The Tuesday, November 21, episode of This Is Us shared the details of Kate’s miscarriage, from how it happened to the emotional aftermath. The Kate-centric “Number Two” also deepened our understanding of Kate and Rebecca’s relationship via flashbacks. Here’s what you missed.
Summertime
While Kevin was meeting with a college football coach and Randall was visiting a college in D.C., Kate was feigning ignorance about her future. Rebecca (Mandy Moore) pushed her to make a list of her top five schools, but Kate seemed hesitant. Rebecca told Kate it was fine to be unsure of her path. She could go to a liberal arts college and study all kinds of subjects until she discovered her passion. Kate took this to mean Rebecca thought she was “passionless.”
Rebecca found a Berklee School of Music application in Kate’s room after she left. With her application was an audition tape of Kate singing “Summertime,” which Rebecca listened to. (It was gorgeous, obviously.)
Rebecca just couldn’t help but bring up the application at Kevin’s football game (the same game he hurt his knee in during last week’s episode), handing Kate a $50 check for her application fee. Kate was upset Rebecca had snooped through her stuff and made it clear she didn’t want her mother’s help. But when Rebecca complimented Kate’s audition tape, Kate was clearly flattered.
At the hospital waiting for Kevin after his accident, Kate apologized to her mother for not telling her about Berklee. She didn’t want Rebecca to be crushed if she didn’t get in. Rebecca assured her daughter she’d be disappointed for her, but Kate wasn’t so sure. She often found it hard to tell if Rebecca was disappointed for Kate or herself when things didn’t go Kate’s way.
Rebecca told Kate about her own mother and how difficult their relationship was. She longed to have a little girl so her relationship with her daughter could be different. Any time her kids needed her, Rebecca wanted to be waiting with arms wide open, ready to help. And while Rebecca and Kate weren’t at that point in the flashbacks, they got there in the present.
Support Group
Kate (Chrissy Metz) was excitedly talking to the baby in her belly and preparing a list of questions for her next doctor’s appointment in the present. She had just ordered a baby bath that she wanted to be sure would fit in the tub, so she went to the bathroom to measure it. While there, Kate had a pain that caused her to double over and grab the shower curtain.
Once Kate and Toby (Chris Sullivan) made it to the hospital, the doctor told them they’d lost the baby. Kate passed most of the tissue at home, so an operation wouldn’t be necessary. The doctor said Kate could go back to living her life — which is exactly what she tried to do.
Toby was noticeably grief-stricken, but Kate put on a brave face and went to the singing gig she’d previously agreed to. Toby tried to get her to stay home, but Kate was determined to push on. She was doing just fine at the gig until a little girl came up to the stage and started dancing. Kate left suddenly and thought about calling Toby; instead she walked and eventually came upon a buffet restaurant. She went in, filled her plate with food, and sat down, but she didn’t touch it.
While Kate was out, Toby threw away the damaged shower curtain and received an alert that the baby bath Kate had ordered was on its way. Toby wanted to intercept the package so Kate wouldn’t have to see it, so he went to the distribution center, where he convinced an employee, Carl, to let him sift through the entire building to find the package (because he is a “large and powerful man”). Just when all hope seemed lost, Carl found the package. Toby told Carl to give the bath to his sister, who was expecting her third child.
Crisis averted, Toby arrived at the café where Kate was supposed to be singing. One of the band members told Toby she’d left sick, and he panicked. Meanwhile, Kate returned home and answered Rebecca’s call, which she’d been ignoring all day. Kate told her mother what happened and asked her not to respond. She hung up before Rebecca could finish a sentence. Kate tried to call Kevin (Justin Hartley) next, but no answer.
Toby came in, pretty mad that Kate didn’t call him when she left her gig. He was worried and upset, but Kate wasn’t having it. “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you put out? Did you have a couple of emotional hours? ‘Cause I’m going to be a raging hormone machine for weeks while my body still thinks it’s pregnant, so that’s fun,” she said. Toby didn’t want to fight, but Kate was insistent. She was angry at Toby for getting her excited about the baby when she had wanted to remain cautious. She also emphasized that the miscarriage happened to her, not him. Toby took offense at this, saying that it happened to him, too.
Kate later awoke to find Toby gone. She heard a knock on the door: Rebecca. It turns out mom time was exactly what Kate needed. Kate blamed herself for the miscarriage and couldn’t reconcile being sad when she’d never met the baby. Rebecca talked to Kate about Kyle, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca’s triplet who died. She told Kate how real Kyle felt to her from the second she found out she was pregnant. She told her how she’d kept her grief and guilt from Jack thinking it would hurt him to see it. One day she broke down in the grocery store over a bag of yellow onions and knew it was time to share her pain with her husband. This ultimately allowed Rebecca to open her heart up to Kate, Kevin and Randall (Sterling K. Brown).
So Kate shared her grief with Toby — how she felt like she failed him, although he assured her she could never fail him — and said she wanted to try to get pregnant again soon. They put the shower curtain back up and agreed to not let this break them.
This Is Us airs on NBC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
