THIS IS US: Six Things We Need To Talk About From “Toby”

Last week’s episode of NBC’s THIS IS US was a strong emotional episode with a lot of great backstory. Before we tune into tonight’s episode, here are significant moments and themes that we need to talk about from last episode…

Toby’s backstory and the flash forward catch up

This episode was titled “Toby” and shed some light on Toby’s battle with depression through flashbacks (whoa that hair during his first marriage!), where we learned that his mother struggled with depression as well. It played a part in his parent’s divorce and his dad was pretty unsupportive, even telling a young Toby “this sad sack thing you have going on you have to get rid of it cos it’s not going to fly when you’re grown.” I have to say I really appreciate that the show is tackling a storyline about depression and showing the stigma associated with it. One of my favorite lines from this episode is when Toby’s mom tells him, “The joy in you is as much as a part of you as the sadness.” All of Toby’s flashbacks lead us to the present day where the flash forward from the season two finale, where Toby is lying morosely in bed. I wasn’t expecting the show to have caught up with any of the flash-forwards so soon but that’s this show for ya – it always has a way of surprising you!

Kate faces the music

Speaking of feeling sad, flashbacks for The Big Three this week take us back to the teenage years post Jack’s death where it’s now prom and Kate refuses to go and then is further unimpressed when Miguel brings a piano around for Rebecca, who finds solace in it. In the present, Kate (as an Adele-a-gram no less, which by the way was awesome!) reveals that “when sad things happen to me, I tend to shut music out of my life”. It had me worried that the IVF wasn’t going to work and I was so relieved when she and Toby’s one shot was successful. I don’t think Kate in particular could take another hit!

Racism – yes, it still exists

Another big theme of this episode was racism – we see it in the flashbacks with poor Randall missing out on prom in the end when his girlfriend’s father sees him and freaks out because he’s black, and then racism is still happening in the present when a convenience store clerk is rude to Zoe and shocked to find that she’s dating Kevin. Side note, I do love that  Zoe decided in the end that Kevin was worth it to share more deeper parts of herself with him.

Randall’s just trying to find his place

Having experienced racism during his younger years wouldn’t have helped Randall’s desire to belong and those feelings of wanting to belong are still haunting him in the present. It’s his first day on the campaign trail and he’s struggling to gain support from the community – he’s even told to “go back to where you belong”. A rough first day indeed! Were his expectations too high or should people have given him a chance and heard him out?

Beth’s breakdown

We’re so used to seeing Beth strong and full of belief – even after losing her job, she appears confident that she’s going to crush her next interview and land the job. She teases Randall about being a crier and tells him he’s an emotional man but he cannot cry on the campaign trail. “You cry over the little round boy on the corner that sells lemonade in the winter.” Thankfully he doesn’t cry, but we learn that Beth did during her interview but she hides it from Randall. Remember in that flashback with William where he advised her to let herself lean on Randall from time to time? Looks like she’s not quite ready to follow that advice yet. I’m a little worried about our tough Beth.

More Jack mysteries

This episode was so strong and gripping that I didn’t realise until he popped up in one flashback scene towards the end that we hadn’t seen Jack all episode. (That and last week’s episode was purely focused on him so maybe that’s why it didn’t strike me as odd not to have seen him this episode.) Nonetheless, that didn’t make his presence in this episode any less insignificant, especially with that tease right at the end of the episode – who is the woman in the photograph with Jack and what is there connection?! She’s wearing the necklace that Kevin now wears that was originally from Jack so she has to be someone who was important to Jack. WHO IS SHE?

THIS IS US airs Tuesday 10/9/c on NBC.

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