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THIS IS US: Randall Dismantled As Sterling K. Brown Delivers Masterful Performance

Courtesy/NBC

In yet another riveting performance by Sterling K. Brown, the highly-touted episode that aired on Tuesday’s night’s This Is Us, had his character of Randall in the spotlight again, as the first of the Big Three trilogy this season.  Next week, look for the installment to center on Justin Hartley’s Kevin.However, last night on the episode aptly titled, “Hello of a Week: Part One”, viewers followed what happened next to Randall following his return home after the stress of flying across the country to get a diagnosis for his ailing mother’s memory lapses (while keeping it from his siblings), and then winding up facing an intruder in the Pearson family home.After Randall offers the intruder money, the guy runs out of the home.

Next, the police come, and Randall installs surveillance cameras and security alarms throughout the house, which ends up being a continued tipping point in his mental state as he obsesses over keeping his family and his home safe, especially when the cops tells him that it is common for a thief to return,. It appears later in the episode he did when Beth’s earrings and Randall’s cufflinks are MIA.

Photo by: NBC

Throughout the episode, flashbacks to Randall’s childhood showed little Randall, unable to sleep and afraid of monsters, who then asks his dad, Jack to stay with him through the night.  Jack sleeps on the floor, but when Jack eventually gets up to go to his own bed, he tells Randall who comes running after him, “to be brave: and that he needs him to be the easiest child to care for since Kate and Kevin are handfuls.

This laid the foundation for how Randall deals with others, by not letting them know his inner most feelings.   The writers juxtapose Randall’s dreams throughout where he feels he can’t get out whether it be screaming through a locked window at his mother to get out of the storm, or watching some creepy guy touch Beth and he screams so loud, but you can’t hear him,

In addition, in flashbacks, we see how a college-aged Randall needing college-aged Beth to spend countless nights with him. At one point he tells her, “I just feel so helpless, like I have no control over anything,” especially following the death of his father Jack.  Beth says she can understand. She had bad dreams after her father passed away, but after she talked to a therapist she began to feel better.  In a key moment, Randall agrees to attend an grief group with her, but that plan goes awry when on the day they were heading to the grief counseling group, Randall’s family has an emergency and he could not go.

The theme of Randall seeking counseling surfaced later in the episode after Randall was struggling to hold it together as City Councilman at the Town Hall, which did not go unnoticed by Beth or by Malik’s dad, Darnell.

The next day, he tells Randall that he himself needed therapy and suggest he do that to.  Randall says all he needs is his runs around the city to help him clear his head.  But that takes another drastic turn when Randall comes upon a woman being beaten and proceeds to pounce on the aggressor.  Next, Randall with messed up arm from landing punches on the guy, ends up being touted as a hero for saving the woman’s life.  He is not comfortable with that and he begins to lose his grip.

In the culmination of the episode, locking himself in the bathroom in his home, Randall begins to cry and phones Kevin.  Thank God his brother answered, as he seems to be the only person Randall feels he can talk to, and has, through his life.  At the time of the call, Kevin is in bed with what looks to potentially be Sophie, because he was heading back to Pittsburgh for a funeral of one of her parents.  But is it Sophie, or another woman?

During their call, Randall begs Kevin just to talk, and to please  distract him. Kevin promises his brother, “I’m the guy that’s gonna get you through this,”   Will Kevin ultimately help Randall, or will what happens next become the huge rift that we know exists between the brothers in the flash-forward viewers learned about episodes ago?

This Is Us executive producers, Issac Aptaker, and Elizabeth Berger weighed-in on revisiting Randall’s anxiety and panic attacks with Entertaintment Weekly. This is something that was hot on all of our minds, because over the past year, a couple of the writers in our room had had people break into their homes when they were home,” shared Issac Aptaker.  “People would come in and we would see the impact that it has on you when someone invades your space like that — the aftermath and the fallout. So, as we were looking at what Randall’s season would look like, and what would be potentially the breaking point for him with all that’s been brewing this year, it was at the front of all of our minds at how upsetting something like that can be.”

