‘This Is Us’ got real about mental health and now we’re all puddles

Ever since This Is Us (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET, CTV) unrolled its special three-part episode in season two, in which each of the episodes focused on one of the Big Three, we’ve been hoping for another round. Well apparently the powers-that-be were reading our minds. Tuesday night was the first of three special installments revolving around the Pearson siblings, and it all kicked off with Randall.Thank goodness, given the home intruder cliffhanger from last week and everything else going on in the councilman’s life. It was precisely because of that overbearing stress that “A Hell of a Week: Part One” was all about his mental health, and as far as we’re concerned it was really about time.

Randall’s downward spiral

Randall’s battle with anxiety is something the show has always dealt with, but on a series with so many characters to follow that story can sometimes get lost. On Tuesday night, viewers finally took a deeper dive into Randall’s history with anxiety, ruminating thoughts and many of the other issues that a person who is secretly struggling often deals with in the dark.

It started as an episode about trauma and anxiety. But when we watched it, we realized that Sterling and Susan (+ Niles and Rachel) had also turned it into an episode about a marriage.

Love this cast. Love this crew. @SterlingKBrown is simply in beast mode right now. #ThisIsUs— Dan Fogelman (@Dan_Fogelman) January 22, 2020

We’re talking sleepless nights, picturing the worst-case scenarios all of the time and a basic lack of understanding from well-meaning people who just want to tell you not to worry, as if you can control those things. Randall has been grappling with these thoughts and nightmares in the deepest corners of his mind from the time he was a young kid in his first “big boy” bed, all the way through his college years following Jack’s death, and into the present day with Rebecca’s mental decline and then the home intruder—who was also in his bedroom, BTW. It's easy to see how all these factors would make a person hit his breaking point.

A lack of therapy

What’s got us really down about the episode though is Randall’s continued aversion to therapy. We saw that in the past he was willing to go to grief counselling, but then something bad happened to Kate and he just didn’t go. Why is that the end of the therapy story? Beth is all for it. Darnell is surprisingly all for it (don’t you just WISH those two could be new besties? How refreshing was it to see black men normalizing therapy?). And even Kevin seems to be all in. Heck, hasn’t therapy been doing wonders for Kevin? Randall should take a page.

You can't run away from your problems forever, Randall. pic.twitter.com/cZmyH0ngcv

— This Is Us (@NBCThisisUs) January 22, 2020

Is it that Randall is just too focused on everyone but himself, or does he truly think he can still handle things on his own? Running is clearly no longer the salve it one was, as his encounter with that purse-snatcher clearly indicates. It's clear he needs to get some real help and soon, because breaking down in the bathroom—while sometimes needed—is NOT a good look for a councilman.[video_embed id='1827415']RELATED: Sterling K. Brown reveals how 'Waves' influenced his approach to parenting[/video_embed]

The best of brothers

Don’t get us wrong—we also loved that Randall called Kevin of all people when he was spiraling. What we don’t love is that Kevin asked Randall if he needed a pass, and although he (finally) admitted that he did, he still didn’t reveal what is going on with Rebecca. There are promises and then there are things a person just can’t handle solo, and it breaks our hearts to know that these two probably aren’t talking in just a few short months because of this. Communication, people. It can do a world of wonders to relationships big and small.Speaking of Kevin, we finally learned the reason why Sophie called him last week: her mother passed away. Grief does strange things to people, and our standing theory is this: Kevin and Sophie sleep together before or after the funeral, and Sophie winds up pregnant. Boom—that is how Kevin has a baby mama that he seems so comfortable with in a matter of months, as per that flash forward.

And then there was Kate

Kate was largely absent in the episode, save for a few scenes as a teenager when she continued her ominous relationship with “greaseball” Marc. From the few small hints we’ve seen, it definitely seems that couple is heading towards abusive territory, which could very well be why Randall needs to rush home to help and Rebecca cancelled her birthday dinner in that flashback.In the present day, it may speak to Kate’s emotional mindset given everything going on with Toby, and why she probably won’t stand to be treated as anything less-than. But that storyline is for a whole other episode, one that won’t air for a couple of weeks as the show now continues the trilogy with Kevin’s storyline.Let the baby mama theories continue…This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.[video_embed id='1880545']Is Brad Pitt 'swiping right' on Jennifer Aniston?[/video_embed]