Join us as we dive into "The 20's," an episode that explores the pivotal moments and defining experiences of the Pearson family in their twenties. We'll delve into Kevin's core wound, the personal romantic struggles Kate is going through, and the challenges and joys of parenthood for Beth and Randall— which leads Sterling, Mandy, and Chris to ask themselves and listeners: “What kind of answers did your children bring when they came into the world?” Plus, we're joined by the talented Zoe Hay, makeup artist extraordinaire from This Is Us! Zoe shares behind-the-scenes insights and reveals the secrets behind those iconic Pearson looks. And for a bit of fun, we'll take a peek at some amazing This Is Us-inspired Halloween costumes from fans over the years. That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Follow That Was Us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, and X! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
On today's episode of That Was Us, we'll be discussing Season 2, Episode 6, The Twenties. Jack and Rebecca find themselves struggling after taking 10-year-olds trick-or-treating. Meanwhile, Randall, Kevin, and Kate experience a life-changing Halloween. Hello, gang.
Chapter 2: What Halloween memories do the Pearson family share?
Hello. How are we doing today? Happy Halloween.
Welcome back to the That Was Us podcast. Don't forget to rate, subscribe, like, give us all the five-star ratings, tell all your friends, support our sponsors so we can keep doing this podcast.
So we can keep it moving forward. We're talking about the 20s, and it took me a second to realize, like, at first I was like, why is this episode called the 20s?
Not the 1920s.
Are we going back to the roaring 20s or something? But it's sort of talking about the big three when they are in their 20s. Yes. Formative years. But before we get to the 20s, we're going to go back to the past, and it's Hallow's Eve.
Yes.
Kids are all getting ready to go trick-or-treating. We see Randall coming up with a detailed map of how they should sort of chart out the houses that they go to so they can maximize their candy before going to the haunted.
All of their personalities are coming out in full force through the art of costume.
Right. Kev's like, this is dumb, right?
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Chapter 3: What challenges do the characters face in their twenties?
Is anyone watching me?
And that's Kevin's core wound. I'm drowning over here.
I am in pain.
Is anybody notice? Does anyone hear me?
Nobody notices. So okay, we're tracking that for it. So they go out, Rebecca goes with Randall, Jack goes with the other two. We find out that Kate has a crush on this guy. Billy maybe? But she has a crush on this guy and she wants to go to the haunted house quickly because maybe if they get scared, he'll hold her hand.
He'll hold her hand, yeah.
so kev winds up giving this information to jack and he goes is it not gonna happen he's like he's almost as popular as me dad like it's not gonna happen can i just go get some candy yeah like let me just do my thing yeah you guys can worry about all this other crap right he's like okay so anyway we get to the haunted house we see there is a scare we see my man grab her hand
And it's pure joy from young Kate. He grabbed my hand, I gotta go tell so-and-so, and Jack is all happy. Turn to see Kev emptying his bag of candy into old boy's bag, right? Jack comes over and says, dude, did you just give him candy so he would hold your sister's hand? He's like, I can always get more candy, Dad. just as simple as, now can I keep it moving?
He's like, this was an easy thing to do for my sister. Easy transaction, yeah. Nobody has to know about it. I just need to go get some more candy. He's the dude who's like, I'll take care of myself because everybody else seems to have other things to do, right? Let's go back in time a little bit to Rebecca. Rebecca offers the idea of like, you know what?
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Chapter 4: How does Kevin's core wound affect him?
Exactly, what he was avoiding.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because even when he goes to the pool in the past, he's like, I picked this pool because I know black people are here. And he's like, I don't have to tell everybody all the parts of the plan. I just know that the plan is for a reason. Yeah.
That's how I always took it. I was like, there's more to Randall. Yeah. Yes, maybe he is a little rigid, maybe he is a little anxious and stuff, but he has an... A reason. A reason, he has an understanding that maybe mom and dad don't necessarily see, but we see as the audience. That's how I've always sort of perceived it.
Okay, so we're on the same boat then, because it wasn't just that night then. Okay, so now we can go... I mean, this essentially sets the tone for...
who these children will be in their 20s.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah. I mean, Jack so much as says to Rebecca before the kids go out trick-or-treating, or Rebecca does, you're not preparing her for life. If you're constantly sort of giving in to her, she's going to take that pattern with her for the rest of her life.
And the mirroring of it, you know, Kate ends up investing in a guy who is not truly available or interested in her. Kevin ends up being a cigar-smoking bum, pulling a real dirtbag move. On his own friend?
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Chapter 5: What parenting lessons are explored in this episode?
So they get out of there and they go to her place. Banging with bangs. And they, you know, post-coital, we see. That's a nice way to say it. Thank you. You know, they had a good time with each other, doing what adults do. And she sort of.
You don't want to say banging with bangs?
You just said it.
You don't want to say it?
I have to repeat it. Okay. Banging with bangs. Mandy, do you want to? Banging with bangs.
Oh, Mandy. All right, clip that.
Hot take. And so a sister is not stupid. She understands what's going on. As soon as you saw other people see me, you knew to get me out of there because you're married, right? And he's like, yeah. And she's like, if you knew, then why did you do it? And she's just like, I'm just kind of tired of waiting for stuff, you know?
And I know it wasn't necessarily the best thing to do or whatnot, but I feel like I've spent so much time waiting for my life to take place that I just wanted to do, right?
It's the perfect mirror of what we saw earlier about a young girl who maybe puts too much... I don't know, of herself in someone else's hands. Sure. Yeah.
