This week’s episode of This Is Us (titled: “The Right Thing to Doâ€) gave us Toby’s diagnosis while delving further back in the past timeline before the Big Three.
Recap:
Jack and Rebecca
We take several steps back in this episode with the past timeline. We get a peek into the home that Jack grew up in with an abusive father. Then we push ahead to when Rebecca and Jack think they are having a single baby and rent an apartment that is over their means. Then when the doctor informs them about the triplets, an added weight presses on their relationship. Rebecca has lunch with her mother (whom she doesn’t get along with) to discuss her future with the triplets. Her mother offers to have Rebecca, Jack, and the triplets live with them. Jack knows this isn’t something Rebecca wants, but they have no other choice. Rebecca sends Jack out for ice cream, and he forgets his wallet and quickly returns. He hears Rebecca crying, and while out on his errand, he swallows his pride and goes to his father to ask for money. Later, Jack takes Rebecca to a job site that seems to be a money pit for his boss. Jack bought it for them and has a plan to fix it up (at least the essential rooms) during the final months of Rebecca’s pregnancy. He did this without telling her where the money really came from.
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Kate and Toby
We find out the fate of Toby after he collapsed on Christmas Eve. He passed out from an arrhythmia and was given a stent. Then his doctor informs him of a hole in his heart that can easily be repaired with surgery. At first, Toby refuses since he’s afraid. Kate tells him he’s being childish and leaves. Later on, she returns after Toby sends what appears to be an urgent text. He decided to undergo the surgery because he loves her. Kate fumbles and doesn’t say it back before Toby is wheeled off to surgery. The Big Three wait for the surgery to be over, and Kevin and Randall do nothing to ease Kate’s mind. While Toby is sleeping after the surgery, Kate tells Toby she loves him. Toby “wakes up†(having been awake the whole time) and proposes to her.
Randall and William
Randall is trying to sort out his feelings since Jesse returned to William’s life. He doesn’t think he’s homophobic, but there’s something off about the situation. He’s jealous. When Jesse comes over to collect William for the night, Randall tries to bridge the gap but instead finds himself in an awkward situation with his father’s boyfriend. When Randall approaches William about spending so much time away from their family, William confesses that he feels the cancer inside of him and knows he doesn’t have a lot of time left. Jesse and William have been together so much because Jesse is helping William find a nursing home to die in. Randall wants William to stay with them until the very end.
Kevin and Sloane (and Olivia)
Kevin and Sloane are an amazing couple on the stage and off. That is until Olivia returns with a new haircut and attitude. She wants Kevin back, claiming she’s changed because of him, but Sloane steps in and tells Olivia that he’s with her now. Now Kevin needs to make a decision, and of course he bases it on looks. And when Olivia asks him to make a choice (with Sloane in earshot), he tells her he chooses Sloane because it’s the right thing to do, “even if it’s not what you want.†Olivia storms out, vowing to have amazing sex with a stranger, and Sloane enters the room, making it clear she heard everything.
Review:
Oh, how I’ve missed This Is Us! Going into the episode, I really needed to know what happened with Toby. I spent a majority of the time biting my fingernails off, afraid he was going to die during surgery or something. I wasn’t expecting a proposal! It was quite adorable.
I liked going further back into the timeline with Jack. He’s a stand-up guy, and it’s hard to believe he grew up with a father like that. I thought it was interesting that he took his wedding ring off before knocking on the door and didn’t mention that the money he wanted was for his family. I wonder how that will eventually blow up in his face…
I was just starting to be okay with Kevin, and then he said THAT about Sloane. Come on, man! He’s in way over his head with these girls, and he’s only digging a bigger hole for himself.
All in all, it was as good episode. Not THE BEST, but it helped catch us up on what happened before the break while expanding the past with Jack and Rebecca.
Join me next week for the recap/review of the next new episode of This Is Us, which airs Tuesday, Jan. 17, on NBC at 9/8c.
– Katlyn
