Ep. 6: "The Game Plan" (S1E5) | The Painting 

See the full dance with monologue here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iM1jrkEYoj0.html

The only TV series podcast in which you cry as much as the TV series itself.

Hearing Sterling say, "this episode was brilliant" has been our sincere sentiment for 6 seasons! ☺ Thank you! ❤

To answer Sullivan's question, I don't call this show "sad." I call it "emotional." It allows the viewers to feel all the emotions. Joy, sadness, hope, happiness, love, tenderness, disappointment, grief, validation, isolation, rejection, loss, etc. It's just how those emotions materialize within the viewer -- which tends to be tears/crying because, as humans going back to infancy, when we don't know how to articulate or process the emotions we are feeling, we tend to cry.

I want to add - learning that Jack passed away solidified my commitment to this show. I knew I was in for a ride, but I wasn't aware how it would impact me in such a significant way. Whew!.......Yes Mandy, JUSTIN deserves all the flowers. He is SO good!!! And makes me laugh often. Doesn't hurt that he is good to look at also 😉😁

Thank you for featuring Greta's letter on this segment. Kate was my niece. Someone shared this segment with us a few weeks ago but I couldn't bring myself to watch it until today. I watched it today and the feature was touching. Kate will always be an important part of our painting.

"Your faith doesn't mean that obstacles will be removed from your path, but allows you sort of the fortitude to believe that everything that is happening there is some sort of divine plan at work even though I cannot recognize it in the present." SKB, I agree wholeheartedly. Thank you for being willing to share your faith with the world. This show was and likely always will be one of the most favorite shows that I have ever watched. Bravo.

This show was real: a mixture of laughter and tears, just like life. We kept seeing ourselves within the show.

To answer Sully’s question: The show is quietly, gently victorious. It comforts me.

I completely agree that this show isn’t sad. I describe it as a representation of “the human experience.” Yes, there’s sadness, but there’s also joy, love, fear, longing, togetherness, and on and on and on…. Just like real life for every human being on the planet. Which is probably the biggest reason I love this show - everyone’s situations are different, but you won’t go through life without experiencing those feelings at some point or another. I love how nothing was ever just glossed over and even the difficult, uncomfortable moments were fully experienced.

Looking back on the show as a “whole”, I would describe it to someone who has yet to enjoy as watching the process of artistry. You see all the knots and stray strings on the backside of a tapestry. It’s chaotic, messy. It has all the beautiful colors but it doesn’t quite make sense in the journey. But as you travel with this family through their journey you get to the end and get to see the other side of their tapestry, their masterpiece and you get to peak at the finished art. You get to see the magic. It was such a great honor to be invited along.

I never thought I’d be a podcast girl 🥰 but here I am slowly being healed by a tv show 😩💕

Kevin’s speech will always be a top 5 of my favorite moments from the show..it’s a top 5 of all time favorite monologues too! So beautiful. So much love for Justin Hartley and his delivery of it as well as Dan Fogelman who had this meaningful idea to share with the world ❤️

To answer Chis question, for me the show is a beautiful family story. That has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It show’s us that we all go thru things and that we are not alone. You can see yourself in different characters and different storylines given you room to breathe. That’s what the show is to me and most of the times served as a therapy session showing how things could be managed.

When I saw this painting, it was the first time I realized Kevin was deep, he had things to say that we didn't know (as the pool scene where he's left aside, we don't see how also important and also has issues and things to deal) and that was the first time that I was like "Ok, this show is absurdly awesome", until then I was thinking "this is a pretty good show" but then that scene like killed, jeees

THIS IS US, MAN.

The fan segment gets me every time. What a beautiful way to the take the pain and the darkness and turn into something light, what a inspiring story... And everything Stearling said in the end, I think for me, It's the most clear truth of life! Thank you guys for this beautiful episode, I love you all so much!

I always looked at this show as a beautiful representation of real life and family. People who are all works in progress but at their core love their siblings, parents, children and partners. It was refreshing because while the characters are lovable (but flawed), the flaws aren’t toxic. You see lots of extremely broken/ damaged characters and it was so refreshing to see people actively working through their issues to preserve their family.

This podcast is everything I didn’t know I needed ❤❤❤

Greta is a treasure to her students and families. Her ability to evoke emotion through the movements she choreographs is unmatched. Thank you for sharing Amanda and Kate’s stories, and shining a bright light on the brilliance happening in our dance studio through Greta’s work. ❤

answering to Chris Sullivan question about how do people who's seen the whole show describes it other than sad: i never thought of the show as being a sad show. it's always been beautiful, all the tears were shed in a beautiful way, and whenever i talked to somebody about it and would recommend it, i'd always say "it's great, about life and makes you cry but in a good way."

