What I’m Watching: This Is Us

This Is Us: Season 4, Episode 11 “A Hell of a Week: Part One” (B+)

This episode honed in on just one of our characters, though its title indicates that the next one or two installments will likely cover what happened simultaneously to the other siblings and their families. Randall has always been a fascinating character, and this is the most vivid time I can remember that he’s been featured in so many different incarnations, first as a young child whose father was giving him a pep talk when he couldn’t sleep, then a college student who was having frequent nightmares, and later a full-fledged adult who still hasn’t resolved a lot of the issues he has. Cutting from his childhood to him standing in the kitchen with the intruder was a strong and frightening opening, and fortunately nothing more happened other than him and Beth realizing that he had been in their bedroom to steal some jewelry. Randall seemed understandably distracted at work, especially when Darnell came to see him, and he didn’t want to hear any of what Darnell was telling him about needing to talk to someone. Seeing how Beth supported him when he confessed that he was too scared to sleep alone was sweet, and it was informative to see how he rushed home to deal with something Kate-related and as a result never went to the therapy that could so much have benefited him. At least Kevin was there to talk to him over the phone as he prepared to go to Sophie’s mom’s funeral, and while I’d hope that he’ll once again be able to help Randall through this since he was there for him in the past, we know that’s not quite how it’s going to work out this time.