, oh, mom. And I think that applies to not just adopting children, but having children. Yes. Yeah. There's this side of having children that no one talks about where you're supposed to feel the magic and you're supposed to feel the love and the gratitude, and you're supposed to feel all these.

things and they exist but there's this other side of being a new parent this just for me anyways i'll put it to you too there's this distress there's this grief there's this fear fear over over losing yourself yeah over your old life over the things you used to be able to do go see whatever the thing was yes and you're there's a bright sadness around around the period the nesting period that Rachel and I both, both experienced in different, very different ways. Sure. That is a bit of grief that mixes with this overwhelming joy, but nobody wants to talk about the grief side about it.

I hear you. There is, oh, gosh, I'm trying to explain it. I feel it most acutely in the beginning when there's crying at night, especially if you have them in another room. If they're in the room, like in a bassinet or something next to you, then it's all right, okay, somebody just has to reach over and grab the baby. And if you're breastfeeding, like, you can do the side latch or what have you. But when they move to the crib or whatnot, they're like, oh, somebody's got to go and change this child, feed this child.

And it's like, uh, should probably be you. Because I'm sleepy. And you're not as sleepy as I am, of course, so about a Jew. And it's like, no, no, no, why don't you? And in those particular moments, you're like, oh, man, like, there's a disturbance to the groove of what was my life. Sure. Right? Unnecessary disturbance to the groove of what moments.

But you still have to grieve. I used to be able to sleep. It's the active process of an ego dying. Yeah. Trying to, like, like the old whatever has to die so that you can, you are no longer the most important thing. Right. And then you figure out how to. mature enough to, like, partner with someone.

And so you expand your ego maybe enough to, to consider two whole human beings. You're like, well, that's a lot. That's very hard. Yeah. To consider two whole human beings. And then... Come on. Keep going.

And then they keep coming. Yeah. And then they multiply. And then you realize, oh, there's very little room for consideration. And that's not true. It's not... I haven't even quite figured it out yet, obviously. because the children are so new.

But like the consideration for self is very important because the children need to see that and they need to feel that and you need that as a person. But to truly, honestly put these beings before yourself is a painful process to arrive at. How has it been for you? You're about to do it again. I'm about to do it again.

I mean, I definitely think everyone's experience is so vastly different. And I think men and women are different because like I'm sitting here and I'm literally feeling my child, like, move around in my body. Like, there is a different sense of mourning, of fear, of apprehension, of just this idea of, like, can my heart expand again? I know it will in theory, but, like, it's such a, it's such a foreign concept, even though

I've done it twice before. And you just don't know what it's going to look like or how it's going to feel until you're there. Yep. And that's it. And so you just have to sort of relinquish that control and recognize like it's all going to unfold the way it's supposed to. You still feel like, I'm curious because,

and I don't want to take too much time away from an episode, but I remember feeling that when I had my second one, I was like, I love this first one so much. Oh, yeah. Will I be able to love like that again? And it happened. You know what I'm saying? But I was really scared that I wouldn't.

I was like, oh, I love this one so much. He's great. And then he came and I was like, okay, I love him too. Yeah. And you have that feeling still with the third one too. Yes. I had a friend who had a son and was like, I, listen, Chris, I don't love him yet. The baby has arrived. And I'm like, who is this intruder in my home who has, who is on my wife all the time? Yeah.

Like, he's just like, and I know I'm not supposed to feel that way. Yeah. But I do. Yeah. And it's the, and of course, all of it, he evolves out of all. of that and it turns into this beautiful love affair between the two of them. But it's just it's such an interesting time and it's it makes it such a scary and brave thing to do

to say, hey, we should adopt a baby. Yeah. And a brave thing to tell her child, like, it really was your father. Your father like was insistent that you were our family. Yeah. And sometimes

in marriage you just have to take that leap. Someone's going to push a little harder and someone's going to just follow. And that was the case with Jack and Rebecca and Randall. And then it's, you know, she's like, I cannot even begin to imagine my life without this choice. Right. We'll be right back with more. That was us.

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He's about as great as they come. Yeah. And I go home to talk to my wife. And I say, hey, I just went to go talk to my mom. And, you know, she said there's. no such thing as a perfect marriage, but on that, I have to disagree with her. I think Beth said something like, I didn't know that was allowed. You get these little snippets from her, from Toby, from Miguel, about like the view from

outside the Pearson's. Yes. What it really looks like. Yes, yes. And he winds up trying to like, look, I love my parents. They're great. But I don't want that relationship. I want a partnership where nobody's following each other, but we reach places together.

And if I can't get you to that place on, you know, through talking to you or whatnot, then maybe we have to readjust together, you know, because we are perfect and we are perfectly imperfect, right, the way in which we fit together. And Beth just says, can I show you something? And he's like, sure. And as they're walking out, she says, you know, perfectly imperfect, huh? I like that. She's, I love, I love Sue. Yeah.

Sue is so sexy. especially when she's frustrated with you. There's something about the way she looks at you and the way she handles you. Yeah, it's pretty great. And so then she winds up bringing me to William's spot. She wound up getting poems for my son bound in leather, wishing me a happy birthday. It's a beautiful gift. And she says, if we're going to do this, you know, like, why don't we take a chance on someone that sort of society, the system is sort of

left behind, you know, and cast aside, let's get an older child and we can leave an imprint on someone who maybe no one else is giving a chance to, right? And Randall's looking around and he's sort of left in contemplation of that idea, right? Let's go to Kate and Toby. Let's go to Kate and Toby. So Kate is preparing to audition for, what was it, like the 13th, like largest cover band? 17th, on Yelp or something. Yes. And so she's really excited.

She puts on an outfit. Toby is in typical Toby fashion hilarious in his compliments of... Shwing. Shwing. There was a lot of shinging going on. And then Kevin... I knew the writers wanted me to give it like the proper... Shwing.

And I just couldn't. Right. It was just a... They wanted a Wayne's world and you sort of went under. I gave it a nice swing. A respectable... A respectable swing. Pardon me, ma'am, but swing.

