REBECCA & JACK
Back in the day, William was just an ordinary guy. Getting on the bus day in and day out, writing poetry to pass the time. He meets a girl on the bus, and they fall in love. But then something happens. He starts doing drugs. The light in his eyes dims. His writing goes from polished and readable to nearly unintelligible. Then one day he has a baby in his arms.
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That baby ends up with Rebecca and Jack. They now have 3 healthy babies, just like they intended when they came to the hospital. Rebecca already seems overwhelmed at what lies ahead. The doctor we all know and love from the first episode is back, and Rebecca reveals that they’ve named the babies Kevin, Kate and Kyle.
Rebecca and Jack leave the hospital and head out the door into a whole new world. While Jack is going to get the car, Rebecca sees William in the distance watching her. She calls out to him, but he walks away.
One newborn baby is hard, but three newborn babies is pure insanity. Rebecca and Jack struggle to handle the screaming, burping, feeding and craziness that comes with having three kids. Unfortunately, Rebecca is having the most trouble with Kyle. He won’t take her breast. Jack, ever the calm, cool and collected guy, just wants to treat him like they treat Kevin and Kate. But Rebecca thinks that’s impossible. “He feels like a stranger,” she says to Jack. When they have a moment of silence, Jack assures Rebecca that they are going to get through this together.
Jack takes the babies to the doctor without Rebecca. He’s upfront about Rebecca not being herself lately. The look on his face is pure worry. He’s concerned about her not bonding with the babies, especially Kyle. “I think she might be a little broken,” he says. Dr. Katowsky reminds Jack that he and Rebecca did lose a child. They can’t just ignore that fact. While Jack decided to move forward and focus on the positive, the same can’t be said for Rebecca. She needs closure.
While Jack is with the kids, Rebecca goes to find William. She eventually shows up at his door. His apartment is riddled with dirty needles and drugs, but he promises Rebecca that Kyle came from a place of love. He asks her if he can check in on Kyle from time to time. Rebecca gives him a hard no. She can’t handle losing another child. “I need to know you’re not going to come back for him,” she pleads.
She tells William that she wants to love Kyle like he’s her own, but there’s something holding her back. William offers a suggestion: Give the baby his own name. Giving him the name Jack and Rebecca were going to give the baby they lost isn’t going to help anyone. She asks for William’s favorite poet, and he hands her a book of poetry by Dudley Randall.
Later, Rebecca returns home. When she didn’t come back for four hours, Jack thought she had run off to Mexico. She swears she would never do that. “I can’t stop thinking about the one we lost, Jack,” Rebecca says to Jack. She reveals her idea of wanting to give Kyle a new name, and Jack doesn’t disagree. Once Kyle is renamed Randall, Rebecca is finally able to bond with him.
RANDALL
In the present day, Rebecca and Miguel arrive at Randall’s house. Randall has no idea how he is going to tell his mother that he found his biological father. He believes that the news will “completely and utterly devastate her.” When he tells her, she seems shocked, but not in the way that you should be when you learn news like this. When Rebecca goes to see William, he says to her, “You look well.” They’ve met before!
“We had a deal,” she says to him. William promises not to tell Randall about their deal. Rebecca believes that the fact that she kept William from Randall all these years will “break” her son, and she doesn’t want that.
When Randall goes to get William for his appointment, William’s gone. He finds William walking down the street. William, remembering everything Rebecca told him, doesn’t want Randall putting him above everything else in his life. The father and son fight, with William eventually going to the appointment.
The doctor reveals that the cancer is inoperable, save for a few experimental treatments. Randall is upset that he might lose another father so soon. He wishes he’d found William sooner. Beth gives him a few words of wisdom and tells him that he needs to use the time he has left with William wisely and love his father whole-heartedly. Afterwards, he talks with William and asks how he really met his mother.
KATE & KEVIN
After their night out of partying, Toby wakes up hungover. He hears Kate singing in the shower, and she’s good. Really good. He’s listening by the door when Kate opens it. She accidentally punches him in the face!
Toby recovers and asks Kate why she’s not performing. She used to perform when she was younger, but now anymore. “I grew up and then I grew,” Kate says, but it feels like she’s hiding something.
When she walks out the door, Toby has a red carpet ready for her and is snapping photos like he’s the paparazzi. Because Toby is literally boyfriend goals, he wants Kate to give her the day to be a star.
He takes her to an adult care center to sing. Toby reminds her that most of these people won’t remember anything that happened after a few hours and most of them have lived through a lot worse, so don’t worry about screwing up. She starts off shaky, but she finds her groove. She sings a beautiful rendition of “Time After Time.”
Her performance turns Toby on, and the two lovebirds end up making out in the supply closet. Kevin, still sitting in his closet like he’s been doing all day, calls Kate for help. The fact that Kate always drops everything for Kevin really irks Toby. “I can’t play second banana to your brother,” he tells her. “You have to,” Kate replies. “Everyone has to.” That sounds like the crux of a lot of Kate’s problems. She’s always put Kevin above herself. Nevertheless, Kate rushes to Kevin’s side — in his closet.
She talks to him about her performance. Everything was going well until Kevin called. He’s appalled that she answered his phone call, but of course she answered. It’s Kevin. They’re moving to New York. That’s when Kevin fires Kate. Yep, FIRES HER! “It’s time we go at it alone for a while,” he admits. And he’s right. “I really don’t know who I am if I’m not your sister,” Kate says, breaking my heart.
Ever the charmer, Kevin fires back, “I do. You’re going to love her.” I CANNOT WITH HOW AMAZING KEVIN IS!
Toby comes to Kate’s door, and she apologizes right off the bat. At first, he tries to make their talk a bigger conversation about Kevin, but she holds up a condom. That’s the end of that conversation. Kevin calls her and is glad she’s not answering. He’s on a red eye to New York and ready to start his new life. But nothing in his life is ever complete without a little call to Kate.
HollywoodLifers, what did you think of tonight’s episode of This Is Us? Let us know!