This Is Us 3x07 "Sometimes" Episode Review
Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with Caution.
One of the best episodes yet this season compared to the past few episodes we’ve seen. I think boiling it down to three solid stories that interconnect with each other peels off layers and reveals the parallels in the character relationships. We got things going on with Nicky and Jack, Jack and Rebecca, and then Kevin and Zoe.
The show is trying to establish Kevin and Zoe as the new Jack and Rebecca of the series. It’s how I’m viewing it, I could be wrong, but the parallels are strong throughout the episode. The traumas shown are vastly different (Jack & Zoe), and how they process them is different, but it seems to indicate how different the two relationships are too.
Jack is the most vulnerable we’ve seen him. He has no one to protect or save when he goes on his road trip with Rebecca. He’s a man with a lot of demons and doesn’t want to share them with his future wife. According to Kevin, Jack never truly shares with her or the kids anything about his past prior to meeting Rebecca. He took it to the grave…
Secrets are something Kevin does not want in his relationship with Zoe but promises to fall in love with her regardless if she opens up or not. Kevin takes more after his dad than he realizes. The relationship of Zoe and Kevin has been a steady one in the making… we’ve caught up with the flash forward, but now it’s time we dive into Zoe’s past… something that’s hard for her to talk about.
Zoe survived sexual abuse from her father and reveals this to Kevin… because she does not want this man to destroy their relationship. Unlike Jack, Zoe seems to have her awful trauma processed pretty well for the most part. Kevin responses realistically, unsure of what to say except that she “seemed so strong”… “I AM STRONG” is her response. Hell yeah, you are!
This is what I mean when I say Zoe and Kevin are the new “Jack and Rebecca”. While they hold strong similarities (Jack and Zoe have issues, Rebecca and Kevin are supportive), the way they approach these traumas are different. Rebecca allows Jack to process on his own and does not force him to talk about it… then he never talks about it completely apparently.
On the other hand, Kevin wants to know Zoe completely and to not end up like his parents… he does not want their love story—he wants his own. I might’ve read too much into it, but this is how the show gets me.
I swear Rebecca’s song is familiar. I think it’s similar in tone to the theme song or score of the show itself. It made me want to cry alongside Jack… Milo Ventimiglia and his chemistry with Mandy Moore is fire. Pure fire.
Nicky and Jack didn’t get much screentime in this episode. The Vietnam story largely focused on Jack returning back to his camp after being rebuffed by Nicky. He questions the morality of Bao, the man taking him back, and wonders if he is a good or bad guy.
His answer: “Sometimes”. If you want to know the meaning of the title, look back at Zoe’s “I am Strong” scene or Jack’s crying at the end of the episode… the answer is there. Trust me.