Tonights mutedconclusionofThis Is Us third season feels, for better and for worse, appropriate.
Her is a decent episode ofThis Is Us.
Expecting anything more as a cap to this stretch of the show would have been unrealistic.
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
The smartest decision theThis Is Usteam makes is to frame Her as an ode to Rebecca.
This leaves Rebecca, and the question of what she means to this family.
Particularly, this episode asks from several angles: Who are the Pearsons without her?
Kate confronts this question on the most personal scale.
Baby Jack is on the road to recovery, but there remain unique challenges to raising him.
After essentially sending her mother away from the hospital earlier in the day, Kate returns home and apologizes.
In the past, meanwhile, the family considers the loss of their matriarch in much more immediate terms.
But for the kids the story is different.
The unit doesnt operate correctly without her.
Jack makes terrible corn sandwiches.
He struggles to talk the Big Three out of their vivid nightmares.
And so early the next morning they go back to the hospital.
The more effective conclusion comes on the Randall/Beth side.
As Her opens, Rebecca is trying to hold it together at home while Randall sleeps at his office.
Its obvious to all of the kids that this couple is having problems.
She prepares a big speech for Randall Randall-style.
Most people dont win, Randall, she says.
You won the lottery twice.
Randall absorbs the message without much argument.
But Beth offers an alternative idea: They move to Philadelphia.
And theyll support each others dreams.
But theres a glaring elephant in the room here Deja.
I thought of this as Randall and Zoes romance came to an end.
This show is above treating an abuse story flippantly.
Were all here for those episode-ending flashforwards the reveals which raise a bunch of frankly small questions.
We discover the house older Beth is in, drinking coffee and waiting for Randall, is Kevins.
We discover she and Randall are indeed still together and happy, with Tess by their side.
(No mention of Annie or Deja, though thats likely due to the brevity of the scene.)
Kevin has a boy with blonde hair, though Kevin doesnt appear in the scene either.
(Whos the mother?
And theres no sign or mention of Miguel.
The final scene is moving, if quiet.
Randall walking to see his mother on what may be her deathbed.
He opens the door and shes on her bed, frail.
He says who he is twice an indication, potentially, of dementia or Alzheimers.
We end on Rebeccas face once more, the family is left to consider who they are without Her.
Its a resonant, worthy area of inquiry for the show.
Hopefully, it yields some fresher material in season 4.
