This Is Us – The Wedding

By starrymag | March 20, 2018

By: Suzanne Fox

 

 

The finale begins with a fake flash-forward where family and friends witness a 40th anniversary renewal of Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) wedding vows. Kate (Chrissy Metz), Kevin (Justin Hartley), Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and family are all smiling and teary watching an older Rebecca walk down the aisle to an older Jack. They are at an outside ceremony at the family cabin.

 

However, in present day, Kate is getting ready for her wedding day without her Dad. She is getting married at her favorite place – the family cabin. Toby (Chris Sullivan) and Kate are together the day before the wedding. Kate surprises Toby with a used bow tie. Toby seems miffed until he finds out that Leslie Nielson wore it in a Naked Gun movie. Toby then begs Kate to not “Runaway Bride” him at their wedding. He tells her he knows it will be difficult without her Dad there.  Kate admits that she knows she has made some unusual choices for their wedding, including keeping her Dad’s urn by the guest book. She thanks Toby for sticking with her throughout this process. Toby admits how reluctant he is to have both his parents in the same place and the same car (since he is picking them up at the airport). Toby shares that his Dad always requests his Mom to marry her boyfriend so he can stop paying alimony. Later, Toby is seen picking up his parents from the airport. His Dad (Dan Lauria) quickly gets in a jab about how his Mom (Wendie Malick) should marry her boyfriend.

 

Kevin is acting as wedding coordinator and brother. Kate asks him if their Dad would have been okay with her getting married at the cabin. Kevin assures her that he wood have loved it. He yells into his phone to the person on the other end who is handling gift bags. Kevin dictates into the phone to fix the situation and not justify it. Unfortunately, Randall is on the other side of this conversation with Kevin. Kevin then prompts Toby to get to the airport.

 

At Randall’s house, he is racing through filling gift bags for the “Ka-Toby” wedding. Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) comes in and is hit with attitude from Deja (Lyric Ross) who doesn’t want to go to a “dumb” wedding. Randall says he misses “Deja Classic” and then changes his answer to “Deja 2.0.” He commiserates with Beth about Deja’s attitude change while wishing the kid who laughed at his dumb jokes came back to them. Randall and Beth play a game called “Worse Case Scenario.” They both admit their fears about Deja including Deja killing them or all the girls end up working the pole.

 

Rebecca is deliberating over dresses. She is in tune with how Kate feels upstaged by her. Rebecca tells Miguel (Jon Huertas) that she feels like being at Kate’s wedding will remind her that Jack is not there. Miguel is lying on the bed while Rebecca tries to choose dresses. He is loving and considerate of Rebecca’s feelings, but reminds her that if anybody is a reminder of Jack it is him.

 

Kate is alone trying to find her “something old” item which was her Dad’s Daytona t-shirt. She left it up to Toby to pack it and worries that it did not make it to the cabin. Kate had planned to pin the shirt to her wedding dress. She yells at her brothers that she knows she is weird. Randall and Kevin calm her down and tell her they will find something else that belonged to Jack. Madison arrives and questions why the brothers are the wedding coordinators when she is clearly the (undeclared) Maid of Honor. Madison openly flirts with Kevin.

 

Beth meets up with her cousin, Zoe (Melanie Liburd), who is the photographer of the Ka-Toby wedding. They are clearly very happy to see each other. Beth shares her fears about Deja. Zoe suggests that she talk to Deja. Zoe reminds Beth that she was abandoned by her own mother and raised with Beth’s family. Ultimately, Zoe shares this information with Deja and ends up comforting her, despite Deja’s protests that she knows what Zoe is doing. Zoe explains to Deja that it is better to not hate the people who love and support you. Deja’s attitude improves after this conversation and she even changes into a dress for the wedding.

 

On her wedding day, Kate takes off from the cabin to find the ice cream store where she used to go with her Dad. The quaint ice cream store has turned into a trendy ice cream store with flavors including “lavender balsamic.” Kate asks if they have her Dad’s favorite flavor, banana pudding. She wanted to serve it at the wedding. They don’t have it and a disappointed Kate leaves. Rebecca, Randall and Kevin are all worried about where Kate is and don’t want Toby to know she is missing. Kevin and Randall take off together to find her. They end up at the ice cream shop minutes after she left. While they are in the car searching for her, they both admit how they feel they have failed their sister. Randall admits that he met Beth young, had the girls and forgot to keep an eye on Kate. Kevin admits that he was so busy with his own work and issues that he forgot to be there for Kate. They play Worst Case Scenario together and are troubled by their admissions.  Kevin and Randall both feel they have failed as brothers.

 

Toby’s parents walk into his room together as Toby struggles to get ready for the wedding. He asks his Mom to help with his cuff links. Both his parents are in agreement that they are worried about his relationship with Kate. They feel that she is unstable and Toby tiptoes around Kate’s emotions. His parents remind him how depressed he was after the demise of his first marriage. Toby becomes angry and tells them that Kate is the only one for him. In spite of his anger, he still asks his Mom to finish doing his cuff links before she leaves the room.

 

Kate calls her Mom to tell her about the dreams she has been having featuring her parents in the future, celebrating a 40th wedding anniversary. Rebecca tells Kate that weddings are emotional, as she points out that Toby isn’t in the dream. Kate ends up at her favorite tree, where she would go with her Dad. She has his urn with her. After giving herself a pep talk via a conversation with her Dad, while holding his ashes, she tells her Dad that she needs to let go and make room for Toby. When she walks back to her car, her brothers are there for her.

 

Back at the cabin, Rebecca finds Kate decked out in her wedding dress. Kate shares that she has always wanted to be like her Mom, have a marriage like her Mom and become a mother like her Mom. She’s always wanted a marriage like Mom’s. Setting aside Rebecca’s fears, Kate tells her, “You are not in my way. You are my way.”

 

At the wedding ceremony, Kate walks down the aisle (with her Dad’s screwdriver in her bouquet) with the support of her brothers behind her. Toby and Kate exchange vows and rings. Cut in between scenes of the wedding, a young Kate and a younger Jack are seen by his car. Kate asks if she can marry him one day. He tells his “Katie-Girl” that one day she will find a lucky guy of her own who will play lots of board games with her.

 

Deja, Tess (Eris Baker) and Annie (Faithe Herman) are having fun at the wedding. Then Toby’s Mom comes up and mentions how Deja looks like her Dad (Randall) while the other two girls looks like their Mom. This sets Deja off and later she is seen smashing Randall’s Mercedes with a baseball bat.

 

Kevin gives a toast reflecting on the past and letting go of it. He shares how he wanted “Katie-Girl” to have as special of a day as their Dad would have done for her. Then he has his family take a collective, deep breath. Randall also gives a toast and talks more about the future and the uncertainty of it. Everybody is seen having fun at the wedding, including a flirty Madison who pulls Kevin onto the dance floor. Kevin and Zoe have a brief encounter at the wedding when she tells him she loves good toasts.

 

Flashing forward, Kevin is on a plane looking at a picture of his Dad in the Army while in Vietnam. Next to him is Beth’s cousin Zoe, who he kisses on the head. Also in the future Toby is laying in bed in a deep depression. Kate checks on him and discusses a change in meds. Years later, flashing forward more, an older Randall is seen with an older Tess (Iantha Richardson). Randall tells her that it is time to go see her (but it is not clear who she is).