SPOILER ALARM: The story includes details of the May 17 episode of This Is Us, “The Train.” The play takes place Monday night at the Landmark Theater as part of the Deadline Awards screening series, followed by questions and answers from series creator and executive producer Dan Vogelman. You can watch a two-part video of him dissecting The Train (above) and visualizing the finale of next week’s series (below the story.)
The scene that fans have been eagerly awaiting – and fearing – for years, as The Pearsons and their families gather at Kevin’s house to say goodbye to Rebecca on her deathbed.
Mandy Moore and Chris Sullivan in Tuesday’s “The Train” episode by Ron Batzdorf / NBC
There were many tears as the significant others of the Big Three — past and present — took turns at Rebecca’s bed to tell her how much she meant to them. Randall and Kevin came in last, while Kate raced from London to join them. She arrived in the morning just in time for the trio to say their last “I love you” to Rebecca as she took her last breath.
Along with Rebecca’s last hours, a younger version of her found herself on a train, a pleasant return to the Kabuz episode earlier this season and a retrospective of her train journeys with her father decades ago. She was led through the wagons by William and spent time with the bartender on the train, who was none other than Dr. K, who was literally making lemonade from lemons.
There was also a surprising third parallel storyline involving a new family with two sons and a daughter we had never seen. Kenny’s father, played by Dule Hill, lost control of the family car and one of his sons, Marcus, was taken to hospital in critical condition. For a while, it seemed that the grown-up Marcus might be Deja’s future boyfriend. It turned out that she was still with Malik, who was identified as the father of her baby, while the car crash and Pearson’s fire happened on the same day as Marcus and Jack were treated by the same doctor, Dr. Spencer, played by the same actor, Bill Irwin, who guest starred in an episode of This Is Us Super Bowl.
Kenny crashed into Jack at the hospital, where Jack shared how Dr. K made lemonade from lemon wisdom, which Kenny then made his own family motto. Marcus, who was miraculously revived by Dr. Spencer just as Jack was dying a few doors down, continued to become a top researcher. He was honored for his contribution to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, with the man who presented him with the award, played by The Is Us / EP director Ken Olin, who directed The Train.
As young Rebecca and William walked across the train, with some memorable moments of “It’s Us” around her, including the scene of Jack and young Randall in the karate class, they reached the cabin.
“It’s pretty sad, isn’t it, the end?” She said. “Oh, I don’t see it that way, if something makes you sad when it’s over, it must have been great when it happened,” William said. “You will see that the end is not sad, Rebecca, this is just the beginning of the next incredibly wonderful thing.”
As her younger version entered the cabin, which was set up as a bedroom, Randall in real life whispered in the dying Rebecca’s ear, “You say ‘hey.'” Rebecca shook his hand, as if to confirm that she had heard him. and a few minutes later. , young Rebecca lay down on the bed on the train, turned to see young Jack, and said, “Hey.”
In the first part of his video interview (you can watch it above), Vogelman talks about filming the last scene, which required re-filming, as well as the whole emotional episode. He explains why the train was chosen as the backdrop to tell the story of Rebecca’s death, why he brought back William (Ron Sephass Jones) and Dr. K. (Gerald McRain), and why we got “Jack’s Mustache” in this last scene.
Vogelman also explains the storyline with Kenny and Marcus, how he finally convinced thirty-two alumni Olin to make a cameo on the show, in which he is an EP and director of six seasons, and why Deia ended up with Malik.
“It’s about the strange dichotomy of trauma and joy in our lives,” Vogelman said of juxtaposing the story of Marcus and Jack, an idea they had had on the show for years.
During the conversation, Vogelman also became personal, talking about how the sudden loss of his mother, without being able to say goodbye, affected the writing of the scene in which the Big Three spoke to Rebecca for the last time.
In the second video (you can watch it below), Vogelman talks about the upcoming finale of This Is Us next week, “We,” which he also wrote.
He irritates the plot line for the last episode and explains how the new material is mixed with footage he shot four years ago.
Vogelman calls the last two hours of “This Is Us” “a lot of different episodes talking.”
“In the last episode, we will try to film something simple, which, although sad, is a kind of day in the life, which is so much of what the show is about, against Rebecca’s funeral,” he said.
The show deliberately solved all the major mysteries some time ago, “so people can sit with the family in the last episode in the simplest way,” Vogelman said. “While it will make you cry, it will make you sad, the end of the finale moves me in a different way. I think the cast and crew caught something about the human condition and the condition of a person in the family that I’m really proud of.
He also joked about another death and shared a line from the finale: “I wish I had enjoyed it more while it was still happening, instead of worrying about when it would end,” revealing which character says it.
In addition, Vogelman reacted to Seth Myers at NBC earlier in the day by presenting a reboot of This Is Us, That Was They, and saying whether he would make a spinoff or other series related to this is us.
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