That Was Us - Randall's Campaign | "Kamsahamnida" (306)

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

What will happen with Randall’s campaign? What could Kevin find out about Jack’s past if he keeps digging? Will Toby and Kate make it through this challenging time? Find out the answers to these big questions (and more) on this week’s episode, where the hosts break down Season 3 episode 6, “Kamsahamnida.” Plus, Mandy, Chris, and Sterling talk about other very important things, including what it’s like to be medium famous, the difference between sherbet and sorbet, and so much more! That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. ------------------------- Support Our Sponsors: - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com/host - David is offering our listeners a deal to buy four cartons and get the fifth free, at davidprotein.com/thatwasus. - Take the next step to improving your health: go to lumen.me/THATWASUS to get 10% off your Lumen. - Build the best summer ever with KiwiCo! Get $15 off on your Summer Adventure Series at ⁠kiwico.com/TWU⁠ ------------------------- 🍋 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 01:00:54 Fan Segment 01:14:57 Outro Executive Producers: Natalie Holysz, Rob Holysz & Jeph Porter Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Video Editor: Todd Hughlett Mix & Master: Jason Richards 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 six, Kamsahmnida. Toby continues to battle depression. Randall gains momentum with a new campaign manager, and Kevin makes a bold move to uncover the truth about Jack's past. How are we doing today, ladies and gentlemen? Doing so well, so well. Another excellent episode by Vera Herbert.

Vera Herbert. I call her Black Vera because she got nominated and won an NACP Image Award, and Black Vera is not black at all, but she did win. I got boot off the stage when she accepted the award. She's Black Vrera now. Wow, you're falling. Your mic's fallen. I got it.

I'm good. Okay. We're straight. What's the Herbert, Sherbert, what? Sherbert. What's the difference between Sherbert and Sorbet? Let's get to the good stuff, guys. I think Sherbert feels like the... Is it Darien Sherbert? No, there's no Terrian Sherbert, I don't think. There's no dairy and sorbet. There's no dairy and sorbet. There's no dairy and sorbet.

I thought about this the other day. Inquiring minds. I saw a Sherbert on the ice cream menu. I don't know if I've ever had Sherbert. You have. I... Have I? Sorbetto. I want to know. You have. There's the difference between Sherbert and Sorbet. Sherbert contains dairy. There you got it. Sherbert contains dairy. Yeah. And if you're saying sherbet, you're wrong.

I never like Sherbert. There's my hot take. I don't know if I've ever had it. Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first. Mandy Moore, heck you, Sherbert. Detest. No, I really don't like it. And I just have visceral memories of my childhood.

My dad loved it. Really? My brothers loved it. Do you think it's a comic? Because Sherberts are generally like a fruit or a, or a citrus flavor, right? And mixed with the dairy and that combo is not. Yeah.

Orange dreamsickle? Nope. Not a fan. Oh, yeah, I'm not a fan either. Nope. That's weird. If you don't give me dairy, give me dairy. If you're not, I don't want dairy and citrus.

That combination is. I don't want fruit in my salad. You know what? Here's a hot take. I don't like fruit in my pie. Oh, that is a hot take. I'm a cream pie. I'm a cream pie.

You like. Like non-fruit pies. Okay, so you like a chocolate. You like a chocolate silk. Oh. You like a banana cream. All of the above. You like a, like a pecan.

I like a pecan. I like a sweet potato. Pumpkin? Sweet potato. Sweet potato over pumpkin. No, sure, sure. Now listen, here's hot take. If you want to go at this weekend, this is cultural.

Let's go. No, but listen. What? When the holidays come back around and we're doing these podcasts, I'm going to bring you a slice of. of my mom's pumpkin pie, and that'll be the end of this debate. Okay. I, listen, I love you.

Yeah. I don't think you're right. But it's your mom. But it's your mom. And I'm open to being wrong. Wouldn't it be great if you were wrong and you had the best slice of pumpkin pie of your life? So you give me a slice of your mom's pie. I'm sure.

I'm going to give you a slice of my wife's sweet potato pie. Okay. And we'll have a little taste taste. I just prefer a sweet potato over a pumpkin in general. Sure. I understand. and what you're saying. But that's because neither of you have had my mom's...

Sure, I'm open. I'm open. I've also had a sweet potato cheesecake. Yes, delicious. Oh, boy. So what is your favorite pie? Sweet potato. I like a banana cream, if it's done well.

My mom used to like, so my mom, God, are we going to talk about the show? Yeah, yeah. No, but my mom used to love a banana pudding with the vanilla wafers. Yes. Yes, I love wafers. That was, but see, I don't like fruit and sweet together. That's funny. I just said I don't like, I don't like, like citrus and cream.

Right, right, right, right. Like, citrus and milk. I hear you. I can have like, banana's not citrusy. Exactly. Banana, berries, like, I'm fine with that. Wait, berries are citrusy. No, they're not.

Berries are not a citrus. They're not? That's not even a hot take. That's just a fact. Was that just like, just dumb what I said? No. No, just so. No, as you could say it.

Don't you hear my voice go up? No. No, just un-in-vour. No. I thought berries had citrus. No. Lemons, oranges, limes, what else? Grapefruit.

Grapefruit. Yeah. Clementine. Okay. Any version of orange. Not orange. But that's it. That's all citrus.

That's citrus. Yeah. I don't know why I thought grapes had. No. Grapes? What are we talking about grapes? Not citrus. Grape's not a berry.

I knew that. Wait, is a grape is a berry? Grape is not a bear. I don't think a grape is berry. Girls have a seed. It does have a seed. You guys, the point is Vera Herbert. Sherbert, Mandy doesn't like it.

Anyway, this episode... This episode's fantastic. It is. It is a good episode. We get introduced to a brand new character who comes to be a fixture on the show, who I had just forgotten about. I just hadn't seen the show and so long, and I'm like, here comes Tim Joe. Love.

Tim Joe. Love Tim Joe. Let me... Okay, because we'll get to... We're going to get Tim Joe on the show. Oh, we have to get... We have to get Tim Joe on the show. Jay Juan has got to make an appearance on the show because...

And this wasn't even, like, me sharing anything with the writers. One of my... best friends in life. Dr. Philip Kim is a Korean. We've known each other since freshman year of college. He's been in my wedding. I've been in his wedding. There's like a group of six of us or whatnot. So it was really funny. Like as this storyline was coming up, like all my friends were asked, hey Phil, did you like contribute to the storyline? Did they tell you? They know that you guys are friends. Like there's a lot of excitement in the friend group around this whole thing. So it's pretty awesome. While we're book and guests, Sam, we should also try and get Rob

Morgan on here, too. Rob Morgan's outstanding. Outstanding. He's outstanding. Well, let's just go with the sort of the Pearson, black Pearson storyline first. Sure, sure. Get it out of them. Always.

Right? Randall is still sort of learning, trying to entrench himself in the community, Philadelphia, or whatnot. So he's got to go to church. He picks the blue shirt for church over the white shirt, which I thought was cute. He picks the blue shirt. He picks the teal shirt. He picks the teal shirt.

He picks the teal shirt. He picks the teal shirt. He says blue or white. Yeah. And she's like, well, what about Till? He's like, isn't that overdoing it for churches? Like, there ain't no overdoing it for black church. Got it, got it, you're right.

