If you have never watched this dramatic television series as Mrs. Shullivan and I have from the very first episode, and you want to gain an appreciation for what dramatic performances should be, then this episode will clinch it for you and your family.
There are many families (truth be told it is more like most families) who have one or more family members who go through difficult times filled with emotional and difficult life experiences. In this episode Season 2, episode 10, titled "Number Three" it focuses on the young teenage Randall trying to figure out what college he should go to as he is extremely intelligent and has his choice of almost any college including Harvard. His dad Jack agrees to take Randall to a predominantly black college and they discuss Randall's options on the drive home where Randall's feelings about being a black child growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood are explained. Then the episode flips to the adult Randall struggling with keeping his emotions in check while having to let go of his and his wife Beth's foster child Déjà (played by a most compelling actress named Lyric Ross) to her biological troubled mother Shauna. As this extremely emotional scene continues to evolve the music from Cat Steven's 1970 song "Where do the children play" is heard in the background. I believe this scene alone should be enough to win actor Sterling K. Brown (who plays Randall Pearson) an Emmy for best actor in a dramatic series, hands down.
If this series "This Is Us" was extended to a two hour episode each week Mrs. Shullivan and I would be sure to ignore other television shows we would be missing to make sure we did not miss a single minute of this extremely well done series. The two preceding episodes titled "Number One" and "Number Two" focus on the other two Pearson children, namely Kevin Pearson (number one) and Kate Pearson (number two). Congratulations to the series creator Dan Fogelman, and the series writers Dan Fogelma (created by) (54 episodes, 2016-2019), Kay Oyegun (27 episodes, 2016-2017), Aurin Squire (17 episodes, 2016-2017) Jas Waters and the other writers for just a fabulous dramatic series that has warmed our hearts and helps us to listen to others without pre-judging the why?