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Chapter 6: What insights does Zoe Hay share about makeup on the show?
This guy. The actor who plays the director.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that guy, right? So it was good to see Jeremiah up on screen doing his thing. He's a great actor. No kidding. Oh gosh, this was a heartbreaking moment.
I think for us as thespians, recognizing just how rare opportunities are and how being able to have an air of gratitude and appreciation, like a win for somebody else does not take something away from you was not a philosophy that Kevin was familiar with. That's right. because he gets an opportunity to talk to the director.
And he's like, you know, the way the character is described as sort of this all-American guy, sort of handsome, good looking or whatever. And you're like, like my roommate. Yeah, it's a little bit different. I was just wondering if you wanted to hear somebody sort of read it that had more of the way the character was written. And he looks at him like, yo, Yeah. Wow.
Like, I thought I had you pegged. Dirtbag. You know what I'm saying? Like, pretty boy, sort of peaked in high school, had everything going for him. But never did I think that you would roll up in here and try to take your dude's part. Yeah. You will never work for me in any capacity, in any arena, and walked off.
Yeah.
And I was... Listen, we wind up finding later on because they have a conversation, Kevin and Kate, that's where it ends because they go to- Randall's, they get to Randall's. Randall's. They go to Randall's and we'll rewind for Randall's. Find out why they're there. But they talk about like, I'm, you know, dating married men and I haven't had an audition in a year.
Yeah.
Right? Yeah, they finally reveal to each other the real truth.
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Chapter 7: How do the characters cope with change and loss?
So he, you know, even as he's going out and she's like, it's kind of dark outside. He's like, I can drive to the hardware. Okay. You know, everything is, you know, everybody's walking around. And so he gets to there and he sees this dude who's working in the hardware store, Garuda. Garuda, sick cat, cool, very cool.
And he starts talking to Garuda about like how two months ago he had this nervous breakdown. He saw his daughter in the womb. And at six months, do you know that babies start to have dreams? You know, up until that point, you could say that they're just a collection of nerves and muscles, et cetera. But like now they have dreams and that's like a person. That's a real thing.
That's a world and into itself. And I'm responsible. for this world and I don't know how I feel about that. Like, I don't know if I'm capable of being responsible for this world. So like, what am I supposed to do? And Groot is like, why are you asking me, big dog? And he points at his name tag and it says, ask me for help. And if it's not too racist.
Not to be racist, but, you know, determined also. There's something about this Eastern philosophy and whatnot. And this got a lot of attention on our socials at the time. I think because we don't see six that often. Yeah, yeah. In terms of representation in media and whatnot. And the guy was so cool because he was like, Eastern philosophy. Like, I'm from East... East Trenton. East Trenton.
You know what I'm saying? But he winds up giving this nugget. Like, look, I got five kids. And I used to have all these questions and be concerned about the answers or whatnot and what they don't tell you. And I believe this is true. I was like, I'd forgotten about this scene. And they're like, this is it. Kids, they come with the answers to them. You know what I'm saying?
You'll look at them, they'll look at you and you'll just sort of like get it, right? And I just like taking a pause there for a second because I feel... this is a unique dad thing possibly because I think moms are sort of like begun that process Once they get the baby inside her, you can tell me now, like, it's like, okay, I'm now a mom.
Whether it's inside of me or outside of me, I'm sort of like beginning that process. For dads, it really doesn't become real until like they sort of pop out or you have the six month recognition, it's random, of that, right? But there is something so beautiful, and you can talk about Lou if you want to, or you talk about Gus or Oz, but like you get that baby, man. It's flipping magical.
It's the most delightfully magical thing in the world. And I'll talk about this a little bit because in our episode, she winds up going into labor. Beth goes into labor early.
Rebecca calls Randall while he's at the hardware store after this beautiful moment with Garuda.
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Chapter 8: What reflections do the hosts share about parenthood?
There must be a mystery that was solved in your brain. with one, if not all three, like, or maybe not, maybe it's just, maybe it's me.
I'll say something and I'll let you follow it up. Like I, because I'm the dude that I am, I've always wanted children. Like in my sort of evolution of self, children are always a part of it. So it wasn't something that sort of happened because Ryan, you know, all of a sudden, one time, like it was always sort of in my makeup, right? When I saw Andrew, And I should say, like, I delivered Andrew.
Yeah. Because the midwives did not make it to the house in time, and that's no shade to me. It's just Fertile Myrtle, Ryan Michelle Bathé, had her first contraction at 11 p.m., and Andrew came into the world at 2.23 a.m., three hours and 23 minutes later.
That's crazy.
And they're always telling us, like, Mommy, get some rest. You're in for a big day.
Yeah, first. Baby, probably gonna be like 24 hours.
So all of that happened, but like he came into the world and I caught him and I unwrapped his umbilical cord from around his ankle and passed him through his mom's legs and put him on her chest so that they can begin the bonding process or whatnot. And it was just like, this is it. This is what I do now. This is what I do now. And this is a joy to do.
And so as the other part was Ryan's most harrowing part of the evening, she had a small tear in her noni, is what they call the midwife called it. You have a small tear in your noni. And so while Ryan was working up the nerve to get the stitches, because it took about 45 minutes, she's like, you gonna put what where? How you gonna do that? I'm gonna go, okay, hold on one second.
And she hold my hand and rival hold on real tight. I was like, you're hurting me. She hold on real tight. And as that was happening, because we weren't at the hospital, I was laying on the bed next to her as Andrew was taking his first nap on my chest.
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