Just before the most recent episode of This Is Us concluded, Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) started a potentially relationship-shattering fight, and viewers will see the remainder of that argument play out during the penultimate episode of Season 3 on March 26. The episode, titled “R&B”, will chronicle the married couple’s relationship from their first meeting to their present-day. And unfortunately for Beth and Randall, it becomes clear very early on in the episode that they’ve been having the same fight ever since they met, so could this mean the end is near for This Is Us‘ most solid couple? Well, we asked that question to series creator Dan Fogelman on the red carpet before the series’ PaleyFest panel on March 24, and he had some interesting things to say about the March 26 episode, as well as what lies ahead for Beth and Randall.
“This upcoming episode really explores their marriage in full through many different time periods. It’s really one episode devoted to Randall and Beth as a couple, and you really explore the beginnings of their relationship, the key points of it. Everything from their wedding, to small little fights that had great deep meaning. And by the end of the 40 some-odd minutes, hopefully, you feel you’ve really watched a marriage in full,” he told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY.
So what exactly will happen to Beth and Randall by the end of this week’s episode, and Season 3 as a whole? Dan told us, “I think our plan is to give the audience some degree of — not closure — but a degree of answer and completion to the story that we’ve told this season. Certainly when you have a fight of this nature with your wife that requires like, ‘Close the door, we’re about to go bare knuckles at each other,’ there are repercussions and we’re not gonna shy away from them.” Dan also shared that Beth and Randall’s big fight will mirror Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca’s (Mandy Moore) major blowout in “Moonshadow,” which was episode 18 of the first season.
During the panel, Susan told the audience, “They both have two perspectives. Nobody’s ever 100 percent wrong, nobody’s 100 percent right. But now is it’s sort of a time where Beth really is coming into her own and she really wants space to do that. And what I know is that she’s going to take it. So now what happens?”
Beth and Randall have been fighting throughout the entire season. And it all started after Randall decided to run for office in Philadelphia, which is hours away from the family’s home. But that’s not all — Beth also decided to pursue her dream of teaching dance, and her schedule doesn’t exactly mesh with Randall’s well, or at all. And since they have three children that need caring for, a lot of issues have come their way — and that has led to many, many arguments.
This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.