Which is true. If you would. Tell me about your black church outfit. I'm going to tell you, well, I think you probably have more black church outfits than me. I've got a lot of them. My man, Sully, if you guys have not, like, keyed in on his, his fashion sense. If you have not seen me at black church. It is very much of the black church.

Pause the podcast. Do a quick Google search. Welcome back. Do a quick, good. Welcome back to the podcast. This dude kills it. And like, because there are certain sort of like fashion stores that are in the community. That you go and look in the window and you're like, oh, that is a statement.

Yes. And then you go to church and you see statement after statement after statement. Bright colors. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Like there's nothing muted. It is a celebration, bro. And we go all at it.

Especially if you guys have seen Honk for Jesus, they talk a little bit about the women in their hats or whatnot. And the crowns. Come on, Sully. Crowns. You better give me something for that one. The sister on their crown, man. I mean, the hats are long. And we didn't have that in this episode

because I think they take up too much space. But Lord have mercy, the crowns are something special. Anyway, Randall goes to Black Church, and he's sort of like, I love seeing me clap and just be smiley and happy and just sort of, you know, fitting in and whatnot. And then it turns out that But Councilman Brown is going to say...

He's doing the first reading. He's doing the first reading of Scripture of the day. He gets up there. He's all happy and not, not. And he decides to introduce his friend, Randall Pearson. And I'm like... And you can see in my head, Brown says... Where is this going?

Brown, no, in my head is like, this Negro. I know exactly what he's going to do. You know exactly what you're doing. And he said, now people think that we can't be friends because he's actually running against me. But, you know, he wants to do something positive for the community. He makes sure to point out exactly where you live. He's joining us all the way from Alpine, New Jersey.

And I said, you know, I actually bought a building right around the corner, so I'm right here. And it's like, well, why don't you show us your beautiful family or whatnot? They weren't able to make it. Well, maybe next time. You know what I'm saying? And it is just, it is, it reminds, my wife recently told me that, bear with me, Women are capable of greater cruelty because they're smarter. And the way in which they can hit you are in ways in which everybody else can't see.

Councilman Brown was on that level of hitting you where nobody else was perceiving the hit. Right? But Randall was feeling it most palpable. I would agree with that. Mandy would agree with that too. Yeah. I kid, I kid. Yeah.

I think she was talking about because we were having a conversation about mean girls in the way like friends of ours with high school girls in the way that they go at each other where dudes will just hit each other yeah and there's a there's on the surface it's on the surface i don't think we have the same facility with language of whatnot like your brain goes oh must hit yeah and and that's how it goes whereas women will because testosterone is a poison there you go yeah there you go there it is so um he goes through this thing and then kev winds up hitting him on the phone after he leaves church saying that i want to talk to you want to want to hang out want to do something he's like look man i'm up in philly all day i don't have time for this

or what have you yeah no it's just it's just a funny thing where kevin's like i just am doing some soul searching you're like bro yeah i'm running for political office figure this out and he's like look i know where your office is so i i you know i don't respect boundaries yeah i'm gonna come in to you so he's like all right i'll tell you a spot where we can meet and so i send him a little text and he winds up coming to meet me and it's at a korean restaurant yeah right in korea town outside Philadelphia, which is still in the district. Because you don't want your famous white brother. Yeah.

Spoiling whatever little street creed that I already have. Yeah, yeah. This is strategic. This is strategic. So we go to this Korean spot about, like, do you guys like Korean? Yeah. Yeah. Dude, some of my favorite.

Calbee? Yeah. Yeah. Please. Please, please. Okay. Korean fried chicken? Out.

Those spots here in town? They're popping up all over the place, man. I'll tell you. what? Just so people know, if you don't like Korean, you should give it a shot. And the first time you smell kimchi, you'll think you don't like it. Eat it anyway. You may not like it. I love it. So good for your gut. I love it. It's so good for you. Yeah. It's one of my favorite things. Yeah. I love it. Anyway, we go to this Korean spot. And it seems like Kev is getting like a little bit of notice. They're like, he says something like, yeah, it's me. Yeah. Oh, this is me.

This is me. You get free stuff. People are walking by, smiling at him. Smellering, and he's like, yeah, it's me. Compliments for the chef. It is, the way Justin does celebrity. The Manny was the number one show in South Korea. Yes, the way Justin does celebrity as Kevin really cracks me up because he's not like this in life at all. But he's so grandiose.

Yeah, it's me. Yeah, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Like, if I can see myself doing that in real life, I was like, oh, my God. Cringe. Cringe, city. But Randall's clocking it as they're sitting in the spot. I kind of did it the other day with Rachel.

What did you do? We were walking into Costco because we started shopping at Costco. Yes. And we were walking in and we were, this couple was walking next to us. And Rachel was like, why does that woman keep looking at us? And I went, baby, I'm medium famous. Medium. Are you medium famous?

Yeah. Is that how you feel? Yeah. that's a good medium's good yeah do you how do you feel i would say that sounds accurate medium mandy moore there's don't put yourself in the same category as christ ron k brown and chris don't don't do that i mean Mandy more i just i feel like you don't make the presumption it's i feel like i oftentimes get that look of like like do our kids go to school together did we We go to high school together.

There's like a knowing glance of familiarity without being able to necessarily place it. I get that. To be fair, mine was a callback because back when we were doing up fronts in New York, Rachel and I were getting our nails done in midtown. And we were both sitting there getting our manicures and I was getting my nails painted. You were black at that time? What's that? What color? I remember black sometimes.

I think I went red. I think I was, I might have been there for the tonight show. I was, yeah, a bright color. And a bunch of people in the place started to like, hi, hello, hi. And I would say hi, hey, hey. And the lady to do my nails asked Rachel. She goes, are you famous? Is he famous?

And I said, yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess. And her follow-up question was, how famous are you? See? And hold on, hold on. Hold on. That's good. And I said, and I didn't want to answer. So I turned to Rachel.

And I said, I don't know, Rachel, how famous? am i and rachel without looking up from her nails goes i don't know medium famous amazing it was like the delivery was like only from your partner can that come oh my goodness and and so it was like a like a eight-year callback i'm like rachel i get that question from time to time are you famous and i say if you have to ask them probably that's right you know what's And then we keep it moving. So Kevin and Sterling are sitting in this Korean restaurant. Kevin and Randall or Sterling and Justin.

What did I say? Sterling as Randall. What did I say? You said Kevin and Sterling. So listen, me and my wife are in this restaurant. And Randall starts the clock that everybody is sort of swarming around Kevin. And he's like, oh, dude. Like the manny is like the biggest show in South Korea.

And you're like, what? What are you talking about? And so he starts to see like, oh my God. gosh, I'm in my district. I just got my butt handed to me in church, right? The last week I got my butt handed to me at the barbecue restaurant. At the barbecue restaurant. And there's a whole untapped sort of like community of voters. We wind up going back to my campaign office. And he's got the posters up. Kevin's like, oh, you get it. It's all official and everything. And I realized that only 25% of registered voters voted last time and 90% of them voted for Saul Brown. Yeah. But there's a whole community. of people that didn't even show up to vote. Didn't even register. Didn't even register to vote. So maybe if I can register and vote, maybe I have a chance.

