This Is Us
The Big Three
TV Flash files “The Big Three” as hour 2 of 106 in the TV Flash guide — This Is Us (2016–2022) on NBC, season 1, episode 2, aired 2016-09-27, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E02: listed hour 2 of 106 in the This Is Us guide, hour 2 of 18 in season 1. It aired 2016-09-27 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Pilot” (S01E01). Next is “Kyle” (S01E03).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Kate (Chrissy Metz) is furiously working hard to shed her unwanted pounds as she continues to struggle with impatience and discouragement. She receives support from her new boyfriend, Toby (Chris Sullivan), as he helps her let loose and enjoy herself. Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) begins to question the motives of Randall's (Sterling K. Brown) biological father, William (Ron Cephas Jones), and takes action in getting answers on his activities. Randall has a lot more on his mind with the new life-changing addition of having his biological father in his life. Marriage and raising three 8-year-old children is beginning to take its toll on Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) as they start to feel distant from one another. Kevin (Justin Hartley) faces the aftermath of quitting his job as he deals with his agent, Lanie (Katey Sagal), and has to figure out how to move forward.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Big Three sit in the This Is Us guide?
S01E02 is listed hour 2 of 106 — hour 2 of 18 in season 1, season 1 episode 2.
When did This Is Us S01E02 air?
The Big Three aired 2016-09-27 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Will I cry in episode one, or is that a rumor?
You may well. The pilot is designed as a reveal and a hug. If that sounds like a trap, it is also the contract. Later hours get more complicated; the first one wants your face.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it as the last great network family portrait: aging makeup as a special effect, Monday tissues as a premiere ritual, and a Super Bowl hour that dressed grief like a national event. Sincerity, tailored. Not an accident of lighting.
The first look is a family that photographs like a campaign. Not a political one — a lifestyle one. Flannel, kitchen light, a Philadelphia house that understands cameras even when nobody in it is famous yet. This Is Us arrived on NBC in 2016 selling sincerity the way a fragrance launch sells memory: close-ups, timelines, a promise that if you stay, the portrait will complete. Mandy Moore's face is the long con of the costume department. You watch her age forward and backward until the latex becomes the point.…
Filed against
- Milo Ventimiglia as Jack Pearson
Milo Ventimiglia’s Jack Pearson became This Is Us’s tissue-box patriarch — timeline gymnastics and ensemble tears as network event TV. Gilmore Girls charm graduated to spoiler-sensitive Monday gold. TV Flash keeps the fridge light on for…
- Mandy Moore as Rebecca Pearson
Mandy Moore’s Rebecca Pearson is the mother-as-campaign-image of This Is Us — flannel, kitchen light, aging makeup as the real costume plot on NBC’s Monday tissue ritual. Dan Fogelman’s family serial sold sincerity like a fragrance…
- Sterling K. Brown as Randall Pearson
Sterling K. Brown’s Randall Pearson made This Is Us a Monday premiere of American feeling — NBC’s family portrait, aging makeup as the real costume plot, Super Bowl as a national living room. On TV Flash he is sincerity, tailored: the…
- Chrissy Metz as Kate Pearson
Chrissy Metz’s Kate Pearson carried This Is Us’s emotional event TV — body, voice, and family fracture as network tissue-box prestige. Superstar ensemble tears needed her center in a portrait that photographed like a campaign. TV Flash…
- Justin Hartley as Kevin Pearson
Justin Hartley’s Kevin Pearson is This Is Us as an image campaign for American feeling — aging makeup as costume plot, Super Bowl as a national living room, a Pearson brother posed for the myth. NBC serial portraiture. On TV Flash he is…
- Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth Pearson
Susan Kelechi Watson’s Beth Pearson is This Is Us without the apology — NBC’s family portrait, Monday tissues as a premiere ritual, aging makeup as costume plot. On TV Flash she is the partner as a second spine: sincerity tailored, dance…