We’ve spent over half a decade following the fortunes of the Pearson clan, their various lives, loves, and lamentations, but all that is coming to an end. After winning fans and accolades around the world, the sixth and final season of the groundbreaking drama This is Us is now available in Australia on Google Play and Apple TV+.
Created by Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Cars) and originally debuting in 2016, This Is Us uses a clever flashback/flash forward narrative technique to take us into the lives of Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) Pearson and their children, twins Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) and adopted son Randall (breakout star Sterling K. Brown), plus the kids’ own various partners and children. We’re mostly anchored in the modern day, but occasional sojourns in the early ‘80s and visions of future event add welcome depth and context the relation dramas unfolding before us.
This final run of eighteen episodes has a lot of work to do in terms of tying up the sprawling plot threads in a satisfying manner, but fans know that This is Us has always managed to stick the landing. While the series crackles with dry humour and does a great line in snappy dialogue, its true claim to fame is as one of the great weepies of modern television.
This is Us is a melodrama and feels no shame about it, and this last season deals with Rebecca’s worsening Alzheimer’s Disease, Randall trying to cope with his own adopted daughter’s need to stake out her own identity, Kate’s crumbling marriage, former actor Kevin’s post-Hollywood doldrums, and more. Which means this may not be a great jumping-on point for new viewers, but old hands will be in heaven—as long as the tissues are within arm’s reach.
