If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Kate goes wedding dress shopping. Kevin embraces a new lifestyle while Randall explores William’s past. Jack and Rebecca take the kids to the mall. (TVGuide)
Writer: Bekah Brunstetter
Director: Zetna Fuentes
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 45mins
If only there were enough adjectives to describe how amazing This Is Us truly is. Tonight, as always, lived up to the expectations we have become accustomed to setting for it.
In the past, Rebecca and Jack took the kids to the mall to go shopping for the upcoming winter formal. While Rebecca helped Kate pick out a dress, Jack helped Kevin pick out a suit. Randall, however, was busy trying to get the attention of a girl he had a crush on.
Tonight’s episode made a lot of parallels between the past and present as it focused on Kate’s insecurity with her weight and Kevin’s struggle to embrace Miguel.
In the present, Randall prepared for an interview, one he was not too keen on going to. He found a distraction to focus on when he returned to William’s old apartment to pick up a box of his belongings. Amongst these belongings was a poem written by William referencing a lady he loved, a neighbor. This discovery led Randall down an emotional, heart-warming journey as he sought out this woman.
Kate faced her inner demons this episode by going back to group therapy and discussing her recent bingeing episode. She also attempted to go wedding dress shopping with her therapy friend, Madison, whom she discovered was battling bulimia.
After the events of last week’s emotional family therapy session, Kevin geared up to leave the rehab center. To better connect with his mom, he decided to go and stay with her and Miguel for a little while. While he looked forward to his stay with Rebecca, the thought of Miguel wasn’t all that exciting to him.
Young Kate seemed to struggle during dress shopping as we see her trying on one she liked. However, she stormed out of the dressing room, which we assume is due to her not being able to fit into it. Later we learn during Kate’s speech to Madison that she ran out because she had lost a lot of weight at that age and was actually able to fit into a smaller size. With the dependency she had built on her self-image and weight, she was disoriented when the dress actually did fit. This was a beautiful and saddening moment to highlight in this episode because it addressed Kate’s life-long struggle with weight while simultaneously showing her maturity in dealing with it as an adult.
If anyone was confused before the episode as to why the episode was named “Clooney”, we quickly learned it was the name of William’s cat. While Randall put in all his efforts into finding this lady in William’s life, he learned that it was not quite who he expected. A beautiful scene with William showed the stray cat coming into his apartment, as he sat there writing out the poem, a poem that was about the Billie Holiday mural, aptly named “Lady Day”, right outside his window.
Kevin and Miguel had a bit of a friction this episode as Kevin felt frustrated by his presence, while Miguel felt the need to protect Rebecca. However, when Kevin asked Miguel if he loved Rebecca when Jack was still alive, it was quite the beautiful moment between the two, and also a fine moment for Miguel whom many of us have come to resent. Miguel told Kevin this was a thought that could have never crossed his mind because Rebecca and Jack were one. After realizing Miguel truly loves Rebecca, Kevin conveyed to Rebecca she should not feel bad for being with him.
After spending most of the episode at William’s old apartment building, Randall told Beth that they should buy the building to help change people’s lives. And while adult Randall looked ahead to the future, his young self lived in the moment and finally asked his crush out via personalized 8-ball he made just for her.
And of course, that ending. With each passing episode, we are getting closer and closer to Jack’s inevitable death. The sense of impending doom lurks within us and the ending of tonight’s episode did nothing to appease that feeling. The final shot took our eyes to the smoke alarm on the ceiling, that seemed to be either not connected or without any batteries. Based on a previous episode alluding that Jack met his end in a fire, this scene brought us closer to solidifying that Jack may have indeed died in a fire that took down their home and him with it. With subtle hints of Jack’s death being sprinkled throughout the season, this episode brought us closer than we have ever been before to finding out just how it went down.
Everything about this episode was very beautiful at its core as we watched Kate mature in a very strong way as she looked to her future. And this stood true for Kevin and Randall as well, with them both making strides to improve themselves and pave their paths to a happier future. We can’t wait to see where the story will go from here, although we can do without finding out Jack died because we’re just not ready yet.
Score: 8/10
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