If I’m asked why I like the show, I always say that I love the characters. Seeing them in the past, present and future gives them such depth that I really think of them as people I know. I also love the mix of humour and sadness and the mix of good and bad in the characters. I don’t think of the show as sad, rather deep. And, yes, often laugh-out-loud funny.

For me, this show displays our journeys through life. It encompasses all emotions: happy, sad, thoughtful, conflicted, funny, loving, caring, reflective, etc. And love Chris’ personal story of living in Sacramento as a kid and meeting S.F. 49ers Steve Young and Bubba Paris in the eighties.

I cry to every episode of TIU for all the reasons, I cry to these stories from strangers too. ❤️ thank you guys for sharing. Thinking of Amanda and Kate.

We could watch Sterling reenact This Is Us scenes all day 😂 We would describe This Is Us as a show about life. A time capsule of family and everything in life - the meaning, the purpose, all the struggles, the lessons, ups and downs and all the emotions. Definitely won't describe it as a sad show but a very wholesome. Something that will gives you all the feels ❤

Ive never thought the show was "sad", but moving- youll go through allll the feels. I will say its even better the second time you watch. I think you can pick up on so much more when you arent looking for clues about Jack or wondering where the story is going. And at the same time you KNOW whats coming and you can take it all in at a different level of emotion.

I never described "This is Us" as a sad show. Sure, there were a few episodes where I got misty or shed a few tears but it was really just GREAT TELEVISION. Hilarious, yes! Frustrating at times, yes, because most often, the show is really a mirror. I always said that it's the most relevant and thoughtful show I'd ever watched. One of the best shows of all time. 🙏🏾

I just want to say y’all are my favorite people on my favorite show ❤❤❤❤

I cry more during This is Us than I do in real life. And that's good for me, having somewhere safe to process or let out some emotion

Another amazing episode of the show and podcast. The dance was beautiful 😢❤

I find the whole show cathartic and a reminder to always show gratitude.

Thank you for sharing Amanda and Kate’s stories 💛💛

Loving this podcast so much. Loved this show SO much. Love Sterling's laugh so much. This show reminded me how much I also loved Thirtysomething. Would love for you to have Ken Olin on!!

It's a celebration of life really in its purest sense. The show honors every piece of the human predicament. Some moments resonate so strongly...those are the ones that reach deep and connect beyond explanation.

Looking back on the whole show, I always felt for me it was it was my safety net, my happy place, even through the cathartic sadness, I sensed hope for each generation. Love your sessions ❤

I wouldn’t say the show is sad but it’s truly emotional, it makes you FEEL. As we get older we tend to tuck away some hard to confront feelings about our journeys in life and to me this show inspires me to be a better parent, partner and overall better person.

I'm telling you! Sterling is such a light! He's that great friend everyone needs in life! That episode was indeed brillant. I remember having mixed feelings with the fact that Jack was dead. Do I stay (to understand)? Do I go (because I'm disappointed)?... I'm glad I never EVER left.

Seeing the whole show as a whole truly captures life as a whole. Beautiful resolved yet keeps moving.

This was a show I watched from Day 1 and always watched almost live or same day so would not be spoiled by online TV news... This is the episode back in 2016 that completely hooked me. My only regret as a divorced man was not being able to share with anyone since my male children had no real interest and my daughter was too busy starting and growing her family and her career as a minister.. I hope maybe now she'll be able to watch as her family of 3 is older and she's getting a sabatical from her job this fall... Watching on Hulu is easy.. Love the Podcast and am rewatching with them before I watch it.

I enjoyed the first four episodes a lot…But it was this one that elevated it for me. Kevin’s painting explanation scene is when I first felt “Oh, this show is something special”, in the best of ways. And it only got better from there!

I just recently watched This is Us, and I found it beautiful. It encompassed life in so many ways, and as the final show ended, I thought to myself, yes, this is us- this is life. Thank you for this podcast. It's a joy watching and listening.

Another amazing episode. It’s my favorite part of Tuesday. I laugh, I cry, all the feels. Justin is an amazing actor. I first saw him on Y&R, I hated it when he left. I was happy to see him on this show. His interaction with Tess, Annie, and William is something. The explanation of the painting, BRILLIANT. 👏🏻Beth & Randall you gotta love them. They crack me up. Jack & Rebecca get me because I understand the breaking family curses, but loving some of the family traditions as well. Sterling’s comments at the end about asking why and going through it, you are brilliant, thank you for your words. Chris you are one of my favorite characters on the show. So freaking funny but also can be serious. The show does have comedy, it’s great. And to answer Chris’ question the show is AMAZING! For a lot of people it’s their life, experiences they’ve had so we can all relate in some way. It’s healing and even though you might get sad or cry there’s healing in that, it’s cathartic.