I bought it. I loved it. As boots are being prepared to be knocked, Kevin. Kevin. And comes into the house like, hey, what's up, guys? Yeah. Happy birthday?

Because Sophie's not going to be able to fly out. She couldn't make it for some reason or another. Her mom. Her mom has MS and had an episode, and she had to be there with her. That's right. Sophie's not going to make it out for the birthday. Yeah. But, you know, Kevin and Kate and Toby had plans.

They had plans. And Toby's like, well, will we still be able to go out on the double date with each other? Because Toby thinks, oh, maybe this can just be a solo day. Yeah. And the twins look at each other like, are you kidding? You can't be mad? It's still our birthday. What are you talking about?

And this is like the first, I mean, there's been some of it through season one. Yeah. But like a real, all right, Toby's sticking around. Yeah. And this is the third wheel situation. This is a good, this is one. worthy of exploration because I think there are a lot of couples that have been guilty of introducing or allowing a third party into their relationship without the permission necessarily

of their partner. A friend. They can be a friend, whomever that person is and sort of like being cognizant of that because for them, they're like, this is just who we are. For both of them, it feels as natural as anything else. And then here's this other. person here you are being like i'm supposed to be this person now yeah yeah right which you articulate a little later on because now we go he he gets the sushi restaurant we're the best sushi sushi restaurant in town we arrive it's empty because he's bought out the entire restaurant and he is three people and he is being inappropriate with the chef with the chef he said he's on Chepper, Top Chefers.

The amazing race. Something like that. Just the kind of dismissiveness of the rich and famous. By the way, Justin has like part ownership, I think, in a sushi restaurant. Yeah, you're right. And it only like seats like 12 people. And I just wonder, like, I feel like Dan just listens to everything the people says and that he just sort of puts it in the show. He's like, well, that's too good.

Yeah, yeah. There is a part of Justin that is Kevin. It is a total part of it. Justin will tell you, when he bought his house, he's like, I just want everything to come to me. But I don't have to leave this complex. It would be perfect. Very Kevin.

Very Kevin. And so they're just talking. What is it that sort of sets Tobes off in this particular moment? Because they're vibing with each other in a way that's sort of like you're almost relegated to the sideline. And you wind up speaking up. And I'm just trying to remember what the inciting. It's because she had told, she had told.

She finally admits to Toby that she did not, in fact, go to this audition. Because Kate goes to the audition and she sees that there are a bunch of size two, you know, beautiful, whatever, singers there. And she loses her nerve. They have a flashback to the swimming pool, too. Right. And she's like, I'm not getting this gig. Why am I going to waste my time? I'll go meet you guys at dinner.

So she tells Toby and then Toby finds out that she is already told. Correct. Kevin. That's what is. And that's the kind of, you know what, you two? Yeah. I'm out of here. Yeah.

And then the two of you and Kev wind up having this conversation. Yeah, Kev follows me outside. Yeah. And we essentially have what you were just talking about, which is like, listen, man, I know that she is your person. Right. But I am now her person. Yeah. And obviously I will never be her brother.

Yeah. But there are certain, you know, relational responsibilities that a romantic partner. Sure. is required for. And Kev's sort of, in his sort of, like, to articulate, his point is like, look, man, I'm not a very good actor, he says. I'm not very good at many things. Like, I have to work and struggle to make it to wherever it is.

But when it comes to being her brother, I never had to really work at that. Like, we are each other's person. And to which you say, like, cool, but I'm here now. Yeah. Right? And you have to do something there. And so then Kate overhears this.

Oh, no, because there's this like, look, maybe she just needs a break from that. And she's like, no, she doesn't need a break. She needs to be pushed. Like, she needs to, like, be encouraged. Well, you say push, but to be pushed to go out and sort of like, she has talent. She should be sharing with people. So she overhears this and she's like, I don't need to be coddled. I don't need to be pushed.

I'm a grown woman. I know how to do this thing for myself. And so she winds up going back to the audition. Like, screw both of you guys. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to go back. And I'm just going to at least try.

Don't follow me. And then I think, I'm confused that then that seemed, were you going to follow or you're just going to go home? No, we follow her. You do follow her. Because she takes the car and he's got his car. And I'm like, don't, I don't know how to open the door. Don't follow her. Essentially, saying, and he runs to get in his car to follow her.

Yeah. Like, she was my ride. So I'm now trying to get into his. I don't remember what it was some Audi sports, you know, supercar. We cut to her at the audition and she's like, look, I'm sorry. I lost my nerve before, but I want to come in and I want to sing. She's like, great, what do you want to sing? The guys, what do you want to sing?

She names the song. You guys know a song. Nothing compares to you. Nothing compares to you. So, great. Come on, two, three, four. And she's like, can I warm up? So she starts singing.

She sounds great. You know what I'm saying? It was like she didn't get a chance to warm up or anything like that. And he goes, here's like a couple of bars. Great, thank you. And she's like, no, I'm not going to let you dismiss me like that. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to just let you look at me because I don't look like one of these skinny broads over here or whatnot.

Like, I know my worth. I know my value. I'm going to stay here. And she goes, whatever her name is. I can't remember. It's like, come sing, nothing compares to you. And this chick can just blows. Like, blows not in a bad way.

Like, her voice comes out. And it's just like, oh. Yeah. Exceptional. Yeah. She can sing. And she goes, look, you haven't been doing anything. These girls have been doing open mics for so long you can't just come in.

You have something. But you need to go ahead and get yourself. into practice, right? And she's like, huh. So she comes out and find the fellows who are waiting outside for it, and she's like, no, it's not gonna go any farther. But she's like, you know, it wasn't because of my size

and it's something I need to be better. And they're like, no, no, no, she's like, no, it's good that I need to be better because that's something that I can do. I can work on that. I can get better. And so they leave at that. Is that the end of that?

I believe it is. Okay, let's delve into Jack and Rebecca. Real quick, before we get into, the storyline please i can't remember if i've told my versions of these on this podcast but i do you two have any regrets in your life anything you've backed out of missed out on because of fear or doubt like do you think back and you're like i can't believe i didn't take that opportunity i can't believe i didn't gosh there's nothing that comes top of mind i'm sure there absolutely has been Most of them have to do with, like, being a young man afraid to talk to women.

