Starring: Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz
Information: Season 4 of This Is Us is currently running on CTV on Tuesdays at 9 pm.
Rating: ★★★
Despite excellent performances from the ensemble cast, the show's quality has considerably dipped.
CTV’s “This Is Us” had huge expectations to fill when it returned to the small screen in late September after a breakout first season which saw it earn 10 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, including one for Best Drama. But creator Dan Fogelman's American drama series, which follows two generations of the Pearson family, fails to recreate the same magic in its second season.
In season one, viewers were introduced to Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) and their three children, Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Kevin (Justin Hartley), and Kate (Chrissy Metz). The series focuses on four interconnected plot lines; one plot is set in the 1980’s and 1990’s and is about Rebecca and Jack’s marriage and life as they raise their children, while the other three plots are set in the present and centre on each of the three children as grownups in their mid-thirties.
What made the show’s first season so successful and highly praised by critics and audience members alike was its ability to connect to everyone who watched it. The show presented life as it really is: raw and unfiltered. It managed to smoothly connect the moments of humour to the moments of sorrow, whether it be watching the Pearsons take a weekend outing to the local pool, or seeing Randall confront his biological father who left him at a fire station 36 years earlier.
I loved the show and consider it one of the best television drama series I have seen in a long time. Coming into season two, I had high expectations. But I was deeply disappointed after watching the first episode of the second season. The writers of This Is Us made a fundamental mistake right in episode one by boxing themselves into a narrative corner. With a story that is so malleable and that could have taken so many interesting pathways in its second season, the writers chose two very poor plot lines for Kevin and Kate. In this season, Kevin returns to his old acting job (which he quit in season one) while trying to win back his ex-wife. Meanwhile, Kate, who is struggling with weight and body image, tries to build-up her self-confidence to become a professional singer. Both of these low-stakes plot lines are duds, and leave the writers with little room to expand. As a result, the season will have to heavily rely on the two more profound plot lines, which follow Jack’s alcoholism and subsequent death, and Randall’s internal struggle on deciding whether or not to foster a troubled youth.
In addition to the poor plot choices, the show’s script and dialogue have significantly decreased in quality. This Is Us, which had an air of authenticity and realness, now feels contrived and fake thanks to one-dimensional characters and flat dialogue. Rebecca, who in season one was presented as a caring yet hesitant mother, has been turned into a stock character in season two. The show has even relegated to using gimmicks such as flashbacks, to pull every tear out of its viewers. Even when I did feel touched by a certain part of the story, I felt cheated and tricked into it at the same time. This has turned This Is Us into one of your typical family dramas tied up as a present with a cute little bow on top. While there are still moments of beautiful and heart-wrenching glimpses at the human condition, they have become few and far between.
Despite all of this, the ensemble cast continues to give formidable performances and make the most of their one-dimensional characters. In particular, Sterling K. Brown continues to give a performance of a lifetime, proving why he won his second consecutive Emmy Award. He seemingly effortlessly portrays Randall’s emotional struggle as the character tries to be a perfect husband and father, while still dealing with the loss of his biological and adoptive fathers.
This Is Us is one of those shows where it is so easy to cross the line from being visceral and packing an emotional punch, to becoming overly sentimental and fake. While the show was unable to hit its mark in the second season, I do still believe that the best is still to come for This Is Us. Based on its popularity, it will have a long life on the small screen, and I cannot wait to see where Fogelman’s story of love, loss, and family takes us in the years to come.