Describing the show as a whole as sad would be like describing life as sad because of your tragic fenceposts, or because of the valleys Sterling talks about in the end. It certainly depends on perspective, but as we can draw from this podcast episode as well as from This Is Us itself, if we let the joys and the tragedies cosy up to each other, life has a way of turning out more beautiful than sad. And that's what I tell people about the show - it's beautiful in every light and dark way.

One word sums up this series: BEAUTIFUL

They do have hilarious moments throughout the show, the delivery is always on point !

To Chris’ point… I NEVER described “This Is Us” as sad. It is beautiful. It so accurately depicts the ups and downs of life and what it means to be HUMAN. Ugh. I’m rewatching with you guys and yes, I cry every episode. But I’m not sad. (Except when Jack actually died… I needed to take a break after those episodes to heal 😂)

This episode is truly a masterpiece,& I’ve always loved Justin ❤

I would describe parts of the show as sad AND helps you to gain perspective! It is a roller coaster and impacts you very much! One of my all time favorite shows! AMAZING 🎉❤

Thank you for sharing such a poignant piece with us. This podcast is so great ❤

This is the best series of all times.. I always recommend it as a therapy serie... of course there are sad moments, but also lot of joy, reflection and we can relate to all the characters in different situations.. I cried my eyes out in almost all episodes?! Yes, I did .. but happy/reflections tears.. And this pod is doing same thing now 🤭

Wow that last part got me about the dance teacher & her students.. so heartbreaking yet hopeful!

Still talk about this show!!! It was so good!! The chemistry was incredible from all aspects.

the tissue box was too far away while i was watching this episode of the podcast 😭 will re-re-watch episode 5 tonight 🤍 and also to answer Chris’ question if the show made us sad after completing all 6 seasons… for me, it is the most heart-warming show i have ever watched - so it’s not just sad, but it was funny, happy, relatable…everything! love this show so much 🥹

The play rehearsal scene with Kevin, William and the girls had me dying this time around! I don't remember if I laughed this hard at this scene when I first saw it, but this time, it was so damn hilarious!

End of the episode and all I can say is wow! Just wow to this episode of the podcast!

I love this rewatch episodes it’s beautiful

Not me refreshing this page starting at 2 AM Eastern to see if the video was loaded 😂 So is there a number of subscribers threshold we can hit to convince y’all and the powers that be to put out 2 episodes a week? Please? 🙏🏾

I'm a SD Padres fan so I really enjoyed Sterling's comments about the highs and lows of being a sports fan. We have had ALOT of lows BUT I was blessed to be at the playoff game 2 years ago when we knocked the LA Dredgers out of the playoffs. Petco Park was ELECTRIC. So fun! AND if you think Portland or Seattle are pretty you should really come visit San Diego💖

I love this show for so many reasons but the people the show has touched is a testament to it’s beauty. From the writing to the acting to the themes about humanity and the frailty of the human condition, everything about it is absolutely gorgeous. ❤❤❤

I've seen the entire series. The words I would use are beautiful and heartwarming

I’m a little behind on following you episode by episode, so I’m just now watching this pod episode. Around 46:00 Chris asked us to report back, if we have seen the whole series, would we say it was a “sad” show? I thought, well yes, but also funny, real, and emotionally challenging…. In so many words, I’ve always said “it’s an incredible, amazing show. It’s so good!”. But now that I’m thinking about it more, it’s beyond me that I can call a show like this amazing, when it mimics the ebbs and flows of life that I don’t actually see real life as amazing. Do I call my life (past and present) “an incredible, and amazing show. It’s so good!” Unfortunately I don’t. But because of Chris’ question, I’m now reframing my chaotic, funny, sad, emotionally challenged, beautiful life to being “incredible and amazing”.

you guys!! I just loooove you more every time I listen to you! and yes Justin is brilliant!!

Sterling, as a mom of two boys, I get that. I don't lock the door. My sons will talk to me through the half open door when I'm using the bathroom. It's like not a big deal.

As someone who has seen the whole show twice I can say for me, I wouldn't describe it as sad, I would describe it just like life. It has many incredibly sad moments (actually more like heartbreaking and devastating and tragic), but it feels so sad, because it's so realistic to real life. The writing and the acting is so genuine, you just get lost in those feelings. Like in life, we have sadness, but we also have joy and hope and moments where we can be proud of ourselves and there is no other show in the world which gave me more hope than This Is Us. It changed my life. Thank you Mandy, Chris and Sterling for doing this podcast and reliving those moments with us, it truly makes me very happy. ❤

Because of this podcast I decided to rewatch the show. I had never saw an episode more than once. My husband knows the basics of the show, but never sat down and watched it with me. We are now watching it together. I love this show. He loves it as much as I do.

