Let’s Discuss ‘This Is Us’: Sister Is Forced to Mingle With Tech Guys
But she also walks up a hill.
Sisters are doing it for themselves. Standing on their own two feet. Visiting Sister’s Husband at his far-away job in San Francisco. Yes, it’s the Sister episode in the “Big Three” triptych, so I hope you were not expecting to hear about Brother, Brother, or Uncle. SHHH! They’re resting right now. It takes a lot out of our family to perform for us each week, and I sometimes worry you don’t really “get” that. It’s literally killing Mother. Let’s see if she died.
HAS MOTHER DIED?
Not yet.
AND HOW IS SISTER FARING?
Not great. After Sister and Sister’s Husband spent Thanksgiving fighting (in the This Is Us Sister universe Thanksgiving was last week, even though in the This Is Us Actor Brother universe Thanksgiving was multiple weeks ago) (it isn’t our responsibility to comprehend, only to believe), Sister decides to visit Husband’s far-away apartment in San Francisco. The trip is in part meant to suss out if Sister would want to move the whole family to San Francisco, even though Sister has that fairly sussed in her head already: She does not want to. And who would!
Before leaving for San Francisco, Sister watches Fight Club, after which she is haunted by what we’re meant to see as a Tyler Durden-esque specter of her Husband’s “old self”; before he lost weight, before he got new clothes, before he got his far-away job. This is the Husband that Sister prefers. “Old Self” Husband pops up periodically to make fun of “New Self” Husband in a way that I enjoyed, but one I would compare more to Drop Dead Fred than I would Fight Club. (Sister is Phoebe Cates, “Old Self” Husband is Rik Mayall.) (It doesn’t even make sense with Fight Club characters … who is Sister in that scenario? A second Edward Norton??) Drop Dead Fred does not get the respect it deserves, in general, and this would have been a nice place to see some Drop Dead Fred representation on-screen. Tsk, tsk.
But yes, Sister’s Husband has a sleek, fancy San Francisco bachelor’s pad and sleek, fancy San Francisco clothes, and he makes Sister go to a sleek, fancy San Francisco party with all of his annoying San Francisco tech bro coworkers. And if that isn’t bad enough, at the party, Sister finds out Husband recently turned down a job in Los Angeles — where his wife and kids already live.
WHY WOULD SISTER’S HUSBAND BETRAY SISTER IN SUCH A WAY?
The answer is because he sucks, but Sister and Husband have a long discussion about other contributing factors. Husband says the Los Angeles job didn’t pay enough, but refuses to tell Sister what the salary difference was. Sister tells him she doesn’t want to uproot the family and move to San Francisco because she has a job in Los Angeles, and Mother is dying there, and their blind child finally knows his way around their house. Husband doesn’t really seem to have a response to that, but he really likes his job, so maybe that’s enough? (He says “Wow.” a lot the way someone who is losing an argument tends to do.) Sister tells Husband she misses the way he used to be, and Husband tells Sister the way he used to be was depressed. Why can’t Sister just be happy for him? Well, I’ll tell you why, Husband — because you suck!
ARE THEY DIVORCED NOW?
No, we haven’t even gotten to the inciting divorce incident yet, which is something involving an outdoor grill. But the guy from You’re the Worst (Sister’s current boss and Future Husband) was hanging around, and at the end of the episode Sister told him she wanted to be considered for a bigger job at work. Los Angeles it is, then.
Sister also walked up a big hill, which was thematically relevant but not really necessary to discuss.
WAS THERE NOT EVEN A MENTION OF UNCLE?
No.
Next week: Councilman Brother gets his moment in the sun.
