Its one of those well-observed, low-key, character-driven episodes thatThis Is Usdoesnt get enough credit for.
You wont find any twists or intense tear-jerking scenes here.
Its for the best.
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
Rebecca is barely hanging on, a fact which comes through inMandy Moorestough, weary, drained performance.
Kevin is drinking alone, at early hours of the day.
Kate is suddenly eating too much.
Only for Randall do things appear to be going right.
He brings Deja there to meet Sky, the daughter of one of the buildings residents, ChiChi.
He sets out to do something about it.
Randall in the future appears desperate to preserve that.
And yet Randalls actions meet pushback from ChiChi.
We are not our problems.
He agrees, absorbing the message in seeming agreement.
I can never get it right.
He subsequently calls Howard and, at least in that moment, declines admission.
She worries about Rebecca finding out about the IVF and judging her choices.
Its asked by her mother.
Have you guys really considered all of the risks?
she inquires of Kate.
It takes a Toby blow-up to end the Cold War.
She dreams of seeing her and Tobys face in their child.
She knows the options and the risks.
She also knows what she wants.
(Again: Functional!)
(We see in flashbacks how Kate rapidly gained weight after the fire.)
Its a perfectly understated moment.
But we end on Randall and Kevin.
The latter sits beside his brother in the theater, the screening about to begin.
But Randall cant shake his own arc from this episode, that feeling of hovering between two worlds.
He asks Kevin if hes missed anything, and Kevin responds by informing him of the IVF treatments.
Kevin then relays Kates line about being the only one to pass on a piece of dad.
He incredulously asks whether she really said that.
Randall has two dead fathers to live up to.
But was he ever really, fully either of theirs, a part of their worlds?