Okay. Being, like, very, very scared. And so, like, honestly, when I talk to Andrew, who I recognize has, like, a similar sort of reticence, I was like, like, just say hi. Yeah. You don't have to put a lot on it. You don't have to make it mean, like, this may not be your wife or anything like that. But, like, don't rob yourself of an experience. because you're afraid to say hi right that's sure for me sure sure yeah yeah what about you

i mean i just related to her experience so much because i've a big pattern in my life looking back would be low self-worth or self-pity getting in the way and of me thinking clearly and i mean up until recently like and there are maybe like there's too many first of all like three or four examples in my life where I'm like, I can't believe that because of that line of thinking that you passed upon that opportunity. And one of them was, I think I've told you the story about going to see John Prine. Yes. So John Prine, who was a big fan of this show. Yeah. Who we have several songs on his show. I was a huge fan of his. My dad raised me on his music. Yeah. We met John Prine. We became friendly with John Prine. John Prine and his wife Fiona said, why don't you come to

to Nashville for New Year's Eve. He's playing the Grand Ole Opry. Come see him. Rachel's pregnant baby moon. So we go. We are sitting backstage on the side of the stage at the Grand Ole Opry watching John Prime sing. And there's a bunch of people there.

And at the end of his show, someone came over and said, all right, whoever wants to go sing, go on out there. And I realized maybe they meant me. Maybe they met all of us. Do they mean all of us? But for a second, I hesitate. And Rach said, they mean everyone. Go ahead, go go, go.

And I said, no, no, I don't want to leave you here by yourself. I'll stay here with you. And so I stayed with Rachel on the side of the stage. Because in my head, I thought, if I go out on stage, someone is going to look back and make, not you. You know what I mean? Well, because I was kind of, I wasn't, you know, I was on the outside. And I now realize, and he, and the man passed away two months later from COVID.

But my, I mean, it's the musician I've seen the most in my life on stage. What? And we had the opportunity to sing the finale at the New Year's Eve show at the Grandal Opry. And I missed it because of doubt and low self-worth. And it's the same type of moment. Just say hi. Yeah.

Just take that risk. Yeah. Because I would rather now have been embarrassed and someone have been like, no, no, not you. Sure. Which no one ever would have. Right. Because looking back now, they meant all of us. Yes. Yeah. And I missed out on that opportunity. And there's like three or four of those in my life where I'm like, okay. So it's something I'm working on. I hear you man. Yeah, it's something I'm working on. Mani Moore don't miss stuff, do you? That doesn't happen to you. I don't have regrets about it. But I definitely like, yeah. Mani Moore climbs mountains. She's a beast. She could probably climb to him while she was pregnant. She's just out of your car. Should we go to the knock, knock, knock scene? We can go to. But first remember when Jack tries to get her a gig, it's so cringy. It's too cringy to even talk about.

I was going to, I was going to bring this up. I'll pay you. When he says I'll pay you, I was just like, this is, I wish this scene wasn't even in the show. I know, and the guy's like, you're embarrassing yourself and your wife. And your wife. Please do. I was good. Okay.

I think we brought it out. As I'm watching, I wish I'd never had to see. Jack Pearson do that. Yeah, grovel for. But we find out, can we jump to that scene now? Yeah. At the door? Are we missing anything? I know. We can go to it. Like, can we find out that part of the part of the wait before you jump to it. Okay. And then you can jump to it. Because as the kids leave the diner as they are trying to break the news to them or what have you, Jack reaches for Rebecca's hand. Yeah. And she's like, nope, not ready for that right now. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't think you can just charm your way back into this thing. Like, there's still

stuff to be repaired yeah right so i just wanted to say no of course of course go ahead but one of the one of the things we come to find out is part of the reason jack probably stumbles into a bar midday to to offer to pay somebody yeah because rebecca shows up at miguel's yeah and says okay come home essentially yeah and he reveals that the drinking is more of a problem than he has ever admitted to you or to anyone else. There is, I have a quote back, you don't know everything about me.

I'm drunk right now. I have a problem, Rebecca, and I've hidden it from you for a very long time and I need to get a handle on it before I can walk back into that house. I need to fix this on my own and he gently, not rudely, closes the door.

And we go to black. we go to commercial is that what happens yeah it goes to commercial like we're watching at streaming yes so it like picks right back up that went to commercial yeah and the audience it's like left with like a target ad do you ever have a hard time getting standardized out of totally your kids totally you're still right but like the balls on the editing of that. Yeah. Black.

Because the next... Because straight back from... That's 25% off from our friends at Quince. You hear knock, knock, knock. And the door opens again. And it's the same Rebecca with a new look on her face. Get in the car. Yeah.

Get in the car, Jack. Like she says it a few different times, right? And she says like, you know, this is... if you're going through something, then we're going through it together. So you're going to get back in this house, and we're going to do it together. And she says it a few times, get in the car. This scene, I was like, the warmth and timbre of Mandy Moore's voice would end conflict in foreign wars. It is.

I was just like, such good acting. Yeah, such an amazing delivery on the whole thing. But yeah, it's the, oddly enough, nothing is repaired. But it is the triumphant coming, you know, reunion of these two that we're waiting, I don't know, four, three episodes, four episodes. No, this is the first, first episode. No, but like the first, the first episode since, since, like, things have been really off between them. Yeah. And what a way to do that.

without making it unbelievable or fair like well because it was still like it doesn't erase anything nothing's fixed there is work to be done but like we just have to get you home we get you in the car we have to like do this together realistically romantic yes I agree very realistically romantic yeah it it sort of reemphasizes for me love as an action word not as an idea or a feeling that's right You know what I'm saying? It's like, we're going to go through some stuff. But if you're going through it, I guess we're going through it together.

That's right. You've not done anything necessarily so irreparable that it means that we, the thing that we have created with each other and with these beautiful children needs to be thrown away. Yeah. Right? No chasm too deep. Yeah. Yeah.

And so then we fast forward. We go, we have kind of a cut from them in the car together. to Rebecca in the car by herself wearing a Steelers jersey. There you go. There you go. Easter egg. Easter egg. And then they sort of the camera pans over.

