‘This Is Us’ may have just revealed the mother of Kevin's baby

Count on This Is Us (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET, CTV) to bring the drama in the most unexpected way possible. In the second part of this season’s Big Three trilogy we spent some time with Kevin, who was still licking his wounds from that encounter with Lizzy (Sophia Bush), and wondering when he was finally going to meet “the one.”Well as it turns out he probably already met her. As we learned last week, Sophie’s mother Claire (Jennifer Westfeldt) had died, and because of that the episode turned into the telling of Kevin and Sophie’s big love story. That’s kind of appropriate, given how Kev has always wanted a sweeping story like his parents, except viewers all know he and Sophie don’t have the happiest of endings. Actually that’s putting it lightly considering he cheated on her, and then when she gave him another chance he turned to the bottle and ghosted her. (But not before embarrassing her in front of her co-workers at a fundraiser.)

Holding out for a happy ending

Still, guest star M. Night Shyamalan, playing himself, delivered on the unexpected ending—a twist if you will—so the fact that Kevin showed up at Claire’s funeral was hopeful. Hopeful, and offering more insight into this decades-long relationship, which may or may not have lots of parallels with Good Will Hunting (aka a movie about a dude dealing with trauma who drive away and then tries to get back the woman he loves). That date night was enough backstory to make you want to root for those exes to actually get back together, but not enough backstory to really know who they were as teenagers. Not yet, anyhow.But now that Sophie is engaged, it’s hard to hold onto that hope. Those clever writers still haven’t shown the fiancé’s face, which makes it easier to prefer Kev, but at the end of the day he exists and he seems to be a pretty stand-up guy. The problem is that he never experienced the loss of a parent and he didn’t really know Claire, who had been suffering from MS for years. That made turning to Kevin a natural thing for Sophie to do in her grief.Luckily it seems like Sophie recognized that, and while she definitely appreciated reconnecting with Kevin, there was also the sense that she’s not a naive person and wasn’t about to throw away her life on someone who burned her twice. Sorry Kevin, but you definitely messed that one up.

Finding someone else to love

That’s where Jack’s big flashback speech about losing things you love and finding something else to love really hit home. Enter Madison—Kate’s best friend—at the right place and time. There’s a small contingent of This Is Us fans out there who have been hoping that Madison—played by creator Dan Fogelman’s wife Caitlin Thompson—and Kevin would finally find their way to each other and now it looks like they have.

So… how do we all feel about THAT development. ? #ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/4rwSp3yQZ8

— This Is Us (@NBCThisisUs) January 29, 2020

When Kevin showed up to spend time with Baby Jack, it was Madison who opened the door. She was there looking after the dog while Kate and babe were away (Toby was at work, which is probably important to note for Kate’s upcoming episode), and she was equally disillusioned by the whole dating scene. Cue the moment Madison and Kevin finally see each other as more than an annoyance to put up with because they love Kate, and by the end of the episode, it seemed like they decided to give sleeping together the old college try.

Things are heating up. #KophieForever #ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/7FA6gtvcsP

— Justin Hartley (@justinhartley) January 29, 2020

And then there’s Kate…

So how is that going to affect Kate? It’s pretty hard to predict how she’s going to react to the situation given everything else she’s going through, but if Madison does end up pregnant or she and Kevin dive in and explore that relationship, well… Kate will inevitably get behind that. She’ll have to.However, let’s not count Sophie out just yet. At the end of the episode, we saw her pull out her mother’s old emerald ring, the one Kevin wanted to give her but hadn’t yet earned. There’s definitely a sense of unfinished business there, and that could complicate things for Kevin the second he tries to move on. In other This Is Us scenarios, Madison could end up pregnant and she and Kevin could decide to amicably co-parent, which would probably offer lots of comedic opportunities in the very near future.

But did he earn it? #ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/2o4zcJ4EDm

— This Is Us (@NBCThisisUs) January 29, 2020

Until then, there’s the more pressing question of what happened to Kate in the flashback that has Randall, Kevin and Rebecca racing to save her. Also, can Kate and Toby reconcile their marriage? Those stories are going to come to a head as The Sad Three head to the cabin in the next episode, which Justin Hartley directs. Sadly. we’ll have to wait two weeks to see it though as This Is Us takes a week-long hiatus for the State of the Union next week. Setting up cliffhangers and then leaving us on the edge of our seats? Yup, that sounds exactly right.This Is Us returns for the final chapter in the Big Three trilogy on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.