This Is Us – Toby

By: Maddie Ruby

The episode starts with dive into Toby’s childhood. His parents are shown arguing and Toby (Dylan Gage) tries to distract himself from it. Later, his mom (Wendie Malick) and he are in a store shopping for him and he makes her laugh with his impressions.

We also flashback to the Pearson boys’ prom night. Kate (Hannah Zeile) sits this one out while the guys get ready for their big evening. Randall (Niles Fitch) goes over to Alison’s to pick her up and meet her parents for the first time. Her mom (Kate Fugeli) hugs Randall and is so happy to meet him, but Alison’s father (Christopher May) takes one look at Randall and just admits he can’t do it. We know this isn’t the first time Randall has experienced this type of harsh judgement, but it still hurts him. He ends up not even going to the prom at all. He leaves Kevin (Logan Shroyer) and Sophie (Amanda Leighton) to go alone in the limo, not speaking, and Kevin picks up a bottle of booze. He ends up getting drunk, go figure, and Sophie doesn’t want to call Rebecca (Mandy Moore). So, she calls our hero of the night, Miguel (Jon Huertas). He just left the Pearson’s home, after a long day of fixing their fridge AND buying Rebecca a piano. He also ran into Randall and tried to comfort him about what happened with meeting Alison’s dad. He has already been helping the family so much, as he promised Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) he would take care of them if anything would happen to him. He lets Kev crash at his place and calls Rebecca to let her know but tells her to stay back and that he would take care of it.

Now, let’s take a look into the present and what is happening with everyone. Recently fired Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) has an interview, but it goes awry when she has to leave because she is overcome with emotion about her loosing her job in the first place. In addition to that, Randall has been trying to campaign, inviting people to eat free BBQ in attempt to win over the crowd with a speech. People are more interested in the food then him and when he tries to explain he is running to be their new councilman the people don’t even try to give poor Randall a chance. Not even the family that owns the BBQ restaurant are interested. How can you blame them though when they explain to Randall that even though these minor issues are going on in their town and Councilman Brown isn’t doing the best he can about them, when he first became Councilman he saved their lives and the lives of many other families in the town. So, it is going to be nearly impossible to get the town to turn their backs on him and vote for Randall, even if he could conceivably be a better Councilman. This is what inevitably makes Randall realize he must drop his campaign. He asks Beth how her interview went, which we know it did not go very well, but she lies to Randall and doesn’t mention she had to excuse herself from it.

Let’s return our focus back to what is going on with Toby (Chris Sullivan). As we know, he and Kate (Chrissy Metz) have been trying so hard to get pregnant for so long. Toby flushed his antidepressant pills, without Kate knowing, to help her chances of getting pregnant. Kate goes to work as a singing Adele – o -gram as they both anxiously await the news of whether or not she is pregnant, which they will find out later in the day. Toby tries to distract himself from thinking about anything that could trigger his depression all day. We see a few flashbacks to Toby’s depression growing up, from how bad it was after his wife left him to him seeing a therapist, getting on meds and meeting Kate for the first time. In the present, Toby can’t handle his emotions by himself anymore and is desperately trying to get a hold of his doctor and refill his prescription. He goes to the pharmacy, but they tell him there is nothing they can do. He notices it is almost time for the doctor to call with news of whether Kate is pregnant or not and he rushes home, making it home just right after the doctor phones – that Kate is with child. They hug and are so happy, but then Toby starts crying; a little harder than he should be at this news. Kate realizes something is wrong and figures out that he is off his depression medication. Toby goes to lie down while Kate calls the doctor. She lets him know it will be okay and that he can go tomorrow to get his antidepressants adjusted.

Lastly, we move onto Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Zoe (Melanie Liburd),  who we know have just contacted one of Jack’s war buddies, Don Robinson (Charles Robinson). They are headed to Baltimore to meet him in person. On their way there, Zoe notices the clerk at a convenience store looks at her judgmentally before realizing she is there with Kevin. They get to Robinson’s house, meeting his wife as well, and Robinson offers Kevin some bourbon as they look at old photos of Robinson and Jack in Vietnam. Kevin declines, stating he is sober, a moment that is quick but profound for Kevin’s character development. While Robinson tells Kevin everything he knows about Jack in the war, Zoe bonds with Robinson’s wife in the kitchen, who is also African American. She explains the situation with the clerk and another situation about how she forgot her satin pillow case, which she needs for her hair. She says that she doesn’t know how to explain these things to Kevin because she is unsure if he’d understand and she would have to explain to him everything if another one of these situations or something like this were to occur. Robinson’s wife just tells her that if he is worth it, she should explain to him what happened.

Robinson and Kevin talk more, and Robinson tells Kevin Jack saved his life in Vietnam. He also apologizes to Kevin for not having all the answers he was looking for. Kevin is still happy he came out to Baltimore, leaving with some letters and pictures from Jack that Robinson hopes will help Kevin understand his father as best as he can. Kevin sees a picture of Jack and some woman who is wearing the necklace Kevin got from his dad, the same one he wears all the time.

Back at the hotel Zoe tells Kevin about the reason she needs a satin pillow case and the incident with the clerk. She is clearly indicating that she thinks he is worth it and wants to further their relationship.