(Besides that struggle with alcoholism, of course.)
There was no other option in Jack’s mind: He just needed to be near his younger sibling.
Hearing that familiar voice, Nicky chucked a match into the barrel and turned to face his brother.
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve known that a Vietnam storyline was coming since season 1.
But I feel like this episode was definitely a setup that left people wanting more.
How did you prepare for the combat scenes that we saw and the ones to come?
I know you mentioned that you were worn out, because I know you don’t quit.
I definitely don’t quit and I definitely was tired.
We had a technical boot camp with a company called Sigloch.
But in this case, the guy with the golden heart is attached to a rifle.
It was one of those things that just had to inform how he is with his family.
But at the same time, putting myself in an uncomfortable position and pushing through it.
Jack’s circumstance just happens to be war and life and death.
There’s a shot of Nicky to kick off the episode and a more revealing one at the end.
This seems to be a man who has been changed and broken by this war.
Does Jack have any idea of how far gone he is?
Jack seems to flinch ever so slightly when he sees him.
Jack knows his little brother.
Jack knows how serious things are, from the letters that his mom is receiving.
We do continue that moment in later episodes.
He now has a bigger job than just surviving a war.
He’s got to survive the war, hopefully for him and his brother.
We kind of know how that works out; he loses his brother at war.
But I don’t think Jack knew how bad it was until he saw him.
We’re going to get you out of this."
There’s a mix of emotions on Nicky’s face, too.
How should we read it?
I think it’s everything.
There’s got to be some anger.
We do continue that in later episodes and see all of that.
We understand Nicky’s pain moving forward.
You had worked with Michael onWild Card,right?
What made you think he’d be right to play Jack’s brother?
Like Mandy [Moore], I get that front-row seat with Michael.
It breaks my heart every day because they are brothers.
They are quite literally the same DNA, the same blood, cut from the same cloth.
Their experiences are so closely entwined that I feel deeply for what Michael is doing on camera.
Nicky shares a brotherhood with Jack, but he’s also more of an external processor.
He’s wearing his emotions on the sleeve, he’s vulnerable kind of the opposite of Jack.
What were you expecting from the character, and what surprised you?
People are just different, and I think Jack has a little more stoic attitude toward things.
I love that Nicky is a lot more vocal with his emotions and his processing.
So it makes sense.
He gets through it for himself.
He doesn’t want anybody else to have to help him deal with it.
He just will keep it concealed forever, which ultimately he does.
Kevin doesn’t know anything about his father’s time when he was being interviewed on NPR.
We see Jack enlist in this horrific war just because he has to be there for his brother.
Will this Vietnam storyline build the Super Jack myth and break it down at the same time?
I think that’s really accurate to be building it up and breaking it down.
But knowing what’s to come, Jack doesn’t lose himself in war.
Jack doesn’t lose himself in a lot of situations.
He’s still Jack, he’s always Jack.
Very, very simply.
There are smaller but powerful gut punches in this episode.
We learn about Jack’s heart condition, which had been diagnosed to some extent.
If only they had monitored it more closely!
Again, different era.
When Jack was growing up, mom and dad were smoking in the house.
There’s also the “breathe” moment with Robinson that Jack took with him in his parenting journey.
What was a smaller moment from this episode that resonated with you?
Gosh, so many of them.
I think the breathing moment was big, just because we know how that impacts him and his kids.
Those are the things that kind of grabbed at me.
And I think that’s because I’m too close to it.
But if Jack is going through something, I’m like, “No, man.
You’re going to be fine.”
As Dan noted, this episode explored the idea of the sins of our fathers being passed on.
You see what Jack inherited the alcoholism and what he sought to avoid.
You and your sister.
When that’s not there, it’s gone.
And you could’t talk about it with anybody else."
Yeah, that was trippy.
The show returns to Vietnam in episode 7, much of which will be shot on location in Vietnam.
You are trulygoing there.
How are you gearing up for that, and what excites you about that journey?
Gearing up… let me see.
That’s what I’m hoping.
How haunting will they be as we head into this journey?
I imagine that Jack has read that thing so much so that he’s memorized it.
How would you brace people for what lies ahead?
I think people know something ominous is coming.
And of course, we all know the result: Jack lost his brother.
War is a nasty, nasty thing, and it puts people on different paths because of it.
[This episode] felt like the standalone origin story.
That’s the thing to remember: War is hell.
There’s nothing positive about war.
There really truly is no winner.
To read what Michael Angarano, a.k.a.
Nicky, had to say,head over here.
This Is Us Creator Dan Fogelman breaks down what’s to comeover here.
