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That Was Us

Uncle Nicky Meets The Twins | "One Small Step" (511)

05 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

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This is a HeadGum Podcast. On today's episode of That Was Us, we are diving into season five, episode 11, One Small Step. In the present day, Uncle Nicky makes the journey to California to meet Kevin and Madison's twins. And through flashbacks, we see young Nicky's romance with Sally and the choices that shaped his life. Life. Life is lifin'. Life is lifin'. Not small choices.

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The choices are shaped as life. Yeah, yeah. I like that. It's a kind of app, too. It's a very interesting thing. First of all.

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54.238 - 56.4 Sterling K. Brown

Hello. Hello. Welcome to the pod.

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How are you guys doing?

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58.283 - 73.003 Sterling K. Brown

Doing good. I'm better now for seeing both of your faces. Oh, man. I love you guys. These are grounding days. Immediately, my day is brighter seeing both of you. Seeing all of you, actually. Our whole crew here.

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I'd love to acknowledge everybody off camera.

75.686 - 77.509 Sterling K. Brown

Sam, Todd, Natalie.

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What is the etiquette? Some people do, some people don't or whatnot. I don't want to pretend that we're here by ourselves. We're just the three of us alone in a room. Trying to set up these cameras, running sound, like we know how to do anything. Sully is the only person that could probably set everything up. Correct. Absolutely not. And Mandy and I would be like, can we help? Yeah.

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How can we help? How can we assist you? Can I order food? Acknowledge people. What can I do? But we will not go as far as giving anybody else a microphone like some of these other podcasts. You know what? Doesn't Armchair give Rob a mic? Once in a while. They give him a mic. They let him speak. I think Rob takes... See, we have a mic. Rob takes a mic. Rob takes a mic.

Chapter 2: How does Uncle Nicky's journey reflect on personal growth?

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And there's this sort of, I think it happens through media consumption. I think it happens through books. But I think it really profoundly happens through travel. Oh, I agree. This is sort of a PSA to anybody who has been afraid. I have a dear friend who didn't take his first plane flight until his 30s and it was for a job or what have you.

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And the excitement that he had of like going somewhere else, like he was freaked out. He was like, how's this big metal thing like hanging in the air or whatnot. And it is safer than driving a car. You know what I'm saying? Statistically speaking, et cetera. But man, what a powerful experience it is. Like, can you guys just in terms of travel or anything,

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yeah talk to i mean i think it's i think it's it's again it goes against our genetics to travel sure you know what i mean tribal by nature right and and like that that's an interesting the the stat you gave about people living within 10 miles of there you know like we're we're ever only supposed to know like 75 people or something like that like that's what that's what our our human animal can withstand and now it's only recently i mean in the last few decades where we're just

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exposed to so many more people, so many more cultures, so many more ways of living, so many more ways of traveling. And to travel is a luxury, right? To get out and see the world and to do all these things. But I also kind of am acknowledging now, like I spent a lot of my life traveling and seeing different places and meeting a lot of people. And now as I get older, I'm like, no more new people.

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Are you really? No more new people.

815.49 - 820.318 Sterling K. Brown

You've reached the capacity, your maximum amount of allowed humans.

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We come in new jobs with new people all the time, new cast members. I feel very lucky to have taken several friends from This Is Us, but usually just maybe one person who you form a bond with. Totally. hey, after this wraps, let's have lunch or whatever the thing is. And now where it's like with the kids and the schools and the parents and stuff, I'm like, no, no dad's night out.

848.362 - 849.102 Sterling K. Brown

No new people.

Chapter 3: What challenges does Uncle Nicky face during his trip?

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1192.84 - 1202.007 Sterling K. Brown

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1224.747 - 1247.119 Unknown

Give it to me. You guys, we had a very specific recipe that Rachel was trying to put together, a family recipe that has way too many ingredients, very specific kind of potato, these type of things. So we put the order on, we got out our phones real quick. Got our phone, boom, shipped right there. Made an order. The shopper with Shipt communicated with us through the whole process.

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There were a bunch of kind of weird things that we needed. They got us every single one of those things. I love it.

1252.645 - 1273.168 Sterling K. Brown

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If This Is Us has taught us anything, it's that a home is never just a home. It's where all the big moments and the small ones happen. Like, you think of all the Pearson House moments. There was always something happening in every corner. But in real life, there's usually that one space that just sits there. And the practical side of it is those spaces still have value.

1296.571 - 1322.017 Unknown

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1322.337 - 1344.796 Unknown

That's the part I've Whenever I've thought about listing my home on Airbnb or our guest house or anything like that, that is the part that has been kind of the most anxiety-inducing. Like, how do I handle all these bookings and the scheduling and watching the calendar? And, you know, if my guests need anything, I want them to be comfortable. And I want them to be helped immediately.