“We’ve seen that Randall is someone that is so in touch with his feelings emotionally, and he is so willing to talk about everything, but there does seem to be this block with him when it comes to therapy, where he just does not want to engage,” says Elizabeth Berger. “That really fascinated all of us and got us thinking, “What’s that about? And how do we get him to a point where he has his back against the wall and has to move past coping mechanisms and keeping things just below the surface and finally deal with them?” And this felt like a really compelling way to go about that.”

When all was said and done, Sterling K. Brown delivered a nuanced and masterful performance as viewers watched Randall slowly but surely, struggling to cope with all the pressure, and horrific events that happened to him one after the other, as Randall’s anxiety and panic attacks were about to reach epic proportions.

So, what did you think of last night’s This Is Us? Sterling’s performance? Comment below.

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To me, Mr. Brown is one of the industry’s most overrated actors. He’s competent and obviously dedicated. But he telegraphs every emotion ahead of time so we know exactly which expression he’ll have (usually either bewilderment or confusion), just as he did in THE PEOPLE VS. O. J. SIMPSON. Whenever an episode focuses entirely on Randall, the show grinds to a very slow trot. It’s best when the adult siblings are interacting. That’s the show’s strength.

American Idol

AMERICAN IDOL: Was it Shady of Former Contestant Alyssa Raghu to Sneak in on Best Friend Julia Davos’ Audition and Score a Golden Ticket?

Show business is really cutthroat and it was fully on display on Sunday night’s latest episode of American Idol.  We’re not sure after the dust settled if we should be more upset with the judges: Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry, or former contestant Alyssa Raghu.

But, here is what went down. 20-year-old Julia Davo, auditioned for the judges with a performance of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” She also had mentioned that she is best friends and roommates with former ‘Idol’ contestant Alyssa Raghu.

The judges felt Davo needed more work, and should come back and audition again, once she has honed in on her vocals a bit more while allowing for her voice to grow. However, when the judges gave their verdict, Raghu was now in the audition room.  They told Raghu, “When she’s absolutely ready in your eyes, bring her back to us.”

Photo: ABC

It was at the point, there was a swerve by Raghu when she addressed the judges, “I know you said that my voice was going to grow until it was 21. You said that when I was, like, 15. Just for giggles, I’d love to sing you something.”

At the point, Katy Perry gave her the OK to sing. But, while viewers initially thought at home, that she may just be singing for the judges to prove that she has become a better singer, she was actually angling to get in the competition, once again.

Photo: ABC

“I think this was a really weird plot twist,” Perry confessed after Raghu’s performance of Mariah Carey’s “My All.” Katy added,“I think you could go in. Do I think you could win it? No, personally. If you were going to go to Idol one more time, I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you could win.” So with that, Katy gave Raghu a “no.”  However, Luke and Lionel were being generous and gave her two votes as “yes.” Therefore, Raghu received a golden ticket right in front of her friend who received a “no.”

Davo tried her best to say how happy she was that Raghu is receiving another chance, because as she said, “She deserves this.” But in the end, it was awkward and uncomfortable to watch.

Alyssa’s previous journey on Idol went something like this: She made it to the Top 50 of Season 16 but was eliminated by the end of Hollywood Week. She returned for Season 17, making it all the way to the Top 8.

Watch the auditions of Davo and Raghu below.

Now let us know, do you think Raghu should have auditioned after her friend did not receive a golden ticket? Should the judges have allowed Alyssa to sing and then vote to put her in the competition for the third time? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason Explains Part of Where He Has Been; What Do You Think Will be Revealed as the Rest of the Story?

GH fans received a part of the backstory of just where Jason (Steve Burton) has been for the last two plus years on the Thursday, March 16th episode of the ABC daytime drama series.

In story, as Jason (Steve Burton) is hiding out at the Quartermaine boat house, Michael (Chad Duell) brings him a change of clothes and when Jason lifts up his sweatshirt, and is in then in only a tank-top, his arm is exposed showing his tattoo. Michael is shocked to see that on Jason (in real life, Burton now has that tattoo).

