This Is Us "Pilot" (Recap + Analysis) SPOILERS!!!

Courtesy of NBC

Right off the bat, let me say that this is a wonderful pilot! Writers have 22-44 minutes to introduce the show's characters and the show's premise so it can take a while for a show to get on its feet. However, right away, "This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman introduces five main characters and four different storylines, and still, I walk away from this episode knowing exactly who these characters are and enthralled with each storyline.

First up, we meet Jack and Rebecca Pearson, played by Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls") and Mandy Moore ("A Walk to Remember") who are expecting triplets. When we meet them, it's Jack's 36th birthday.

Courtesy of NBC

We then meet Kate, played by Chrissy Metz ("American Horror Story: Freak Show"), who's staring into her fridge. The camera pans to a birthday cake; today is also Kate's 36th birthday. She's struggling with obesity and has left a Post-It note on the cake container, reminding her that she can't eat it until her birthday. Looking defeated, she goes to the bathroom to reluctantly get on the scale. This is a struggle that it's clear will be a big part of Kate's storyline.

Courtesy of NBC

Next, we follow Randall, a businessman played by Sterling K. Brown ("The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story). Among a barrage of emails wishing him a Happy 36th Birthday, he receives an email from a company called Baldrica & Associates with the subject heading "GOOD NEWS." It contains the address of a Mr. William Hill played by Ron Cephas Jones (Mr. Robot); Randall's biological father. Randall drives to his apartment, and when we meet William, we're introduced to an old, lanky man with tattered clothes; it's apparent that he's had a rough life. Randall is unphased though, as he explains that he's the child William left on a fire-station doorstep 36 years prior. 

In what is one of two great monologues this episode, Randall tells him that he turned out "pretty alright" although his life "started with you leaving me on a fire-station doorstep, with nothing more than a ratty blanket and a crap-filled diaper." He tells him that he came to him to "[...] Finally prove to myself, and to you, and my family who loves me that I didn't need a thing from you! Even after I knew who you were."

Courtesy of NBC

William invites him in and explains that he used to be a drug-addict and doesn't remember Randall's birth. He's now sober, but again, Randall is unfazed, and William suggests that Randall's only looking for a reason to say "Screw you" and storm off. Randall does storm off but comes back a second later and asks William if he'd like to meet his grandchildren. Sterling K. Brown's performance presents us with a man who seems like he's spent most of his life being soft-spoken, mustering the courage to stand up for himself.

Finally, we meet Kevin played by Justin Hartley ("The Young and The Restless"), a successful actor on a network sitcom called "The Manny."

When we meet Kevin, it's clear that despite what money and fame afford him, he aspires to something more as the camera cuts to show a poster for the 1958 production of "Richard III." While less-than-enthusiastically dancing in his bedroom with two women, Kevin contemplates where his life took a turn.

Courtesy of NBC

As the scene transitions and they're sitting on his bed, the girls uninterested in his existential crisis; he explains his theory "[...] Middle of the school day, the teacher brings in a TV, right? We're all just sitting there, watching the launch [of the Challenger], a bunch of seven-year-olds just-just watchin.' And all of a sudden, boom! The whole thing explodes. Little pieces of sweet Christa McAuliffe [second-grade teacher who was chosen to be the first teacher in space] come raining down all over the state of Florida. [...] Maybe that's when I realized trying to change the world just leads to being blown up into little pieces all over Florida."

Of course, he's speaking metaphorically.

He's brought out of his funk by a call from his sister, Kate! She's fallen off the weight scale and bruised her ankle. Unable to find ice for her to put on her foot, he brings her a tub of ice cream for them to share. While they eat, Kate laments the life she wishes she had, e.g., having a job and raising a family. She concludes, "[...] I ate my dream life away."

Kevin, of course, doesn't know how to respond, so he tricks Kate into giving herself the encouragement she needs. "You're a lot smarter than you look", she tells him to which he responds, "That's what Michael Bay told me." On set later that day, Kevin struggles with the feeling that he's being underutilized as an actor. In one scene, Kevin delivers a heartfelt speech as "The Manny" to his on-screen estranged father played by the late-Alan Thicke. The crowd loves it, but as the director calls cut, the showrunner tells Kevin they need to do it again to get a "lighter version" and tells him to take his shirt off. Realizing he'll never be taken seriously as "The Manny", Kevin goes off on a tirade blaming the audience for "demanding so little" of him. With that, Kevin quits "The Manny" and storms off.

