Jack’s son is called to be child after me. I mean, god, Jack has to roll around in there in his grave. “
This is us is a show about family, but it’s even more of a show about oppression. It’s the Pearson clan’s fatal flaw. And no character better reflects that oppression than Uncle Nicky – the beloved younger brother Jack took out of his life when their interconnected war trauma became too much to bear. While This is us is often a tear-jerking show, the grief of Uncle Nicky’s story exists on another level, both because it lasts 50 years and because there is no hope of reconciliation between the “famous Pittsburgh Pearson brothers”. At least not literally. On a spiritual level, however, “One Small Step” is one of the most hopeful episodes in the ongoing Uncle Nicky saga. As Neil Armstrong’s famous quote about moon landing goes, a small step can also be a giant leap.
“A small step” is This is us in full character study mode, where the show often does its best work. While we’ve seen Nicky dragged along to Pearson events in the past, this is the first time he has taken the initiative to join the family himself. And most of this episode takes place in a flash of memory, from the moment Kevin says, “I can’t believe you flew across the country to meet our kids. It’s unbelievable, “the moment Nicky replies,” It was nothing. During that hiatus, Nicky flashes back to how much courage it actually took to get on his maiden flight since 1971. ‘One Small Step’ highlights not only the logistical and emotional details of that trip, but also two other instances where Nicky expressed his hopes. suppressed and dreaming of connectivity and being stuck with what he knew.
What makes Uncle Nicky such an engaging player in the This is us universe is how Michael Angarano and Griffin Dunne work together to form a character that is completely cohesive, even if he has undergone such a tremendous evolution over the course of his life. And “One Small Step” puts that evolution in the foreground. There’s 21-year-old Nicky, the gentle space nerd with a giant heart. There’s Nicky in her late twenties, the psychologically tormented vet who is starting to get stuck in his pattern of self-destructive isolation, but still has a little hope that things can change. And there’s the present day Nicky, a grumpy old man who takes the bold step of making his way back to the softer soul he used to be.
G / O Media can receive a commission
While the Vietnam War is clearly the huge turning point in Nicky’s life, “One Small Step” also emphasizes the continuity of his personality. All three versions of Nicky fear hoping for something better for themselves; they prefer to keep their dreams and plans secret so that they don’t disappoint anyone when they get cold feet. Unlike Jack – who suppresses negative emotions to focus on positive ones – Nicky’s repression manifests itself in a tendency to put his life on hold. While Jack has a “proud, determined energy,” 21-year-old Nicky is cautious, thoughtful and a little withdrawn. That’s why he fits so well with the free-spirited photographer Sally (Genevieve Angelson). Her confident yet gentle hippie demeanor gives him the space to step out of his comfort zone while still feeling loved and supported. But when Sally asks Nicky to take the big step of moving to California with her, his confidence collapses. It’s easier to convince himself that his parents need him more at home than it is to start an independent life.
After the war, Nicky’s natural tendency to self-doubt turns into complete self-hatred. He does it by shrinking his world even further: his trailer, his drink and the occasional phone call from an old war buddy who offers an invitation that he declines. “One Small Step” fills us in a little more of the time between when Nicky returned from Vietnam and Jack paid an exciting visit to his brother’s 1992 trailer (as seen in the third season episode). Songbird Road: Part One.However, sometime in the mid-1970s they were almost had another reunion. A Nicky was too scared to continue, and Jack couldn’t accept either.
“Deep down, don’t you think he would be proud of you?” Asks Cassidy (hi Jennifer Morrison!) Current Nicky when he calls her in a panic from Kevin’s house. Rebecca said something similar back in season threewhen she told Nicky that she thought Jack’s sobriety trajectory would have led him to reconnect with his little brother. But even if Cassidy and Rebecca are right, I think they also underestimate the magnitude of Jack’s deeply oppressive streak. Jack’s conversation with his longtime army commander Lieutenant Sheehan (Scott Michael Campbell) reaffirms his decision to bury his experiences in the war. To hold that he was just a mechanic and that Nicky died abroad, instead of burdening Rebecca with the more complicated reality. Jack sets off to imagine with more confidence than ever that oppression is the way to go – a coping mechanism that will shape his family for decades to come.
In many ways, Jack erasing Nicky is the Pearson family’s original sin, one that hit Rebecca and the Big Three without even realizing it. It’s so sad that Jack and Nicky never reconciled while Jack was still alive. But it’s also increasingly clear that this season’s theme is healing – as characterized by the slow thawing of Randall and Kevin’s rift. Just as confronting Marc Kate helped heal her self-esteem issues and learning about his biological mother, Randall helped heal his issues with identity, so meeting his great-niece and nephew Nicky helped overcome his self-esteem issues. to cure. Nicky is finally taking the trip to California he never took with Sally, just like he made up with Kevin he never took with Jack. And now Uncle Nicky becomes the grandfather figure for the grandchildren that his brother can no longer meet.
Uncle Nicky has left for the past few seasons This is usleast hopeful character to his most hopeful. His story is a beautiful portrayal of intergenerational healing, and a well-deserved celebration of the fact that it is never too late for someone to change their life. The last 10 minutes of this episode, in particular, are some of the most moving This is us ever delivered. Dunne knows just how to modulate Nicky’s grumpy old man attitude so that jokes about Zoom and John Grisham paperbacks blend seamlessly with his renewed emotional vulnerability. The idea of leaving his routine and reconnecting with his family once felt as impossible as walking on the moon. But as Nicky puts it to Franny and his namesake great-nephew: “One day we had never been to the moon… and the next day we walk on it. The impossible just became possible. “
Stray observations
- Young Jack tells Nicky that if a girl he liked asked him to go to California, he would be gone in no time. And we saw Jack do just that in the third season episode, “Sometimes.”
- I’m a little confused about how time passes this season, but Uncle Nicky is officially our first This is us character to get the vaccine! Two of them, as he keeps insisting.
- Nicky first spoke about Sally on the fourth season episode, “Flip A Coin.” After the war, he bought his trailer in the hope of starting a new life with her. But since she wasn’t home when he came by to surprise her, he decided it wasn’t meant to be and drove off. Considering we know Nicky wears a wedding ring in the flash-forward timeline, could there still be hope for those two crazy kids to finally make it work?
- It’s super nice to have Cassidy back in this episode! She’s a great foil for Nicky, and Jennifer Morrison and Griffin Dunne have a beautiful friendship chemistry together. When we last saw Cassidy, she was on her way to reconcile with her husband, but in this episode, she is emphatically shown alone in bed.
- Between Nick and Franny’s upcoming christening and the photo of young Nicky making (jokingly) the sign of the cross, I am now very curious about the Pearson family’s religious background.
- For the record, Jack is a Leo, what total tracks.UPDATING: Apparently Jack is actually a Virgo, and I leave it to those who know astrology better than I do to say whether or not that follows.)