What I’m Watching: This Is Us

This Is Us: Season 2, Episode 16 “Vegas, Baby” (B)

Now that we’ve officially moved on from the tragedy of Jack’s untimely death, we’re back to exploring him and Rebecca as a couple and how they were generally overwhelmed with happiness whenever they stopped to appreciate what they had. Jack got a lot of credit for the gifts that he would get Rebecca and the way that he would celebrate, and naturally taking a year off wouldn’t actually mean much. It was sweet to see the kids try so hard to do something special to their parents and then pretend to abandon it as soon as they got confirmation that they weren’t getting a divorce, leaving them to discover the actual surprise upstairs after they cleaned up the mess. For the first time in a bit, we spent some solid time in the present, with Toby and Kate having concurrent bachelor and bachelorette parties in Las Vegas, a smart idea to keep everyone close to together. Kevin and Randall did seem way too distracted by what was going on in their lives to spend time with the groom-to-be, and it was nice that a push in the right direction from Kate got them to give him the affirmation this lonely brother needed. Beth and Kate also got to bond, which was good since Beth is probably the most underappreciated character on this show, and hopefully Susan Kelechi Watson will join the rest of the cast as an Emmy nominee this summer. It’s exciting to see things work out for Kevin and his movie in a way that didn’t negatively impact his relationship with a very understanding Ron Howard, and Randall got the worst kind of affirmation that he was right about Deja when they found her sleeping with her mom in her car.