Forget the cabin, Toby finally redeemed himself on ‘This Is Us’

Not all parents connect with their babies right away, that’s just science and that’s okay. And in general, dudes (typically but not always) have a harder time feeling those warm and fuzzies at first than birth mothers who have carried that babe for nine months before giving birth. So you have to forgive Toby for not feeling it with Jack right away on This Is Us (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET, CTV), especially given the fact that Jack also has stressful special needs.

Welcome back to the fam, Toby

What has been hard to accept is how Toby (Chris Sullivan) has been treating his family as a result of those feelings (or lack thereof) and fears. There’s getting in shape and wanting to be your best self for your family for as long as possible, and then there’s pulling away and hiding out at the gym. Tobes has definitely been doing a lot of the latter this season, and it was really time he got with the program already. So when he volunteered to watch Jack over the weekend so Kate (Chrissy Metz) could go to the cabin with her brothers, you could practically feel fans doing a slow clap. Welcome back to the show, Tobes. You’ve been missed.Except every parent’s worst fear came true when Toby flew solo, and baby Jack choked on a piece of egg. Newer parents out there may have thought the infant was having an allergic reaction to the dish at first, since Kate made such a big deal about reminding Toby which foods were in the green zone before leaving. But that wasn’t the case: he simply choked, and Toby thankfully reacted in time to save him.Fans knew Jack would be okay, of course, since he was in that flash-forward from the season opener. But Toby didn’t know that, and it took almost losing Jack to maybe realize just how deeply he does care for his son. Cue the anticipated Star Wars introduction through audio effects, which was a huge moment for father and son. And now fans everywhere will have to wait and see how Kate reacts to Jack almost choking while she was out of town…

Cabin truths be crazy

Speaking of Kate and her brothers at the cabin, that turned out to be an important milestone but not for the reason fans expected. The Big Three quickly got their revelations out of the way (Rebecca’s illness, Madison and Kevin sleeping together), and although there were hurt feelings at first, everyone seemed to get over it pretty quickly when Randall (Sterling K. Brown) remembered the time capsule Jack had made them put together when they were kids.Once they dug it up, they found a bunch of cool things inside. There was a photo of Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Sophie (way to draw out that storyline, writers); a copy of MASH that Kate had done in which she predicted she’d be married with two kids; a puzzle piece that Randall threw in after Kevin selected it for him; and a massive twist… It turns out Rebecca had put in a copy of Jack’s sketch for a future house on the cabin property, while Jack had left an eerie tape from beyond the grave. (Not that he knew it would be from beyond the grave when he recorded it).

Sad Three no more. Everything’s going to be just fine. #ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/knFCt6nzdd

— This Is Us (@NBCThisisUs) February 19, 2020

Anyhow, it was the perfect thing to bring the Big Three back together and potentially out of their current funks. Hearing a pep talk from their dad was emotional AF, but it also helped put things into perspective for each of them when they needed it most. Kate seems ready to talk to Toby, Randall is opening up to the idea of therapy, and Kevin wants to continue to honour his father’s legacy. And, as the flash-forward proved, at least one of those things comes true because it seems like Kevin went ahead and built that house.More importantly it’s a house that Randall seems welcome in, which is a key detail in the falling out fans are expecting between the brothers in the coming months. Now that everyone knows their beef isn’t over Randall keeping Rebecca’s health a secret, it’s anyone’s guess what ends up causing them to stop talking to each other. At least, as the flash-forward indicated, the grudge doesn’t last forever. Apparently This Is Us knows how to balance all the feelings… And the guessing games. This show is definitely, truly, great at cliff-hanger endings and guessing games, isn’t it?

Tying up loose ends

And then there were all of the feelings in the past. As the cameras caught up with Kate and Marc now at the cabin, Marc solidified his villain status by breaking Jack’s mug—knowing how much it meant to Kate—and then by locking her out of the cabin in the freezing cold. In the end, the girl had to bust through a window to get back in, something Rebecca and the boys quickly caught onto when they saw through Kate’s lies the next morning over pancakes.When Marc fessed up to being a total jerk, Rebecca kicked him out like the boss that she is, and told him he was never going to see her daughter again. Does that mean bad news Marc is out of the picture permanently? Well, like most things with this show, that’s TBD. But what is clear is that Kate has her family behind her, and she’s going to need them for the healing she has to do now after the emotional damage that guy caused her. Sadly not all first-love stories are heartfelt and mushy, but luckily Kate still has Toby. Now there’s a guy who does love her, and from the early previews of next week’s episode, it looks like he’s back to making those grand gestures that won her over in the first place.It’s about time, Toby. It’s about time.This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.