'This Is Us' dedication leads fans to Twitter to show their appreciation for Nasir Ahmed
This Is Us was all about staying connected this week, as the Pearsons navigated huge family milestones from a distance due to COVID-19.
While Madison was in labor, it was only due to Randall and Beth staying with her over FaceTime, that she didn't feel alone in the hospital as Kevin Pearson struggled to catch a flight home. Meanwhile, due to COVID protocol, Toby wasn't allowed to be present in the room for the birth of his daughter, as only one person, Kate, could be in the room with the birth mom.
While major additions to the Pearson family were happening, Rebecca was able to suppress her guilt of not being with her children, also through FaceTime. Video calls, especially during the covid-era, may not be something we think twice about. So, during this week's episode, viewers were amazed to learn the story of Nasir Ahmed.
This Is Us is known for their flashbacks as a way to create the backstories of our beloved characters. On Tuesday, viewers were introduced to two new characters, Esther and Nasir Ahmed. While we all assumed it was the backstory of Miguel's parents (seriously, stop trying to make Miguel happen!), the introduction of Esther and Nasir was even more significant.
This Is Us told the story of one night in the '70s, when Nasir arrived almost four hours late for dinner with his son. When Esther asked him what was more important than his family, he revealed he had come close to creating an algorithm, which could potentially allow people to call each other by video.
At the end of the episode, This Is Us explained who Nasir Ahmed is in real life and how he and his team are responsible for keeping us connected today.
Underneath an image of Nasir read, "In the 1970s, Nasir Ahmed led a team of researchers who developed the Discrete Cosine Transform... This technique is still used by companies as part of their image and video sharing technology. You don't know his name, but Nasir and his team are responsible for keeping us connected today. He and his wife Esther recently celebrated their 56th anniversary." The final picture was a screenshot of Nasir and Esther on a video call with the creative team behind This Is Us, Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal, stating, "We video chatted to hear their story."
Video Transcript
- Look what we did. So here is baby number one. And then, you have mommy.
- Hi.
- And professional tennis player.
KYLIE MAR: Tuesday's episode of "This Is Us" was all about staying connected as the Pearsons navigated huge family milestones from a distance due to COVID-19.
- He's totally jealous of all the hair.
- Of course. I feel like I'm going to have to shave her head just to, like, level the playing field.
KYLIE MAR: During the episode, the writers introduced us to two new characters, Esther and Nasir Ahmed, who viewers thought were Miguel's parents. However, while that would have been cool, the introduction of Esther and Nasir was actually even more significant.
- When your mother wants a picture of Mike, what do we do?
- We mail it to her?
- Right. We mail it to Argentina. She gets it a few weeks later. What if instead of waiting for the mail, she could see the photo on a computer almost instantly?
KYLIE MAR: "This Is Us" told a story of one night in the '70s when Nasir arrived almost four hours late for dinner with his son. And when Esther asked him what was more important than his family, he revealed he had come close to creating an algorithm which could potentially allow people to call each other with video. No, Miguel's dad did not invent FaceTime.
At the end of the episode, "This Is Us" explained who Nasir Ahmed is in real life, and how he and his team are responsible for keeping us connected today. Viewers took to social media following the episode to thank Nasir and to give him a shout out for keeping us connected during the pandemic. One person tweeted, "Thank you, Nasir Ahmed. Your vision and technology has been a godsend this past year especially."
- (SINGING) Don't think twice. Don't think twice. It's all right.
