Past and Future Stress: This Is Us "Toby"

Sometimes the rock in the family needs a rock to lean on too. Here's a recap of This Is Us.

"Toby" was an astonishing episode. It was such a deep in character developing piece of an hour. From Randall's rocky politic start to Kevin meeting his dad's army buddy. But it was Toby and Kate that was the real centerpiece as they are waiting for word on whether they could have kids with Kate's embryos. From eight to three and down to one, it becomes stressful for the couple and when Toby finally tries to get back on his medication while Kate uses her Adele-a-gram to take the stress away.

We look back into the past of Rebecca and the family, who's their rock in the family. You would think it would be Randall, but it's not this time, it's Miguel. When Miguel brings Rebecca a piano, he helps fix their Refridgerator. After a rough prom night, Miguel tries to talk to Randall, whose prom date's father didn't approve of him. And helps when Kevin comes by his place when he had too much to drink. But it comes to show that Miguel was the rock for them.

Kevin meets with Mr. Robinson, who fought in Vietnam with his father. After having a nice meal and chat, they talked about his connection with his father. Kevin learns what his dad really did and that he wasn't an auto mechanic but a sergeant. He tells him that there are things that a man don't want to tell talk about. That was until the end when he came back just before Kevin and Zoe left and gave him some letters and a photo of Jack with a woman, who wears the necklace that Kevin is wearing. That opens up another can of worms.

We dive into Toby's past in this episode and it couldn't have been more powerful. We see how Toby deals with stress from the time as a child to his marriage. But he gets well and meets Kate. Toby tries to get back on his medication, but it doesn't go well and tries to distract himself until he learns that he missed the phone call from Kate's doctor. Even though it's good news, Kate's pregnant, Toby breaks down and cries.

Randall's political adventures didn't go the way he had hoped when opening up a campaign at a local BBQ place. Trying to tell them what he thinks and wants to do, they all shut him down and explain that the current councilman is fine. So Randall needs to rethink about what to do next. In the meantime, Beth had a job interview and she tells him that it went smooth, but apparently had lost her composure.

 I was amazed and stunned by the end of the episode. So well written and well performed from Chrissy Metz and Chris Sullivan but Susan Kelechi Watson gives a stunning last-minute performance. But the episode opens up to more questions: Who's the lady with Jack in Vietnam? And what's wrong with Beth and could it be connected to the future? We'll just have to wait and see. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch This Is Us Tuesdays t 9/8c on NBC.