And so Jack transformed into SuperDad mode and recreated a movie theater night at home, saving the day!
Well, that is until he received a phone call that his mother had died.
CASEY JOHNSON:Well, I think we can assure everyone that the smoker doesn’t explode.
Sterling K. Brown, Blake Stadnik, and Chris Sullivan on ‘This Is Us’.Ron Batzdorff/NBC (3)
That’s not what happened.
We can relax a little bit about that.
But it is a moment that has stayed with Jack.
DAVID WINDSOR:It leads to a bigger story line in a future episode.
JOHNSON:They can totally be reassured.
WINDSOR:That’s exactly right.
Whatever that moment is served a purpose in his life.
All you want to do at the end of the day is be the best father that you could.
We felt the responsibility of showing dads in this light of being these loving, caring parents.
We knew we had the opportunity to do that with these guys and hopefully we did.
What were those discussions like in the writers' room?
JOHNSON:We did talk about that quite a bit in the room as well.
We have a lot of moms, we have a lot of dads.
One thing we talked about was the expectation of what it’s all going to be like.
Even if he wants to know the kids' schedule, he can’t right now.
WINDSOR:Jon had his hands full.
Then when he’s feeling vulnerable, he doesn’t medicate with the booty-call text.
Three seasons ago Kevin didn’t have that maturity or skills.
Can new Kevin solve his unhappiness and figure out how to make this co-parenting venture less stressful?
I know it certainly did for me.
You realize that nothing else in the world really matters as much as your kids.
And I think of all the characters, perhaps he needed that the most.
JOHNSON:For Kevin, he’s always been chasing the legacy of his dad.
But like David was saying, it’s still not the way he envisioned it.
It’s not the four of them sitting around the table, like he thought it would.
So while he’s closer to the man he wants to be, he still feels a bit unsettled.
WINDSOR:I do think Kevin is on a good path.
It was very cathartic, and that hopefully that’s the case for Kevin.
Just when we think we’re done with Cassidy, you drag us back in.
So… was that a friendly check-in, or are you laying the groundwork for something else?
JOHNSON:We love that Cassidy is the person Kevin calls.
They have a lot in common, even though on paper they’re totally different.
He’s a movie star, she’s a vet, they come from very different worlds.
But they’ve been through similar challenges and they really can meet each other where they are.
So we love that when he is about make a booty call, he calls Cassidy.
WINDSOR:You’re absolutely right.
But it’s not in the best circumstance.
That’s a really difficult thing for him to reconcile.
That triggers some kind of emotion in Kate.
What can you say about what’s going on in her head now?
JOHNSON:We saw from the last episode last season that they end up together.
But we loved that Phillip actually turned Kate back to Toby.
I need to go back to Toby and we need to connect."
Fair to say this is a guy who’s going to surprise in a lot of different ways?
WINDSOR:That’s all of season 6, right there!
We’re going to figure all that stuff out.
I think it’s also a realization like, “Oh, he was married?
And that fell apart?”
It’s like, “Oh, this guy isn’t necessarily exactly what we think he is.”
You never have the full story of anyone that you ever meet.
That’s going to be a lot of what this year is.
Oh my God, I didn’t want to know that!"
That just felt very real to us.
That very normal teenage pulling away is going even be more difficult for Randall to deal with.
We just thought that was a wonderful way for them to do that.
And then it really becomes so much more than Randall bargained for.
We know Deja is strong-willed and independent, so is a skirmish or a war coming?
JOHNSON:I’d say… it’s in between a skirmish and a war, whatever that is.
WINDSOR:It’s askwar.
We are formed by little scraps of wisdom."
That’s a beautiful quote.
Maybe a less beautiful quote is “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.”
It’s the other moments that are really what life is about.
And we’re going to have issues if I don’t get to be able to do that."
I just thought that was so interesting and tense.
Randall’s in this place of, “Well,nowwhat do I do?”
Just when he started to get to handle on it!
That seems like parenting to a tee to me.
That hints at the ethos ofThis Is Us, especially when Jack gets that phone call.
He imprinted as SuperDad.
At the end of the episode, Jack gets a call that his mom died.
How challenging is it going to be for him next week to unpack his guilt and grief?
WINDSOR:Just you wait!
