This is Us Season 6 Episode 3 review: It’s all about the dads, but moms win hands down

3/5

Story: The dads, Jack, Kevin, Randall and Toby take centre stage, as each of them tries to deal with parenting in their own style.

Review: This is Us has the luxury of 20-odd episodes to tell its final story, but that, honestly, should not be any excuse for putting out an episode that served no purpose whatsoever in taking the tale forward in any direction. After last week’s interesting trip to meet Sally, one hoped for some continuation of sorts, but no, that was not to be. If the delay in access to new episodes in India on Disney+Hotstar was not bad enough, there’s this that made the wait absolutely pointless. If you skip #603, you won’t miss a thing.

Anyway, on this episode, ‘Four Fathers’, the makers take us on a deep dive into the parenting styles of the four men anchoring the show, Jack, Kevin, Randall and Tobey. The late senior Pearson was fretting about being the dad who’d leave before breakfast and return after bedtime, so he decides to make up for it by taking the big three out for their first-ever big-screen movie outing. But there’s only so much even a superhuman dad like Jack can do and he dozes off during the screening, only to wake up and find Kevin missing. Turns out, the little man got bored and decided to wander off on his own. The crisis is, of course, averted – mall authorities had picked up Kevin and found the home telephone number written inside his shoe. Way to go, Rebecca!

Meanwhile, grown up Kevin has trouble adjusting to the fact that he’s going to be the parent who will miss out on most of his children’s milestones because he is not with Madison anymore. Working on the Manny reboot isn’t helping his self-esteem either. But it appears that Kevin is determined to redeem himself for good. Not only does he manage an entire evening out at a bar with his fellow cast members without a drop of alcohol, he also resists getting one of them over for a booty call. Instead, he calls Cassidy for a word of advice. Interesting, huh!

Randall’s big plan of father-daughter bonding while teaching Deja to drive goes up in smoke when she gets a message from Malik that plays out aloud and makes it very clear that she not only lied about where she was over the weekend, but that she’s also a sexually-active young woman. Now that’s a double whammy for poor Randall. Beth’s solution is to put Deja on a birth control plan. Smart woman. But we do feel for Randall. Doesn’t it sometimes feel that Deja comes across as a wee bit ungrateful for all the blessings in her life thanks to the Pearson family? After having Randall pour out his heart about having missed the first 12 years of her life and making up for it, he slips in that she can’t meet her boyfriend in Boston and she has the gall to tell him that’s going to be a problem. Randall, take a long, deep sip of that wine Beth gave you.

And finally, there’s Toby. The poor man has been trying his best to make up for all the time he spends away on work in San Francisco by bringing the kids and Kate gifts. He’s trying, but that isn’t good enough anymore and he realizes it the hard way. Toby is one of the most likeable characters on this show and he’s been Kate’s pillar of strength, but from all the flash forwards we know that this love story is not going to last. And apparently, Toby’s latest purchase that he hopes will make a lot of family memories is the catalyst for this unravelling. Sigh!

Verdict: Can we move along with the story already? Who’s Deja with in the future and who’s baby is she carrying? What’s up with Miguel? Do Kevin and Cassidy get together? C’mon, let’s hear more on this soon.