We have been having the same fight since we met, Beth says to Randall in the present-day.
Hes on the phone with Kevin, trying to figure out the best way to express his feelings.
Its a giddy, fun scene, topped off with Randalls exuberant reaction of Holy crap!
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
But dinner doesnt quite go as planned.
She storms out and he follows.
Youre a very nice guy … but youre a lot, she says.
This date was a lot.
(Randalls dorky glasses-and-polo combo helps some.)
(Yeah, about that.)
He proposes on a jumbotron at a baseball game.
He proposes in their partly furnished apartment.
They all go mini-golfing together, inadvertently on Beths suggestion, and things quickly blow up.
I dont want my life to be consumed by my husbands.
And Randall, I love you, but you consume things.
After cooling off and having a heart-to-heart with Rebecca Beth takes Randall on a mystery trip.
He doesnt know where theyre going; she wont tell him.
Finally, they wind up at an unfussy-looking diner.
She eats the nachos and drinks the ginger beer while saying nothing.
She finishes and says, Im ready.
She tells him to propose.
He takes out the ring of course, he has it handy and does so, romantically and beautifully.
Our best glimpse into Randall and Beths lives arrives next, on their Wedding Day.
(Situated, judging by Randall and Kevins new looks, within the weird Pearson beard timeframe.)
We find them each in a mini-crisis which distills the dynamic of their marriage.
Both ask the respective Pearson siblings to stall the other.
Lets just write them together, right now, Beth suddenly suggests.
Thats why were doing this whole thing.
Lets just take turns and speak from the heart.
Its just beautifully written and delivered intimately by both actors.
I want to be the man that you deserve, Randall says.
You are the only thing I am ever going to need.
She says later, Ive never been seen so completely, loved so passionately, protected so fiercely.
Simple enough, right?
William, instantly noticing whats going on here, leaves them alone.
Neither Randall nor Beth blow up once the latter is officially busted.
He tells her she can still have her night; she thanks him.
But then he asks what episode ofLiving Singleshes going to start with.
She decides shes not going to have her day.
Consciously or not, Randall was undermining Beth here.
Its devastating to watch, an understated but enormously moving moment in the episode.
Which brings us back to where we are now.
I will not be bullied into saying something even more awful to you, he says.
But she doesnt back down.
She runs through the many times shes supported him without going after what she really wanted.
How shes always the one bending to keep their lives running smoothly.
Our lives dont work unless Im doing the bending, she continues.
And we both know it.
He suggests she had time to find what she wanted but is now 20 years too late.
Between which of your anxiety attacks?
She immediately regrets the comment.
But hes already out the door.
I dont want to be in this house with you right now, he says.
Its good news for you, I guess.
Im all out of speeches.
As to what this portends for next weeks finale andseason 4, stay tuned.
