This Is Us Review: “Super Bowl Sunday”

Directly after the Eagles pulled out an unbelievably gutsy win (despite typical Patriot-loving officiating, but let’s put that aside for a moment) to bring the city of Philadelphia our first Super Bowl, This Is Us aired a monumental episode. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to watch the episode (and definitely would not have done so if the Eagles had lost – too depressing), my family and I decided to watch it together, before I had to get up at 5:15AM (!!!!) to head back to school for a 9AM Monday-after-the-Super-Bowl class. Despite the decision resulting in me getting approximately four hours of sleep, I’m glad I made that sacrifice (I’ll sleep when I’m dead, right?).

In an episode that is (preliminarily) the most highly rated post-Super-Bowl episode in six years, This Is Us delivered a tear-jerker. *As always, minor spoilers may follow*

“Super Bowl Sunday” featured all the time periods that we have grown accustomed to, including major developments in many of them, and some surprises along the way. (For my fellow Twin Peaks: The Return fans, a prominent quote from late in the series sprung to my mind when reflecting on the episode).

*(Only watch this 2-minute clip if you already saw the latest episode of This Is Us, “Super Bowl Sunday,” and have already seen/don’t care about the brilliant show Twin Peaks & its continuation after 25 years off the air, Twin Peaks: The Return – major spoiler for both shows).

Back in the world of This Is Us, the teenage Big Three, Jack, and Rebecca deal with a terrible fire and its aftermath on Super Bowl Sunday (fitting, considering the Eagles won the Super Bowl on the same day of the airing of the episode… sorry; I still can’t get over saying that). The Young Big Three era is also briefly shown.

In the present, it’s also Super Bowl Sunday, and Kevin, Kate, Randall, and Rebecca all tackle the day in different manners. Randall and Tess have a heart-to-heart.

This is the episode we have been waiting for since the pilot. Much is revealed, and many hearts throughout the country were crushed and/or melted at multiple points throughout the slightly-supersized episode. After seeing the events of “Super Bowl Sunday,” I am genuinely excited to see how the show will grow and evolve.

Can we take a minute to enjoy the fact that “Super Bowl Sunday” aired on Super Bowl Sunday? Looking back, I should have known all along that they would air this episode for their post-Super-Bowl slot in order to reach the largest audience possible, but it’s still really cool that the show connects to its audience in such a unique way. Adding to this uniqueness is the fact that, in the present, we see multiple televisions on in the characters’ houses that feature none other than the Eagles-Patriots 2018 Super Bowl! While these scenes were short, their inclusion means that they must have been filmed about two-three hours before the episode’s airing, which is quite impressive. (I’m also choosing to ignore the fact that one of the scenes features the Patriots’ fluke interception – on a play that featured explicit, uncalled pass interference by a Patriots’ defender, nonetheless – on a pass from Nick Foles to Alshon Jeffrey. We’re thinking happy thoughts today).

What a fantastic performance by Mandy Moore (Rebecca). She has often been the actress that gets lost in the shuffle, considering the brilliance of Sterling K. Brown (present Randall), Milo Ventimiglia (Jack), Chrissy Metz (present Kate), and many, many others, but she has produced three of the most gut-wrenchingly beautiful scenes of the show thus far, and deserves a lot of credit. She portrays grief, joy, pride in her family, and love beautifully, and really makes the audience feel what she is experiencing time and time again.

I don’t know what I was thinking casually mentioning Sterling K. Brown – it’s impossible to casually reference the man. He is fantastic in “Super Bowl Sunday,” making me laugh at Randall’s silly dad jokes and demeanor (and it is very rare for television shows to make me laugh out loud), as well as perfectly portraying a loving husband and father in a particularly heartwarming moment. I cannot imagine Randall without Brown; the cast as a whole is absolutely fantastic, and casting directors Tiffany Little Canfield and Bernard Telsey deserve a heckuva lot of credit.

I guess I’m just not a huge fan of Kevin (Justin Hartley). Practically everything he does seems to be self-serving and just rubs me the wrong way. Even his “heartwarming” scene of the episode seemed to be a tad self-centered to me. I don’t know, maybe I just can’t get over the fact that adult Kevin believes his childhood was lacking, and blames his family for his own deficiencies. Teenage Kevin (Logan Shroyer) also is incredibly egotistical and self-centered; it’ll be interesting to see how he acts in the upcoming episodes. As cute as Young Kevin (Parker Bates) is, he also exhibits those self-centered signs. To give the actors credit, they are brilliant in portraying the same emotions and same behaviors as one another. People never do change… or do they? The ball is in your court, This Is Us.

Toby (Chris Sullivan), as always, is lovable and understanding of Kate’s sensitivity towards the subject of her father. The wedding must be coming up soon! (I’m thinking season finale).

Wow, I was not expecting that. Dan Fogelman and all the other writers/directors always keep us on our toes, but what a terribly saddening way to do that. They make us think that we know something, but then rip it away like the Eagles grabbing the Lombardi Trophy from Tom Brady and the Patriots.

Once again, wow, I was not expecting that. A crazy last few minutes of the episode could change things in the world of This Is Us forever. Can’t believe I didn’t see it coming but, once again, kudos to the This Is Us team – you guys are brilliant.

Teenage Kate (Hannah Zeile) is fantastic in her scenes. Her terror as the house burns is heart-wrenching, and her scenes directly after that terror are just horrible to watch.

I wish we would have seen a few more conversations (such as one between Rebecca and the kids, or Miguel and the kids, or Kate and Kevin), but there was a lot packed into the post-Super-Bowl episode of This Is Us, and I was completely invested in it all.

The This Is Us team surprised me multiple times throughout “Super Bowl Sunday,” and deserve a lot of credit for their writing and imagination. Keeping a fanbase as invested in a show as the This Is Us fandom is to the hit NBC drama is difficult, and I believe that the cast and crew will keep a large fanbase for a long time. The crazy part is I’m not even that worried about storylines, which are usually the things to be most worried about when a show has a (potential) long run on the air – if a storyline starts to run dry, just explore Beth or Toby’s childhood, or go back to the Big Three’s 20s, or do basically whatever! This Is Us is in a position that I cannot recall any other show ever being in,

and they have only themselves to credit for that.

As for the episode itself, I think it is very good. A few things could have been done just a little bit better (the conversations I mentioned earlier would have been wonderful to listen in on, for instance). I also would have liked to see the entirety of the episode take place in the aftermath of the fire; this would have forced the show to perform without the aid of Brown, Metz, Hartley, Sullivan, and Susan Kelechi Watson, among others. I don’t believe the show has done this before, and I would have been interested in seeing how it went without much of its star-power. The surprises Fogelman & Co. have in store for us seemingly every week, however, make it hard to scrutinize some aspects of the show, and the episode was still very, very good. Moore was excellent. The opening scene of the episode was heart-stopping and just terrible to watch. “Super Bowl Sunday” made my heart broke multiple times (well… as much as my heart could break after seeing the Philadelphia Eagles WIN A SUPER BOWL). Please keep the quality episodes coming, This Is Us! It’s going to be a long spring/summer without you.

8.75/10

A new This Is Us airs tomorrow, February 6th, so prepare yourselves! I think it’s going to be a great one.