This Is Us (Recap) | The Right Thing to Do (S1 E11)

by Amanda Bell | via Entertainment Weekly

This Is Us has managed to make an art form out of squeezing so many major life events into each and every episode, it’s virtually impossible to pick the meatiest moment of them all. On the one hand, we’ve got breakups and proposals and other romantic relationship milestones to get through; on the other, there are several delicate shades of the parent-child lifecycle to talk about. It’s absolutely stunning even a fraction of this gets accomplished in a single hour, but here we are. This is us.

Jack, Rebecca, and the Big Three-to-Be

Part of the show’s beauty is how it traces back to fill in holes you didn’t even realize existed, like how Jack and Rebecca were ever able to afford the house in which they raised their kids. Sure, we’d seen Jack sweat over a calculator and scrimp on appliance repair costs here and there, but the matter of Jack’s ability to provide for the Pearson Five wasn’t too much of a focal point the way his frequent bar patronage was.

But now we know. Back when they were young and in love and laughing at all the poor parents at their Super Bowl bar party, the pair lived in a one-bedroom apartment and made a modest upgrade to a two-bedroom place when news of the little one came along. But once Dr. Schneider delivered the news there were three babies en route instead of one — with a hilarious, sucks-for-them-style appearance from Dr. K as a cherry on top — Rebecca and Jack quickly realized the new apartment just wouldn’t do. (And for some reason, nobody bothered to suggest they could maybe just wait it out a year and scale up then, since they’d already paid the nonrefundable first and last month’s rent.)

That should’ve taught Jack to stop being this can-do cowboy-trope type and quit putting down gobs of money on real-estate options before so much as consulting his wife, but lo, he goes and does it again. Only this time, it’s supposed to be sweet, you know? He bucks up, sells his cool car, puts hat in hand before his formerly abusive father, and scrounges up the money to buy Rebecca a fixer-upper “money pit” his crew’s been working on … and she loves it, wall gashes and all, thank heavens. It’s a lot better than door no. 2, which would’ve had them moving in with her bossy, insulting mother, who manages to rip on Jack for even getting her pregnant “irresponsibly.” (Side note: We have to assume her football-obsessed father would also be involved in the proposed arrangement, although that relationship might’ve improved by now, given her voluntary ascent into extreme NFL fandemonium. Unclear.)

The point is, Jack saved the day the best way he knew how and didn’t leave his pregnant bride in a two-bedroom lurch, despite what her mean mommy had to say about him. He may or may not have been extra motivated by the possibility of shacking up with his in-laws, but who cares?

Click HERE to read the rest of the recap, “The Right Thing To Do.”