Is Miguel Likable On 'This Is Us'?

There have been some absolutely jaw-dropping moments on This Is Us: learning that Jack dies young, that Rebecca knew William from the time Randall was a baby, and, perhaps the most controversial, that Rebecca remarried — and it was to Jack's BFF Miguel. Now, This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia says that Miguel isn't all bad; or, he's not as bad as fans would believe him to be. Miguel hasn't exactly be portrayed in the most sympathetic light, so even with one of our current fave TV dads sitting us down to say it's all going to be okay, I have a hard time believing that it will.

Ventimiglia gave some (albeit pithy) reasons to plead a case for Miguel, but I think Ventimiglia is too close to the situation. At the NAACP Image Awards, he revealed:

Miguel is aces. First of all, I think we've got to remember Miguel is Jack's best friend, so already, if you love Jack, you should love Miguel. And then, secondarily, you will learn something very, very good about Miguel's approach on life. He's a really, really great guy and I think people need to give him a chance.

At the beginning of This Is Us' intensely engaging first season, we learned about Miguel in bits and pieces. We've known for a while that Miguel and Rebecca we married. At first, when we learned it, we were left to wonder whether Jack and Rebecca's everlasting love bubble had popped and Jack was drinking his sorrows away while Rebecca live happily ever after.

The plot thickened when fans learned that Jack died. Then, the plot got doubly thick when we learned Miguel was Jack's best friend but he was also kind of a cad, with a wandering eye in the workplace and the kind of golfing buddy that expresses a great distaste for staying at home with the wife and kids.

Miguel has been built up as a foil to Jack in terms of what kind of men they are. When we learned Miguel and Shelly were getting a divorce because their marriage has basically imploded — a thing helped Miguel facilitate — it solidified in our minds that Miguel was no Jack and that ain't good. Miguel may have redeemed himself later on in life to the point that he wooed Rebecca, but viewers are missing a huge chunk of the story.

For now, it looks like Miguel is still the antithesis of the guy that Rebecca should ever end up with, regardless of whether it's a second marriage. Let's hope This Is Us is able to convince fans, much like Ventimiglia attempted at the NAACP Image Awards.