For our review of the last episode of This Is Us, click here.
Synopsis: A history of Beth and Randall through the ages. (TVGuide)
Writer: Kay Oyegun
Director: Kevin Hooks
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 45mins
Airs: Tuesdays at 9pm on CTV (Canada)/NBC (United States)
Brace yourself because this week’s episode of This Is Us will break your hearts, crush your soul, and make you question if love is real. It’s no secret that this season has been a rough one for Beth and Randall as they try to navigate through their complicated new lives. Beth wants to teach dance, Randall is a councilman, and things just aren’t going well in the “let’s make this work for our family” department. After working their way towards a huge fight, this week’s episode picks right up from it left off.
Before Randall can get out any words, Beth interrupts to say she’s going first. She doesn’t know who the man in front of her is, and we have to say–neither do we. Actually, both of them and their behaviors feel so foreign and it’s jarring. Beth points out that Randall is pissed off because she won’t compromise to make his life work, once again. And she’s always had his back so to question her intentions feels absurd to her.
In Randall’s defense, he said a stupid thing when he asked Beth to reconsider teaching, but then he did try to make the best of it. He went back and forth between work and family responsibilities, and he did put forth a lot of effort. It turns out they’ve been having this fight since they met, and thus begins a look back at their lives together. It’s an emotional one.
Taking us back to the moment Randall and Beth first met back in college, This Is Us gave us a first look at how the friction between these two was always simmering at the surface. After consulting with Kevin, young Randall asks Beth out and plans a romantic night out. But it doesn’t go exactly as planned, in fact, it crashes and burns. In hopes of making her feel special, Randall dresses up in a suit and takes them out to a fancy restaurant where the manager demands that they pay for their meal ahead of time. Discussing this point of the episode is a whole other article, but let’s just say–messed up!
Beth is understandably annoyed at the very obvious racist behavior, but Randall just wants to calm things down and starts writing a check. As Beth storms out, it becomes clear that she is not looking for this type of thing. She likes nachos and ginger beer, she didn’t need all of this, and she didn’t Randall to be so open about his life because they only just met.
While the night ends in a disaster, Randall isn’t giving up any hope with Beth–he knows he will marry her. The episode jumps seven years to Beth and Randall living together where he can’t seem to stop proposing. And while many others would be smitten over this much love and devotion, Beth just wants to figure out her life and isn’t ready to get married. She wants to be her own person with her own goals and ambitions and doesn’t want to be consumed by another person. They fight once again after Beth learns that Randall has told Rebecca all about the rejected proposals.
But after talking to Rebecca later on, Beth came to the realization that Randall is truly it for her, and ends up proposing to him in the middle of a diner. She’s going all in but she wants him to promise they won’t consume each other. We jump forward once again with Beth and Randall’s wedding where they’re super frantic about their wedding vows. But it all works out because instead of writing them out, they speak from the heart and it’s absolutely freaking adorable. Speaking of adorable, what did we think about Kevin with a flavor savor?
We move forward once again to see Beth and Randall as first-time parents, and another argument regarding Beth’s maternity leave ending almost takes place, but before it can get intense, Beth says to put a pause on it. And then, of course, we all remember when William and Kevin were living with Beth and Randall, and how intense it was for poor ‘ol Beth. Pretending to go away for work, Beth decides to take a 24-hour break and hang out in a hotel. The plan is an epic fail when she runs into Randall and William at the store and decides to go back home with them.
Heading back to the present, things got bad, really bad. Once again saying she is consumed by this marriage, she’s had enough. As Beth and Randall fight, there are flashes of the episode when Jack and Rebecca were having their first big fight. It’s so similar and Randall wants it to stop before it gets there. Beth is adamant about not changing her mind, and she knows that’s what has made their marriage work all these years. If she doesn’t compromise, nothing works.
Randall retaliates by saying she had her awakening late, and what is Beth’s response? When was she supposed to follow her dreams–in between his anxiety attacks? Ugh, the look on her face after she says this. We’re not sure what will become of R & B, but for now, Randall is leaving. Will he come back? Honestly, who knows?
Score: 9.5/10
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