And now my brother, who may have hurt me with the brothers, might be like the greatest thing that ever happened to me, right? I'm telling you. And Kev. Political Randall is my favorite Randall. Kev is so in, like, just from jump, he dies right in. He's like, let's make it happen, right? So we start canvassing in Korea time.

I love sober, healthy, Kevin. It's pretty awesome. Like not a narcissist, not selfish. He's just ready to be of service. It's awesome. And we're going around, we're meeting the people, et cetera, et cetera. And then Tim Joe rose up and he's like, okay, so you're getting your butt handed to you in the black community. So you step foot into a place that you probably haven't stepped foot into before saying like, oh, I can mind these people for voting.

And then you'll be gone once anything happens. Yeah, never come back. Nice play, right? And Randall says, hey, man, look, you got me. This is my first time here. But what I love about Randall is that he is observant. He does care. And he does care.

Yeah. Like he... Which you can't fake. You can't fake that, right? He's like, I've seen storefronts boarded up. I saw a brother holding his bicycle, tire under his wheel, because he knew that was the only way he could keep it. I've seen potholes. And so I've seen things that could be addressed, but I don't really know what you want.

And I don't really know what you need. But if you talk to me, right, I will listen to you. That's a path forward. Yeah. And we can do something. And I say, I don't know. a lot of Korean, right, because he heard his brother, I think, earlier in the episode say, but I do know one word, and it's kamsa Hamida, which is thank you, right? So, thank

you for having me and whatnot, we'll see what happens. And the whole time he's doing this, this is my favorite part of this scene. Yeah. Is Tim Joe's sister, a cousin or whatnot, is interpreting. Is interpreting. Yeah. Impromptu. Impromptu. And he's like, you know, if your dope-ass sister just keeps interpreting for me. And she, she perks up, like, such as Like she felt so full and proud or whatnot. I was like, it was my favorite thing. And so at the end of it, well, this is Kevin and Randall together. And Kev is talking to Randall early in the episode.

And he's saying like, you remember we had this room and there was like this little piece of wallpaper that was sort of coming off at the corner or what have you? And then like we couldn't help ourselves and we just kept pulling at the wallpaper until we saw like this whole blue wall underneath it. what have you. So he re-references that conversation with regards to, like, why he's sort of fixated on finding out more about dad. Because in the restaurant as well, when they were there, he's like, look, dad was pretty clear. Randall says, dad was pretty clear. Like, this wasn't a part of his life that he necessarily wanted to share. Right? And then at the end of the episode, Kev's like, I think I kind of got to, you know, follow this as far as I can. I said, you got to pull the wallpaper. He says, yeah, I do. And I say, I hope you find what you're looking for,

right? Which is a beautiful moment. And then Tim Joe comes in at the end, and he's looking at the campaign office, and he's talking about his grandmother. And this moved me. And it moved me in a way that I think even, like, right now, it's like the power of the vote. And in the midst of where we are as a country politically or whatnot, and I know through the election cycle, the level of disenchantment with like, does it matter? I felt like there's a lot of people that had a real strong feeling of like, whether I do or whether I don't, it doesn't really matter. Doesn't move the needle. Doesn't move the needle. So for Tim Joe to come in and say, look, my grandmother who moved here from Korea has never voted in her life. She didn't vote there.

She hasn't voted here or whatnot. But she can't stop talking about the black man that she met with the nice hands today. And this is a real thing for Sterling because I do moisturize. And I try to keep them soft. I don't like the hard hands. They're very soft. It's usually a circle butter. Clippers for your nails.

He clips his cuticles with with nail scissors. I do. With like nail, with like not, you need a cuticle numbers. You wouldn't know they look very nice. Thank you very much. They're very soft. It gets it done. It gets it done.

Very, very soft. Thank you, Sonia. I appreciate that. Hot tip. One more time. They're just so sorry. I appreciate it. But he says in the context of the speech, he goes, but she can't stop talking about the black guy with the nice hands or whatnot. And for the first time, in 75 years, she registered to vote. Yeah.

And I got a little misty, like watching it all play out. Tim Joe says that, or Jay Wan, says that I'm a political science major from here. I worked on other campaigns. I heard you don't have a campaign manager. I like the job. I say, what's your name? He goes, J-Wan, but, you know, most non-Korean people just call me Johnny and whatnot. And I say, Jay-Wan, welcome to the team, right?

Which I thought was a really cool moment. Yeah, good writing. It's really good writing. And you opt for his Korean name. Yes, that you opt for his Korean name. And, like, this is who you are. This is what I'll call you, right? More that was us after these words from our sponsors.

Gang, I need to plan a summary. trip got to keep the kids entertained we got soccer camps and like flag football camps and all these things we can wind up going to st louis to visit family or whatnot but i'm trying to figure out what's the best place to stay where we can enjoy our time yeah i've realized now that i am a dad i am a summertime dad which means the trips are upon us you need the trips we're going up northern yeah you have to you have to have plans yes if there are no plans if there's no plans if there's If there's no school, we're in big trouble. It's chaos.

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Bring out your adventurous side. Mitsubishi Motors, drive your ambition. Let's go back to back. Let's go back to Beth because as Randall is going to church, the girls sort of come in and they're a little disenchanted that Randall's working and he's campaigning because they have to sell Girl Scout cookies. And Beth is like, well, I can help you guys sell cookies. You know, I don't have a lot on my plate right now and I'm happy to help you. They go try to find a place to sell cookies. She brings them to a grocery store at first and realizes when they get there.

There's another troop that's set up. Somebody's already working the corner. They already work in the corner. They're working the outside of the grocery store. Spots taken. So they have to pivot, find another place. And where did they end up? An empty-ass strip mall.

It's another mall that's clearly lost foot traffic to something else. Correct. And the one guy who comes by and is like, you know what? I will buy four boxes of cookies. Here's my credit card. Tess sort of looks at her mom like, where's the swipy thing? Yeah. And she's like, what now?

Like, I need what? She has not brought the card reader. It's pre-COVID, so you didn't know. It was so sweet. She's like, if you just let me write down your credit card number, then I'll rip it right up after all. And this white man looked at it like, I'll see you later. Like, for $16 worth of cookies, I'm going to keep walking.

So then, and then Tessler keeps giving a grief and whatnot. Do you guys eat girls' guy cookies? I mean. What's your go-to? I'm a Girl Scout. Thin men's? I love a Samoa, too. Yeah.

The Samoa is the one with the chocolate caramel on the outside of whatnot. Yeah. I used to just love that. What are the peanut butter sandwiches? Peanut butter patties. Oh, peanut butter patties are the chocolate covered ones. Yeah. But the peanut butter sandwiches were my jam.

Oh, yeah. Straight up, even just the straight up, like what that guy orders, the short bread, really good. Delicious. Reach. You dip them. You dip them in something. I think. I think

Cream pie No, the thinnints in the freezer Thinman's in the freezer Thinman's crushed up over ice cream Ooh You're a connoisseur Yeah well

I don't burn 1,200 calories That's a callback to a previous episode But this is the regionally You know they change by region Oh the cookies Yeah the names do But sort of the cookies

Oh really? You get certain cookies in certain regions. Look at this guy. And, well, I get him from all kinds of regions. All walks of the lives. All regions. When I was a Girl Scout, the Samoas were called Carmel Delights. Yes. Caramel delights. Yes.

