JACK & REBECCA
We meet Jack and Rebecca first. Jack is naked, except for a Steelers Terrible Towel over his you-know-what. It’s his birthday, but his wife, Rebecca, doesn’t feel like celebrating. That’s because she’s 8 months pregnant with triplets. Even though she’s really not feeling it, she tries her best to make Jack’s day.
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They are just about to have sexy time when Rebecca’s water breaks. Jack, always looking on the bright side, says that even though the babies are six weeks early, they’ll at least have the same birthday as him.
The doctor walks in, and Rebecca freaks out because he’s not her normal doctor. He puts the panicking soon-to-be mom at ease. “I am the best of the best,” he tells Rebecca. But that doesn’t mean he can solve every problem. When the doctor starts to say what could go wrong, Jack cuts him off. Jack wants the mood to remain positive. He can’t even think about losing a child. “Only good things are going to happen to today,” he says to the doctor, but to himself as well.
KATE
Kate’s also celebrating her 36th birthday, but she’s not in the mood to celebrate. She looks in the fridge, which includes notes to herself written all over her food. They’re the voices in your head that tell you not to get seconds or dessert. Kate’s just had to write them down.
She gets on the scales to weigh herself. She even takes off her earrings before stepping on the scale. Her self-esteem weighs on her more than the actual pounds.
Kate’s brother, Kevin, is also turning 36. He may be surrounded by women, but he’s sad. He’s hiding something behind those defined cheeks and abs. Kevin may look like a Ken doll on the outside, but he’s anything but. He’s a rambler, a downer. He ruins the mood with his scantily clad ladies by bringing up the Challenger explosion. Of all things!
Kevin receives a call from Kate, who’s fallen in the bathroom. “How did we get here?” she tearfully asks him. Kevin and Kate couldn’t seem more different, but their both lost in translation. Kate begins talking about her dream life and self-deprecatingly says, “I ate my dream life away.”
She wants Kevin to tell her that she needs to lose the weight. She needs it to be a command or an order, rather than her own willpower. Kevin’s sensitive and doesn’t have the heart to hurt his sister’s feelings. Once you say something, you can never take it back.
After Kevin leaves, Kate dumps her food in the trash and throws dog poop on it so she won’t eat it. She goes to a meeting for overweight people, and a guy named Toby catches her attention. He finds her after the meeting and asks if she wants to be fat friends.
Kate stresses that she’s going to lose the weight, Toby says he’s not. She says doesn’t want to fall for a fat person right now. “Guess I’ll lose the weight then,” Toby says to her.
KEVIN
While Kate struggles with her weight, Kevin struggles with being objectified by producers and writers on his show. He’s constantly shirtless and sweaty as “The Manny.” His character is clearly one-dimensional, but Kevin wants more for his character. But he’s at a crossroads. He’s coasted on good looks and charm, and now it’s coming back to bite him.
Kevin hits the set and performs an emotional scene with guest star Alan Thicke. Kevin receives the applause that he craves, but his happiness is short-lived. The writer of the show wants him to make a lighter version and leave his shirt on the floor, stripping the scene of any emotion.
That’s when Kevin snaps. He freaks out on the writer and everyone else in the room. He breaks things, that voice inside of him finally coming up for air. He quits right there on the spot.
RANDALL
Randall has everything he could have ever wanted on his 36th birthday. He has a loving wife and 2 beautiful children. But he’s searching for something else. Actually, someone else. He tells his wife at his kids’ soccer game that he found his biological father. His crack-addicted mother died during childbirth, and his father dropped him off at a fire station.
Randall goes to find his father. He wants his father to know how great he’s turned out. Randall wants so badly to not need anything from his father, but he really wants answers. When he comes face-to face with William, he’s unable to walk away. William admits that he was addicted and can’t even remember the day he abandoned his own son. The life he’s had since then has been punishment for what he did.
Randall attempts to walk out of his father’s life as quickly as he walked in it, but he takes William to meet his grandchildren instead. He brings William to his house and introduces him to his family. When William tries to leave, he reveals to Randall that he’s dying. William has finally seen that his son had the best life he could have hoped for. That’s the closure he thinks is all he needs. Randall tells him that his adopted family told him that he was “meant to be” in their family. It was fate. Randall’s adoptive father has recently died, and now he has a chance to have a second father. He asks William to move in.
It All Comes Together
Rebecca’s in labor and she knows something’s not right. She gives birth to one baby, and the doctor realizes he has to do a C-section to get the other two. Since life constantly throws us many curveballs, some that bruise and scar us forever, one of the babies dies during delivery.
Jack breaks down, and the doctor sits him down for a talk. The doctor reveals he lost his wife last year, and they had lost their first child. The doctor tells Jack that he will get through this. Time puts a band-aid on all wounds.
Kate and Toby go on a date. She laughs at everything he says. He’s self-deprecating to the ninth degree. He walks her home, and he’s forward about how he wants to come inside. Toby’s more than ready to fool around, but Kate can’t imagine sharing her body with someone else at the moment. Toby and Kate’s date ends when Kevin shows up drunk. Toby is a huge fan of The Manny. They all sit and watch the video of his meltdown. Kevin wonders if he’s good enough to really achieve the acclaim he so desperately wants.
Kevin goes to see his two newborn babies. A guy standing beside him makes small talk beside him and reveals that he’s a paramedic that’s just dropped off a baby left at a fire station. Jack takes what the doctor told him about making lemonade out of the lemons life gives you. Yes, Jack and Rebecca are the parents of Kevin, Kate and Randall! The episode ends with three babies in three onesies that Jack’s mom knitted. In the midst of heartbreak, Jack and Rebecca found a way to move forward. Randall completed their little family.
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