This Is Us season 3 finale review: Who lives, who dies, & who surprises
In the closing minutes of the episode, we saw Randall pay a visit to his mother Rebecca, who may be suffering from Alzheimer’s given that Randall was careful in identifying himself as “your son” when he went into the room — which may actually be within Kevin’s (enormous!) house. Apparently, he’s found a lot of success for himself as an actor given how crazy huge that place is. We didn’t actually see future Kevin in this episode, but it does seem like he’s alive, and that he has a son! It seems like he becomes a father a little later in life — his son looks around 12 or 13 in the flash-forward, so it’s a good ways past the present-day timeline.
As for who is not featured, there are a couple of important people worth pointing out.
1. Kate – Is she alive? We know that her son Jack is going to be coming to the house with someone, but we never heard verbal confirmation as to who it is. Toby is alive and Kate may very well be; it’s possible that the two had another child and they’re the person with Jack, or that Toby ended up getting re-married years after Kate’s death.
2. Miguel – The This Is Us trend of giving Rebecca’s second husband the shaft seems to be continuing. We never got that spotlight episode we were hoping for this season, and judging from the fact that it was Nicky in the room with Rebecca, we’re left to assume that he’s either no longer alive or that he and Rebecca are no longer together.
Seeing Nicky there was a surprise in itself given that following the “Songbird Road” storyline, we’ve barely even heard his name mentioned. We could see him and Rebecca bonding over their shared love of Jack. Maybe they end up being romantic, or just find a different sort of kinship in being in one another’s life.
No matter what happens with these characters as we move forward into the future, what we hope to see is some sort of bridging of the gap — a way to get from where we are now to where we’re going to get to in the future. What’s happening with Randall’s career, and with Beth’s dance studio? We know that she’s going to find a way to keep that going, especially after moving to Philadelphia; yet, Randall’s career path isn’t entirely clear in the flash-forwards just yet. We wouldn’t be shocked if he was a Congressman or a Senator at this point. We don’t think of him as President, since he’d probably have a larger contingent all around him.
One last mystery to think about…
Are Kevin and Zoe over? They’ve been in conflict the past couple of episodes about kids, with Kevin trying to find his way to have his cake and eat it too. Sure, Zoe may not want kids now, but couldn’t that change in the future? Isn’t there still a flicker of hope for something in that direction? That’s obviously something that he was hoping for, but she shut that down tonight and eventually left his place. While we got verification that the relationship between Randall and Beth will last, we’re not anywhere near as comfortable about these two.
CarterMatt Verdict
This Is Us delivered some emotional haymakers, and one of the best episodes of the season. Everything from the past several months now makes total sense, and there was a dark sense of poetry that came from the hospitalization of Rebecca as a young mother in flashbacks to her health struggle much later in life. You have to assume that this version of the character is at least in her eighties.
With “Her,” we got answers, but also still questions as to what brings the Pearson family to where they are. There’s a sense of family, but also sadness in knowing that yet another chapter of life could soon be near the end.
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What do you think about This Is Us season 3 episode 18, and what is the biggest question that you have entering season 4? Share right now in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)