‘This Is Us’ Recap: Love Rollercoaster

Warning: This recap of the “The Big Day” episode of This Is Us contains spoilers.

The collective “us” got a lot bigger in this week’s episode of This Is Us, as the story zoomed back to explain how the hours before the big three arrived unfolded for Dr. K, Rebecca and Jack, and the fireman who brought Randall to the hospital. It was a realistic, heartfelt, and tear-inducing look at marriage in myriad stages and man, it was a seriously good hour of television.

THE FIREMAN
We see the fireman who offered Jack a cigarette in the pilot in front of the baby-viewing window in in the church confessional, talking to the priest about lying to his wife about quitting smoking. Unfortunately, his nicotine addiction and fibbing stem from the fact that the couple hasn’t been in a great place for awhile. Because he still believes the best moment of his life was the morning they met after she rear-ended him — and instead of yelling at her, he asked her to coffee — he is there to boldly ask for a miracle.

When Joe returns home, he tells his wife the father promised to add them to his prayer list “to save my marriage.” Unfortunately, it just causes another disagreement and more frustration. That day, William leaves the newborn (which we now know as Randall) at the firehouse’s doorstep “like in the movies.” Given the uncanny timing, Joe assumes the baby is the “little miracle” he asked for. Instead of taking him to the cops as another firefighter suggested, he takes the infant home and tells his wife he believes his earlier prayers were answered. “We couldn’t have kids and we grew apart because of it,” he reasons.

But Samantha doesn’t agree. “That is not our baby. That is just some child that was left by a terrible person at your fire station. I’m sorry, but a baby is not going to fix us. Get it to a hospital before you get arrested.”

It turns out Randall did help them turn a corner. Joe returns home to his wife who admits, “We’ve been awful lately. You’re a good man. You find a baby and try to repair us with him.” He acknowledges that it was stupid, but she butts in: “Yeah, but also sweet. You ever wish we could just start over? Go back to that first day and do it all fresh?” When he tells her that’s all he dreams of, she reenacts their meet-cute, but this time she asks him to coffee, and their flashback finishes with them chatting happily in a diner.

DR. K
Dr. K, the doctor who delivered the twins after their regular OB suffered a burst appendix, is a man in the thick of the stages of grief, having lost his wife of 53 years to Cancer only 14 months earlier than the big day of the title. Her wheelchair is still at the ready, her clothes in the closet, her perfume and brush still at the sink. He stares longingly at her prescriptions in the medicine cabinet. His morning routine still includes talking to her out loud at breakfast. He informs her that their son and grandkids are coming for a visit that day and he plans on buying them sugary cereal even though he knows it will rot their teeth. He jokes, “I’ll be damned if I’m the first grandfather in human history to deny his grandchildren.”

While at the store, he runs into a friend/fellow widow who is happy to see him out and can’t help but notice his wedding ring. She understands why he can’t take it off and suggests that it will just take time. She also says he looks thin and offers to make him dinner, but he blames being on call all the time for his inability to accept.

His son and daughter-in-law try casually bring up current movies like Empire Strikes Back as a way into discussing whether he might have anyone he’d like to catch a flick with. Dad isn’t having any of it, “My son is about as subtle as an elephant with gas. Tell me more about Ordinary People.” The daughter points out that you rarely see such a complicated mother on screen. (This could be seen as a nod to the show’s very own complicated mom, Rebecca, who is in rare but relatable form in this episode.) When his son tries again in the kitchen to express his concern for his dad given that he has not moved on even though she’s been gone a year, Dr. K shouts, “Fourteen months. I know she’s gone. I buried her. I was married to her for 53 years and I buried her. I will never move on, so stop asking me to. She was my life. I love you two, but if you tell me to move on again, you will not be welcome again in our home.”

Later at her gravesite, Dr. K relays the frustration of his stubborn son. “He thinks he knows something because he’s been married for 10 whole years.” Then he tries to discuss what’s really been on his mind. “You have to promise not to be mad at me. Every morning I open the medicine cabinet and stare at all of your… Baby, I don’t know if I can keep doing this without you anymore and I’m really not sure that I want to. I miss being with you.”

His pager goes off before he can finish the thought and the audience is treated to some memorable scenes from the pilot where he met Jack and Rebecca, comforted Jack with the story of losing his wife and his first child before he was blessed with five children and 11 grandkids. After he is told that the couple is contemplating adopting the fire station baby, he decides his advice about taking the “sourest lemon” and making lemonade should be applied to his own life as well. During his breakfast conversation, he explains, “I told a young man about the baby yesterday. I hadn’t spoken to anyone about that in a long time and I gave him some advice — to take the worst thing that happened in his life and try to push on. It seems he may have listened. There isn’t a minute that goes by that I don’t think of you. I hope this is what you’d want me to do. I expect it is.”

He then cleans out her stuff and takes the widow up on her dinner offer.

