As the credits roll at the end of this week These are U.S, you will be extremely upset or significantly elevated. After the year that we had / are having, I’m choosing the last one.
The hour focuses on Nicky, both in the present and in his very sad past. One thing is to meet that his experience in the Vietnam War marked and shaped the life of Jack’s brother in profound and lasting ways. It is another thing to watch this happen in a series of near misses, bad choices and deep regrets that accumulate over the years.
But! Few things give me more hope than watching someone step out of a rhythm, especially if that rhythm doesn’t suit them anymore. And that is exactly what Nicky does in the current part of the episode. It is difficult for him. He doubts himself. He thinks about giving up, turning around and going home, as he did most of his life. But then it doesn’t! And it is a very good time.
Also: we found Sally, Nicky’s pre-Vietnamese girlfriend. And someone unexpected (unless you have studied the promotion closely) appears in the timeline for the current day. Read the highlights of “One Small Step”.
MAN IN THE MOON | Let’s start in 1969, when Nicky is living at his parents’ house, but Jack has moved. It’s moon landing day and Jack is at home to watch TV coverage with his family. In the kitchen, Jack suggests that his younger brother move and get a home of his own or at least a girlfriend. When Nicky turns red and embarrassed, Jack realizes that he is already sweet with someone. It turns out that it’s Sally, a woman who works at the veterinary clinic with him (and who’s played by Good Girls RevoltGenevieve Angelson).
Sally is a hippie who invites Nicky to meet Pearl (the Volkswagen van she calls home) and see the moon with her one night. He does that, and soon they are dating and falling in love. One night, while they are in varying degrees of nudity in Pearl, Nicky tells her that he loves her. And from the way she reacts, it’s clear that she feels the same way.
So when she brings up the idea of taking Pearl to study in Woodstock and then continuing across the country to work on her cousin’s farm outside San Francisco – and she wants him to go with her – he decides he’s going to do it. Jack supports me. He even buys a suitcase for him (which turns out to be as durable as he claims: it later appears in current history too). And the plan to meet Sally one night after her parents go to bed is all systems working! … until Nicky spends time with his parents that night and realizes how he can be the only protection his mother left against his abusive father. Although we are waiting, it looks like he will change his mind.
PARKING – Lamentations | Years later, after Nicky comes back from Vietnam and lives in the trailer, he gets a call from someone in his unit: A band of comrades in war is gathering to toast the engagement of another comrade in war, and it’s not far from where he lives. In addition, “I heard that Jack will be there,” says the friend.
So Nick musters up his courage, puts on his outfits and sits in his truck, practicing what he is going to say to his estranged brother. “I’m better now,” says Nicky to himself. “I am not the monster you think I am.”
But when he arrives at the American Legion where the guys are meeting, Nick is unable to enter – even after seeing Jack enter the bar. Yet, we are able to listen while Jack and one of his friends talk about how Jack lied to Rebecca about what he did in the war. Since then, “I’ve had a million opportunities to tell the truth and I never did,” he notes. The friend fully understands and gives Jack some well-intentioned, but very terrible, advice on how to deal with traumatic memories. “Lock it up,” he says. “Visit it when you have one more” and “keep it separate” from the rest of your life. Jack also mentions that he wants to propose to Rebecca. The friend suggests that he go ahead and think only of her and their future.
In the parking lot, Nicky sees Jack pulling out the engagement ring he already bought. But he says nothing, and Jack doesn’t even know his brother there.
OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS | Last week’s episode ended with Nicky arriving, unannounced, at Kevin and Madison’s house. This week, we learned that Nick didn’t understand that the twins’ next baptism was a case of Zoom, but now that he’s there, Kevin is very excited to introduce Nicky and Franny to his great uncle.
And he is legitimately excited to meet you too. As the episode progresses, we see how Nicky did a lot of things he had never done before (commissioned by Amazon!) Or not so long ago (by plane!) To make the pandemic-era trip from Pennsylvania to California. He gets a coronavirus vaccine. He reserves a flight. The most moving thing of all is that he makes two snow globes – one with dogs, the other with a landing on the moon – for babies.
And he gets help with preparing for … Cassidy’s trip! She teaches you about Amazon. It surrounds the globes. She takes you to the airport. And it gives him the stimulating conversation he needs when he starts freaking out about doing so many new things in a row. A pity that when he passes security at the airport, a TSA agent unwraps his gift and informs him that he cannot bring so much liquid on the plane. And when Nicky goes to empty them in a trash can, he drops them, breaking the glass. Frustrated, he throws everything in the trash.
But he does it. And he is happy to be there. But when Kevin starts talking about all the grandfather things Nick can do with his family during his visit, the older man begins to visibly squirm. Early the next morning, he calls Cassidy in a panic: He’s thinking about ghosts. But she calms him down. “You hated each other for so long, and now that you have all that love coming at you, it’s weird and you want to disappear without permission,” she says. But she points out that Jack would be proud of him. “It took a while, but you did it. You made it all the way to California. “
Then Nick sneaked into the children’s room, where his namesake and Franny are awake but silent. He shows them the spare gifts he bought at the airport bookstore – John Grisham’s The firm and The Rainmaker (ha!) – and monologues that landing on the moon was an impossible thing, until it became possible. Likewise, “Anything good that happened to me, seemed impossible,” he says. “But here I am. I did it. “He starts to cry a little.” You two are my moon. “
Nick falls asleep in the rocking chair, which is where Kevin later meets him. When Kev picks up one of the books, a photo of Jack and Nick – which Sally took when he came to dinner at Pearson’s house – falls to the floor.
Now it is your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!