What I’m Watching: This Is Us

This Is Us: Season 2, Episode 8 “Number One” (B-)

Plotting out this show must be a very interesting process, since there are so many time periods and points in our characters’ lives to spotlight. Seeing what the next two episodes are titled, it’s clear that we’re doing a deep dive on each of the three children, starting with the bastion of self-pity, Kevin. His attitude as a teenager when he felt like he was too good to have to try to get into a lesser college was pretty awful, and he wasn’t much better in the present when he was drinking his way through a return to his hometown high school for an honor. Sleeping with a classmate he didn’t even remember could have given him some perspective, but instead he used the opportunity to steal a sheet from her prescription pad and run out, returning later to try to claim the one thing he had to remind him of his father, with whom he had a complicated relationship that was explored in detail in this episode. Jack telling an injured Kevin that he could be whatever he wanted was inspiring, and it was nice to see him high-five Randall and hold Kate’s hand on his way out of the hospital. He obviously waited too long to reach out to either of his siblings, and now he was hit with the devastating news that Kate has lost the baby, a tragic development that’s sure to be covered in the next episode which I hope will be a bit more even.