This Is Us. Season 3

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain to me what the issue with the brother is? I was very distracted but am not sure I can watch the episode again. Why did Jack have to go to the town and see him? What was wring?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me what the issue with the brother is? I was very distracted but am not sure I can watch the episode again. Why did Jack have to go to the town and see him? What was wring?

Thanks!

Nicky’s letters indicated that he was a combination of fatalistic and suicidal. He knew that he wouldn’t make it out of Vietnam alive, one way or the other. That concerned Jack, so he went to be with Nicky.

[Anonymous]

He knew that his brother wasn't psychologically wired to be a soldier. He knew that his brother was struggling. The look in Nicky's eyes when he turned and saw Jack was haunting. He looked like he was not right.... falling apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you ever talked with 70 yr old relatives about the draft and Vietnam war? Have you been to the Vietnam Vet war memorial? Be sure to do both.

Yeah, really. I'm surprised about the ignorance here. My dad told me from a young age that he was really lucky to have turned 18 in 1973, after the draft ended. My uncle was lucky to not have been drafted, but was planning on running away to Canada if his number had been called.

No, not ignorant about the draft or Vietnam in general but specifically how the lottery was televised on tv. I have actually spoken to 73 year old family member about their time in Vietnam, but the topic of the tv lottery never came up. I do recall he told me the thing he missed the most over there was cold pop and beer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you ever talked with 70 yr old relatives about the draft and Vietnam war? Have you been to the Vietnam Vet war memorial? Be sure to do both.

Yeah, really. I'm surprised about the ignorance here. My dad told me from a young age that he was really lucky to have turned 18 in 1973, after the draft ended. My uncle was lucky to not have been drafted, but was planning on running away to Canada if his number had been called.

No, not ignorant about the draft or Vietnam in general but specifically how the lottery was televised on tv. I have actually spoken to 73 year old family member about their time in Vietnam, but the topic of the tv lottery never came up. I do recall he told me the thing he missed the most over there was cold pop and beer.

I’ve often heard 70th something’s talk about the draft order birthdate thing. How surreal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He knew that his brother wasn't psychologically wired to be a soldier. He knew that his brother was struggling. The look in Nicky's eyes when he turned and saw Jack was haunting. He looked like he was not right.... falling apart.

The actor who played Nicky was really good. Joined the cast in a major role seamlessly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He knew that his brother wasn't psychologically wired to be a soldier. He knew that his brother was struggling. The look in Nicky's eyes when he turned and saw Jack was haunting. He looked like he was not right.... falling apart.

The actor who played Nicky was really good. Joined the cast in a major role seamlessly.

That episode ending look was haunting — should have been held for several more seconds (no fault of the actor’s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He knew that his brother wasn't psychologically wired to be a soldier. He knew that his brother was struggling. The look in Nicky's eyes when he turned and saw Jack was haunting. He looked like he was not right.... falling apart.

The actor who played Nicky was really good. Joined the cast in a major role seamlessly.

That episode ending look was haunting — should have been held for several more seconds (no fault of the actor’s).

Agree about holding for a little longer. Maybe the next episode will pick up in the middle of that scene and it was shot all at once. Perhaps director didn’t appreciate the power of it until afterward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tonight's episode: I wept the whole way through. OMG.

I wanted to react that way, but for me, it just fell flat. It didn’t seem realistic to me. I couldn’t suspend disbelief. Jack should have had a military buzz cut, especially as he seemed to be a natural leader and straight arrow. Getting the foot shot off? It seemed sensational, like a patient on Grey’s Anatomy impaled on their bicycle’s handlebars. Those are just a couple of little things. Maybe post Private Ryan and Ken Burns’ Vietnam documentary, etc., we have a more realistic idea of what war looks like, and this just seemed like a Hollywood creation.

