Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please Read With Caution.

Kamsahamnida means “thank you” in Korean. This is important for the episode when Randall tries to sway all of Korea Town to his side. This time, he didn’t offer grand gestures to save them all but instead decides to listen to their needs. A lot of them register as voters, and he got Jaewon (John) to become his campaign manager.

Beth is struggling with her job lost and lashes out at her daughters. Deja gives Beth some advice: talk to your husband because he sees Disney whenever he looks at her. This statement is 100% true. Randall is such a dork, but that’s what we love about him. This guy is Jack’s son without a doubt.

Randall listens to his wife and gives her a job on his campaign. Not a “pity job” but a real job! You go, Randall! We need an episode on their love story ASAP!

Kevin has the “urge” to uncover his father’s war time in Vietnam. He talks to Randall about his journey and the woman in the picture wearing dad’s necklace. Randall thinks they should respect their father’s wishes and not look into his time in the war. It wasn’t until Kevin compared his need to uncover this to Randall’s campaign run that Randall approves of his brother’s investigation.

Kevin and Randall are the best brothers.

Kate talks to her mother about her “maybe baby” and Toby’s condition. Rebecca does her “best Jack Pearson” impression and advises her daughter to breathe. Toby is not improving despite being on antidepressants for the past two weeks. He thinks Kate will leave her, ahhh so relatable feelings, but Kate says the right things and assures Toby “better or worse”. She isn’t going anywhere.

I think this is the first time in a long time that I was okay with Kate. She took care of Toby, Audio, and herself without saying the wrong thing to him. Toby’s portrayal of depression is scary accurate to say the least. He was lying in bed, not feeling good about himself, and was self-aware of how this could affect his loved ones.

The flashback involved Randall learning how to box from Jack. The concept of boxing was similar to the “dishes” and carried a theme throughout the episode. Jack told Randall that he boxed to cover up how much he was hurting from his opponent, which is shown in present day when Randall went up against his Political Opponent.

I thought it was subtle like the dishes, but if you paid attention, the message came across.

This episode is getting This Is Us back on track and preparing us for what’s to come. I think the show is taking too long to get there, but maybe that’s because after the Vietnam episode, I’m having a hard time caring for anything else. I’m a Jack Pearson Fan Boy. Yeah, I said it.

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