"This Is Us": This Is It

The series finale of the NBC family drama "This Is Us" airs tomorrow after six seasons of compelling stories with wild flashbacks and flash-forwards and all of the trials and tribulations of the incredibly complex Pearson family.  They're not a typical family - there aren't that many families whose two sons become a Hollywood actor and a U.S. Senator, least of all when one is transracially adopted, nor are there a lot of families where a transracially adopted son has two fraternal twin siblings and was born on the exact same date as they were - but they do have a lot of typical family issues that they have to deal with.  The time shifts in the storylines have always been used very effectively.  By the end of each episode, you're surprised to learn what has happened, but you have to wait awhile to learn how it happened. 

All through the run of "This Is Us," the heart of the series has been Mandy Moore, who played Rebecca Pearson, the family matriarch.

When Mandy Moore first arrived at the turn of the millennium, she was a teenage pop singer in the style of Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson.  This is not a lineage any chanteuse worth her salt would want to be associated with, and I groaned at the prospect of yet another teen-pop sensation.  But something funny happened - Mandy Moore turned out to be talented,  Not only is she a fine singer, she piqued my interest as an actress as the starry-eyed but conniving talent-show contestant Sally Kendoo in the 2006 satirical film American Dreamz.  Her performance as Rebecca in "This Is Us" has been nothing short of outstanding. As a mother and wife who gives up her (big surprise) singing career to raise her children, she ends up being the rock of her family, the constant in changing situations that become more and more frequent after her husband dies from inhaling to much smoke in a house fire that displaces the family. Moore played the role with the right mix of spunk, humor and pathos.  She was the biggest reason to watch the show.  (The very close second biggest reason to watch was Sterling K. Brown, who played adopted son Randall; he could give a great performance just by reciting the phone book . . . if you can find a phone book these days.  Thanks for nothing, Whitepages.com.)

I'll certainly be watching the series finale of "This Is Us" tomorrow, but I wonder what producer Dan Fogelman could possibly have left to surprise us with.  After the tearjerking penultimate episode last week, which showed Rebecca dreaming of the people in her life gone by aboard a luxurious passenger train as she fights to stay alive before she ultimately succumbs to her terminal Alzheimer's disease,  I can only wonder.

The Last Episode of "The Middle"

Okay, it's been a week since the one-hour series finale of "The Middle" aired, so I'm going to go right ahead and spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it yet . . . because if you haven't seen it by now, you're not going to.

Axl did in fact move to Denver for a new job, and the Heck family drove him there from their hometown of Orson, Indiana . . . but before they could even reach the Mississippi River, Sean Donahue - originally on his way to Africa for the summer as a medical volunteer - dropped everything and caught up with them once he found Sue's snow globe present and realized she was in love with him as much as he was in love with her.  The moment of Sue and Sean coming together that no one saw coming or imagine would happen did, in fact come . . . and it happened. :-)   On a rural highway in the middle of nowhere.

Too bad the snow globe broke. 

But the bigger surprise was that Frankie's voice-overs from throughout the series had taken place looking back from some time around 2030 or so, because we learn what happened to the Heck children after - long after - 2018.  Sue and Sean married after two breakups, Brick became a bestselling children's author, and Axl eventually returned to Orson and had three sons that were more like miniature Axls than the three Douglas brothers.  And Mike and Frankie - well, their lives pretty much stayed the same. They never got any of their appliances fixed.  But the Heck family - for all of their dysfunction - stayed together in spirit as much as in the flesh, and when all was said and done, they still love each other.

Except that they have a funny way of showing it. :-D

This was easily the best series finale in a quarter century.  You have to go back to the last episode of "Cheers" to find something as classy and as satisfying.  And Frances Heck is the luckiest mom on earth. :-)       

The Finale of "The Middle"

Tomorrow, after nine seasons, ABC's "The Middle" - the only sitcom I watch any more - comes to an end.  "The Middle," of course, concerns an Indiana family who can't win for losing and try to muddle through with hilarious consequences.  The series finale will pick up with Axl preparing to move to Denver for a new job and Frankie (his mom) in a tizzy over it, while Sue prepares to spend a summer without her would-be boyfriend Sean.  Or will she?

I still find it hard to believe this show is ending, but unless you're talking about hip-hop, all things must come to an end.  Among the things I'm going to miss about "The Middle" are Brick's quirky obsession with books and with mundane things like print fonts and lawn chairs, as well as dad Mike's deadpan stoicism.  I'll also miss laughing over the quilt stored in the oven and the bedroom wall made of poster board.  But the thing I'm probably going to miss the most is Sue - sweet, perky, Heck daughter Sue, with her over-caffeinated optimism.  As played by Eden Sher, Sue resembled Janet Evans with a hormone imbalance!

And after everything I've written here about Janet Evans, you know I mean that as a compliment. :-)

Back later with some comments about the last episode.