How to Introduce an Ensemble Cast in Six Minutes (non-fiction, review)
(This is Us, Season 1, Episode 1)
This is Us is the first show I’ve seen pull off a multi-generational story and still keep its characters fresh. The expansive nature of the show makes it difficult to break down, but I believe we can look at the first six minutes of the pilot episode to get an idea of how the creator makes this work. There are five main characters, who we are introduced to in a series of scenes split between them. We see them in their lives, all at age 36. In future seasons, the character total doubles as the families develop and age into the different phases of adulthood. Mothers become grandmothers, children become parents, and parents die.
What happens in the first six minutes:
In an older, 70s-style house, we meet Jack and Rebecca. Rebecca is very pregnant and is hesitant to fulfill her birthday-dance tradition for Jack (who is turning 36). She asks if he’s in his birthday suit before sauntering out with lingerie over her maternity clothes. She makes a joke about how fat she is, and he reassures her. Their relationship is good and they have chemistry. Jack jokingly tells his unborn triplets to look away because he’s about to do something naughty to their mother, to which Rebecca responds: “I bet I can make that go away… my water just broke.”
Kate is one of Jack and Rebecca’s triplets. It’s her 36th birthday. She stands, staring into the refrigerator at all the notes she’s left for herself on the food. The birthday cake says: “Do not dare eat this before your party, Kate. Love, Kate.” She rips the post-it note off and another one underneath is revealed: “Seriously, what is wrong with you?” At the scale in the bathroom, she’s taken off all of her clothes. The enemy stands before her, but she’s strong. She takes off her earrings and slowly puts the smallest amount of her foot on the scale, then the other foot. Unbalanced, she upends herself and falls off the scale, hurting her ankle.
Randall, who was adopted into the family as one of the triplets, is Black. He sits in his fancy New York office, looking at a computer screen filled with graphs and stock market projections. An e-mail comes in: “Good News.” But at the door are his coworkers, wanting to wish him a happy birthday. He laughs in a fake, I-want-to-jump-out-of-the-window way, but blows out the candles anyway. After they’ve left, he finally can open the e-mail. The agency he’s hired has found his biological father! There’s a rundown of his stats under the message: “him,” and a picture of his father, William.
Kevin, the final triplet, is introduced in a fancy L.A. actor-house with floor-to-ceiling glass walls. There’s a party, it’s his 36th birthday. We cross a bedroom: a statue of the comedy/tragedy masks, a poster of Richard III, and then The Man-ny. A poster of Kevin, shirtless, holding a baby and smiling. It’s very clearly a daytime comedy show. He’s an actor. There are two girls in his room, wanting to dance with him. But he’s preoccupied about his age. “It’s my birthday today. 36,” he says. One of the girls reassures him he doesn’t look it. He responds, a little sad, “Yeah… I do.” He gets up to dance with the girls, putting away the laptop he was using as a distraction, but can’t get into it. “You know where it all went wrong?” He says, before launching into a story about watching The Challenger disaster as a kid. “Maybe that’s when I realized trying to change the world just leads to being blown up in little pieces all over Florida… Maybe that’s how I wound up as The Man-ny.” A call from Kate saves him from digging a bigger hole. She’s fallen down and hurt herself. He leaves immediately to go to her house, where we learn that she works for him as his assistant. She says: “You’re the only good thing in my life, Kev.”
It’s important to note a few things here. The scenes above all happen in the span of 6 minutes and are intercut with one another at about 45 second intervals. We stay for a minute in the 1980s, with Rebecca and Jack, before moving forward to the 2010s to meet the kids, who are now adults. This breaks up the tension of the stories and creates a picture of a family, all independent, all within their own stories, building one larger narrative.
What This Six Minutes Tell Us About the Characters:
In the first scene, we get a sense of Rebecca and Jack’s relationship. Right away, we can feel there is chemistry between them. The pregnancy is truly a beginning, a shift in their relationship and a shift in their lives. Jack re-assures his wife that she’s still beautiful and that she still arouses him. We learn there are triplets in her giant belly. We’re introduced to their nickname throughout the series: The Big Three. It is Jack’s birthday and Rebecca gave him a small football towel, which he loves. All around the house things are in boxes, being packed. “Family Photos ’74 - ’79.” They have a birthday tradition, which Jack expects to be fulfilled even though Rebecca is very, very pregnant. It’s playful: “tradition is tradition.”
