The Hampton Script

In the era of “I’m good love, enjoy” and “delete that paragraph and just say OK,” a visual of individuals being given the space to be vulnerable and to simply breathe is necessary. No other show currently on television beautifully displays vulnerability and how difficult life can be like This Is Us.

NBC’s This Is Us follows the life of the “Big Three,” Randall, Kate and Kevin, who are triplets and have had their fair share of problems and continue to face new hardships daily. This show highlights the struggles and experiences many of us can relate to, including sexuality, body image, addiction, grief, failure, race and abandonment.

“This Is Us is a show that anyone can relate to,” said Bria Hicks, a senior psychology major from Ashburn, Va. “It shows the perspectives of many different characters throughout their lives and allows for viewers to become a part of such a vulnerable love story of a family.”

Aside from the relatability of this show, the constant display of emotion and the reminder that we are not always OK is refreshing. Oftentimes, society makes us feel as if we grew up in a loving home, we should not have any problems or that the obstacles you are facing are not that serious. This Is Us serves as a vivid reminder that your parents could have created the most loving household known to mankind, but that does not exempt you from facing problems (big or small) and the effects of not giving yourself the space to feel.

One of the aspects that sets this show apart from everything else on television right now is how it highlights how the smallest thing from someone’s childhood can affect them in their adulthood. Every episode alternates between the past and the present to explain what led each character down a specific path and what causes them to act the way that they do.

“This Is Us shares the perspective of every character within the show, and I like that,” said Simone Williams, a senior Communicative Sciences & Disorders major from Newport News. “They give us the different moments in time but not all at once. To me, that mirrors the reality of a lesson we learn in life: The truth of what happened or what’s happening is often revealed over time, not all at once. I don’t think that’s happening in many shows, at least not the ones I’ve seen.”

The best way I can describe This Is Us is “simply human.” It organically tells the story of the one experience we can all relate to, trying to successfully navigate and win at the game that is life. Although at many times, each character may seem to be taking more losses than they would like, they eventually get that dirt off their shoulders and they nd a way to get back up.

This Is Us is all of our stories wrapped into one, with the ability to remind its viewers that we are all struggling, and being compassionate and understanding to one another would make this bumpy road a little easier to drive.