JACK AND REBECCA
To start the episode, we are treated to scenes from the early stages of Rebecca’s pregnancy when the couple is still dancing, listening to Stevie Wonder to entice the babies to kick, keeping lists of names, and threatening to try for quintuplets. Rebecca even coos, “I love being pregnant.” Flash forward a few months and she needs help getting out of bed at night to pee, can’t sleep, and has no shoes left that fit her “swollen clown feet.” Her bump is huge and now has her singing a different tune. “I hate being pregnant.”

They are in the home stretch of six weeks, but that’s problematic as the house is still unfinished and full of moving boxes. Jack, whose optimism and nice guy vibe is failing to rectify the situation this time, is saved by the bell — well, the telephone, anyway. It’s Miguel calling to wish him a happy birthday — which clues the viewers into exactly what day it is — and offering to take him out for a few hours to give her space and celebrate his last birthday of freedom. He isn’t planning on going until she comes down the stairs in full “dark side” mode and demands to be alone.

“Do not come back into this house until you’ve had a major attitude change,” she yells before adding, “Thanks again for the bathroom sex at Froggy’s.”

Miguel’s grand plan is to take him golfing with the other dad’s who live for the “five blissful hours” it takes to play a bad round of golf because their wives are not there to tell them they suck at co-parenting. Jack doesn’t want to spend money or swing clubs, but Miguel does say something that resonates. “There’s plenty of time to become a martyr. Being a father means every once in awhile you buy yourself something because your kids get everything else.”

But Jack, devoted husband and eventually good dad that he is, has a better idea. “I keep thinking about my wife and how I want to get home to her, hang out with her and make sure she’s ok, which is crazy because she is at her absolute worst, like Exorcist level bad. But I still don’t want to escape her or my future crap-riddled vomiting children. I want more time with them. I want to freeze time with them so I can get a little bit more.”

As he dashes off to spoil himself with a present he really wants, one of the other lesser dads surmises, “Well that guy’s gonna make us look bad.”

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Rebecca is still huffy and realizes she’s a “monster” who forgot his birthday. She wants to make him a fancy dessert, but they are out of baking supplies and she has no car. She tries to call Miguel’s wife for a ride, but can only leave a message as Shelley is out of town. “He’s gonna leave me for some hot not-crazy dental hygienist,” she worries as she realizes, she will also be unable to give him his traditional birthday Marilyn Monroe-style dance.

She decides to hoof it after taping his flip flops to her feet. Unfortunately, that doesn’t go her way either as the only store within walking distance is a liquor store. She vents to the clerk, “I cry when my socks are mismatched, and he’s pretty much perfect. I need to make him something homemade so he can see how much I love him.” She has to make due with a Terrible Towel, a banana muffin, and the creamy guts of a few Twinkies for frosting.

Dessert made, she wanders to the nursery while she waits for Jack to return. She has a touching chat with the babies when she thinks no one is listening and it’s the epitome of sweet. (It’s also another moment enhanced by the nonlinear storytelling because so many of the sentiments spoken play into later actions we have already seen played out.)

“I’m sorry I’ve been complaining so much lately, because I’ve really enjoyed having you as my sidekicks this year. I guess I’m overwhelmed,” she tells the babies. “I can’t wait to meet you guys. I’ve been terrible to your dad who is just perfect. You are going to freak out when you see how awesome your dad is. You’re gonna be huge fans. I’m nervous about you meeting me. I’m not gonna be the perfect mom. I’m impatient and stubborn. I stole an Abba-Zabba bar in fourth grade. I’m terrified that I’m going to make a hundred wrong decisions and ruin the chances you guys have to lead the perfect lives that you deserve. But I will protect you fiercely. I will always sing to you when you can’t sleep and I will always be excited to hear you laugh. I love you so much it hurts and I haven’t even met you yet. You are gonna have to take the good with the bad when it comes to me.”

Jack films the precious moment on his video camera, which would certainly freeze time. She’s embarrassed but there’s no sound, only picture. She apologizes for forgetting his birthday and swears he is the world’s greatest husband and will be the greatest dad — and it will be a fact celebrated on mugs. He demands that she make it up to him with the annual birthday dance even though none of her lingerie will fit her.

Again, we are treated to more puzzle pieces (and Milo’s naked behind) that fill out what was seen in the pilot starting with Rebecca having a contraction in the bathroom and an extended scene where he has to break the news that they lost the third baby.

She cries, “I felt all of them, Jack. I felt all three kicking. I felt like we were meant to have three.” His reply, after meeting the fireman at the window: “What if we still are?”

US
Then we flash forward to a father’s day when the kids are around 10 and everyone gathers to watch the video they made on the day they were born as Jack sips from the mug he was promised. The hopeful and wise words of Dr. K narrate the happy moment — but the mention of Jack as an old man, when it has clearly been established that he dies when Kevin still considers himself young — whips everyone watching back to reality.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC. Watch clips and full episodes of This is Us for free on Yahoo View.