Jack's no longer sitting beside her, but there is a plastic bag of his effects. Someone's effects. Yeah. Ring wallet. Cut to the kids at Miguel's. Cut to the kids at Miguel's. Yeah, we see Randall and Kate. Incredibly emotional.

In tears of wood, nine. that we have and Kate says we have to find Kevin he needs to hear it from me we cut to Kevin who's with Sophie in the woods he's got broken leg and he's on crutches and they're sort of making out there and Rebecca pulls up and stops the car and in the blurry background do we see something it's a burned out house and yeah and then she just convulses with tears and a primal scream that the audience will never forget yeah yeah I scream so hard and I banged my hand. You see my wedding ring fly off.

Are you serious? Yeah. My prop wedding ring. Dan was like, that was so amazing. I was like, what? Like, I didn't even know what was going on. Yeah, it was just like, I remember we filmed that the day after I got engaged. Not that that matters.

Are you serious? Yes. It was just like, it was such a weird confluence of emotions because like personally I was like just floating I'm like, forget that, forget that, forget that, Andy. You're grieving your husband who died. And we had... I mean, you're happy, but imagine if he died. What would that be like?

In a fire. At your house. Or did he die in a fire? We don't know. I know. That was the thing is like we left all these clues for people. Were you guys aware at 201? Like, I think we were all sort of aware.

We knew in season one. Yes. What the end game was. Yes. We just had to be quiet. We had to be quiet, and we had to get there because that's episode 14, I think, of this. Super Bowl episode. Yeah, it's like there's such a...

Very quick. I mean, very quick, but also it feels like such a stretch. Sure. I mean, very quick into season two where we get to, like, the big information. The breadbruffins, yeah. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. It's, it was, to hold that secret for such a long time was sort of like, I won't say, Fun is the word because people were just so curious.

Like, they always wanted to know how did it happen, how did it happen? We even do Paley Center events. And people were like kind of come in with like their own theories or what happened. And somebody actually got it. And I was like, oh, that's a good one. Did they? I don't remember that. I remember somebody saying like house fire or something else.

And I was like, hmm. Oh, that could be good. That could be good. I don't know. But it's sort of like just sort of contextualizes again what these kids have gone through. And then you start still sort of wondering because Kate sees herself as being responsible. So it wasn't him behind the wheel of the car following her advice. So like what is it about this fire that has anything to do with her?

That has anything to do with Kate. So you're still trying to put things together like that. Yeah. A really interesting way to start off another season. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I don't know.

It's just like to me, the show just kept growing and evolving and the rules kept being broken. or the perception of what the rules should be. Like, I loved that. I loved that, like, Dan was always so ambitious. And I feel like most ambitious when seasons started and seasons finished. Agreed. You know? Agreed.

Keeps people coming back. Keeps them coming back. Do we have a guest for this episode? We do. We're going to talk to Mr. Logan Shroyo. Oh! Yes. We will be back with a chat with young Kevin.

That's right. Logan Troyer. See in a second. More that was us after this short break. Array! Array! The Conjuring Last Rites. Only on Theater September 5th. I could talk about my experience with AirB because I've been using it since the very beginning.

Same. I've used it across three or four different countries. Really? Because when I go somewhere, I want to be comfortable. Yes. I want to have my own space. And I want my space to be in the middle of the action. I don't want it to be where all of the...

hotels are located. Sure. You don't want to be removed from the action. No, I want to be in the city. I want to be amongst the people. Yes. Feel local. I want to feel like a local. Yeah. And the best way to do that is to stay in someone's home. I love that. I love that. While you're away from home and traveling, your home could be an Airbnb. What better way to earn a little extra money or offset some of your other travel expenses. This year, I'm going away for work. I might be gone for six to eight months at a time. And so not only do I need to find the perfect place to stay where I am going. But while I'm gone, I could list my home or our brand new guest house on Airbnb for whoever may be looking for that perfect place to stay.

Well said, sir. Listen, when you're on the go a lot or are road tripping with your estranged family members exploring the complicated secrets of your past, Airbnb is a smart choice to make to ensure those trips, no matter how simple or complicated they may be, are as smooth as possible. And your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll hear a big round of applause for our special guest, Logan, Shroyo. Logo!

Hi, Logan. What's up, buddy? How you doing? Good. How you guys doing? Good to be here. We're doing great. We're even better now that we get to look into that handsome mug.

Look at the hair. I know. That's without product, ladies and gentlemen. That's just how he wakes up. Just natural. rolled right out of bed. He's not even awake. This is him sleeping.

You've got this charming and a sleep. Does this grow out full? Are you keeping it low on purpose or what? I can grow it a bit more. It's like it comes in and different. The mustache isn't strong though. I want to get some more. Why don't you just, you keep the hair.

I'll do the beard. All right. Let me have the beard. Fair enough. I got to have something. You are our first guest for season two of that was us. We were just recapping the first episode of season two, in fact. And so it's nice to have you join us for a little discussion.

It is great. I mean, we can sort of talk broad strokes and then we can talk more specifically about this episode. But I, you know, had the pleasure of being your mother for six seasons. And I'm just curious. We had alluded to this in a previous episode, but, you know, we shot your timeline with other actors who were sort of in between your age and the age of our youngest big three. Yeah. Big little three. And then those parts were recast with you and Niles and Hannah.

And I'm just curious, like, what that process was, what you were told, how much you knew about the show, like, because the majority of the episode had already been shot, and then you guys were brought in and we sort of rejiggered certain pieces. But then moving forward, you were such a pivotal part of the series. So I'm just curious how it all sort of unfolded for you. It, I pretty much knew nothing, honestly. I got it was untitled. Dan Fogelman Project episode guest star I believe the story was that they had 24 hours or 48 hours to cast it it was like a really quick turnaround I read I had like four auditions that week too so it wasn't like I this wasn't like my oh my gosh this is it I remember yeah I remember

being in the room with Josh and thinking like all right that was like it was okay as long as that's good like kind of my bar and he was like what is that wasn't that wasn't good enough like you want to do it again. And I was like, no, no, I think that was good. That sounds like, can't, baby. Move on. And that was it. You got it. Yeah. I mean, I got a call the next afternoon. And then it was like fitting that night, fitting that morning. We were on set. I didn't, I didn't, I just assumed we were doing the audition sides.

