This Is Us is continuing its trio of episodes focused on each of the Pearson siblings. This week’s was all about Kate, who, remember, just found out she lost her baby. That pretty much set the tone for this week’s episode, so fair warning: It’s rough. Spoilers ahead.
Last week’s miscarriage reveal makes this week’s opener pretty devastating: Kate is taking her pre-natal vitamins and talking to her bump. Clearly, what Randall told Kevin hasn’t happened yet, so I’m walking on pins and needles at this point.
But the present-day story pivots for a moment to the ’90s, where Teenage Kate is listening to her walkman in that angsty ’90s teen way. The power’s out at Château Pearson, and Kate’s dog, Louis, pees on her carpet. Blech. Interestingly, we’re reliving the same night Kevin met with that football coach and screwed things up…just from Kate’s POV.
Rebecca nags Kate about picking her top five college preferences because time is running out to decide. Kate would rather clean her dog’s piss than think about college which, honestly, was most of us at one point senior year.
Back to Adult Kate: She’s drinking some gross green smoothie and making a list of questions to ask her OBGYN. Toby makes a lame dad joke, which comes off more annoying than cute. I feel like Toby is annoying 99 percent of the time on This Is Us? Like, stop talking about Shamrock Shakes.
Oh shit: Kate leaves to go measure something in her bathroom, and she feels a sharp pain in her stomach, which is what causes her to lose her baby. She’s back at home, now, and dodging calls and texts from her mother. The tension in Toby and Kate’s house is at an all-time high, and understandably so.
Not even 12 hours after miscarrying, Kate leaves to go to her next singing gig, which Toby finds baffling. Personally, I think Toby should let Kate do whatever TF she needs to do to cope. If that means working more, then so be it. Again, Toby’s out of line and annoying.
Also annoying is Teenage Kate, who completely twists around the well-meaning conversation Rebecca has with her about college. Rebecca says it’s cool if Kate doesn’t know what her passion is, which Kate takes as Rebecca saying she’s “passionless.” Um, what? She’s just looking for a fight, TBH. But then again she’s 17, so it makes sense.
When Kate leaves the room, Rebecca finds a completed application to Berklee College of Music stowed away…and a tape of Kate singing. Teenage Kate’s beautiful voice plays over a scene of Adult Kate singing at a fancy lunch, which she abruptly leaves after seeing a mother playing with her child. Very sad, if not a tad heavy-handed. Adult Kate tearfully dodges yet another call from Rebecca and passes an all-you-can-eat buffet. Whether or not she goes in, though, is still a mystery.
Meanwhile, Toby receives a FedEx message that says a baby item Kate ordered is en route to their apartment. Realizing this would obviously make Kate more upset, he goes down to the distribution center to intercept the package. He gives some uncomfortable monologue to one of the workers about how he’s a “large and powerful man” and will do whatever it takes to prevent this package from arriving to their doorstep. Stop threatening random delivery dudes, Toby!
We’re back to Teenage Kate. She’s at Kevin’s football game with Rebecca but, remember, she doesn’t know Rebecca knows about her singing aspirations. Rebecca spills the beans about finding her application. Kate’s annoyed at first, which honestly comes off as bratty more than anything because Rebecca is trying so hard to make a connection. She softens, though, and they share a tender moment—which gets interrupted by Kevin’s knee injury.
At the hospital, Rebecca gives Teenage Kate a genuinely devastating speech about how she’s sad Kate felt like she couldn’t come to her about Berklee—and how it’s her job to be open for Kate, always, even when Kate doesn’t want it. I don’t know why, but this is making me tear up more than anything else on this episode. I’m a sucker for mother/child dynamics!
Now we’re back to Adult Kate, and she’s at a buffet. This whole narrative feels exploitative and is making me cringe. She ultimately decides to not eat the food and leaves the restaurant. This, conveniently, is timed to Toby finding the baby package at the warehouse. Whad’ya know?!
Kate eventually answers Rebecca’s call and tells her she lost the baby. She’s at home, but Toby doesn’t know that; he went to Kate’s singing gig to pick her up and panicked when he saw she wasn’t there. Once they’re both home, they have a huge, teary-eyed argument about the miscarriage. It’s some of Chrissy Metz and Chris Sullivan’s best work on the show.
Rebecca shows up to Adult Kate’s apartment, and Kate collapses into her arms—which parallels the monologue Rebecca gave Teen Kate at the hospital. Of course it does. It’s This Is Us! Rebecca then tells Kate a story about how she freaked out on a random lady way back when about a bag of yellow onions. I shouldn’t be laughing at this, but I am. The scene ends with Kate and Rebecca crying and hugging and now I’m crying and want to hug my mother. Damn it. Rebecca and her wig got me again.
Parting thoughts: Randall’s episode is next week!
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