I have seen the show all the way through and this podcast inspired a rewatch. (I was going to only watch one episode a week and then listen to the podcast about that episode, but I couldn't wait so I'm already on Season 5.) To answer Chris' question, I don't think back on this show as being a sad show. I do think back on it as being an emotional show, but there are a multitude of emotions in the human experience. And this show invokes them all. This is a show about the human experience, in all of its exhilarating highs and gut-wrenching lows.

Chris asked the question our thought after the show. To me it was Amazing. It was a reminder of how our actions can affect other lives. And you see that throught the show. The one thar got me was the kid that survived the day Jack died. During the show was on air I cried relegiously. But am rewatching it again with you guys and I can appreciate the humor now.

Now the podcast has me crying 😢

Im a dancer and I LOVED how they related their art to the show❤

I love this show so much!!

I recently finished watching the entire series on Netflix and would not describe the show as sad. It’s a show that covers most of life’s true emotions. What a beautiful show!❤

I’m watching the show for the first time, and I’m so grateful to have this podcast to provide additional context to the show. I’m already up to season 3, but with each new podcast episode I always have to go back and watch it to catch all the discussion moments. I guess I’m watching and rewatching at the same time 😂.

Do you guys know how much you've changed us with this show? So wonderful.

The show as a whole, I wouldn’t describe as sad. I always say it’s “real”. So it’s all the emotions of real life.

To me sad isn’t the right word, emotional is a better fit. Sadness is there but so is joy pride happiness love.

2:06 always gets me at the end.

I like this Kevin monolog too, but his monolog on the football pitch has to be my favourite 1, possibly my favourite from the whole show. Also Randall's "I'm doing this for William Hill" is up there.

Ooooooooh my goodness I absolutely loved this show & love these characters❣️ We love the Vikings!

As someone who has seen the whole show i dont look back & think sad. I think of emotional moments but I also felt comforted by it.

Can y'all share Greta's link with us? Would LOVE to watch the performance as a dance girly myself, so much love to those girls for banding together in such difficult times.

Joyous🌈🌞

I thoroughly enjoyed you all today! The liveliness, the playfulness, the laughter you shared and brought to all of us, which brightens our day!

The first time I saw This Is Us, it was difficult for me to see Kevin's struggles. But after rewatching, it's really clear how incredible Justin represents this character. As Mandy says, he makes it looks easier. This episode is really emotional and got me in happy tears by the end with this beautiful monologue and vision of life/death.

I just love ya'll and this podcast 😭❤️

💛💛💛

I have watched the show through as it aired and rewatched a few months ago. I would certainly not describe the show as sad. I would describe it as "whole". It portrayed the whole of life with all it's joys, fun, difficulties, sadness, mundane, victorious moments. And it had Beth :) . I can't give Ms. Susan enough flowers for her portrayal.

The show is Beautiful and True to Life, there's so many applications to real life. That's how I describe it to people.

I love You! Remembering each scene as I remember!! Jaja! Big fan from Argentina! I am watching this Is us for the ninth Time now!

I love this! Great show on a great show!

Soooo good❤

If you guys come to Portland I would freak out !!!!!! ❤

I too have not had a vaca with my husband since my sons were born . Yeah sure weekends away but no more than that . They are now 22 and 19 . It's time.

God that fan segment wrecked me

Chris posed the question of what do you think about the show after seeing the series. It's not sad. It's fun of hope, dignity, grace, beauty, forgiveness, healing, strength, resilience, and determination. Above all of these, hope is the key.

To respond to Sullivan’s question on 45:00 I have watched the whole show it’s not sad it’s beautiful , the music, the people, it’s real life , it’s relatable, it is us in some kind of way , it is us , it’s someone we know, this is us . ❤

when William brought up the painting on the train with Bec i cried so hard i almost threw up lol

Never missed and episode and only 2 episodes did not make me cry however I wouldn’t say it’s a sad show at all. It was magical because it shows you that all things will come around and work out for the good. Even tragic moments are necessary for whatever happiness or great moment is coming next.

I have a friend who stopped watching as she described the series as sad, I could never understand that. For me it's just beautiful because it's life! I never saw the show as sad

I am such a fan of all of you but I wanted to answer Sully’s question that after watching the whole series the show is just beautiful but I wouldn’t describe it as sad; I would describe it as a magnificent story that encompasses all the ups and downs but allows you to stay present and in the moment because you never know what can happen and life is to short

Painfully beautiful