Well, aren’t the writers of This Is Us just having a great ole time playing yo-yo with my emotions?
Last week I was all for the messy, emotional, real-life-is-gritty-and-hard storylines, but did they really have to go and ruin Jack so quickly? I think deep down in my heart of hearts, I knew he was perhaps too perfect to be true in episode one, I just didn’t want to believe it.
Episode two opens eight years on from Jack and Rebecca taking their three babies (their two biological twins and adopted son Randall) home from hospital. Lo and behold, after eight years of raising triplets their relationship isn’t quite as romantic as it used to be.
Rebecca’s had enough of Jack’s late nights out drinking. She’s struggling with the bulk of the responsibilities and she’s (rightfully) had enough. It takes some tough love from Jack’s best friend Miguel for him to realise what he’s putting at risk. I’ll paraphrase, but the gist of the conversation was – you’ve got an incredibly hot wife and amazing family. Don’t give them an excuse to realise you don’t deserve them. Sometimes best friends just have to step up and tell it like it is.
Meanwhile, in the modern day, Kate and her new beau Toby are on a war path to lose weight and while Toby is slimming down quickly – Kate is having no such luck. While Kate’s battle with weight is more extreme than most people’s, her insecurities, cravings, self-esteem issues are still very relatable. Thankfully, Toby is always ready with an entirely inappropriate comment (like, “You hulked out on a bunch of fatties”- ouch!) to lighten the mood and remind her that not everything has to be about her weight.
Her twin brother Kevin is dealing with the fall out of his spectacular adult tantrum on set of his soap the Man-ny. After much soul searching – and some solid sibling advice from both Kate and Randall, Kevin decides to call it a day, despite the fact that the network boss has promised to “Nagasaki” his career.
Poor, sweet Randall is struggling to work out just what to do with his biological father William who is dying of stomach cancer. Randall’s wife Beth is concerned about his influence on their two daughters – they haven’t found a way to explain the presence of, as she so eloquently puts it, Randall’s “crack-addict biological daddy”. She’s also feeling protective of her family and husband, whose inherent kindness is his best asset and biggest weakness.
In what has to be my favourite scene of this week, Beth corners William in the kitchen to find out exactly where he’s been spending his time. After giving him a good grilling, she’s mortified to hear he’s been bussing back and forth three hours every day to feed his cat. Whoops!
And then comes the kicker – Randall’s parents arrive in the final scene. Rebecca opens the door and – WHERE THE HELL IS JACK? WHY IS MIGUEL THERE? IS JACK DEAD? WHAT IS GOING ON?
Oh boy does episode three have some explaining to do.
