This Is Us isn’t a particularly good television show, but it’s an excellent pressure release valve

Vox

Todd VanDerWerff wonders why the NBC drama turns off some TV critics, while its massive audience keeps tuning in. He has come to the conclusion that This Is Us is "one of the most necessary shows in America right now," especially in allowing viewers to release their emotions and cry. "There’s a subset of Americans who overvalue our stoicism, who see it as projecting a kind of calm, steady strength to those around us, and to the rest of the world when all of that stoicism combines into a national aggregate," he says. "But This Is Us is about the dangers of not feeling your feelings, about what happens when you bottle everything up and repress it. What’s more, it wants to give its audience a safe space every week to feel those emotions, to process their own grief and sorrow and even joy. All of the things I don’t like about it aren’t flaws. They’re the whole point."

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