NBC’s “This is Us” shot of the post-it note from Kate to Kate
Transitioning to Kate, we are immediately aware that she has an eating problem and is working on it. It’s not said, it’s shown. In the refrigerator are many post-in notes: “throw this crap out”, “250-calories per spoonful.” There’s a sheet cake that says, “36 is just a number…,” in frosting. She looks at it wantingly, knowing she absolutely cannot eat it before her birthday party (implying it wouldn’t be the first time). Sadly, she goes to the bathroom. To the scale. She wanted fucking cake. But instead she’s determined to weigh herself. She strips off all her clothes, her necklaces, her earrings. She’s taken everything she can possibly take off before even trying to get on the scale. She wants a win today, but she’s scared. So she puts a toe on the scale, and then the very front of her foot. Then the other. But she’s unstable and falls backwards. She calls her brother, who comes over immediately. “You didn’t have ice,” he says, putting a tub of ice cream on her swollen and bruised ankle. They have a codependent relationship. She works for him, but he needs her too. Again, it’s not said, but it’s all there.
NBC’s “This is Us” Kevin in “The Man-ny” poster
Kevin, while we’re here, is so clearly described in the first few shots of his story. He’s wealthy, he’s an actor. As we pan through the room: The comedy/tragedy mask statue, which seems more like a decorator’s choice than his own, then the Richard III play poster. He’s a serious actor. He knows Shakespeare. He has aspirations to be something great. And then The Man-ny, which is what he’s actually known for. It’s his breakout role. A daytime comedy about a buff, good-looking male nanny. There are models in his room, for his birthday, but he doesn’t really care. He’s not mean about it, just pre-occupied with himself. His age. The potential for real success is slipping further away every year. But when his sister calls, he’s out of there. Girls, party, friends, a nice house - none of that matters at all. Family is first.
NBC’s “This is Us” In Randall’s office
Randall, who is an outsider immediately by the color of his skin, sits alone in his office. It’s a big office in a big city. He’s an important person who has worked hard for his position. But he’s missing something. His biological father. We don’t know how he ended up in the family yet, but it doesn’t need to be explained. All of the other characters are white, and he’s hired an agency to find his biological dad, and they have! “Do you have a second, boss?” his assistant interrupts. They want to sing him happy birthday. The look he gives here is very telling. There’s weight to that day and that word. He’s the boss and they’re doing something nice for him, so he has to accept and play along; he’s a professional. But the second they leave, he’s back to the e-mail. Here, finally, is his father! We see a picture of William, who will play a prominent role in the show as both an old and young man.
Caution: Spoilers for the rest of the series:
In six minutes we, as the audience, have a wealth of knowledge about five new characters. This utility, masked in a subtle, charming episode opener, speaks volumes to what will come in the long run of the show (and the episode). After watching the Season 5 opener, I was curious how well the first episode held up and if the seeds that were planted then payed off in current episodes. After five seasons, characters change a lot - especially in such a sprawling, epic family story - so I was surprised to find a lot of the characteristics and motivations still applied.
Randall is still discovering himself as an adult. He’s still looking for family. After finding his father, a larger part of him opened up. His identity was shifted. His life changed, and is still changing.
After Kevin quit The Man-ny to pursue more serious roles, he had to confront his alcoholism and find himself again, older, wanting to settle down.
Kate, who found a husband (and best friend) in a food addiction group, must confront the fact that he has changed and she hasn’t. He’s succeeded, despite his own crippling depression, and in a way she is still the person from the first episode - older, but not better.
Jack, who died during the Big Three’s teenage years, stands over all of them. A turning point in their lives. A good father, a bad father, a lost person, speaking to everyone from the grave. Not literally, but through the habits and the memories of his children, and his wife.
Rebecca, who struggled to find herself after the loss of her husband, is strong. She had to be. She had three kids and a family to hold together. But she’s moved on. Made new traditions, which the entire family struggles with. She has a new life.
What’s fascinating to me, with This is Us, is the care each story takes, even when it’s a pretty stereotypical family drama. There’s a depth to the writing and the attention to character that doesn’t veer too far from its original intention. It goes to heavy places, it explores depression and obsession and addiction. But at the heart the show is honest. It feels authentic because the drama is earned. The story is huge, but it feels intimate. And that’s what is great about this show. That’s what sets it apart from other multi-generational family dramas on right now.
This is Us is currently running its fifth season on NBC (or available in full on Hulu).