Yeah. You can say Caramel. Caramel, some say caramel. Some say caramel. Carmel. How long were you a Girl Scout? I was a Daisy, then a Brownie, than a Girl Scout. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.

So were you singing and Girl Scouting? No. No. So all before the music career. Yes. I have a band of Girl Scout before. I sold cookies on tour? I could have. Man, you would have killed, son! Oh, man, you would have definitely got the pizza party.

Sold the most. Mandy sold... Pizza Hut, personal pan pizzas! Mandy sold 27,000 boxes? Listen, she was outside of in-sync concerts, just like... That's right. At her meet and greeting autographs and giving away Girl Scout Cite now. There's something called a lemonade.

What? That is a large format. vanilla shortbread cookie with lemon icing on lemon icing on the bottom it's just all over the bottom that does not sound good that is not my cup of you don't like a limine you mean you mean the actual cookie or just the way i'm saying it's description and the cookie itself they also go in the freezer and they're excellent um okay okay boy scouts we just sold i digress so beth so beth was getting harangued by her children she was getting rang the kids were sort of giving her grief. I was just like, I should have gone with so-and-so's mom. She never forgets the

swipy thing. Beth is catching in all directions. Well, she's catching it from Tess mostly because Tess is just going, going, going, going, going, going and this is the point I'm going to talk. And then Beth says, like, three or four times in a row, shut up, shut up, shut up. Yeah. Parents, are you guys there yet? Have you had this moment? Because it may happen with a slightly older child. I haven't gotten to shut up. I'm sure I will. But I've gotten to, oh, okay. Okay. I've gotten to that one. I like that one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I have to. So one, I've only done it once. I think it happens usually when they're older and they're more verbal, just like it happened with Tess and Beck. I was cutting Amari's hair. Now, Amari, Michael Ryan Christian Brown is the sweetest thing in the whole wide world. But like cutting his hair, old boy just won't sit still. He keeps moving and everything and you're trying to line it up and do all this stuff.

stuff, et cetera. And he's complaining. He's like, I can't hear the TV. The clippers are too loud. I was like, you can turn it up a little bit. He's like, but you keep standing in front of me. I need you to move to the side. I was like, let me do this lining real quick. I need you to move now and something really, I just shut up, shut up, shut out, shut out, show, I said it, like five, six times in a row. And he looked at me and his eye watered and I said, I'm sorry, dude. I say, I just kind of need you to sit still so I can do this thing real quick. And I feel like it's being a little bit harder than what it needs to be. Daddy shouldn't have spoken to you like that?

I apologize. This happened when Amari was six years old. Amari will be 10 later on this year. Every couple of months, he goes, you remember when you told me to shut up? Amari. Oh, God. I said, yes, man. I remember.

And I'm really, really sorry. Here's the thing. One of these days, he's going to, he's going to. going to be like, you remember when you told me to shut up? I get it now. Because he's going to have his own moment with somebody else. Sure. And he's going to be like, and he's going to have that context. And he's going to be like, oh, that was the moment where you were going to. You'll see it from the other side. But until then, I just have to feel like crap like every three months, like quarterly. Quarterly. Just a reminder. It's a quarterly reminder. Toby had his shut up

moment a few episodes ago. Yes, it did. Now, Beth gets her. So now Miguel needs one. So like the other big three. Does he get one? I don't think so. I don't think so.

Miguel would never. Miguel's lived long enough that like if it happened, it happened when he was younger. I feel like he does have some sort of outburst about Kevin or something. I think so too. We'll see. Well, I mean, already called Kevin out before. Right? Yeah, but I feel like in my mind, there's some, something that he just gets.

pushed and poked. No, it's me. He comes after me. And understandably so. Yeah. Miguel does? Yeah. Oh.

I guess we'll just have to rewatch the show. Do you remember this? Like closer to the end. You guys, I'm going to rewatch this entire series until I find that moment. Good call. That's the move. That's the plan for everybody, right? Right, good.

So Beth has her sort of meltdown, and afterwards they go back home. And this is the moment you were speaking about before. Okay, I was talking about this in the last episode and I was in the wrong episode. I apologize. Folks, sometimes when you watch them all three together, it becomes like one, two-hour movie. I have to intentionally put space between her. I can't get the, yeah. Yes.

And Dacia is talking to Beth, and she says, you know, when I'm not feeling great sometimes, has Randall ever called you exceptional? And he called me that one time, and it felt so natural and so easy. that I almost believed it. So if you're not feeling good about yourself, you should just talk to him and he'll tell you you're exceptional and you'll feel much better about this whole thing. But you kind of have to let them know if you're sad,

you have to tell him. You have to tell him. And I'm like, there's something about lyric and just sort of like the simplicity and authenticity of everything that comes out of her mouth, that you just believe her. And she's just this old soul, soul that we are privileged enough to parent that has already been here and is now teaching us

as we're supposed to be teaching her. I was like, no, this girl is giving us everything, right? And Beth even says, you're really good at these speeches. And she's like, you stay around here long enough, you learn your way around to speak. Just like through osmosis or something, like you can't help yourself. You can't help yourself, right? So we're converging on Beth and Randall seeing each other at the end of the night.

Randall comes into the house and he's like, Beth, I got myself a campaign manager. He's totally excited. He's got a new lease. Oh, no. Sorry, excuse me. Before he goes home, he goes to visit Councilman Brown.

That's right. Okay. And he says, like, that was real cool, what you did. You want to talk about the past? You want to set it up? Let's talk about all the boxing leading up to death. Go for it.

But finish the conversation with Beth first. We'll finish the end. Okay. Okay. So I got a campaign manager feeling really great about it. And Beth has had this very difficult day. She winds up telling her husband, she goes, I lost my job. And he goes, I know. I know. You tell me, he's like, but no, I've been pretending like I've been okay about it. But I'm really, really not okay. Right? And you see, Randall sort of has a shift in posture. After being all excited about his campaign manager, et cetera, et cetera. And he goes, after listening this moment happens when he gets an idea and he looks at her and he's like why don't you work on the campaign with me and she's like I don't need no pity jobs and she's like stop right there like you are the best partner that any person could have in life I have 20 years of experience you remember the wedding that we pulled off for like $5,000 people still talking about them

crap puffs she was like oh this one good good crampas, yeah. Like, whatever we decide to do together, we do something beautiful. So let's make something beautiful together, right? And it's a really lovely moment. It sort of, it does remind me as a husband. This is real, because my wife was here a couple of weeks ago, she does bother me, but I do love her. I do love her a great deal. And it is a beautiful thing. Like when I hear you guys talking about music and you and Rach every once in a while do some things together like when you find that partner and you guys can make something together like you're not just you're building something in terms of family and raising children etc but when you get a chance to be

creative and productive in that way that lets your partner know that like oh I'm a value not just in raising children and not just in this but like in every facet of life yeah we are capable of doing something extraordinary together I was a good like lesson for me. Yeah, it was pretty powerful. Yeah. I love seeing them come together like that. It's dope. Should we? You're diving to the past part now? Yeah, let's dive into the past. Well, wait, before that, because I don't want to short shift Kev, because Kevin and Randall is sort of together in this thing. Kev decides that, you know, it's something that he wants to pursue in terms of finding out more about peeling the wallpaper. He goes and talks to Zoe. He gives her something. She goes, what is this? You're like,

I would wish people wouldn't ask me that. If you just open it up, then you get to see what it is. And it is like a visa to Vietnam. Yeah. Right? And he's like, look, I have to go on this journey. Which came in a bag and probably could have been on the high bottle. Probably could have done it smaller. It seemed bigger than what it was going to be.

