Photos by NBC; Ron Batzdorff/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
When the season 4 finale of This Is Us was filmed several lifetimes ago — or at least much earlier this year — the world looked strikingly different. From masks to fights about masks to mass protests about racial injustice, the majority of 2020 has been dominated by two seismic events: the coronavirus pandemic and the racial reckoning accompanying the Black Lives Matter movement. As the nation copes with tragedy and attempts to figure out order in a new world, the Hollywood writers who create a different kind of drama have to decision to make: give viewers an escape from the horrors and challenges of the day, or attempt to reflect and comment on what they are seeing through the eyes of their characters.
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