That Was Us
What Happened to Nicky | "Vietnam" (304) with special guest Michael Angarano
Tue, 20 May 2025
This week, the infamous younger Nicky Pearson, AKA Michael Angarano, joins the pod for a discussion on Season 3, Episode 4: Vietnam. Not only do they talk about pivotal moments that happened in this episode, from Jack volunteering to enlist so he can find Nicky in Vietnam, to things in their childhood that shaped their relationship, but the group also chats about Michael’s time working on This Is Us, how he got the part of Nicky, what it was like working with Tim O’Brien and Milo Ventimiglia, and so much more! Support Our Sponsors: - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com/host - Take the next step to improving your health: go to lumen.me/THATWASUS to get 10% off your Lumen. - David is offering our listeners a deal to buy four cartons and get the fifth free, at davidprotein.com/thatwasus. - This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/TWU and get on your way to being your best self. That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. 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're diving into Season 3, Episode 4, Vietnam. After watching his young brother Nicky get selected in the U.S. draft lottery for the Vietnam War, Jack makes a life-altering decision to enlist himself, forever changing the course of both of their lives.
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You guys, it's a very exciting day.
It is an exciting day. We have another guest.
Yes, we do. We have another guest. You might know him as Young Nicky. Yeah. But you may also know him from Lords of Dogtown. Yeah. You may know him from The Nick. Yeah. You may know him from Almost Famous. Oh, my goodness. Or you may know him from his brand new movie, Sacramento. Come on now. Michael Angarano. Angarano's here!
What's up, buddy?
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Chapter 2: How did Michael Angarano get the role of Nicky?
That's right. Yeah. And the episode opens on Jack in Vietnam on a quote unquote special mission doing top secret government stuff. That's right. And we quickly learn that he's trying to track down.
His brother.
His little brother.
Trying to track down. Before he gets to his little brother, you see that they're sort of surveying the land, what have you. And they have their scout out in front who's looking for the landmines. And he's having this conversation with another brother who's in his platoon, in his troop, et cetera, played by Mo McCray.
And Mo McCray has been there for 90 days, which means he only got 90 more days to go. I'm halfway done. I'm on my way out. Two things I like about this is because, and you ain't even been here as long as me, Jack, and you are already leading this platoon or whatever. Two things that tells me, Jack, natural leader, number one. Two, Subtle nod to racism. Subtle nod, in my opinion.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shout out for, you know, calling a spade a spade. Because, you know, they ain't gonna let no brother run this group. But Jack is a leader. And three, not a mechanic. Not a mechanic. He's always told us that he's been a mechanic. It turns out that he's the staff sergeant in charge of a group of men, right? They find a mine. They were able to successfully blow it up without anybody getting hurt.
Later on in the evening, they're hanging out, and a couple of guys are playing football. Jack's like, please quit playing around. You know what I'm saying? Let's get serious or whatnot. Guy's like, I bet you can't even throw it that far. My man goes out for a pass.
Squirrel, yeah.
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Chapter 3: What was Michael's experience working on This Is Us?
that a black man taught it to him, that he's teaching it to this young. I like that.
Oh, it was, that was the first time in the episode. I was like, oh, I forgot about that. That really got me.
Yeah.
Yeah. I wrote that, yeah, he was so scared that we were going to die. We forget to do the thing that keeps us alive.
Right.
Just breathe.
So now, okay, this is interesting because we're talking about Vietnam, but the next thing that we do Is that we go back, right? And we go back. I'm trying to remember what the time frame is. It jumps to a garage, right? Jumps to a garage with the two of them in the garage, right? And we see one of the best wigs.
That ain't no wig.
That was your hair, right? That was your hair?
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Chapter 8: How does laughter play a role in the movie experience?
It is really good. Yeah. They're good writers. Really good writers. They nail it. They definitely do. Before we get to that one, though, there's the line that I love that Nikki has in it sort of explaining this. Well, it'll be after we get to it because we just got to it. Yeah. I'm just, let's go. Let's go back to it.
Let's get back to it. If I miss it. No.
I'm kidding.
Go, go. What did I miss? Structurally, I think they're driving to Canada or to the border or whatnot. Yes, yes, yes. And Nikki says, it's weird how we look at our lives. Like what's next? What happens next? Always moving forward. I wonder if things would make more sense if you looked at everything in reverse. If you started at the end and moved backwards trying to figure out how you got there.
Right? Which is what the episode does. Which is what the episode does. Which is what our show does. Yeah. Yeah. True. Absolutely. So because one of the next things we see is when we go back again. before we get to the birthday, right, is them playing football with each other, which is an echo to the boys throwing the football in the future of the episode. And you see that Nikki,
My God, I was like, you can't catch a damn thing. He's absolutely terrible. And busts his glasses right in the face or whatever. And you see Jax was saying like, you know, I'll take care of you, man. He's like, you're tougher than you think. And he's like, you're Superman. And Superman wears glasses. He goes, no, he doesn't. He goes, he's just a tough guy in disguise, right? Clark Kent wears them.
And one day folks will see just how tough you really are, right? Like he's always picking him up. In a really sort of lovely way.
Yeah.
You know, he's seven years apart, the two of them. And you see it's just part of Jack's DNA to uplift. Yeah. Right? And then, so to that point when Nicky is born... I think one of the more interesting developments that I thought was Stanley and who Stanley was as a dad.
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