This Is Us season 3 episode 17 preview: ‘R & B’ & the big ‘Her’ mystery-

This Is Us season 3 episode 17 is coming your way on NBC next week, and things are seriously getting near hitting-the-fan territory for Randall and Beth. The next episode is entitled “R & B” and despite your initial thought, that’s not about rhythm and blues. The synopsis here speaks for itself: “A history of Beth and Randall through the ages.” That’s all NBC is giving us for this episode — not that there may be anything else you need to know.

Almost all of this episode could focus on two performers: Sterling K. Brown and Susan Kelechi Watson, coupled with maybe the actors playing younger versions of themselves. We’ve already seen their very first meeting courtesy of “Our Little Island Girl.” This will be their love story — the best of times and the worst of times, the dating period and how they came to be together. Many questions will be answered — though to be honest, we haven’t exactly been filling up corkboards with clues and ideas about Beth and Randall’s history. They’re a fairly normal couple who got together, got married, and decided to start a family.

Here’s where things get a little bit interesting: The idea that “through the ages” could also mean the future and we have plenty of questions already about that. Are Beth and Randall even together still? If not, is there hope for reconciliation? We’ve seen them interact in that flash-forward timeline and it’s cordial, but not overly romantic. They don’t act like a couple ready to rush into each other’s arms. There was a time after the election where we started to think that these problems between them were being rectified … but that was obviously the writers luring us into a false sense of security before ripping it away and leaving us a puddle on the floor.

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Just in case the state of Beth and Randall’s marriage wasn’t enough of a mystery for you (remember his lack of a wedding ring from the flash-forward?) here’s the mystery to top all others: Who else is alive during the flash-forward? The identity of “Her” seems to be Rebecca based on the intel we’ve got — and by “intel,” we mean what’s actually on the show. Good on her for making it to this point in her life! There is still a mystery all about who else makes it to that point. We haven’t see Kate, Toby, or plenty of other people and you gotta have questions all about that.

The reason that we bring this up now is actually quite simple: “Her” is the title for episode 18, the final one of the season. We’re not sure if NBC will even bother releasing a synopsis, since that really tells you everything that you need to know on its own. This is going to drop you into that timeline (and also probably force the cast to spend a lot of time getting makeup done to age them). We imagine that there will be some answers, with some other mystery of course dropped in that leaves you pounding your head against the nearest table for season 4. We’re just shocked that we’re so close to the end already, even if we really shouldn’t be given that This Is Us typically ends around this time of the year.

If you missed it, be sure to check out the link here to get a variety of other great This Is Us updates, including a full review for the episode airing on NBC tonight.

What do you want to see on This Is Us season 3 episode 17?

Be sure to sound off with some thoughts in the comments! (Photo: NBC.)