CHAT WITH ROBERT
USA TODAY’s Robert Bianco chats with readers Mondays at 2 p.m. ET at facebook.com/ USATODAY. Read edited excerpts below, email questions to askbianco@usatoday.com or tweet them to @biancorobert and visit him live online. Q The season finale of This Is Us reminded me of the series finale of The Sopranos. AI loved the finale of The
Sopranos, so that’s probably not a comparison I would make, but I think I know what you mean and I know you’re not alone. A lot of people seem to have been less than thrilled by the finale’s lack of, well, finality — in particular, its failure to give viewers the answer many were expecting: How did Jack die? Look, if you love This Is Us, then you should be willing to give the writers considerable leeway this early in its run, keeping in mind that it’s their story, and they’re free to tell it how they want. And I do think it’s crucial to remember that This is not a murder mystery, and “how did Jack die” is not the grand question upon which the show is built. That said, going forward, the writers would be wise to limit the number of times they lead people to expect an answer — as they clearly did — and then fail to deliver. Surprises, twists and misdirections are great if they’re being used in service of the story. But if people get the idea you’re using them simply to keep them tuning in, or you’re misleading them because you don’t know where you’re going, they’ll quickly stop following.
So This, don’t do that. Q I’ve
been hearing lots of negativity toward Desig
nated Survivor’s return episode. The ending was shocking, but when current real world politics is so crazy, the fictional depictions have to be even crazier.
AI
don’t think Designated was trying to out-crazy a nowcrazy world. I think it was trying to rid itself of a crazy plot that had overwhelmed the series. Which is exactly what many feared might happen after the show’s promising pilot. So my complaint isn’t that the return was crazy. It’s that it apparently wasn’t crazy enough, because the conspiracy plot is still with us.