Anonymous wrote:Jack asked Randall if he wanted to make a stop - to the wall (after a touching discussion of Jack reassuring Randall that he’d find his balance ). But is that when they got word of Kevin’s football injury and they had to get to the hospital?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The most recent episode really made me dislike Jack. Thus far he's been portrayed as the perfect dad and husband, heroic, putting others' needs ahead of himself - yet the way he treated his brother after the war was terrible. Nicky was reaching out and wanted to come clean to Jack and Jack wouldn't even let him finish speaking. Jack really didn't want anything to do with his old life, including his brother.
I suppose it just makes Jack's character more nuanced because it shows that not even he is decent and good to everyone all the time.
I can't believe how differently I feel about this. I completely understood why he cut his brother out after the incident with the little boy dying in Vietnam. Jack had spent his *entire* life protecting Nicky, helping him in any way possible, even following him to Vietnam to help him. Nicky didn't want any part of Jack's help, and made that abundantly clear. Jack couldn't put himself out emotionally like that anymore, so the boy dying was the catalyst that woke him up, so to speak, to the fact that Nicky couldn't be saved. It probably killed him to have to delete Nicky from his life entirely, but that was the only way he could handle it.
IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.
I'm not sure why Nicky couldn't have led with that, either in Vietnam or during the one visit. And I find it very implausible that, after risking his own life to enlist in a war with the sole purpose.of rescuing his brother, Jack abandons him so completely for the rest of his life. Seems out of character.
Also if he wanted to never speak of Vietnam again, why take Randall to the wall?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The most recent episode really made me dislike Jack. Thus far he's been portrayed as the perfect dad and husband, heroic, putting others' needs ahead of himself - yet the way he treated his brother after the war was terrible. Nicky was reaching out and wanted to come clean to Jack and Jack wouldn't even let him finish speaking. Jack really didn't want anything to do with his old life, including his brother.
I suppose it just makes Jack's character more nuanced because it shows that not even he is decent and good to everyone all the time.
I can't believe how differently I feel about this. I completely understood why he cut his brother out after the incident with the little boy dying in Vietnam. Jack had spent his *entire* life protecting Nicky, helping him in any way possible, even following him to Vietnam to help him. Nicky didn't want any part of Jack's help, and made that abundantly clear. Jack couldn't put himself out emotionally like that anymore, so the boy dying was the catalyst that woke him up, so to speak, to the fact that Nicky couldn't be saved. It probably killed him to have to delete Nicky from his life entirely, but that was the only way he could handle it.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The most recent episode really made me dislike Jack. Thus far he's been portrayed as the perfect dad and husband, heroic, putting others' needs ahead of himself - yet the way he treated his brother after the war was terrible. Nicky was reaching out and wanted to come clean to Jack and Jack wouldn't even let him finish speaking. Jack really didn't want anything to do with his old life, including his brother.
I suppose it just makes Jack's character more nuanced because it shows that not even he is decent and good to everyone all the time.
What Nicky did was terrible. No excuses for him.
I felt like the Jack-Nicky stuff gave me insight into why Jack was so invested in being perfect all the time. He must have known, deep inside, that he let Nicky down ... you could see he knew this in the scene after leaving the diner. Who knew so much could be said with a turn signal?
I see it a bit differently. What Nicky did was awful, yes, but it wasn't intentional. He was reckless and stupid but given that he was probably a teenager himself and serving in a war while battling his own mental health issues (due to being in the war), I think his actions are excusable under the circumstances.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:So where do Kate and Kevin live? I thought Kate lived in California but she’s able to get her pregnant self to New Jersey and then drive six hours to Bradford, PA. But what about Kevin? Is he in New York or California? Both?
Yeah, what about the doctor worried about all the sitting and blood clots?
Anonymous wrote:So where do Kate and Kevin live? I thought Kate lived in California but she’s able to get her pregnant self to New Jersey and then drive six hours to Bradford, PA. But what about Kevin? Is he in New York or California? Both?
Anonymous wrote:So where do Kate and Kevin live? I thought Kate lived in California but she’s able to get her pregnant self to New Jersey and then drive six hours to Bradford, PA. But what about Kevin? Is he in New York or California? Both?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I know a bunch of your are going to pick it apart, but I thought last night's was one of the best episodes of the season. How Nicky ruined the entire arc of his life is heartbreaking. I am curious to see where this goes from here.
It was heartbreaking, I agree. One thing I just couldn't understand about the incident in Vietnam is why he didn't grab the grenade and throw it out of the boat?? He just stared at it and then jumped off the boat - he didn't even try to grab the boy. It didn't make sense, considering he had previously been throwing grenades off with no problem. It dropped - so pick it up!!!
But still - devastating.
He probably froze in shock & fear.
I just think the grenade was rolling around in the boat and he couldn’t get hold of it. But I too wondered why he didn’t grab the boy and pull him out of the boat with him, shock or no shock. Maybe that’s where all the shame comes in.