When Michael questions Jason as to where he has been for over two years after the tunnel collapsed on him, Jason explains. He tells Michael he found his way out of the tunnel. However, on his way out there were two gunmen waiting fo him who kidnapped him and he was taken prisoner.

Courtesy/ABC

Next, Jason shares he was flown out of Greece and ended up in a windowless room. He reveals a man wanted him to do a job and had leverage on him to force him to agree to take it.  When Michael asks Jason what exactly was the job, he says he’s been working as a private military contractor, i.e., a mercenary.

On the night of Dante’s (Dominic Zamprogna) shooting, Jason explains he made his way to Port Charles and was working with the other shooter, Hamish. However, he was unaware that the target was Sonny (Maurice Benard).  When Jason realized what was up, he made sure Hamish missed his shot. Michael inquires if Jason would have even come back to Port Charles if Sonny wasn’t the target.

At that point, Jason shared that the job he was given isn’t done, and if he doesn’t finish it, bad things will happen. At the end of the episode, Jason is having a flashback where it’s revealed he is in custody at Quantico and it’s John “Jagger” Cates (Adam J. Harrington) from the FBI who is holding him there. John tells Jason he has a recording proving RICO violations that will carrying a twenty-year sentence. We fade to black.

So, what do you think is really going on here? Jason looks to be working with John Cates and the FBI as part of a deal to bring someone to justice to get out of a 20-year sentence for RICO violations. But, who is the man that Jason and potentially John want to bring down? What did you think of the backstory of Jason’s two-year disappearance thus far? Share your thoughts in the comment section, But first, check out the key scenes from yesterday’s GH below.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Carly and Jason’s Emotional Reunion Is Cut Short When John and Anna Arrive on the Scene

If you watch daytime drama and General Hospital you know that there is an unique bond and deep love between the characters of Carly Spencer and Jason Morgan. You also know that when Laura Wright (Carly) and Steve Burton (Jason) get together in scenes with high stakes and high drama, they deliver in spectacular fashion.

On today’s, Friday, March 8th episode of the ABC daytime drama series, Carly is in for quite the shock when her beloved Jason is standing right there in the dark and in her living room. For two years, Carly has grieved Jason’s ‘death’, only for him to be right before her.

With tears in his eyes, and just saying “Carly”, it stops her dead in her tracks.  She runs towards Jason and they share an emotional reunion. You came back,” Carly cries. Jason says he is sorry it took so long to contact her. Problem is, Jason has been shot and is bleeding out and needs her help. Jason obviously had no where to go, and is only letting himself truly be known to Carly, because he can trust her with his life and vice-versa.

Photo: ABC

Carly goes to get a first-aid kit, and tells Jason to promise he won’t leave. He promises. But as he sits down on the couch, he is in bad shape. Carly returns as they clean the bullet wound area. Still in shock, Carly says, “How can you be here?”

Things get very touching when Carly tells Jason she wishes she could call her mom for help. Jason tells her not to call Bobbie. Just then, Carly says she can’t because her mother died. Jason goes, “Bobbie died?” As soon as the two were going to talk about it, there is pounding noises at Carly’s front door. It’s John (Adam J. Harrington) and Anna (Finola Hughes). Jason hides.

Photo: JPI

Anna asks Carly if they can come in. They show her the screen capture of Jason on the roof. Carly plays it very convincingly asking FBI agent Cates and Anna if this image of Jason is real.  Anna confirms Jason is alive and they need to search her house. Carly firmly tells them they cannot search the house, but they tell her they have a warrant and don’t have to have her permission.  Jason listens in from the staircase. We fade to black.

Photo: ABC

So, what did you think of the reunion scenes thus far between Carly and Jason and the performances of Laura Wright and Steve Burton? Share your thoughts via the comment section below. But first, check out the moment Carly and Jason saw each for the first time in two years.

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Peter Reckell returns for a second visit with Michael Fairman following the wrap-up of his recent run as Bo Brady on Days of our Lives.Leave A Comment

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