We meet back up with the Pearsons this week by first getting a glimpse into William’s past. Seeing William in the 70s getting arrested for drugs and appearing before a judge. When the judge expresses his disappointment in William for his behavior, William responds with a heartbreaking record of his own loss. Explaining (and time-marking for the audience) that he’s recently lost his mother, his girl and his son he states, “No one is more disappointed than me.”
Transitioning to present day, Randall takes Deja to meet with her mother in prison. After the social worker (played by the brilliant Debra Jo Rupp) explains that Deja’s mother is refusing the meeting Randall has to break the news to Deja. Lyric Ross (Deja) is so good in this role — she perfectly walks the line between being comfortable with her foster family and her desire to be with her mother. She asks Randall to see that her mother gets her allowance money that she’s been saving up before they leave the prison.
Kate and Toby reveal to a quickly spiraling Kevin that they’re pregnant in adorable reveal shirts. To be fair, Toby is my favorite and I love everything he does, but this scene was really adorable, made funnier by the reveal that Toby doesn’t want to tell her super-Catholic mother that Kate is pregnant out of wedlock. Kate makes the suggestion that they just get married at the courthouse and Toby agrees. (At first…)
In the past, Rebecca and Jack are in the final steps of legally adopting Randall. (The kids are a little over a year old.) This was a fun time jump, mainly because we don’t really see a lot of the Big Three as babies and it’s a different look for Jack and Rebecca. Even though their social worker has given them rave parenting reviews, it’s an African American judge that puts a stop to the adoption. When Jack and Rebecca confront him about his decision he tells them that he isn’t comfortable placing an African-American child in a white household. This was a plot twist for me because I wasn’t expecting that there had been any hiccup in Randall’s adoption. Obviously, we know that the adoption went through, so it was a low-stress and fun little detour in their past.
Aside from that, the judge makes a compelling argument. As soon as he started talking I instantly was saying to myself how ridiculous and outdated it was for someone to think that way. However, when he laid out his argument of how Jack and Rebecca couldn’t help him identify with himself, “as a black man,” it caused me to pause for a second. Was there an underlying truth to what he was saying? I’m still on team This-Is-Ridiculous, but it was deeper a conflict than I was ready for.
Also in the past, the judge that was put in charge of sentencing William has a meeting with him in jail. He talks about the stress of sentencing and to be honest, not something I had thought about before. It must take a little out of you to send someone away for 15 years.
“You said you were the most disappointed man in the world," the judge tells William, "and I’m here to tell you I fear I’m a close second Mr. Hill, because I’m the man that writes terrible stories day after day and I can’t change the endings, and that, sir, is a horrible disappointment. So I’m going to see if we can find you a different ending here. I’m going to take a chance on you … get you out and get you help.” He goes on to tell William any time he thinks he’s going to use he should think of the judge’s face and remember that someone took a chance on him.
Back in the present, Toby and Kate have a lackluster trip to the courthouse where it starts to dawn on them this might not be the wedding they want. While Kate tries to justify it with saving money, and not dress shopping, the trip leads Toby to have an adorable conversation with Jack via the urn.
Randall goes to see Deja’s mom, who – plot twist – was recently jumped in prison and is beaten up. She explains to Randall that she didn’t want Deja to see her like that to which Randall is completely unsympathetic. Randall is trying to make the case that he’s good for Deja stating, “I’m on this side of the glass aren’t I?” However, Deja’s mom makes a good rebuttal when she tells Randall that there are probably certain times in his life where luck played a role in his good fortune. After seeing the dream parenting team of Beth and Randall the Deja storyline is exciting because they’re just out of their element enough to make it tense – but not too far out of their element that I feel uncomfortable.
Toby proposes to Kate with $200 worth of hoodies. (“The guy at the mall kiosk loves me.”) He lays out so many reasons why she needs a real wedding — even referencing her Say Yes to the Dress addiction. Kate agrees to the big wedding, which I’m really excited about. I love a courthouse wedding — I would get married courthouse style — but for This Is Us, I want a really good cry as Kate and Toby tie the knot.
In contrast, Kevin is the worst. I’m not into this spiral he’s going through — I’m not a fan of self-deprecating Kevin or prescription-drug-addicted Kevin. He buys three engagement rings and flies to New York to see Sophie only to tell her that when he thinks of their future together, “It’s a nightmare,” and he lets her close the door in his face. This Kevin is gross, and with the father he had I don’t understand this aspect of his personality.
We close with both judges. Jack and Rebecca’s judge recuses himself from the case after Rebecca makes a plea via a letter and Randall becomes an official Pearson. William almost relapses, but sees the judges face and powers through his sobriety… until we get to older William sitting at his table. He starts to shoot up, and the judges face has no effect. That’s when he hears someone banging on the door. Fans were probably prepared to see adult Randall on the other side, a la the series premiere. Both 1970s judges (the one who worked with William and the one who worked with the Pearsons) end the episode by sitting together asking each other, “Did anything good today?”
This article appears in Nov 9-16, 2017.