This Is Us

This Is Us (Season 1)

There was a research done with a huge sample space, spanning over years - about what makes people happy. And the singular conclusion to this very broad question turned out to be - people and the relationships you have with them. Period. Everything else is negotiable. Yes, they found that poverty leads to misery and a certain amount of wealth is needed to erode that. But beyond a certain point, any amount of added wealth doesn't really add up to the happiness. I wrote about this because in the day and age of individualism, ambition and liberty, a show like This Is Us is a gentle reminder about how beautiful it is to have a loving family and a community around. It inspires us to value people around us more. 

One of the most interesting aspects in this show is how the characters feel so much for something we'd naturally not feel so much. For example, if a character's mother dies in a film and the character is crying their lungs out, we understand that. But what makes the characters in This Is Us even more adorable is, the father cries his heart out when one of his three babies is stillborn. This is not a situation that would move everybody. I was thinking, big deal, they have the two other babies. But the father cries his heart out for the life that the baby could've had. This is what makes the show beautiful. It reminds us to not lose our heart. It reminds us to be more loving and compassionate, again and again.

The non-linear structure of the show enriches the experience of the show. It's not just used for style. For example, when we get to know that Rebecca married Jack's best friend Miguel, it's heartbreaking whenever we see Jack and Rebecca being happily in love. We know that this isn't forever. We know that the poor guys didn't know that this wasn't meant to be forever. And in the scene where Jack and Miguel go to watch Rebecca perform, it's just a simple scene based on the setting, but just the sheer placement and the timing of the scene hits us so hard. It talks about how everything could change in a matter of time.

Jack & Rebecca - the story of this couple is so beautiful. Both of them are madly in love with each other, and it's always endearing to see a married couple express love like this day and again. Because, in pop culture, usually romance films end where the couple gets together. So all the romance exists only before they get together. But doesn't the actual story begin after that? Whenever Jack tells Rebecca that she's the most beautiful woman in the whole world, the way he says it, I buy it. I know that Jack means it with all honesty. This inspires us to fall in love and be courageous enough to love with our everything. For me, the best moment was when Jack tells Rebecca that he discovered his purpose in life - which was to make her happy. I could never be that guy, but it's endearing to see one. 

And we see a perfect couple like this go through some shit in their marriage. A couple who we thought could never fight. But then you realize that couples don't fight because they love each other lesser than usual, but because they love each other more than usual. For Jack, when his purpose in his life is to make her happy, he's obviously going to be shaken up with the idea of the marriage falling apart. This is precisely why Jack gets entirely shaken when Rebecca goes to on a tour with her ex-boyfriend. A strong man like him becomes this angsty kid who starts fighting, until he sees Rebecca and settles down. He needs to see her, be safe with her, and know that they'll be fine. That is all he wants. It's so endearing to see a man madly in love with his wife. This is precisely why I really enjoyed Ricky Gervais' After Life too. 

This show depicts different facets of love, one of which is the selfish love. Rebecca says, I cannot lose my kid (Randall). I cannot. You don't how to feel about this. Do you feel good that she feels so much love towards an adopted kid? Or do you feel bad about why even after having 2 kids of her own, why is she being too possessive and selfish about the 3rd one? It's so confusing. You don't love the characters nor hate them in situations like this. You just sit in wonder.