- Disc Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Dubbed: Spanish
- Region: Region 1
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 5
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- DVD Release Date: September 12, 2017
The pilot for “This is Us” is something of a
miracle, because it isn’t until the very end of it that the premise for the
show is revealed. In all early marketing for the series, it was unclear how all
of the characters are connected, and the pilot doesn’t reveal that they are all
family members until the final moments. The impact of this is even greater when
it is revealed that some of the story takes place in a different time period,
while remaining tied to the same family. This brilliant revelation makes the
pilot for “This is Us” one of the most impressive hours I have seen on
television, but it also sets up the rest of the season for failure, as it can’t
be matched in the same way.
The show
continues to jump back and forth between the past and the present, giving us
glimpses of the childhood of two twins and their adopted brother, while also
showing us where they are in life now. Kevin (Justin Hartley) is a sitcom actor
who is unfulfilled by the superficiality of his success, and a longing for
deeper roles takes him to New York
to try his hand at acting on the stage. This brings him closer to his adopted
brother, Randall (Sterling K. Brown), who lives in New York with his wife, Beth (Susan Kelechi
Watson), and their two daughters. Randall has his own crisis of identity when
he tracks down his biological father (Ron Cephas Jones) and discovers that
their time together is limited. Meanwhile, Randall and Kevin’s sister, Kate
(Chrissy Metz), struggles with weight loss back on the west coast as she falls
in love with a man from her support group (Chris Sullivan).
The only problem with the show is
that the premise can’t be carried out as successfully as it is introduced, if
only because some of the characters existing in the past eventually show up in
the present. In the pilot, we are introduced to Rebecca and Jack Pearson (Mandy
Moore and Milo Ventimiglia), the parents of the three grown children that make
up the modern storyline. During the flashbacks, this works great. Moore and
Ventimiglia have great chemistry and it helps the show to provide background
into Kate, Kevin and Randall’s past. Where this premise gets less convincing is
in the decision to allow Rebecca to exist in modern times, with Moore still playing the
character. Despite Moore being younger than all of the actors playing her
children, the production simply slaps a little old age make-up on her and asks
that we suspend the disbelief brought by having a young woman pretend she is
decades older than she actually is. While it is not enough of a flaw to destroy
all that works in the show, this is quite clearly a mistake.
If some of the production elements
read as false, the show recovers due to the strong writing. Even when the
situations occasionally feel contrived or the age difference in casting is
distracting, the writing has an authenticity that makes all of the series flaws
feel less significant. Often this is used in order to tackle larger issues such
as racism, bullying, and fatherhood for nearly all of season one episodes,
while other times it is as simple as capturing the details of well developed
characters. Credit must also go to the cast, which takes the well-written words
and makes them their own. I still found myself scoffing at some of the
contrived plot developments, especially the convenience with which things
always seem to work out for Kevin by the close of season one, but found the
writing and acting refreshing enough to keep returning week after week.
As is the case with nearly every
popular show these days, “This is Us” has an aftershow with the cast and crew
discussing each episode. All of these aftershow episodes are included in the
special features for season one. Season one has eighteen episodes, all of which
are included in this five disc set.
Entertainment Value:
8.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8/10
Historical
Significance: 8/10
Special Features: 4/10
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