This Is Us 3x12 "Songbird Road: Part 2" Episode Review

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

The long break is over! This Is Us delivered on the conclusion of the “Nicky Pearson” arc, and boy, I was blown away by the structure of the episode. The flashback story paralleled nicely with the present day character pairings: Kevin and Rebecca, Kate and Randall, as they grappled with Jack Pearson’s legacy being questioned. Kevin breaks my heart in the present and flashback story.

Rebecca was the MVP of the episode, positively and negatively. I know a lot of people are mad at her for being mad at something she also done, and that’s fair. However, Rebecca and Kevin’s journey together makes me weep for them. She is regretting how she didn’t ask him further, which was shown in at she volunteered to take Young Kevin to a baseball store.

Kate and Randall should’ve made a bigger deal about returning to their childhood home. They only used it to enhance the flashback story, and how the overall time spent there with their father. Like, a huge flood of memories would’ve plowed me if I returned to my childhood home after twenty-plus years of being away. Showing how they both remember the “sequin fight” differently reveals their general viewpoints of their father: Randall saw him as a great man with flaws, and Kate preserved only the good memories of her father, blocking out his flaws from her mind to a certain degree.

Nicky and Rebecca scenes were filled with tension. How she arrived to meet Nicky was a great scene. I was speechless, frozen like the rest of her kids. Nicky may not need help from his family, but Kevin sure does. He’s drinking again and I’m crying all over again. I hadn’t cried to this show in so long… I missed it so much.

Overall, one of their best episodes in a while!