I didn't get the script till that morning on the way to set. Whoa. I just assumed we were doing the audition sides, which thank God we were. Yeah, I mean, in hindsight, I really, I really could. tell there was an extra eye on set because I don't know if you remember Mandy but I think it was like all of the execs a lot of the writers like everybody was there at village and it felt kind of like tense or maybe that was just my experience of it but if I recall Dan wasn't there but John and Glenn and a lot of other people were there and it was very like I think you might be right I think

it was very I was like this feels like a lot of pressure I don't know I recall that I recall Niles and I doing it and it just like wasn't really working. And then I think we rehearsed it sidewalk. Like there was just a lot of buildings. What was the first scene? Yeah, what was it? The first scene was in the bedroom where I'm like throwing the football at him because he's doing his homework late at night and I'm trying to sleep before the big game.

And it's the whole thing where I moved to the basement where we changed room. God. And yeah, I mean, it was a lot. I had, you know, the brown eyes to match Justin. And I have like a rare contact prescription. So I couldn't see because they can't get him in time. So they just put as much in there as they could. I'm just kind of like.

Blind on top of everything. At least you already wore contact. That's true. Yeah, that was good. That was good, actually. Yeah. No, that actually helped me a lot. Because they didn't get, fun fact,

they didn't get the prescriptions in before the football stuff even. So I was throwing all the football. Jeez, Louise. I didn't know that. This is baptism by fire, dude. Glamorous. Okay, so wait, in addendum, if it was piggybacking off of that. Had you, Niles, Hannah, had you guys ever come across each other through work

before? Are you all meeting for the first time on the show? And what kind of camaraderie were you able to develop? Was it like a big three for you guys? Or were you sort of lone wolves? Like, how to develop over time? I can't remember exactly. Niles and Hannah might have crossed paths really briefly. I hadn't crossed paths with them. I remember, I mean, it was such a cool, like because it was a one episode guest star as far as we knew Milo cut us in he was like you guys are going to be here a while and they're like okay we don't want to get our hopes up I don't know what that means yeah very mysterious

and it's I mean it slowly really did build into a camaraderie and it's it's such an interesting thing to just it's like a very specific experience to have with people that it's hard to explain to everybody else sure sure and to have that experience experience. No, we grew immensely close. And I mean, yeah, it's what it is on set. And like, the material is so bonding. It's like all the stuff that you go through with everybody. It's really nice. But yeah, no, we ate lunch in each other's trailers. Yeah, you guys were especially

close. I mean, it's, it was different with the younger version of your characters just because they were children and they had parents and stuff. And you guys, for the most part, were, you know, say for Niles in the beginning. Niles was the only one that was under 18 in the beginning. When we started, yes. You guys just like from my recollection in the midst of sort of trying to, you know, soak in this crazy experience that we were all living

kind of in real time of, you know, because I think you guys were introduced in episode seven and maybe the show had just started airing or it was about to start airing. So it's like we all rode this like crested wave together but I remember you guys always being close and like thick as thieves and hanging out with each other on set offset like it was very sweet it's like you instantly became family or at least that's how it felt from the outside looking in and

do you still get the chance to see each other oh yeah yeah we just we just caught up Miles's birthday was recently oh I love that oh that's great I caught that dude I caught him on Instagram his arms are bigger than mine well Oh, yeah, he's, he's killing it. Was it a birthday party where like invitations went out? And I was just got lost in the... Yeah, no, no, not at all. It was a very...

It was a small thing. It was probably. It was a very small thing, probably. Yeah, no words. All right, cool. I'm curious. Obviously, you established that you didn't really know what you were getting yourself into when you got cast on the show, but once you knew you were playing this younger version of

Justin Hartley. did you have any you know did you spend a lot of time with him did you were you able to have conversations or did you simply just sort of observe episodes or observe him from afar I know he caught you outside his house a couple of times right looking in the windows and yeah

there was that restraining order yeah the restraining order made difficult to like do my research but I got it done no I got it done yeah it was really it was really cool because you know there's a lot of you know i mean gosh i'm like young on the show like the the nerves and like really just wanted to do so well and i remember watching him and kind of in person a little bit but especially the episodes and

having a conversation with him about it and he said i think the first thing he said was this is your character too no okay wow so don't just try to do what i'm doing yeah like the writing i think he also talked about the writing is so good and they do so much of the heavy lifting, really, and let it be yours. You know, it's going to cut, like, it's going to work out. Like, you can watch me or whatever, but I want you to know, like, this is your character. So don't just... So stop watching me.

What is you? You just stop it. Well, also, when you think about it, so much of what you do informs what he has to do. I mean, you can speak to that. Yeah. I mean, it's this weird sort of synchronicity because you share this character amongst three people, essentially, like young, medium, and... and old or what have you.

And it's a testimony to the writing because when I watch the show, I watch Randall. You know what I'm saying? Or I watch Kevin. I watch Kate. And like it's just you guys were so... I said this to Niles. Like, I feel like I'm in such good hands

that the character is in such good hands that I don't worry about anything. I just love watching you guys do your thing. And you, you were so sweet. You still are, like, even though you're 25 and you're old. But like, you would be around and you would just sort of like watch and you would like ask questions and whatnot because you were just really sort of a sponge trying to soak it all up.

Like the experience in total for you, did you feel like, what did you gain from it? Like I know you'd worked before and whatnot, but like what was the process of being on this show for six years? Like what were you left with? A lot of obviously. Yeah. And one of which I think maybe is the understanding of how to be. a professional and really do this and what this what this means yeah one of the amazing things that

especially because we shot in l.A i was really blessed with was i was working on this is us and i was in my acting studio in my class at the same time so i was trying stuff in class and then risking it on set and i was going back and forth to try to just push myself like do something really difficult in class And it was so cool, the synchronicity of how those two things just continued to grow me. And, I mean, I shadowed directors on the show. I sat in the writing room. I spoke to editors. I didn't know what different sized lenses were.