Grooming standards for various branches of the military have changed for garrison and theater over the years. Yes, Marines traditionally and since the Vietnam era have adhered to the traditional buzz cut. Other branches is services may have had more relaxed standards of grooming while in theater. Jack wasn’t a marine and in a few google searches, you can see some soldiers (not marines) have hair that would be out of standards by today’s grooming standards. And as for your comment balling at the foot being blown off, as someone who served at a hospital in Afghanistan and having seen someone, many in fact, who had their leg blown off, it’s not sensationalized. One second he was patrolling hoping for an uneventful duty, expecting to go to lunch chow, then not 12 minutes later he was being wheeled through our doors with his leg blown off. Nothing sensational about it, it’s war. Below is a pic of a Soldier in Vietnam with seemingly shaggy hair under his Kevlar.
https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/vietnampatrol.jpg

+100
The scene with the foot being blown off wasn't unrealistic at all. Didn't he step on a mine? Regardless, it's true that in mere seconds, things like this can happen in war. I thought it was all quite realistic, even down to his brother burning waste in the latrines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the episode was fantastic. The end, when they show all those babies in the nursery, and you realize every one of them with the blue on the tag (a boy) also heard their birthday called out on TV and went to Vietnam.... (well ok most of them, not the ones with physical problems or other reasons not to serve) Powerful. Lives changed forever and lost because of the day on which you were born. A really neat way to drive that point home, I thought.

I thought so too. Once again, a beautiful piece of story telling. It tied into his brother saying he wondered if life would make more sense if told from the end and working your way back to the beginning, so you could see how you got to each step. And that's exactly what they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you ever talked with 70 yr old relatives about the draft and Vietnam war? Have you been to the Vietnam Vet war memorial? Be sure to do both.

Yeah, really. I'm surprised about the ignorance here. My dad told me from a young age that he was really lucky to have turned 18 in 1973, after the draft ended. My uncle was lucky to not have been drafted, but was planning on running away to Canada if his number had been called.

Most people I know with relatives of that age don’t like to talk about it. For those of us of a certain age, Vietnam was really history yet. I graduated from high school in 1985. The war had ended less than 10 years earlier. It was still fresh and painful.

I agree, the men in my family did not discuss. Neither my uncles who served nor my married father, who enrolled in college (first in his family) and did not.

Same here. My uncle served and never, ever discusses it. Nor do we ask. It was a traumatizing time for all of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you ever talked with 70 yr old relatives about the draft and Vietnam war? Have you been to the Vietnam Vet war memorial? Be sure to do both.

Do you have 70 yr. old relatives who freely talk about their time in Vietnam? Mine has no desire to talk about it. I would like to know more details, but would never be intrusive enough to inquire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you ever talked with 70 yr old relatives about the draft and Vietnam war? Have you been to the Vietnam Vet war memorial? Be sure to do both.

Do you have 70 yr. old relatives who freely talk about their time in Vietnam? Mine has no desire to talk about it. I would like to know more details, but would never be intrusive enough to inquire.

My father won't talk about it and even declines any Veterans' Day celebrations. There are always programs at my sons' schools to celebrate veterans on Veterans' Day and he won't go. This is a man who would do nearly anything for his 3 grandsons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you ever talked with 70 yr old relatives about the draft and Vietnam war? Have you been to the Vietnam Vet war memorial? Be sure to do both.

Do you have 70 yr. old relatives who freely talk about their time in Vietnam? Mine has no desire to talk about it. I would like to know more details, but would never be intrusive enough to inquire.

My father won't talk about it and even declines any Veterans' Day celebrations. There are always programs at my sons' schools to celebrate veterans on Veterans' Day and he won't go. This is a man who would do nearly anything for his 3 grandsons.

+1
I think some PPs have no clue how traumatic this war was for those fighting in it. I have two relatives who have never spoken a word about their time in Vietnam and I take my cue from them. Not about to retraumatize them by asking questions.

[Anonymous]

Viet Nam vets were so traumatized by their experiences there and then vilified when they returned home. Who would want to talk about that? Other soldiers in other wars were heroes when they returned home. The VN soldiers were often drug and alcohol addicts upon return, and were the first war vets to openly experience PTSD en masse. It was ugly and no one wanted to talk about it.