Yeah. She's like, there's nothing else else in it? There's nothing else in him? There's nothing else in him. He's over-promised and under-delivered, but still it's a trip to Vietnam, so that's pretty big deal. But then over-requested? Maybe. With a visa application?

Yeah, I don't know. Do you need a visa to get to? I guess some countries you need to? Maybe if they were, like, potentially going to be filming something? I don't know. Okay. No, no. Black beard is better than us. Trust the writers. Yeah. And she agrees to go with him. And I think she actually, in that sort of sense of partnership, too, appreciates that, like, he's not looking to me just to be, you know, physical or anything like that. Like, I need mentally, emotionally, like, please go on this journey with me, which is also a very intoxicating thing. I would imagine if someone invited me in that way, I'd be like, oh, wow, you really appreciate all of me. You know?

So now, let's go back in time, shall we? Let's start with this. Let's start with Milo coming and acting like the hat over his face. Is not going to elicit any. That didn't elicit. Questions? Anything at all. I was like, hey, Big Pimping, what you doing with this hat?

So we come to find out that Jack has been boxing after work with some buddies. Rebecca thinks he's just been using. Hitting the heavy bag. Exactly. but he's actually physically been boxing with friends of his. Sparring. Sparring, sorry. And he got a black eye.

He got a black guy. Stuart, punched him in his eye. Oh, Stewart was his name? Stuart's his guy's name's Stuart. Stuart's not going to hurt you, right? Yeah. Right before he walks into the house, I believe, Kev jumps on top of Randall.

They're wrestling. And he's just sort of wrestling him. But, like, Randall is catching, like, he's not getting anything else. There's nothing he can do. He's just totally pinned down. Also, side note, my favorite part is seeing McKinsey. Just sitting on the couch. Who has grown so much.

Like maybe a foot? That they can't put her standing next to the boys. Yeah, because she towers over them. Towers over them. So she's just sitting there like, I'm big, but I'm being down. And they're just, like, messing with each other over here. You know that, like, later on in seasons, they had to actually build things for people to walk on.

Next to her? To make her appear. I can believe it. When you say people, do you mean Milo? Well, I'll just, you can decide. I'm talking lots of other people that were in the scene. For everybody. For everybody.

She shot up. She shot up, which is, as I'm watching my sort of middle school boy happen, the girls shoot up. That's when it happens. The girls shoot up pretty fast. So, yeah, they're at boxing and catching it later. Randall tells his dad, dad, you got to teach me how to box. And he's like, what for?

He's like, I don't think your mom's going to like that. He said, listen, I've been getting bullied by this dude at school. Dylan. His name is Dylan, and he makes fun of me. He just came in from New York, and I don't want to talk on him because then people say that I'm, you know, ratting them out or whatnot. I just need to learn how to protect myself. I'll only use it if I absolutely have to, but please just show me, right?

And he's like, all right. So he puts on... What are our parental views on this? Yeah, what would one do in this situation, Sterling? Okay, so this comes back to something where we were talking. about before I wanted to revisit in terms of Jack's reason for why he boxes or whatnot. You know, sometimes he just, he articulates it later in the episode, but I'll just speak from me. There are moments in time when I have such pent-up energy inside of me. If something

has frustrated me at work or in life, et cetera, and I don't know what to do with that energy. And as I was saying before, like, something Sometimes words leave me, even though I think I'm a fairly verbal and communicative person. But there are times in which they just escape me. So I have a heavy bag in my garage that I will use. And then sometimes, I remember one time in one particular incident, I was so angry and I didn't know what to do with it. So this is Allah Randall and Allah Jack. I ran for 12 miles until I just was tired.

And I couldn't hold on to the anger anymore because the exhaustion had depleted it, right? So it's either that or I will go and hit this bag or whatnot and just wail on it. Like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Boxing is like one of my favorite. And it tires you out so completely. It's very healthy response. You know. I like to hold it in for years until I start mistreating the people around me.

That you love the most. Yeah, the people that I love the most. That makes sense. the Irish way. But it is an incredible release. And I do find, like, because I played football when I was a kid. And you were talking about the poison

that is testosterone and semi-jokingly. But like, I do think boys need some sort of healthy conduit to, like, release. And it's different. Like, my wife will look at the two fellas doing stuff and, like,

wrestling like little bear cubs. And she's like, what's going on? I was like, they're just playing. Getting it out. And she's like, really? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. That's how they do it. And she's like, okay, you say so, you know what I'm saying? So I am a fan of constructive outlets for that, you know? And I think it wasn't always constructive when I was a kid, because I got in so many fights when I was young. Before I was 10 years old, I couldn't tell you how many fights I'd been in. I've never been in a fight. My son has never been in a fight. Neither of my children have ever been in the fights. I do think that it's probably an offshoot of the corporal punishment that I received. And then I was like, oh, this is how you solve problems. You solve problems by causing pain to somebody, right? And so I made a decision to, Ryan and I made the decision that that wasn't something that we wanted to continue with our children. Like, there's still consequences. They still lose things, et cetera, right? Privileges, etc. But, like, that part of it, we took away because the talk.

part was probably more important, explaining to them why you're receiving these consequences, et cetera, so that they can learn that articulation later on in life. You understand? I'm understand. I think there's a direct sort of correlation and carry-through from one to the next time. I'm already so worried about it because Bear is too big for, not too big. He's big boy. Big for his age. Yeah. Which gives people the wrong idea about how old he is. But he's also more verbal than he should be at his age, which doesn't help people gauge his emotional maturity all these things. But he's wide open, right? And he travels through this world. Hi, I'm Bear. Do you want to play? What's your name? Like, it's like his script on playgrounds. And

like he finds somebody and just the number of times that this kid already at age four is like getting things thrown at him. Like he said some kid hit him on the playground it's like what do you do i don't know what to tell him about like yeah i'm first of all i'm really sorry that happened to you but like yeah some people are like i don't know what to say i don't know what to do so like this this whole plot line was like it's such an old like i'll take you out to throw a punch and then you can use it if you need it is like um you know it seems antiquated but there's also value in being able to feel confident in your body and that you can defend yourself if you need to so that if you feel that you can and maybe you won't need to there you

go you know um but yeah i don't know what's your take me anymore my take is i feel very aligned with rebecca of like we're going to call the principal like rebecca does find out about this from jack and she's like first of all i wish you would talk to me about correct because she catches jack and randall in the act of sparring yeah because she said i i told you not to like spar anymore and so you thought You took that and decided to teach our son how to box. Yeah, like, I'm not sure I'm understanding this connection. Yeah. And so Rebecca basically says, like, we're going to solve this by calling the principal and

and speaking to him about Dylan and who this kid is and why is he hurting our child or threatening. You know, like. Yeah. Would you not have your boys do boxing lessons or a martial art or anything like that? Oh, if they were interested in that, for sure. I agree with, like, being literate and knowing how to use your body and feeling comfortable in your skin and feeling strong and empowered. Like, I'm all for that.