Courtesy of NBC

Back at Jack and Rebecca's, things are getting intimate. Their moment is cut short when Rebecca's water breaks. At the hospital, Jack and Rebecca are thrown for a loop when they learn that Rebecca's OB-GYN is having an emergency appendectomy and will not be delivering their babies. In his place is Dr. Katowski, who's 73-years-old and looks frail, which worries Rebecca because this is a high-risk pregnancy.

However, he assures her, "[...] I don't run wind sprints as fast as I used to, but my faculties are otherwise completely intact." "I am the best of the best. And I swear to you, on the lives of my children and my grandchildren, that I am up to the task."

Courtesy of NBC

In the delivery room, although Jack is adamant that "only good things are gonna happen here today," the universe has other plans. Though their first baby is delivered successfully, Rebecca slowly loses oxygen and Jack is ushered out of the room. A little while later, Dr. Kowalski approaches Jack in the waiting room to inform him that they couldn't save the third baby. Jack stands speechless and teary-eyed, unable to process the information. Dr. Kowalski asks if he can keep him company a minute to which Jack nods and the men sit. He proceeds to tell Jack that he became an obstetrician because his wife, who died the previous year, lost their first child during their delivery.

"I like to think that because of the child that I lost, because of the path that he sent me on, that I have saved countless other babies. I like to think that maybe one day you'll be an old man like me, talking a younger man's ear off explaining to him how you took the sourest lemon that life has to offer and turned it into something resembling lemonade. If you can do that, then you will still be taking home three babies from this hospital. Just maybe not the way you planned."

We then return to Kate, at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting where she meets Toby Damon, played by Chris Sullivan ("The Knick"). They hit it off, and Toby asks her to dinner. Though they have an undeniable connection, after dinner Kate is quick to say goodnight. After Toby expresses his disappointment, Kate relents and invites him in for some water. Awhile later, Toby suggests that they take things into the bedroom, but Kate rejects the offer explaining to Toby that given her age and physical condition, those offers don't come along frequently. Toby doesn't get a chance to console her, though, as they're interrupted by an inebriated Kevin. He asks her why she hasn't answered any of her texts, to which, she responds that she was on a date and asks him what's going on. After taking a photo with a starstruck Toby, Kevin shows them cell-phone video of his earlier outburst that has been plastered on social media and featured on "Entertainment Tonight". Later that night, as Toby lays passed out on the couch, Kevin asks Kate what's he going to do now and suggests that he might only be as good as his role on "The Manny." Kate responds by reminding him what their father used to tell them, "There's no lemon so sour that you can't make something resembling lemonade." Wait, I've heard that before.

Courtesy of NBC

Back at the hospital, Jack is standing at the nursery window looking at his two children, a boy, and a girl when a man walks up. The man congratulates him on having twins, and Jack asks him which one is his.

"None of 'em, actually. Strangest damned thing. Someone left a newborn at my fire station. I didn't know what to do, so I brought him here."

He then points to a small African-American baby boy, then in a twist nobody sees coming; he offers him a cigarette. We then cut to a wide-shot of the hospital as men with aviator glasses and women with retro hairstyles walk around as a newscast plays behind them on an old cathode-ray tube television.

Courtesy of NBC

As it turns out, Jack and Rebecca's story is taking place in 1980, and Kate, Kevin, and Randall are their children. As the episode ends, it all comes together as we see a photo of "The Big Three" together in Kate's house, and we see a "The Manny" poster signed by "Uncle Kevin" in Randall's daughter's room. Finally, we're brought back to the past as we see Jack and Rebecca, standing over their children's bassinets; Jack wearing a vintage polo collared sweater and Rebecca in a dress with a mini skirt and an 80's hairdo, holding hands and looking forward to a bright future!

All-in-all, the pilot reveals a relatively simple premise: the story of one family told in the past, present and, (spoiler alert) future. As a result, we'll get to see how the past affects the present and how the present affects the future. I'm so excited to get started!

What did you think of the pilot? Tell me in the comments below! Also, make sure to subscribe to the blog to get notified when a new post goes live! From now on, I'll be posting on Fridays. I'll be seeing you next Friday to talk about the next episode "The Big Three"!