So you guys might not remember this. But for Kate's wedding, we had, I think, four cam operators. And this is when I'm shadowing, trying to understand lens sizes. every setup, I asked every cam-up what the lens size was and went back to Village to see what that looked like. That's amazing. Yeah, so I learned it. I mean, it was like, I looked at it a little bit

like my college film school experiences. That's kind of how I approached it. When I watched episode one of season two, every single person on screen is different. everybody has now come back to a hit TV show Well you came back with the beard Yes

All of that But what I mean is there's an ease In the characters There's an at-home feeling Especially with the three of you And I was just telling Mandy Before we hopped on the phone with you That like this was the first episode

Where I saw the link between you and Justin Like You had gotten close enough in the timeline where I was like, oh, there's the, there's the connection, right? There was no more little boy and there's no more grown man. Like, this is the transition point. And it was really, it's really beautiful.

And it shows across everybody. Like every, I think everybody's, the relationships are a little easier. Like the, the way we live in our clothing is a little more at ease. But I'm wondering for you, if you felt that, or if you felt that at any point, in season one or

when settled you feel that all? Did you feel a ship? I never got there. Some people don't. Yeah. Took Sterling six seasons. You know what's funny? I think there's something to it, but also,

you know what's interesting is people will come up to be a lot, even in the later seasons, and they would say, your mannerisms, you did all the mannerisms, and I'm like, I kind of did. like I there's like a one big one he kind of like moves with his nose a bit he kind of does yeah he does but um other than that like just embodying it uh wholeheartedly you know um that i feel like there was a something there i think by that point i was a series regular so i

think there was a little bit more of like oh that helps yeah yeah here yeah do this job security that's different than like one episode you know so yeah I think I think so but I remember I just remember like all the feelings and even my season three and four sometimes I'd be in the makeup trailer just like oh my gosh and I'm just like I need to settle yeah like it's so exciting and I just love it all but that's like yeah I have a question for you so in this particular episode we see blurry figures at jack's funeral and I think like through other context clues we've come to understand, actually through Justin, I believe, that Jack passed away when the big three

were teens. So we know that that leaves you and Hannah and Niles to sort of like carry the load of that storyline. And I'm curious because there was so much mystery around Jack's death and his passing and and so many questions and stuff, were you privyed to any of that? Or were you as in the dark as most of us were? I think Milo or you would maybe tell me some things here and there.

Yeah, we would love you in. I learned from you guys to ask makeup trailer, as Zoe and everybody, about the episodes to come because they get them first. So I like that down the road. But, yeah, no, I don't think I knew much at all. I mean, at that point, obviously, we knew that I was at the funeral, so I started to think about build some. But we also see in this episode that you are making out with Sophie in the woods.

So you're not in Miguel's house with Kate and Randall. He's making the bed, and there's a mysterious redhead there with Randall. Everybody's crying. So we've come to assume that, like, something is transpired, but you're not there. It's really interesting, again, how they sort of, like, shuffle the deck of cards and don't let everybody in on what's going on. Give them a little bit at a time. Exactly. A little bit at a time.

But it must have been, it must have been a clear indication that you'd just been given an emotional raise on the show. Like, oh, oh, this is going to be on us. Yeah. This is going to be on the three of us. Okay. Here comes season two. Yeah. I do remember.

I also remember Milo showing up to the first funeral set because I think he likes the idea of being in his own funeral. So he like showed up. He came and took pictures, remember? I was like, this is so dark. Of course he did. He was haunting us. That's why.

Here's, I do have a question because so much of like the history of the relationship between Randall and Kevin rests on you and Niles. And we get a chance to see play out the after effect of a childhood that was lived. but you guys sort of get a chance to really embody that tension. Like, was there, I'm sure, and I know you guys were buddies or whatnot, but I'm just talked to me a little bit about, like, some of the douchier things that Kev has to do to his little brother and what it was like to sort of, like, live in it.

You know what I'm saying? Like, we just watched it at the end of season one where Randall's having a panic attack and you're, like, standing, you're about to go into the shower, and you see him having a panic attack, and you're like, he'll be all right. And you keep going into the shower, Like, you do a lot of those things. There's arguments and stuff when they're sort of vying for who's the alpha of the house.

I'm just curious. Like, what was it fun to play? Was it difficult? Yeah, I mean, it's both. It's fun. It's difficult. It's like, you know, it's interesting because, like, I remember there's this, this, the scene about the watch. We're like really going at it in the church for the reception, I believe, of the funeral.

And, like, I mean, it's still tense in between takes. Yeah. Like, he's my guy, but if there's an energy that's, it's, it's there. But you just let that kind of ride out. And I guess trust that you really know somebody and that it's like, it's okay because we know what we're doing. But, no, it's fun. I mean, for me, I'd like, I learned to embrace it a bit more, but I would read the scripts. And I would just like, man.

Why? Why? Why am I the bad guy? God, I got to freaking get behind this now. I got to justify. Yeah. I mean the the first really big thing

which didn't make the show and I'm assuming that you guys are talking about all this kind of stuff stuff around his blanket that he was left with the fire station but originally because of the arguing we had before the game I like cut it or something oh my guy cut that out I forgot about that

Because it made me way too much of a villain. They watched it. They were like, oh, he's too much banana. This guy's a prick. Yeah. We can't show that to America. Real it in. Real it in.

Yeah. There's also, and because of that also, there was a really good moment that didn't make it where Niles and Hannah are on the sideline of the game. Yeah. And he said something like, I'm going to take it from him. Like, she's like, stop. What are you doing? The scout is here to see and play.

Like, you don't care about football. And he says, like, I'm going to take it from him. And then he sacks me in the whole thing. That's when you hurt yourself. Do you hurt yourself on that type? That game, I don't think I get hurt. It happens later, which is why when Jack passes away, he has the injury. It's interesting because there's a fine calibration of like, what can you come back from?

