While the title of this episode was “I Call Marriage,” the underlying theme was loss.
First, when Miguel and Shelly tell Jack and Rebecca they’re divorcing. Then when we see Randall having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that William will die sooner rather than later, but Randall’s unwillingness to deal with this fact is manifested by his insistence that Beth not mention anything about death or dying to their daughters. When he finds Beth making memory boxes with the girls, it really upsets him and Beth quietly points out that neither of them were prepared to cope with their own fathers' deaths, so they need to prepare their daughters. Randall knows Beth is right – we’ve seen in past episodes how Jack’s death has impacted Randall - but we can tell he’s not ready to lose William.
SEE ALSO:Fat camp and a dead dad: 'This Is Us' is your cry of the weekIn a story about a different kind of loss (weight), Toby shows up at Kate’s camp to surprise her. After he runs into Duke, the jerky guy who hit on Kate, they have an awkward moment and Toby decides to hang around for a day. After drum class, Duke finds Kate on a treadmill and he hops on the treadmill next to her and starts needling her again, trying to get her to crack emotionally but Kate doesn’t let him get to her. Or does she? We see a shot of her near Duke’s cabin (unlucky number 13) but will she go in? Don’t do it, Kate! You’re engaged, for Pete’s sake!
Returning to the marriage theme, former spouses Kevin and Sophie are talking but in reality, Kevin’s telling Sophie he still loves her and sweetly groveling to show her he’s been paying attention all these years – he even made a fake Facebook profile so he could friend her and keep up with what’s happening in her life. Kinda creepy but sweet when Kevin also reveals he still remembers what Sophie wore to school the first day of fourth grade. This is something we haven’t really seen before: Kevin is a man in love and he’s willing to wait for Sophie if he thinks there’s even a small chance she still loves him too. She tells him she’s dating a guy and “he’s solid” which made us wonder if she’s in love or settling. Something tells us these two crazy kids are going to make another run at romance before Season 1 is over.
SEE ALSO:'This Is Us' gives us a standalone episode that still breaks our heartsAfter Shelly and Miguel tell Jack and Rebecca they’re getting divorced and it throws Jack and Rebecca for a loop, Rebecca is singing with her ex boyfriend Ben’s (Sam Trammell) band – hey – we need more of Mandy Moore singing, please! When Ben excitedly tells her a booking agent saw them and wants to book them on tour, she tells him she can’t go on the road because of her family. He says “If Jack really loved you, he’d support you.” and Rebecca goes off on him, telling him Jack is a superhero and an incredible dad. Ben is appropriately cowed by Rebecca’s rebuke. The best wedding bits are flashbacks of Jack and Rebecca’s wedding interspersed with Jack taking Rebecca on a date night to their first apartment, which he’s decked out in twinkle lights. Romance and sexy time follow. In the afterglow, Jack takes out copies of their vows, which he saved since their wedding, and reads them aloud. Rebecca tells Jack, “We’re gonna be ok....The band booked a tour and I think I wanna go.” Gulp!
Punches in the feels: This episode clocked in at the usual four to five punches and they’re subtle but powerful. Once again, the show makes us feel loss in a visceral way since it’s something we’ve all experienced. What’s also interesting is how there are seeds of happiness still growing: Toby and Kate’s engagement, Kevin and Sophie’s rekindling friendship/romance and the enduring sweetness of Beth and Randall’s marriage. Jack and Rebecca’s marriage flashbacks make us melt inside, because we know Jack won’t be around forever. There are four episodes remaining in Season 1 and it’s refreshing to know we can’t predict what will happen next.
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