Post — Aaron Ngo

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

We finally got our Beth-centric episode! Yes, I have a waited a long time for this episode. I think a lot of fans were. Beth Pearson is easily a fan-favorite, but the show has primarily focused on the Pearson Family, and there was no real mention of Beth having her own family prior to Zoe appearing. It’s weird to think about… according to this episode, Beth appears close to her mother, but there have been mentions of spending holidays with her or calling her, etc. In fact, this episode firmly states Beth’s other siblings have stopped visiting her mother years ago.

I’m mad the show took too long to deliver on this story. Beth’s flashback story complemented her present-day struggle to find purpose. In the present-day, Beth and Zoe drive down to her mother’s to convince her to retire from being high school principal. The problem is Beth hasn’t told her mom about getting fired. I was already sensing the dread on her face.

The name change helps separate present-day Beth and flashback ‘Bethany’ to further show the missing piece in her life goals. The best scene in the entire episode was the flashback to her father telling Bethany to “never forget”, a juxtaposition to Beth speaking to her dad’s chair about needing to forget. I was in awe for her! She deserved this episode for the longest time, and I’m glad we’re finally here.

Beth and her mother also had an intense scene about the past, and how her mother’s harsh expectations took away the little girl she used to be. This was quite potent, and honestly, it shows that This Is Us is more than capable of pulling off tear-jerking moments. At times, I forgot this was a new episode because it had the freshness of season one.

Beth also reignites her passion for dancing and gets on the flash forward path to that studio. She wants to teach dance! Yes, I’m here for all this.

Overall, I cried. Susan Kelechi Watson is an amazing actress. Let’s give her more episodes.

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