If they also recognized that it wasn't something to be used in particular cases. Like, it wasn't the, shouldn't be the first line of defense. Absolutely. Being really intentional with your words and, or talking, you know, understanding that something's not right or you feel uncomfortable in speaking to an adult and having an adult, like, intervene in help with a situation. Yeah. Like, I mean, maybe that's not the way it goes in high school or something, but at least with like, when I'm thinking about little kid, you know, where the ages that my kids are right now, like having them understand the difference between like, it's okay to recognize when you don't like something, when, you know, someone's taken something without asking you or someone's hitting you or that you can, you don't have to hit back.

Right. I mean, we go through this all day with the boys. Just like, Ozzy takes your toy. like you don't go hit him you would say Ozzy that I was playing with that can I have it back please and or come get me or dad or like we'll help we'll explain to him he's also two

two and a half like he's he's not a big boy like you he's not quite at the age where he understands how all of this transaction works I'm with you right right I think oh yeah exactly and just like chucks him against the wall but also I'm like dude Ozzy's about to be bigger than you

any day is he really he thinks he's going to Yeah, Ozzy's going to be bigger than Gus. I think Lou is going to be bigger than all of them. She's going to be the big sister that tower, the little big sister that towers over everybody. More, that was us, after this short break. If you've ever watched This Is Us and found yourself relating to Randall's intense runs, or Kate and Toby trying to figure out what healthy really looks like, you're not alone.

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So we wind up finding out because you go in, you wind up talking to the principal, there's no Dylan. Yeah. He's made this all up. Jack's like, I got to go talk to him. She's like, you want me to talk to him? He's like, no, he lied to me. I got to figure out why he lied to me. Yeah.

He goes, dude, mom talked to the principal. There's no Dylan. Like, what's going on? He goes, like, Kevin knows how to box and fight. Like, he's good at all these sort of physical things or whatnot. And he's a lot like you. He gets that from you. that from you. And I just wanted to have, and I know I'm your son or whatnot, but he's your

son, son, right? And I just wanted to have a piece of you, you know, that Kevin has as well. Is it the first time and maybe the only time he says something like that to Jack about the sun-son line hit me hard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. For him to have that realization that young. Yeah, I think so. It was a rough one. Yeah, the whole deal. Well, because Because it's an echo from a few episodes before where like the only one to pass something on a dad. A piece of dad, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, and he says, dude, you are my son's son.

And you, me and Kev may be able to have this thing, but you know you have this brain, man. And you're going to be able to think your way out of so many situations that you're not going to have to use this other thing. That's your superpower. That's your superpower, right? Yep. uh randall went and saw the councilman brown or whatnot and they're talking about they showing the flashback also they're all sitting around watching a boxing match and he goes you know every once in a while when you catch your opponent with a really good shot like you don't like wince and pain you don't do anything like

that like all you do is just smile you just smile and you're like it's you're sort of acknowledging that the shot landed but i'm not letting you see me sweat you know what i'm saying i'm not wincing in pain from that And the scene between Rob Morgan and myself, Councilman Brown and Randall, like, I walk in there. I was like, hey, man, you got me pretty good in church today. You know what I'm saying? Letting people know I was the outsider, how I don't really belong, et cetera.

That's good. Which that's what I thought the scene was about. Right. Because the voiceover, and you're smiling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He hit you with a good shot. He hit me with a good shot. And then I say, but, you know, I went into,

I got a new campaign manager, right? And I said to him, I'm going to win Korea town right and then Rob smiles back you know what I'm saying it's just like oh it's on and pop it down game recognized game the game is a foot ladies and

it's about his name is Jay Juan down his name is Jay Juan and that's when you see Rob's face shift and look oh shit I know what that means it is it is a good storyline it's um it's it's one of my favorites

for Randall and Randall and Beth together to see them enter into this journey together and also like the repercussions of when things don't necessarily go the way that you want them to. Yeah, it's the first time you see them like under real pressure, yeah, pressure, yeah.

Which is also why I also get worried about doing things with Ryan, but I should probably still do them anyway. You should. Thank you. I think you guys are strong enough. Thank you. Do we have anything else?

Is what we're going to wait? Oh, Kate! Kate? Yes, please. Kate and Toby. Kate and Toby. What about them? Well, Kate is pregnant, and the episode starts with her calling pretty much everybody.

Her mom, Kevin, Randall, everyone's so excited. Randall, everyone's so excited. Randall and Beth, like, we're getting another person. And Toby's what? Toby's what? Depress. Toby is not feeling great. Because he's having a baby? Yeah.

Well, he hasn't gotten this medication yet. Correct. And you sort of see, like, when we left him at the last. One, crying over the sink, et cetera. Now he's just sort of laid up in bed. Yeah. And you see Kate try to keep it together and maintain positivity or whatnot. She decides to take audio for a walk or what have you.

Oh, I love how you had audio just on your chest. He's just drooped over you. Who's the trainer? Is it you? Is it a trainer? Is it a combination? What kind of a chicken treat did you have? Oh, I don't even remember.

I think audio nine that point. we're pretty well acquainted you guys are pretty tight yeah you did have his tongue in your mouth what's that he remembers he remembers he's very grateful he's very grateful very grateful oh man guys he was my date to the emmys i don't do you know of tongues um audio then gets into some garbage yeah to go to garbage at the park whose kate was talking to somebody on the phone she's talking to mom she's talking to mom on the phone just saying like she's starting to come to her mom for which Rebecca is loving. And she is lovely.

And like, I think even in that conversation, like, look, Kate, listen, I appreciate you asking me what I think, like, what I should do. Oh, this is later, because the dog had already ate something, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she's like, you know, and Rebecca says, like, no, take the dog home. You know what I'm saying? Like, see if it just sort of passes naturally. And if anything takes a turn, you can always take them back to the vet, right?

She's like, Mom, I wouldn't know what I do without you. I need you to move out here when I have this baby, et cetera, et cetera. And you're like, listen, I appreciate that. It's really sweet. but like stuff is going to keep coming up. Yeah. And as stuff keeps coming up, you're going to figure it out. Yeah.

You just have to trust your gut, take a deep breath, and make a choice. That's what she does. That's what we all do. And you'll get through whatever the situation is. It is a beautiful thing because, I mean, well, motherhood, fatherhood, parenthood, in particular, you feel like you have no clue. Like you have the baby. And you guys' case, and in my case, it's slightly different.

And like, you're at the hospital and then like, all right, see you later. In my case, it's like, I had the baby at home. And then everyone leaves. And you're like, we have another person. Yeah, yeah. We didn't have to sign anything. There was no driver's test. Nothing at all whatsoever.

It's just sort of like crazy. But to have that validation of you're not going to have all of the answers, but you do have the ability to make choices. Yeah. Trust yourself. to make the right choice. I think it's a beautiful thing to pass along. Yes. Beautiful message from mother to mother.

