Ten years ago, on September 20, 2016, television viewers were introduced to the Pearson family as This Is Us made its jaw-dropping debut on NBC, and the pilot episode still holds up.
In an age where streaming titles and premium cable fare have ruled the airwaves, This Is Us proved that network dramas were still worthy of appointment viewing when Dan Fogelman‘s series delivered a twist that still makes us marvel. If you somehow missed the six-season run of the acclaimed series, This Is Us sets up viewers with a fact: “According to Wikipedia, the average human being shares his or her birthday with over 18 million other human beings. There is no evidence that sharing the same birthday creates any type of behavioral link between those people. If there is… Wikipedia hasn’t discovered it for us yet.”
We are then introduced to Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), who, while donning his birthday suit and Steeler’s terrible towel, is treated to a dance and a cupcake from his heavily pregnant wife, Rebecca (Mandy Moore). Meanwhile, Kate (Chrissy Metz) is haunted by sticky notes in her fridge reminding her of the calories contained in foods she’s trying to avoid, including a birthday cake, in an attempt to lose weight. Then there’s Randall (Sterling K. Brown), who is serenaded with a cake by coworkers in his fancy office. Also celebrating his birthday? Actor Kevin (Justin Hartley), who is having an existential crisis as he turns 36.
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All introduced individually, we’re led to believe the only common thread between them is a shared birthday, but slowly the picture becomes clearer when Kate falls in her house and calls her twin Kevin for support. Meanwhile, Randall reveals to his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) that he’s located his biological father after searching for him, insinuating to audiences that he was adopted by whoever raised him.
Rebecca, who casually reveals she’s pregnant with triplets, goes into labor, forcing her and Jack to deviate from his birthday plans and head to the hospital, where they’re guided by Doctor K (Gerald McRaney). Like dominoes falling over in a line, each little scene reveals a little more until Rebecca and Jack lose one of their babies, and Doctor K gives Jack a pep talk to end all pep talks.
“I like to think that maybe one day, you’ll be an old man like me, talking a younger man’s ear off, explaining to him how you took the sourest lemon that life has to offer and turned it into something resembling lemonade. If you can do that, then you will still be taking three babies home from this hospital. Maybe not the way you planned…” the doctor says.
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Little does Jack know, a simple exchange at the baby nursery in the hospital would change his life forever as he asks a man which kid is his. “None of them, actually. The strangest damn thing, someone left a newborn at my fire station. I didn’t know what to do, so I brought him here.” The fireman points to one baby beside Jack’s babies, and thus The Big 3 is born, when the fireman offers Jack a smoke, finally revealing that the stories are unfolding in different times. Knowing Rebecca and Jack’s story is now set in the 1970s, audiences understand that Kate, Kevin, and Randall are the babies they take home from the hospital.
Ten years later, the reveal still gives us chills and brings tears to our eyes as Labi Siffre’s “Watch Me” plays in the background. No reveal has been quite as shocking as that in recent years, and ultimately hooked viewers so quickly that This Is Us became an understandable hit early on.
The episode also set a precedent for the series, preparing viewers for the time-traversing ride through the Pearson family’s lives, raising major questions about the past with present-day reveals, including when an older Rebecca shows up at a family gathering with Jack’s best friend Miguel (Jon Huertas) by her side instead of the husband she is so clearly in love with in past-set storylines.
It’s been just over four years since This Is Us hung up its metaphorical hat, but just like us, even the cast hasn’t fully let go, reliving highlights with Mandy Moore, Chris Sullivan, and Sterling K. Brown’s podcast, That Was Us. So, whether you choose to revisit the perfect pilot or gain new insight from the podcast, celebrate 10 years of This Is Us. Consider it a birthday wish from The Big 3!
This Is Us, Streaming now, Hulu, Disney+ & Tubi