Chapter 4: How does the episode connect to shared cultural moments?

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Right. We might not all be here all the time. Right. But, and this is where at least I know it's still a digital connection, but it's, it's, a way for us to take a moment and just be like, no, I want to commit to this.

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2110.914 - 2133.983 Sterling K. Brown

But I argue that's a different thing than commenting on a picture or a video on social media. You know what I mean? Absolutely. That's real connection. That's not connection. You're talking to a fucking bot. You know what I mean? That's cool. And that's what is a lovely aspect of the convenience of our phones and computers and technology and all of that.

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Right.

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2134.263 - 2154.459 Sterling K. Brown

I love that and I feel like I crave more of that in my life too. I mean, it's just like we're all busy people and everyone's across the country and we're sort of spread, you know, away from each other. Finding ways like that to sort of bring each other into our lives on a weekly basis sounds ideal. You just commit to it.

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Like going to the gym.

2155.321 - 2155.641 Sterling K. Brown

Yeah.

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You know, it's like... No, this is something that I need.

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That's important. It adds value to my life.

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It's community and interaction, even though it's happening over screen, just like the episode that we did a couple of weeks ago or whatnot. But instead of this e-community, which is very different because it's also based on an algorithm. And so to the point about the moon landing, there's very few things that we are universally consuming as the world.

Chapter 5: What emotional journey does Nicky experience in this episode?

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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But then when Griffin shows up, like you can see Michael kind of adjusting.

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A little bit.

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his performance a little bit to be Griffin-ish.

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2898.327 - 2899.81 Sterling K. Brown

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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In a way that's like really subtle.

2901.173 - 2902.857 Sterling K. Brown

That would make sense for the future. Yeah, yeah.

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It's so good.

Chapter 6: How does Nicky's misunderstanding about the twins' baptism impact his character?

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Nice continuity. It's so good. The night that it's all supposed to go down... The astronauts have returned home. Yeah. Yes. And they're going to watch the parade. Yeah. And his plan is, their plan is to just hit the road, right? To just get in the van and go. That's right. And he says to her that I'll meet you here at 11 after my parents go to sleep. Correct.

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During, when Jack brings him the suitcase and everything, he's, have you told them yet? I'm not going to tell them. Yeah. I'm just, you know, I don't want to, and again, this kind of theme of like, I don't want, if I lose the nerve or something, right? Yeah. Like he just doesn't have any faith in himself to follow through.

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Chapter 7: What powerful message does Nicky convey to the twins?

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Yeah. And then they're sitting and they're watching the parade, right? That night. That's right. And he's looking at the clock.

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it's getting closer and closer to 11. it's obviously going longer than he thought it would go and his parents are still awake but he's also watching i think this is probably the the kindest and sweetest we've seen the the parents yeah i agree there's this sense of verklemptness verklemptness that that stanley has a sort of like He's almost teary-eyed. Yeah, yeah.

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Like watching the astronauts come back home and remembering a time. What was he recounting with him and his dad? He was listening to the radio about D-Day.

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2992.939 - 3002.554 Sterling K. Brown

Yeah, about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. That's right. Yeah. with his own dad. And he's like, and now here I am with my son and we're watching these astronauts land after they walked on the moon.

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Yeah.

3003.836 - 3017.874 Sterling K. Brown

Yeah, there is like a tinge of nostalgia. There is also this detail that we didn't add that when Jack's like, why are you, like, when are you ever going to move out? And he's like, like, doesn't he say something to the effect of like, he's nicer when I'm around.

Chapter 8: What themes are explored in the final moments of the episode?

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Like he's nicer, he's nicer to mom. So I think he does feel this responsibility.

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3024.402 - 3030.749 Sterling K. Brown

Much like Randall of just like, if I'm not here to do this, what happens?

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Right. Yeah. Because mom comes, sits down, they hold each other's hands, and it's just like really lovely. And then we flash to Sally inside of Pearl laying down, waiting patiently, wondering, where's her man? And we get a knock on the side of Pearl. He's here. We open the door. It's Park Ranger saying, like, you can't park here anymore. You've been here for too long. You got to move.

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And she's like, I'm about to go right now. It was, oh, man.

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So disappointing, I know.

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Oh, man.

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You're like, no, Nikki, your life could have been completely different.

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Completely. Completely. More That Was Us after this short break. If This Is Us has taught us anything, it's that a home is never just a home. It's where all the big moments and the small ones happen. Like, you think of all the Pearson House moments. There was always something happening in every corner. But in real life, there's usually that one space that just sits there.

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