Because I don't know if every parent does that. I think a lot of them really just want to tell you what to do sometimes. And that can be their way of fitting in and feeling like they're a part of something. But it's actually sort of self-serving rather than selfless in that way. So grandparents, don't do that. Don't do that to your daughter and son-in-law. They give back. Toby has tried. He's made an effort. He's gotten out of bed. He's taken a shower. He's gotten dressed. Like, he's giving it the old college try. Kate comes home and sees. And he just sort of has to admit to himself and her. Like, this, I'm just, I'm not, I'm not ready for this. I need to be in bed. This medication still hasn't, like, taken its course. And I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I am. I just, I know that I can't, like, venture out.

Yeah, I thought putting it on was going to make it all better, but it's not. And so she says, listen, I think you should go for it. Like, I think she suggests, like, maybe you go for a walk with this. And then I think she reiterates it, like, you should go for a walk with this, right? And you're like, okay. And what I love about this turn in the storyline is very sort of reflective of Randall and Beth as well, because she referred to you as her rock before in an episode. And you see sort of the rock crack.

a little bit, and she says, listen, we made vows. For better or for worse. Better for worse, and sickness and health. And it's forever, you know, and I'm here. And we're going to figure out a way to get through this together. Yeah. This is really beautiful. And I'm sure it's probably for the people re-watching the show.

It's also sort of like, boom. Yeah. You know what I mean? Feels good. Because they're not going to get through this together. That's correct. In the end. In the end, none of us get through this together.

You're just alone in this world. You're born alone and you die alone. And in between there are taxes. Yeah, appropriate. Thank you for watching that that was us podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Support our sponsors. I gotta go.

Pause the podcast. turn it back on. Can I also say something that I observed? You guys get to the park and you just let the dog come. After the whole thing? Mandy, I noticed the same thing. He's like, there you go, audio.

And that dog runs like it's never coming back. That's what I thought I was like. It didn't like sniff around. That dog ran like it was never coming back. I'm free. You said earlier in the episode, you're like, And you weren't watching it? Or weren't you watching him?

And the first thing he does, Unclick. Goodbye, dog. Goodbye. But it wasn't like, oh, we're in the dog park. Like, you guys are just walking up and you're like, all right, there you go. So I think I remember this being a logistical thing. I can't remember who directed this episode?

John Fortinbury. Yeah, John Fortinbury. I think it was one of those things where it was like, and we got to get the dog out of the shot. Basically. I knew that when I was watching it. And I'm like, what is the random audience member thing? I mean, that dog doesn't wander off. Yeah.

It is like, it was like the firing gun at the 100-yard dash. Dog is gone. Yeah. Gone. And that was the end of audio. But eventually, yeah, eventually audio is just gone. And we never see him again and never, never explained to why. Is that the last time we see him?

No, no, no, no. Who knows? You know what they say about, about life. You never know when's the last time you're going to see audio. There you go. We'll have to keep watching. You know what I mean? I guess I'll just have to keep watching this show.

Yeah. See if audio. comes back. It's a lot of things. The groundwork is laid for a lot of beautiful things. We're now anxiously anticipating the arrival of young Damon Child. We're looking to see what's going to happen with Beth and Randall on this campaign trail. Kev and Zoe are going to go to Vietnam and we as a show actually go to Vietnam, right? And so we get a chance to uncover Jack's past. This is this season, right? Later on the season. They're on the plane actively to go there right now.

Yeah. Back then right now. Back then, back then. Back then right now. Exactly. Right. This moment, back then. There you have it.

So that was this episode. Comsa'amida. And now we have a fan segment. We do. You know we do. Let us take a break. Baby, you know, I was going to give you a fan segment. We're going to give you this fan segment coming up right after this.

Hot takes! Hot takes! You guys, you know we had to bring this segment back because the fans always have some to say. We have a lot of bold opinions to share with you today, a lot. We combed through your emails, DMs, and comments to find the spiciest takes. So buckle up, Buttercup. Let's see where we land on the...

Okay, hot take. Go for it. Kevin didn't have a single relationship with a woman that didn't involve sex. A friendship with a woman would have a woman. have shown growth. I wish they could have let him just be friends with Cassidy. That trist was so unnecessary. Hot take. What do you guys think about that? That's interesting. I don't disagree. I don't disagree. So? I mean, Kevin, he's Kevin. He's not going to have a relationship. The whole point of the dysfunction is that Kevin cannot have a relationship. He can't just have a

friendship. But I think he does. I think him and Beth are. friends. Is that not fair? It's because their family they can't be friends at the same time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A woman that you would potentially think there would be a romantic element to

and they were just friends. Hot take, if she would give them a shot, he would. I know, I agree. Hot take! Beth is the best character. That's not such a hot take. No, all three of us, I'm going to say it again.

Everybody just go dead quiet and look directly into your camera. Hot take! Beth is the best character. Not a hot take. Not a hot take. We're good with that. That didn't ruffle my feathers at all.

Susan Colettechy Watson kills it. How dare you? Kills it. How very dare you? I will murder you in your face. Well, here's the thing. I think a lot of people feel that, right? And, you know, it focuses on the Pearson's and all this stuff and love Jack and they love Randall and Karen.

But, like, Beth is just like this quiet center that the sort of holds thing together and is hysterical when it's time to be hysterical. It's beautiful and poignant. It's beautiful and poignant. It's poignant. That's a hot take. That is. Poignancy. There's no, why is the G in there?

Hot take. Hot take. Next one. Hot take. We didn't see enough of Tess and Annie in the last season of the show. It felt like they disappeared and I missed them. Hot take. I see where you're coming.

Yeah. Weren't they working? Wasn't that the thing? I mean, they were there. They were at school. They were doing things like Tess is now at USC. It's a film major there, so that's pretty cool. And Annie is now about to start school because I did a letter of recommendation not too long ago.

So I'm very excited about that. But I guess they're saying like there's a lot of Dage. And Dage is great. And Dage was wonderful. She killed it all. And they just saying they wanted to see a little bit more. How does your letter of recommendation open? To, sir or madam?

No, to whom it may concern. To whom it may concern. You know what I'm saying? I am American actor. Sterling K. Brown. Winner. Emmy winner. Academy Award nominee.

And that is all you need to know. Oh, no, I believe it would be two-time Emmy winner? Two-time Emmy winner. Multiple nominated. No, no, no. He just says, three-time Emmy winner. He just says Emmy winner, but he sends the letter three times. That's right.

We got any more hot takes? Let's get the next one. Hot take! Yeah. Season six should have spent more time showing Kate and Phillips a relationship in the last time explaining why Kate and Toby got divorced. That is a hot take. That is a hot take.

That's hot take. That's hot. That's a hot take and I'm a disagree too. I'm a disagree too. Well, listen, because... I'm going to disagree most. The investment that we've had is from the people from the beginning. Like, you, I think that would have been a short shrifting of Tobias.

Yeah, like, what? Because then the hot take would have been the opposite. Exactly. You know what happened with Kate and Toby? And they were like, but what happened? It's all right. But what happened? Nah, you don't need to know.

But why did they get divorced? I think that, yeah, like, it is important. I think you said this before, Sully, like, we get a chance to see relationships in all different phases of coming together and coming apart, right? And I think what was beautiful about it is that even though it was painful or whatnot, they were able to consciously uncouple in a way that actually felt healthy. Yes. And that both people said, like, this is probably the best thing for both of us. Yeah, this is where the road ends for us. We ended this session, right?

