We finally get to see Kevin's episode of this season's three-part sibling trilogy when This Is Us returned Tuesday after COVID-related production delays. Even for an episode that primarily centered around one character, a lot was going here, some of which wasn't even necessary, but all of which added to the drama of the episode, titled "There." Also, the ending was rough, but I'll get to that.
The beginning was rough, too. Right from the opening, we get an out-of-context shot of a car accident. The camera pans low to the ground until Kevin's ID/wallet enters the frame as it's lying on the ground. It wasn't hard to figure out this whole scene was a fake-out, but the writers leaned into trolling us way too much; in the next scene, we see Jack as a child getting in his father's car, only to find beer cans in the passenger's seat. Uh oh, are they going to connect some drunk-driving incident (during Jack's childhood) with a tragedy involving Kevin (who has fought off alcoholism)? No, of course not. Turns out that a car accident just happened to take place right as Kevin is heading to the airport to witness the birth of his children. Kevin actually steps up with an incredibly selfless act as he puts his situation aside to help the person in the car crash (selfless, yet dutiful, right? I mean, what kind of person wouldn't help in that scenario?).
This situation arises because all of Kevin's fears (and the audience's fears) come true when Madison goes into labor six weeks before her due date; even for twins, this is early. Gee, who could've foreseen this situation? It's not like the writing was all over the wall or anything after Kevin was certain he'd be back from his shoot in Vancouver in plenty of time. Now Kevin must make a difficult decision: does he walk out on such a big career opportunity (he was shooting with Robert DeNiro, for crying out loud!) to be there for Madison as she gives birth to their twins?
The answer seems obvious: of course he leaves. He has to be there for his kids, right? The fathers throughout the episode have their flaws, but not being there for their kids (sure, maybe only some of the time in Jack's dad's case) wasn't one of them, and Kevin wasn't about to start his children's lives by missing their birth. While that all seems obvious and automatic, I will say I appreciated the conversation Kevin later had with the guy he helps out of the car wreckage. While everyone assumes the day someone's child is born is the most important day to be there for said child, he tells Kevin that it's really not. Children aren't going to resent their parents for missing out on that day; rather, the children need their parents there for them as they grow older. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't miss that day for anything in the world, but I respected that viewpoint. If nothing else, it seemed to calm Kevin down and take a little pressure out of the situation.
Regardless, it's good that Kevin left the set, because Madison was terrified. She had a plethora of uncontrollable emotions even though she tried so hard to keep it together. She had to worry about the twins. Are they healthy? Why are they coming so early? Is something wrong? She felt alone; she had to pack and go to the hospital on her own, and at times, she couldn't reach Kevin because his cell phone lost signal. So Madison finally breaking down when Randall talks to her on his car phone (he and Beth are heading home from their adventure in New Orleans) not only proved to be the most intimate moment of the episode, but also proved to have the best payoff of any story in the episode. You really could feel her isolation melt away in tears when she knew someone cared enough about her to stay on the phone with her.
The worst part of all that? We don't get a resolution! But hang on to that thought for now.
We got a rare glimpse of Jack's childhood, and I will say, as a former sportswriter, it was all-too-familiar territory. Apparently Jack was a good Little League pitcher, so much so that his team gave him the hill in the championship game. He comes up just short in a 1-0 pitchers' duel as the opposing team takes Jack deep for a walk-off home run, but of course his dad is tough on him for the loss, anyway (completely ignoring the offense's inability to score one run). Seeing this exchange gives much more context to Jack when he's older and pushing high-school Kevin to be as good a quarterback as possible. I would say that this sort of story is cliched and obvious, but I've seen way, way, way too many parents "live vicariously" through their children's sports team. Parents think they've got their "enthusiasm" under control and that they're just showing good team spirit. They'll tell themselves they're supporting their kid and that they're just being there for them. But let me tell you, I've seen plenty of delusional parents get way too carried away and put so much pressure on their kids to play well and work hard because they need to get good enough for college teams to give them scholarships (not to mention the poor sportsmanship these parents show along the way; seriously, what do they think they're teaching their kid when they act like babies?).
Thankfully, Jack doesn't fall into the same mold. Yes, he wants his son to work hard and stay committed to the team, but he realizes the pressure he puts on young Kevin does more harm than good. I get it. Dads want to be proud of their son. They want to brag that their son is why the team wins. That's fine. But Jack figures out that making Kevin feel like that's the only way he can prove to be a good son is incredibly negligent and self-serving, let alone harmful to the kid's psyche.
So how does that story end? Why, it doesn't, of course! We don't end up finding out how Kevin did at his high school football camp. I suppose it's not really that important (there's a slight chance they may have referenced this in a past episode, but I don't remember), especially when considering the fact that Kevin turns to acting, anyway.
Madison is still in labor at the end of the episode, and Kevin is fighting so hard to get on the place to L.A. Remember the ID/wallet we saw at the beginning of the episode? Yeah, he kind of needs that at the airport. But that's when the episode abruptly ends. Sure, I love a good cliffhanger, but I feel like adult Kevin's story deserves better than this. We don't really get closure with that dovetail ending. And now, next week's episode won't be so much about him as it will be about the babies. It's kind of a shame, because they really had something cooking with this one. But hey, medium rare is fine, right?
Notes:
-Early in the episode, Kevin is willing to drop everything to leave the set and drive to the airport. In another shot, Jack gets young Kevin in the car as they head towards the football camp. In a third shot, young Jack gets in his dad's car as they head to the little league baseball game. It was fun parallelism, and I'm sure there's a metaphor in there somewhere about journeys or father-and-son time or something like that, but it mostly fell flat; they didn't really....drive the point home (bad pun, I know).
-One of the most awesome moments of the episode was when Jack takes high-school Kevin to dinner the night before the football camp. Kevin tells him that his coach calls him stupid all the time at practice. So Jack times going into the restroom of the restaurant at the same time the coach does (what a coincidence that he was at the same restaurant, huh?). Jack, with a measured sturdiness, somehow puts the coach in his place in a classy way as only Jack can do. Such an empowering moment!
-When we first see Kevin, he is rehearsing his lines while looking at a mirror. It was cool to see him reading from colored notecards. That's a nod to a suggestion young Randall gave young Kevin many episodes ago.
-Mandy Moore was really only in one scene, and she was wearing a thick, baggy shawl. Time to start hiding her pregnancy!