Earnestness has been the NBC drama’s greatest strength and greatest weakness, says Caroline Siede. “But this (week’s) episode piles on the ‘Big Conversations’ to such a degree that they can’t all be redeemed by the show’s nuanced execution and stellar acting,” she says. ALSO: This Is Us creator explains this week’s episode. (http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/18/this-is-us-creator-kate-secret-rebecca-mother-racism/)