We were good for each other up to this point, and now we need something new for ourselves. Absolutely. So there you go. Hot take! I was never feeling Zoe for Kevin. I felt like she wasn't really into him and only did things that benefited her. Okay. That is a hot take.

I agree. That's pretty much what Beth had to say. That's what Beth had to say. I don't disagree. I don't either. I can't. I wish I wanted to disagree. I think that was also kind of the point.

There's a part of me that wants to say racist, but not. because it's true and that would be unfair to you who uh whoever you are yeah step hold on 32 that would have been unfair to you i absolutely agree there was something off about the dynamic from jump street and i think just like the documentarian in her and the curiosity of like where he was in his life yeah probably kept them together as long as they were and also we didn't know if we were going to be able to get Sophie back. You know what I'm saying? So we had to explore as many love options as possible.

Sure. And then roll the dice and say, anybody free? Virgin River's still on? Okay, cool, cool, cool. All right, hot take. Beth deciding to start dance again right at the crucial moment in Randall's career. I suppose it added to the drama,

but it didn't mesh their whole vibe as a couple. Oh, they always had each other's backs and worked together. This just felt awkward and selfish. on Beth's part to insist that she do it right now. Hot take. That's a hot take. Listen, Sue and I have discussed this. Oh, yeah?

We actually discussed this because the moment, I think this is coming up in this season when Randall asks her to put a pin in it. Oh, yes. Never what you want a man to say. Yeah. Never what you want to hear from your husband, and we had this conversation in terms of, like,

in a relationship and you guys can discuss we should discuss this a little bit do you think one person's career takes precedent over the others I think there can be moments in a career

where someone is busier or the focus sort of has to be on them in a case-by-case situation but recognizing that things fluctuate things are constantly going to be moving

and shifting and evolving and I don't know I'd be happy to sort of, I mean, I guess... It's a complicated equation. It's a complicated equation. And I think as, you know, being in a partnership with someone who is also creative, who also has to spend a lot of time away from home and away from the family for his job, we constantly have to be checking in with each other. And I understand, like, Taylor's on tour right now for a couple more weeks.

Like, I'm home. I'm not working. I'm, like, keeping things sort of steady on the home front. and hopefully there will come a time soon where I have to work and he has to sort of like buckle up and kind of be the primary parent at home holding things down. So I don't know if I necessarily like agree with this hot take. This take for me is one that like I agree and disagree

because the reason why it's so important is that she is actively a woman in search for purpose. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Like losing that job wasn't just a losing. the job. It was like, this was something... Losing her identity. Identity. Like, I was doing something of value for community, building up housing, designing parks, et cetera, for underserved communities. Now, what am I? What is it that I want to do with myself? I've spent so much time being the support, being the backbone for my husband or whatnot.

When is my moment? And so there's little moments that we've seen, the conversation with William, saying, like, when it's your turn, don't just sit there twiddling your ring or whatnot. Make sure you step up and say what it is that you need to say, right? So I understand where they're coming from, but there was a real need on her part. Yes, because that has been her role in their relationship for the majority of their relationship.

So it feels like she has, she is worthy of taking this moment and relishing it and being on the hunt and having her man support her at that time. And this isn't just a career move. It's a soul fulfillment. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is, every partner deserves to pursue those endeavors.

Amen. Even more so than, no, I got to take this job. Like, this is something that her soul needs. Has much deeper meaning, yes. Gotta dance. Yeah. We got any more. Hot take.

Oh. Incorporating the pandemic derailed the writing. That is. So let's be respectful in our response to this. Please unlike and unsubscribe. Stop. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

kidding. Kristen Lungford. You're not the only person who felt that way. We talked about this. We talked about this. Right? I would say that 501 was probably one of the most divisive. Divisive episodes that we ever did. We lost some, we lost some viewers. We straight up. They said, listen, if I wanted the news, I would turn to that, I come to this show to escape, what not? Respectfully. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. I talked to Dan about it. And he said, like, I feel like our show has such a unique opportunity to address what's happening in the world. Yeah. With regards to the pandemic, with regards to Black Lives Matter, right?

That if we didn't do it, we would be doing a disservice. The show a disservice, right? So while you think he was wrong. I don't think he was wrong either. I think that hot take is garbage. Everything we wanted to do and respectfully. Respectfully, I think it's garbage. Bam.

There you go. Next one. Sorry. Like a double scoop of Sherbert. Hot take. Not wrong. Kate and Philip felt so incredibly forced. Hashtag justice for Cotopia.

Well, that's the opposite side of... Well, I guess it's saying the same thing because they're saying they wanted more time with that or just it felt not right. Guys, new segment, dueling hot takes. This is two very hot takes, two very hot sides of the same coin. What's your take on? I'm curious because you're part of this equation.

No, I mean, It's, it's, again, they probably would not, I understand what they're saying. Yeah. Because it was quick as far as like the amount of time dedicated to their development of their relationship. Sure. If we'd had one more season. We could have slowed our roll a bit. This hot take never would have happened.

That's all I'm going to say. Hot take. Hot take. Older Rebecca was too somber and serious. The fantastic thing about Mandy Moore is her smile and the sparkle in her eyes. I flip the table. Hot take, Jody. I mean, listen, she was sad.

Yeah. She was a sad lady. Also, Jody, have you ever met old people? They are sad. Jesus Christ. We're very somber and serious. They're very serious. I haven't been my day.

Music today is just noise. I think there were plenty of moments for older Rebecca where she was able to like her grandkids were the love of her life. Like she was, I think as we went on, she was able to find a little bit more joy. She's also suffering from dementia, Jody. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, how old is she talking about?

Like, at what point in time did she find her too somber in serious? Oh, she means like 26-year-old, Rebecca. It almost feels, I'm glad it comes from Jody, because it almost feels like, could you just smile more? Yeah, it does. feel like a man. You'd be so much prettier. You'd just smile.

Just make sure you smile a little bit. Yeah. I've heard that before. Do we have any more hot takes? I'll do these all day. Oh, dude. This segment is too good. Hot take.

I could take some more hot takes. Hot take. Gang, if you want to give us any more hot takes, you can always hit us up at That Was Us podcast at gmail.com. If they want to call us with a hot take, you can hit us at. They would just call us. It'll be 10 phone numbers in a row. Yeah. One of them begins with a four.

Yep. 410? They would just call us at 412. 412. And then the numbers after that would be... Or 508? We'll be... Keep it in.

Keep it in. This is going to be... 412-101-3028. Call 4-1-501-4-3-28. No, not so loud. What is it? Golf 4-1-2-50-501-0-0-3-3-0-0-8 Okay

Or you can send us up and just like and subscribe You know what, just find me I'm usually wandering around Santa Monica in the morning Find me there Tell me your story I'll repeat it here on the podcast You'll record it on your phone I'll record it on my phone

I'll bring you. I'll bring you to my house. You can stay at my house. I Airbnb for a very low rate per night. And then you can be a guest on the podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Thank you for tuning. Thank you for listening. God bless you guys. We'll see you next week. Bye. That was us. Whether you like it or not. That Was Us is filmed at Rabbit Grin Studios and produced by Rabbit Grin Productions.

Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. da-da-da-da-dum That was us