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like what is going too far type of thing. So I get it. And it's also, you do such a great job. And I just saying this to all of our listeners, you were one of the nicest young men that I've had the pleasure of being in the presence of. So I always think it's really interesting when you see

naturally kind people have to be sort of like... It's hard. Unkind. It's not the easy thing to pull off. It's not. You killed that joint, man. You killed it. Yeah. For else. Yeah, I don't know if you listen to the podcast in general, but we spend if you, and if you don't, please do rate and subscribe that we spend a lot of time praising you and and your siblings you your contribution to the show is just incredible man yeah that means a lot means a lot coming from you guys really i mean we listen we try so hard i mean you

nail it time after time after time yeah it really is a testament to you guys the three of you that you know we we love these characters we follow these characters as wholeheartedly as we do you you guys just like you never showed up to set unprepared you just like you were so professional you guys were always the best to work with and you made it so easy it to to love you and to root for you you know yeah we had a lot of good times we really we really did beautiful work man yeah a lot of dinners a lot of dinner scene i would come watch some dinner scenes from time to time it was fun to see what was going on in the past it was fun to sort of like get to play with you guys of like, okay, who's going to eat what? Like, are we, are we just going to eat

like a couple bites of salad? Are we going to eat the bread? You know, we all trained ourselves very well to like just stick with the things that you weren't going to get sick of because you were going to be there all day. To the public at large, eating on screen, there's an art to it. There is an art. Oh, yeah. You remember the turkey leg thing, Mandy, with Niles? Never forget it. What happened with the turkey leg? Share. Thanksgiving, right? Yeah, well, he, you know, he ate raw turkey. He wanted to go for it one of the nights and he just took a huge chunk off one and it was it was raw under there so yeah yeah and we just couldn't get over it honestly because that's because it's disgusting yeah and he kept he kept Brian I don't know I don't eat those yeah god and Milo myel made the mistake many a time to

like just like overeating something and then he had to commit to it remember that like it was like some sort of vegan dish again it's on some dinner scene and he had to eat like a whole plate of it every single take and I was like you know better than that mylo come on real quick before we ask you what else you're up to and where people can can find you and support you today what is on your arm the tattoo yeah you know it really looks like a this is us tattoo you can give it a little nod i understand i know it's sorry it's it's not it's it's like one of my friends got a one i got a two i got a three and we all kind of meetings like three holy spirit trinity you can sure but also big three i don't know exactly many many meaning i just wanted to for people

who are watching us on youtube i'm sure i've seen your arm a couple times just wanted you to uh to call it out there yeah okay so now that you've done that tell us have you been up to anything lately can people check you out anywhere if so please let us know where they're there they're actually might be but i don't know if i'm allowed to to say yeah then tell people where they can find you on social media and they can watch that there you go on it on instagram at logan Scoreshoyer, just my name. And yeah, got some stuff going. Nice.

I don't talk about how much. The industry isn't such a strange, crazy. It is. That is, indeed. It's been a really interesting navigating time, but it gives a lot of time for life, too, which is. Some of us got into podcasting. Yeah.

When times are weird, you know, just lean in to a new medium. Lemons. Lemonade. That's what we do. Brothers, it's so great to see you. to see you, Logan. Look forward to seeing you in person. Hopefully you can come back later when we get into more Kevin-specific episodes and just chat.

We'd love to have you back. Pick your brain. I love to. And you guys said some really nice stuff about me. I mean, I couldn't say more things about you guys. You could, though. We have time. We have time if you want to.

Start with Sterling. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. We love you, man. It really is true, though. I mean, you guys, like, I almost, I really, what I want. wanted to say when you asked me what I learned is I learned like from example from you guys

from this show and how you embraced us and the community that's talked about so much to the family. I mean, I really was walking up to you guys and just like, hey, can I ask you a question? And can I, you know, like not trying to bug everybody, but you guys are all so warm. And I'm just like trying to soak up as much as I could. And you guys really, really, I don't know, just great people and great work. And I just had my eyes wide open for six years, it feels like. Well, right back at you. You're the best, Logan.

Thanks for coming to talk to us, man. Of course, thank you for having me. It's really good to see you. Talk to you later, buddy. We are back, ladies and gentlemen, with our fan segment, spotlighting a fan and her adoption story. It's about that time. Now there's a lot that went down.

in today's episode of a father's advice, but at the heart of the episode is the message William has for his son. It's better to have loved and lost. And while Randall and William only had a little bit of time together before William passed, they were both so happy to have reconnected all those years later.

Which obviously made a big impact on Randall and Beth, because in this episode, we see them explore adoption and fostering. That's right. So for today's fan segment, We are going to read a letter from Keeley, who shared her own adoption story. I'm going to start this letter, but somebody's going to pick up for me. Because I'm at 1% for any Gen Xers. So here we go.

Hello, that was us crew. That's us. That is us. I've been meaning to write this letter since episode one of the podcast. I love the show, and I'm enjoying rewatching along with you. Thank you for bringing the show back in this way and for giving us your insightful and sometimes hilarious perspectives week after week. Sometimes.

Whether anyone sees this or this message ever sees the light of day remains to be seen, but it has been cathartic for me to write it for you. Yeah, no longer remains to be seen. We see you. It's been seen. I identify with so many characters on the show. While some were a slower burn like Rebecca and her journey through motherhood and Kate's self-image struggles, I identified with Randall's story right out of the gate.

I was adopted at birth, and while I remember knowing that all my life, I didn't know my biological parents until much later in life. The scene with Randall going up to the supermarket asking total strangers if they can roll their tongues was so funny, but it was also very real. I can remember as a young girl walking through a target with my mom and asking out loud, I wonder if my birth mom is in here right now. The curiosity of my origins persisted, but old school adoption records are sealed. and it can be challenging for adoptees of that time to find anything out. I tried here and there over the years, but never very seriously. Finally, when I was pregnant with my first son, I turned to a website that helps adoptees and bio-parents reconnect.

