The show that makes everyone cry has fans on the edge of their seats, hoping their favorite T.V. couple stays together.
For the entire third season of everyone’s favorite show, This Is Us, fans have been worried for their favorite couple, besides Jack and Rebecca of course. Beth and Randall have been through more than most together. Whether it be a dying biological father moving in, a self obsessed brother moving in, a troubled foster child and the difficult road to adoption or the loss of their jobs, the two have stuck it out and handled it. It seems as though the one thing they can’t get past is Randall’s ambition and his tendency to go big or go home. Most recently this ambition came in the form of running, and then eventually being elected, for city councilman, in a city three hours from his home, despite Beth telling him not too. This has been a point of contention in their relationship and it all came to a head this week.In last weeks episode, we saw a frustrated Randall leave a rather nasty rage voicemail to Beth. In the voicemail he belittled Beth’s career as a dance teacher by saying all she does is teach bored housewives how twirl and that she should grow up. Beth was already angry at Randall for running for councilman and then suggesting she put off her career as a teacher in order to look after the children, and was clearly tired of being the one doing a majority of the sacrificing. The episode ended with the promise of a big argument to come, which we saw last night.
In last night’s episode we started right where we left off, in the couple’s bedroom as they each were getting ready to say their piece. We then were taken on a journey through the entire relationship between the pair starting from their first date in college, showcasing their wedding day, their first few months of parenthood and ending with a moment that possibly took place during season one. What was apparent during these flashbacks was Beth’s constant bending to Randall’s needs and the number of times she had to sacrifice her wants in order to give Randall what he wanted. It made me sad because honestly Beth is my favorite character and I can see where she is coming from. I have always thought Randall was a bit of a steamroller and did what he thought was best without realizing how it will negatively impact those around him. In one of the flashback scenes, Beth made it clear that her one condition that had to be met before she would agree to marrying Randall was that they would never lose themselves in one another. Randall, being the big dreamer that he is, never lost himself and probably found more of himself through the relationship timeline, but Beth definitely feels she lost herself and said in the episode she blames Randall for allowing her to do so. The argument they had ended horribly, with Beth throwing Randall’s history with panic attacks in his face, and then Randall leaving the house to go sleep in his office.
I am really hoping that the creators and writers of This Is Us are just playing with our hearts and aren’t really going to split these two up. They are honestly so good together and it would kill me to see this fictional couple break up. At a cast question and answer panel at Paleyfest the actors who play Beth and Randall, Susan Kelechi Watson and Sterling K. Brown, said their ultimate goal is to portray a realistic couple people can look up too. They say real couples fight and it is important to see that on television because then we can hopefully see them work it out and come back together in the end. All the flash-forward scenes featuring Old Man Randall, Tess and Beth, however are not doing anything to ease my fears. Why aren’t Beth and Randall together? Why does Tess have to be the one to call Beth? Why can’t Randall do it? So many questions and absolutely no answers. One thing I enjoyed about the episode was the parallels made between Jack and Rebecca’s argument about Rebecca’s singing career and the current fight between Beth and Randall. It was a full circle moment which is a feature I love about this show. Nothing is an accident and everything comes back. They did say at Paleyfest that all the questions we currently have will be answered in next weeks finale but we will be left with a bunch more unanswered questions.
I cannot wait for next week’s season three finale and for all my questions about this relationship to be answered. Pray with me that this couple does not separate or get a divorce or whatever.