Very long story short, I was connected with my biological mother. Turns out she very well could have been in that target when I was a child. She lived mere miles away from me and knew precisely, what I was talking about when I told her the neighborhood where I grew up. How crazy. Wow. What's more is I always knew that there were some ethnic differences between my siblings and I, one who was also adopted and one was quote unquote homemade. I would get real, real tan in the summers, while one of my brothers would just burn up and peel endlessly. I was also eventually reconnected with my bio father and found out that my paternal grandmother is from Mexico. That fact

unfortunately played a role in my adoption. I discovered that my bio mother's family didn't approve of her being involved with my bio father because his family was Hispanic. While I myself have not knowingly been the target of racism, racism played a large role in my life being one of the big factors resulting in my adoption. A few years after being reconnected, my bio-mother suddenly passed away. I was driving to work one morning and received a call from a number I didn't recognize, but something told me to answer it. It was her husband calling to inform me that she had very suddenly collapsed and never recovered.

I was absolutely heartbroken, but I couldn't articulate why. I still can't. We spoke every few months and sent emails here and there. I always thought we'd have more time. to build on our relationship. Was I mourning a relationship that wasn't to be? Was I mourning something I had built up in my head and didn't exist? I don't know.

But I do know. I'm very blessed to have gotten to know her and to have many, many questions answered. This is why the episode, Memphis, with William's story and eventual death, really sticks with me. As I rewatched it, old feelings from my biommother resurfaced and it ended with me blubbering like a baby on our couch for real guys straight up ugly crying so much so that i went into my now 15 year old son's room and told him i just watched a really sad episode of this is us and needed a giant hug the relationship between william's mom and him was also breathtaking but this message is already long enough so i'll have to save that for another time this is us gave voice to the normalcy of adoption families come together in various ways and it's not always the traditional way i would tell my friends when growing up that i was adopted in a matter of in a matter-of-fact way just like i was telling them my favorite color yeah they would get wide-eyed and either be apologetic or say oh that sucks but to me it was normal and no big deal at all my parents and family are wonderful and i'm so blessed to have them and wouldn't change anything about my my life. It was really great to see something play out on TV that resembled all of the curiosities of not knowing as a child, elation upon finding answers to many questions,

and eventual heartbreak of mourning a relationship that could have been. Thank you for making the show and now bringing it back through the podcast. Love the show. Love you guys. All my best, Keeley Oh, Keeley Thank you for that message Thank you for your vulnerability And sharing your story And how

Again guys Like we've said it before You think you're making A show For people's entertainment And sort of give them a departure From live for a second You know

But like I think we were all blessed To do something that was more than just Entertainment Yep You know Helping put a mirror up. Yeah. Letting people see themselves. Absolutely. And what a gorgeous story because, you know,

I have a little brother and little sister who are adopted or whatnot. And I don't, I hope nobody feels it's, it's what their, their life is and whatnot. And they have relationships with their biological parents, their biological mother, what have you, but they have a good life. Like Keely had a good life. Yeah. Yeah. She has a great life. Yeah, it's a great life, you know. And it's, like you said, Mandy, when people get a chance to see themselves because sometimes that story isn't always told and isn't told in a way that you can relate to or what have you. But God, how affirming to know that like you're not alone. You're not an anomaly. You know, other people have gone through what I'm going through and there's like sort of like normalcy and like, oh, I'm, I'm, I'm

regular. In my own way, I may be unique, but I'm not like abnormal. I'm regular. That's right. That's right. Thank you so much for your letter, Keeley. We love getting them. We received that through our email. That was us pod at gmail.com. That's right. And send us anything you want to send us. Yeah. I mean, not anything.

Hold on now. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. Let me back up. You know what I meant. There you go. First of all. Second, yeah, we want to hear about how you relate to the show.

What you'd like to hear more of from us. Specific questions, if you have them. You can also leave us a voicemail if you want. if you want. Yep, you can. On the emotional support hotline. They're looking at me

because I'm supposed to have the phone number. I can't find it. Hold on. Hold on. Chris might have it. Hold on. It's probably right there at the end of the letter. I know it's 401.

No, is it 412? No, it's 401. Wait, we'll see. We'll see. When Chris finds it. You might be right.

I think I am. But I can't remember the other seven minutes. Listen, you guys, all you got to do is call 412. Ah! Ha! Ha! That's a number.

was a total Aries thing that just happened right now. 501-3028. That's the emotional support hotline. We are here to support you. You definitely support us. You can support us by spreading the word. Rate review the podcast. Five stars, leave a nice review.

It really, really helps us in the rankings and to be able to continue to do this. We love doing it, and we hope you love hearing it. We love doing it. I love sitting with you guys. It's always the best. Thank you. Thank you for agreeing to say yes. Thank you all for watching and listening.

We'll see you next time. That was us. Hi, friends. We are back with another installation of the Retread segment. Retread is brought to you by Peloton. Find Your Push. Find Your Power with Peloton. On this episode, it was the opening of season two.

I was just about to give birth to my daughter, Lou, and I was nervous and just talking about all of the anxiety and excitement around the birth of baby number three. But flip of that, also, too, during the episode, you had just got engaged. Is that right? Yes, yeah. So the very end of this episode,

we saw the house. It was sort of like right after Jack passes away and we look and see the house for the first time and that it had burned down. And so that was like a big clue. And in real life, I had just gotten engaged the day before. So I had to like sort of justify all of these different emotions

that were sort of pouring through me it, the grief of being an actor on stage and on screen and losing my husband, you know, modulating that. Gaining a husband. Gaining a new husband. Not telling Chris about any of that because he and John Huertes will ruin it on a red carpet somewhere. Yes, you guys, we talked about the fact that you went and spilled the beans that Taylor and I had gotten engaged. Had you not said it already?

We hadn't said it publicly. We had said it to you guys and there was like a paparazzi picture. And they tricked me and John and being like, yeah. In this episode and on the podcast, we talked to Logan for the first time. We talk about his audition process. And the fact that Milo was present during the funeral scenes, we sort of flashed to Jack's funeral in this episode. And it was off-putting to all of us that Milo was there, taking pictures on the day. The ghost of Jack Pearson photographing his own wedding.

Yeah, it was good times. Yeah. The retread brought to you by Peloton. That was us is filmed at The Crow and produced by Rabbit Grinn Productions and Sarah Warehunt. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith.